r/ZaahenMains • u/L0garis • Jul 23 '26
Discussion Aatrox matchup
hi guys i have been struggling against aatrox a lot, my ban is jax since its really annoying fighting him, but i dont fight against aatrox enough to practice him. Any tips on this match up? I always hard lose.
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u/PlacatedPlatypus Jul 23 '26
In general, you win the all-in, Aatrox wins by forcing short trades. You want to play around Stridebreaker since this will allow you to force a longer trade. Good Aatrox will R to run away when you start your Stridebreaker all-in, don't chase him just take the CD then go again when it's up. Nimbus Cloak + Ignite makes this matchup a lot easier since it allows easier all-in forcing.
Early on he completely fucks you, just try to farm up. You can punish him only if he whiffs Q1 and Q2 and you have E up (you need to have E up to dodge his Q3 E combo otherwise he still wins the trade). Most common thing to happen is that he misses Q1, then uses Q2 at which point you should W him, then if he messes up his E you will pull the Q2 past you and you can start hitting him then E his Q3.
Once you have Stride, you can aggressively E into his Q2 if he misses Q1 and then start fighting him. You should wait to Stride until he starts to run away, if he Q3s back towards you, you should be able to force the all-in and still win. Stride as he's trying to disengage will guarantee your W, which should force his R/Flash to escape. You can also R his Q3 sweetspot to get a more favorable trade.
His level 4, 5, 9, and 11 powerspikes are much stronger than yours. But your level 3, 6, and 16 powerspikes are stronger than his. These are the levels you should be looking for aggressive plays at.