League of Legends: Victorious Aatrox review – Is it worth the grind?

Season 9 of League of Legends ranked is rapidly coming to a close and with less than a month away we finally have word on the Season 9 edition of the Victorious skin. It is going to Aatrox, the Darkin Blade.

Aatrox is set to be the reward for all players that reach Gold this season in League of Legends ranked play. With just an under a month to go is it worth the grind to pick up this skin? Let’s take a look at it and see what you’re getting with this skin and some of the community reactions from the announcement. Then you can decide if it’s worth the time on the Rift to pick up, or not. Let’s dive into the review for Victorious Aatrox.

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The Skin

The color scheme for this skin is the traditional blue, gold, and purple like any of the previous Victorious skins are. It looks like a clean design in both the body of the skin and the golden animations for his abilities. There’s an aura of “I earned this skin” surrounding it, after taking a look at the initial images from the announcement. If you like Aatrox, or just bragging about your achievement in ranked, I think this skin will do the trick. There is also a chroma option if you can become a Gold player in at least two different queue types, not counting Teamfight Tactics.

Why Aatrox?

So I think it’s worth diving into some reasons why Riot Chose Aatrox to be this season’s Victorious skin.

The first reason is how impactful Aatrox has been throughout Season 9.  He is mentioned in nine separate patch notes with some kind of nerf, or buff, or change to his kit throughout 2019 with the latest being a buff to his Q in Patch 9.19.  Being mentioned in so many patches means many people are playing him and he is making his stance on the meta.

To further the argument that he’s made a difference in the meta, Aatrox is a flex pick in three different roles this season.  He has seen time in the top and middle lanes, plus the jungle, giving a variety of players a chance to wield the dark blade. Aatrox is primarily a top lane pick though, which is another reason why I feel he got the skin.

Only one other top lane champion has received a Victorious skin and that was Maokai in Season 6. There are two primary jungle champions, two primary support champions, two ADC champions and one champion each for middle and top lane that have the Victorious skin. Last season was a middle lane champion in Orianna, so it makes sense to balance out the rotation by picking a top lane champion. Aatrox fits that requirement.

Aatrox is also relevant in professional play, even seeing picks and bans during the current World Championship drawing a ban and being picked six times during the group stage. If a champion has relevancy in both solo queue and professional play, it’s probably a strong champ, or really popular. Giving a skin to a popular champion means you should see it a lot on the Rift.

Reactions

Personally, I think this is a B- tier of skin. Visually, I’m impressed, but it doesn’t have that must-have factor. I’m also not generally a fan of Aatrox as a champion. Even with his time in the jungle, he failed to stick around in my champion pool for very long. I wouldn’t get too much use out of this skin myself which isn’t a factor in the favor of this skin as I often grade if I like skins on if I will use them a lot. Yet I feel if you have played Aatrox and you like him this could be a good skin option.

However, the main reaction to the skin is this is just like his Justicar skin sans armor and this is a pretty spot-on comparison. Aatrox mains seem to be split on their subreddit with some thinking it’s a pretty good skin, while others call it a knockoff Justicar. So if the mains aren’t quite sure what to think it might be the case with other players.

If you’re wondering if you should grind to Gold for it I would just ask how much do you like Aatrox? If the answer is a lot go for it. If you’re close to Gold and can get it pretty easily go for it as well. However, if you’re just starting placements and would need to grind like 10 hours a day to get it I don’t think it’s worth it. It just depends on how much you feel like flexing that you’re a gold player, or better.

Overall I think Riot could have done worse with the pick, but they could have done better. I guess time will tell on this one to see if it was a success or bust.

You have till November 19th to earn Gold to pick up the skin. Good Luck on the Rift!