Aatrox vs Vladimir Counter Pick

This is a sustain-versus-sustain top lane, and with 443 games logged on patch 16.13.1, a solidly large sample, Aatrox wins it 56.2% of the time. Vladimir’s Crimson Pact passive converts bonus health into ability power and vice versa, and Transfusion drains life on a resource system, Crimson Rush, that fills up for a bonus-damage empowered cast rather than depleting like mana. Sanguine Pool makes him untargetable for two seconds while sapping health from anyone standing in the pool, which is normally enough to dodge a full Aatrox combo.

The problem for Vladimir is that his 450 range still puts him inside Umbral Dash’s reach, and Aatrox’s own healing through Deathbringer Stance and Blood Well keeps pace with Transfusion’s drain rather than losing the race outright. Vladimir is rated a 7 on difficulty — managing the health-for-power trade-off and timing Sanguine Pool correctly takes practice — while Aatrox sits at 4, and in an extended trade his 60 base attack damage against Vladimir’s 55 adds up over the course of a lane. At level 18 Aatrox also holds a slight edge in raw health, 2,588 to Vladimir’s 2,470, with fairly close magic resistance around 32 versus 30. Hemoplague marks an area for bonus damage but doesn’t stop Vladimir from needing to land it first.