How to win lane as Aatrox against Locke · 49.04% win rate over 1,201 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27
| Stage | Favoured | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 | Even / skill | Even at level 1 — your Q outranges his walk-up poke, but its long cooldown means one whiff hands him the trade for free. |
| Level 2 | Even / skill | Level 2 stays even; neither of you has a hard commit tool yet, so it's all spacing and sweet-spot discipline. |
| Level 3 | Even / skill | Level 3 is a wash — your Q layering against his on-hit poke; whoever lands their pattern cleaner wins each trade. |
| Levels 4-5 | Even / skill | Levels 4-5 stay skill-based: everything hinges on landing sweet spots while sidestepping his poke procs. |
| Level 6 | Even / skill | At 6 it's even — World Ender's revive normally wins you the all-in, but his Purgatory totem can execute right through it, so it comes down to R timing on both sides. |
| First item | Locke | Locke owns the first-item window: his AP spike pushes Purgatory's threshold high enough to execute through your revive. Survive it by fighting only when his R is down and never brawling at half HP. |
| Two+ items | Even / skill | Post two items it evens out — your sustain in extended fights matches his burst, so drag every duel long and make him regret staying. |
Levels 1-5 are a pure skill lane. Your Q outranges his walk-up poke but the cooldown is long, so never whiff into the wave — Q the spots he has to stand on to CS, and answer his on-hit trades with a sweet-spot Q1 into W. Neither side has a hard commit tool yet, so win it on spacing.
The full Aatrox vs Locke report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.
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Playing the other side? Locke vs Aatrox guide →
All Aatrox top lane matchups →