How to win lane as Aatrox against Locke · 49.04% win rate (1,201 Emerald+ games, lolalytics, sampled July 2026) · Matchup data reviewed on patch 26.15
He needs six clean windows to do what your one all-in does — deny the nail stacks and Aatrox turns his blink lane into a walk home.
Track: Locke's Q — Ritual Nails (10–6s cooldown). The nail marks are his whole engine — without 2-3 stacks on you his blink-in barely dents; sidestep the recasts and punish the ten seconds of nothing.
Read from Aatrox's seat: which stage windows this plan plays for against Locke.
| 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 heal amp and combat stats normally win you the all-in, but Purgatory can execute you outright, 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 must stand on to CS, and answer his Silver Stake on-hit trades with a sweet-spot Q1 into W. Ashen Pursuit (E) is a flat 10s: punish the window after he spends it.
Pooled Emerald+ win rates from Aatrox's side, sampled July 2026.
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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Locke, slightly — Aatrox wins 49.04% of 1,201 games; winnable with the right plan.
Mostly — Locke has a small statistical edge (50.96% win rate), but execution decides this lane far more than the pick does.
No — if anything Locke has the slight edge (Aatrox wins 49.04%), though it stays close.
Playing the other side? Locke vs Aatrox guide →
All Aatrox top lane matchups →
More Aatrox top lane matchups: vs Kennen · vs Kled · vs Lillia · vs Lucian · vs Malphite · vs Maokai