Aoi — Patch 1.63 Verdict
[Liquipedia RPL: C] Pro play (RPL 2026): 5 picks, 80.0% WR, 2.1% pick/ban rate. Note: pro meta may differ from ranked.
Aoi — Assassin Guide
Key Insights
- Passive (Dragon Blessing): every ability cast adds 1 stack (cap 4); the 4th stack auto is a guaranteed crit.
- Passive: enter a gank with 3 stacks pre-built on camps so your first auto into a hero immediately crits, skipping all ramp-up.
- W (Dragon Claw): swing mode buffs Dragon Slash mid-air AND makes Aoi un-targetable briefly; almost always pick swing over dash in a kill.
- W swing can be cancelled early by re-activating W; one full revolution still grants the Dragon Slash buff, faster than most enemies expect.
- R (Dragon Chant): full untargetability for the entire cast, backward dash also deals damage and can cleave multiple targets on exit.
Strengths
Dragon Claw reaches angles opponents never ward.- 4th
Dragon Blessing stack is a guaranteed crit, no RNG. 
Dragon Slash heals on hero hit, keeping her in dives.
Dragon Chant's untargetability dodges CC without Flicker.
Weaknesses
- No terrain = no Dragon Claw, so pit fights gut her kit.
- Pre-Soulreaver clear is slower than Nakroth or Murad.
- CC chains reset all 4 Dragon Mask stacks mid-fight.
- Dragon Chant's back-dash can pin you to your own wall.
Matchups
Abilities
PDragon Blessing
Each time Aoi uses a skill, she gains 1 Dragon Mask (max 4 stacks) and converts her next auto attack into a ranged attack that increases range, attack speed, and deals bonus damage. The 4th enhanced attack always crits and reduces all skill cooldowns on hit, but only deals 150% critical damage. Aoi gains 4 Dragon Masks at game start. Enhanced attacks against enemies while airborne via Dragon Claw stop her airtime instantly. Skill 1 - Dragon Slash: Aoi dashes in a direction, dealing damage to enemies in range (30% increased damage to jungle monsters) and healing on hit. While airborne via Dragon Claw: Aoi dashes in a direction dealing physical damage and knocking enemies airborne, prioritizing the lowest HP hero.
1Dragon Slash
Aoi dashes in a direction, dealing damage to enemies in range (30% increased damage to jungle monsters) and healing on hit. While airborne via Dragon Claw: Aoi dashes in a direction dealing physical damage and knocking enemies airborne, prioritizing the lowest HP hero.
2Dragon Claw
Aoi launches dragon claws in a direction and grasps an obstacle, choosing from 2 movement types: Rush: Aoi dashes to the claw's location. At max range, she can redirect to roll again. Hover: Aoi swings around the claw. On completion or cancellation, she rolls forward and buffs Skill 1's attacks. The claw deals physical damage and slows enemies. If Aoi rushes, hovers, or rolls into enemies, she stops and deals damage, knocks them airborne, and gains 1 Dragon Mask.
RDragon Chant
Aoi leaps up, becoming untargetable, and launches claws in a direction dealing physical damage and slowing enemies. She then dashes backward dealing physical damage to enemies hit.
Skill Order
Priority: R > Q > W| Skill | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Dragon Slash | 1 | · | 3 | · | 5 | · | 7 | · | 9 | · | · | · | 13 | · | · |
| 2Dragon Claw | · | 2 | · | 4 | · | · | · | 8 | · | 10 | · | 12 | · | 14 | · |
| RDragon Chant | · | · | · | · | · | 6 | · | · | · | · | 11 | · | · | · | 15 |
Loadout
Awake
Spirit
Dragon's ClawJungle
1
2
3
4
5
6Core Combos
Stack-and-Burst
1P2P1PRPThe standard assassination pattern. Use Q and W on the approach to build three stacks, then open R to engage so the backward dash drops you onto the target and the fourth-stack crit fires immediately.
Swing-Launch Execute
21PRPHook Dragon Claw on a nearby wall, activate the swing to buff Q mid-air, release into the target with the boosted Dragon Slash for airborne displacement, then chain Dragon Chant while they are still floating. Best used when the carry is already below 50% HP.
Punish-Reset Gank
2P1PRArrive through the wall with Dragon Claw dash, AA immediately to burn a stack, Q for the damage and HP return, then Dragon Chant to finish. Use Punish mid-sequence if the target flashes away and Dragon Chant's slow keeps them in range.
Expert Video Guide
Rov สอนเล่น Aoi เทคนิคโหนสองรอบ | เชี่ยว(เดี๋ยว)ชาญ Ep.17 — Specheaw สเปเชี่ยว
Gameplan
Aoi's first meaningful spike arrives the moment Soulreaver completes. The passive-stack rhythm combined with the item's jungle bonus makes her Q one-shot small camps and her enhanced autos genuinely threaten squishy laners. She hits a second, more dangerous spike at Spear of Longinus and Omni Arms, roughly 12 to 16 minutes in, where the armor-shred and the omni-attack synergy with her dashing autos compound into terrifying burst. Her weakest window is levels 1 to 4 before Dragon Claw is maxed. Avoid contesting the enemy jungler in the river or invading their red buff during that phase. Late-game with Claves Sancti online, her fourth-stack crit becomes fight-ending, but she scales slightly worse into five-man peel compositions than she does into spread, skirmish-heavy enemy teams.
Early Game
Levels 1–6- →Start Blue Buff into Red Buff into Harpy camp to hit level 4 with Dragon Claw available. Skip contesting the enemy jungler unless your laners already have hard crowd-control in lane.
- →Gank the Dragon Lane first: the river-side brush gives Dragon Claw two clean hook points onto the wall, and the Dragon Lane tends to be the most important early snowball target in the Thai-server meta.
- →After the first successful gank, immediately return to clear your jungle quadrant and finish Soulreaver before minute 5. Every second of delayed item completion costs you the level-6 spike window.
Mid Game
Post Broken Spear- →Once Gilded Greaves is purchased, rotate through all three lanes using Dragon Claw wall-crosses to keep your pathing invisible to vision. Ping your laners to apply pressure the moment you swing into their lane.
- →Prioritize killing the enemy jungler when spotted in the river rather than taking objectives alone. Denying their Soulreaver completion or delaying their level 8 is worth more than an uncontested tower.
- →Secure Abyssal Dragon with your team only after a successful teamfight pick. Don't solo-attempt it before Spear of Longinus; your burst isn't enough to race the objective in isolation.
Late Game
Teamfight phase- →Play flanker, not frontrunner. Position behind your tank in the pre-fight walk so Dragon Claw can arc over the front line and land you on the enemy backline carry instead of face-checking their frontline.
- →With Claves Sancti completed, identify the enemy damage carry and commit your full combo exclusively to them, even if the support or tank looks like an easier target. Your burst at this stage deletes squishies in one rotation.
- →Save Dragon Chant's untargetability window specifically for the enemy team's highest-impact crowd-control ability. Use it reactively as a dodge tool, not proactively as an opener, in five-man fights.
Pro Tips
- →In Dragon Claw swing mode, cancel the orbit early by re-activating W. This still grants the Dragon Slash buff if you've completed at least one full revolution, and it's faster than most opponents expect, catching them before they can reposition.
- →Dragon Chant's backward dash direction is set by where you stood when the claw lands, not where you aimed. Practice firing it at a 20-30 degree angle off the target so the exit trajectory naturally carries you back toward your team instead of deeper into the enemy.
- →Stack three Dragon Masks on the last jungle camp before a gank by casting W and Q in sequence without spending the empowered autos. Arrive at the gank with three stacks so your first AA into the target converts immediately, skipping the ramp-up entirely.
- →When Dragon Slash's targeting snaps to the lowest-HP hero unexpectedly during Dragon Claw's airborne phase, it means a different enemy is more fed than your intended target. Treat that as real-time threat information and adjust your post-combo positioning to re-engage or get out accordingly.
Aoi is the right pick for Diamond-and-above junglers who have outgrown auto-win assassins and want a hero whose ceiling scales with map knowledge rather than pure reaction time. The 80% win rate belongs to players who understand stack management, Dragon Claw anchor geometry, and Dragon Chant angle discipline. The single most important thing to practice before queuing her in ranked is the Dragon Claw swing-cancel timing. Get that right and every gank goes from a gamble to a guarantee. That is the mechanical separator between an Aoi who wins 80% and one who feeds.
Aoi — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Aoi good in the current ROV patch?+
Aoi is S tier on the current Thai server patch with an 80% win rate across Diamond-and-above ranked games. The 0.3% ban rate means she almost never gets removed from the pool, making her one of the most reliable high-rank jungle picks available right now. Her combination of terrain mobility, built-in sustain, and guaranteed-crit passive makes her genuinely oppressive for players who have put in the time on her stack management.
What is the best build for Aoi?+
The core build supported by Thai-server high-rank play is Soulreaver into Gilded Greaves, then Spear of Longinus, Omni Arms, Claves Sancti, and Blade of Eternity in that order. Spear of Longinus is the critical third item because the armor-shred stacks with her physical dashing autos and dramatically increases her burst against tanky targets. Omni Arms synergizes directly with Dragon Blessing's empowered-auto mechanic, so don't swap it out for a pure attack-speed item.
How do you counter Aoi?+
The most reliable counter is drafting a point-and-click suppression tank like Baldum or a hook-type roamer like Grakk who can interrupt her Dragon Claw swing mid-animation and reset her passive stacks. Beyond draft, position your carries away from walls and terrain in teamfights to deny her Dragon Claw anchor points, turning her from a mobile assassin into a melee attacker with no entry path. Buying Frost Cape on your frontliner also slows her dashing autos enough to buy time for a peel rotation.
Is Aoi hard to play / good for beginners?+
Aoi is rated Hard difficulty, and that rating is honest. Dragon Claw requires precise terrain knowledge across every map quadrant, and Dragon Chant angle management is genuinely technical. Beginner players who skip that practice will frequently trap themselves against walls trying to escape. She is not recommended as a first jungle main. Get comfortable with the map's wall geometry on a more forgiving assassin first, then bring those terrain instincts to Aoi when you're ready.