Riot Plans Significant Changes for Ahri in Upcoming Patches
Riot has announced that some major adjustments are in store for Ahri in the future updates, as per the company’s recent post on the official League of Legends forums.
Ahri’s current power level seems to be balanced, according to the Riot balance team. However, there are specific issues with her gameplay that need attention. In particular, her ability to engage with her W does not match the rest of her kit.
One of the main problems with Ahri is that her impact on the game remains relatively flat, regardless of how well she is performing. Even when fed and dominating in lane, she struggles to carry games as effectively as other mages and assassins.
On the flip side, even if she falls behind, Ahri still manages to contribute to the team. Riot believes that her performance should have higher highs and lower lows.
Her charm and Q abilities are integral to her gameplay and are unlikely to be removed or altered significantly. However, the AP ratios of these abilities may be increased, while their base damage at later levels is reduced. This change would enable her to scale better with items and require strong performance to carry the team. Additionally, by maintaining her strong early game laning power and not nerfing her base damage too much in the late game, Ahri can retain her healthy laning presence.
The only ability that is likely to undergo mechanical changes is her W, which currently deals damage without requiring any additional input from the player. It is possible that Riot will add more AoE damage or utility to her kit through a new ability. Alternatively, the W ability may remain the same but with added mechanics.
For example, players may need to activate the ability again to trigger the damage, or it may only be usable after damaging an enemy champion. This would introduce an additional layer of strategy to her kit, requiring players to time their abilities around power windows rather than using them freely.
These changes are expected to be implemented sometime between Patches 8.5 and 8.7, which is in a couple of months.
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