Although designed as the most beautiful champion in the game, the balancing efforts for Ahri seem to be a failure for Riot Games. They created her to be both an Assassin and a Mage, however, Ahri’s ability to scale in power and control combat is not really solid, forcing players to play in a way that focuses more on damage.
However, this almost singular playstyle for Ahri has gradually been undermined as they removed the Spellthief’s Edge, changed her W and E skills, and made her gameplay entirely revolve around her E – Charm. An article sarcastically pointing out these adjustments by Riot Games highlighted the “illogical” aspects of Ahri’s design and received significant agreement from the community.
Ahri is an Assassin without damage and a Mage without scaling power
Alright everyone, Ahri is classified as an Assassin or a Mage. Assassins deal a lot of damage and snowball to the point where they can one-shot everything, while Mages scale up to become extremely powerful. But Ahri has neither of these. Even pro players joke about her.
For example, Perkz said she is like Morgana at the late game, just Charm an enemy and hope it hits. Or Faker said she’s no longer considered a champion, and the Chinese players call Ahri a “tool champion” because she only works effectively when holding the Frostfire Gauntlet. So what does Riot want to do with Ahri? Something needs to change, right? You can’t say she has to trade off damage for mobility when many champions can have both? Why not Ahri?
Riot could try to make W a decent skill or something. It feels like she has to get close to enemies to deal a relatively small amount of damage, which is simply a very unimpressive skill.
Wait, does Ahri’s W actually deal damage?
If you want to play a champion with Frostfire Gauntlet, you always choose Veigar. His cage has a shorter cooldown for some reason compared to Ahri’s Charm, and you scale much better while not being locked into a certain build.
Oh wow, I just realized that I haven’t seen Ahri in the game for quite a while. A few seasons ago, she was a hot pick; what made her disappear?
Simply put, there are many other champions that are stronger.
In any case, I just feel that there’s no need for Ahri in the game. What makes her suitable or better than other champions?
Just selling skins, that’s all.
What gives Ahri a relatively impressive win rate (over 50%) in the mid lane is that she is very safe and can keep her life extremely well in the early and mid-game. Very few champions have healing, crowd control, and multiple dashes like Ahri, making it incredibly difficult to gank or kill her. However, win rates do not make a champion great or favored; what matters most is compelling gameplay and sufficient power.
Isn’t it true that champions like Thresh, Lee Sin, Yasuo… are still favored in League of Legends because they offer a certain variety in gameplay and create a satisfying experience for players? After the rework, Ahri is completely different; she now has the sole task of building slow effects, using E – Charm on enemies, and trying to survive as long as possible.
Ahri lacks explosive damage to be called an Assassin or sufficient scaling power to be a Mage. She hovers in between these two archetypes, leading to a gradual decline in her pick rate as stronger champions outperform her in the roles she could fill. Perhaps it’s harsh, but as Faker said, removing Ahri from the current champion pool wouldn’t change anything because she’s no longer considered a champion.
