Boards›Gameplay

Suggestion: a fresh take on Ahri's Charm

Bauchelain·2/10/2015, 12:20:33 AM·5 votes·1,334 views

I have put a lot of work into this idea and clearly communicating it to you all. If you come and read this and decide it's so offensive to you that you should downvote the idea, please have the decency to contribute to the discussion.

There have been a lot of discussions about the changes to Ahri recently, with not a lot of consensus from what I've seen. For the purpose of this thread I want to address only her E - 'Charm', which has lost its uniqueness as a catalyst for Ahri's combos and now feels (to me) a little lack-luster.

To some extent I've always subconsciously felt that her E doesn't make much sense thematically. Why does it do damage? Why does it only hit a single target? (Yeah, it's supposed to be a blown kiss, but since when do those miss? :P) These questions were compounded by the most recent - and really, really cool - theatrical video. For reference: http://youtu.be/vzHrjOMfHPY?t=1m10s

Here Ahri taunts both Draven and Darius. She doesn't launch anything at them, and as such there is no impact or damage. This, to me, makes sense. If you want to charm someone, injuring them is probably not a good way to go about it! She just looks at them, clearly has a magical trance effect, and then runs.

Keeping these details in mind, I propose the following changes to Ahri's Charm:

  • Visual: I would like to see something akin to what we saw in "A New Dawn" with a smokey pink effect gusting away from Ahri in the direction she casts the ability.
  • AoE: The Charm fires in a directional cone, representing a small area that she has charming influence over, affecting all enemy champions within. Perhaps slightly shorter range than it currently is, but a width comparable to, say... Syndra's E, Scatter The Weak (not level 5).
  • No damage: Charm is a utility skill and is only occasionally used by Ahri players as a source of damage, taking a back seat to Orb of Deception and Foxfire almost always. With new AoE capability the damage can be removed as she now has a bit more safety with which to deal damage using her other skills.
  • Duration: This is where I feel it gets more interesting. The duration of the charm is now shared among all enemies in the area of effect. It's difficult for anyone to charm multiple people, even Ahri! Additionally, if enemies in the AoE are facing Ahri they are charmed for the full duration, but if they are facing *away * from Ahri they are charmed for *half * the duration (after being divided by the number of targets). A bit like Cassiopeia's ult.
  • Cooldown: With a much heavier affect on teamfights it's safe to say that this ability needs to be on the shelf for a little longer between uses! As a starting point let's say increasing it to 20 seconds, up from 12.

Example 1: Ahri catches 3 enemies in the area of effect of a rank 3 Charm; one of them is hurt and retreating, so is facing away. The 2 enemies facing Ahri are charmed for 0.5 seconds ( 1.5/3 ) while the 3rd is only charmed for 0.25 seconds ( (1.5/3)/2 ). Example 2: Ahri catches 2 enemies in the area of effect of a rank 5 Charm; one is facing her and one is not. The enemy facing Ahri is charmed for 1 second ( 2/2 ) while the enemy facing away is charmed for 0.5 seconds ( (2/2)/2 )

Note: Hitting a single enemy will charm for the same duration as before (halved if facing away), but will do no damage and will be easier to land.

Disclaimer: Yes, I am aware that these changes would likely require a slight tuning of her other abilities. That would be the product of a lot of testing and is not really feasible to be discussed here. Let's keep the focus on what you guys think of this change by itself, thematically and mechanically!

Phew! That took a lot longer than I thought.

So... how does this sit with everyone? Remember: numbers can always change! I'm most interested in what you all think of the concept. Feel free to post suggestions for number tuning regardless.

Change list: reflecting changes to the idea, not the original skill

  • Cooldown up from 15 seconds to 20 (originally 12) - Duration reduced at all ranks, especially higher
  • Duration unchanged but shared between targets

21 Comments

Bauchelain2/11/2015, 8:04:47 AM3 votes

If you come and read this and decide it's so offensive to you that you should downvote the idea, please have the decency to contribute to the discussion.

PrinceOfStorms2/12/2015, 2:26:25 AM3 votes

I could see the duration being shared among all enemies working.

SmokingPuffin2/10/2015, 12:53:07 AM2 votes

That design is terrifying. AoE CC is almost always an ult. It would have tremendous synergy with Q.

I think it's a buff for Ahri even with a 60 second cooldown.

HowsThisNotTaken2/14/2015, 7:03:14 PM2 votes

Love it!

Bauchelain2/12/2015, 12:31:17 AM2 votes

I've made some major changes to the duration mechanics, please have a look!

Hawleo2/10/2015, 12:53:41 AM2 votes

If Charm is going to become that easy to hit, its duration needs to go down by 75%. At least. Especially because it's not an ult. Remember that there's very little non-ult AoE CC in the game, and what little there is generally has a very short duration and doesn't completely incapacitate champions like Ahri's charm does.

Agree

PrinceOfStorms2/10/2015, 12:51:12 AM2 votes

If Charm is going to become that easy to hit, its duration needs to go down by 75%. At least.

Especially because it's not an ult.

Remember that there's very little non-ult AoE CC in the game, and what little there is generally has a very short duration and doesn't completely incapacitate champions like Ahri's charm does.

Bauchelain2/19/2015, 10:09:48 PM1 votes

Don't know if bumping even works here, but this is obviously slipping beneath notice and I'd really like to have some discussions about it!

Kivolan2/10/2015, 12:47:16 AM1 votes

Umm... You want to take a skillshot that's already pretty much "if I hit you with this, you're 100% dead" and give it a bigger range?

No thank you.