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As an Ahri main since late season 2/early season 3, Ahri is too safe.

Takethehelm·8/28/2015, 1:57:24 PM·10 votes·2,015 views

Now I know what you all are thinking: just (insert summoner lookup website)ed you, you're only silver 1 wtf do you know about balance? And you know what you're probably somewhat right, but I can read stats, pick rates, win rates, and I have been playing this game since the player proclaimed "golden age". In short I think Ahri is a little bit too viable everywhere, and could use some small nerfs. I don't want riot to completely gut her, like some champs: Kassadin Ryze and many others i'm too lazy to actually put in here and look for. I'm not trying to bash Riot for their balance, in general I think they do a pretty good job, better than we, the players give them credit for. However they can always use help, and advice from us the players, and so that's kind of why i'm writing this.

What is wrong with Ahri right now? She is too safe, and has too much mobility. pre 6 isn't too bad, but she still has the extra movement speed on her q (orb of deception) when she casts it, which I don't like very much, but i'll get to that later. She'll likely also have the summoner spell summoner 4 to avoid ganks/sticky situations, which is fine since summoners are available to everyone, post level 13 (I think pls no murderino meh). Her e (charm) is also decent at escaping ganks if you can land it, but it's dodgable, and often just isn't enough if she's too far pushed. However, pre 6 isn't the awful thing about Ahri and her mobility, it's when she gets her ult (spirit rush). The 3 dashes it provides makes her basically ungankable, they can go over walls, and can be used to disengage or engage with. As well ult, w, e combo to catch an out of position enemy is a huge threat. In my opinion this makes Ahri too safe. This by itself doesn't mean her r by itself is too strong, but with the other tools in her kit, she becomes too much like sonic, if he was like the fanfiction written about him (okay, too far i'm done promise). She'll likely also buy item 3165 giving her 25% cdr with masteries fairly early since the item is cheap. She then will have ult on a very short cd allowing for its use many times in only a short amount of time. I find when she uses ult, then backs, it'll only have a 10-20 second cooldown once she's back in lane.

My Solution? As I said before I don't think she should be gutted but to give some statistics (yes I know: there are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics). Over the past month the win rate for Ahri in ranked across all ranks is 54.1% which is third best; and it's around the same amount in Master+, DIamond, and Platinum. Her pick rate is also pretty high, she is 10th in ranked so basically she's in the 10% OCCUPY RIFT STREET??!! In diamond+ she is ranked 5th highest, and in the 5% easily. (Source is lolking).

Wtf that isn't a solution!! Okay fine here, if you listen i'm getting there (not). I think that Ahri's ult makes her extremely safe past 6, and especially when she buys cdr, and I also believe that Ahri is meant to be susceptible to ganks early on. I never really understood why she got the mobility attached to her q, and I think it doesn't help to emphasize her weakness at lower levels. Therefore I propose to remove it completely, it allows her to escape, and doesn't really allow enemies to optimize when to try and counter her. It's not a huge nerf, but I believe it allows for much more counterplay. I also think we should force the player to work around her ult, and it's cooldown a bit more, so she doesn't have it seemingly always up. Currently Ahri is pretty much able to engage any time, managing cooldowns should be of more importance. Her ult cooldown now is 110/95/80, but I believe it should be a bit longer, not too much but around 120/110/95, maybe a bit less than that to start but it makes her less safe early, and forces her to keep her cooldowns in her head at all times.

Tl;dr: Read the full thing idiot (jk), Ahri is too safe early, make her less safe by removing q mobility, and making cd on ult a bit longer, forcing her to think. This will make her more in balance like release Zyra.

I am very open to comments and criticism, just be polite :)

26 Comments

PiVoRx8/28/2015, 2:12:30 PM6 votes

take cover before ahri waifus will flood this threa with their "ahri is fine now"

Pyrokineticmage8/28/2015, 2:54:18 PM5 votes

Honestly the most balanced Ahri was the damage amp on her charm version. You are rewarded for hitting charm and easily punished when you miss. But since they completely removed that mechanic with DFG they have to shift that power somewhere else, in this case they place the numbers on a MS buff.

DJ Di08/28/2015, 3:36:46 PM3 votes

If you want to nerf her like that, you'll need to give her back either the damage amp or range on W and R; she gave that up for the movement speed on Q.

Lost In Time8/28/2015, 2:24:16 PM2 votes

Ever played 40% CDR Ahri?

Absolutely disgusting, and you don't have to sacrifice damage.

Serevas8/28/2015, 2:31:08 PM2 votes

I still ban Ahri you don't sit at a 53.5% win rate with a near 20% play rate and not get looked at for bans from me. Her win rate is above 50% at all lengths of the game and at all the varying levels of skill for the champion according to champion.gg.

She has a super safe laning phase, a ton of kill pressure, and it's far too easy for her to stay safe in a team fight while shredding everyone.

Charmed by Ahri8/29/2015, 9:18:24 AM2 votes

You are complaining about a champion who has been altered from an Assassin to a "kite mage". Although the only thing i can agree with you on is her Q movement speed and how it should be changed to charm amp. Her ult is based on getting in your face deleting you from existence or rushing out to safety if things go badly.

Like any mobile champion, they revolve around risk and reward, dash/blink in for the reward of a kill. Fail and you should be punished, although this sometimes may not always the case with certain champions and elos. She is/has always been seen as a safe pick, because of her range wave clear sustain and escape capabilities. Just like Lulu Hecarim Gragas Ezreal Leblanc Lissandra Morgana Orianna Zed Renekton some mid and top laners, who can be seen as safe. For mobility allows them to escape ganks, healing and shields. Then above all else, flash is standard issue! summoner 4, its the most meta summoner spell in the game. If you don't like the fact that Ahri is able to ult on a 60ish second cooldown at lvl 16, build no CDR on her what so ever, also don't take flash. Tell me how that goes for you. I'll get a good laugh.

But here you are as a supposed Ahri main, complaining she is too safe. Her ult CD was already nerfed in terms of damage, speed at which she can dash in quick succession and the cooldown it has. Ahri in mass has always built some kind of CDR to make up for the fact that she tends to do better with some kind of CDR. Whether the cooldown reduction item be item 3158 item 3174 item 3165 or DFG, or Runes in general. As with many champions, tend to excel on low cooldowns like riven for example. It's never necessary to run 20%+ CDR on any champion, but some champions just flow better with some added CDR.

Then people complain about her win rate being a steady 54%, with an almost 20% pick rate. If you were to ask non league players who know league, and what is one the champions that come to mind, i've gotten responses like "the fox, Ahri, teemo". She has far greater numbers in terms of fan art, then she's in animated short films, on league posters, websites. She's everywhere. What's more hilarious her 54% is a balanced win rate considering the list of nerfs she's had since day 1. Especially when she doesn't even have her real damage. Could you imagine her Win rate if she did, when they buffed just her W, she skyrocketed to a 57% win rate. Add in a R buff and she would've been in the 60% range. Simply because people know exactly how to use her and what she's capable of, opposed to s2, where most players were barely grasping her full potential and it wasn't til s3 people, especially pros, realized how strong of a pick she can really be. But even then she would falter like any other champion who has counters.

But those ult Cooldown nerfs, are ridiculous and as an Ahri main to the next you should feel ashamed to even mention such a preposterous idea without even looking at all the facts. Also zyra Zyra and Ahri Ahri are nothing alike, As Ahri is a mobile Assassin known for picking people off or maging team fights til she finds you low to assassinate you then. Zyra has always been known for her AI and her aoe knockup ult into wombo combos. Completely different champions with nothing in common, other than a fire skin.

MCBiggah998/28/2015, 2:18:52 PM2 votes

About time people realized she's broken.

The Bíg Ticket8/28/2015, 2:23:33 PM2 votes

But she only has 3 dashes, a free ghost on Q and the hardest cc in the game on E. Waiting for the delusionall Ahri mains who just finished fapping to her to explain how she is not broken.

Amelie8/28/2015, 3:58:14 PM2 votes

Ahri has received nerf after nerf after nerf, until she disappeared from play. Her damage and healing passive have been nerfed 3+ times. She just got her passive nerfed in the most recent patch. And she's still "too safe"? She doesn't have the early burst of an assassin; she isn't going to 100-0 anyone who is full hp when she hits level 6. If she spams Q, she is going oom.

What would you get from taking away her safety? Would you compensate by giving her more damage? Wouldn't that be risky, bringing back her days of insta-bursting people? Or maybe you would lower mana costs? So she becomes a poke mage?

Or would you give her nothing - just make her less safe. Take away her Q speed and increase her ult cooldown when she has the 2nd lowest movespeed in the game. I don't get it, is she supposed to just hide at her turret and hope for the best? I'm not sure if either of these changes make sense when she is supposed to be a mobile mage - that's how she was designed.

If you say, oh she is safe because she can ult away from ganks. Isn't that a positive for the enemy, because she didn't get to use her ult offensively? She can't roam very well without her ult, either. So you either kicked her out of lane or reduced her pressure considerably. Yeah, she probably didn't die. Is that so bad, though? If she's not snowballing in other lanes, it takes some time for her to get strong - at least strong enough to nuke someone 100-0.

If you say, oh she is doing too much damage in teamfights. Isn't she a mage? They typically bring AoE damage to fights, that's why they're picked. This is nothing special about Ahri. Other mages bring way more AoE.

If you say, oh she just has to land one charm and it's gg. You can say the same about so many other champions that rely on hitting a cc to unleash their kit. This is nothing special about Ahri.

kneel on Ice8/29/2015, 6:06:45 AM2 votes

No escape before lvl 6 is too safe ? please bronze spotted

Rand0mH3r0X8/28/2015, 4:06:07 PM1 votes

Ahri's Charm is the most frustrating thing, it move's a consistent speed throughout it's travel and this means that it's hard to dodge up close and easy to dodge far away. Ahri can take advantage of this by charming players before ever actually using her ability by merely taunting them and charming them after getting close, and she will deal massive amounts of damage, then run away to a safe spot.

Specifically the way Ahri's Charm works, it makes champions walk around corners to her which is the most frustrating thing, and reveals the enemies she hits allowing the Jax to hop to you smash you in the face and get danced around by Ahri.

If charm's missle speed could be adjusted to grow in speed so she can hit farther targets and give closer targets a chance to dodge, that would be all I ask for. Further than that, her charm reveals champions and makes them walk around corners, instead of to her position. Her charm, not her three cast ultimate, is her strongest strength because Ahri needs to have the dance with enemy champions in order to assassinate them.

alfavhunter8/28/2015, 4:07:57 PM1 votes

What ahri needs

Q only gives MS when moving toward her Q orb (use it as escape or chase/ damage not damage and escape) (this weakens her ability to trade with Q and. Get out before you can retaliate but still keeps her chasing potential with Q

R early level CD increased by 20 seconds (makes her less safe early)

I don't honestly think she needs the nerf as she has been getting a lot of chip nerfs over time (and she got her extra mobility in return for losing the ability to assassinate unless fed with the DFG and E damage modifier being removed )

RisenDarkKnight8/28/2015, 5:49:25 PM1 votes

You're right that they need to remove the movement speed on her q, but they can't just nerf that and expect her to be viable. IMO it should come with a damage buff either amplification on charm like she used to have or just more damage on her q/w/ult.

FebruAhri8/28/2015, 2:17:01 PM1 votes

Give her some damage or range back and it's k.

Cowgirl Ed8/28/2015, 2:09:02 PM1 votes

zyra should get a +5 ms she is slow as fuck lol