Boards›Gameplay

Am I the only one who struggles with classification for Ahri?

Sassmast3r··2 votes·475 views

I've always been confused as to what Ahri should truly be. I know she's a midlaner but is she a mage or an assassin? It's almost like she simply doesn't fit into both roles... perfectly? Let me try to explain

Assassins, such as Leblanc or Zed share something in common; they have a ton of mobility. Does Ahri have a ton of mobility? Yes, albeit, it's not... bursty I suppose? LeBlanc has an amazing forward dash illusion so to speak that makes sense and fits in with the idea of an assassin. Zed has his shadow placement as well as his ultimate, which fits the theme of an assassin very well. But Ahri... the only mobile/assassin like trait she has that fits the idea of an assassin is her ultimate; she chases you down and charms you, and she finally has you in her grasp. But.. how do I explain it? Her Q mobility doesn't feel... assassin-ish? Having just a speed boost doesn't feel right I suppose. Like, that's not something that makes sense for an assassin to do if you ask me, but this could be just me overthinking her.

Mages, such as Lissandra or Syndra have, albeit high damage outputs, they also don't have as much mobility in return. They instead have quite a ton of AOE damage, or sometimes they have DoT, or perhaps they have a little bit of CC. It's like a mixed bag, and it makes sense for a mage. But Ahri... she has mobility. She has a decent amount of it. So you'd think, well she's an assassin! But her damage isn't burst! I literally have never been killed at level 18 against an Ahri level 18, both of us full build, from her charming me, then fox-firing me, then throwing her Q at me. I always manage to survive from that, and I don't understand why

She's clearly not an assassin; she can't assassinate someone. She can't kill someone with a full combo from her kit, and yet it's designed so as to hunt people down and finish them off... But she isn't really a mage either with that sort of mobility.

Is it just me or is it really hard to actually classify Ahri as one or the other? I don't mind hybrid champions, don't get me wrong! Karma is my favorite champion of all, and she's a hybrid as well! It's just like... something feels off about Ahri. She's not really an assassin, but neither is she much of a mage either; she's a combination of both, but she can't solely accomplish either of those roles specifically.

Please don't be rude with your responses ily <3

7 Comments

Ionian3 votes

Riot describes her as a "kite mage". As a mage, she's ranged and has aoe damage. As a kite champion, she has mobility and cc to keep the enemies away from her. Also, like every mage, when you use all your abilities at the same time you will do a lot of damage (=burst). Imo she's 75% mage 25% assasssin.

67chrome2 votes

Is it just me or is it really hard to actually classify Ahri as one or the other?

Why bother fitting her in 1 specific roll when everyone is listed with a primary and secondary roll?

There are plenty of champions that are in between 2 different play styles. Ahri is a solid combo of a mage and an assassin with several strengths of both archetypes but also reasonably tonned down strengths in each one because balance.

She's a mage/assassin. I'd go with mage first if it really bothers you because her QWE all fit that roll and her R is the 1 Akali-status move she's got.

She's not really an assassin, but neither is she much of a mage either; she's a combination of both, but she can't solely accomplish either of those roles specifically.

She can do both well enough. Quite well, due to her consistent relevance at pro play arguably better than she should.

Also consider balance. Jack of all trades (or Jill of all trades) should immediately be fallowed by the phrase "master of none".

Flexibility and versatility alone are rather substantial strengths, especially concerning dealing with picks/bans, counter-building, team formations, tactical movements, and reflexive decisions. Versatility frequently opens you up to exploit an opponent's weaknesses, whatever they might be, while similarly making it exceptionally difficult for opponents to find any chinks in your armor. The only real weakness versatile classes tend to have is being overpowered if they try to muscle there way through a more specialized opponent's strength. Which isn't much of a weakness, let's be honest. More single-purposes archetypes tend to have a large weakness somewhere you're pretty much always going to be able to exploit. Also - the more power they have in a specific area the more obvious their strengths in that area become, so using a multi-purpose archetype.

Anyways - Ahri is a mage/assassin. She's a fairly even mix of both, so you aren't going to get monster strengths in either direction.

LadyRenly2 votes

I dunno what to call it, but I suppose she's more of a pseudo assassin. Yeah she can burst you, but her kit pretty much revolves around her q. E to drag you into a perfect line, R to get a perfect q shot, etc.

Almost maybe a magic marksman caster?

Radnar the bold1 votes

I always think assasins have to go "all in" in order to kill you. People like fizz, leblanc, Zed, Talon, and Ekko need to jump to you and do all their burst in order to kill or weaken you.

Mages on the other hand try to poke you down in order to kill you. they have alot of ranged abilties that they use to slowly decay your health. Ahri is a mage that uses mobility when needed to finish kills, but she can poke you down without going "all in"

Sassmast3r1 votes

Oo! I like this explanation, thank you! I fully understand what you're saying, this makes complete sense, so thank you for the response! I suppose I just didn't fully understand which role she fit best into, but this helps a lot with my understanding; thank you <3

Radnar the bold1 votes

No prob mate! I agree she does seem like she could be an assasin with the high moblility, but she falls more under the mage catogarey with her super poke.

1000angrybees1 votes

not every champ needs to be stuffed into a specific category. As for what she is, she's a kite mage with assassin characteristics- meaning, Mage first (poke enemies with abilities), Assassin later (go all in on enemies with lower health).

More from Gameplay

3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay764 comments
7,167
votes
3 Refunds per season, upvote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay156 comments
3,510
votes
UPVOTE FOR URF
Gameplay606 comments
2,440
votes
Yes plz.
Gameplay456 comments
1,721
votes
3 Refunds per season, up vote if you want 3 refunds per season.
Gameplay114 comments
1,716
votes
When is ANYONE at riot going to address the awful new player experience?
Gameplay634 comments
1,383
votes

More by Sassmast3r

Can we please have an offline mode?
[ARCHIVED] Miscellaneous31 comments
71
votes
Scuttle Crab should imbue speed boost into its killer
Gameplay6 comments
57
votes
The Splash Arts for the new Poppy look wonderful!
Story, Art, & Sound16 comments
57
votes
Daily reminder that Karma no longer says: "Phyla, Saera, or Jia" post-ultimate.
[ARCHIVED] Miscellaneous29 comments
52
votes
Was unsure of where to post this, so I figured I'd try here first.
Gameplay19 comments
26
votes
Updating Traditional Karma's Voice Lines
Story, Art, & Sound5 comments
22
votes