Why does Riot consistently make arbitrary changes to champions? (ie; Ahri E buffs then R nerf)

Atlªs·10/12/2018, 4:52:16 AM·9 votes·3,819 views

Ahri's R wasn't the reason why her win rate sky rocketed. It was her E. So then why make changes to her R? No one was complaining about her R. Currently her E has the same type of issue (NOT THE SAME EXACT ISSUE) that Ryze 1s W had. People didn't have time to dodge Q or EQ after being rooted with W which is why they reduced it to .75s. Once I get hit by charm, I can't dodge the Q unless they miss it. So why nerf the R? She was perfectly fine prior to her E buffs. If you want to sell a skin, do it the right way not the cheesy way.

22 Comments

ShadWooo10/12/2018, 6:53:12 AM8 votes

they generally don't want to revert previous changes - that would be accepting a mistake, so they make compensational changes instead

MorganFreemanBot10/12/2018, 6:25:18 AM4 votes

Because some parts of the kit are harder to use than others.

For example, Ahri's E is a fairly narrow skillshot which doesn't move exceedingly fast and has a wind-up. This means that it's not stupendously difficult to dodge, and landing it generally represents the Ahri 'outplaying' her enemy, whether by positioning right next to them or landing it at max rank.

On the flip side, Ahri's R.. Isn't that. It's a ground targeted dash. It also deals damage. There damage automatically targets, and even automatically prioritizes champions. As a result, "dash in the general vicinity of enemy targets" is enough to nuke people. This really doesn't display skill at all; the ability isn't difficult to use.

Ahri Body Pillow10/12/2018, 7:17:44 PM3 votes

Because Ahri players wanted her to have her Kiss of Death fantasy back. If you get hit by charm, you die.

However, it was clear that the E buffs, while returning her to her old iteration of Kiss of Death assassin, pushed her over the edge over a little bit. So they instead chose to make her more high risk high reward by nerfing her safety.

Seems pretty logical to me. People have been complaining about her safety for along time, by the way. Also, increased R CD means less opportunities to reposition yourself for a lethal charm.

Noor Sakata10/12/2018, 6:25:28 AM1 votes

[deleted]

Cotten Eyed Joe10/12/2018, 5:03:28 AM1 votes

They buffed her E and to compensate, made her less mobile. They do this often. It's called balancing the game.

warpenguin55510/12/2018, 8:11:00 PM1 votes

This right here is my main point of frustration with the balance team. Changes like that make champions feel like shit to play afterwards. Using Ahri as an example, she went from having an overtuned e to having an overtuned e and a weaker r. Instead of making the problem slightly better all they did was make another one.

chipndip110/12/2018, 8:33:31 PM1 votes

E: Buff E to increase reward for playing Ahri well (by landing skill checks).

R: Increase Ahri's risk by nerfing her ability to just not die to anything in the early game.

How is this arbitrary?