@Morello When is Ahri going to get the follow-up she deserves?
Awhile ago Ricklessabandon reworked Arhi. I'm still a little curious that a certain Red said she was perfectly fine a few months before she became FOTM, but whatever.
Anyways he really screwed 2 things up on her. First of all, Ahri was supposed to be a mage first and assassin second. That's what she's always been billed as. A lot of people loved playing her for poke/mage instead of an all in assassin. His rework completely screwed that up. Mage Ahri went bye-bye. The problem is, she's not an assassin either. She can't just burst someone down like a proper assassin. Say Leblanc. Also her sole ability to assassinate requires first hitting charm and rushing a DFG. So compared to some others she's dependent on a single item to do the job she was reworked to do.
A lot of people loved mage Ahri and despite assurances she could still be played that way, that simply isn't the case. Also she's not the best assassin either. So she went from having a little too much "free damage" to not being able to be a mage or a proper assassin. Yet riot never looked to follow that up.
The second issue is her passive (I do like the change to a flat heal). I've never been that happy with it for one reason - you waste it if you cast a spell on max health. For Ahri, this little sustain in her kit comes with a massive mana cost. To really get anything out of it, you generally have to hit a lot of things with your orb. Otherwise, the health gain is minimal.
Now it comes with a potential problem as well: having to use charm when the passive is ready. It's not like before where you could lead with your Orb while the other guy is in the middle of a crowd of minions. So in order to not quite assassinate someone, I now have to start with Charm which will only hit one thing tops. For minimal life gain. At least before you had an option to heal up a little with an orb.
If she were a true assassin, I would get this trade off. She's not. She's a diet assassin; not quite assassin enough.
She's also more hard pressed to build health nowadays. It's not that she can't build Liandry's and Rylai's like before. But she needs to first rush a DFG so she can assassinate people and she has to rush a chalice because her mana costs, particularly mid game, are crazy. However after those two things, you probably need a LB, deathcap(or zhoyna's), voidstaff, and finishing your boots.
To do her job that you reworked her for, she's hasn't got the room in her build for "mage" items that offer her a more rounded playstyle that the mage ahri players liked.
Finally the reworked something that was missing from her kit: real mobility and elusiveness. The problem with her ult is despite being cool and all, is a lot of power is locked up in it. One part of that power is mobility. Unlike other assassins (leblanc), she's got little non-ult mobility. Kass has mobility in his ult, but it has a much better cooldown and last time I checked, he had a way of managing mana costs in his kit.
For Ahri, with her damage and mobility being locked into the same skill (yes it's cool) is also a huge drawback. If you want the damage: you are giving up your escape. If you want the escape, you are giving up your damage.
Katarina can shunpo in, kill 3 people, and shunpo out before the other 2 get her. Eve has mobility in her W. Fizz still has his dodge to get out. Leblanc is leblanc. Vi has her Q. Teemo kills you with his teemopies while he's at base. Riven can Q or E out. Lee sin is Lee Sin.
What I'm trying to get across is there a ton of other assassins out there who don't have to choose between mobility/escape and damage. Of all of them, Ahri probably has the strongest elusiveness fantasy. Yet in game she has the biggest elusiveness drawback and she's screwed without her ult, which has a pretty long cooldown after that quick burst.
