The Nine-Tailed Fox's spirit rushed towards the Season 12 meta.
Iconic League of Legends mage Ahri reached new heights in Season 12 after an ambitious rework that transformed the champion into a highly mobile, sustainability-focused mid laner rather than a supposed assassin choice.
Riot Games released a relatively large “refresh” for Ahri in League Patch 12.3, and the changes are mostly focused on “bending the mobile mage identity.”
Two weeks later, the popular Nine-Tailed Fox is developing. Ahri, already the clear favorite in the League, has achieved a high pick rate of 15,28 percent this update cycle. Prior to the 12.3 changes, vastayan was barely getting over five percent in his preferred mid laner role. According to league statistics site Lolalytics, another 16,84 percent of games are now banned.
In addition to Ahri's rise in popularity, she is now enjoying more victories. The famous Nine-Tailed Fox gained 53.56 percent, up nearly four points after his changes.
The newfound strength of the vastayans has made it a viable choice for professional gamers as well. Since 12.3 aired on February 1, the ten-year-old champion has played 45 times in Europe, North America, Korea's second division, and smaller regions such as Japan and Oceania. Professional gaming statistics site Gol.gg reported that Ahri has won 51,1 percent of these games so far and has been banned 33 more times.
Vastaya's most high-profile appearance this year came in the LEC when Rogue mid laner Emil “Larssen” Larssen played him in his team's shock loss to Astralis.
Ahri's rework has affected some of her abilities. The Essence Steal passive has been reworked to focus on more “fragments” that are also tied to their ultimate changes. His Q, W, and E as well as health and armor base stats have also been reworked.
“The players it resonated with before are no longer enjoying it,” said league designer Bryan “Axes” Salvatore. “The goal was to make him feel [again] fun.”
Riot Games is far from done with the mage either. Ahri, who first joined the League roster in December 2011, will undergo a "Caitlyn-level" overhaul later this year for her animations, visual design, and opening arts.
“This year, we will focus on Ahri, one of our former but most popular champions in the League,” said Jonathan Belliss, Riot's product manager for customization and events. “There are no back animations, and the animations it has seem to be extremely outdated, not just for its base look, but for any epic skins that use the same base. You can expect to see a Caitlyn-level update for Ahri later this year.”
Even before the visual update was released, Riot is already happy with Ahri's new changes and how they unfold: "So far," said Riot dev Ray Yonggi, "seems pretty strong."
