League of Legends: Ahri Set for BIG Changes on Patch 10.18

Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox, is set to receive big buffs on Patch 10.18

It has been an incredible week for Ahri mains and enthusiasts. First, League of Legends’ virtual pop group K/DA, featuring Ahri herself, unveiled a new single and announced that an EP will be released later in the year. Now, it has been revealed that the Nine-Tailed Fox will be subject to some pretty huge buffs on next week’s Patch 10.18.

The changes were revealed last week in Riot Scruffy’s Patch 10.18 preview. Scruffy is the lead gameplay designer for League of Legends and releases a brief preview of upcoming changes on Twitter every fortnight in preparation for the official patch notes.

Ahri has been selected for buffs on Patch 10.18 as a result of her non-existent presence in pro play throughout 2020 so far, featuring in just 7 games across all competitive regions throughout the Summer Split so far.

Not only that but the mid laner has also fallen in popularity over recent months and currently has a 7.0% pick rate in solo queue, the 45th highest of all champions.

While the latter does not necessarily merit instant action, it’s no surprise that Riot Games want to capitalize on the expected increase in hype surrounding the release of K/DA’s ‘The Baddest’ by squeezing Ahri into the 2020 World Championship meta.

This is the expected Ahri buff heading to Patch 10.18, subject to change between now and the release of the official patch notes on Tuesday, 1 September:

"Base StatsHealth Regen: 6.5 -> 5.5Passive – Vastayan GraceRemoved[New] Passive – Essence Theft[New] Ahri gains an Essence Theft stack for each enemy hit by her abilities, up to a maximum of 3 per cast, storing up to 9 at once (Moved from Q – Orb of Deception).W – Fox-Fire[New] Movement Speed: 40% decaying over 1.5 seconds[New] Deals 200% damage to minions below 20% healthCooldown: 9/8/7/6/5 seconds -> 10/9/8/7/6 secondsCost: 40 mana -> 55 mana"

In short, Ahri’s Orb of Deception healing passive has been shifted to her actual passive, replacing Vastayan Grace which gave 20% bonus movement speed for 3 seconds whenever Ahri landed 2 abilities on an enemy champion within 2 seconds.

On its own, this is definitely a nerf, especially when combined with the reduction in health regen from 6.5 to 5.5. Nevertheless, Fox-Fire is set to receive a mini-rework to compensate for this.

From Patch 10.18, Fox-Fire will grant Ahri 40% bonus movement speed and execute low health minions, a huge upgrade to an ability that is used merely as a tool to slightly boost DPS at the moment. Obviously, this buff has been offset by a slight increase in mana cost and cooldown, but the increased utility more than makes up for this.

The most significant aspect of this change is the small burst in movement speed Ahri receives when casting W – Fox-Fire as this will often allow her to close the gap to her lane opponent and land a potentially lethal E – Charm.

No doubt Ahri mains will be excited to test out the added mobility in the mid laner’s kit and attempt to surprise enemies with previously impossible long-range Orbs of Deception and Charms.

The official Patch 10.18 notes are expected to be released on Tuesday, 1 September in preparation for their implementation to live servers on the morning of Wednesday, 2 September. Check out the Riot Games status page for updates on server maintenance.