League of Legends: Riot reworks Ahri with upcoming patch 12.3
Despite the relatively small first patch of updates in early 2022, League of Legends patch 12.2 is now available on live servers. However, prepare for more updates in the upcoming 12.3 patch, set for launch sometime in February.
One of the highlights in the upcoming patch is a mini-rework of a champion, Ahri. First announced earlier this year, Riot Games’ developer confirmed that Ahri will receive a major visual update – and it seems that the changes are coming soon.
“She doesn’t have back animations, and the animations that she does have just feel extremely dated, not only for her base skin but for all epic skins that use the same foundation,” said Riot’s Jonathan Belliss, product lead for personalization and events in League of Legends about one of the older champions. Belliss also added that fans can expect “a Caitlyn-level update” for Ahri.
Aside from Ahri reworks, it is possible Riot will add new skins, per tradition on previous patches. Although to date there is no information on this part, some expect to see at least one skin that has been delayed from patch 12.1: the Fireflight Ekko Skin.
Updates for Ahri
August Browning, champion designer at Riot who goes by “Riot August” confirmed the change for Ahri is coming soon. In a tweet, August mentioned that the updates will “lean into her mobile mage identity”. All four of Ahri’s active abilities as well as her passive will receive some changes as well in the upcoming patch.
The update will also provide updates to Ahri’s ultimate, Spirit Fire, by adding a reset mechanic to the ability that gives her expanded mobility. It will be closely tied to her passive, as Spirit Fire (R) will gain her an extra charge and extended duration whenever she consumes enemy champion’s essence using a completely reworked passive, “Essence Theft”.
With Patch 12.3, her passive will allow her to collect “Essence Fragments” from enemy minions and monsters. When the nine fragments are collected, Ahri will heal 40 to 120 health and 25 percent of her ability power.
Additionally, she will also be able to heal whenever she scores a takedown against an enemy champion.
The rest of her kit will also receive some general buffs and nerfs. For example, Fox-Fire (W) will have increased damage output and reduced mana cost. In contrast, her Orb of Deception (Q) will require increased mana cost, while the damage amplification feature is no longer present in the game.
As per usual, every new patch is first released on the game’s PBE test server. Two weeks later, the patch will be rolled out to live servers. As of date, the Patch will go live on February 2. However, the developers recommend checking a few days prior to check if there is any change.
The maintenance time for the update has not been announced yet by Riot. Should the schedule follow the previous ones, it should be at 3 AM PT (for North American Servers), 5 AM GMT (Western European servers), and 3 AM CET (Easter European servers).
