Ahri dashes to top of LoL mid lane meta following simple buffs in Patch 14.4

Ahri, one of the oldest and most popular League of Legends champions, is once more a topic of conversation among fans—but this time, it’s because she may be a bit too good.

After another attempt at buffing the champion in Patch 14.4, Ahri’s presence on Summoner’s Rift has not only grown exponentially but she’s finally started to return to her winning ways. According to League stats websites OP.GG and U.GG, Ahri’s pick rate has jumped nearly seven percent from Patch 14.3 to 10 percent, while also now sporting a 52-percent win rate that’s just beginning to stabilize.

Though she’s popular through her recognizability and kit simplicity, Ahri has long struggled with her identity as a mixed mage/assassin hybrid. Some of this was alleviated during the 2023 season thanks to the addition of items like Everfrost that gave her more efficient ways to lock opponents in place and burst their health bars. But the removal of that item—and the general overhaul of the item system—has made it difficult for Ahri to compare to other mid lane champions over the past several months.

Thus, Riot Games’ first attempt at bringing Ahri back to a healthier position was implemented in Patch 14.2 with a two-second decrease to her Charm’s cooldown. This did very little to move the champion away from obscurity, however, ultimately resulting in another, more directly impactful set of buffs two patches later that brought Ahri to the position where she currently sits atop the meta.

In a direct response to Ahri’s worsening gameplay state, Riot provided her with not only a small durability buff through health growth in Patch 14.4 but a slightly larger AP ratio on both passes of her Q. Within the patch notes, Riot explained that the increased damage was implemented due to the belief that “Ahri players would appreciate more potent damage,” while also highlighting the “skill expression” required to hit both parts of her Q.

This buff, though small in comparison to the changes other champions received in the same patch, ultimately resulted in a huge surge to Ahri’s win rate and pick rate across all Elos, while her build path—highlighted by the new item Malignance—remains relatively the same. Yet in terms of rune choice, players are now taking advantage of the increased damage from Ahri’s Q by coupling it with Arcane Comet over Electrocute, increasing Ahri’s poke damage while in lane and making it even more difficult for opponents to walk to their minion waves safely.

Though the abrupt jump in Ahri’s statistics has captured the attention of both casual and professional players alike, she is currently not lined up for any nerfs or changes in the immediate future. Patch 14.5, which will welcome a handful of new PROJECT skins into League, will launch on the client on March 6.