In Korea, there is an old story about a nine-tailed fox that possesses impeccable beauty when in human form, but is in fact a type of demon that seduces human males in order to devour their livers. Ahri is a champion originating from this story, and League of Legends (LoL) has materialized these features quite well in the game. Not only is her beauty perfectly realized, but her skill called “Charm” is a representation of the champion and one of the strongest crowd control skills in the game.

Because of that, many mid laners have been discussing whether she is OP, and if she needs to get nerfed. Yongjun “Fly” Song said that Ahri is a somewhat useless champion, whereas Seohaeng “KurO” Lee carried the game against Afreeca Freecs with Ahri on the 9th week of the season 7 World Championship - just a week after Fly’s assessment about the champion. So, is she really OP then?

▣ The summary about Ahri - OP or not?

The following are lists of points that each side claims about the topic.

The points made from the “OP” side are as follows:

- She became much stronger after the minion patch; one Q can clear ranged minions much easier than before. This helps her have a lead against the opponent in the lane, and her Charm and ultimate skill boost her capability during the first encounter and response to ganks.

- When she has the lead in lane, it impacts all other lanes because Ahri is known to be one of the few that can roam the entire map without much hassle.

- The statistic of her high pick and win rates implies that she is OP right now, therefore she needs to be nerfed prior to any other champions.

On the other hand, this is what the “Not OP” side asserted:

- The champion is not strong enough to be nerfed like Zed or LeBlanc. The ban rate is not to be considered as that of an OP champ, and her damage is not great considering that her main skills are all non-target base.

- She is too reliant on her ultimate skill. Not only does its absence decrease her mobility, the chance of hitting Charm also decreases drastically.

- The pick and win rates have always been fairly good even in the past and it is absurd to suddenly claim that she is OP now. She does have distinct strengths and weaknesses, and should be considered a well-balanced champion. It is more appropriate to balance other champions instead of Ahri.

▣ Statistics of the champion

The followings are the statistics of solo ranked and pro matches:

From this, it is hard to tell if the champion should really be considered OP, as the ban rate of solo ranked is only 1.09% and 7.8% for pro matches. Players usually ban champions when they are considered OP, and LeBlanc is a good example, having an over 90% ban rate before the nerf. This indicates that users judge implicitly that Ahri is still not as threatening as people insist she is.

Pro players generally pick or ban the champions that are considered OP, and this is quite evident in the 100% pick and ban rates of Camille. However, Ahri’s rate is only 18.9%, placing her at 33rd. It is therefore difficult to tell whether she is OP or not with reference to only statistics.

▣ What do pro players say about the champion then?

We sought out the answers from pro players - Sanghyuk “Faker” Lee and Minho “Crown” Lee.

Faker addressed Ahri as a champion that does not need a nerf for now. “She doesn’t need it. She is a good champion if you play her properly” said Faker. The answer seemed quite vague so we asked if she is an OP champion that just needs good control to bring out her max capabilities. “She is a moderately good champion, but not OP” answered Faker, and he also mentioned that it applies to all solo ranks and pro matches.

In summary, she is a good champion when she grows well but a bad champion when she falls behind; a typical feature that has been since the first launch. We asked another question about whether there is any counter champion to her. Faker answered, although carefully, “There is of course, but I cannot give you more details about it”.

Crown’s answers were simple and straight. “She is not OP, but a card that can maybe become a game-changer. She may be really good depending on the circumstances, but can also be a booby trap under certain situations,” said Crown.

He also mentioned that she is still not OP even when it comes to solo ranks. “She is the type of champion you can pick without much consideration. The word OP applies to champions that are almost perfectly designed and difficult to deal with when you use or face them. However, Ahri did not give me this impression.” He added that there is also a number of counter champions.

Ultimately, he concluded that Ahri does not need the nerf and said that she is currently well balanced. The strengths and weaknesses of the champion that Crown evaluated were similar to Faker’s. “An advantage she has is her ability to act prior to the opponent. A disadvantage is the high possibility of losing 5v5 when you play her moderately, and there is no coming back when you fail.”

▣ Nerf? Not sure yet

There is no doubt about the fact that she’s not OP with reference to top pro player’s opinions, at least for highly skilled users in this game. However, there is still a possibility of balance adjustments being applied to her because Riot Games considers everyone from the lowest tier users to pro players in the league when they adjust the balance.

Greg “Ghostcrawler” Street, the director in charge of managing the game balance of LoL, announced “LoL balancing for all players from Bronze to Bengi”, and said that the focus of the game balance is not only on top tier players - If there is any champion that interrupts solo rank players, including bronze, from enjoying the game, the company put that champions name on the list for the balance adjustment. Therefore, Ahri may still be subject to future adjustments.