After months of anticipation, Riot Games has finally revealed some new information about the upcoming Ahri ASU.
Ahri is one of the most popular champions of all time in League of Legends. She was released over ten years ago, yet she still has a very active player base.
However, she arguably had the worst experience in season 11 since mages overall could not keep up with the damage meta. From season 11 to early season 12, she had a terrible pick rate, averaging around 4.29% pick rate. That’s why Ahri received a mini-rework in the middle of season 12.
After the mini-rework or, in Riot’s terms, Mid-Scope Updates, Ahri’s pick rate went up drastically, from having a 4.29% pick rate to having an overwhelming 13.90% pick rate. Even in the current patch, Ahri still has a very healthy pick rate of over 9%, and currently, she is the 4th most played mid-laner.
Even before the Mid-Scope Update, in Riot Game’s Season 2022 Dev video, they revealed that Ahri would receive an ASU (Art and Sustainability Update) in season 12.
Art and Sustainability Update is an update where characters will receive a complete visual overhaul while keeping their kits and abilities the same. Riot revealed some more information about Ahri’s ASU in the roadmap video for the upcoming Preseason 2023.
Read More: League of Legends Upcoming Champions Release Order in 2022
Ahri ASU
In the roadmap video for the upcoming Preseason 2023, Lead Champion Designer for League of Legends, Reav3, showed off the new models and visuals for the new Ahri. According to him, Ahri’s base skin is closed to being complete, and her VFX and animations are also close to being finished. Currently, the main hurdle is that Ahri has a ton of skins that need to be updated.
At first glance, this new Ahri model looks very similar to Ruined King: A League of Legends Story and Legend of Runeterra’s depiction of Ahri. Even so, with many differences.
The first difference that is worth pointing out is that her dress now has wave designs, which is unique to this design only.
As for her VFX, they are redone from the ground up. Her VFX looks extremely gorgeous. Moreover, they even added extra sound effects as well for her abilities and idle animations. We can even assume that she will have a much better recall animation with sound effects.
Ahri ASU Release Date
Even though Ahri’s ASU was supposed to come out this season, Riot Reav3 stated in the roadmap video that since Ahri has a lot of skins that need to be updated, her ASU has been delayed to early next year. So we will see her ASU after the Aurelion Sol CGU but before the Ixtal Enchanter.
