Naafiri joined League of Legends on July 19th, 2023 but hasn’t stuck the landing. While the fourth Darkin added to the game popped up here and there, she and her packmates never became a staple in professional play – and while not every champion has to, Naafiri has a very low pick rate in casual play as well. According to stats site Lolalytics, she is only played in 1.2 percent of matches across all ranks, and while Naafiri’s win rate is fine with a 53.66 percent peak and 51.33 percent average, she is mostly played by mains – and that’s never a good indicator.
Riot Games has decided to do something about the state of the best girl in the League with a midscope update. As per Riot August’s X post (formerly known as Twitter), the balance team will take the route they did with Tahm Kench and Diana, swapping Naafiri’s ability around, as well as rebalancing the swapped ones and some other parts of her kit. Her old W will become her new Ultimate, while her Ultimate will be demoted to a basic ability with their powers adjusted accordingly.
Contents
Naafiri Rework – All the Details
Here are all the details of Naafiri’s midscope rework:
Stats
- HP increased from 635 + 120/lvl to 635 + 110/lvl
- HP regen decreased from 9 + .9/lvl to 8+ .8/lvl
P – We Are More
- Max dogs have been adjusted 2/3 at levels 1/9 to 2/3/4/5 at levels 1/9/12/15
- Packmate Damage changed from 12-32 +5% bonus AD to 10-20 +4% bonus AD
- Packmate health growth decreased from 16 to 13
- Packmate AoE damage reduction decreased from 76-50% by level 14 to 75-40% by level 15
- Packmate tower damage increased from 25% to 50%
- Packmates now deal 155% damage to monsters
- Packmate Taunt duration decreased from 3 seconds to 2 seconds
Q – Darkin Daggers
- Damage on the first cast decreased from 35-75 to 30-70
- Damage on the second cast decreased from 30-90 to 25-85
W – SWAPPED, is now The Call of the Pack (old R) instead of Hound’s Pursuit
- Naafiri gains 1 second of untargetability on cast
- Hunt Duration decreased from 15 seconds to 5 seconds
- Movement speed decreased from 70-100% decaying over 4 seconds, reduced on taking damage to 20-30% for 5 seconds to correspond with Basic Ability strength
- Bonus AD changed from 5/15/25 + 8-24% bonus AD to 20% Total Attack Damage
- Now grants Attack Damage and Movement Speed immediately on cast
- Cooldown decreased from 120-100 seconds to 20-16 seconds
- Mana cost decreased from 100 to 60
- Extra Packmates spawned decreased from 2/3/4 to flat 2
- No longer grants a shield to Naafiri
- No longer grants packmate health/Cooldown
- No longer grants a pulse of vision
- No longer resets buff on takedown scored by Naafiri
E – Eviscerate
- Cooldown decreased from 10-8 seconds to 9-7 seconds
- Range increased from 350 units to 450 units
- Initial Damage decreased from 35-95 + .5 bonus AD to 15-55 + .4 bonus AD
- Now dashes to the cursor instead of always dashing full distance, making it a better maneuver spell
R – SWAPPED, is now Hounds’ Pursuit (old W) instead of The Call of the Pack
- As a new effect, Naafiri can now recast her Ultimate once if she scores a takedown within 7 seconds of the initial cast.
- Cooldown increased from 22-14 seconds to 110-80 seconds
- Mana cost increased from 70-30 to 100
- Range increased from 700/770/860/940 units to flat 900 units
- Damage increased from 30-190 + .8 bonus AD to 150-350 +1.2 bonus AD
- Naafiri’s dash can no longer be blocked by other enemy champions
- Naafiri’s dash can no longer be cast on minions
While the biggest change is the swap of Naafiri’s old W and old Ultimate, the balance team also shuffled some of the power in her kit. With the Darkin dog being able to spawn more Packmates as the game progresses, her damage should be better.
With dogs’ damage doubled against structures, Naafiri can also sidelane and push better. The fact that Packmates now deal extra damage to Monsters is an indicator that Naafiri could find a new home in the jungle, with a similar playstyle to Nocturne and Master Yi in that she farms until her ultimate, and then takes over the Rift.
Her new W could be very oppressive in the lane as it pushes her over her old damage threshold. While some of the juice in this ability has been removed as it was turned into a basic skill, it can be spammed more. However, the best part of this skill is the added untargetability, which makes it possible for Naafiri to dodge skillshots and attacks with ease.
Naafiri’s new Ultimate could be the deciding factor of her revival in League of Legends. The biggest counterplay to the Darkin was blocking her old dash by standing in the way, much like players would intercept a Caitlyn Ultimate.
If a tank would stand between her and her target, she was dead in the water as she couldn’t get near her mark as an assassin. With the dash not being able to be blocked, she can close the gap and eviscerate her enemies, and with the one time reset mechanic, she can quickly close the gap to a secondary target. The damage is also nice, and if you use the new W beforehand, you can nuke squishies very quickly.
Conclusion
Overall, Naafiri’s midscope update looks like it could be successful, and is a great direction from the League of Legends balance team. Tahm Kench and Diana have seen a resurgence after their similar reworks, and we expect Naafiri to pop up more often as well.
