Usually, whenever a developer shows off a character in a game, that character is close to their finished form. That's why it's quite surprising to learn that the team behind in-development League of Legends fighter 2XKO will be changing fan-favorite character Ahri before the game is even out.
Riot Game released a new video today with a few important announcements regarding 2XKO. The main focus of the video was the announcement of an alpha test for the game for select regions in August.
After talking about the 2XKO test — which sadly won't cover the Southeast Asia region — host Stephen "Sajam" Lyon asked Executive Producer Tom Cannon and Director Shaun Rivera about the Ahri changes."
"One thing we heard a log about Ahri is that people love how she looks, how she play," stated Rivera. "And then when they play her, they're like, 'oh man this is an ammo system I have to manage.' This is a really hard hump to get over."
In previous playable builds of 2XKO, pressing the Special 1 button would cause Ahri to fire a barrage of three "Fox-fire" projectiles, emptying her reserve. Players would then have to take time to recharge her ammo to be able to do this again.
But in the latest build, Rivera explained, Ahri's Fox-fire is no longer tied to an ammo system. Instead, it's become what fighting game players call a rekka chain — a series of moves that can be done in succession.
Specifically, it's a three-hit chain that leads to different moves each time the Special 1 button is pressed.
- 1st Special 1 press - Single Fox-fire shot
- 2nd Special 1 press - Forward lunge into an angled Fox-fire shot
- 3rd Special 1 press - Overhead Fox-fire-powered smash
The second and third Special 1 Fox-fire attacks have some interesting properties as well. Ahri can air dash out of the former, allowing her to create mixups or just straight up disengage should her opponent successfully defend against her pressure. Meanwhile, the third Fox-fire attack causes Ahri's opponent to bounce off the ground if it hits, allowing her to combo afterward. In addition, it looks to be an overhead attack — an attack that must be blocked standing — which can lead to interesting and hard-to-block mixups with 2XKO's tag-team and assist system.
The changes look to make Ahri easier to pick up and play for newcomers while at the same time giving fighting game veterans space to explore with her. Ahri is, after all, arguably one of League of Legends' most popular characters. At the same time, the team's design for her kit, especially her aerial movement, takes a lot from the Marvel vs. Capcom games — many veterans of whom are part of the team — so fighting game veterans who were drawn in by this will hopefully be able to enjoy her as well.
Of course, Riot also revealed a few other details in the video, such as a selectable "fuse" — gameplay customizations that players can choose after picking their team — designed specifically for newcomers by allowing auto-combos. You can learn about all of these and more in the video below.
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