While a new Darkin champion was eagerly awaited by the League of Legends community, Naafiri finally saw the light of day on July 19, 2023, six years after the release of the last Darkin (Kayn). Although players of Riot Games' MOBA were hyped for this event, the champion failed to convince many.

Indeed, based on the last month, “The Hound of Hundred Bites” has a pickrate of 2.32%, making it the 22nd least-played character in Solo Queue worldwide out of the 170 LoL Champions. But the canid's fate may not be sealed, as in early March 2025, Riot Games announced that a midscope rework was on the way. This Tuesday, March 4, we got the details of the changes planned for the character, who has been on the Summoner's Rift for the past year and a half.

According to League of Legends Lead Designer Riot August, the aim is to ensure that Naafiri remains playable both in sololane but also in the jungle. The first major change in this direction is that Naafiri's packmates will now do 155% damage to monsters. Riot also aims to increase the number of acolytes Naafiri can have, from a maximum of 2-3 to 2/3/4/5 at level 1/9/12/15. On the other hand, the damage and HP of these sidekicks will of course be reduced. Concerning spells, Naafiri's Q spell (Darkin Daggers) and E spell (Eviscerate) have reduced damage. The latter, however, gains in range and counts less Cooldown.

Inspired by Diana and Tahm Kench?

But the main subject of this rework is the swap between the W (Hounds' Pursuit) and the Ultimate (Call of the Pack) in the champion's kit. This is also what happened to Diana between its E and R and to the Tahm Kench between its W and R. When casting its W, Naafiri will now be untargetable for 1s. The hunt will last considerably less time than before (5s vs. 15s previously) and will no longer give shields, HP and extra CD to packmates, vision and resets of these buffs on takedowns of course.

However, Naafiri retains a Movement Speed and Attack Damage boost that it gets as soon as the spell is cast for 5 seconds, rather than a buff that decays over 4 seconds. This spell still gives Naafiri extra dogs, 2 for each rank. To reflect the fact that this is no longer an ultimate, the spell's cooldown has been changed from 120-100s to 20-16s.

Now for the R, Naafiri's ultimate becomes its dash on target. It goes from a CD of 22-14 to 110-80 and now has a range fix of 900 and increased damage over the course of the game (150-300, versus 30-190 previously). The spell can no longer be used on minions, but the two big changes are that it can no longer be blocked and that if Naafiri scores a takedown within 7 seconds after using her Dash, she can get a reset and recast the spell a second time.

Soon on the PBE

These changes are in line with Riot's desire to expand Naafiri's options while making it what they've always wanted from the champion: a real pack. In short, the character will benefit from more frequent movement speed buffs, an ability to jungle, good side lane potential (via movement speed buffs and amplified passive damage on towers, coupled with the character's good wave clear) and, above all, more dogs.

However, the character will have fewer gap close options as its dash on target will be less available, so go-ins will have to be well thought-out for the sandhound. This midscope rework should be available soon on the PBE, allowing us to see the first feedback from the community. By the way, if you decide to try the champion, it's VERY IMPORTANT not to forget to press CTRL+1 twice as soon as you enter the game.