Hey guys, UberY0shi here. I just recently picked up Ahri and absolutely loved her dynamic style of play. You can be really flexible with her in most games and can really stretch the limit in terms of aggresiveness with her ultimate. Take a quick moment to read through this brief guide and tell me what you think of my build and how it synergizes with how I believe Ahri should be played. A CDR hit-and-run champ.

Pros

• Strong laning phase
• Spell vamp
• Strong CC for ganks
• High mobility
• Difficult to gank with her Spirit Rush and Charm
• Promotes aggressiveness

Cons

• Strong laning phase (Expect ganks)
• High Priority due to true damage and multi-target
• Highly dependent on skill shots
• Mana dependent in early game
• Relies on her Spirit Rush and Charm to avoid ganks
• Crowd control shuts her down quickly

This suggests that Ahri takes the role of a "utility assassin" that brings as much support to her team as she does damage. With adequate farm, you can take huge advantage of your opponents with Ahri's high mobility and sustain in large battles.


This game also reinforces the idea that Ahri brings a lot of utility to her team with this build, allowing your other carries to snowball much more easily.

I previously stated that Ahri should be a CDR champ since her AP ratios and natural cooldowns suggest more sustain damage rather than burst. Her True damage and multi-target abilities would definitely benefit more from shorter cooldowns rather than single target damage like LeBlanc or Malzahar. 21/0/9 works best for her standard build. If you want to mess around and be more overly aggressive, you can put your last 9 points into the defense tree instead.

Her runes were a bit trickier for me to pick out. Use this more of a reference than a "optimal" rune set. I prefer heavy harassment early game, so I take flat mana regen per 5 runes. Even though her AP ratios are low, AP runes and Magic Pen runes are a must. When I prefer a more "troll" game, I'll put heavy reliance on AP and a bit more magic penetration to take more advantage of level 6 ganks and late game damage.

Ignite Ignite is a really strong summoner spell pick for most AP champs. It adds some decent damage-over-time to your combos and helps cut down on any clutch heals that may occur while you attack. Should you decide to take Summoner's Wrath, you'll get some extra edge on your farming and your harassment.

Flash Flash is still a strong pick, specifically for Ahri. It synergizes well with her kit. You could almost think of it as Ezreal's Arcane Shift to set up your combo for an "all-in" attack. Along with that, it has it's other obvious uses like flashing over walls, repositioning, etc. Use it wisely; it's Ahri's second strongest form of mobility. Without it, she becomes much more vulnerable.

Other Picks
Other decent spells include Ghost and Cleanse. The boost in damage output is ridiculous for team fights. Ghost has a longer lasting benefit than Flash, though it lacks the wall jumping feature and the near-instant benefit that makes Flash so viable. Cleanse helps counter the nasty effects of crowd control that so easily shut Ahri down.

Not So Viable
I don't see Ahri benefitting from Surge enough to use it viably. Her AP ratios are geared towards sustain damage rather than single burst and her AP ratios reflect this. Surge won't give you the edge you're looking for in big battles.

Teleport is a great spell, but Ahri's pushing strength is limited to her farming abilities. She can't really push down turrets fast enough and with this build, you'll rarely find yourself recalling to the point where you are losing painful chunks of experience/gold. If you find yourself having poor map awareness and positioning, you can consider teleport; just understand that it's not very viable on her.

I take Charm at level 2 specifically to boost harassment with Orb of Deception, to discourage any early ganks, and to strengthen any ganks my own jungler may engage in.

Max out Orb of Deception as it maximizes your sustain and farming strength, possibly giving you the upper hand in lane. Fox-Fire adds strong harassment and farming on top of that. Charm isn't much of a laning ability as it is a battle / gank ability, so I max it last, using it only to strengthen harassment or discourage ganks.

Standard Build

Starting Items

• Sapphire Crystal and two Health Potion
• Boots and three Health Potion
• Rare case: Doran's Ring

Core

Sustain Focused

• Hextech Revolver
• Catalyst The Protector
• Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Lane Dominance

• Two Doran's Ring
• Catalyst The Protector
• Sorcerer's Shoes

Final Build

• Ionian Boots of Lucidity
• Rod of Ages
• Will of the Ancients
• Rylai's Crystal Scepter
• Rabadon's Deathcap
• Void Staff
• Elixir of Brilliance as needed

I typically play Ahri as a hit-and-run champ that relies heavily on cooldown reduction and sustain damage. Sapphire Crystal gives you more harassment power in lane and more opportunities to spell vamp if you get harassed heavily.
I prioritize lane sustain with Ahri since I feel her mid-game is a bit fragile compared to other AP champs. Her damage is great, but comes at a high risk. I like to stay safe even when aggressive, so I build Catalyst The Protector and Hextech Revolver.
I still feel Rod of Ages is the best AP caster item in the game; no other item beats its versatility. Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Will of the Ancients brings a lot of utility to your team while still making Ahri much beefier for team fights.

Ahri's laning phase is rather simple. Focus on last hitting, and punish your opponent with your Orb of Deception when desired. If you can land a charm, be aggressive. Ahri benefits from being aggressive since her Charm is so ridiculously strong against most AP champs. (I put only one skill point into Charm since I use it only to line up my Orb of Deception (I believe Fox-Fire is a stronger laning ability). Ahri thrives in baiting people and punishing them with her skill set. Charm is much easier to land while being chased, and Fox-Fire can demoralize most chasers that get too close.

Once you get Rylai's Crystal Scepter, it should be impossible to gank you unless you are CC'd to death or something. In team fights, you can either use your ultimate to deal damage, pull aggression, or to get away. Spam all day. Your team needs your spell slows.

I build Zhonya's Hourglass in my troll build to exploit my opponent's mistakes should they put too much focus on me in fights. Morello's Evil Tome makes up for the loss of cooldown reduction from Ionian Boots of Lucidity. I like this build for ganking more often when I can. Ahri's a great ganker.

I don't prioritize building a lot of cooldown reduction items other than Ionian Boots of Lucidity. I prefer getting blue buff whenever I can and buy an Elixir of Brilliance to get the cooldown reduction needed.

Ahri cannot dive and kill champs outright without risking your life unnecessarily. Instead, use the utility gained from Will of the Ancients and Rylai's Crystal Scepter to support your team initially with true damage poke and Fox-Fire. Then, as your targets seem more favorable to dive, go ahead and seal the deal with Charm -> Orb of Deception -> Spirit Rush. Start off with a passive-aggressive approach to team fights, unless you're sure you have the upper hand and can simply dive for kills.

Simple, cut and dry. Spirit Rush in first, hit them with Charm, followed by Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire. Spirit Rush twice more as they Flash/ Ghost/ability cast away from you. Ignite to secure the kill if it's available. Don't waste your Flash to secure the kill. If they get away, they get away. There's little need to dive in most cases.

Ahri is initially a very difficult champion to pick up. Her playstyle benefits players that prefer positioning and passive harassment play over aggressive diving such as Akali or Kassadin. Once you've gotten the hang of Ahri's skill kit, you'll have tons of fun playing as the mobile utility assassin.

Let me know what you thought! I'll be making a few updates every now and then based on your criticisms and my further experience. Have fun, peeps.

12/18: Added some proof of the guide's effectiveness and added skill sequences / strategies.