Click to open network menu
Join or Log In
Mobafire logo

Join the leading League of Legends community. Create and share Champion Guides and Builds.

Create an MFN Account






Or

Not Updated For Current Season

This guide has not yet been updated for the current season. Please keep this in mind while reading. You can see the most recently updated guides on the browse guides page

x
Ahri Build Guide by MRN.ecco

AP Carry Ecco's Guide to Ahri

AP Carry Ecco's Guide to Ahri

Updated on January 6, 2014
8.9
15
Votes
1
Vote Vote
League of Legends Build Guide Author MRN.ecco Build Guide By MRN.ecco 15 1 210,651 Views 18 Comments
15 1 210,651 Views 18 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author MRN.ecco Ahri Build Guide By MRN.ecco Updated on January 6, 2014
x
Did this guide help you? If so please give them a vote or leave a comment. You can even win prizes by doing so!
Vote
Comment

You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.

I liked this Guide
I didn't like this Guide
Commenting is required to vote!
Would you like to add a comment to your vote?

Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.

Introduction


Hello, everyone! I am Tyler "ecco" Spesick and I am the former mid player for the LCS teams "Team MRN" and "Team VES."

Ahri has been one of my favorite champions for almost a year now so I thought I'd share my love for her in the form a guide! Ahri has always been a very strong champion, however nowadays she just shines in the current assassin-are-op meta. My Ahri varies slightly from other's so I'll be showing some insight as to why it is different and why I think it's better than how others play her.

NOTE: Ahri will be getting reworked in the near future. When that happens, check back for updates!

My Stream



Twitter: @eccoLoL - Stream: thebts
Back to Top

Pros/Cons

Pros

  1. Strong laning.
  2. Good catch/Poke.
  3. Strong split-pusher with lich bane.
  4. Insane mobility and re-positioning available with ult.
  5. Arguably the best support-killer in the game.
  6. Insane burst and 1v1 ability.

Cons

  1. Skill-shot heavy (makes her damage volatile/inconsistent)
  2. Low-mobility without ult.
  3. Slow at killing front-line/tanks.
Back to Top

Team Comps


Ahri is a champion that works well in most team-compositions but overall does best in dive/all-in compositions.

An example composition that she would work very well in would be Shen, Nocturne, Ahri, Corki and Sona. All have strong burst damage and follow-up with engage. Ahri excels so well with this because when her team is all diving as one cohesive unit it makes it difficult for the opposing team to focus her. She is able to get in, burst a priority target with her team, and able to get out fairly easily if needed to because her team is so far forward.

Ahri is also very strong at picks as well as sieging. If someone is out of position in the map it is very easy for her to capitalize on their mistake due to her chasing ability with her ult. Denying vision and baiting objectives is a very strong strategy with her. Due to building lich bane and catch potential with charm makes her strong at sieging towers. She does a great deal of damage to them and can also create picks.
Back to Top

Spells


Ignite and Flash will be your go-to summoners every game on Ahri. She has such strong kill potential in lane at lvl 6 and beyond that it just really limits her potential to snowball by going anything else.

There aren't really any other summoners to pick for Ahri. Flash is pretty much mandatory on her and ignite goes well with her strong kit.
Back to Top

Runes

greater mark of hybrid penetration

9x
9x
9x
3x
... greater mark of hybrid penetration
Greater Seal of Armor
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
Greater Quintessence of Ability Power

This rune setup is very standard on mids and is very lane focused. As Ahri you will be trading a lot in lane and this allows you to do that to the best of your ability.

Hybrid penetration reds are overall much more efficient than magic penetration as you are trading only 2.3 magic pen to gain 8.1 armor pen. Since you will be trading a lot in lane (with lots of auto-attacks), the benefits of the armor pen greatly outweigh those of the little bit of extra magic pen.

Running armor yellows and mr blues is very standard and going anything is frankly greedy and leaves you to be punished in lane because you will constantly be out-traded.

AP quints gives you that extra little boost of damage for lane and is by far the best choice to use on her.
Back to Top

Masteries


This is the standard page I've been running on almost all of my AP mids right now. Overall it gives you everything you need for the entire game. The 21 points in offense allow you to scale as hard as you can into the late game while the 9 points in offense give you added regeneration for laning as well as reduced cool-down on your summoner spells.
Back to Top

Skill Sequence


This is the standard skill sequence for Ahri that you should go in most of your matchups. The only time that this changes is if you are against a melee/close-range champion who forces lots of trading (such as Kassadin or Vladimir) then you should get your W to lvl 3 before maxing Q.

Essence Theft (Passive)


Essence theft is a very unique and strong passive. It will help your sustain in laning which allows you to be more aggressive since you have more ways to get health back than your opponent. It is most optimal to use Fox-Fire for your passive (with it hitting 3 different targets) unless your Q is hitting at least 5 targets forward and on the way back. It can be difficult (definitely during teamfights) to always have this line up properly with your passive being up when that spell is off cooldown but just keep that information in mind!







Orb of Deception


Ahri's Orb of Deception is a very strong ability that has an interesting twist to it because on its way back it does true damage. This is your primary wave clear move and is used in conjunction with your combo after landing your charm. Those are the two main reasons to use your Q. There are times when you are going to have to use your Orb of Deception on an opponent without charming them first (when charm is on cooldown) and this can be a difficult task to pull-off due to the awkward movement of the ability. Remember that the orb travels back to you so you can re-position yourself with flash/ult to have it hit on its way back in situations where it normally wouldn't hit.




Fox-Fire


Ahri's most straight-forward move and only non-skillshot one as well. There isn't a lot to explain about fox-fire. When activated, each of the fox-fires will target the closest target to it (so if you are standing in the middle of a minion wave they will all hit different targets) but champions will take priority over every other target in range if there is a champion in range. You can use this in lane to follow-up with auto-attack harass for an extra little oomph of damage. It doesn't cost a lot of mana and doesn't push the wave very much so it is a nice harass move.

One thing to also keep in mind is that if you are about to ult through a minion wave onto your target, activate fox-fire after you arrive at your destination. Otherwise your fox-fire will dissipate on the minion wave while you are flying through the air rather than on the person you're trying to kill!





Charm


Charm is an /extremely/ strong ability. A ranged cc that at max rank will cc them for two seconds as well as cause them to walk towards you. That is just incredible. Charm should always be your opening move when you all-in/dive with your ult as it allows you to combo your orb of deception flawlessly. Make sure to use your combo in the following order: E -> Q -> W! Fox-Fire has an awkward start-up time that adds delay to casting Q. Also, if they have tenacity and you don't cast Q second you run the risk of them dodging it on the way back.

Use blind-spots in the fog of war to help catch your opponents off guard for easier charms. Also, make sure to try and lead your targets when casting charm. It is has a start-up cast time and isn't the fastest spell in the world. It will take a lot of practice to hit it consistently so if you are having trouble landing it just keep practicing!




Spirit Rush


Ahri's most iconic move is her Spirit Rush. This ability is support's worst nightmare as it causes Ahri's catch ability to be god-tier. It shoots off up to 3 beams of damage for each time cast so in conjunction with her Q and W it actually gives Ahri a fair amount of AoE damage! Once you hit 6 in lane and you get this ability it gives you a ton of presence in the lane due to being able to capitalize on mistakes. If you land a charm on a squishy opponent, you are able to toss your orb of deception on top of them and ult in with fox-fire + ignite to spell sure-death. If you ever able to trade-flashes with a non-escape champion (such as TF) pre-6 this is an /amazing/ trade for you since you have so many gap closers.

The largest piece of advice I can give up and coming Ahri players about her ult is don't ult in too far in team-fights. Time and time again I see Ahri players dive in one teemo away from their opponent and just get murdered. You don't have to be a teemo away for your ult to hit them. Keep your spacing proper and remember that you are a very fragile champion.

Back to Top

Items

Start 1:


This is the most standard starting items for Ahri. It gives you a lot of sustain for lane as you will be constantly trading and scales well because it is pretty much a gp10 that gives you free sustain every back.

Start 2:


This is the other set of starting items that you have the choice to go. These starting items are a lot greedier as you don't have nearly as much sustain but you do more damage and have a higher health pool. You would go this start if you were against a mid where you wouldn't be trading very much and mostly splitting the lane until 6.


These are my core items on Ahri. You go two dorans rings because it is very cost efficient and gives you a lot of early game power. Ahri has one of the strongest level 6s in the game and investing into her early game can help her snowball. Her mana costs are also not really high enough to have to go a more mana-heavy item such as Athene's Unholy Grail. I get Lich Bane first item because the power burst from Sheen is really strong for lane and overall lich bane is incredibly strong on her once you get the hang of it. It gives her a ton of consistent damage as well as extra-burst.

The way I look at it when building either lich bane or deathfire grasp first is that the power spike from a Sheen after double doran's rings is such a massive power spike compared to that when you go fiendish codex towards a DFG. It gives you a ton of extra damage in your all-ins as well as your trading. Once lich bane is complete, to maximize your damage you want to be auto-attacking when you have those pink hands. Between your ult and 3 fairly spammable spells this isn't the most difficult thing to achieve but to remember to auto-attack and to auto-attack at the proper time can be. Typically after my initiation I will ult in, throw out my combo of E -> Q -> W and then follow it up with an auto-attack. Then if they are running away and I want to chase, I want to wait long enough for my lich bane to be ready to create another proc for when I ult in after them to chase them. This way, I am optimizing my damage and getting as many lich bane procs as possible. It takes a lot of practice to have it become second nature but I believe that once it becomes that it is the best way to build Ahri!

I then follow it up with the standard Deathfire Grasp and it gives you even more burst. It is just a really solid yet very fragile build. You must be very, very careful with your positioning as if you get caught, you die.

After Core:


These are all choices to fill up your last 3 slots. Depending on what you are laning against and how one-sided the opposing team's damage is, it might be best to go Abyssal Mask or Zhonya's Hourglass 3rd to give you more survivability in teamfights. Rabadon's Deathcap and Void Staff are the two items out of these 5 that will you give you the most damage possible. If you aren't getting focused or dying early in teamfights then these should be your choices for your 3rd and 4th items. Rylai's Crystal Scepter is kind of a niche last item. It gives you a bunch of stats that are really good on you but I don't find myself getting it all that often. It is strong against a semi-bursty/mixed damage team.
Back to Top

Match-Ups

There are some match-ups that Ahri excels in and those that should be avoided. The following are some of the key ones.

Match-ups to avoid:

Fizz: Fizz is just a giant burden. You will harass him down early and be up in cs but he has the ability to one shot you once he gets sheen and a couple dorans rings. He also follows up with ganks extremely well. Avoid this match-up unless you are a very experienced Ahri player.

Orianna: Orianna wins this match-up at all levels unless /she/ messes up. Lvl 1 til the end of time she will beat you. She out trades you, is tankier than you, pushes better than you, has better sustained damage than you and is just overall better than you in lane. If she messes up and gets charmed with half health then you kill her and win the lane but it is on /her/ to mess up. Avoid this matchup.

Match-ups you want to pick Ahri into:

Twisted Fate: You don't crush him pre-6 extremely hard but you are a little stronger than him if you land your skill-shots. Just don't get behind early and have fun crushing him post 6 with your potential burst damage.

Karthus: He's just overall a fairly weak, squishy laner until he gets some items. You can bully him til the end of time with the only thing you have to be scared of is over-extending and getting walled into a jungle gank so be careful!
Back to Top

Game Play

Laning
... Ahri doesn't have the strongest laning pre-6 and can be taken advantage of as a result of this. She doesn't have many match-ups where she will just get crushed (watch out for that cheeky fizz all in) but it is difficult for her to really bully people pre-6 because she is so skill-shot heavy and charm is just very hard to land against a smart opponent. So pre-6 just play pretty safe auto-attacking when you can and throwing out Charm when the opportunity presents itself and some Orb of Deception. Try not to get the lane pushing too much as you are very low mobility until you acquire your ult. Getting in a back ~4:15-4:25 for a couple Doran's Ring is a very wise choice if you can manage it!

Post-6 you become a monster. Against low-mobility champions you can start to be very aggressive because if you catch them just right they will fall and never get back up. Keep wards on your sides at all times as you will be pushing a lot of the time in most match-ups and overall being very aggressive leaving yourself vulnerable to ganks.

Mid Game
... During the mid-game Ahri excels at pretty much everything. She has insanely strong team fighting so forcing objectives and towers is what your focus should be. If you are able to have some kind of 5v4 situation where you have the opponents outnumbered whether it is out in the open or even under their tower you can force the engage pretty easily if you have a strong dive comp to follow-up. You have so much mobility, catch and damage that diving with Ahri and a comp built around that is insanely strong. Force objectives, force team-fights, force as much as you can because Ahri excels in the mid-game the most.

As Ahri your job in teamfights is to be mostly diving the back line with your team and focusing the priority targets. With the build I have recommended for to use, make sure to be auto-attacking inbetween ult-charges to maximize your damage. Even though Ahri is really strong at killing priority targets in the back line doesn't mean that that is the only thing she has to do. If you have a hyper-carry such as Twitch or Vayne who has much higher value than their priority targets then keeping your adc alive might be the better choice. You don't do a lot of damage to tanks until you get Deathfire Grasp but you don't do really /bad/ damage either. It is just a judgement call that you need to make on what your focus is!

Late Game
... The longer the game gets past mid-game into late game the harder it gets as Ahri. You get stronger and have more burst potential but your main targets will start to outscale you as they get tankier and deal more damage. Once this happens it becomes harder to win 5v5 engages as you do don't contribute as much as something like an Orianna or potentially Gragas would without performing some kind of pick. Which is why your goal changes from forcing as many teamfights to forcing picks! Keep lanes pushed and perform things like baiting Barons. You will be able to one-shot supports for free as well as kill squishy targets still if they are isolated and you can land the charm. Deny vision and force the opposing team to make a mistake.

As for your job in teamfights it doesn't really change. Once you have your void staff you will do more damage to tanks so you can assist your back-line more in the situations where you need to but overall it is the same job as it was in the mid-game.

Since late game, your main targets might start outscaling your damage in terms of resist, landing your Charm on priority targets (the enemy's back line) becomes even more important. A charm landed on one should pretty much guarantee the fight starts in your favor.
Download the Porofessor App for Windows
League of Legends Build Guide Author MRN.ecco
MRN.ecco Ahri Guide
Vote Vote
Ecco's Guide to Ahri

League of Legends Champions:

Teamfight Tactics Guide