Ahri Build Guide by xDanielWang

Help! I'm in the loading screen!

Short on time in the loading screen? Skim this chapter. Else, Move on. This acts as a summary.

Alrighty, so you decided to try out Ahri on a whim, and you have a few minutes to cram as much info as possible. Here's some key points.

• Quickly scroll down to matchups to see any pointers on a certain matchup.
• Max Q first, then W, then E. Put a point into R whenever possible
• Don't waste mana randomly on skills that don't even have a chance of hitting anything. (farming creeps with skills though, is encouraged)
• If you want to play safe and you are NOT agaisnt AD MID get either Abyssal Scepter, Athene's Unholy Grail, or a few Doran's Rings. You'll do less damage, but you'll live longer. If against AD MID, get a Seeker's Armguard as fast as possible.
• Don't be afraid of losing your normals. NO ONE masters a champion the first time they play them.
• Do your absolute best to last-hit creeps. Without gold, you don't get items. Without items, you don't do damage. Ahri needs damage.
• Use your Orb of Deception to poke a lot at the enemy in lane. It is your main laning spell.
• Charm should be saved whenever possible. You don't need to hit charm to hit them with your Orb of Deception. Charm should be used when
  
  bbcode1. You have kill potential, and you can hit Q, W, and maybe R if you charm them.
  
  bbcode2. Stop enemy from killing you, whether it be Katarina ult, or jungle gank.
  
  bbcode3. Don't use Charm to farm creeps. Just don't.
  haveimentionedhowmuchbbcodesucksittook15minsformetorealizethatitwouldntcodethewayiwanted
  soihadtofreakingcodeitmanuallywtfscrewyoubbcode
• Don't be afraid to use your Spirit Rush to escape from a dangerous situation. Don't be afraid to use it to get closer to the enemy to kill them. Remember, you can use your ult to jump over small walls in the jungle.

OK, that's all I got. Now go out there and kill some people.

Introduction

If you are looking at this guide, the odds are that you want to learn how to start playing Ahri or play her better. Or you just came here because the title said something about Foxfire Ahri and perked your interests. IDK. Anyways, I hope this helps your quest for Ahri domination.


This is my first guide and I hope that you will find this Ahri Mid guide somewhat useful :) (it's constantly updated!) Also I suck at formatting so bear with me, I'll try my best.

Note: I'm a bit wordy, if you're gonna try to read the whole guide, but I have included numerous tl;dr sections as well as condensed versions of various chunks of text.

Please upvote this guide if it helped you in any way. My build is my personal preference; I give my opinions on my items, and I'm not forcing you to build anything, so please don't downvote just because you disagree with my build. However, if you would still like to downvote, don't just click the red down arrow, please tell me in the comments why you downvoted; I am open to your opinions as long as they are well thought out, not "hi derp. ur guyde sux cuz i luvz so-and-so item and this rabadons item is relly ****peh. -1 frum meh nub, l2guide" and I would love to improve this guide from any suggestions that you may have (as long as it's not like derpasaur's comment above)! :)


Oh, and the title is a reference to PULSEFIRe EZREAL WHERE in case you were wondering.

L0re

Warning: The following will not help improve your Ahri gameplay. That means that if you're in the loading screen or something, then you should probably skip this. But if you're not scrunched for time, I guess you can read this lore that is super important for all Ahri masters.

Unlike all them other foxes in Ionia, Ahri was actually a magic fox. She eventually got bored of eating rats and yordles and other fox stuff so she wanted to be a human. One day she saw a big human battle with a lot of dead guys and stuff. So with her superior decision making skills, she decides to head towards the battle, you know and nearly die and stuff. So this dying guy gives Ahri his "magical essence" and Ahri turns into a human. Seems legit. On top of that, she also learned English immediately and decided she wanted to kill more humans instead of all the "f***ing yordles" -TheOddOne. So she goes and kills a bunch of humans. But eventually she learns that killing is wrong, and when the Institute of War is like "yo, we can keep you in human form if you stop killing all these guys and fight with us" and Ahri is like "yea sure". So now she can kill guys without them actually dying. Oh yea, and now she kills females also.

You're probably wondering why she has 9 tails instead of 1 tail. Well, I have to guess that Riot wanted her to resemble a ***iho more, which is this Korean-myth-thing-monster. [Edit: wtf I honestly can't believe that's censored. The word is k u miho]. Then more Koreans will play LoL instead of Starcraft, since LoL now has Korean-myth-thing-monsters and Starcraft only has Battlecruisers, Zerg-lady, and Day 9. You know what, Day 9 actually beats Korean-myth-thing-monsters. Did anyone actually read this? Anyone?! I dunno, everyone's just going to think this is just lore I copied from lolwiki or something.

Quote:
"When I was released, my passive used to be called Soul Eater which was actually the name of Nasus's passive and IDK how Riot screwed up on that one." - Ahri

Pros / Cons

Awesome, you made it past the first chunk of text. Or you just skipped it, iunno doesn't really matter to me. Here's a lineup of Ahri.

Pros Built in sustain Super mobile w/ ult Really good harass Strong ganks! All 4 moves are damaging spells Spirit Rush for epic chasing and escaping One of the best SINGLE-TARGET CC's in the game Foxfire Ahri skin is one of THE best skin in the game Does not currently get nerfed or banned Super sexy foxy fox lady

Cons Naturally squishy No huge burst like Veigar or LeBlanc Getting stunned will probably mean death Falls off hard late game (like most AP mids) Does not exactly "hard counter" many champs i haz random filler textz here i haz random filler textz here congratz u found secret message.

Masteries

For Ahri, you generally want to go 21-0-9 for tons of damage and mana regen/buff extension.

Runes

Runes are based on what you prefer. They're also expensive. :(

Magic pen Reds are basically the only viable thing for casters. They help get rid of the enemies' pesky magic resistance and helps you do more damage. Everyone always builds MR runes so you might as well make them all useless.

Mana regen for more early game harass. I usually take these so I can use abilities more in the early game without being completely dependent on blue buff.

For some armor, pretty self-explanatory; Helps a lot for late-game. (although it's not as useful early game because you're most likely going up against an AP) These are ideal if laning against AD Casters mid.

For health which helps a bit for survivability; extra HP never hurts

Ability Power per level for a slightly stronger late game presence; they give nearly 3x the AP of Greater Glyph of Ability Power at level 18

Good for laning phase to soften those pokes received

MR per level runes give slightly more MR at 18, if you feel you need more MR later

*Note - although the MR runes got nerfed a while ago, they are still a viable choice, just not as good as before.

Personally I take a hybrid of AP flat blues and AP scaling blues.

Flat AP Quints are generally the best way to go for AP Mids. Increases your damage output, and when is that ever bad?

Summoner Spells

Flash and Ignite are your friends. You will (or should be) using these spells for almost all of your games.

Flash

Ahri already has 3 dashes with her ult, why take Flash? Flash will help you escape from a gank pre-6 or when your Spirit Rush is on cooldown, or for the desperate situations that require 4 flashes. It's saved my life countless times. Definitely a must-have.
Note: If you have not unlocked Flash yet, then a proper replacement would be Ghost.

Ignite

will add that extra bit of damage to your burst to and can make the difference from your enemy escaping with 15 health followed by a table flip, to a nice and solid kill. Also, you get a nifty 5 bonus AD and AP with the Offense mastery ( Summoner's Wrath ) when it's on cooldown.

Cleanse

This also works well on Ahri because getting stunned in a teamfight will get you killed, and you will be sad because you never got a chance to use your ult to escape, and your team will die and get mad, and your nexus will blow up. Works really against teams with heavy cc.

Exhaust

You can also take an Exhaust for those 1v1 duels or chasing someone with the slow. I wouldn't recommend it because you already have that Charm.

Barrier

This is okay if your enemy can burst you down instantly. Not recommended though generally, but fares well if against Veigar, LeBlanc, or other heavy bursters.

Teleport

You can take Teleport if you are going top for some reason to get back into lane faster. Not recommended since you will basically be down a summoner in your lane.

Ghost

Only if your level isn't high enough for Flash; otherwise, Flash outclasses Ghost infinitely because you're not a melee initiator.

Clarity

Even though this spell seems tempting since more mana = more abilities, its 3 minute cooldown combined with the lack of usefulness out of lane makes it an unviable choice for Ahri. And let's face it, if you really have trouble managing your mana, you could always opt to buy some handy dandy Mana Potions instead of wasting a summoner slot.

Heal

You should be getting enough sustain from your passive, and this skill would work much better in bot lane where both the AD carry and support benefit from its usage. If you really want to bait or have an instant safety net, you should take Barrier instead.

Revive

Just taking this summoner spell is implying that you're expecting to die. You should never go into game ready to die; if you took this and only died once or twice, you've basically wasted a whole summoner. It's bonuses aren't amazing, and it has a ridiculously high 9 minute cooldown, which means you'll get it off maybe four times at best if you time every death properly *cough* feeder *cough*. Don't take it unless you're trolling (don't troll please).

Clairvoyance

- Are you the support? Oh wait, not even supports take this anymore.

Fortify

- What does this do? I don't know, and you shoudn't either.

Garrison

- Sorry bro, you're in the wrong game mode. Might want to get that checked out.

Promote

- It's Banner of Command now. DON'T GET IT ANYWAY!

Rally

- Sorry bro, you're in the wrong season. Might want to send a support ticket.

Smite

- Jungle Ahri best thing since never. Maybe if you want to smite the big wolf and then die to blue, then proceed to royally screw over your team.

Surge

- OMG SURGE + CHO'GATH 6 FEAST STACKS + LULU ULT = GODZILLA!! (you can't get it anymore)

Heimerdinger

- I'm kidding, he's not a real summoner spell.

Spells/Abilities

Ahri

This is Ahri's passive. It's not going to completely turn around a game, but it's nice to get some built in sustain. When you see the passive is up, toss an Orb of Deception down a minion wave for maximum sustainebiliteh. Try not to waste this on a Charm or something unless you have full health. This is basically the only reason why Hextech Revolver is not 100% mandatory.

Ahri

This is a solid spell that is useful throughout the game. It takes out a chunk of health from your enemy and will make them sad. Orb of Deception synergizes well with your passive. If you hit the enemy at the very tip of the orb, both procs will occur simultaneously. They can't dodge that! U Mad squishy mid enemy? Max it first for a small nuke of damage. The true damage part of it is always nice against enemies who stack tons of MR. Play enough so you understand the range of this spell and learn to smartcast it. It will change the game.

Ahri

Ahri's W. Use this after following a Charm for some nice burst. It has a 5 second cooldown max level, so spam this during team fights and hope you're close enough for the fires to lock on. Max this second. Some people are experimenting with maxing this first, but I don't recommend it unless you're against a champ that needs to be clsoe range to do damage ( Katarina). All 3 of these little flames procs the 35% slow on Rylai's Crystal Scepter for lulzy chasing and escaping

Ahri

Ahri's E and provides some much needed cc. Oh, it's a stun right? Wait, the enemy is forced to walk towards you? LOL! This has a variety of purposes, see an enemy out of place? Nope, Chuck Testa. Now he's mindlessly walking towards his death. They're foolishly trying to tower dive you? Nope. Charm and watch the tower murder him. Spirit Rush down and need to run away? Hit 'em with a Charm and watch them slow down for some much-needed escape time. Teamfight? Try to hit the ad carry and follow up with Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire. It's a lovely spell and you will sometimes have people raging. Like your Orb of Deception, you should aim to smart cast this when you are familiar with the range. This is basically what makes Ahri useful late game. Late game Charm on AD carry = Won teamfight

Ahri

Kekeke, this will hit 3 people with a ton of damage. Save this for the end of teamfights or escaping from lost teamfights. A Small team fight occurs. All 3 enemies run away with 100 health. NOPE. You're Ahri. Spam that R and Triple Kill! No sweat on forehead. Oh no, you are being ganked by 4 people because you are 19-0! NOPE. Spam that Spirit Rush and dash to safety. Oh no, there's a small wall behind you and an enemy is closing in! NOPE. Spirit Rush over that wall. They Flashed? Spirit Rush back over. Flawless Victoryyyy! It's okay to blow all 3 dashes to run away. Remember, it is not worth seeing if you can escape without using your ult. Just use it, the cooldown is not that long. When you're laying on the floor dead, you'll probably be regretting that you were so stingy on the ult. When your ult is on CD, you are super vulnerable and should be extra cautious. Try not to start a fight with a 15 seconds cooldown on your ult.

The order you want to prioritize leveling your skills are as follows:

fillerzz

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Spirit Rush

is your ult. You should always max ults first (exception being Janna MID maybe)

Orb of Deception

is your long-range primary poke/harass and you want it to be as powerful as possible.

Fox-Fire

comes closely after. Leveling it up does not increase the mana cost and it does more damage. The reason I max this after Orb of Deception is that the range is fairly low, but still scales better than Charm.

Charm

is, imo, a 1-point wonder. Putting 1 point into charm provides Ahri with a very nice medium-range stun. Leveling charm up will slightly increase the damage and increase the duration of the stun/taunt/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. 1 second is enough, as that's all you need for pulling off your full combo. However, at least scaling it makes the taunt longer, so that's good.


First few points:

1. Usually take Orb of Deception with your first point. You can use it to harass in lane level 1. The exception to this rule is invades. If you are invading, you can should take Charm level 1. It is CC and if your team finds an enemy, if you charm them, they're dead. If you do this, then take Orb of Deception second. If we are invading, something I do is to not scale a point into E until I actually see someone. The moment I see someone, I press ctrl+E to immediately scale a point and use Charm on them. If I take charm first and I don't see anyone, then level 1 laning is going to be harder.
2. I take Charm second. It's your utility so you don't want to go too long without it. If a jungler comes at level 2, Charm will shut him down. Without it, you could die easily.
3. Take Fox-Fire at level 3 or 4. It really depends on you. Whether you want a stronger Orb of Deception earlier, or more combo burst.

Items

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If you saw the item build in the cheat sheet all the way up there ^^^ you might be a bit confused on why it's weird. It's a personal preference. Also check out the other item builds at the very top. Those are just examples of what item route you can take. Of course, you can mix and match and get an Abyssal Scepter on the first item path, or a fast Will of the Ancients instead, etc.

The purchase order is not staple. Sometimes it will be better to get 1 item before another. You will learn the circumstances as you play more. But this is just a helpful guide to assist you :)

Aight, Here we go!

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Ahri

Season 3 revolutionized the world of Boots. Boots now have 25 less move speed, but every champion now has 25 more move speed. What does this mean? Well, boots are now a whole lot less important. You can get away with delaying purchasing boots for longer. But most of the time, I still start out with Boots of Speed on Ahri because that 25 bonus move speed is crucial to dodging skillshots and are extremely important against champs like Karthus, Cassiopeia, or Brand. It also plays a huge part in escaping early ganks. Also, starting Boots of Speed allows me to also start with 3 Health Potions for sustainability.

Ahri

Ahri

Doran's Ring was changed in Season 3, albeit slightly. Personally, I think it's on the same level as the Doran's Ring in Season 2. I usually get Doran's Ring for mana regen, since it's cheap and I usually don't build any other mana regen items. Get a Doran's Ring under these conditions: You want early game mana regen. You are facing a very hard match-up. You are losing your lane and want to get back in the game. You are stomping your lane and want to stomp it even more. Getting a ring will make you a lot stronger when you buy it, but since there's no upgrades, you need to sell it later and get better items. Don't just buy a ring whenever, since in the end, you will lose gold. Note: If you buy a Doran's Ring, you need to make it count. Make it worth the 475 gold you dumped into it. If the enemy doesn't buy one and you break even, you end up losing money.

Ahri

Ahri

Generally I get Sorcerer's Shoes for that Magic Penetration, but if I'm laning against someone with high burst and cc such as Veigar or LeBlanc, Mercury's Treads are a must-have.

Ahri

Ahri

Once you build this sucker, your damage will send the enemy running as soon as they see you. It gives a TON of AP and AP = tons of damage. If all goes well, you will have this around 17-20 minutes. This is arguably one of the best AP items in the game and your enemies won't have that much magic resistance yet. This is your time to dominate. It increases your damage by an insane amount, so basically, BUY THIS. Note If you find yourself losing your lane, this might not be the best choice. Instead buy a Rylai's Crystal Scepter since that will provide utility for your team. Rabadon's Deathcap is an item for people who are generally doing well in lane.

Ahri

Ahri

Next, I grab a Rylai's Crystal Scepter. This works really well on Ahri. Reaaaally well. It gives you a lot of health for some tankiness and survivabiliteh so you can stay in those small duels for longer times. It gives you AP and AP = tons of damage. It gives you a slow. Your Orb of Deception, Fox-Fire, Charm, and Spirit Rush (every single skill) will apply the slow which will: 1. Help your teammates chase down the runners in teamfights 2. Help you chase down the runners in 1v1s 3. Help you run away with 3 enemies on your tails; simply toss out any skill behind you and they won't catch up to you ^^. I recommend trying to get this every game. If you're really good at this game, you should get it first since you want your teammates to get the kills when you gank (instead of yourself) and the slow will help them greatly. But that's seen in higher elo play and not seen in low-elo games, when everyone (except maybe the support) is trying to get a kill for themselves.

Ahri

Ahri

This item is amazing on AP Casters, such as Ahri. It will save your life many times if used properly. Don't get it too early though, since the armor is a lot better for late game than early game as your enemy will most likely be doing magic damage. The active alone counters the kits of so many champions. A simple click of the active will make numerous painful ults such as Karthus's Requiem, Brand's Pyroclasm, Fizz's Chum the Waters, Caitlyn's Ace in the Hole fizzle out and become useless. It's quite the item, highly recommended.

Ahri

[Ahri]

The new DFG is pretty sweet. Since it does damage based on percent current health it is best to use it when an enemy is at high hp. The 20% increased damage is also pretty amazing as it makes your combo do more damage. After getting this, you should be scaring the enemy AD or AP carry with your ability to pretty much 1-shot them. I would consider this item pretty core on Ahri. An assassin item for an assassin champion.

[Ahri]

[Ahri]

This gives you a health boost, which is also nice to have, along with some decent ability power. It also gives really nice Magic Penetration, and if you get one early along with Sorcerer's Shoes, then early game, you'll basically be doing true damage. That's just crazy. Haunting Guise was considered an early game item in Season 2 because you couldn't upgrade it into anything and had to sell it to get something better. But in Season 3, you can upgrade it to...

[Ahri]

[Ahri]

It builds from Haunting Guise. That makes Haunting Guise a good item since you don't have to sell it anymore. It gives health for some tankiness. It gives Magic Pen which is really good for dealing nice damage. It gives a sweet passive that will help shred the hp on tanks. You get bonus shredding if you have a Rylai's also, for some sick synergy. Oh, and Fox-Fire counts as a 3x single-target spell so it does tons of damage.

[Ahri]

liandry's

Tl;dr - This item is really good on Ahri, since you no longer need to sell Haunting Guise, the passive deals tons of damage, and with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, you deal TOOOONSSS of damage.

liandry's

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Wait, you think my item build sucks??

(jk, post a comment with good reasoning and I might change it)

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These items are situational. Get them when the situation arises. Usually I will replace Will of the Ancients or Liandry's Torment with one of these items if I need to get some.

[Ahri]

I'm starting to like this item more and more, but I only get it under specific circumstances. It's good at giving you sustain, and in combination with your passive proc, you'll heal a ton of health. It builds into Will of the Ancients, but you can get that late, since Hextech Revolver's spellvamp is sufficient enough early and mid game. Really useful for pokey champs or champs that have built-in sustain ( Vladimir, Mordekaiser). Not so good against champs that can 100-to-0 you ( Veigar, LeBlanc). Note: Hextech Revolver is most effective if you have a blue buff. Ask your jungler if he is willing to donate the 2nd or 3rd blue buff. If he's a jungler that relies on blue buff himself ( Fiddlesticks), you might not want to get Hextech Revolver.

[Ahri]

This item got reworked in Season 3. A passive replaced the active, so it's kinda easier to use. But it's only effective against champs with super high hp regen. Get it if you are facing some freakish enemy combination of Sion, Dr. Mundo, and Vladimir or something. It kinda works as a blue buff, but it costs a lot of money. I don't recommend it, unless really specific circumstances.

[Ahri]

This item is good for when the enemy is stacking a bunch of Magic Resist. The magic penetration will go through almost half of their MR and is really good because the enemies will have wasted their moneyz buying that Force of Nature that isn't doing all that much. Lululul. Wait, a sec, I'm receiving an update.... Force of Nature was removed from the game? Whatttt? Since the #1 item for MR got removed, this item isn't as necessary. If the enemy team has a Runic Bulwark, then it might be worth picking this up.

[Ahri]

Provides you with a lot of Magic Resistance and a nice chunk of Ability Power. The Magic Resistance will heavily reduce the damage from your enemy and it will give you some nice tankiness, especially for early game.The aura is super nice and reduces the Magic Resistance of nearby enemies by 20. It basically straight-up counters Aegis of the Legion. Very viable on Ahri and consider starting to BUILD it early if facing a super burst enemy mid. Highly Recommended. If you're going to get this, get it early. (Rush it, skip Doran's Ring)

[Ahri]

This item got nerfed the same patch that Morello's Evil Tome got buffed. I'm not going to lie, this item works really well on Ahri's Orb of Deception. If you are looking to stay in lane longer, then feel free to grab this. If you are going for this, don't get 3 Doran's Rings (1 is fine), and get an early Hextech Revolver. Definitely get this item if your team has 2 AP solo-lane champions; it works extremely well. It provides a loooot of sustainabiliteh and it's definitely a great item against poke heavy champions. It's not so good against champions that will kill you regardless of your current HP. In all honesty, if I'm the only AP on the team, I will get this item last, if at all.

[Ahri]

This is a really cheap item and an amazing active. Removes all CC from you which will likely save your life. This will cancel crowd control, even suppresses, from various ults such as Warwick's Infinite Duress, Malzahar's Nether Grasp, Skarner's Impale, Amumu's Curse of the Sad Mummy and basically any other crazy cc that people find annoying. If you buy it, just make sure you use it! Don't build this too early. You can buy an early Negatron Cloak for early game MR, but you don't need to buy it early unless you're facing a Warwick jungler, Malzahar mid, or anyone else with very dangerous abilities mid. (Example: don't rush this early if there is an enemy Urgot bottom lane, you're rarely going to see him until late/mid game.)

[Ahri]

Pick this up if the enemy AP is fed. I don't know why he would be fed. You're Ahri, ffs. Maybe it was a jungle Fiddlesticks or something. Anyways, Banshee's Veil provides some nice Magic Resist, mana, and blocks a spell every 45 seconds; that's always nice to have in handy. If you see an enemy with a Banshee's Veil's passive on (a blue circle around them), throw out your Orb of Deception first to get rid of the passive, and follow up with a Charm, and hopefully, score a kill.

[Ahri]

Provides a blend of Armor and Magic Resistance. It's useful if no one on the enemy team is extremely fed, and everyone on their team is about even. Also, it revives you, so you can do a bunch of damage, die, come back, and do more damage. It's good for the people starting out because it's a good replacement for people who have trouble remembering to use their Zhonya's Hourglass or Quicksilver Sash's actives. However, it's still vital to learn to use those actives, so try to refrain from buying Guardian Angel every game if possible.

[Ahri]

A really nice item for solo queue if your jungler is not giving you the blue buffs. It will keep your mana healthy while spamming abilities, provides cooldown reduction, and some nice Magic Resist. Not bad at all. Don't get me wrong, this item is still good even if your jungler is giving you the blues. Doesn't give as much AP as it used to, and heavy AP is what Ahri needs to be successful.

[Ahri]

Kind of a bit Very trolly on Ahri; I guess you can build this if you get focused by 5 people every single teamfight, or there is a really fed enemy who does true damage, such as Darius. By getting this instead of a Zhonya's Hourglass, you lose out on a lot of damage. Grab this if your awesome solo queue team decides to auto-lock 5 hyper-squishy champions. But hey, League of Warmogs OP. nvm it got nerfed l0l.

[Ahri]

Get ready for a huge chunk of text. You can skip it, but here we go... This is a questionable item on Ahri. It gives you a lot of health for tankiness, some mana and some ability power. Many semi-tanky AP mids, such as Ryze or Morgana will get this fast because it makes for a very smooth laning phase. However, I believe that in order for Ahri to be successful, she needs to assassinate the enemy quickly. The Rod of Ages is necessary for a mid to tank up some damage by having to be in close range, like Kassadin or Ryze. Ahri is usually jumping into the fight, killing a squishy, and jumping out. ROA doesn't give you the needed AP to fulfill your role as an assassin. That's why I take a quick Rabadon's Deathcap instead of Rod of Ages. If you are aiming to play passively or need some tankiness, you can take this. However, Rylai's Crystal Scepter gives enough tankiness and a very nice slow that is helpful late game, unlike Rod of Ages.

Rod of Ages

Tl;dr: This item sacrifices early game damage (which is crucial on Ahri) in exchange for survivability (which is not ideal for a champ like Ahri). I would not recommend it.

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As you get better, you will learn of different items that apply to different situations. It is your job to pick the right items in specific situations, not mine, since it's impossible to have an all-in-one build that counters everything. For instance, don't get a Void Staff if they have no MR. Get a Warmog's Armor if they have a bunch of true damage (Edit: This got nerfed and Ahri shouldn't be stacking hp anyway. Please don't get this. Ever. Rylai's Crystal Scepter is 100x better). Each game will be different.
*Note: If you are planning on getting a Deathfire grasp or Morello's evil tome late game, it would be a good idea to get Kage's Lucky Pick before you get some Doran's Rings. If you are going to get either of the late game items, you might as well get Kage's Lucky Pick early and earn a bunch of extra gold on the side, which put into perspective, is a free champ kill (300 gold) every 10 minutes :) You will sacrifice a bit of your early game with delayed Doran's rings and a delayed Rabadon's deathcap, but you will have some more gold later that may make a more powerful late game.
Lol I left this section in here so you can nostalgia over how nice and fun Season 2 was. Ooh well, it's still amusing to think about how different S2 was.

Gameplay

Early Game - Farm and Trade Damage

Okay, the game starts up. First of all, you probably need to leash your jungler. This means that you should launch an Orb of Deception as soon as the blue buff or red buff spawns (depending on where your jungler decides to start). The top or bot lane should be doing the most damage to the golem/lizard, so feel free to go back to alne after a few auto-attacks. If the jungler want to start at wraiths or wolves (since they spawn a few seconds before the buffs), launch a few auto-attacks on them after your jungler starts to attack. Just make sure you don't accidentally last hit one, especially the big one, because your jungler will probably either rage at you or sarcastically type "..." in chat to convince your team that you obviously need go back to the Proving Grounds.

Now you stroll back to your lane, which most likely is mid. This means last hitting. Don't constantly auto attack the minions. Auto attacking will push your lane outwards, and you will be forced to be closer to their turret in order to continue last hitting. The enemy jungler can stroll behind you, and you'll probably die from an deserved gank. Also, a pushed lane will mean that your jungler cannot gank from your side. Double-lose.

Feel free to push hard if they don't have a jungler, or if the game is approaching mid game. And use your Orb of Deception for harassing since it does quite a chunk of damage to them (or unless you like to see an empty mana bar for some reason). Getting the enemy low enough with your Q sets up for a early kill for your combo.

Using a full combo of Charm, Orb of Deception, and Fox-Fire will drain about a third of your mana instantly, so try to refrain from doing a full combo unless you are sure you won't completely miss everything (mainly depends on hitting Charm).

Keep on harassing them. Try to keep their health low. You need to play Ahri a looot, but eventually you will be able to tell when a E>Q>W> Ignite combo will be able to secure the kill. It's not worth it if they still survive. Overall, I can't stress how important it is to obtain every creep score.

It is very important to note that pre-6 might be the only time you can press your advantage against certain champs. If the enemy is an Akali, Veigar or a Kassadin, do whatever you can to totally ruin their laning phase. Seriously, I mean it. If you let these guys farm freely, once they turn 6, you're going to be in a whole world of hurt.

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Mid Game - Roam and Destroy

Now you've hit level 6. Your über ult is now up. Hopefully your laning opponent will have somewhat medium-ish health by now (given that you haven't already killed him/her yet). This takes many Ahri games worth of experience, but you should be able to tell if you can kill the enemy laner with one huge burst.

People that are not familiar with Ahri will not know how high your kill potential is at 6. This is your chance.

Your burst should look something like R>E>Q>R>W>R> Ignite, and at 6, it should pretty much Garen-tee a kill. By starting with a Spirit Rush towards your opponent, you can jump out of a minion wave and land a secure Charm. After level 6, you want to start constantly ganking the other lanes due to Ahri's advantage of high mobility/strong cc ganks. Push your lane hard and start roaming.

When you both hit 6, your laning opponent is probably now either much better than you, or much worse than you. If he/she is now stronger than you, you need to focus on helping your other lanes get kills. It will help your team much more than getting constantly wrecked by your laning opponent.

The odds are, for the majority of low-elo or normal games, wards are not be frequently used. Top lane should be vulnerable for an easy kill (check if the enemy top has Wriggle's Lantern for the free ward first(s3 edit: lol can u remember when top laners used to buy that)) or ask your top if the enemy has laid a Sight Ward). If you want to gank bot, go through your jungle if you are Blue team, or go through the enemy jungle if you are Purple team. Keep on ganking.

Important note! Using your ult for damage is not always the best choice. Sometimes if you are ganking and you see the enemy is running back to their tower (since they obviously see you via ward) use your ult to get closer to them faster to get a kill! If you save your ult until you catch them, you might not actually catch them. Sure you waste the damage portion of the Spirit Rush, but if you get a kill, it doesn't matter. Although if you do this, please be fairly certain that you can get the kill, wasting it for nothing would be bad~

You want to ensure that your lanes end up winning, so your AD carry, such as Vayne or Graves can demolish everyone in team fights. Ahri is unbelievably good at small skirmishes (3v2's or 3v3's that happen often bot lane during a gank), and you should have a pretty nice score by now. If you happen to fall too many levels behind your team (i.e. 2 or 3), farm in a safe spot that will not get you ganked by the opponent.

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Late Game - Teamfight to Victory

You do significantly less at this point.
Generally you want to just spam out everything during the huge teamfights. Cooldown Reduction is vital now. You should save your Spirit Rush for either running away or chasing down the fleeing enemies. Using Spirit Rush at the beginning/middle of the fight will just cause the enemy team to run away, and you will lose your chasing/escaping tool.

However, if you completely dominated up to this point, then your damage should be nothing to sneeze at. It should be completely possible to insta-gib the enemy AP or AD carry with 1 combo. In doing so, you can easily win teamfights, and in other words, the game. That's why it's good to get fed in the mid game.

Hopefully, the other members of your team should be fed due to your consta-ganking during midgame, and you should win. Note that initiating a fight by landing a Charm on a squishy enemy carry, not the tank, will almost ensure that your team will win that fight or score at least one kill as long as everyone is paying attention and focusing the right target.

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Matchups!!

Aight, here's a general guide on how to face different match-ups. (Yeah you're gonna have to read a bit of text for each match-up. Too bad.) Note: These will be for people somewhat new to LoL. It is much less accurate for people above gold division etc., since I have not had too much personal experience with plats, and if you're diamond or, or God forbid, challenger tier, I don't really understand why you're here. Not all of the match-ups are listed, only the ones that I have chosen to do. I will gradually add to this list over time.

The tl;dr section is for a super brief overall note to keep in mind, like if you are in the loading screen or something and don't have much time.

omg, xdanielwang y you only say "outplay opponents", y u no give actual helpful advice??/

>Akali

>Anivia

>Annie

>Brand

>Cassiopeia

>Diana

>Fizz

>Kassadin

>Katarina

>LeBlanc

>Lissandra

>Lux

>AP Master Yi

>Mordekaiser

>Morgana

>Orianna

>Ryze

>Syndra

>Talon

>Twisted Fate

>Veigar

>Vladimir

>Xerath

>Ziggs

>Zyra

Akali

Difficulty:8 Important Items: Abyssal Scepter, Rylai's Crystal Scepter

The main thing to keep in mind when facing Akali, is that her strength before level 6 is really low. You need to take advantage of this and deny as much cs from her as possible. If you let her free-farm, then she will destroy you in the mid-game with her insane burst. She's extremely scary after level 6. For every time you use a dash to escape, she also has a dash to chase. It might be necessary to purchase an early Vision Ward and put it in lane to spot her in her Twilight Shroud.

tl;dr: Harass her out early. Get magic resist.

Anivia

Difficulty:4 Important Items: Damage

Anivia is a somewhat hard champion to play, so you won't see a lot of her. But that doesn't mean that the random guy you're laning against is bad at her. Just make sure you dodge all her Flash Frost (it moves really slowly) or you'll get stunned and take massive damage. (There's almost no excuse to get hit by it randomly in lane, if you do, you deserved the damage) Also, if you stand in her Glacial Storm or have recently been hit by Flash Frost, her Frostbite nukes you for double of its damage, so try not to fight in her ultimate or right after being stunned. Lastly, click on her to check if her Rebirth is up. Do NOT turret dive her if her passive is up. A common Anivia combo is to put a wall behind you, then Flash Frost you when you're trying to run around the wall. I recommend you don't fall into this trap.

tl;dr: Dodge her Flash Frost. Use Spirit Rush to get close and kill.

Annie

Difficulty:8 Important Items: Abyssal Scepter, Mercury's Treads

Like Anivia, most players at this level do not abuse her to her full potential. Check for her Pyromania by clicking on her. If you over-extend, she has the ability to burst you down instantly. Be careful when she hits level 6, as that is when Annie can basically 1-shot anyone. But be warned, if Annie is played right, she over-powers Ahri.

tl;dr: Survive her level 6 burst. Harass her a lot.

Brand

Difficulty:6 Important Items: Boots of Speed

He's a pretty common choice at this level. You need to dodge his Pillar of Flames and Sears. His early game is kinda scary and it will be hard to cs without being hit by his pillar. I would recommend getting a fast Zhonya's Hourglass and whenever he Pyroclasms, use the hourglass and his ult will be harmless.

tl;dr: Dodge his skillshots. If you do, you win.

Cassiopeia

Difficulty:5 Important Items: Damage, Boots of Speed

Try to dodge the poison she tries to drop on you. If you get poisoned, try to stay away from her for a bit because she can have a huge burst with her .05 cooldown Twin Fang. It will take practice, but learn to dodge her Petrifying Gaze whenever it looks like she is about to use it. This match-up is purely based off of skill.

tl;dr: Dodge her poison. Try to out-play her.

Diana

Difficulty:8 Important Items: Abyssal Scepter, Survivability

QQ I hate laning against Diana. After she hits 6, she easily out-trades Ahri. That's a bad thing. But rushing an Abyssal Scepter will help you lessen her damage, and maybe even win trades. That's a good thing. Some pointers in this match-up: Learn to dodge her Crescent Strike. It always shoots from the right, so know where you could move to dodge it. It takes practice, but eventually you'll be able to dodge them (kinda). Her pre-6 is really weak, so abuse it! Keep auto-attacking her and using spells against her. If you let her free-farm up to level 6, I promise that you will regret it!!

tl;dr: Dodge her Crescent Strike attack. No seriously, dodge it. Out-poke her early.

Fizz and his troll pole

Difficulty:6 Important Items: Abyssal Scepter

First of all, you need to harass him a ton before level 4. That means going out of your way to get auto-attacks off on him. Make him take an auto every time he walks up to cs. He won't be able to jump on you pre-4. When he gets his Sheen, it starts getting tricky. You need to save your Charm whenever he Urchin Strikes to you. It will shut down his whole combo, but you need to save it. Hopefully, you will be able to stop his snowball by shutting him down early.

tl;dr: Charm him when he jumps you. Poke him out early.

Kassadin

Difficulty:8 Important Items: Abyssal Scepter, Mercury's Treads, Rylai's Crystal Scepter

This is one of the hardest match-ups. The first thing to keep in mind is to rush Abyssal Scepter as fast as possible. This means that when you finish the item, you should only have 1 Doran's Ring and/or Boots of Speed, max, as items. Once you get Abyssal Scepter, then congrats, Kassadin can no longer 1-shot you starting at level 6 and you can actually win trades. Kassadin has one of the weakest pre-6 laning phases in the game so Take Advantage of it. Auto-attack him as much as possible, freeze the lane, and deny him cs. Then after level 6, continuously shove the lane so if he roams to other lanes, he loses out on cs to the tower. Following his roaming to counter-gank is also highly advised.

tl;dr: Punish him early. Get Magic Resist. Counter-gank his roaming.

Katarina and her resets

Difficulty:5 Important Items: Crystalline Flask, Damage

Katarina is a very common pick in Season 3. There are 2 things to keep in mind while playing this match-up. 1. Her early game is weak and that is your main opportunity to press your advantage. Pre-6, her only form of damage will be Bouncing Blades harass and make sure to look for opportunities whenever her skills are off of cooldown. 2. Don't use Charm unless you're positive you can hit her. With Charm being your only CC, it is vital to stopping her ult, Death Lotus. As soon as she jumps on you and starts ulting, you need to use your Charm ASAP. Then you can easily turn the exchange into your favor.

tl;dr: Harass her early. After 6, only use Charm to stop Death Lotus. Sustain through her harass.

Kha'Zix

Difficulty:9 Important Items: Zhonya's Hourglass, Rylai's Crystal Scepter, Armor, Sustain

Kha'Zix is getting to be a pretty popular mid laner. And there's a good reason for that: He does very well against a lot of AP mids. Unfortunately, that includes your favorite fox, Ahri. Ideally, if this was a ranked champion select, you want to take Armor Yellow runes instead of mana regen, but it's most likely a blind pick so you won't know. Kha'Zix relies on his Leap to do a huge burst combo on you, so the 2 important things are armor and sustain. Start with Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions or Crystalline Flask. When you are about 1/3 health and out of pots, go back to base, since he can 1-shot you. Build a Seeker's Armguard ASAP. Try your best to poke him down in early levels. When he jumps you, use Fox-Fire immediately followed with Orb of Deception. Then Charm him as he walks away and try to get off another mini-combo. You want to build Rylai's Crystal Scepter pretty early because the slow and extra health can stop some of his all-ins. After level 6, your Spirit Rush should be used to kite away from him when he jumps, and staying out of his melee range. This is a hard lane, so you might want to focus on ganking other lanes.

tl;dr: Dodge his poke. Build armor. Try your best to out-trade him. Try ganking other lanes.

LeBlanc and her stupidly good early game

Difficulty:10 Important Items: Abyssal Scepter, Mercury's Treads, Rylai's Crystal Scepter

She is probably my worst nightmare as Ahri. She has a slow, snare, and silence. Ouch. Get Mercury's Treads; it's a must versus LeBlanc. She does incredible amounts of damage to you in the early levels (I've been 1-shotted at level 2 before) so I suggest playing it safe and tower hugging for a majority of the early game. Her silence will prevent you from escaping with Spirit Rush, and I can't tell you how frustrating that is. Just play it safe in the beginning and remember: she is nearly useless late game compared to you. Her lane clearing is really awful, so after you hit level 6, you can push the lane and then gank top lane or bot lane.

tl;dr: Get magic resist. Stay alive. Out-scale her.

Lissandra

Difficulty:3 Important Items: Ability power, sustain via Crystalline Flask or Hextech Revolver

Lissandra is a fairly new champ and you may come across one every now and then. First of all, while Ahri has more health sustain, know that Lissandra is built around her incredible mana sustain. If a Lissandra is not put under pressure, she can get spells free of mana cost. Therefore, it is best to put constant by means of constantly trying to trade with her. Be sure to dodge her ice shards whenever possible, as that is her main damage. One thing to be very cautious about is turret diving Lissandra. Even if you are at full health and she is at low health, turret diving her can spell disaster. If you jump her under the turret with Spirit Rush, she can use her Ring of Frost to root you under the turret. After that she can use Frozen Tomb on you or herself. If used on you, yeah, you're going to be stunned under her turret even longer. On top of those 3 or 4 turret shots, she will constantly Q you or escape with E. R.I.P in peace. Shoutout to tickdricklez!

tl;dr: Try to out-sustain her. Turret-diving her is dangerous. Use your greater range to constantly poke her down.

Lux

Difficulty:4 Important Items: Boots of Speed, Mouse

This lane is pretty skill dependent. The person who dodges skill shots better wins the lane. But after level 6, Ahri has the potential to seriously outplay Lux. Pretend both sides just hit level 6 and are sitting at about 60% hp. A full combo by either can kill the opponent. For Lux to start her combo, she needs to hit her Light Binding, which isn't easy. For Ahri to start her combo, she needs to hit her Charm. But Ahri has 3 dashes from Spirit Rush that helps her 1. dodge the Lux snare and 2. hit Charm easier. If you see her miss her snare at level 6, just all-in her and you can probably grab a kill. Pre-6, you need to dodge her Lucent Singularity. Moving backwards will usually NOT dodge it. Instead move to the side or even forwards.

tl;dr: Dodge skillshots better than her. Then outplay her.

Master Yi

Difficulty:4 Important Items: Damage, Sustain (optional), Morellonomicon optional

There's a few things to keep in mind while facing Master Yi. It is basically impossible to kill him when he is channeling his Meditate. However, you have this nice ability called Charm and it instantly cancels his insane healing. Since Charm is so important in this match-up it is advised that you save it for cancelling Meditate unless you need it to escape or if there is potential for a kill. Another thing to note is that his only real damaging move is Alpha Strike. It does a lot of damage, but if it's on cooldown, feel free to run up and harass him, since he won't be able to do anything. If he Alpha Strikes a minion, he will end his attack where the minion was. Try to time your abilities to hit him as soon as his Alpha Strike ends. Master Yi naturally pushes a lot, so communicate with your jungler and ask for ganks.

tl;dr: Save Charm for Meditate. Sustain through his attacks. Get a jungler gank.

Mordekaiser

Difficulty:6 Important Items: Hextech Revolver, Jungler

This guy is really annoying. His shield from Iron Man is frustrating. He clears waves really fast. Getting an early Hextech Revolver is a good idea because lanes will be pushed fast and you don't want to get low enough where he can kill you with his Children of the Grave. Call for a gank because he naturally pushes and has no escape abilities. A lot of this match-up is based off jungler.

tl;dr: Get a jungler gank. Try to sustain through his attacks.

Morgana

Difficulty:3 Important Items: Boots of Speed

A pretty even match-up. She's pretty tanky so it'll be hard to kill her. However, it's hard for her to do damage to you. She relies on hitting her Dark Binding, and dodging it is a must. Her Dark Binding snare is a skillshot and it moves really slowly, so if you get hit by it, you deserve to have your health get chunked. If she snares you and the enemy jungler is hiding in the nearby brush, consider yourself dead. The snare lasts for up to 3 seconds which is an insanely large amount of time. If you have a good chunk of HP when she uses Soul Shackles you, you can Spirit Rush out to break the chain, then Spirit Rush back in to do a nice amount of damage. Remember, her cooldowns are long so don't be afraid to go in after you see her miss a Dark Binding. Don't stay too close to Morgana when she is after level 6, as you won't be able to escape her Soul Shackles. A very important tip to keep in mind is this: Whenever Morgana ults, you can use 1 or 2 dashes from Spirit Rush to break the chains, and then use the remaining dash to jump back onto her to deal a lot of damage. That way, you won't get snared and half her ult will be useless, while doing massive damage to her.

tl;dr: Dodge her Dark Binding. Seriously, dodge it. Spirit Rush out of her Soul Shackles. Then ult back in.

Orianna

Difficulty:3 Important Items: Boots of Speed, Magic Resist, Reflexes

This shouldn't be too hard if you play right. For early game, dodge her ball. Her early game mana costs are insanely high, so if you dodge her attacks early game, she'll run out of mana unbelievably fast. Ahri wins trades early, so take advantage of that. The biggest factor in this match-up though, is your ult, Spirit Rush. Orianna's playstyle is to poke down an enemy at semi-long range, and if the enemy stays in lane with low health, she nukes them down with her ult, Command: Shockwave. Spirit Rush allows you to get into close range to combo her and even dodge her ult. However, dodging her ult with Spirit Rush is incredibly hard to do. You literally have to predict when she's going to use it and escape from it in that small time frame. Your other 2 dashes can be used to get closer and dodge her ball attacks. You have the advantage early game so you must use it. Late game, Orianna is much stronger than Ahri and you want to delay that for as long as possible. Her early/mid game poke and burst is no laughing matter though, so I usually pick up a magic resist item. Athene's Unholy Grail if I want more mana regen, or Abyssal Scepter for more damage.

tl;dr: Dodge her stuff. Use Spirit Rush to outplay her.

Ryze and his lack of skillshots

Difficulty:9 Important Items: Abyssal Scepter

I'll admit it, he counters you. But that does not mean you can't put up a good fight. Do your best to farm and try to stay out of his range. He has very low kill potential, but you will find yourself constantly low on health from his spammable Rune Prison, Overload, and Spell Flux combo. Build some spell vamp from Hextech Revolver and do your best to outplay him. That's about all I can say. Getting early Magic Resistance will be very helpful.

tl;dr: Get magic resist. Get sustain. When he snares you, try to Charm him. Harass him a lot.

Syndra

Difficulty:4 Important Items: Boots of Speed, Magic Resist

First of all note this: Syndra's early game is better than Ahri's. Syndra's late game is worse than Ahri's. OK, this means don't try to do anything dumb early, and you will be more useful to your team late game. Pre-6, you mainly want to keep your distance, dodge her Dark Sphere attack, and last hit minions. At level 6, Syndra can instantly do like 60% of your health if you don't have magic resist. This basically means, on your first back, you want to pick up magic resist. Buy a Negatron Cloak, and later rush it into Abyssal Scepter, or buy Null-Magic Mantle, and buy Mercury's Treads. So yeah, basically don't stay in lane from level 1 to level 6, and when you do go back, get some Health Potions and magic resist. When her Unleashed Power is down, feel free to use your Spirit Rush to jump in and kill her, and she can't do anything about it (if you poked her down with Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire of course).

tl;dr: Her level 6 burst is insane. Get early magic resist and sustain. That, and dodge her stuff.

Talon

Difficulty:9 Important Items: Seeker's Armguard, Zhonya's Hourglass, Ninja Tabi

Lol glhf. He hard-counters you. He jumps on you and silences you with a single Cutthroat, and he deals a ton of damage to you before you even have the chance to use your spells, not to mention the stealth from his Shadow Assault renders your skillshots useless and bursts you for even more damage. Build a lot of armor; Zhonya's Hourglass is really good. I have a AP mid armor rune page set up against AD casters like Talon or Zed. The one thing that you have going for you is that Talon's scalings drop like a rock late game.

tl;dr: Get armor. When he jumps you, try to attack him after the silence.

Twisted Fate

Difficulty:2 Important Items: Moar Damageee

A good Twisted Fate in the right hands is deadly. He is a hard champion to play right (I know from experience). Luckily Ahri is pretty strong against him. He's very squishy so a few Orb of Deceptions can usually force him out of lane. E>Q>W comboing him twice pre-6 has a pretty high kill potential. After level 6, you instantly becoming way stronger than him at trading. Honestly, a full combo at level 6 will likely kill him right there. However, when Twisted Fate turns 6, he instantly becomes a problem for your other lanes. Let your teammates know when he hits 6 by simply typing in chat. Keep on pushing the lane after level 6, so if he tries to Destiny to the other lanes, he will miss out on minions to his tower, or better yet, just hit him with a Charm while he's channeling to disrupt the ult.

tl;dr: Dodge his Wild Cards. Use Spirit Rush to get close and kill him.

Veigar

Difficulty:7 Important Items: Abyssal Scepter, Mercury's Treads

For this guy, grab Mercury's Treads instead of Sorcerer's Shoes. That tenacity could easily mean the difference from escaping that stun or taking massive damage from his Dark Matter. At level 6, he has a huge burst. Try to stay out of the range of his Event Horizon. If you find yourself inside of the stun, don't foolishly run into the wall anyways. Just run around the inside and try to dodge his Dark Matter. Due to recent a really old patch, you can't Spirit Rush through his stun anymore, which totally sucks. However, you can still Flash. One thing to keep in mind: If you don't build magic resistance, he can 100-0 you at any time after level 6 largely due to his Primordial Burst. I strongly recommend getting an early Abyssal Scepter.

tl;dr: Get magic resist. Harass him early.

Vladimir

Difficulty:6 Important Items: Hextech Revolver

Get an early Hextech Revolver. He has a lot of sustain so you want to match that sustain and heal back the damage he does from pokes. Since he is cooldown based, try to attack him right after he uses his abilities on minions. His Sanguine Pool is really frustrating, but he isn't that difficult to play against. Be warned, a fed Vladimir will be very hard to kill, as he will not only get more damage, but also more health. I'll be honest, Vladimir is really hard to kill due to his Sanguine Pool (umadbro). Focusing on ganking other lanes might be your best bet.

tl;dr: Sustain through his attacks. Attack him when his moves are on cooldown.

Xerath

Difficulty:2 Important Items: Boots of Speed, Magic Resist

Barely anyone plays Xerath but you might see one every now and then. First of all know his Locus of Power move. It's when he stands still to get more range on his attacks. Second of all, every time he uses it, just walk up and Charm him and combo him. It's as easy as that. After 1 or 2 times of that, he won't use it anymore. After 6, if he does use it, just Spirit Rush up and charm him out again. Also, Ahri's Spirit Rush is pretty famous for countering Xerath's ult, Arcane Barrage. If you see him about to use it, just dodge all 3 of his attacks with your own dashes.
<Super quick Xerath info> Mage Chains puts a stun marker on you. If he hits you with any ability while you have the marker on you, you get stunned. That means you have to dodge all of his abilities. Don't let him hit you, or you're going to eat a full combo. Good luck, no pressure.

tl;dr: Dodge all his stuff. Don't get stunned. Charm him when he uses Locus of Power.

Ziggs

Difficulty:6 Important Items: Boots of Speed, Mouse, Health Potions, not dying pre-6

Ziggs can either be really hard or decently easy. I've played against high Gold division Ziggs that straight-up destroyed me in lane. His lane poke is much stronger than yours, and dodging his bombs is critical to not having to go heal at the fountain every 2 minutes (even though it can be really hard). Generally you want to outpredict Ziggs and force him to waste all his mana, so you can then zone him. Levels 1-5 are extremely tough for Ahri. Things look up when you reach level 6. Since Riot was nice enough to give Ahri 3 dashes through Spirit Rush, you can do some serious outplaying. Use it to dodge his Mega Inferno Bomb, his Bouncing Bomb, his Hexplosive Minefield, his Satchel Charge: basically everything. Dodging his Mega Inferno Bomb is the most important though. So basically, you want to try to dodge everything 1-5, and then if he isn't fed, you can beat him post-6. Hitting Charm is REALLY important in this matchup.

tl;dr: Dodge his attacks. Use Spirit Rush to dodge more of his attacks (mainly Mega Inferno Bomb) and to get close and kill him.

Zyra

Difficulty:5 Important Items: Boots of Speed, not dying pre-6

A good Zyra is somewhat difficult to play against. Pre-6, if you try to walk up to her and use your E>Q>W combo, then she can get her own combo off on you and easily out-trade the damage. After you hit 6, you unlock the potential to actually beat her. Use Spirit Rush to dodge Zyra's Grasping Roots, and her Stranglethorns. After that you can use use remaining dash(es) to go up to her and get a free combo off, which generally spells death for Zyra. Note: You basically have to dodge her Grasping Roots post-6. If you don't she has a pretty good change to get a free Stranglethorns off, and then you'll die. Second Note: When she dies, get ready to dodge Rise of the Thorns, her passive. Run around circles and it'll be hard for her to hit it.

tl;dr: Dodge her harass. Use Spirit Rush to dodge more attacks (mainly her Stranglethorns), then get close and kill her. Dodge her Rise of the Thorns.


Match-up section to be continued...

Coming soon: Nidalee, Teemo, Kennen, Zed

Am I missing someone that you want to be listed? No problem!, just mention it in the comments section and I'll get around to it~

Just some tips/tricks

Buy Wards. They will save your life many times. Ward the enemy wraith camp and the bushes by mid if you can; not the long ones right next to you - the small circular ones in the river; they provide vision of the enemy coming from either lane and cover vision on the small area from the C shaped bushes to the bushes on the side of mid lane. Pick up wards if you have spare cash when you recall.

• Learn the A-move. If you press "a" and left-click on the ground, your champion will start walking there and start attacking any enemy it encounters along the path to the place you clicked. Great for last-hitting if the closest minion to you is almost dead and you don't want to risk clicking the wrong one. A-move is even better for chasing low-hp enemies through bushes. Everyone knows that everyone loves juking. By pressing "a" and clicking on the other side of the bush, you will stop moving and start attacking them if they try to juke. A great skill to have, it will help you get many kills.
• 15 cs = 1 champ kill. That's just 2-3 waves. For laning phase, you need to last hit. Seriously, man. It's impossible to stress enough how much creep score matters.
• Call your MIA's/ss. You need to alert your teammates of potential ganks. Yes, your teammates will rage at you if you don't call MIA and they die. Even if you recall or gank another lane, just say MIA to alert your teammates that you don't know where the enemy mid is located.
• Charming an enemy that is chasing you will slow them down a bit for you to escape.
• Buy an Oracle's Elixir if you notice the enemy team has a lot of wards, and you aren't dying much in your game. Your teammates probably won't get an Oracle's Elixir in low-elo play, but if there's a more tankier champion that does not die often, recommend that they buy Oracle's instead. If you're level 30, and your teammates ask you what an Oracle's Elixir is, proceed to flip your table because you're probably going to lose.
• If it's a crazy 1 hour+ game and your build is maxed, spend your extra gold on all 4, I mean 3 elixirs in the consumable section of the shop. ( Elixir of Fortitude, Elixir of Brilliance, and Oracle's Elixir)
• Save your Spirit Rush for the end of a teamfight for escaping or chasing.
• The best way to get better at Ahri is to actually play her a lot. You will be able to judge her burst better, and that will cause more enemy deaths ^^ Practice, practice, practice
• If it's mid-game and you want to gank, push the minion line to your opponent's turret, and step back so he can't see you. When the minions come back, step back in and push the minions to the enemy turret again. Step back. Repeat this several times. Eventually he will stop calling MIA's to his team, and you can go gank a lane easily. If you've pushed your lane hard, you might as well mess with his head. It will be harder for him to last hit under a turret, and by stepping back, you are also protecting yourself from enemy jungler ganks.
• Try to harass enemies with auto attacks in early levels as much as possible. Just be sure to account for minion aggro since they will start attacking you as soon as you do damage to the enemy. They do a surprising amount of damage to you at early levels.
• Ahri's early game is relatively good compared to other AP mids. Sometimes, your only advantage will be before your enemy hits 6. You must attempt to deny minions from them and harass them by playing aggressively and making them fear getting close to minions. These enemies include Katarina, Veigar, and Kassadin, to name a few.
• Other times, your enemy will have a waay better early game than you do. Focus on staying alive and getting to level 6. Then, keep on ganking other lanes.
• Are you getting tower-dived? Charm.
• Smartcast your Orb of Deception and Charm after you are familiar with the ranges! It will help your game sooo much by getting rid of the delay of clicking :O
• Keep calm and hit your Charm
• Her deathnoise will make the enemy team "distracted" so feeder Ahri is a legit build.
• ^ That was a joke.
• This is an epic videogame music playlist I use for playing League (or surfing the internet). It is epic. It will help you do better (jk). I got it from Scarra's stream --> http://vip.aersia.net/vip.swf
• This is my current videogame-music playlist I use for playing LoL http://grooveshark.com/#!/playlist/XDanielWang+LoL+Playlist+Aersia+V2/79523343
  Feel free to use it or make your own playlist and copy some of my songs over :D

Time for Screenshots showing how cool this guide is!

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And here's the most recent one. I played this one in a LoL tournament. BTW Lolking them.



I laned against Gallupo and he was GOLD 1. And he was the LOWEST elo on his team.
If you have 30 minutes to blow, here's a vid of that game.

http://www.twitch.tv/gamersaffect/b/410459520
(skip to 45:00 and excuse these not-so-pro commentators)

Change log

6/14/12 Guide created
6/15 Fixed some coding and grammatical errors, made it look a lot prettier, changed RoA description
6/16 Added in a bunch of coding and fixed grammar, spelling errors, added even more reasons behind not getting RoA
6/17 Expanded on Masteries section, made guide a bit prettier
6/18 Highlighted important information in tips/tricks
8/1 Added a champion match-up section. Will be completed on a later date. Also changed the title because the Foxfire Ahri skin is out.
9/23 Improved champion match-up section by adding a bunch of new opponents.
12/6 Season 3 editing. To be continued.
12/25 MERRRRRYYYYY KURISU-MASUU!!! I checked the guide today and it was ranked #2!! An awesome present, mobafire community :) You guys are awesome~~ Added Liandry's Torment, updated a lot of descriptions for Season 3, added more to match-up section
1/16/13 A lot of minor edits throughout January. Fixed descriptions, added info, etc.
2/14 Added a table to the matchups, since that's super sexy
3/12 More information added. Good stuff.
4/27 More Match-ups added to match-ups section.
5/1 Added the most important section in the guide, the L0re. Also minor touch-ups throughout the guide.
5/14 Finally got a comment after what feels like aegis (shoutout to Albo1125). Promptly added Ziggs and Zyra to match-up section.
5/21 Commence operation Make guide totally kick-***. Begin!
5/26 What? #1 guide on Mobafire? Awesome!! Added some pretty sweet banners, added various new information throughout the guide, and updated match-ups.
5/28 Fixed a bunch of coding/spelling nitpicky stuff, decided to take credit for minor things in this changelog(Austin)
6/2 Added more to match-up section.
6/11-6/12 Massive formatting overhaul (Austin)
6/11 More info added to summoner spells, abilities, "concised" gameplay, more formatting

Outro

This was my first guide. I know the formatting and coding is really rough, but I tried my best to provide an opinion for anyone wanting to learn Ahri.

If I see that a lot of people like this, then I will continue to patch up the format, add more details, and expand on the champion match-up section. Feel free to comment any criticisms or questions and I will try my best to answer. I'm sorry for any typos, I don't like the font used for typing this stuff and it's somewhat hard catching mistakes. That's why I'm here. -xaustinkx I just saw this one... I wonder how many more secret messages you snuck in here T____T -xdanielwang

Ahri is my fav champion and is a major reason of why I love League of Legends so much. She's awesome and I hope that you, too, can be awesome with her. Just don't be too good or people will think she is op and start banning her :( heheh Good luck and Have fun ^^

1/3/2013 - 50,000 views! :)
1/20/2013 - 100,000 views!! <4
3/31/2013 - 200,000 views!!! ^____^
6/2/2013 - 300,000 views and #1 on Mobafire You guys are all freakin awesome!!
6/17/2013 - 500,000 views ~ Awesome. Awesome to the max.
daniel izzzz dumb this is supposed to say <3 l2type noob l2guide lets see how long it takes for daniel to find this(1/20/13) i just found it..... zzz anyways, it's supposed to be <4 because <3 is like so last year (3-31-13)


Shoutout to xAustinKx! He's the master-mind behind most of the coding and attractiveness~ He helped revise many spelling mistakes and helped make the guide better overall, not to mention amusing secret messages

Questions or comments? Just say it in the guide discussion down below! I check for new posts almost every day, so feel free to ask away! Every comment will receive a reply :)

An upvote or +rep is always appreciated!