In the current patch (25.S1.1) she has seen 1.07 million games, over 99% of those games are all either Malignance focused with 787k games or Luden's Companion focused with 272k, along with some remnant games using Blackfire Torch/ Liandry's Torment 1st item. Patches before were 1.6M games every patch (1.5M of those with Malignance, 300k with Luden's Companion) up until 14.21, still 90% usage rate. Then from 14.20 to 14.17 she had 1 million games, 95% of those were still malignance and luden's. It's true that not everyone runs Horizon Focus as their 2nd item, yet it's still her most popular build. The closest you have is Malignance > Stormsurge or Malignance > Lich Bane. Malignance has been her main go-to 1st item ever since the 14.1 patch when the item was added to the game and by a large margin, this season didn't make anything to differ in changing her build, just adding a better boot alternative for 750g if your team win the Feats of Strength, if it was a trash item to run 1st item like you said then people wouldn't be running it.

On the contrary, nobody runs Stormsurge > Lich Bane, at all. Infact out of those 1.07 million games I just mentioned, not a single one of them is Stormsurge 1st item. You'd have better luck going Luden's Companion > Horizon Focus/ Stormsurge/ Lich Bane in that case. Even if we're being generous that you meant Malignance > Stormsurge or Malignance > Lich Bane, any of those builds, Malignance > Horizon Focus is still the most dominant build, this is also reflected when looking at anyone who's currently playing a lot of games on Ahri in higher ranks (>Master+) or pro players, all of which are running these exact builds as well, but considering you said it was a trash item along with horizon, I don't believe that was what you meant.

Statistics aside, if we're gonna be real, Stormsurge is probably the worst 1st item you could buy, it gives you burst potential, of which early in the game as a first item is completely useless. In order to proc the item's passive for the burst & movement speed, you have to deal more than 25% of a champ's max health within 2.5 seconds, which is barely feasible early in the game unless the opponent you're facing is terrible. This is why people run Malignance because it gives you early game power, makes your ultimate a threat and makes running storm, horizon or lich 2nd item just a stronger spike. It places you in an even lane with no negatives, whilst giving Ahri stats she actually can use like ability haste, mana & ultimate haste, something storm doesn't provide. Spending an extra 200g for your 1st buy item just for 4% more movement speed and 15 more magic pen when nobody is stacking any magic resist that early into the game anyway, is a horrible purchase, that's also why nobody does it, all things considered.

I did exactly the same ! Best guide I've ever seen.

Happy to hear you liked it! 😊

Malignance is core, so will always be picked no matter what. Lich Bane is quite nice as a burst item, I'd prob pick it into an enemy comp full of squishy targets, otherwise I don't feel like I'd sacrifice it over Horizon Focus.

Liandry's Torment is quite nice but it's a very specific item for tanks, if you're not facing any tanks it's not really that useful. And, even if you do face them, if they start stacking magic resist then getting a Void Staff could just be more useful.

Midlane can be quite tedious to learn and I wouldn't fault you for finding it hard. Thankfully Ahri is a lot easier to play since her playstyle is a lot more beginner friendly so to say compared to other champs like Syndra. Happy to help and hope you'll do well! 😊

Thank you so much Jhoi! I've worked really hard on it.

Hey Silverman43,

Thanks for the kind words! I try my best and yeah this is how far it is currently even though I still think there is a lot of guides that are even cooler than mine. :o

Hello AST Raposo,

It's quite long I know, trying to change it a bit to make it concise (to a small degree at least), but thanks for the kind words! :)

As for the matchups, all of them aren't quite done yet, I still have more matchups in progress and to get finished (I do mention that at the end of the section). If you're looking for a LeBlanc matchup, then I promise it'll come soon! It isn't actually all that LB favored anymore since you can stop in progress dashes. This generally means that if she uses Distortion onto you then you can Charm instantly (make sure to avoid minions) and it'll remove you from taking any damage from that W, which can help as the Q will not proc unless she hits E afterwards. However even with this, I don't think she's Hard really, more like a solid Medium matchup and she's been like that even before Ahri's E buff. Generally speaking, it's just a skill matchup between both players.

Thank you :)

:o