Ahri build and questions

[quote=Blood26]Before I go on, I just wanna say, I'm sorry if this thread should have ended up somewhere else. But, whatever it is, I do hope to get some good advice and helps here, so your replies are honestly appreciated. [u][color=#00ffff]A little bit about me[/color][/u] I am an average joe, who plays HoN and LoL (on Garena). Prior to defecting to LoL, I played pub games on HoN and frequented ranged magical dps/support heroes because my experience with melee heroes are zero to none. Due to the high demands and competitiveness exhibited by the HoN community, I joined LoL about 2 months ago and subsequently grew fond of it and decided to stay with it. [u][color=#00ffff]Ahri[/color][/u] Here's the tough part, the only champions I play, as of yet, is only Ahri with Lux and Fiora being my secondary characters. Technically, I consider Ahri to be my only champion that I've played because I spend less time with Lux and Fiora, and my skills with them would gradually deteriorate so long as I don't touch them. Ahri's the only champion that I've been playing with for about almost every time I log in to LoL. The reason that lead to my defection from LoL was due to Ahri, and I wasted 40 bucks on her, and she was my very first champion that I laid my hands on. The sad thing about it, despite playing for 2 solid months, I never mastered Ahri nor did I do well with her. And as of today, I have yet to identify what seems to be my problem with her. I mid all the time, previously before this, I tend to do top/bot lanes, reason being I felt more secure having another teammate with me. But I decided to take mid after being pressured by most gamers, and often, I find myself feeding many times. And there are only a reasons I could come up with [list] [color=#0080ff]Timid Ahri ( less harassing, more farming ) Reluctance to take risk Afraid of going oom Typically caught in most enemies' skillshot Bad at landing skillshots ( which lead to a timid gameplay of Ahri ) Bad prediction ( most of the time, my opponents go to the opposite direction of the one that I predicted ) Teammate dependent ( often needs Tanks to distract enemies in order for me to perform well ) Horrible clashes ( I panic when clashes happened, especially if it's those that worn my hp down by half before a clash even starts. Then I start losing my focus and panic around ) General Playstyle ? ( I noticed HoN and LoL gamers handle clashes differently, very very differently )[/color] [/list] There are more reasons that I could probably think of later on, but these are the few reasons that I felt sort of contributed to a bad Ahri. For a period of time, I decided to stick to the AIs and train with them, get a touch of how Charm and Orb works. True enough, after a short practice ( bout 5 games ) with the AIs, I was on a winning streak. When I'm incredibly lucky, I land about 11 kills per game. At the very least, if my mid foe is giving me a hard time, 2 kills. But shortly thereafter again, my winning streak stopped and I just went in a string of losing streak, which consequently lead me to writing a thread, seeking for help. [u][color=#800080]Masteries and Runes[/color][/u] My masteries are [color=#ffff00]19/0/2[/color] For Runes, I take [list=1] [color=#808000]Greater Quintessence of Potency Greater Glyph of Force Greater Mark of Insight Greater Seal of Clarity[/color] [/list] Note that the runes are not complete due me being Level 21. My runes are offensive based because I had always been afraid being 100% committed to a gank, yet getting any kills, which is waste of mana and effort. Hence, my investment in more offense for the sake of higher start AP. [u][color=#ff8000]Skill Sequence[/color][/u] I go [color=#00ff00]Orb >> Fox Fire >> Spirit Rush (whenever possible) >> Charm[/color] But lately, I tried [color=#00ff00]Fox Fire >> Orb >> Charm >> Spirit Rush[/color] The reason for taking Fox Fire was due to the fact that I had troubles landing skillshot, even for Orb itself. I personally felt that since I'd only end up wasting mana by hitting creeps and not champions, why not go for Fox Fire instead ? It's guaranteed to hit my enemy champions even if I had bad positioning. As of yet, I have no idea which built is better because I just started using Fox Fire 2 games ago. [i][color=#00ffff]Items[/color][/i] For starting items, I usually take Boots for the extra move speed with 3 red pots. Or Doran, if I feel like it. I prefer Boots over Doran because it means I get to run faster if I ever get focused. And to me, that 5 mana ragen and 100 HP boost from Doran didn't make a difference for me. When I've farmed reasonably well, and if I am extremely lucky at killing, This is how I build my items. Hextech Revolver >> WoTA ( if I don't have 1600 ) or >> Rabadon's Deathcap ( If the 1600 is available ) >> Sorcerer's Shoes >> Rylai >> Void Staff/Lich Bane If the game drags on, depending on the situation I'd sell off my Doran's Ring, go for a Deathfire or Morello. If I don't do well, I tend to go WoTa >> Shoes >> Rylai >> Deathcap >> Rest is the same [u][color=#ff0000]Enemies who I tend to feed a lot[/color][/u] [list] Mordekaiser Cassopeia Fiora Sion Leblanc [/list] These are just some of enemy champions I can recall at the moment. But the list actually goes on. There are still other factors that I'd state if I could remember, but as of yet, these are just the reasons I could think of. The rest is entirely up to my teammates and luck. For guides, I've tried many of the Top rated guides but to no avail. I follow LaCorpse's built on Ahri and I just sucked. Having said that, I do hope I could get some help or advice from the players on Mobafire. I apologize for the flashy words and long, absolutely wordy post. But I thank those for having the heart to read till the very end. And the end of the day, I'm just a desperate gamer who wants to perfect Ahri because I truly like her, yet does horribly bad with her. As the moment goes by, I am actually starting to feel demotivated because of how badly I suck at her. So I hope to get some help before that happens because I don't wanna give up Ahri. And again, I'm sorry if this post is placed at the wrong place. Sorry, sorry, sorry ~[/quote]

[quote=animorte]The problem with Ahri, she literally has only one ability that she can put where she wants it and it will hit somebody. That would be her Orb. She can put Charm where she wants it, but it only hits one enemy. Those only two abilities are both skill shots, and I am really good at leading and dodging skill shots. I'm not quite sure about others. Her other two abilities, you can't focus where they go, they just auto-target. Her biggest problem is not being able to focus her damage output. This is the biggest problem late game, not so much early. To be good with her, you need to learn how to lead your opponents with skill shots. The great thing about having a skill shot champion is that you can force your opponents basically wherever you want them to go. You just have to fake as if you would shoot at them and then watch them dodge around nothing. That's hilarious.[/quote]

[quote=Blood26][quote=animorte] The problem with Ahri, she literally has only one ability that she can put where she wants it and it will hit somebody. That would be her Orb. She can put Charm where she wants it, but it only hits one enemy. Those only two abilities are both skill shots, and I am really good at leading and dodging skill shots. I'm not quite sure about others. Her other two abilities, you can't focus where they go, they just auto-target. Her biggest problem is not being able to focus her damage output. This is the biggest problem late game, not so much early. To be good with her, you need to learn how to lead your opponents with skill shots. The great thing about having a skill shot champion is that you can force your opponents basically wherever you want them to go. You just have to fake as if you would shoot at them and then watch them dodge around nothing. That's hilarious. [/quote] Hmm, by that, do you actually mean doing animation cancelling ? I find it hard to do animation cancelling in LoL, it's not easy for me. Also, just wondering, but since you said you get to lead where your enemies are going, how would you actually lead them, or at least, how sure are you they'll walk right in to your traps ? Assuming I mid against someone who stays behind their minions tightly in an open space, they're not near any corners, where should I land charm ? Should I land it to the left or to the right ? That's the kind of question that often runs through my mind. I just went against a mid Lulu just now. Even with the blue buff at level 1 and spamming my skills like no tomorrow, I couldn't kill her. I managed to worn her down to the point where she had 30% health left and I could tower dive her, but I let her go because my health was about 40% too, which isn't enough to tower dive imo.[/quote]

[quote=animorte]Not animation cancellation. You notice how you run forward or make a certain gesture right as you are about to throw out an ability? Do that, except without the ability. Watch them twitch and try to dodge something that isn't there. Use it to your advantage. You only want one point in Charm early for ganks, overextended people, or aggressive people. Save your mana and harass with your Orb. You should be mobile enough to bacisally be immune to ganks. If you have to play defensively, get your jungler to help you. That's where you can lay everything you have into them.[/quote]

[quote=Blood26][quote=animorte] Not animation cancellation. You notice how you run forward or make a certain gesture right as you are about to throw out an ability? Do that, except without the ability. Watch them twitch and try to dodge something that isn't there. Use it to your advantage. You only want one point in Charm early for ganks, overextended people, or aggressive people. Save your mana and harass with your Orb. You should be mobile enough to bacisally be immune to ganks. If you have to play defensively, get your jungler to help you. That's where you can lay everything you have into them. [/quote] Hmm, good point, I shall try that later for my next game. Just wondering though, assuming you do run towards them, what are the chances that they might land their skills on you before you do ? Or, it could be that they're out of the skillshot range, how can I catch up with them in for them to be within my skillshot range ? I used to leave charm at level 1 and max it out last, but lately I notice a level 1 charm can sometimes backfire on Ahri. Reason being the taunt only lasts 1 second, and sometimes it doesn't kill off your enemies. In fact, if given the chance, my enemies'd fight back against me and I end up being the dead guy.[/quote]

[quote=animorte]Save Charm until 3. You don't really need ganks that early anyway. Most of your damage (believe it or not) is in Fox Fire. You just have to make sure it hits them. It's perfect for people that like to chase you. You don't necessarily want to run towards them if they have abilities that lock on. Just throw a few Orbs at them and when they finally realize when to see it coming, that's when you start to fake it. Remember, it can work both ways. I make people throw skill shots around all the time. They rarely hit me with them because I know how to lead them, make myself open long enough for them to think they can hit me.[/quote]

[quote=Blood26][quote=animorte] Save Charm until 3. You don't really need ganks that early anyway. Most of your damage (believe it or not) is in Fox Fire. You just have to make sure it hits them. It's perfect for people that like to chase you. You don't necessarily want to run towards them if they have abilities that lock on. Just throw a few Orbs at them and when they finally realize when to see it coming, that's when you start to fake it. Remember, it can work both ways. I make people throw skill shots around all the time. They rarely hit me with them because I know how to lead them, make myself open long enough for them to think they can hit me. [/quote] Hmm, I don't really get what you're trying to say, but I did try out your tactic just now. Went up against an Orianna, managed to come up with 9/2. Although I think it was pure luck, some of them blindly chased me. Probably would have been different if it were seasoned players. Would you please so kind to explain this sentence "[color=#0080ff]Just throw a few Orbs at them and when they finally realize when to see it coming, that's when you start to fake it.[/color]" again ? I don't really get what you're saying because.. I hardly go against skill shot heroes, most the time, I tend to go against lock on heroes.[/quote]

[quote=animorte]Well, you try to hit them with the Orb. After they get hit a few times they start to try finding ways to dodge it. The easiest way to dodge a skill shot is to expect it. If they pay attention, they will notice the movement you make right before shooting and most likely dodge before you even make the shot. You want to make them think you are going to throw it at them again.[/quote]

[quote=Blood26][quote=animorte] Well, you try to hit them with the Orb. After they get hit a few times they start to try finding ways to dodge it. The easiest way to dodge a skill shot is to expect it. If they pay attention, they will notice the movement you make right before shooting and most likely dodge before you even make the shot. You want to make them think you are going to throw it at them again. [/quote] Tried out your tactic for 3 games. I wasn't sure whether I understood what you meant, but I went ahead and try it. Some shots did get landed accurately, that's for sure. But mid is still a problem for me. Like I said earlier on, in an open space, I get afraid of predicting my opponents, because they could be smarter than me. Sometimes, they may not move left or right, and simply, instead, just take a step back and my charm automatically misses them. Went against a mid Katarina just now, was doing so well early game. Got her down to 30% health, tower dive with flash and exhausted her, spam orb and fox fire. Thought I was gonna get away with it, but then I got executed. And the rest fell after that. It was really really bad. *is feeling demotivated* By any chance, do you have any other advices or tips ?[/quote]

[quote=DuffTime]I max W and bully lane phase.[/quote]