Hi! I'm livikattt, IGN Iivikat (it's an I because someone already took livikat, so I just went for the 3 t strategy) and I'm currently Silver 1. I'm essentially an Ahri one trick, but I play a couple other mages with good cc and oneshot potential (Seraphine, Lux, Vex). I wrote this because I figured it would be fun, and because I want to see more people playing Ahri. She's super good when she gets picks, and deleting carries is hilarious. Oh, you thought you were unkillable? With no MR? Wrong. You're dead.

Twitter: livikattt
Instagram: livikattt

Personally, I chose Ahri because she looked the most like me, but I soon began to really like her kit. Her ultimate lets you engage and escape well, and she's great at oneshotting carries. Her charm and poke is really easy to hit.
Sure, people call her an e-girl champion, but does it matter? It's not like she's anything new for female champions in terms of aesthetic and visual appeal. (Which is... a whole other rant I could get into, but not here)

Overall, Ahri is very easy to pick up, and she can have great effects on the game, so I recommend giving her a try!

Ahri's passive is Essence Theft, which allows her to heal upon killing every ninth enemy. This means that CS greatly benefits your laning phase, since the more you kill minions, the more you heal. (Of course, CS was already important. This just makes it even more beneficial to you.)

Ahri's Q Ability is Orb of Deception, which is a medium-range skillshot that can hit a target multiple times, dealing magic damage on the way out and true damage upon its return to any enemy it hits. This is your best waveclear tool, as it oneshots the back line of caster minions around level 9, depending on items. It makes for good poke, and is a lot of your damage in an all-in.

Ahri's W Ability is Fox-Fire, an automatically targeted spell that can hit up to 3 separate enemies. It summons 3 bursts of fire that circle around you until they find something to target, prioritizing targets that have been hit by your charm or that you have autoattacked recently. This ability also gives you a burst of movement speed, which adds to your mobility and ability to get in/out of fights. With the update to Ahri's abilities, the damage and mana cost of her W has been buffed, so I strongly recommend frequently abusing auto-w-auto combos for harass in lane, which will proc electrocute.

Ahri's E Ability is Charm, which is pretty much what it says on the tin. It has around the same range as your Q, and it charms the first enemy it hits. It does not pierce, so make sure there's not a minion in front of your target. It also increases the damage you do to the charmed target for a few seconds. This is your main ability and the foundation of your all-in. While charmed, a target is completely vulnerable as it slowly walks towards you, moving it out of position while making them unable to attack you back. Additionally, you can use the charm simply for an escape, as it slows an enemy chasing you. You rely on your charm to do the most damage.

Ahri's Ultimate is Spirit Rush, which does damage similarly to your W. While this damage is nice, it's not the main focus of your ultimate, as it also allows you to dash up to three times with a short wait between dashes, with an extra dash upon each takedown. You can get over walls with this ability and cover a lot of ground, making it your best tool for playmaking and catching enemies out of position. You can use your ultimate to reposition for a charm, escape a bad situation, or just get a little bit more damage onto a target. Be warned that the damage from your ultimate can hit minions instead of the main target. Thanks to Riot's most recent changes to Ahri, she's now back and better than ever. With her ultimate resetting on takedowns, it allows you to continue to dash around the fight instead of being forced to retreat after using your ultimate. This also means that you can go in deeper to burst down a target, since you'll have an extra charge to escape with. Not to mention the healing you'll get from killing them.

A very common mythic item for Ahri is Everfrost, since it gives her extra lockdown potential. There are a few ways to use your Everfrost: Cast it first to help land your Charm Cast it a bit after Charm to keep your target locked down for longer Cast it during your combo for extra damage Cast it to clear a minion wave

Your early game is far from incredible, but that doesn't mean it's completely terrible. You can take a few bad trades thanks to the sustain with your passive + q, but your mana probably won't last you too long, especially in a poke lane. I prefer Corrupting Potion start, and then just getting boots and a book at the very least for my first back. Mana can be an issue if you have to spam spells, but you shouldn't have too many issues once Lost Chapter is complete.
Try to get as many minions as you can without spamming abilities, and try to have enough mana for a charm at all times. It's a good emergency disengage (especially if there's an early tower dive.)
If you're against a melee champion, poke them with auto-w-auto when they step too far up, and when they get within melee distance, charm them and start walking backwards as you continue trading.
There are a few champions whose early games are much better than yours, namely Lucian and Talon. Lucian is a notorious lane bully at early levels, so just stay back and get as much cs as possible while still remaining safe. Talon's level 2 can kill you if you're too far from your tower, so play the early levels safely and make sure to watch for his roams, since he can cross the map very easily.

This is where your time to shine starts. Once you get your everfrost (or other mythic, you should have enough AP to oneshot squishy champions. (Ignite may be necessary to finish the job)Everfrost's active might need to be used just for the extra damage, but that's a small price to pay for a kill. It also helps you to escape from sticky situations even better than before.
During this time, you should use your ult as much as possible if you think it'll help. When your jungler ganks you, ult to get a good charm angle. Ult to escape from ganks, and ult to engage onto the enemy bot lane before they know what hit them. You can also use it to get over walls and steal objectives. With your ult up, your mobility is your strongest weapon, but be careful when it's on cooldown.
Don't burn all your ult charges at once unless you have to, and instead save it in case there's an opportunity to reengage or escape.

Your mid game is your most powerful, so you're going to be more susceptible to ADCs oneshotting you as badly as you oneshot them. At this point, your role may start leaning towards just hitting your cc to start an engage for your team. If you have Mejai's, though, you're still going to be super strong... assuming it's actually stacked.
Note that you can steal Baron from behind the back wall of the pit. It's awesome.

It doesn't matter who's engaging first, whether it's you with your ult or the enemy running at you. Charm first to get your damage boost, then w and q while backing up. Everfrost if you have it and keep backing up to build distance and get your cooldowns back up. You may need to ult to avoid the enemy spells while your charm is still off cooldown. Once it's back up (assuming the enemy didn't die to your first combo) go in with ult if necessary, charm, q, w, and ignite if you really have to.
Remember you can interrupt channels very easily with your charm (and root) and that you might not always win the fight. If it's looking like a bad fight for you, don't be afraid to use the rest of your ult charges to get away. Losing your ultimate is better than losing your life.


EASIEST WAY TO KILL AN ENEMY (BY CHAMPION, NOT ALL-INCLUSIVE)

Lux: If she doesn't take barrier, it's a free kill, if she does, it's still pretty free. Make sure your ignite is up, wait for her to miss a Q (very common occurence) then ult in and obliterate her. There's a good chance she won't use her W to block your damage because a lot of Lux mids are monkeys. (She can oneshot you though so watch out)

Syndra: She's stupidly immobile, especially if she doesn't take Phase Rush (and considering that the u.gg build is Aery, most people will use that) so you can just ult past her stun and obliterate her. Zhonya's will help you survive her ult, and don't forget that you'll heal a bit from killing her.

Azir: My guy has one way to dodge and unless he's a good Azir, he's not gonna use it. Even if he does, your cooldown is shorter, and his escape is his full combo. If he ults you into his tower, just emote him, kill him and use your ultimate to escape.

Yasuo: Listen, I perma ban Yasuo, so I wouldn't know much, but I will say that his windwall can't block Everfrost, so use that to lock him down before you ult in. (Or ult in, everfrost, and recast to get behind the windwall to charm) Remember he probably has Shieldbow, so he's not as burstable as he seems at first. And buy antiheal.

Yone: The good thing about Yone is that he's predictable. For some reason, lots of yone players like using their e to poke you under turret, which is a stupid idea that usually gives you time to W them at least. He will look to bait your charm with his E, but again, you win the cooldown war. Alternatively, just wait for him at the origin point of his E, and be ready to ult/flash his ultimate. And buy antiheal.

Fizz: Wait out his jump, then use your ult to dodge his R and kill him. easy. During the laning phase, you can poke him super well with auto-w-auto, which will proc not only electrocute damage, but also mental damage. Keep in mind that a good fizz will try to jump towards you in order to bait out your charm.

Talon: He stand a good chance of oneshotting you, but do your best to charm him out of his ult, since there's a good chance his path is just straight towards you. Alternatively, Zhonya's. He WILL look to all-in you at level 2 if possible, and unless he ints under tower, you have no shot at winning that battle. Wait for an opening, like when he uses his abilities on minions.

Zed: bro good luck, hope he ults the adc then make your move. Seriously though, I really recommend Zhonya's against him. Remember that you can see if his ult is going to kill you by how the particle above your head looks. Make sure to keep an eye on his roams, since he moves fast and kills your bot lane even faster.

Zoe: Just like Yone's E, her R return point is a great place to target. Remember that her bubbles go farther if she shoots them over walls, and if she hits you with one, use your ult to get to (relative) safety.

Seraphine: Ult to dodge her ult then oneshot her because she's a squishy little support (watch her items though, you don't want to get caught off guard when she has Rylai's.) Her harass can be pretty bad at early levels, but she won't be able to keep it up for long considering the mana costs.

Malzahar: The obvious issue with Malzahar is his point-and-click CC ultimate that basically guarantees a kill during a gank or a tower dive. Keep that in mind as you play, since unlike in most situations, you might not be able to escape even with your R and Flash up. However, there is one good thing about playing against Malzahar: his little void critters count towards your passive, meaning that you get free sustain in lane. They take very little to kill, even when you're focused on CSing the actual minions, so the health they give you in combination with your passive can help you stay in lane for longer.

Katarina: It depends on the Katarina's skill level. That sounds obvious, but you'll come to notice that low-skill Katarinas (aka, generally all the non-one tricks) have very predictable movement. Watch them as they approach their daggers, since monkey brain Kats will tunnel vision onto hitting you. Bait them in by standing near their daggers, and if it works, they'll dash in to try to trade with you. Time your charm to hit them right out of their E, and then combo them for free. Additionally, your ultimate is the perfect escape tool from hers, and after she uses her ultimate, you still have a charge or two of yours to go back in and kill her. If it's a good Katarina (which you will know if she doesn't go in on every living creature) then you are going to have a slightly harder time, but she's still very beatable. Katarina is a champion that thrives on chaos, but so are you. During teamfights, she'll look to dash in and ult as many champions as possible, and that's your best chance to strike. At this moment, she's completely vulnerable, since she can't move while casting her ultimate. That's when you throw your charm. If she's really good, well... Everfrost might be a good choice to help you lock her down.

Note: don't take this section too seriously.
Ahri's BMs aren't incredible, but make sure to dance a lot if you have a K/DA skin. Whenever you ult out of an engage the enemy team were really interested in, consider typing "/all ?" if you feel cocky.
I think Spirit Blossom is the best skin for BMs if you cycle through her animations. (Also I really love the fluidity of her movements, so I would definitely recommend it)
From my experience, Ahri players are either pretty nice or pretty toxic, with no in-between. Toxicity is cringe. Don't do it.
Here are your options for resisting toxicity, though.
If it's an enemy:
- mute them.
- pretend you do not see it. for all they know you have all chat off.
- be nice to the rest of their team and ignore the flaming enemy's existence
- get your entire team to collapse on them when they try to split push
- report them after the game :)
If it's a teammate:
- mute them.
- pretend you do not see it.
- ultimate combo: pretend to mute them. say things like "do u think theyre still malding" at random. do not acknowledge the flamer's comments. pretend you cannot see them. this will lead to an easy mental advantage and then you can win the game. mid diff.
- praise any teammate they're also flaming
- don't grief them. it's tempting, but it's also reportable.
- report them after the game :)
Just act oblivious. They will tilt so hard that you will be the better player. Then you can get the whole team to report them. EZ.

Thanks for reading! I hope you learned something here :)
Note that I am not all-knowing, and I'm not always right. (Oh, right, and I'm also Silver) Let me know if you agree/disagree with something in the comments, or if you have any questions! I'd love to talk about it.
This guide will often be updated with more information!