Ahri Build Guide by Spinel

Introduction

I started playing her during the ending of season 2 when I was still level 20 and I felt really good with it. her mechanics are really great, at the beginning I didn't know anything and could still play her OK and today I know so much more and I feel there is always something more to learn, I think thats why I decided to main her. I imagine that if you are reading this guide then you are probably trying to master her as your main, for just adding one more mid laner to your pool.. Either way, I want to emphasize that what is written here is what I think of her, and I strongly suggest you to try, and then change according to your preferences.

Why Play Ahri?

To start I think you need to ask yourself why Ahri, I mean, WHY? there are 120+ champions in League of Legends, and you come here to pick my precious Ahri? how dare you...

Jokes aside, Ahri nowadays is considered for many to be in Tier God list, and the reason for this is because of her hability to fit into every matchup. I know there are some matchups not in her favor, but when I want to play Ahri, I simply first pick with no fears. Although she is an assassin, you can play safe(passive) during laning phase and still make plays after that. Ranked Elo changes the way you can play Ahri to secure victory, your decision making in game with Ahri is very wide, I can't really put into words, plays you can create as Ahri are almost unpredictable if played at her full potential. Here's just an clear example of what I'm talking about:

Pros / Cons

Pros + Sustain + Strong laning phase + Deals TRUE damage + Covers huge distance with Ult + Easy To Play

Cons - Squishy - Relies on skillshots - Low mobility pre-6 or ult in cooldown - Ult has a long cooldown at low levels - Hard To Master

What makes a player good and consistent, is to know your strengths and weaknesses, abusing of what makes your champion good and taking care of what make it bad, this is one of the things I want to pass through this guide, we will focus alot on Ahri's Cons.

Masteries

I won't describe mastery/mastery why I took it, I'll instead give you a macro view about the reason I'm doing it.

Standard

This mastery page is what I find to be most useful with Ahri, normally I want to reduce flash cooldown and also extend buffer's.

Potions Increase

But in case you feel you want more sustain in lane(versus Xerath, Syndra) or if think your jungle will take the second buffer for himself, then you can sacrifice some of your blue buff time and increase your potions time.

Defensive

If you are agains Zed, Yasuo, Riven, you can go with defensive tree.

Runes

Standard

I normally pick this one if I'm versus AP champion and I'm sure I can play aggressive in lane without much from my enemy.

Ahri vs Hybrid Trade

Fizz, Akali, and others that deals hybrid damage. and since they normally are meele, we go with hybrid pen as well

Ahri vs Ad Trade

I think this is totally up to you. if there is an AD on the other side, you may want to pick this and trade some auto atacks.

Ahri vs AD Hard

For your surprise, I've been testing this for some time now, and its seems legit. if you know you are facing a very hard AD champion in mid lane, try this one out. along with your defensive masteries, you will feel very tanky and it will give you more confidence to do stuff instead of just being tower hugged.

Ahri vs AP Hard

Last but not least, this has the same idea as vs AD Hard, I tried this for some time now, and its pretty cool vs Fiddlesticks, LeBlanc, maybe Annie :)

Items

Regarding itens we talk about options, normally what I look for is 1 boot, 4 damage itens and 1 defensive item. but it can change sometimes... As you will notice I listed a restricted list of itens, the reason for this is that I want to focus on what I do and not about what can be done as Ahri, so there are some cool itens people will be missing here as Abyssal Mask, Liandry's Torment, Morellonomicon, Athene's Unholy Grail, and they are very good items, in fact you can build them for almost all AP champions in the game, but they are not here because I just don't use them in my builds, doesn't mean that you can't, I just don't encourage to.

DFG is Ahri Core item. don't even try to build her without this it. DFG goes so well on Ahri, because of her kit full of damage, if you charm + DFG someone, he's probably dead. but be aware of 90 secs cooldown, so don't go wasting for no reason

Zhonya's hourglass completes your porpuse during a team fight, with this Item Ahri can all in someone, activate Zhonyas and fall back once your team engaged them in a fight. I'll also try to cover it later how is a good way to combo as Ahri in a team fight. Also I will mention that in rare cases you'll build this before DFG, its almost a rule to build it versus Zed, so that you can be safer in lane, but be careful, you are building an Item because of lane phase, but what happens when one of mid turret falls?

I think that first question that arises is, why Ionian Boots of Lucidity instead of Sorcerer's Shoes? and this question is very personal, and my answer lies on math. 5% CDR from Masteries + 10% CDR from DFG + 15% CDR from boots + 10% CDR from blue gives you a total amount of 40%. and listen carefully, this is very important in Ahri, because you can roam better, you can be safe most of the time because of your ult cooldown, and you can all in more. since Ahri is a very strong pick-off champion, you must be able to do your combo very often.

I didn't list as one of the tree core itens, but for every AP this item works pretty well, for Ahri I don't like taking it as your first or second item because although it gives you lots of AP, it doesn't garantee a burst damage as DFG does.

If you feel like doing this item, build it as one of your last itens, at this point of the game, there will be many magic resist itens, and tanks will be full of it, thats when Void Staff takes control over them, and it also has a good amount of AP to help you burst squishy as well

I think of Rylai more as a defensive Item, but here I'll list as an aggressive item because of the amount of AP (100) + application of slow. since Void Staff is more useful against MR tank teams, you can go Rilay instead and add to your kit a bunch of status. very recomended in this kind of situations

I don't usually go for this item, because it means I won't be building any defensive itens, BUT its buildable with Ahri, it gives you a bit of extra damage and help you secure towers alone (not recomented but some times necessary). as a final advice, only build this item if you know what you are doing, and remember. you are full aggresive now, so don't complain on dying too fast because of a stun/snare/taunt/fear etc...

Guardian angel alows you to switch from zonias to GA's passive from time to time. I would recomend it only if you see that you are dying in all team fights for some reason, and only as last item in your build

Banshee is a more dynamic option to keep you alive, its good versus hard CC teams, and heavy AP at the same time, it does not give you a second life but may save you as much.

Game Play - Game Settings

It means Welcome to the Summoners Rift in Portuguese eheh.

Before we step into Mid lane, there are two things I need to point, that in order to play better in general you may want to master if you didn't already.

Unlocked Camera

Game from default comes with Camera Locked on your champion, this is bad in general, some say that it's an advantage for blue team, since they can see better because of the Game interface, and others say that it's hard to farm, since the minions are always "moving", when in fact your camera is the one always in movement. if you are feeling unconfortable with this change, please, try playing about 5 games using only Unlocked camera.. it's just a metter of getting used to play with it. now Hints:

• Never user mini map to position the camera in places that are nearby, you gonna lose yourself
• Hit Space bar to get your champion in the middle, in fact keep it pressed during team fights if you can, after you make some aggro play with Ahri for any other mobile champion, and because of that a team fight blows, try to hold space bar so you won't misposition yourself that easy
• When you think about a play, position your camera first.
• Always keep your attention in mini-map in general, but when you see something that interests you and you have the time to see it for yourself, go there with your camera. and then press space bar to go back (this increase a lot your game senses)

Smart Cast

Yeah thats right, if you don't use it, than you probably play some seconds slower than an average high elo player, and there are some excuses to not use smart cast as: its a long range skill shot, or... I play victor, its hard to aim, or even, I'm adc, supt, don't need that ******... you can tell yourself that.. but Smart Cast is a requirement in mid lane. so I will 100% recomend to do practice it.. Hints time:

• Start with a champion like Vayne, since she does a lot of her work with AA, and only 1 of her skills will be in training here ( Condemn), than go to someone like Irelia, and then go straight to Ahri, you must feel really confortable with it before going ranked games.. because it changes a little your playstyle.

Final Words

So, This is my first real guide, I really want to complete and maintain for as long as I can, I think this will not only help you readers, but will also help myself to improve.

Thank you for reading, Please leave upvote if you are ok with it, if not, please leave a comment for future improvements, also any question in comments section will be answered whenever possible. CYA !

TODO List

• How to play Ahri in different moments of the game
• Ahri Tricks to make you create better plays
• Specific Matchups Hints and Builds

Guide's Log

11/26/2014 - Draft Created
11/27/2014 - Guide First Published
11/28/2014 - Removed some itens from build, added "Items"
11/29/2014 - Revised Item Build/ Added Game Play (In Progress)
11/30/2014 - Text revised, Item builds revised (forgot trinket), lists fixed
12/01/2014 - Text revised, Runes revised, Added Faker's Brilhant play in Introduction