Ahri Build Guide by DrunkBunnyGoHome

Introduction

Hello my name is DrunkBunnyGoHome and I´ve been playing Ahri ever since I started playing League of Legends, she was my first champion and I just loved playing with her (I still do).
- And at the end of this guide im certainly you will too!

This is not just another copied guide, I put a lot of time in this guide, experimenting and finding the best way for YOU to enjoy and play Ahri. Always remember when you are playing Ahri to have fun and play as a team. This guide shows you how to get the most out of Ahri, how you can build her most effectively and deadly.

Always remember to have fun and

Good Luck!

Pros / Cons

Pros:

+ Great damage
+ Strong in early and mid game
+ Great harassment
+ Great damage
+ Super mobile
+ Amazing CC
+ Ult allows her to turret dive and secure kills

Cons:

- Relies on Spirit Rush if ganked
- Weak against stuns
- Squishy (until you get core items)
- Weaker in late game
- OOM (Out of Mana) situations can easily appear if played too agressive
- Low mobility without her ultimate

Runes

Recommended

9x

I recommend taking Greater Mark of Magic Penetration (+0.95 magic penetration). You want to take nine Greater Mark of Insight as you want to give a nice amount of burst damage and theese will help you against magic resist items.

9x

Greater Seal of Vitality
I recommend taking Greater Seal of Vitality (+1.08 health per level).
You want to take nine Greater Seals of Vitality in which theese add a big amount of health. This give you more health and survivability. Greater Seal of Vitality will mean a lot when getting ganked or if you just are in a sticky situation, theese Seals might come in handy.

9x

I recommend taking Greater Glyph of Magic Resist (+1.34 magic resist).
You want to take nine Greater Glyph of Warding as theese will give you more magic resistance against other AP champions. I prefer taking Greater Greater Glyph of Magic Resist instead of Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power because of two reasons mainly. 9x Greater Glyph of Magic Resist gives you a total of 12.06 magic resist. 9x Greater Glyph of Magic Resist gives you a total of 3.06 ability power at level 18. Due to that it means you will start off with a magic resist of +1.34 if you take Greater Glyph of Magic Resist, which will make you less vulnerable in the early game. If you take Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power you will start off with +0.17 ability power in the early game, and this will only increase with +0.17 per level.

3x

I recommend taking Greater Quintessence of Ability Power (+4.95 ability power).
You want to take three Quintessence of Potency as theese will be very helpful in early game, basically they will give you an edge early in the game leading to that you can harass your oponent strongly and even secure an easy kill.

Alternative Runes that might work well

Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power
Some additional AP is also avaliable for Ahri if you feel that this is more usefull than Greater Glyph of Magic Resist. Greater Glyph of Ability Power is also an option for Ahri even though I don´t recommend using it, basically because Greater Glyph of Ability Power provides more AP.

Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration and Greater Seal of Replenishment is also a great choice for Ahri in which they provide you with mana regen. If you don´t like Doran's Ring theese runes are certainly an option for you.
It is also possible to go with Greater Seal of Armor for more armor if you are facing some tough opponents or you just want a better sustain in your lane.

Greater Quintessence of Health is an option that provides you with more health and survivability. Greater Quintessence of Scaling Ability Power is an option if you want more ability power in which they provide you with +0.43 ability power per level.

In the end it all comes down to personal preference, it´s your choice if you either prefer runes that give you mana regan or runes that give you more ability power.

Masteries

Offence

This mastery works good with Ignite as it gives you 5 ability points while Ignite is on cooldown.

Instead of Brute Force it is possible to take Mental Force , but I go with Brute Force as it makes me last hit minions much more easier.

Take this mastery for cooldown reduction, 4& helps out a lot!

Magic penetration is a must, take this to deal more damage.

You wanna take this mastery because it increases your damage output.

This mastery works great with Ahri since she is an ability power champion it´s usefull to get as much ability power as possible.

This mastery also increases your ability power by 5%.

Take this to deal more damage. Increases damage dealt by 6% to targets below 40% health.

Utility

I take this because I use Flash and it´s an usefull mastery.

Take this for a nice mana boost, gives you 216 mana at lvl 18.

Increases your movement speed.

It´s pretty usefull as this give you 3 mana regen per 5 second. Sometimes Ahri uses a lot of mana and this helps you out a bit.

This is a great mastery which increases the duration of your buff which mean more time with blue buff for Ahri.

Masteries are about personal preferences. If you want to change some masteries it´s all about you and how you feel you can make it better with Ahri.

Summoner Spells

Recommended

As for summoner spell you should go with
Ignite and Flash

Flash is a great choice, especially when your Spirit Rush is on cooldown. It can also be used tactically to get out of turret range. Instead of burning your Spirit Rush and for saving it for a better occasion. It is possible to use Flash offensively to secure your kill.

Ignite deals damage over time and because of the mastery Summoner's Wrath you always have an additional 5 ability power while Ignite is on cooldown. Ignite is great in early game and also for securing your kill. Use Ignite as a part of your spell combo.
For example: Charm - Orb of Deception - Fox-Fire - Ignite and then securing the kill with Spirit Rush if necessary. In early game you should not hesitate using Ignite. If you start of with Charm - Orb of Deception and then some basic attacks. Now your opponent will be pretty low on health and you can use the same spell combo Charm - Orb of Deception and then Ignite to finish him off.

Alternative Spells that might work well

Ghost can be pretty usefull, it has a shorter cooldown than flash and helps you to catch up with your enemy without burning your Spirit Rush.

Teleport might not be the best summoner spell, but if you are laning mid and you need to be there quickly it is a pretty decent choice for Ahri.

Cleanse can be another great choice for a spell. It helps you out of sticky situations. I would recommend this to players with quick reactions, if you get stunned this might be a great choice for you as it removes all disables.

Champion Spell

Essence Theft - (Passive)
Ahri gains a charge of Essence Theft whenever one of her spells hits an enemy (max: 3 charges per spell). Upon reaching 9 charges, Ahri's next spell has 35% Spell Vamp.

- Essence Theft is not expended if her next ability doesn't hit an enemy unit.
- Spirit Rush's 3 separate casts are considered as individual spell casts; it is therefore possible to gain 9 charges by only activating Spirit Rush.
- Essence Theft cannot be charged or consumed with Ahri's summoner spells or items active effects.
- When Essence Theft has 9 stacks, Ahri's orb becomes green, and therefore her next ability has 35% more spell vamp.


Orb of Deception - (Active Q)
Cooldown: 7 seconds
Range: 880
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90 Mana
Ahri sends out her orb, dealing magic damage, and pulls it back dealing True damage.

You want to max out Orb of Deception first as it will deal ridiculously a lot of damage when maxed out. Upgrade Orb of Deception at level 1,4,5,7 and 9. Use Orb of Deception to harass enemy champions in the early game. You can also use Orb of Deception to farm minion waves as the approach you in a straight lane. Don´t get too agressive with Orb of Deception, try to land as many skillshots as you can, if you miss one it will cost you a lot of mana.


Fox Fire - (Active W)
Cooldown: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5
Range: 800
Cost: 60 Mana
Ahri releases three fox-fires to surround her for up to 5 seconds. After a short delay after cast, they will target nearby enemies, prioritizing champions. Additional fox-fires that hit the same target will only deal 50% damage.

You want to upgrade Fox-Fire at level 3, 8, 10, 12 and 13. This is the second skill you want to upgrade to max. Fox-Fire deals a lot of damage and is necessary when playing Ahri. Focus upgrading your Q and W mostly. Ahri releases three small orbs that surrounds her for 5 seconds and they will target the nearest enemy champion dealing tons of damage. When using Fox-Fire you wanna use a combo of: Orb of Deception - Charm - Fox-Fire - and if you have reached level 6 you finish it off with Spirit Rush if necessary.


Charm - (Active E)
Cooldown: 12
Range: 975
Cost: 40 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110 Mana
Ahri will blow a kiss that travels in a line in front of her. It will damage and charm the first enemy it encounters, forcing them to walk harmlessly towards her, while being slowed by 50% for the duration.

Charm is a great skillshot and it can make the enemy fear you. Charm can be used both defensively and offensively. When you and your team are pushing a lane it is important for you to land your Charm which will make the enemy you hitted move towards you and then he is pretty much dead. Using Charm defensively can be very positive, if your lane are getting pushed hardly and your enemy is about to take down your turret you can easily harass them with Orb of Deception, if they decide to attack you you´ll just cast you Charm - Fox-Fire - Orb of Deception - Spirit Rush. Use Charm with consideration, if you hit your Charm you can continue by using your spell combo and take the enemy easily down.


Spirit Rush - (Active R)
Cooldown: 110 / 95 / 80
Range: 550
Cost: 100 Mana
Ahri dashes towards the cursor and fires essence bolts, dealing damage to up to 3 nearby enemies, prioritizing champions. In the next 10 seconds, Spirit Rush can be cast two additional times before going on cooldown. Each enemy can only be hit once per dash.

Used very effectively to clean up, in that meaning; take down several enemy champion with low health. A great skill to escape sticky situations and get away if you are ganked. If you land your combo: Charm - Orb of Deception - Fox-Fire - Spirt Rush the enemy champion is going to be dead in no time. Use Spirt Rush to catch up with fleeing enemies and secure the kill, use your combo and finish off with Spirt Rush.

Early Game

Start off with Boots of Speed + 3 Health Potions or you can either start off with a Doran's Ring if you are more suitable with it. In the beginning you wanna take Orb of Deception at level one and maxing it out by level 9. In the beginning you wanna last hit the minions which will make you get a good amount of gold when last hitting a lot of minions. Save your Orb of Deception and don´t use too much mana in the early gaming phase. Harass your oponent with your Orb of Deception, but be aware of not to use too much mana as this might cost you greatly. Farm as much as you can and focus the minions all the time, harass you oponent with Orb of Deception.

When you get your Charm you want to harass your oponent even more, start off by casting Charm and then Orb of Deception. Continue farming minions and do not go back as your lane might be heavily pushed and you won´t be able to push back. As you reach level 3 you want to get your Fox-Fire. By now you can harass your oponent even more, by using the skillcombo of: Charm - Orb of Deception - Fox-Fire use Ignite if it is necessary to secure the kill. Remember to stay in lane as long as you can and cooperate with your team by telling them SS or MIA if your enemy is not at his or hers lane.

By the time you are going back for the first time you want to get Doran's Ring, if you can afford it get 2 Doran's Rings and also Health Potions. If you want more burst damage buy some Sorcerer's Shoes. For more sustain buy Doran's Ring. Always be aware of ganks, therefore you might need to get some Sight Wards so you won´t get ganked and die unnecessarily.

If you already got your two Doran's Ring aswell as Sorcerer's Shoes and your lane is pushed as much as possible, it might be a good idea to gank another lane to help out your teammates. Let the team know that you are coming and wait exactly for the right moment to strike. It is important that you land your Charm to get a successful gank. After that you can follow up with Orb of Deception - Fox-Fire. If Spirt Rush is necessary and the enemy team is getting away then go for it. If you failed ganking stay with your allies in the lane and push the tower. You gotta be aware of that your tower might be getting pushed and if so happens you´ll have to run to your tower as quickly as possible to defend it. Use Charm tactically and harass with Orb of Deception.

Highlights for Early Game:
+ Last hit minions
+ Check bushes with your Charm
+ Harass your opponent with Orb of Deception
+ Always have an eye on your mana
+ Ward your bushes on the right and left to prevent ganks

Mid Game & Late Game

Ahri is pretty strong in mid lane and late game, but she shouldn´t be fighting at the very front of a team battle, stand a bit behind and harass with your Orb of Deception and Charm to deal damage from behind, remember Ahri shall not be at the very front, but rather be behind her team and harass the other team with her abilities. You want to stay with the team to the very end and do massive damage from behind, don´t play too aggressively, remember to keep your head cool.

Sometimes when playing Ahri you might get the feeling that you can take the whole team down by yourself even though when they are low on health, don´t do that. Rather stand behind and wait until they start to back off, here is where you should come in and use your Spirit Rush to secure all those kills. Use Fox-Fire and Orb of Deception to do even more damage. Remember that you always got your Charm.

Ahri uses a lot of mana so it´s really important for you to get the Blue Buff. At level 8-12 it will be decently easy for you to grap the Blue Buff, if you are having trouble you might always get a teammate to help you out and you´ll get the finishing blow.

Remember that sometimes it might be a little bit risky to stay in the enemy jungle too long as the enemy team itself or their jungler might come after you. If you are going to their jungle I would recommend you to take some of you teammates with you so they can help you if necessary.
If trouble is around the corner you can use you Spirit Rush snd your Flash as a good escape mechanism.

Ahri is a champion that depends on you landing her skillshot, you gotta practice landing her skillshot to do any good with her. If you cast her Charm a little bit in front of the running enemy champion it is greater chance that it will hit than if you cast it right on the champion while he is running. Try to predict the enemy, it will make it easier for you to land your skillshots and also dodge incoming damage. Practice makes perfect; you just gotta practice and you´ll learn Ahri in no time.

Highlights Mid Game & Late Game:
+ Stand behind and harass the enemies in a team figt
+ Don´t play too agressive
+ Getting the blue buff will help you a lot
+ Land your skillshots
+ Use Spirit Rush and/or Flash as an escape mechanism if necessary
+ Use Spirit Rush to secure kills

Items

Before I go on telling you which items to buy and not to buy, I gotta say that it is all about personal preferences. You might have heard it before, but it is 100% true. It´s all up to you to decide how you want to build a champion, maybe you wanna start up differently or add you own finish touches and thats allright.

I´m not going to tell you what to do and what not to do, I will tell you what I personally think is suitable and great for Ahri. There might be someone that doesn´t agree with my build and I totally understand it, we all have different style, preferences and tactics. All in all it´s up to you how you want to build Ahri. My job is to get you on the right path so you can think for yourself how you personally prefer building Ahri.

Starting Items:

Boots of Speed and 3 Health Potions
Movement speed is always great to start with, you aren´t that slow in the beginning which honestly feels really great. The health pots does also help out a lot if yout health is low.

Doran's Ring
Basically you start with everything you need, a bit more Health, ability power and mana regan. Due to lack off movement speed you are not as fast as if you picked Boots and Health pots which can prove to be very annoying.

Core Items:

Kage's Lucky Pick

Rylai's Crystal Scepter
The reason why I chose this is because of the +500 health you get and aswell it provides you with +80 ability power. The best thing about Rylai's Crystal Scepter is its UNIQUE passive which slows the target´s movement speed with 35% for 1.5 seconds. That means when Ahri casts her Charm, Fox-Fire or Orb of Deception the enemy will be slowed a lot. It´s much easier to get a kill when your ult is on cooldown, you can just cast your Charm and after that it´s pretty easy to use your combo: Orb of Deception - Fox-Fire. It´s a great item and I find it very needed for Ahri It give you more sustain and I basically just love the UNIQUE passive. It makes a huge different therefore I think it´s one of the most important core items for Ahri.

Sorcerer's Shoes
Sorcerer's Shoes are always nice to have with +20 magic penetration and also you´ll get Enhanced Movement 2 which makes it a lot faster and easier to get across the map faster. It´s an important core item for Ahri and Sorcerer's Shoes + Rylai's Crystal Scepter makes an deadly combination.

Kage's Lucky Pick This is a great item that I later build into Deathfire Grasp it gives you +25 ability power +5 gold every 10 seconds. You´ll get a bit more gold advantage when picking up this item which is always great as you can get your build going faster.

Following up Items:

Rabadon's Deathcap
You want to follow up with Rabadon's Deathcap as this gains you +140 ability power as this makes Ahri more dangerous with largest amount of damage and larger amount of input aswell as in teamfights with a great burst damage.

Deathfire Grasp
After you have gotten your Rabadon's Deathcap you want to go for the Deathfire Grasp. Its a great item that grants you with +80 ability power and it also give you more cooldown reduction which is great for Ahri as she can cast her spells quicker without waiting that long for the cooldown. This item also got an UNIQUE active which I highly recommend using. The UNIQUE active skill deals a lot of damage therefore you want to use it as much as you can!

Finishing Items:

Athene's Unholy Grail
A great item that provides you with +90 ability power, +40 magic resistance, 15 mana regan and also 15% cooldown reduction. This item is just great and give you even higher burst and magic resistance as well as cooldown reduction, I recommend taking this item for more damage and also less cooldown which means Ahri can cast her abilites even faster.
Zhonya's Hourglass
A ridiculously great item that provides your champion with +50 armor and astonishing +100 ability power. Take this item for more armor in which case will be needed late in the game and also for even more ability power and higher burst damage. I choose this because I find it great in late games, giving your Ahri more armor means more sustain, also the +100 ability power is awesome!

Other Items

I don´t really find this item necessary to Ahri at all. It does give you +80 ability power, but in late game I don´t auto attack at all (or that much) and If you already have the blue buff you can just spam your abilites, so I don´t see the point of getting it to Ahri. I think there are a lot more items that are more suitable for Ahri than Lich Bane, it just doesn´t fit her play style. But it´s not a bad item at all, I like to go for it if I build a hybrid like Jax; Lich Bane is a great item for a hybrid. Therefore I think that Ahri is not suitable with Lich Bane.
It can actually be a great item to have, it give you +70 ability power and +57 magic resistance. I would recommend buying this only if the enemy team consist of a lot of magic dealing champions or AP carrys that is doing better than you. Other than that I personally don´t find it that needable, I´d rather focus my Rabadon's Deathcap and my Deathfire Grasp for less cooldown and more burst damage. But it´s all about personal preference, Abyssal Mask is a great item and is sometimes more needed.


It can be good if you are having mana issues in the beginning, but the lack of cooldown and ability power from this item doesn´t really make it a suitable item for Ahri. I would rather recommend this item for Veigar due to the lack of his mana and his high burst ability damage. Ahri´s mana is pretty decent in mid game and it´s not necessary with Archangel's Staff, if you pick up the blue buff then you can just spam your abilites, therefore I don´t see a big need in this item for Ahri.
It´s acutally a pretty decent early game item, it provides you with +25 ability power, +200 health and +20 magic pen. It works in early game, but as your opponents get´s better items Haunting Guise will slowly fall of and become useless. Personally I think it´s kind of usefull in the early games, but at the mid and late game it becomes useless so if you are thinking about buying this definetely swap it for another item later. I would rather recommend buying Void Staff than Haunting Guise as it is a better item overall.


It´s a pretty good item, but I wouldn´t recommend buying it for Ahri. I rather prefer taking Rylai's Crystal Scepter due to it UNIQUE passive and also more ability power.


It´s acutally a good item and when stacked up to 20 you can get some really nice ability power. But to get this item you have to be doing really good in a game, if you are doing really bad this is not an item for you as it stacks up because of kills and assists and if you die you loose some of those stacks. I would recommend this item only if you are doing good, if your team are loosing its worthless getting this. But it´s not worth to risk anything, so it´s better to play safe by getting a good build instead of Mejai's Soulstealer as getting it might be too risky.


It´s a great item and the magic penetration really helps you out aswell as the ability power. If you rather want more magic pen I´d recommend taking this item. But I find it better to take Zhonya's Hourglass as this provides you with more armor and also more ability power. I find Zhonya's Hourglass more needed in late game as if you get in a really sticky situation it can really save your life. If the other team is focusing you down Zhonya's Hourglass might just be the item that saved you. I find it more needable in late games then Void Staff. More sustain leads to more Spirit Rush as you can try to follow up running enemies without taking too much damage. In the end it´s all about personal preferences though, both items are great.


It´s a great item and gives you +50 ability power. Personally I don´t think it´s that much needable, you´ll pull off with +50 ability power in the beginning but in the end I think that getting Kage's Lucky Pick and then later turning that into Deathfire Grasp is better. It gives you more of the advantage in mid and late game.