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Ahri Build Guide by TheGartonator

AP Carry Ahri - Cunning like a human-fox

AP Carry Ahri - Cunning like a human-fox

Updated on July 28, 2014
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League of Legends Build Guide Author TheGartonator Build Guide By TheGartonator 10 3 41,172 Views 8 Comments
10 3 41,172 Views 8 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author TheGartonator Ahri Build Guide By TheGartonator Updated on July 28, 2014
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Introduction!

Good Morning / Afternoon / Evening viewers, and welcome to my Ahri build!

I am TheGartonator and I will be guiding you through my choices and the way I play Ahri. I have been playing her for some time and though I am not the best player, she is an incredibly fun champion to use and I highly recommend her.

The cheat sheet above does NOT necessarily show you the best way to play Ahri- it is simply the way I do and I usually come out with decent scores. So, join me now fellow summoners as we delve deep into the depths of Ahri! Not literally, that would be beastiality, of course, but... You get what I mean.
I do intend to fully update this guide now! Hopefully we can reach number 3 on the Ahri build chart again, or maybe even higher this time?
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Lore!

Unlike other foxes that roamed the woods of southern Ionia, Ahri had always felt a strange connection to the magical world around her; a connection that was somehow incomplete. Deep inside, she felt the skin she had been born into was an ill fit for her and dreamt of one day becoming human.

Her goal seemed forever out of reach, until she happened upon the wake of a human battle. It was a grisly scene, the land obscured by the forms of wounded and dying soldiers. She felt drawn to one: a robed man encircled by a waning field of magic whose life was quickly slipping away. She approached him and something deep inside of her triggered, reaching out to the man in a way she couldn't understand.

His life essence poured into her, carried on invisible strands of magic. The sensation was intoxicating and overwhelming. As her reverie faded, she was delighted to discover that she had changed. Her sleek white fur had receded and her body was long and lithe, the shape of the humans who lay scattered about her.

However, though she appeared human, she knew that in truth the transformation was incomplete. A cunning creature, she adapted herself to the customs of human society and used her profound gift of beauty to attract unsuspecting men. She could consume their life essences when they were under the spell of her seductive charms.

Feeding on their desires brought her closer to her dream, but as she took more lives, a strange sense of regret began to well within her. She had reservations about actions which never troubled her as a fox. She realized that she could not overcome the pangs of her evolving morality.

In search of a solution, Ahri found the Institute of War, home of the most gifted mages on Runeterra. They offered her a chance to attain her humanity without further harm through service in the League of Legends.

"Mercy is a human luxury, and responsibility.” - Ahri
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Pros / Cons

Pros


Ahri is an incredibly strong mid-lane champion
Orb of Deception is an excellent farming tool, and allows her to use her Essence Theft very easily and effectively.
Ahri is an incredibly mobile champion when her Spirit Rush is up, which is often, making her a versatile roamer.
Charm is an excellent cc tool for shutting down melee hard-hitters and tunnel vision champions, like Tryndamere and Wukong.
Orb of Deception makes two journeys- One to the destination and one back. This means two hits, and the second deals true damage!
Ahri has fast autoattacks, making last-hitting and early game harrass easier.

Cons


Ahri is quite squishy, and can be taken down easily if her ult is down.
Charm can only affect one target, and the cooldown is quite lengthy.
Silence destroys Ahri.
Very susceptible to cc.
Charm can hit minions, so hiding behind a minion wave is an effective way to counter her.
Mana-Hungry early on.
Heavily Focused.
Fox-Fire and Spirit Rush can target minions instead of champions at the worst times.
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Masteries and Runes

For my masteries, I've gone with the basic AP Offense tree focusing on Ability Power, Cooldown Reduction, Magic Penetration and Damage. That much is self explanatory - they all give Ahri nice little boosts to the aspects that need a little boost - what she scales from and what helps her in fights.

Instead of a usual 9 point tree though, mine is a little different. I have fully maxed the 'first tier' of the Utility Tree, because I believe this is where the best things are for Ahri. Then, I've gone for the usual Runic Affinity for increased buff durations and thus longer periods of time with the cooldown reduction and mana regen that blue buff offers.

The other points are put into movement and mana regen primarily. As a mobile assassin mage, she will need to be able to join or flank fights as quickly as possible, or prevent escapes which is where Fleet of Foot comes in. The mana regen from Meditation is purely to help her early on, dealing with her mana hunger.

The Improved Recall is there because the 0.5 seconds extra you spend returning home could be the 0.5 seconds in which someone face checks your brush or tosses a skill into it. That 0.5 seconds can, and has in the past to me, cost you your life. You can't risk it happening often, if at all.


Runes

Precision
Press the Attack
Lethal Tempo
Fleet Footwork
Dark Harvest

I've gone for Magic and Hybrid Penetration marks, Mana Regen seals, Ability Power glyphs and Movement Speed / Ability Power Quintessences.

The Hybrid Penetration marks are there solely for early game poke potential; basic attacks are a deceptively powerful damage source, particularly with Arcane Blade adding a little extra kick. Harrassing an opponent early on will help you blow their health potions, prevent more daring midlaners engaging on you when you don't want them to, and it'll save you mana for when you need it (Ganks, Engages, Disengages, etc.) The Magic Penetrationmarks are more there for the lategame, helping you bring down tankier opponents and making the most of Ahri's damage potential. It will not affect her true damage from her Orb of Deception's second trip, but it will greatly benefit the rest of her abilites.
The Mana Regen seals are for early game sustainability. As we know, Ahri is quite mana hungry, so the extra regen helps. It also means that we don't need to waste money on mana potions ever. It also means that you never have to build a Chalice of Harmony! Personally, I just hate the item, but if you love it and need one in your life, I won't burn down your house. Much.
The Ability Power glyphs work amazingly early on in combination with Archmage increasing the boost by 5%. That, in addition to my quintessence, makes for a staggering amount of early ap. This makes securing first blood, or harrassing and poking, much easier and more effective. The boost subsides slightly once we hit our Needlessly Large Rod, but it is still there and still highly beneficial.

Finally my Ability Power Quintessence] is there for the same reasons as mentioned above. Early game damage potential. The Movement Speed Quintessences, however, serve many purposes. Dodging abilities, getting into and out of lane quicker without sacrificing Ignite for Teleport, and my personal favorite, ganking bot lane! I'll cover this in more detail later, but ganking bot is a great way to get fed and works 9 times out of 10.
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Skills and Descriptions

Essence Theft (Passive)

Ahri gains a charge of Essence Theft with each enemy unit hit by any of her spells, with a cap of 3 charges gained per spell cast. Upon reaching 9 charges, Ahri's next spell will heal her for 2 + ( Ahri's level) (+ 9% AP) for each enemy hit.
This is an incredible passive for Ahri that grants her lots of sustain, which helps her greatly in mid lane, Especially against champions who poke frequently e.g Xerath. Mid-game, it can help Ahri grab blue buff without the jungler's help, assuming she has sufficient damage. This means that the jungler can focus on helping lanes, securing objectives and securing other buffs. Lategame, this passive becomes downright OP, when she can just waltz up to a creep wave with less than half health, hit it with an Orb of Deception and leave lane with nearly full health. She can also do this to wolves or wraiths, to a slightly lesser effect. Finally, this passive allows Ahri to deal with champions chasing her down. By throwing out a Charm, an Orb of Deception and a Fox-Fire, you can build up 6 to 7 charges on Essence Theft. The low cooldown on Ahri's abilities mean that she can do this frequently, healing herself often.
Ahri Ahri sends out an orb in a line in front of her and then pulls it back, dealing magic damage on the way out and true damage on the way back. Each trip the orb takes deals 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+ 35% AP) damage.
This is your poke, farm and passive resource. It will also be your main source of damage early on. The base stats are fairly weak and it doesn't scale much from AP, but it hits TWICE and once with TRUE DAMAGE. True Damage ignores magic resistance, so even that won't save them from your wrath! >:D
Early on when you're insanely mana hungry, SAVE IT FOR WHEN YOUR OPPONENT MOVES A BIT TOO CLOSE. Do NOT poke constantly and use it for farming all the time! (Though it is ok to farm and poke with it, don't do it frequently. You need reserves of mana for ganks.) And when you have your passive, be sure to hit most of the minion wave with it so not to waste the heal. This ability is effective at disabling spellshields, like Banshee's Veil, since the first hit will be mitigated but the second, more powerful one will deal full damage.
Ahri releases three Fox-Fires to surround her for up to 5 seconds. After a short delay after cast, each flame will target the closest visible enemy unit to itself, prioritizing champions, and deal magic damage to the target. Each Fox-Fire deals 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+ 40% AP) magic damage. Additional Fox-Fires that hit the same target will only deal 30% damage.
Fox-Fire is more of a lategame ability than an early one, not least because of the fact that it has the highest AP ratios of all your abilities. It works in combination with your ultimate so effectively, because it means that with one dash you can fire 6 orbs at targets. SIX ORBS! This deals tremendous damage. Another reason why Fox-Fire is awesome is because it doesn't have any cast delay, so you can use it while running. If you're feeling hardcore and running from an enemy champion while your charm is down, you can pop your Fox-Fire for some quick damage (And an effective heal if Essence Theft is available), and you can just use it for a slow if you have built a Rylais. Unlike Orb of Deception, Fox-Fire applies the full 35% slow to each target hit.

Charm (E)

Ahri blows a kiss that travels in a line in front of her. The first enemy it hits takes magic damage and is charmed, forcing them to walk harmlessly towards Ahri while being slowed by 50% for the duration. The Charm deals 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 35% AP) magic damage, and the effects of the Charm last 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds. Enemies hit by Charm take 20% more magic damage from Ahri for 6 seconds. Orb of Deception's true damage is also increased by this effect.
This skill is Ahri's signiature move. It is used to slow targets, bring them in, position them for a burst, chasing, escaping, raping (metaphorically), all that good stuff. The downside is that the enemy can easily prevent this from hitting them by hiding behind their minion wave- It will Charm the first target, including minions. Using your ultimate to position yourself for a Charm could be an excellent move if you believe it is worth it (The target is squishy and high priority, like a carry. This works as a good initiating ability.) This ability is also an excellent counter to Master Yi since Charm does not actually count as a slow. Hence, his Highlander will not resist the movement speed debuff. In addition, Charm's damage amplification scales amazingly well with Deathfire Grasp's active ability, causing Ahri to deal 44% addditional damage to her target! Add in True Damage from Orb of Deception and we've got a nuclear bomb on our hands.

Spirit Rush (R- Ultimate)

Ahri dashes towards the cursor and fires essence bolts, dealing magic damage to up to 3 visible 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.
Each orb fired by Spirit Rush deals 0 / 110 / 150 (+ 30% AP) magic damage on impact.
Ahri's ultimate is the reason she is considered a 'mobile mage assassin.' The dash can be used to get over walls to initiate OR escape, or can just be used to set up combos, escape or chase and finish targets. With this, you can dash around a teamfight with your Fox-Fire and blast everyone to kingdom come while getting in position for your Orb of Deception and Charm. The base damage may seem underwhelming on paper, but you get 3 lots of it PER USE. The cooldown is also relatively short, which is nice.
Something worth noting is that, unlike Fox-Fire, Spirit Rush doesn't apply the full 35% slow from a Rylai's Crystal Scepter. It instead only applies a 15% slow.
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Skill Sequence and Why

Ability Sequence
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Ahri requires the healing that her passive provides, and the farm + pokes from her Q to help her win the early game phase so it is for this reason that I level Orb of Deception first. It also allows the squishy fox to stay back in teamfights if she is not doing so well, yet still deal some damage.

Ahri's Fox-Fire is a stupidly good spell in combination with her ultimate, but not so much otherwise which is why I take it second. However, the high AP ratios that it grants in combination with the excessive ap you should have from masteries and runes early game allow you to use it effectively without levelling it.

Ahri's ultimate is maxable at 16 so you should level it up ASAP. The extra damage really mounts up well, and it needs to be fully effective for Ahri to get the full use of her damage potential.

Charm is a skill that's there for the utility. You could take it over Orb of Deception at level 1 instead of 2, but the poke-'n'-farm of Orb of Deception will get you started good. Plus, you don't need to wait too long to reach level 2.
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Summoner Spells

IDEAL SPELLS

An incredibly useful spell for chases and escapes. While your ultimate provides 3 dashes anyway, Flash is there for the pre-level 6 kills (Of which there should be a couple) Pre-level 6 gank escapes (Which are to be expected) and for whenever your ultimate is down. One does not simply question Flash's uses. Take it or, let's face it, you're not smart.
Insanely useful for securing kills early and mid game, excellent for 1v1 situations both in and out of lane, brilliant ganking tool and can help kill carries reliant on lifesteal to survive fights, champions with heals and tanks with insane regen. Examples: Dr. Mundo, Master Yi, Tryndamere.


VIABLE CHOICES

Lots of mid-laners have cc such as stuns ( Syndra) and silences ( Malzahar) and snares ( Lux.) It could well be a very viable replacement for Ignite, though I prefer to grab a Quicksilver Sash if they have a cc heavy team, as well as Mercury's Treads.
A good offensive or defensive tool to replace your Ignite- This will allow you to either survive an AD champion's attacks for a bit, or allowing you to chase down an enemy and toss your Q a couple more times, or escape while Charm is down.
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Early Game

As soon as the game starts, put on your Doran's Ring and stock up on Health Potions before dashing to blue / red to cover for your jungler. Don't take any abilities yet - guard the jungle until about 1:50 seconds. If the enemy team attempts an invade, take Charm first. If not, just head back to mid lane and level up your Orb of Deception. Be especially careful if the enemy team has a Blitzcrank, since he can just pull you in for a free first blood. To prevent this, place a ward to cover blue for you and stand back, in a safe bush.

Until about level 4, I like to focus on poking my lane opponent, especially if they're melee. Using basic attacks is a great way to deal 40 to 50 damage per attack. Just watch out, because this will aggro minions onto you. Basic attacking the opponent and kiting minions is an essential part of playing mid in this way. I wouldn't bother using your Orb of Deception for poking until level 3, since up 'till then your Q deals pitiful damage and would just be a waste of mana. Try to hit your opponent through the minions, so that you both farm and poke with one move. You're really aiming to have a kill before level 6 and, depending on your opponent, you want to have their tower down before about 8 or 9 minutes. This means that you can roam a lot more freely. Whenever your ultimate is up, you should be trying to kill their midlaner or, better yet, roaming into bot lane to try and pick up some kills.

When your jungler ganks you, there's really only one way that Ahri can take advantage of it. Until level 6, anyway. That is to get into a position where your Charm can land while your jungler gets into position. Once the Charm has been landed, your jungler can go in for the kill. Because Charm slows your target, the jungler doesn't even need a speed buff or jump, though it makes the kill vastly easier. They can then land their cc, if any, and you can both spam out damage and hopefully pick up the kill. Example situation:


Be sure to get blue buff once it spawns, ask your jungler for it. If not, it could impact your lane phase badly. With it, you will also be able to gank other lanes more effectively without returning to the spawn in between. To initiate such ganks, you should use your ultimate once to jump in there, over a wall or behind them to keep the element of surprise and AVOIDING THE RIVER BECAUSE IT WILL MORE THAN LIKELY BE WARDED. Once you're over the wall and close to the enemy champions, jump around them again once using Fox-Fire to deal a good amount of damage, using Charm and your Orb of Deception to pull the highest priority target (The carry, usually) into you and your allies if they are smart enough to help you and dealing heavy damage. Depending on your situation, you can finish the carry or the other target with your final jump before retreating (Best used if you have Flash up) or using your last jump to escape with your life. If the enemy mid lane is missing, this often means they're coming to deal with you, so make sure you use smart-pings to prepare your bot lane and jungler for the gank and try to pick up another kill here.


After a successful teamfight like that, especially if their jungler is down or nonexistant, this is a good time to tackle the dragon if your jungler's Smite is up. If not, don't bother but if you get at least half of your team on it, it should be pretty possible. It's a good idea to keep dragon warded when these teamfights start. This also pretty much starts off the mid game phase, by which stage you should be fed enough to continue roaming and helping push other lanes.
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Opponents

Here we reach my dreaded part of the guide, going over other champs and evaluating the challenge you will have against them. I'm going to assume that both teams have a skilled
I invite feedback here if you are a midlane player and I have overlooked some strategies for champions that you primarily play. Hit me up with the feedback and I'll incorporate it into the guide the next chance I get. The more feedback I receive here, the more accurate this section will be!

- Should you come to blows with another Ahri, the battle will be won on two factors - Who can land Charm first and/or who has the better jungler. Stay behind your caster minions so to avoid her Charm and try to stay out of her orb's reach. As an Ahri player, you should know what moves she will make and when in order to attack. Try and dodge everything and make your move when your jungler comes along or their Charm is down. Be wary of her ultimate.
DIFFICULTY: TRIVIAL

- Akali's weak early game means that you can make her life a living hell up to level 6. She's a melee champion so if she's silly and tries to slap a minion and she's in your line of kisses, blow one her way and make her regret life. After level 6, save Charm for after she jumps on you, and she WILL jump on you. You can't escape her with your Spirit Rush, so if Akali jumps on you it's a good idea to try bringing her into tower, or just fighting her there. Escape isn't much of an option.
DIFFICULTY: EASY PRE-LVL 6

- She's squishy as slime and pre-lvl 6 is lacking in damage a bit because landing her Flash Frost won't be too easy; just be wary that the area of effect on its explosion is bigger than it looks. Hit on her now rather than later and ensure you get your jungler in to help take down her egg if she's not under the tower. Keeping her from reviving is essential because she will kill you on respawn. Her ultimate is a pain and where possible needs to be avoided. It can be used very often indeed so don't think you're safe unless she's out of mana, because her ult drains it quickly.
DIFFICULTY: EASY PRE-LVL 6

- This girl is a pain. Watch for the ring that will be around her waist because it indicates that her stun is available and she will likely try to get close and land her Q on you to shotgun blast you with fire OR Tibber stun you if he's available. Keep your distance and keep wards up from her, even if her stun is down. Keep a close eye on her counter. If she's on 3, get back because she can shield herself to bring it up and stun you then.
She also has insane damage so I recommend getting magic resist; a Negatron Cloak will go a long way here. I say keep wards up because her stun will leave you susceptible to ganks. Ask your jungler to ward on the river bushes if you're low on gold. Keep poking from a distance and because your E outranges her, you should be ok. Just be weary of Flash.
DIFFICULTY: TOUGH

- ****ing Brand. He has a stun a similar range to your Charm so be careful if he hits you with his Pillar of Flame. For f**ks sake, dodge that because if he lands that, or even his Conflagration, his stun will get you killed. Even if he doesn't land his Sear, his passive ( Blaze), will deal insane amounts of damage to ypu, making dodging even more necessary. It's often a good idea to start with Boots and 4 potions to start off, this lane. His ulti will also kill you. Spread out from your jungler if Brand is about and not cc'd because he will AoE wreck you with a Pillar of Flame and an ultimate which will kill you both, har har. He will also stay behind minions because he has no real need to pop out, so landing a Charm will be hard until level 6. Play passively and farm safely until then.
DIFFICULTY: Relatively difficult.

- Not too tough assuming you dodge her Noxious Blasts and stay away from her Miasma, because not only do they do a a good amount of damage, they open you up to a Twin Fang spam which will chunk you, while being poisoned all the while. I highly recommend you start this lane with Boots since she's great at poking from long range, and deals deceptively high damage. She has no cc besides her ult though, so if you land a Charm she should fall easily UNTIL her ult comes up. However, the range is so short that assuming you don't try to shotgun Charm her, she can't touch you with it. Charm has about double the range and so does your Orb. No problem. Like Annie though, be wary of her Flash.
DIFFICULTY: PRETTY EASY

- Dodging her Crescent Strike is easy game once you figure out its trajectory and get some practice against it, just move the opposite way it travels initially and it will sail past you. Save Charm for after she uses Moonfall or Lunar Rush. She'll have no further abilities to throw at you (Unless she ults you a second time) which should be no problem because if you aren't overextended, and you shouldn't be, you'll be under the tower by then. She is a tanky mid lane but requires melee attacks to farm effectively. She can take a fair few pokes and 2 or 3 Charm combos, but keep her unfed and this will be easy game.
DIFFICULTY: Meh

- AP Ezreal isn't seen too often in mid, but when he is, you need to be bloody careful. His Essence Flux, though slow and short-range, will deal incredible damage. Once he builds his Sheen, his Mystic Shot also becomes a problem. His Arcane Shift allows him to set himself up for a combo, dodge a Charm or escape a gank. His ultimate, Trueshot Barrage, will deal insane damage. Dodging this is essential, and made much easier when Spirit Rush is available, so use it then. Landing a Charm after he uses Arcane Shift will be much easier, and he's squishy, so make the most of it. Just be careful to dodge his attacks and you should be in good shape. Remember: He can't dodge Fox-Fire or Spirit Rush!
DIFFICULTY: Quite Tough

- Fizz is a real pain because he can dodge your Charm with one use of Playful/Trickster, and pull a gap-closing second use setting up his ultimate and other abilities. Play defensively. You have the advantage in the sense that he is a melee champion with no ranged abilities spare his ultimate. Make sure to stay back as he can close the gap between you if you do blow your Charm. However, ensure that you stay in exp range because if you don't, you are becoming underleveled and he will become even tougher to kill. Rely on ganks. Poke him down with basic attacks, because this can mean an early first blood for you if your jungler ganks.
DIFFICULTY: TOUGH

- Galio is a tough mid to kill, but easy to lane against. Seeing as he will spam magic resist early on, don't bother with pokes and focus solely on cs. He has two pokes, one of which will slow you. It functions the same sort of way as Anivia's stun, and is quite tough to dodge, due to its splash range and speed. The same with his Righteous Gust. However, he becomes dangerous at level 6 and you will want to keep your distance because if he ults you, you will become a sitting duck and his jungler will be able to come in for an easy kill. You shouldn't tower dive him for this reason. He's a rough counter to most AP midlaners, like yourself, so rely on that jungler and hope that bot lane gets you fed.
DIFFICULTY: MODERATE

- Heimey is a problem. His H-28G Evolution Turrets will bring down your creep waves and tower quite quickly, so you're going to be quite reliant on your jungler. They also deal a lot of damage to you if you let them, so be sure to kill them while they're focused on your creeps. He also has a powerful stun which you must avoid at all costs, and his Micro-Rockets will do a lot of damage. Stick behind your minions and out of his turrets' range. Don't push too hard without backup, or you're exposing yourself to a *****torm of being stunned and bombarded, before being finished by a gank. However, Heimey is incredibly squishy and so harrassing him whenever possible will keep him in check nicely. A single combo and Ignite will probably near enough kill him, or at least force him out of lane. Just be wary of his UPGRADE!!!. That turret will kill you to death.
DIFFICULTY: TOUGH

- Karma shouldn't be taken lightly. A skilled Karma is a force to be reckoned with. Her Inner Flame is a nuke, and will deal an insane amount of damage. Don't worry though, she is reliant on her Mantra to do anything, and thus keeping watch on it is very important. Look out for the little thingies floating around her waist - that is her Mantra count. Without Mantra, her abilities don't have their additional effects and are less dangerous. When her Mantra is down is when you make your move. She also does not have the benefit of an Ultimate, as her R is Mantra and is learned at level 1. This gives you a level 6 advantage. Use it wisely.
DIFFICULTY: MODERATE

- I don't find Karthus to be a problem. He's squishy and easy to dodge. You don't need to be close enough for him to use his Defile to bother you, and Lay Waste is inaccurate early on assuming you keep moving. Wait for an opening in his minions and nuke him down nice and easy. However, don't stick around at low hp, even if you can get an easy kill. He can use his dreaded Requiem to do a lot of damage to everyone on your team and he can do it from beyond the grave. This could set your teammates up to be attacked and you could end up losing teammates or towers as such. It also causes a lot of lag for some computers. DDOSer. For these reasons, towerdiving a Karthus is a bit of a silly move. Other than this, easy game.
DIFFICULTY: EASY

- Lots of people fear Kassadin because of his damage, but if you keep your distance, he can't nuke you down with a quick Nether Blade strike. When he hits level 6, he can jump in for a Sphere / Pulse combo, which IS a problem. He also takes slightly reduced magic damage because of his passive, and thus poking and harassing him will be less effective than usual. Basic attacks are the key to keeping Kassadin down early on. If a level 6 Kass tries to chase or escape you with his ultimate, you can escape him with yours. His has a cooldown of around 6 seconds, and costs more mana each jump. You have 3 jumps to be fired instantly for a lower cost. As such, he won't be getting many kills, and probably a lot of deaths. Following the removal of Kassadin's silence, he's become a lot easier to face.
DIFFICULTY: EASYish

Katarina

- Katarina is a bit of an issue. Like you, she's an assassin, but her jump is up much more frequently and has a longer range. However, she needs a target and as such, she will have to use wards to get over walls or over long distance with no targets, whereas you don't need to. Her Bouncing Blades will be her main method of gaining cs as well as poking, so take the opportunity to poke her about when it's down.
She could Shunpo onto you and use Sinister Steel though, to make the trade even and use her Death Lotus if it is up. Flash or ult out of it. Seriously, do it. Charm her if it's up but if not, escape its range. It will kill you. The main issue about laning with Katarina is her Shunpo, since it allows her to dodge your Charm and rendering you worthless for a while. She has no cc though, which you can use to your advantage.
DIFFICULTY: TRICKY (UNTIL YOU LAND A Charm)

- Kayle is a pretty difficult lane. She deals a lot of damage with Reckoning, Righteous Fury allows her to farm safely and engage you from a longer range, and her Divine Blessing is an effective sustain tool. You can't dodge any of her abilities either, and she can just Intervention herself if you try to kill her, or if she attempts to dive you. Be wary of it. Call in your jungler to help shut her down because she can become near-invincible later on.
DIFFICULTY: TOUGH

- LeBlanc is a pretty tough champion to lane against. Not only can she deal insane damage from Level 2 onwards, but she can also jump and juke around the lane AND snare you. The cooldown on her Distortion is fairly lengthy though, so you should use the chance to burst her down or gank her when it's on cooldown. She'll have no escape mechanism. Her clone could cause some confusion, and maybe take a few hits in her place.
If she has blue, only the real LeBlanc will have it floating around her, the same applies to all buffs. Use this to distinguish her from the clone. Killing the clone also offers a small amount of gold and it deals no damage, so if you can, kill it for a little boost. Dealing with her is a matter of waiting out her Distortion pre-6, or relying on ganks post-6 due to her burst. She's very squishy, so it should be a fairly easy kill.
Towerdive if necessary AND safe, because it will be worth it to keep her underfed and underleveled, but be careful of her Sigil of Silence - the cooldown is very short. After level 6, do NOT push if LeBlanc is alive and you are alone. You will likely be killed by her.
DIFFICULTY: TOUGH / HARD

- Lissandra is a bit of a rare encounter but she's rough all the same. All of her abilities, spare her Glacial Path, apply cc. The Glacial Path, though, is an extremely powerful engage or escape tool, so watch out for it. Stay to the side of your minions so that when Lissandra fires an Ice Shard into them, it won't hit you too. Avoid the claw indicator when Lissandra uses her Glacial Path so that she can't snare you with Ring of Frost. Prepare your Charm since if she's level 6, she can stun you with a quick Glacial Tomb from a decent range. This will, if you aren't careful, mean your death since it sets up all her other abilities. Stay under tower here if possible, and save your Spirit Rush for when her Glacial Path is unavailable; as long as you stay out of snare range, she's a free kill. She'll be tanky though, so be careful.
DIFFICULTY: Quite Tough

- Lulu can be easy or hard. She does a lot of damage with Glitterlance if it hits, and she can use Help, Pix! to position Pix, Faerie Companion for a good hit on you. By placing him on you, it also deals a good bit of damage. Whimsy is a strong cc tool which will render you useless, and her ultimate, Wild Growth, is amazing for baiting you in and turning on you. She'll be fairly squishy and without much damage before level 4, so go for first blood and from there it should be easy pickings. She's also somewhat susceptible to ganks, so take advantage of that.
DIFFICULTY: MODERATE
- Lux is a frequent opponent and one that can cause a lot of damage quickly. Dodge her snares and stay away from her Lucent Singularity and the lane phase should go well for you, but if not, you'll be in hell. They're fairly easy skills to dodge, but remember that Lux's snare will hit 2 enemies, not just one, so don't think you're safe if you're sat behind a caster minion. Be careful to avoid her while her passive is active on you too, because she then can deal a good amount of damage to you.
Charm her whenever she sticks her head out and the kill should come shortly after. Poking against a Lux to keep her pressured and wasting her mana on a shield can often be a good move, so it may be a good idea to grab some Doran's Rings. By the way, Lux's ultimate has a cooldown which for an ultimate of its caliber is insanely short. Always be ready to dodge a laser.
DIFFICULTY: MODERATE

- Malzahar is a champion heavily reliant on DoT abilities. His silence is fairly simple to dodge, and his Null Zone is also easy to walk out of. His Malefic Visions can be an issue as they force you out of being near your minions and also his, for fear of them passing on to you.
Until Level 6, the lane should be fairly easy. His lack of a stun or escape will mean your jungler can gank easily. After level 6, he can set up insane ganks with his Nether Grasp over his Null Zone as his Voidlings attack you. He can also use them to 'towerdive.' Generally an easy lane, but it can have complications. Just deal with it as normal.
DIFFICULTY: EASY/MODERATE.

Mordekaiser is a tough nut to crack, but only because of his Iron Man passive. Don't go ahead and waste mana poking him with your Orb of Deception while his shield's up until it hits at least level 2, because you'll do little to no damage. Autoattacks will suffice for laning pressure. However, an aggressive Mordekaiser is easy to deal with, because without his shield, Mordekaiser is really squishy early game and a single burst can really hurt him hard. Against a more passive Mordekaiser make sure to stay in lane as long as possible and wait for your jungler to gank before initiating anything. Save mana for that.
DIFFICULTY: MODERATE/TRIVIAL.


Morgana relies on the same tactics as you. She needs you to come out from behind your creeps in order to snare you with Dark Binding. However, her Dark Binding is her nuke. Her Tormented Shadow does very little damage unless she can snare you on it. Her Black Shield can be a pain, as it can block your Charm completely. However, its cooldown is very long and you should be able to Charm her again before the cooldown ends. Poke her frequently from behind cover. Don't be afraid to use your Spirit Rush to escape her Soul Shackles; you get 3 jumps but she only gets one chance to stun you. Jump away, then right back in.
DIFFICULTY: EASY

Her frequent pokes with the ball can best be avoided by staying away from the ball completely. Orianna has to be close to the ball to move it effectively, so the closer to the ball she is, the further from her you should be. Try changing direction often while walking around in lane. Moving unpredictably will make hitting you with the ball more difficult. However, her reliance on the ball makes Orianna a fairly simple champion to best once you hit level 6, because she won't be able to keep up with your Spirit Rush and you can dodge all of her attacks with it no problem.
DIFFICULTY: EASY/MODERATE
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Tips, Tricks etc.

Skillshots


As you should know, Ahri focuses on skillshots. Not so often as champions like Ezreal, but still enough for me to grant her a "Skillshot champion" status. Some general ideas to put the trick in shotting are as follows.

-
GET CLOSE.
You needn't get close enough to shotgun blast them - you're not Graves. But
Ahri is no sniper,
that's for sure. Her shots travel fairly slowly in comparison to Ezreal's Mystic Shot. The advantage is that Ahri shows massive nuke potential. A greater risk for a greater reward, naturally. Being closer allows you to position yourself better to land both hits easier, and utilizing your Charm.

- Your Orb of Deception will follow you on its return trip. You can angle yourself so that you take out minion waves with greater ease, or in some cases, move behind a target after you have fired your Q to deal true damage to them. It's something you can try, but not something that your enemy will just let you do.

- E -> Q -> W + R. Landing your Charm and firing a quick orb towards them on its own does enough damage to quickly deal with enemies at level 2, and it continually deals a good amount of damage all game. If the enemy is close enough, a Fox-Fire will almost double that damage. If your enemy is at 1/4 hp or less, ult them.

-

WHEN IN DOUBT, USE YOUR ULTIMATE.

Ahri's ultimate following this build gets a low enough cooldown to use in almost every fight you get into, so don't be afraid to use it. In some situations, like when dealing with carries, using your ultimate is imperative. You've crippled them and knocked away a bunch of their hp without your ult, and now they're running away with your tails between their legs. 2 ulti jumps will get the kill more than likely because in a 1v1 situation, your ultimate can not only be a lifesaver, but a life ender.

ALL OF THE SHOTS CONNECTING WILL LEAD TO AN INSANE AMOUNT OF DAMAGE.

That said, don't just use your ultimate to get over walls or something, unless it's already been activated or you're stealing a buff, dragon or baron, or escaping. Not as a shortcut.

- The Deathfire Grasp has an ACTIVE ABILITY which is pretty obscene. It deals a base amount of damage based 25% of their current hp and it scales with AP. The cooldown is also only one minute, so this can be used once or maybe even twice in a prolonged teamfight. USE IT. It is to a tank what Smite is to the jungle - the king. Dr. Mundo coming at you? Charm him in so your team can unload, DFG and unleash your burst using Ignite to cripple his healing.

- Abyssal Mask's aura range has been nerfed a lot, so you'll need to get in closer to use it effectively. I highly recommend building a tankier Ahri if you want to fully utilize it. That said, it's still useful but if your pokes aren't working as well as you'd like, this may be the cause. It may even be viable to replace your scepter with a Zhonya's Hourglass. I have started to do so and it works nicely, with the active ability AND the insane ap bonus, which with a deathcap, comes to 133AP. A simply massive boost.
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A Closing Note

That about wraps up my guide, I've annoyed you enough with it already. With that, I hope you enjoyed the guide and found it remotely useful, even if only for the build. Thanks for your time, particularly if you rated the guide well (*Nudge Nudge Wink Wink.*)



Much loves,


-TheGartonator / TehGartonator-



A special thanks goes out to the lovely jhoijhoi for her amazing guide to making a guide, and another to all of those who gave me all of the constructive criticism and feedback that helped this guide reach where it is today.
jhoijhoi's guide to making a guide
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