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Ahri Build Guide by

Ahri Mid AP Carry: Countering the Counters

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Ahri Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (13) More Ahri Guides

Spells:

Barrier

Flash

Items

Possible Starting Items

Early Game Items

Offensive Items

Defensive Items

Essential Items

Core Item Build

Ability Order

Ahri Passive Ability

More Ahri Counters

Introduction

This guide assumes you are already familiar with , as well as skill-shots and the general AP Mid role.

The emphasis of this guide is to help you to become more independent in your build and face Ahri's counters without worry.

The methods I explain in this guide are more or less unorthodox, but definitely work in ranked games. I would not publish them if they didn't. Try them out for yourself before making up your mind.

If you have better alternatives or suggestions to share, I will personally try them myself and edit this guide accordingly. Unless you specify not to, I will give credit for your ideas in future updates.

If you are skimming and looking for some quick information, look for the green text

Champion Selection

This guide will teach you ways to win your lane, but by yourself, you may not be able to win the game. Though you won't have to worry about the enemy champion selections, you still need to consider your team's champion composition.

You should pick Ahri if your team has

an initiator or two. You need someone to draw the enemy fire in a team fight. It is best to have more than one to further distract the enemy's focus.
reliable cc. It only takes one person to disable enemy focus power. He/she needs to keep champions off you so you can deal the damage the team needs.
AoE. This should keep the entire enemy team busy while you focus down particular targets.
sustain in team fights. After you cast all your spells, you are pretty much useless until cooldowns refresh. You need someone who will keep the team fight going.

Summoner Spells

Taking does seem like a radical approach, but it is definitely more useful than . In this build, I only selected because crowd control is more of a problem in ranked games. Depending on who you are laning against or who the enemy junger is, consider either of these

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Cleanse SPACEAS Barrier

Flash is always necessary.

A defensive summoner spell is better than Ignite because:

It gives sustain in lane and team fights
Ahri needs a safety mechanic. Spirit Rush and Flash are utility abilities, which means they can be used both offensively and defensively, but they have long cooldowns. Having abilities that are only defensive will allow you to use Spirit Rush and Flash offensively more often.
It provides durability to allow you to play more aggressively. You will be able to stay closer to the action in team fights and deal the damage the team needs.
It is reliable and efficient all the way through late game. Ignite is only useful early game.
It allows you to buy more offensive items in your build

... whereas selecting instead will only grant you a small amount of true damage.

The idea here is to exchange an offensive summoner spell with offensive items.
With offensive items, can dish out more than enough damage to make up for the missing 200-300 damage from . It is simply the better trade.

UPDATE

* (01/06/2013) I changed the default summoner spell displayed in the "cheat sheet" from to , since there is a higher chance of needing in Blind Pick PvP.

Starting Items

Like your summoner spells, your starting items are key to snowballing into a good mid and late game.

Above, I showed you the possible starting items

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Boots of Speed was a very common starting item in S2. In S3, it is contested with , or at least by my observations. Consider starting with this if you are laning against someone with skill-shot abilities. I would spend the rest of the money on 2 s and 1 .

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Null-Magic Mantle is for lanes against people without skill-shot abilities. the same could be said for , but focuses more on durability and less on competing with lane sustain.

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Crystalline Flask seems to be quite popular as of late. I like it myself, but I don't find it absolutely necessary to start the game with it. I usually buy it after the first recall. Unlike the other items, Crystalline Flask specializes in sustain rather than durability.

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Doran's Ring is a good item if you can start off a bit aggressive. This aggressiveness should only be encouraged if you are against someone who you can easily out-harass without suffering much damage in return. This item grants the extra AP and mana regeneration to maintain that harass potential.

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Doran's Shield is for durability against annoying AD mid champions such as , , or maybe . This may not give you a hand in snowballing as well as you'd hope, but staying alive is more important than harassing.

Starting items mostly depend on who you are playing against and who the enemy jungler is. It will be further elaborated in Counter the Counters

UPDATE

* (01/06/2013) Added and to the list of possible starting items.

* (01/30/2013) I redacted my claiming stating that you could buy wards when starting with , since the price increased to 345 gold.

Early Game Items

At around 12 or 13 minutes, you should have at least these items

Sorcerer's Shoes

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Needlessly Large Rod

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Sight Ward
Sight Wards

with maybe , a , or one of your other starting items.

You should definitely get Needlessly Large Rod as soon as you can. Sometimes, I grab it even before I finish .

With straight-up AP from Needlessly Large Rod, Orb of Deception will one-hit ranged minions, making farming time efficient and securing cs
Ahri's early game burst damage is OP. Needlessly Large Rod will allow you to easily out-damage your opponent
With Needlessly Large Rod, you can easily rush either Zhonya's Hourglass or Rabadon's Deathcap depending on how the game is going.

Essential Items

As well as your situation items, your ending build should include these

Will of the Ancients

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Athene's Unholy Grail

Athene's Unholy Grail and Will of the Ancients specialize in sustain in team fights
You should complete these items later in the game. Full-out damage or defense is more important than sustain
These items are good for both offensive and defensive gameplay

Offensive Items

As the AP Carry, your role is to dish out as much damage as you can. These items will handle that nicely:

Rabadon's Deathcap

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Deathfire Grasp

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Void Staff

Rabadon's Deathcap should be completed first to maintain the upper-hand in damage throughout the game
Your main purpose is to burst targets down, especially early game, but you are going to need a bit of sustain keep yourself ready for a fight. You should buy the Hextech Revolver after either Rabadon's Deathcap or Deathfire Grasp. This item is very cheap for the wonders that it can do. The more offensive you build, the better defense you will get from the Spell Vamp from Hextech Revolver
Along with your masteries, Deathfire Grasp with your essential item Athene's Unholy Grail will give you near maximum cooldown reduction In the core item build, I replaced Deathfire Grasp for Zhonya's Hourglass, which reduces the cooldown reduction to 19%, which should be good enough.
Targets under Charm technically have their movement "impaired." Liandry's Torment will trigger it's passive's bonus on these targets, but only for the 1-2 seconds, which isn't a whole lot of damage. This item would only be for champions who excel in sustain damage rather than burst. Void Staff would be a better than Liandry's Torment because it gives the same AP, but a lot more magic penetration. The 200 health isn't much anyway, but if you really need some defense, a Zhonya's Hourglass or a Rylai's Crystal Scepter would be a better choice.
With Rabadon's Deathcap, one defensive item, all sustain items, and boots, you will only have one more room for an offensive item. To decide between Deathfire Grasp and Void Staff, you need to consider who you are playing against. Get Deathfire Grasp if there is one tank or off-tank you need to burst down. Without the magic penetration from Void Staff, you should still be able to finish off other squishy targets. Get Void Staff if there is more than one tank on the other team You shouldn't be focusing them in team fights. But after all the targets are dead, you will still need kill them eventually, where Deathfire Grasp will help kill only one beefy target.

UPDATE

* (12/16/2012) I condense the offensive item build and the hyper offensive item build together. I removed from the standard offensive build since I figured is more potent and versatile.

* (01/06/2013) I disintegrated the offensive item build into simply offensive items. I figured it would be more practical to have a build with both offensive and defensive items.

* (01/06/2013) Removed reasons to consider offensive item build, since I disintegrated it.

* (01/30/2013) Considered equally significant reasons to pick between and in a finishing build.

Defensive Items

In the off chance you do fall behind your opponent or an enemy carry is ridiculously fed, you can easily turn into instead of . After that, continue with the defensive item build.

The purpose of this defensive item build is to counter focus power and burst damage. Consider defensive items against teams with focus power and, burst damage, and reliable disables.

Zhonya's Hourglass

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Rylai's Crystal Scepter

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Liandry's Torment

As noted in the defensive item build notes, you should finish these items before moving on to the core items
As an excellent defensive item, Zhonya's Hourglass should be bought first. It has the damage to farm minion waves and a quick, reliable active ability.
The health and passive from Rylai's Crystal Scepter makes it a great defensive item as well. The slow works very well with Fox-Fire. Ahri does not need to stop to cast Fox-Fire, and it is guaranteed to hit a champion in range. As long as you can see the champion chasing you, Fox-Fire with Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a reliable slow and will help you out-run enemies chasing you.
Liandry's Torment is considered a defensive item compared to Void Staff because it does less damage in less time. Void Staff will give you that burst edge where Liandry's Torment grants sustain damage. If you are not doing enough damage to reduce someone's health to at least half, it isn't really considered burst damage. In this case, take advantage of the sustain damage and the bit of health from Liandry's Torment.
The reason why Rod of Ages isn't listed is because it's not as useful as the Zhonya's Hourglass stasis ability, the Rylai's Crystal Scepter passive, and the extra damage from Liandry's Torment. Rod of Ages is practically pointless if you already have the mana regeneration from Athene's Unholy Grail, health from Rylai's Crystal Scepter, and damage from Liandry's Torment. However, if you think you definitely need more than the 200 HP from Liandry's Torment, then Rod of Ages is always an option.

UPDATE

* (01/06/2013) I disintegrated the defensive item build into simply defensive items.

* (01/06/2013) I replaced with , which was in the "moderate build"

* (01/06/2013) The moderate build was eliminated since it would be best to just integrate offensive and defensive items for many types of "moderate builds" to best suit the circumstances of the game.

The Core Item Build

In the build guide cheat sheet, I showed you this build

Item Sequence

which is what I believe to have the best stats around, along with the specified summoner spells and abilities.

OFFENSE

23|48% Magic Penetration from Sorcerer's Shoes and Void Staff
730 AP from items alone
All abilities do damage, which naturally grants burst and focus power

DEFENSE

An extra defensive ability from Barrier or Cleanse
Armor from Zhonya's Hourglass
as well as the Stasis active ability
Magic resist from Athene's Unholy Grail

UTILITY

Which constitutes to both offensive and defense attributes

Mobility from Flash and Spirit Rush
19% cooldown reduction from Athene's Unholy Grail and masteries
Very high spell vamp from Essence Theft and Will of the Ancients
Reliable mana regeneration from Athene's Unholy Grail
Team fight sustain from spell vamp and mana regeneration
A devastating disable from Charm, which can practically make or break fights

These are the best items that synchronize with Ahri's abilities and mechanics in fulfilling her role as an AP Carry.

However, you might find that other certain items are more practical in specific situations. The items I listed in the build guide cheat sheet should be able to fit almost all scenarios, such as problems with enemy magic resist, burst damage, health, etc...

The following is a list of items I would NOT recommend and explanations for why that is.

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Abyssal Scepter's range was nerfed to benefit only low-ranged and melee champions back in S2. and exceed the 600 range of 's passive aura, which will cost half of your burst potential to be expended without much damage amplification. It only removes 20 magic resist, which is barely any extra damage at all. If you really need magic penetration, go for a . should cover the magic resist, as well as grant you bonus utility attributes.

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Archangel's Staff is for champions with abilities they can spam. It does grant a great deal of mana and damage, along with 's shield, but Ahri won't be able to gain stacks to capitalize on any of it's bonuses.

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Banshee's Veil doesn't sit well with the AP Carry. If you noticed, all recommended items in this guide do damage somehow, which very well compliments the AP Carry role. Also, the spell shield is easily wasted if the enemy team is smart. Stasis ability is much more reliable and will negate ALL damage and debuffs where can only block a single spell.

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Guardian Angel is basically a Zhonya's Hourglass you can't control, and like Banshee's Veil, it does no damage. You shouldn't be committing to team fights to a point you end up dying, since you are not a fighter. The cooldown on the stasis ability is a lot shorter, making it much more reliable. in combination with will give better defensive and utility stats then does.

Gameplay Tips and Strategies

When playing it is critical that you understand the principles of her role and abilities

The main priority in lane is to farm, then to harass. If you focus on only kills, but miss out on cs, your opponent can catch up to you.
Ahri can easily gain the upper-hand if she can harass and zone, but even with wards, Ahri can still get caught if the enemy jungler is competent. The best way to harass is to harass moderately by occasionally landing Orb of Deception. This is one of the main challenges of playing Ahri. It will come easily after some experience.
Be careful with using Fox-Fire to harass, since it puts you in close range. You will be vulnerable to a critical exchange or an enemy gank.
Be especially cautious when your summoner spells, Charm, or Spirit Rush is on cooldown. Without these, you're practically a sitting duck.
Though it can deal considerable damage, Spirit Rush is best used for mobility, kiting, and positioning. In most cases, you can use it for both movement and damage, but keep in mind movement is the priority of this ability. You may run into a situation where you need to retreat quickly with Spirit Rush. Using up your ultimate is better than dying.
Fox-Fire and Spirit Rush only damage champions that you can see. If the target you are ganking hides in a brush, be sure to Spirit Rush into the brush so that your abilities can hit them. However, this does put you in a risky position. You shouldn't be diving for kills or face-checking unless you are 100% confident in securing the kill or escaping.
In team fights, your primary role is to focus target champions and take them out quickly You can break a sitzkrieg in your favor by landing a charm on a squishy champion. If your team is cooperative, they can help you burst that champion down in a snap.
In a full out team fight, don't be tempted to use your abilities only for aoe damage. It is better to completely take out one champion rather than slightly damage a bunch of them. Use Spirit Rush to kite attackers, dodge abilities, close gaps, and get into position to land your skill-shots.
Though you have good focus power, you should not be initiating in close range. If a team fight starts, let someone initiate and then follow up.
Like all good mid laners, you need to buy SIght Wards. Even with Spirit Rush, Flash, and Cleanse, Ahri is still vulnerable to enemy jungler ganks. Having vision around your lane will let you know when to harass, when to retreat, what side of the map your jungler is, and which lane the enemy mid champion is ganking. Every time you return to base, you should be buying at least two Sight Wards with your pocket change.

Countering the Counters

This is a list of Ahri's common enemies as well as anti-counter strategies to use against them.

This list is still in progress. As I continue playing Ahri, I will add to it.
I would not publish these strategies if I had not used them myself and succeeded. I may even make changes to tips I have already published
These tips cannot guarantee a perfect snowball, but they will definitely help you maintain your game.
Consider certain summoner spells and items against the rest of the team, as well. E.g. You might take Barrier to face a Katarina in lane, but there may also be a Maokai and a Soraka on the other team. Cleanse would be the better option, then.
If you have your own suggestions to share on facing certain counter-picks, let me know in the discussion. This list can always use more ideas.

I am currently looking for strategies against: Annie, Fiddlesticks, Fizz, Galio, Karma, Kassadin, Kennen, Lee Sin, Malzahar (you can't cast Cleanse while under Nether Grasp), Mordekaiser, AP Sion, Swain, Talon, AP Tristana, and Vladimir.

Champion Directory

Click on the icon to jump to that champion's profile

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Akali

Barrier

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Doran's Ring

Akali can't exhange damage with you before level 6. Take advantage of it with the extra AP from Doran's Ring
After level 6, you cannot handle her on your own. Play carefully at this point and cooperate with your jungler.
Luckly, Akali can't push a lane as fast as you can. When you've pushed your lane against her turret, gank other lanes.
Akali will still have that focus power, and a Zhonya's Hourglass can only save you for 2.5 seconds. You will have to rush a Rylai's Crystal Scepter, but a Zhonya's Hourglass may not be necessary. Also consider sustain items, such as Crystalline Flask or Hextech Revolver before heading straight for offense.
Carry a Vision Ward at all times. Quickly place it down when Akali casts Twilight Shroud. Placing it down quickly takes practice. I recommend assigning it to a particular number and setting that number on smart cast in the key binding options. If she shrouds near a brush, be sure to place the ward in the brush to maintain constant vision.

Cassiopeia

Cleanse

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Boots of Speed

Use Cleanse only to remove Petrifying Gaze. It doesn't remove the damage from poisons and Ignite
In a 1v1 encounter, Ahri will likely win due to her greater burst potential and mobility from Spirit Rush. However, Cassiopeia deals more consistent damage over time. If you stay in her range for too long, she may land a Noxious Blast and tear you down with Twin Fangs. Once you've used all your spells in an exchange, quickly back out so that Cassiopeia can't land her spells on you.
Take advantage of Fox-Fire's free movement, but move carefully. You can dodge her abilities while hitting her with this spell, but this does put you in range of her other abilities. You might be able to dodge Noxious Blast, but as you use Fox-Fire, you might walk into her Miasma.
A good Cassiopeia will zone you with Noxious Blast's ridiculous range. However, it is easier to dodge since it is not a linear skill-shot. The best time to harass her is actually after she casts Noxious Blast if you dodge it. If you are ready to harass, get in range of her Noxious Blast and start to retreat. When you know she will cast it, quickly turn around and walk toward her to dodge it. You will be just close enough to land your abilities and to retreat quickly afterwards.
You probably won't be able to take her out yourself without dying to poison. Have a jungler help you, but you have to coordinate well. Have your jungler and yourself gank from opposite directions so that she can't focus either of you. She might decide to cast Petrifying Gaze on you, but you can walk away from it easily with Cleanse
There will always be times when Cassiopeia will capture you under poison and bring you down with Twin Fangs. You should definitely get some Spell Vamp with a Hextech Revolver, but it won't help you that much in the laning phase. She only needs to Ignite you to put all that to waste. Instead, buy a Doran's Ring or two during the laning phase for mana regeneration, AP, and health.
Since you can be so mobile with Spirit Rush, you won't have to worry of heavy focus or burst damage from Cassiopeia. Rush offensive items and remember to move around a lot during team fights.

Katarina

Barrier

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Null-Magic Mantle

The only way Katarina can harass you in early levels is with Bouncing Blade. Null-Magic Mantle will drastically reduce her damage this early in the game. With Ahri's superior damage and range, you can easily zone Katarina out of XP.
Hold on to the Null-Magic Mantle. It will be worth its gold all the way until you complete Athene's Unholy Grail.
In Season Two, the I would have suggested Heal. Barrier gives much more durability to tolerate Death Lotus for two seconds, just enough time to either back out or Spirit Rush into position to land a Charm.
A Hextech Revolver will help immensely if she can still put up a fight. If you really need this item, it should be bought after Rabadon's Deathcap
Use your Charm wisely. A smart Katarina will only throw the full combo when it is on cooldown. If she does, back out until Death Lotus is over. By then, you should have all your spells to exchange when Katarina only has Sinister Steel
As long as you have Spirit Rush or Flash, Katarina can't focus you down in team fights. Take the offensive items so you can burst her down in team fights.

LeBlanc

Cleanse

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Null-Magic Mantle

LeBlanc can out damage and zone you by far. Play very defensively and keep distance between her and yourself.
Cleanse is for the Sigil of Silence rather than Ethereal Chains. Ahri can easily dodge or get out of Ethereal Chains with Spirit Rush or Flash, but you can't cast them if you are silenced. Barrier isn't a good counter for LeBlanc. She can easily tear through that shield, especially early game.
As long as you keep your range, LeBlanc will have to walk towards you to throw her combo. Try to cast Charm on her before she can finish the combo. In most cases, you will get hit by Sigil of Silence and she will cast Distortion into your Charm, stalling time to dodge her next ability. When the silence wears off, you are then free to either exchange or retreat, depending on what you feel is best.
You should max Charm second for its cooldown and duration. At level 13, LeBlanc's combo will be utterly ridiculous. Having Charm more often and disabling her longer will give you more time to either run away or burst her down. That extra second of duration at ability level 5 can either save your life or grant you a kill.
If you don't have Charm, use Spirit Rush to dodge the next ability if she tries to land a combo.
After LeBlanc has some considerable early game items, she will probably start ganking other lanes. Keep track of her movement with Sight Wards and follow her. If a team fight ensues, your team can always use your help to keep it under control. This is to prevent LeBlanc from snowballing.
She can easily burst you down early to mid-game. Instead of rushing Needlessly Large Rod, you might have to get Giant's Belt, Haunting Guise, and/or Chalice of Harmony first.
LeBlanc falls off later in the game, and she can't focus you as long as you are with your team. You will definitely need Rylai's Crystal Scepter for health, and maybe Zhonya's Hourglass, but eventually buy Rabadon's Deathcap to burst her down late-game, and keep your range from her in team fights.

Master Yi

Barrier

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Null-Magic Mantle

You will definitely need your two Health Potions in your starting items. You might have to grab a couple more along with a Crystalline Flask after the first time you go back to base. You won't be able to do enough damage to Spell Vamp the health you will lose from Alpha Strike.
Master Yi will deal more than you during the laning phase, and he can harass well. Play passively and farm up. If he uses Alpha Strike to harass you, he will be pushing the minion wave closer to your turret. You can take advantage of that to farm your cs.
Though he will be pushing the minion wave, you don't want it too close to your turret. You will need a Doran's Ring and a Crystalline Flask for mana, and maybe a Hextech Revolver before your Needlessly Large Rod to compete with his sustain potential.
If you are able to tolerate his Alpha Strike, you can harass him once the spell is over with Fox-Fire and Orb of Deception. Try to save Charm until after the harass and when he Meditates. Wasting your one disable will let him Meditate without worry, ultimately granting him better sustain during the laning phase.
If he does Meditate while your Charm is on cooldown, don't be tempted to waste your other spells on him. Just wait until it's over.
Pay attention to Alpha Strike's cooldown. He can cast it more than once in a team fights, and it will only take a few to kill you.
If you are surviving team fights, take offensive item build. AP Master Yis are not very tanky, and you should be doing more damage than him middle and late game.

Morgana

Cleanse

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Boots of Speed

Morgana will probably not max Black Shield, and it will be fairly weak early game. Use Fox-Fire to shred through Black Shield before using other abilities. Fox-Fire has a relatively short cooldown, so it should be up again shortly if an exchange ensues. However, you'll have to be in close range to do this. Luckily, Ahri can maneuver in close range combat better than Morgana can, in combination with continuous movement of Fox-Fire and mobility from Spirit Rush to dodge her Dark Binding.
Morgana's main objective in lane is to farm minions with Tormented Shadow. More often than not, she will run out of mana quite early. Wait for her to run low on mana, then harass more aggressively. She will be more hesitant to retaliate in efforts to conserve mana.
Using Tormented Shadow also means that she will be pushing your lane hard. You can harass even more if the minion wave is close to your turret. You won't have to wonder far from it to zone her out of XP, meaning that you are not quite so vulnerable to enemy ganks.
However, the downside of Morgana's superior pushing potential is that your turret might steal your cs. You must also push your lane, but just enough so that the minions are not at your turret. This also means that you won't have the leverage to gank other lanes without jeopardizing your own.
The best way to resist Morgana's relentless push is not to build mana regeneration, but to clear the minions with one shot. Build early game damage with a Needlessly Large Rod. You will be able to clear minion waves fast as well as shred through her Black Shield with only Fox-Fire. Building mana regeneration can't help you with both of these.
On a 1v1 confrontation, the best time to use Cleanse is to remove then stun from Soul Shackles, not the snare from Dark Binding. If you get caught in Dark Binding you can still cast all of your abilities except for Spirit Rush. Being caught may even bait Morgana into getting into range of your abilities.
Only Cleanse out of Dark Binding if you need to use Spirit Rush. In enemy ganks or team fights, if you get caught by Dark Binding it is likely you will get focused. In that case, it would be better to get out of there quickly rather than wait for Soul Shackles.
Later in the game, if Morgana uses Zhonya's Hourglass while casting Soul Shackles, you should dash out with Spirit Rush rather than wait to Cleanse out of the stun. She won't be able to move to follow you, so you'll probably only have to use Spirit Rush once. This will also give you time for cooldowns to refresh and focus her down.
Take the offensive item build so you can shred through Black Shield and use Spirit Rush more often.

Nidalee

Barrier

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Boots of Speed

All you need to worry about is her Javelin Toss. The best way to avoid her spears is to stand close behind your minions. If you depending on your juking skills in the laning phase, your opponent might adapt to your behavior and more accurately predict you movement afterwards. Being in close contact with your minions means that you don't have to move as much to dodge and you can still be in range to collect cs and return harass.
Keep an eye on her at all times to know when she's MIA or where she might throw a Javelin Toss. It is common for Nidalees to hide in a side bush or behind a wall and try to land a Javelin Toss.
The best place to plant Sight Wards is in the bushes closest to the middle lane. Nidalee will sometimes try to take advantage of her passive Prowl and gank from those bushes. Having vision over those bushes will let you know where her Bushwhack traps are, where she is hiding, and where the enemy jungler is ganking from.
After level 6, it is critical that you maintain your distance from her. She might not have as much burst damage as you, but her low cooldowns will allow her to out-damage you over time and close gaps more frequently than you'd expect. The same goes for mid and late-game team fights.
Be especially careful when fighting in the jungle or close to bushes. The bonus movement speed from Prowl will give her increased gap closing capability. It is easy to underestimate her mobility in bushes, consequentially losing your advantage in range.
If Nidalee does manage to get dangerously close to you, quickly use Barrier to absorb the damage. Barrier should be enough to negate almost all of the damage in her initial combo.
In a 1v1 encounter, use Spirit Rush around her while fighting. She will most likely be in cougar form in this scenario. Both her Pounce and Swipe are untargetable abilities and hit only what is in front of her. Quickly dashing to the side with Spirit Rush will either completely waste Nidalee's initial combo or cause her to hesitate. For the best results, fight her in a crowd of minions. The minions will drastically obstruct her movement and ability to turn and aim Pounce and Swipe.
Spirit Rush only damages units you can see, but be cautious when using Spirit Rush into a bush. Nidalee might use the bonus movement speed from Prowl to get dangerously close to you or flee; either way, it is a loss for you. You should only engage her in the bush if you are 99% confident in your success and if you have sight in it already, in which case you wouldn't need to dive in there anyway.
If Nidalee wants to deal reliable damage, she can only do it in cougar form. This will give you a much higher advantage in the range of your spells. The minimum range that I'd consider safe would be a little bit less than your attack range. All of your abilities can still hit her at this distance. Pay attention to when she uses Pounce, because when she does so (at a safe distance), you have a 3 second window to unleash a combo on her. If you build Rabadon's Deathcap first, you can easily cut her full health in half if not more.
Prioritize offensive items so you can out-damage her or burst her down when necessary. If she does become a handful for you, consider a Rylai's Crystal Scepter. A Zhonya's Hourglass wouldn't be a good idea because it reduces your mobility while allowing Nidalee to prepare for another combo, since her abilities have such short cooldowns. If she is troublesome for other teammates instead of you, burst her down with Deathfire Grasp.

Ryze

Cleanse SPACE
Null-Magic Mantle
- Ryze has no skill-shot abilities, so Boots wouldn't be a good idea. Null-Magic Mantle will help you tolerate his harassment. With some hefty magic resist, he won't be able to burst you down as fast as you can.
- When he approaches you to harass, lure him away or past the minion wave. This way, he can't use his own minions to protect himself from Charm when you exchange.
- If you get caught under Rune Prison, only Cleanse if you need to use Spirit Rush. You can still use the rest of your abilities while snared. Being under Rune Prison may even lure him to land another spell on you, giving you a chance to exchange.
- During the laning phase, he can still deal more damage than you in general. The fact that he has no skill-shot abilities gives him a greater advantage. In an early game exchange, Ryze's full combo can't kill you, but you need to back out before his cooldowns expire. Even if you both are almost dead, don't commit to it unless you can land all of your spells.
- Unlike the previous match-ups, you can expect to easily steam-roll over Ryze,. If he can't get fed early-game, he will have to decide between building tanky or going all out mana and damage. Either way, he won't be able to carry as hard as you can mid game. If your team keeps it together, he won't be much trouble late game either.
- Another reason why Ahri can carry better than Ryze can is because she has better "global presence," especially during the laning phase. Take advantage of your greater mobility and ganking potential on the side lanes, especially the bottom lane. Even if they counter-ward, a simple scare could help your bottom lane immensely and relieve your jungler of his/her own global presence.
- Ryze is only dangerous if your team sticks closely together. Move as a team, but spread out. If your team gets caught in the jungle, your first response is to gain some ground. Spirit Rush will handle this well.
- Rush a Zhonya's Hourglass before moving on to offensive items. The only thing to worry about is his burst, which are moving projectiles that Zhonya's Hourglass Stasis ability can negate. He will most likely target you in a team fight, and after he's cast every ability, he can only spam his Overload. Just by having Zhonya's Hourglass, you can easily cripple Ryze's burst potential.
Veigar

Cleanse SPACE
Null-Magic Mantle
- The only thing to look out for is his Primordial Burst and Event Horizon. If you are too close to the action in team fights, he will likely focus his burst on you.
- He only has Dark Matter as his aoe nuke, and it is not likely he will be pushing with it. You will have to be extra careful to not push the minion wave too much.
- Veigar depends on his farm, and cannot harass very well. You can harass very aggressively without worrying about retaliation. All you need to do is chop off some health with Orb of Deception and zone him out of his farm.
- Even without spamming Dark Matter, he will use up most of his mana with Baleful Strike. You should harass him even more when he is low on mana. He will be more hesitant to exchange, and if he does, he won't have enough mana to throw a full combo.
- His necessity to farm his Baleful Strike will lose him of his presence in half the game. Meanwhile, you should be ganking other lanes, especially when Veigar is missing from mid. Ahri has much more ganking potential than Veigar. Besides, just because he's missing from mid, that doesn't mean you can't pick up a couple kills yourself.
- Veigar is naturally squishy and immobile. He is easy to burst down throughout the game if you can get past Event Horizon. If you can dominate him in his fragile laning phase, it is practically a win.
- If he does somehow get fed and can burst you down, grab a Zhonya's Hourglass, but still take the other offensive items. If he goes all offensive, he should still be easy to burst down, so you should capitalize on that. I'd replace Void Staff with Zhonya's Hourglass if the situation calls for it.