Ahri Build Guide by Playthrough

~Introduction~

Hello Mobafire community, I am Playthrough, and I present to you my guide for Ahri the nine tailed fox. I worked really hard to make this guide and to see what items and runes work and what doesn't work. Please be kind enough to leave constructive criticism in the comments section bellow and ask me any questing that you might have regarding the guide.

~Fun Facts and Lore~

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.”

Fun Facts

• Demons (Oni) are generally viewed as beings that eat souls, Ahri, in the ***iho legend, qualified as such. This is why her passive was called Soul Eater.
• Ahri's dance is based on the choreography for the song Run Devil Run by Girls' Generation
  (소녀시대; Sonyeo Shidae/SNSD), a popular Korean girl group.
  Comparison in a Video Format

~Pros & Cons~

spaaaaaaaaaaaaaace

Pros + High Mobility + True Damage + Considerable AoE Damage + Triple Flash with Spirit Rush + Ungankable if played properly + Fun to Play + Easy to troll people with

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Cons - CC and True damage spells are Skillshots - Squishy Early game - Low AP ratios - Squishy Late game if Flash and Spirit Rush are on CD - Auto-aim spells attack wrong targets

~Masteries~

For masteries I use generic caster masteries with only a little variation on the first tier of the offense tree. For the utility tree I make sure to pick Swiftness and Runic Affinity

OFFENSE

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Tier 1 // Some would argue that Summoner's Wrath is better than having 4/4 Mental Force . Personally I find Summoner's Wrath kind of a waste because I keep my ignite off cooldown most of the time like all good players should. Ahri is an Assassin, let me spell stat A-S-S-A-S-S-I-N so keep your Ignite to assassinate people not to push, keep you Ignite to secure kills and not let that pesky Teemo get away! Tier 2 // Sorcery : nothing to say about this it is just plain awesome. Tier 3 // Arcane Knowledge : What do they say? The more the merrier. This mastery goes perfectly with your Runes, Abyssal Mask and Void Staff. Also Havoc : Damage is essential for all assassins. Killing your target quickly and efficiently without getting caught is your goal, this mastery helps you achieve this goal. Tier 4 // Blast : This mastery is perfect for all kinds of Ability power carries synergizing perfectly with out tier 5 mastery Archmage and 1 of our core items, Rabadon's Deathcap Tier 5 // Archmage :Once again and awesome mastery which brings its full potential once you acquire your Rabadon's Deathcap giving you a wooping 35% INCREASED ABILITY POWER Tier 6 // Executioner : Do you see that Teemo with less than 40% HP over there? Yes you do and you throw an Fox-Fire and an Orb of Deception but he survives and you go liek WTF BRO DIE ALREADY! Well with this mastery Teemo won't survive.

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UTILITY

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Tier 1 // Summoner's Insight : I find flash to be mandatory on most champions if not all and having less cooldown on flash is nothing but beneficial. Expanded Mind : Expanded Mind helps you counter the early game mana efficiency problems that Ahri has. Tier 2 // Swiftness : Because as I have said before Ahri is very slow. Tier 3 // Runic Affinity : Because getting blue and entering SPAM MODE is always good.

~Runes~

For runes I use the same runes I run on Vladimir because I am cheap as ****!Hahahahaha!

All jokes aside there runes suit my playstyle a lot and I consider them to the superior to all the others only because they suit MY PLAYSTYLE better, later on I will present to you other rune choices which might suit YOUR PLAYSTYLE better.

Quintessences

For Quintessences I choose Greater Quintessence of Ability Power
These offer me the biggest advantage during the whole duration of the game and are the no-brainer choice of Quintessences for any AP carry.

For Marks I choose Greater Mark of Magic Penetration

-Why Greater Mark of Magic Penetration?
-It is a well known fact that Greater Mark of Magic Penetration are the best you can have, most of the time, on most if not all AP carries in the league offering you an universal advantage throughout the whole duration of the game boosting your damage early game and reducing the MR of carries and supports with Abyssal Mask and Banshee's Veil during lategame.

For Seals I choose Greater Seal of Health because as I said I am cheap as **** and I wont spend IP on even more runes.

-SDASFA RAEG MODE! Greater Seal of Health IS TEH SUXORZ FOR AHRI111!!!11!one!!eleven!11!
-Calm down, keep yo cool. As I said in the first line of the rune section I choose runes according to MY OWN PLAYSTYLE you are free to choose something of the other choices that I will present below if they suit YOUR PLAYSTYLE better.
So I choose Greater Seal of Health because I don't want the enemy Xerath, Cassiopeia, Malzahar, Cactus errrrr I mean Karthus + all Champs with more range than Ahri to be rocking my face ahem, I mean my 4 BAR HP early game. I like to make my enemy feel uncomfortable and back as much as possible early game giving me the opportunity to farm minions all day long.

Greater Glyph of Ability Power

-OMG! Y U SO BAD PLAYTHROUGH?!!? Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power are better!
-Well, I got nothing to say about this! I have to resort to saying that it's personal preference once again. Whether you choose Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power so you got more AP at level 18 or you get Greater Glyph of Ability Power and you get an advantage up to level 6 is... Well screw this, I have no rational explanation just feel free to choose what you like most.

Because Ahri is in fact one of the slowest champions in the game with only 383 movement speed with Sorcerer's Shoes, Ionian Boots of Lucidity or Mercury Treads.

Greater Seal of Replenishment
Because spamming skills is always good but Ahri's mana pool does not support this that much.
NOTE: Use those only if you decide to drop 1 Doran's Ring from the item build or else you will end up with way to much Mp/5sec.

Many People argue that Ahri benefits more from Cooldown Reduction. If you are one of them feel free to swap Sorcerer's Shoes with Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction I would also suggest incorporating Morello's Evil Tome somewhere in the build to reach max CDR.

~Summoner Spells~

The Good

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  Flat out awesome summoner spell capable of shutting down any AD carry in the game until you liquify him with your combo.
  
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  As an assassin you shouldn't be letting any kills go away. Take ignite and even if you have only 10% of your brain cells working they will never get away!
  
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  Ahri Has very high mobility when her ultimate is off-cooldown but she is pretty vaunerable picking up Flash helps you eliminate this problem.

The Viable

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  If you are having mana problems, even though you shouldn't with this build, don't hesitate to pick this up.
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  Chasing, escaping, diving, getting faster to a destination and a whole lot more.
• 
  If you don't feel confident enough in you escaping abilities with Spirit Rush and Flash feel free to drop Ignite and pick up Cleanse instead.
• 
  With this you can killstea... Kill Secure like a baws, save towers like a baws, push enemy towers like a baws and port around the WHOLE FREAKING MAP if the Teemo in your team was smart enough to put shrooms.
  
  

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  The OMG WTF ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!

  
  
• 
  You ain't playing Revive & Teleport Karthus
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  You ain't a support.
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  I only use that on Jax or Kayle or maybe Master Yi and i cant see why would you pick it for any other champion.
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  Why does this even exist?
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  Not shur if serious, on a serious note i don't think Ahri can jungle very well, I might be mistaken though!

~Skills~

Soul Eater
Ahri gains a charge of Soul Eater 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.


Wonderful ability, better than Morgana but less consistent. This ability is awesome when paired with Ahri ultimate ability Spirit Rush giving you 9stacks after using all 3 charges. Also when using [Orb of Deception]] to get stacks hit more than 3 minions every time so you get the maximum number of stacks.

99.9% pure awesome. Orb of Deception is epic win dealing a good chunk of Magic damage on its way out and dealing TRUE DAMAGE THAT SCALES WITH AP on its way back. Can you comprehend how awesome this is? While dealing true damage is awesome it requires you to hit the spell bot way out and way in order to do significant damage. Because if you only hit a target with your Orb of Deception the damage they receive will be sup-par.

Fox-Fire Deals the most damage from all the spells that Ahri has in her kit early on. This is why you should max this skill second. Fox-Fire is also excellent for poking during the lane phase. Just pop Fox-Fire followed by a really quick Orb of Deception and a couple of auto attacks in between

There has been a lot of controversy regarding this skill, some argue that is a very good way to CC other champions. Personally I find it useless so I use it only for interrupting stuff like Death Lotus and Absolute Zero during early and mid game. Also the damage is sup-par compared to Fox-Fire and I can launch my full combo of Fox-Fire and Orb of Deception in the 1 second interval this spell gives me on rank 1. So I max Charm last!

Shadow Dance on steroids! I can dash through walls making escapes with Ahri a breeze. Only problem is that it doesn't use the ammo system Akali has with her ultimate.This means that the use of this is rather limited during team fights. You should use ONLY 1 OR 2 CHARGES of Spirit Rush during a team fight leaving the leftover charge of Spirit Rush alongside with a Flash to escape. The only time when you should waste all 3 charges in team fights is to ste.... secure kills!

Skill Rotation

This entirely up to you. I wont tell you to use E>W>Q>R>R>W>Q> Ignite or what ever. This is all situational. I just provided you with tips on how to and how no to use your skills. Also I find the existence of skill rotations completely useless because they vary heavily depending on what champion you are attacking. So its all up to you!

~Core Items~

I play Ahri with a very situational build. Building according to the enemy team setup and depending on how much we or they are steamrolling us. Despite that the above items are ALWAYS incorporated in the build because... Dun dun dun, the are core items and without them you wont be able to do good with Ahri

Boots are core on Ahri. End of story. In all seriousness Sorcerer's Shoes are a must have on this Ahri build if you choose to aim for max CDR you should swap them with Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Rabadon's is the mother of all AP itmes nothing can rival Rabadon's Deathcap in terms of ability power. Once you get this you damage will skyrocket allowing you to kill anyone(tanks not included) from the enemy team.

The reason this item is core is because it offers the much needed survivability that Ahri needs. This is not just a stats stick it has numerous utility purposes. I can help you chase with your Spirit Rush and the huge range on your Fox-Fire skill. It is also perfect for escaping as you can spam your Fox-Fire without stopping and slowing your enemy through the effect from Rylai's Crystal Scepter

Situational items!

Abyssal Scepter
Very good item, I use it a lot when playing Ahri it gives you not only ability power and magic resist but it also give you MAGIC PENETRATION making on of the best items you can get for Ahri.

Banshee's Veil
Also a very good item the same as Abyssal Mask. I would suggest picking up both if the enemy team is really AP heavy.

Randuin's Omen
I know I'm going to get shouted for picking this but I see this item as one of the best armor items in the game much better than Thornmail because

[*] It gives Cooldown Reduction
[*] It slows the movement and attack speed of enemy champions
[*] It slows everyones movement and attack speed in team fights with its Active.

Zhonya's Hourglass
Not a whole bunch to say about this just awesome AP a good chunk of armor and once of the best actives in the game. Combine with [Randuin's Omen] if the enemy team is AD heavy.

Void Staff
More magic penetration=More damage. Combine this with an Abyssal Mask if the enemy team gets too much magic resist.

Will of the Ancients
Nice chunk of AP and an awesome Aura which stacks if someone from your team gets another one and it also further increases the heal from your passive.

Morello's Evil Tome
Grab this if you are steamrolling the enemy team to steamroll them even more!
Note: Morello's Evil Tome is core for ANY CDR BASED Ahri
I don't have a CDR based build for Ahri yet but I will make one in the future.

~Gameplay~

Early Game Levels 1-6

When playing Ahri you are quite weak up until you get your Spirit Rush, I am not saying you are completely useless like Vladimir but you should focus on farming minions and not pushing your lane giving your jungler chances to gank when possible. But be careful this does not mean you cannot harass your opponent, you shouldn't miss any openings given for harassing and if he pushes to far call the jungler or Solo top(only if he has a stun or some other reliable form of CC) to gank middle lane.

Mid Game

During mid game you are much more mobile,almost ungankable, because of Spirit Rush
You should have also maxed out you Orb of Deception allowing you to kill caster minions in 1 hit! During mid game you should start roaming the map steali... securing kills here and there so you can make your core items and start roflpwning everyone.

Late Game

If your tank is stupid and doesn't initiate you should try to do so with your Charm. If it hits someone the proceed to jump and liquify him as fast as possible UNLESS HE IS THE ENEMY TANK!
Now if your tank is smart and initiates the team fight you should toss an Orb of Deception aiming for their carries, after that proceed with Fox-Fire and use 1-2 Charges of [Spirit Rush]] to deal some extra damage and position your self in a away that will allow you to murder the enemy carry with a Charm followed by another couple of spells.
After you have killed the enemy carry use the remaining stack of your Spirit Rush combined with a flash to escape.

~Summary~

All in all Ahri is a very fun champion to play with a considerable skill ceiling. There are various way to play her, including better ones with CDR and Ability power and unorthodox ones like Attack damage and Attack speed.
Please be kind enough to leave constructive criticism one the guide but please don't be too harsh since it is my first guide on MOBAFIRE. Also send me links to any games you have with Ahri so I can fill up the hall of fame!

Before I forget, I would like to thank JhoiJhoi and everyone else involved in the Guide for Making a Guide which can be found HERE!

~The Hall of Fame and Cool Score!~

Here is a little something about what this build can do in action. All done by the one and only ME!

F.A.Qs

To be filled once questions are asked in the comments OR REMOVED if no questions are asked.

~Change Log~

18/12/2011: Guide Created
05/12/2011: Added Some Colors