Greetings summoner! I invested in Ahri on release day and after playing a lot of games, trying out varying builds and strategies, I thought I'd create this guide to share with you all what I've learned so far. By no means is this guide perfect, and I'm still trying out new things each day, but I believe that I have a solid core build so far that's working well in a lot of games I play. I'm entirely open to suggestions on how to improve my guide, so leave me a comment with your opinions and own build ideas and I'll try them out and, if they work out well, I'll add them in with credits to you!

Ahri is described as a ranged assassin, and the keyword here to bear in mind is assassin. A lot of her damage is burst and she lacks large levels of HP and resistances. However, the fact that she is ranged and very mobile with her ultimate allows you to dance around the edges of team fights, dealing a lot of damage and applying a powerful stun/slow to key targets. Ahri is most certainly not an easy champ to play, with her main damage output coming from her Q and E which are both skill shots. However, she isn't particularly hard and you can get a good grasp of her within just a few games. So, without further ado, I present to you my guide to building and playing Ahri!

As with any champion there are areas they excel in and areas in which they're weak, however I personally find Ahri to vastly outstrip her weakneses with her strengths.


Pros:

+ High burst with low cooldowns
+ Very powerful poke that even deals true damage
+ Excellent 1v1 champion who excels in mid
+ Skill shots that provide a high pay off for landing them
+ Minimal mana problems
+ High agility and powerful escape/chasing tool afforded by her ultimate
+ Passive life steal allows you to lane for extended periods of time
+ She's damn fine


Cons:

- Squishy, as with any assassin and high burst champ you lack survivability
- Acting as a double edged sword, her skill shots can be difficult to land
- No escapes if your ulti is on cooldown (although flash can be used to supplement this)
- Damage can often taper off late game, especially if you're lacking in cs (creep kills) and/or champ kills/assists
- Low movement speed, 375 late game can lead to you getting chased down extremely easily with both flash and your ulti on cd
- High dependency on items for consistent damage throughout the game

Runes are largely based on personal preference. There are a few that are are considered mandatory for certain champion classes, but if you want to change them around then by all means do so. My rune set up is as follows:

x9
Greater Mark of Insight

Flat magic pen reds are essential on a character such as Ahri as her strengths lie in her high burst damage and we want to facilitate this as much as possible; especially to gain that early game advantage against your laning opponent.

x9
Greater Seal of Clarity

Ahri doesn't particularly have mana problems, however late game, when team fights are breaking out at regular intervals, you'll find that the constant spam of your abilities is having a drain that, unless remedied by the blue buff, will leave you needing to return to base for the next battle. I find that scaling mana yellows are the way to go as flat mana regen is unnecessary, given her lack of early game mana deficiencies, and it helps to solve any late game mana issues without the need for investing in mana regen items.

x9
Greater Glyph of Potency

As with the magic pen reds, flat ability power blues serve to aid her early game burst. You'll find that landing your Orb of Deception on both the forwards and return in the first few levels of play can have a devastating effect on squishy casters health bars.

x3
Greater Quintessence of Potency

Serving the same purpose as the flat ability power blues, these quints give a great boost to Ahri's early game burst. With the total AP these provide at level one you'll be able to harass to great effect with your Orb of Deception, and if you can land Charm beforehand then the enemy can say goodbye to half of their health bar.


Total bonus stats from these runes:

+ 8.55 Magic Penetration
+ 10.53 Mana Regen/5 at level 18
+ 24 Ability Power

Other viable rune choices:

Like I said, runes are entirely up to you. Here are a few suggestions I have for runes that can also be effectively used on Ahri.


Greater Seal of Resilience

Flat armor yellows may seem like an odd choice, however your ultimate allows you to dive enemies on low HP and dash away before taking too much heat. With armor yellows you'll take less damage from towers and you'll be able to dive more effectively. It'll also help against those pesky ganks from junglers.


Greater Seal of Potency

If you really wanna deal some serious damage early game then you can go for a full AP/MPen rune set by also taking some flat ability power yellows. If you find the sacrifice of reliable late game mana regen worth the trade off, or if you'd rather just grab an item or two to counter it then this could be a viable option for you. The enemy will almost certainly be wondering where the hell most of their HP just went!

For masteries I use 22/0/8. Most points are poured into offense to max her offensive capabilities as an assassin, the rest are used in utility to help with mana regen etc. Ideally you want to avoid building defensively as an assassin, obviously some games will require you to invest in such a manner to survive long enough to use your burst, but for masteries I prefer to avoid investing in the defensive tree to improve what she's good at instead of trying to supplement to a small degree where she lacks.

Breakdown of specific choices:

Offense

Summoner's Wrath - A no brainer really, increases your ability power and attack damage by five whilst ignite is on cooldown. Bonus AP/AD is always welcomed.

Mental Force - A total bonus of 4 ability power, serves to compliment your rune set up for the best early game burst.

Sorcery - Cooldown reduction is always welcomed on a caster, with this your abilites will be ready that much quicker leading to more poking and damage dealing.

Arcane Knowledge - 10% magic penetration on top of the magic pen afforded by your runes will serve to deal a lot of damage early game, especially against other casters who lack defenses as it is.

Havoc - More raw damage, again serving to facilitate Ahri's burst.

Blast - Whilst not providing as much of a bonus to her burst early game as a flat value, the scaling helps give you a nice boost as you transition into mid and late game.

Archmage - Increasing your ability power by a flat value of 5% synergises perfectly with Rabadon's Deathcap, getting as much AP as you can is always a neccesity.

Executioner - Perfect for mopping up those early game kills. With this mastery the enemy will be less likely to escape with an infuriatingly low amount of HP. If you can land your burst combo when they're on low HP, couple this with Ignite and Ahri's incredible chasing ability will mark almost certain death for your foes.

Utility

Summoner's Insight - The 15 second cooldown reduction on your Flash helps lessen the effects of the recent nerf. Those 15 seconds can be vital a lot of the time, especially if you've already blown your Spirit Rush.

Expanded Mind - Ahri's mana pool is sufficient, but increasing it is never a bad thing and this mastery can allow you to pull off those one or two extra spells at the end of an extended fight.

Meditation - Serves to facilitate your Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration, or it can help fill its place if you decide to opt for other runes.

Swiftness Although I only use one point in this mastery, you can put 4 points into this instead of Meditation if you'd prefer, this can help curb her late game speed problems.

Flash

Despite the recent nerf, flash is still a great spell for escaping. You may be asking why you'd need it when your ulti is essentially a three in one flash, but Ahri's low movement speed and the fact that she only has one cc spell on a fairly long cooldown, relative to being chased, make it a valuable choice. You'll often find that your ulti is on cd when you need it to escape as you'll have blown it during a team fight to mop up that squishy carry. If things go South and you need to retreat from a lost team fight with 2 or 3 angry enemies on your tails, flash can mean the difference between a lucky escape and an annoying death.


Ignite

When duelling in solo mid, ignite can be extremely handy for grabbing an early kill/first blood. You'll often find enemies escaping within an inch of their life, and nothing's more annoying when you could have really done with that early kill for your next item. Hitting the enemy champ with ignite just as you start the combo you hope will bring them down can score you the kill a lot of the time. Ignite's usefullness tends to lessen late game, but if there is an enemy Fiddlesticks or if you're trying to bring down that fleeing Volibear and his annoying passive kicks in, ignite can really help you out with the 50% healing reduction.

Other viable choices:



Ghost

To help counter Ahri's low end game movement speed, Ghost can be used in place of flash for both escaping and chasing. Pop Ghost and dash with your ulti and it's a guaranteed escape or the final nail in an enemie's coffin.


Cleanse

The one thing you want to avoid as an assassin by all means is getting shut down by cc, and after Cleane's recent buff it can be a valuable addition to your skill set. If you're hit hard by something like Ahe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow and the enemy team are hurtling towards you with their bloodlust rising, it's pretty much good night for you as a squishy assassin. Cleanse can help if you find yourself out of position and hit by some hard cc that would otherwise lead to your demise. It can also help in case you get stuck as the center of attention in a team fight. Blitzcrank could have hit you with an unexpected Rocket Grab into the middle of the fray, pop cleanse and dash with your ulti and you should be away to safety in no time.



Surge

I personally wouldn't take surge as the attack speed boost is largely wasted with Ahri's auto attack as it's useful for little else than last hitting. However, some find the ability power boost usefull for aiding in a combo to try and bring down the enemy they're duelling with. As such I've included it here for this reason, although it's realy only useful on champions such as Lux, Swain etc.

Soul Eater (Pardon the lack of some sexy image styling, this is also the name of one of Nasus' abilities so I'm not quite sure how to link Ahri's instead)

- 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.

Whilst not being the most useful passive out there, it can be used to good effect for early game sustain. Every time you cast an ability, you will gain a stack for each enemy that ability strikes, up to a maximum of 3 statcks per ability cast. It's worth noting that you can get more than one stack from a single enemy, so if you cast Orb of Deception at a minion and hit it on both the forwards and return of the orb, you'll gain two stacks.

Once reaching nine stacks, your next ability will be granted 35% spell vamp. When your passive is ready for use, aim your Orb of Deception at the largest section of the minion wave you can find. If you're missing some health then this can be a great way to sustain yourself in lane without having to return to base. Couple this with the spell vamp granted by Will of the Ancients at mid to late game and you can heal the vast majority of your HP on a single creep wave.


Orb of Deception

- Ahri sends out and pulls back her orb, dealing magic damage on the way out and True damage on the way back.

This is the bread and butter of Ahri's early game harass and team wide nuke poke end game. It has a decent range and acts in a similar manner to Sivir's Boomerang Blade. Seeing as the orb returns to you, if you adjust your positioning after casting it then it will return on an angle relative to where you are. You can take advantage of this to strike an enemy you missed on the initial cast and to move along with them if they try to dodge the return. The true damage on the return makes for some seriously good harass and you should always try to land it on your enemy, it's also the reason I max this ability first.


Fox-Fire

- Ahri releases three fox-fires, which after a short delay lock on and attack nearby enemies.

Unlike two of Ahri's abilities, Fox Fire is a lock on meaning that it will automatically lock on to and attack nearby enemies. Upon activation three fires will circle Ahri, when enemies step into your range they will launch periodically to deal damage to them. It's worth noting that they priorotize champions, so don't be afraid to cast it in lane if the enemy is in range but behind a creep wave. Ultimately I find this ability to be lacklustre in comparison to her others due to the fact that during late game, when you're in team fights, it's hard to get it to attack the enemy you want it to. However, it shouldn't be underestimated when used in a 1v1.

Early game when you're laning mid, combining Fox-Fire with your Spirit Rush can lead to some serious damage that the enemy just won't see coming. I stick a point in it at level 3 for early game use, however I hold off maxing it until last to make use of Ahri's more effective abilities.


Charm

- Ahri blows a kiss that damages and charms an enemy it encounters, causing them to walk harmlessly towards her.

This ability goes so well with Orb of Deception. It's blocked by creeps, so your Q is best to harass when you're both last hitting. However, if there aren't any creeps nearby or if the enemy is positioned so they're not protected by their creeps then Charm will punish them severely. On top of being a fairly powerful nuke, the stun/slow it provides makes it incredibly easy to follow it up with an Orb of Deception, guaranteeing you to land the orb both ways dealing a lot of damage. If the enemy is a squishy, I've found that you can easily busrt them from full HP to death by landing Charm, Orb of Deception, initiating Fox-Fire and then chasing them down with Spirit Rush.

After sticking a point in this at level 2 I max it second as I find it to be extremely helpful for dealing a lot of damage, securing kills and escaping sticky situations due to the stun/slow it provides. Hitting a cocky enemy with it as they try to dive you under the tower can lead to a sneaky kill here and there too.


Spirit Rush

- Ahri dashes forward and fires essence bolts, damaging 3 nearby champions. Spirit Rush can be cast up to three times before going on cooldown.

Spirit Rush is the tour de force of Ahri's mobility. It allows you to dart around the edges of team fights extremely effectively whilst dealing a lot of damage at the same time. The radius is similar to that of Flash so, on top of the damage dealt, it affords you a very effective escaping mechanism. If you find yourself balls deep in an enemy's lane as they come to gank you, blowing all 3 charges of Spirit Rush and popping Flash to top it off will see you at the end of the lane before they even realise where the hell you vanished to. It can pass through terrain as well which is perfect for ganking unexpected foes over walls, or making escapes where enemies can't follow.

It also doubles up tremendously well as a chasing tool. They won't be able to out run you with 3 dashes and the damage you deal can be enough to kill them coupled with a few other abilities thrown in for good measure. You need to play carefully when this is on cooldown, it's Ahri's only escape without flash so you'll have very little chance of surviving a good gank without it.

Core

or




Recommended





Viable items






Situational






Not recommended


Philosopher's Stone


Explanation

For starters there are 3 seperate choices for you to make.


Doran's Ring

I started with this item initially when playing Ahri, and decided that it was probably the best starting item for her. However, after playing more games I've realised that mana isn't particularly an issue, and the dead money from this item can be used more effectively early game. If you want to spam your abilities a bit more then grab it, it's by no means a bad choice and it grants some decent ability power too. It's a great starter item for when you're new to Ahri and it's always a safe bet.


Amplifying Tome

I've recently begun to start with this item a lot more. The extra 5 AP you gain over picking a Doran's Ring is good for your early game harass and, unlike a Doran's item, it isn't essentially a waste of money once you reach full build. I use it to build into a Hextech Revolver that little bit earlier, sometimes even rushing one before any boots if the enemy mid is dealing a lot of damage forcing me to return to base often.


Boots of Speed

I've tried this to start with once or twice, it's handy to buy this first when you're laning against enemies such as Brand or Cassiopeia as it makes dodging their skill shots that bit easier. You can also grab the 3x Health Potion that used to be, and still is to an extent, very popular. However with the recent pots nerf and her passive for sustain I find it's better to just save the cash.

First couple returns to base

What you pick up on your first trip back to base will depend on how well things are going in lane, and also what you started with.



Sorcerer's Shoes

On your first trip back to base you'll want to pick up Sorceror's Shoes for a lot of extra move speed and a great MPen value for early game laning. This is an ideal pick if you started with any of the items.

Alternative boots


Ionian Boots of Lucidity

Instead of getting Sorcerer's Shoes, if you feel that you don't need the bonus MPen then you can opt for Ionian Boots of Lucidity. They afford you 15% cooldown reduction which can be very helpful, giving you the ability to cast your Orb of Deception more often. The few seconds earlier that your Spirit Rush comes off cooldown could be vital. I tend more so towards the MPen option as I prefer the higher damage afforded, however these are a perfectly viable choice.


Hextech Revolver

I find spell vamp to be a neccesity when building Ahri. It goes with her passive perfectly, allowing for some insane life steal when your Soul Eater is active, and due to being a cheap item it allows you to sustain in lane early game extremely well. Being a squishy champ, a slight mistake leading to damage being dealt by your enemy can leave you at a serious disadvantage in lane missing a large portin of your HP and prone to more ganks. As such, I feel that life steal is core for Ahri and extremely helpful in her early game phase.

Progressing on to mid game

At this point you'll hopefully have your Sorcerer's Shoes and a Hextech Revolver.


Will of the Ancients

Hextech Revolver builds into two items, Hextech Gunblade and Will of the Ancients. The attack damage granted by the Gunblade is wasted on Ahri so the latter is the item of choice here. It grants you a total of 80 ability power, which, for a measly 900 gold on top of your Hextech Revolver, is fantastic for boosting your damage as the game progresses and enemies become tougher. The 25% spell vamp is almost the equivalent of having your passive active on each hit which makes staying in lane a breeze, it also grants this spell vamp as an aura to nearby team mates along with a bonus 30 AP. This works very well when there are other casters on your team. As I feel lifesteal is core, the transition to Will of the Ancients as a core item I believe to be a neccesity.


Needlessly Large Rod

I mentioned that Ahri's damage can fall off as the game progresses, and this can definitely be a problem when team fights begin to break out as you'll find yourself dealing insufficient damage to be an asset to your team. To counter this, I build a Rabadon's Deathcap as my third main item. The Needlessly Large Rod is built as you make your way towards it, resist the urge to pick up a Blasting Wand as this item provides double the AP and you usually won't pick up both before being able to afford the full item.


Rabadon's Deathcap

As I mentioned, this item is to stem the drop in damage. Rabadon's Deathcap provides an incredible amount of ability power with a flat 140 AP increase and 30% of your overall AP added on top. The AP you have from runes, masteries and your previous items will knock your AP into the high 300 range after grabbing this, giving you some incredibly strong burst damage in the mid game phase. I feel an early Rabadon's is absolutely essential to keep her damage in line with other champions relative to the mid point of the game and that's why I have it this early on as core.

Transition into end game


Morello's Evil Tome

I couldn't really decide on whether to pick this item up consistently in game, but after using it a couple times I've decided it's a great item for Ahri. The 75 AP boost is sweet, more damage is always welcomed. The mana regen is extremely good and lets you pretty much spam your abilities with no worries about mana conservation, and the 20% cool down reduction is the icing on top of this ever so attractive cake. The more often you can throw your Orb of Deception into the midst of a team fight the more you're gonna be nuking them down. I don't consider this item core on Ahri, as the mana regen is a luxury not a neccesity and the same can be said for the cooldown reduction. However, it's a prime choice for me late game when deciding what to pick to finish off my build.


Void Staff

As with most AP builds, you'll want this item in there somewhere as the enemy will undoubtedly start to stack some magic resistance when they notice how much damage your dealing. Not much to say on this one, the flat AP increase is great and the 40% penetration, coupled with the 20 pen on your boots and 10% from Arcane Knowledge means you'll be shredding their defenses. I consider this item core, although when you buy it is entirely situational. If they start stacking AP early on then grab it after your Rabadon's Deathcap (or even before hand if it's proving to be a huge problem). However, I tend to pick it up late game as that's when most enemies (bar the tanks) begin to deviate to more defensive items.

Other viable choices



Deathfire Grasp

This item can be used in place of Morello's Evil Tome, you could even use it to supplement it if you wish, but I'd advise against that. If offers stat boosts in the same areaa as Morello's with slightly lower values, giving 60 AP, 10 mana regen and cooldown reduction of 15%. However, it has a very useful active that deals magic damage equal to 30% of their current health + 3.5% per 100 ability power. You should be in the 300 AP range when picking up this item, so that's another 10.5% meaning you're almost dealing half of their HP in magic damage. The keword here is damage relative to their current health, which means the earlier on in a fight you cast it the more damage you'll deal. The best tactic is to pick out the carry, hit them with the active and then burst them down with your skill set, it's an almost guaranteed kill. It has many other uses too, be it to deal the finishing blow to an escaping enemy when your abilities are on cooldown or to take a nice chunk out of that annoyingngly disruptive Skarner or Udyr's health bar. The active is what makes this item, so if you don't mind the slight stat decrease over Morello's Evil Tome then it's a worthy addition to your build.


Rod of Ages

I started off with this item as core, picking it up after Sorcerer's Shoes and having built Catalyst the Protector. It's a good item, it affords a nice amount of AP with a great boost to your mana and health pool. The mana and health regen per level is also great early game for keeping you in lane. However, the reason I removed this as core is because neither are strictly needed. Health regen can be supplemented more effectively by life steal and mana regen is unneccesary, thus leaving only the AP as a solidly useful stat boost. There are other items offering a similar amount of AP but with some more useful utility, and that's why I choose them over the Rod of Ages. However, this item is a great choice if you just want a larger health and mana pool along with more mana and health regen for lain sustainability. It's also great to use in conjunction with Rylai's Crystal Scepter if you want to buff up your health bar for more durability.


Rylai's Crystal Scepter

I pick up Rylai's on a lot of casters that lack their own crowd control, or benefit from having it supplemented. It's also a fantastic item for building your caster to be more durable as it gives a huge 500 HP boost. What's important to remember is that when using Charm, the distance the enemy walks towards you after it's been cast on them is not important, it's the stun duration that is. So don't ignore this item thinking "The enemy will walk towards me slower, covering less ground and reducing the effectiveness of the ability!" If you grab this item in conjunction with Rod of Ages then you'll have about 2.5k HP end game, this can be a viable choice if you find yourself dying a little too quickly. I recommend resistances over flat health, as I often find that if you're caught out of place with no means of escape as Ahri then you're pretty much dead anyway. That extra health will only serve to let the enemy pound on you for an extra second or two. But, it's entirely personal, and a beefy caster is definitely not to be underestimated!


Zhonya's Hourglass

I've played around with this item a fair bit and I can't help but pick it game after game. The active isn't particularly handy for Ahri as she has no AOE nuke to pop and then initiate the stasis, like Fiddlesticks or Kennen. However, it stands as the highest flat AP item next to Rabadon's Deathcap, and AP is what we're after when playing a burst assassin. The 50 armour boost is also extremely good, it can give you that little bit of extra survivability if the enemy carry is giving you a hard time whilst you try to pick them off. This is another item I don't consider core, but a very good pick for late game. Also, you can pick up the Chain Vest early game if you're having a lot of trouble with enemy AD champions, and then build it into Zhonya's Hourglass later on after the core build items.


Abyssal Scepter

I was hesitant to use this item on Ahri. Her role in game is to skirt along the edges of team fights, dealing damage to valuable targets. As such, you won't be getting right into the fray so the aura won't be affecting the entire enemy team. However, it doesn't negate its usefulness. The 70 AP boost is good, and the the 57 magic resistance is a very high value for an item with such a strong AP value; it works exceptionally well when the enemy caster is becoming a problem for you. The aura is used to best effect when there are multiple casters on your team who are able to take advantage of the AP resistance aura, especially if there's a Fiddlesticks as it goes perfectly with his A Harmless Scarecrow. I'd say this is a more situational item, however it's under recommended as it still works well if you're the only caster and you don't want to sacrifice damage output for magic resist items.


Lich Bane

I've used Lich Bane a couple of times on Ahri and it works surprisingly well. I didn't think much of the 100% ability power increase on your next basic attack after casting an ability, as it works better on champions such as Akali, but it really does help deal a fair amount of bonus damage interspersed between your abilities. The 80 AP increase is a nice value and the the 30 magic resistance is always welcomed. What stands out on this item for Ahri though is the 7 movement speed multiplier. I mentioned how her movement speed can be a problem late game, this most certainly helps counter that problem whilst giving her some great damage and defense boosts.

Situational


Mejai's Soulstealer

I'm against having any snowball item as core purely down to the fact that there's no guarantee you're going to be able to make viable use of it. Bar very few champions, such as Akali and LeBlanc, I tend to avoid picking this item up. However, as it's under the situational section, there are indeed situations in which it's a viable choice. If the game is going well in your favour and you feel that you're able to consistently outplay your laning opponent, and you've picked up a few early kills, it's a good item to go for. The AP increase as you score kills and assists can turn you into an unstoppable machine, and there aint no brakes on the rape train. If you hit max stacks on Mejai's then you can pretty much guarantee your team is going to win. If you're going to use this item, be careful not to rush it too early. Wait until maybe the 15 minute mark to see how the game is panning out. Got a decent amount of early game kills? Then go for it, remember, though, that it's most definitely a risk versus reward item.


Banshee's Veil

As with any build, defensive items are a necessity that need to be taken into consideration. Some games (read as: most games) you'll find that your team, quite frankly, suck. When the enemy team are more fed than you are, purely investing in offensive options isn't the way to go. What's the point in having all that damage if your unable to stay alive long enough to use it? Banshee's Veil is a fantastic magic resistance item. It gives a good mr value, a very nice boost to both your health and mana, but the passive is what makes this item so good. Every 45 seconds a blue aura will appear around your champion, this indicates that the nexy ability to strike you will be negated entirely. It's perfect for blocking some extremely powerful combos, such as LeBlanc's Sigil of Silence and Mimic. If you're fleeing from that fed Sion, then negating his Cryptic Gaze can often save your life. This is my item of choice when looking to build magic resistance.


Frozen heart

Nobody likes dealing with a fed carry. If they're racking up the kills, then when you reach the team fight stage you'll find that they're shutting you down before you're able to take them out. Frozen heart is my go to item when dealing with a fed carry. For one, it offers the second highest flat armor increase out of all other items at 99. As if this wasn't good enough, it reduces the cooldowns of your abilities by 20% and it reduces the attack speed of nearby enemies by 20%. This works very well against that enemy Vayne who's nailing you with too many Silver Bolts. I take this over Thornmail as, although the return of damage really hurts a carry who's dishing it out, you lack the health pool to survive long enough to make them do enough damage to themselves, especially if they've got a Bloodthirster as it will essentially negate the passive.


Guardian Angel

This is a good item to choose when both enemy AD and AP champions are giving you a hard time as it provides armour and magic resistance. I don't often pick Guardian Angel as its resistance stats aren't as high as others, however it can be an invaluable item. It becomes extremely useful in long games when a death can be catastrophic to your team as you need to wait over a minute to respawn. These deaths can easily spell the end for your chances of victory. If you feel that you're integral to your team's chances of victory in a long game, i.e you're carrying everyone, this is the item you'll want. The passive brings you back to life upon death, granting you 750 health and 375 mana. If you were unable to use your Spirit Rush due to being silenced/cc'd/nuked too hard then it will allow you to quickly dash away upon revival and live to fight again.

Creeps

As with any champ you'll want to just last hit, pushing your lane is not advisable as it makes you much more prone to ganking. When you're missing health, you'll want to fire your Orb of Deception into large areas of the creep wave to activate your passive. Once your passive is enabled, make sure you hit as many minions as possible to make the most of the 35% spell vamp. Late game, you'll find that you're able to kill caster creeps with one Orb of Deception if you hit them with it both ways, this makes for very effective farming on large waves and it's great for clearing out those huge mobs that gather at your towers.

Early game playstyle

Ideally you'll want to play Ahri in mid, she doesn't really fit anywhere else into the meta game, unless you're feeling crazy and you want to jungle her. As a high burst assassin, your goal early game will be to poke at you enemy with Orb of Deception, and try to land Charm when they are either to the side of the minions, or if they linger too long after the wave has been taken out. After whittling away at the enemies health you can usually pick up an early kill by scoring a hit with Charm, following it up with Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire, then popping an inginite if need be. If you haven't scored a kill by level 6 then it's nothing to worry about. If the enemy is lingering about with half or less HP, you can initiate with Spirit Rush and most likely secure the kill if you can land Charm and Orb of Deception. Below is a video displaying the play style you'll want to follow for early game. I harass Ashe for the first few minutes before scoring a solid Charm hit and following it up with Orb of Deception, and then using Flash to chase her down after activating Fox-Fire for the final few points of damage.
Play Video
Mid game playstyle

During the mid game your damage will be sufficiently strong enough to burst down most squishy enemies. At this point you'll want to look for opportunities to gank other lanes. Below is a video demonstrating two ganks I make with Ahri. The first doesn't quite go as planned, I miss my Charm and as such, Ahri manages to escape within an inch of her life after Poppy stuns me. This highlights the importance of being able to land Ahri's skill shots to play her effectively. I come back again a few minutes later and things go much smoother, opening up over the wall with Spirit Rush allows me to get the jump on them, it also burts them all down low enough to secure two kills. I land the Charm shot and pick up a kill myself, I also deal enough damage to the enemy Ahri for Caitlyn to pick up the kill with her Ace in the Hole.
Play Video /league-of-legends/summoner-spell/flash-14 Play Video
Late game playstyle

Once you reach the late game, most engagements will be team fights. As such, you need to know your role in a team fight. As a squishy assassin, you want to avoid getting stuck in the middle of everything. Taking advantage of the mobility afforded by Spirit Dash, your job in a fight will be to dance around the edges of the fray, picking off valuable targets such as the enemy AD carry, or their strong AP caster. Landing charm to disable their attacking power and following up with an Orb of Deception can have a devastating effect on their health bar. It'll likely mark their end as your teams focus will switch to them given their low remaining health. Throw your Orb of Deception into the fray as much as possible, trying to strike as many enemy champions as you can with the forwards and return, the true damage is extremely helpful and will even whittle away their tank's HP quite effectively.

What you want to avoid by all means is initiating. You might be fooled into thinking you can score a quick kill on their squishy by dashing in and out with Spirit Rush, but more often than not you'll just end up killing yourself. Below is a video demonstrating this. The enemy team gather in mid and manage to pick off Urgot, leaving me and Nunu & Willump remaining. Catching Ashe slightly out of position, I attempt to burst her down, but I'm quickly shut down by the enemy CC, and having blown most of my Spirit Rush uses I'm left with no escape mechanism and an inevitable death.
Play Video

As I'm sure you know, teamwork is absoultey essential in League of Legends. When playing mid, your lane is going to be the prime focus of your jungler as he looks at viable lanes to gank. As such, you'll want to prevent pushing and lead the enemy into pushing your lane. Once you've taken off enough of your lane partner's HP, signal your jungler over for a gank. You don't need to sit and wait for him, if the opportunity arises then ping your opponent and let your jungler know in chat. If you can land your Charm then they're as good as dead as your jungler will be able to hit them with hard cc, rendering any chances of escape null and void, unless of course you're laning against Kassadin.

Leading on from the playstyle section, always make sure you ping the target you're moving in to focus in a team fight. Taking them out will be made much easier if your team mates know who you're going to burst. The same goes for ganking, if you see a lane in which the enemy are pushed close towards a friendly tower, signal the lane in chat that you're moving to gank and ping the enemy you wish them to focus. Communication is key, they're not psychic and won't instinctively know that you're moving in for a gank. Ping them to let them know you're coming too, I often don't notice things said in the chat bar if I'm paying too much attention to my lane. A ping will draw their attention to the map and they'll check the chat bar for more details.

When you're making your retreat after a failed team fight, cast Charm at the largest threat on your tails, the slow/stun can give you those extra precious seconds to escape. Also, if your Spirit Rush isn't on cooldown and you notice a team mate getting chased, don't hesitate to lend them a hand. Quite often I've landed a charm on a persuing enemy, saving the fleeing team mate and sometimes securing the kill. If the enemie's focus switches to you then you can always activate spirit dash and get away, hopefully with you and your team mate in tact.

As you'll be soloing your lane, it's up to you to place your own privacy wards. These are placed in the bushes on either side of the river, they'll alert you to when an enemy is waiting to gank and are invaluable. Ward control of the map isn't the job of an assassin like Ahri, your cash will be needed to max your offensive capabilities so I'm not going to include a guide on how to do that as it's not particularly relative to this character and, let's face it, there are ward guides everywhere. Your support should be seeking out enemy wards and placing wards at vital points, so outside of privacy in your own lane, and perhaps warding the baron/dragon every now and then you shoouldn't need to worry about it.

Sight Wards are usually sufficient to be placed in both bushes, however if there is an enemy Twitch, Evelynn or Shaco, then you might want to invest in Vision Wards as they can really catch you off guard.

Here I've compiled a list of likely champions you will face when playing in the mid lane. Largely you'll find that you don't have any specific problems with most champs, however those with long ranges and powerful AOEs can prove troublesome. I've included a difficulty rating for each mid champ.

Annie - Medium

Annie is a very popular mid choice, and as such you'll find yourself fighting her quite often. What you need to watch out for is if her Pyromania is charged. This is indicated by a white swirling trail around her waist, not be confused with the full body shield that appears when she uses Molten Shield. This means that her next ability will stun you for 1.75 seconds. If she lands this then it can prove to be devastating as she follows up with her combo. If you're hit by a Tibbers stun then you likely will not survive. As such, when you see her passive is active, keep your distance and aim to just last hit creeps. She will cast it on a minion eventually as farming minions with the mana refund she gets from Disintegrate proves too tempting for most to hold out for any extended period of time.

You will notice her move forwards to likely harass you with her Disintegrate, time it so you can throw your Orb of Deception as she approaches, and back away out of her range as the orb returns. Never try to burst her down if her passive is active. Her auto attack has a long range, so don't be tempted to move in closer if she's hanging far back and last hitting with it, she could quickly cast Molten Shield and Incinerate to unexpectedly charge her stun and nuke you with a Summon: Tibbers and Disintegrate combo.

Akali - Medium

Akali will often solo in another lane, usually top, however taking her mid is also a popular choice. Pre level six you can effectively zone her with your Orb of Deception, so long as you don't let her get close enough to proc the bonus damage on her Mark of the Assassin. Avoid stepping too close to her Twilight Shroud, she can easily mark you from within and move out stealthed to activate the mark before you can effectively retaliate. Cast your Orb of Deception into her Twilight Shroud and adjust your positioning to cover as much of it as you can on the return. Ideally, you'll score a few hits and she'll refrain from throwing it down so close to you.

Once she hits level 6 is when you need to play much more carefully. Her Shadow Dance is a very powerful gap closer with a nuke on hit, she can mark you with her kama, dash in with her ulti to activate it and then quickly dash back out to a minion to avoid any backlash. This will prove to be extremely damaging. The best method of play is to avoid the range of her Mark of the Assassin, and if she hits you with it just back away until it times out. Your burst is also high, so keep up the harass and prove to her that attempting to burst you down might prove to be too much of a risk. Worst case scenario is she hits you with her Mark of the Assassin and follows up with her Shadow Dance, in which case you can use your Spirit Rush to quickly retreat back to the safety of your own tower. Akali is squishy before she purchases Rylai's Crystal Scepter so she will be hesitant to dive early game, especially as you can just nuke her back.

Anivia - Fairly easy

The difficulty of facing an Anivia in mid is down largely to how good she is at landing her Flash Frost. If you can avoid it consistently then most of her burst will be negated, as she needs to hit you with either that or Glacial Storm to get the full burst from her Frostbite. Make sure you never sit still in lane and just keep weaving in and out to avoid her shots, poke her with your Orb of Deception as it has a faster travel time than her Flash Frost, you shouldn't have too much difficulty against her. One thing to remember is that her passive, Rebirth, will bring her back to life after you deplete her health if it can remain alive for a few seconds. Do not be tempted to tower dive her if she is low on hp, she'll just go into her egg form and you'll likely die from the tower, giving her a kill. If you really want to dive her, then make sure you check that her passive isn't yet active. This can be seen by clicking her character and checking the active buffs below her potrait in the top left.

Ashe - Easy

Ashe will appear mid every now and then, and when she does you can count yourself lucky. She's probably one of the easiest champions to mid against. All you need to do is strafe backwards when you see her going to fire Volley and that's the extent of her harassing capabilities outside of her auto attack. In the video in my playstyle section you will see that I'm against an enemy Ashe in mid. I harass her with Orb of Deception until she's low enough to burst with a Charm, Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire combo to pick up the kill.

Brand - Difficult

Brand will undoubtedly give you a hard time in mid. His abilities are extremely punishing when he lands them thanks to their high damage and his passive Blaze, it's like having a mini Ignite on the end of each of his abilities. His Pillar of Flame is a large AOE nuke that you'll have to constantly avoid and his Sear is similar in casting to your Charm, except it's purely a damage dealing ability. It's unwise to try and trade hits with Brand as he will usually come out on top with his superior damage. However, he is extremely squishy so try and catch him when he's not behind his minions with Charm and punish him with a nice Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire combo. Once your Spirit Rush is ready you'll have a bit of an easier time as most of his damage comes from skill shots. Once you're hit by one of his abilities, make sure you stay clear of him until the Blaze wears off as his Conflagration will hit you with a hard stun, which he can then follow up with a powerful combo. If he casts his Pyroclasm make sure you get away from any allies or minions as fast as you can, Flash if possible or dash away with Spirit Rush. Its damage output is drastically reduced if you can limit the number of ricochets.

Caitlyn - Medium

Caitlyn appears a lot during her free weeks, although not all that much at other times. She has a very long range on her auto attacks and her Piltover Peacemaker has an even longer range and it isn't stopped by minions. However, the damage is reduced by the number of enemies it passes through, so if you have a really hard time dodging it then position yourself at the back of your minions to lessen the damage. A good tactic is to wait for her to cast her Piltover Peacemaker, side step to dodge it and then move in to poke with your Orb of Deception. Her damage output is high, but she is exremely squishy so you can burst her right down. Make sure you don't accidentally step in her Yordle Snap Traps, they might seem insignificant but the stun is pretty long and she can score a few hits as you stand there idly. If you're low on health and she's level 6 or above then just return to base. There's nothing more annoying than being picked off by her Ace in the Hole with no team mates around to block the damage.

Cassiopeia - Fairly difficult

Having an enemy Cassiopeia mid means you're gonna have to be quick on your feet. Her skill shots, Noxious Blast and Miasma aren't too damaging by themselves, however she is able to spam Twin Fangs if she's hit you with poison as striking a posined enemy with this ability refreshes the cooldown. Twin Fangs is a hard nuke that does a lot of damage, repeated strikes from it will tear through your HP in no time. As such, if you know the enemy Cassiopeia is going mid, then I'd highly advise starting with Boots, dodging her skill shots is integral to surviving against her in lane. Outside of this her damage is limited, so if you can avoid her shots and poke with Orb of Deception, you shouldn't have too bad of a time, of course that's always easier said than done.


Ezreal - Fairly easy

Ezreal isn't often taken mid, however if they lack an AP to send mid then he can sometimes build up his AP and take the spot instead. Most of his ability damage comes from his skillshots, so as long as you dodge them you won't have a hard time. Play against him in a similar manner to which you play against Ashe. Be careful when you're on low health as his Trueshot Barrage can deal a lot of damage, and he likes to cast it when you're on the run with minimal HP.

Fiddlesticks - Medium

Fiddlesticks will often take the jungle instead of mid lane, however he is a formidable opponenend in mid. This stems from the hard cc on his Terrify, after which he can easily follow up with Bountiful Harvest. He's usually able to get away without a retaliation as the damage already dealt with Bountiful Harvest and the constant heal makes going toe to toe with him very unattractive. He can also silence you with Reap mid combo to disrupt your flow, or stop you from starting a combo entirely. When he casts Reap, step away from the minions to avoid the ricochet. As he goes in to last hit try and harass with Orb of Deception as much as you can. If you catch him healing on a minion without a minion blocking him, try and score a Charm hit to interrupt the drain and follow up with some nice damage from Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire. Always call ss as soon as you see him missing, a Crowstorm gank from the bush is devastating. Conversely, when he's not visible in lane, be wary that he could be waiting in the bush to Crowstorm, Flash, Terrify and Bountiful Harvest to ruin your day.

Fizz - Medium

Quite frankly, Fizz is one of the most annoying champions to play against in mid. He's not particularly hard, but his Playful / Trickster will infuriate you to no end as he effortlessly dodges all of your skill shots. Don't underestimate his burst, activating Seastone Trident and dashing in with Urchin Strike can be very damaging. The slow applied by his Chum the Waters is very strong too, try to avoid it as best as you can, dashing out of the way with Spirit Rush if need be. The damage dealt by his ulti is very large, and if he can follow it up with the rest of his skill set then he'll have no trouble diving you on the tower for the kill with his Playful / Trickster.


Gragas - Medium

Gragas is a powerful mid, he has a lot of health and great mana/health sustain. He's a melee champ so you can poke him quite often with Orb of Deception as he moves in to last hit. Just make sure to avoid his Barrel Roll and avoid taking him head on after he uses Drunken Rage. You shouldn't die against him, but he's one of those champs that's hard as hell to kill in lane as he just keeps healing thanks to his passive Happy Hour. Get your jungle to gank when he can and you shouldn't have too many problems with him.

Graves - Fairly easy

Like most carries, Graves shouldn't prove too much of a problem mid. Your abilities out range his so poke him with Orb of Deception as often as you can. However, he can quickly close the gap with Quickdraw and land a punishing Buckshot on you. If you see him move forwards for this ability, the best idea is to fall back to avoid the damage. Alternatively you can try and land your Charm to interrupt his combo and deal some damage yourself with your combo. If need be, use your ultimate to dash away if he succesfully lands his Buckshot and moves in for more damage as his autoattack is powerful and has an increased speed after he uses Quickdraw.

Heimerdinger - Fairly easy

Usually laning against Heimerdinger isn't too much of a problem. However, it's easy to make stupid mistakes by underestimating his turrets. Avoid dashing to attack him if he has all of them up, they can do a lot of damage. You can find that foolishly diving in will leave you dangerously low, and an escape can be hard if his turrets are switched to frost mode to slow down your retreat. So long as you take out his turrets periodically, poking him and them with your Orb of Deception he should be a breeze to play against mid.

Karthus - Medium

Karthus is a fairly strong mid. He can spam his abilities all he likes with his Defile meaning he can stay in lane for a long time. However, the vast majority of his damage comes from Lay Waste which is an extremely easy skill shot to dodge. The time it beccomes dangerous is when you move in for a fight, and you just sit there trading blows. Lay Waste will constantly be hitting you and dealing a ton of damage. The damage dealing AOE he can cast on Defile is also surprisingly damaging if you stand in its path. So when fighting him, you need to bear these in mind. You should constantly move about outside of his AOE range, and don't stay still to avoid his Lay Waste. When fighting him, apply the same logic and dance around him with Spirit Rush and poke him constantly with Orb of Deception, landing charm when you can. Karthus is slow and has no escapes, bar for the slow on his Wall of Pain. Make sure you let the other lanes know when he hits level 6 so they can return to base if need be to avoid his Requiem.

Kassadin - Difficult

Kassadin is a hard mid to fight against. His Null Sphere is extremely damaging and it has a silence to top it off, if you can't get your Orb of Deception off fast enough when you come to trade blows you'll find yourself slowly falling behind in health. Mana also isn't a problem for him as he regains mana by simply attacking minions. You can take advantage of this by waiting for him to move in for mana and cast your Orb of Deception for some harass, maybe even landing your Charm if there are no enemy minions to block it. His Riftwalk makes any ganks on him extremely difficult. The slight wiff of an enemy and he can just Riftwalk right to safety, and it's a hard counter for your spirit dash. Although, the cooldown between his Riftwalks is much higher than your spirit dash, so if you feel can you can burst him down enough for the kill them use them to chase. If you're low on health it's best to just return to base, he can easily score kills by landing on you with his ultimate and nuking you with Null Sphere, and a fed Kassadin is the last thing your team needs.

Katarina - Easy

Katarina is an extremely easy mid opponent with no abilities that you should be afraid of. The harass on her Bouncing Blades is minimal so you're safe from a distance, and if she wants to move in for any damage then she'll have to use Shunpo. This places her directly behind you, it is then incredibly easy to retaliate with Charm, Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire for an extremely powerful trade off in your favour. She'll likely learn this early on, if not then you'll be getting a nice few early kills.

Kennen - Medium

Kennen's a pretty tough mid to face, he's extremely annoying too. His Mark of the Storm is what you need to keep your eye out for. Every time he lands an ability on you, you'll gain one mark. Once you're marked with three simultaneously it applies a stun. He's able to deal a lot of damage during this time with his Electrical Surge and Lightning Rush. Avoid his Slicing Maelstrom at all costs, the stun is really annoying and the damage dealt as you sit in his AOE will chomp through your health bar. Spirit Rush to safety when he activates it. Try to harass as much as you can, none of his ranged abilities pass through minions so you can take advantange of this by poking him with your Orb of Deception as often as possible.

Kog'Maw - Easy

Another AD carry, the same applies for most. Kog isn't too intimidating, his Living Artillery is easy to dodge and so long as you don't retreat in a linear fashon he won't score any hits. Poke him with Orb of Deception as he's an extremely fragile champion, when he's glowing red then that means his Bio-Arcane Barrage is active and he has increased range and damage, stay back when this is on as it can do a lot of damage. When he's low on health don't hesitate to chase him down with Spirit Rush and initiate your combo as he has no escapes and his only slow is Void Ooze. You might want to save a single spirit dash for when you score the kill, especially if you're on low HP as his Icathian Surprise gives him a lot of movement speed and get him a few lucky kills.

LeBlanc - Difficult

LeBlanc is an extremely powerful mid, I'd probably go as far to say that she's the best AP mid in the game when matched up with other AP champions. Her sigil of silence does a lot of damage, similar to Kassadins Null Sphere. She also has a free blink on a low cool down in the form of her Distortion, it allows her to freely harass you as she can blink in, hit you with sigil of silence and then blink back out at no extra cost. The blink doubles up as a nuke, so she can land her sigil of silence and then Distortion on to you for a very powerful nuke. What's worse is, once she hits level 6 she'll unlock Mimic. Her most popular combo will be Distortion into range, cast sigil of silence on you and then nuke you again casting Mimic, dealing a stronger nuke than the first sigil of silence and then activating the mark for more damage.

Extremely carefully is how you play against LeBlanc. I highly recommend picking up a Banshee's Veil to help block her combos. In lane it's best to just last hit where you can, call your jungle in for frequent ganks and try and catch her off guard with Charm leading into Fox-Fire and Orb of Deception. Her passive Mirror Image will activate when she drops below 40% hp, creating an identical copy of her. By default it will stand there upon appearing and attack nearby enemies, always attack the one running away as it's obviously the real one. If she controls her doppelganger with alt+right click then you'll just have to make your best guess, don't bother chasing if you're unsure as she can just turn around, silence and then nuke you.

Lux - Easy

Lux is an incredibly easy mid. Her Light Binding is easy to dodge, along with her Lucent Singularity, and this is where most of her damage comes from. The shield gained from Prismatic Barrier is pretty poor and won't shield her from much. Sit behind your minions when last hitting to avoid her Light Binding and keep moving to dodge her Lucent Singularity. Poke with Orb of Deception and if you know her Light Binding is on cooldown then you can easily rush in for some extreme damage as she's a very fragile champion. Be careful not to dive her if you know she can cast her binding as she can score a lucky kill if she lands her bind when you're under the tower. Her finales funkeln can easily be dodged with your Spirit Rush so as long as she doesn't catch you off guard or in a Light Binding then you'll be fine.

Malzahar - Medium

Malzahar is a pretty powerful mid. His Call of the Void is not blocked by minions and it comes with a silence, so he can easily harass you behind your creeps with it. However, it doesn't have a huge range so when he moves in to cast you can fire your orb of deception before the silenece hits for a tradeoff. Null zone is a very large AOE move, however as it is a DOT (damage over time) ability, you can easily move out of it if you find it cast at your feet, taking minimal damange. Malefic Visions allows Malzahar to shred through minion waves very quickly, stay away from the afflicted creeps to avoid it passing on to you and let him use this ability to push the lane, allowing your jungle to gank more effectively. The voidlings summoned by his passive Summon Voidling are annoying at worst. It's best to kill them quickly as they become stronger over time. If they prove to be a problem then just move under the tower so it can deal with them.

Malzahar's Nether Grasp is what you need to be worried about most. If you're on low HP then it's essentially a "press R for free gold" to him. It's also an extremely strong way for him to set up ganks for his jungler as he can supress you with it as the jungler moves in to damage and slow. Return to base when you're on low health to avoid this and place wards to aid against the Nether Grasp jungle gank combo.

Morgana - Difficult

Morgana is a very powerful mid to play against. She is unusally tanky for the amount of damage she can deal, and her Black Shield will make it hard to harass with Orb of Deception and to land your Charm. She can easily zone with Tormented Shadow as it does an annoying amount of damage if you're exposed to it for too long. The stun duration on her Dark Binding is very annoying and it's a nuke on hit. When she combines Dark Binding with Tormented Shadow and her Soul Shackles then you're in for a lot of pain. Her passive Soul Siphon grants her spell vamp, allowing her to easily sustain herself in lane.

When laning against her, it's best to keep her on her toes by poking with Orb of Deception whenever you can, esepcially if you know her Black Shield is on cool down. Her Dark Binding isn't too difficult to dodge and it's blocked by minions so use that to your advantage. Refrain form trying to burst her down from full HP as, like I said, she has an unusually large amount of HP for a caster. It's best to wittle her down and finish her off qith a quick burst when she's low.

Orianna - Medium

Orianna is an unpopular champion, so you won't find yourself fighting her often. Although when you do, she is quite a strong champ. Her Command: Attack makes it easy for her to harass if you move in close, which you will do to land your Orb of Deception. When the ball is near you, avoid standing too close as she can activate Command: Dissonance at will, dealing damage and slowing you. Her Command: Shockwave does a lot of damage, as well as pulling you towards her orb. If she activates this then quickly use Spirit Rush to get out before she can follow up. Orianna's passive Clockwork Windup makes her auto attacks do more damage over succesive hits, so avoid letting her stack repeated auto attacks on you.

Ryze - Medium

Ryze is a popular pick as he's a cheap champion with an easy to play style, (RWQE - rinse and repeat), and he's also a pretty effective champ. The damage dealt by his abilities scales with mana, so he's able to spam mana items simultaneously allowing him to cast tons of spells and boost his damage. He'll likely open up with Rune Prison before hitting you with Overload and Spell Flux, the latter being very effective when you're in the middle of a creep wave and in conjunction with Desperate Power. Keep out of range of his bind and poke with Orb of Deception, he's a squishy champ so like all the others he's prone to your high burst.

Sion - Fairly easy

Sion prefers solo top, although he'll ocassionally play in mid. If he does, it's not much of a problem. His main damage potential lies in hitting you with Cryptic Gaze and rushing in with Death's Caress for some large damage. His shield can be destroyed, nullifying the AOE effect so it's best to poke him with Orb of Deception, landing it both ways will mostly take out the shield. If you see him moving in to land Cryptic Gaze then take advantage of the fact that there will likely be no minions to protect him, allowing you to land your Charm and follow up with your combo. Try to keep him from last hitting as much as possible as each minion kill increases his maximum health, this can be a huge problem if he gets some insane cs by end game.

Swain - Medium

Swain can be a very formidable opponent if he's played well. He has very little mana problems, so long as he's good at last hitting, due to his passive Carrion Renewal. His nevermore gives you very little time to dodge, so it's worth recommending that you start with boots to help dodge it. If he lands it then not only is it a powerful damage dealer in itself, the bind will leave you open for him to hit you with Decrepify, reducing your movement speed as you try and escape and dealing damage over time, and hitting you with Torment dealing some more strong damage over time and increasing the amount of damage his auto attacks deal whilst it's active.

Ravenous Flock gives him very powerful lane sustatin post level 6 and makes him incredibly difficult to 1v1, especially if he's packing spell vamp in the form on Hextech Revolver or Will of the Ancients. He has to move forwards into your creep wave to heal with Ravenous Flock so take advantage of this to land Charm and harass with Orb of Deception. Swain is slow and lacks any escapes, so call in a gank from your jungle often to make sure you can stay ahead of him in lane.

Twisted Fate - Fairly easy

Similar to other carries, except he lacks the raw AD and focuses more on his abilities. So long as you can pull back when he uses Pick A Card to avoid the effects, he shouldn't prove too much trouble. Wild Cards is ridiculously easy to dodge, it passes through minions but the missile speed is incredibly slow and there's a wide berth between each card. Stacked Deck means he'll deal a fair amount of damage if he can keep up constant auto attacks on you, but that shouldn't happpen if you're playing Ahri correctly anyway. His ultimate isn't a problem for you in a 1v1 fight, and even if he catches you at low HP with it when he's ss and tries to teleport mid to finish you off you can just use Spirit Rush to get to safety. Harass with Orb of Deception and try and score hits with your Charm is the way to go, you outrange him so take advantage of this.

Vayne - Fairly easy

Another carry, except this time with added true damage. Vayne can pack a punch if she Tumbles in to deal a powerful auto attack, however you can punish her by returning the favour with Orb of Deception and even Charm if she foolishly tumbles out of the protection of her minions. The true damage from her Silver Bolts only kicks in after 3 successive attacks on the same target, so as long as you back off when she starts hitting you it won't be a problem. She is extremely squishy so your burst will work amazingly well against her. She lacks any hard cc if you're away from any walls, poor Vayne users will even facilitate your escape with Condemn if you're lucky. You should be able to score a kill once you're past level 6, whittle her down and burst with Spirit Rush. Her Final Hour gives her bonus attack damage, and increases her passive Night Hunter making her great at chasing. But, the 3 dashes on your Spirit Rush are more than enough to escape.

Veigar - Medium

Veigar is a pretty popular choice so you'll fight him in mind pretty often. He deals an incredible amount of damage over a short period of time, so if you're not careful he can easily wipe you out. Event Horizon only applies a stun if you hit the wall, so when he casts it just run around inside the perimeter to avoid his Dark Matter. His Primordial Burst scales to your AP, so he is exceptionally good at bursting down enemy AP champs. If he manages to pin you with Event Horizon, hit you with both Baleful Strike and Dark Matter, followed by Primordial Burst, you will die. They key tactic is to avoid his Event Horizon, without it you're severely limiting his burst potential. When he moves forward to last hit with Baleful Strike to increase his AP, poke him with Orb of Deception and Charm, he's squishy so if he gets too greedy you can easily mop up the kill.

Vladimir - Medium

Vladimir is an extremely annoying mid to fight, thanks in large part to his Sanguine Pool. He becomes entirely untargetable, and it makes dodging your skillshots extremely easy for him. It also allows him to heal from the surrounding creeps as he uses it. Coupled with Transfusion, this allows him to sustain in lane very well, His damage output isn't that high, so chances are he won't be able to kill you unless you make a big mistake. But, you'll have a hard time killing him in return. When you're struck by Hemoplague make sure you get away from Vladimir and any enemy champions. They deal significantly more damage whilst it's active so it's best to Flash or Spirit Rush away ASAP to avoid getting killed. You'll likely find that you both just stay in lane farming for 15 minutes before returning to base, it really is a game of swings and roundabouts against him in mid.

Xerath - Very Easy

Ahri's entire skill set is basically a huge "Screw you!" to Xerath. His Arcane Barrage is useless if you just start dashing about with Spirit Rush. If he anchor's himself with mage chains then it's easy to just poke him with Orb of Deception or land a free Charm. The only thing you'll need to worry about is his range, but avoiding Arcanopulse is easy. The main problem you'll find is if he lands locus of power and follows it up with Arcanopulse for a strong stun. If he does, just hit spirit dash as soon as the cc wears off to escape his ultimate. It's not surprising to score an early game kill against Xerath and for your game to just snowball from there. This is the champ you want to fight against in mid.

Zilean - Fairly easy

Zilean is an odd champion to fight. Labelled as support you'd be forgiven for thinking his damage output is minimal, but the Time Bomb spam will slowly drive you insane. Besides avoiding it by staying out of its range, there's not much you can do abut the harass from it. Make sure you stay away from team mates if he casts it on you as it does AOE damage. He can also cast it on minons to try and zone you so stay away from any minions with Time Bomb on them. His Chronoshift makes him incredibly hard to kill, but conversely he won't really be able to kill you unless you get ganked and he applies Time Warp, Time Bomb and the jungler does the rest. Poke him when you can but don't go out of your way as securing a kill post level 6 is extremely hard. Get your jungler to gank when he can if you're after a kill and just focus on last hitting.

Here are a couple of games I played following my cookie cutter build, I will add more as I play but a lot of my older game stats have been pushed out of my match history as I've been playing other champions this weekend. Submit your own stats to show off how well you've been playing with this build and I'll include them for all to see! I'm also planning to upload my LoLReplay files so you can view entire games I've played if you wish to see more of how I play.

And thus concludes my guide to Ahri. I tried to include as much as detail as possible and give reasoning behind all of my choices. I really hope you find this guide helpful as I've used this site so many times in the past when I was first starting out and it really helped me improve as a player. I'm aiming to add more to my guide as suggestions for improvements come in, if there's a section you feel I should add then please let me know and I'll set about adding it in. I feel I've covered all the main bases, but if you think I've left out something vital then please do let me know. Comments are welcomed and highly encouraged, I'd love to know what you all think. Thanks for taking the time to read my guide, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Good luck with Ahri and most importantly, have fun!