Pros/Cons|Summoners|Items|Spells|Combos|
Laning Phase|Trading|Matchups|Teamfights|Summary

Hello, I am KagaeDrakon. I have been an Azir main since late Season 4. I have tried many builds and guides. This new build I came up with is to teach new players and share tricks for even seasoned players, on Azir. As well as to give an advanced guide on all the combos and tricks to playing what I believe is the hardest champ in the game. He is loads of fun to play even though he is super hard to master :D.

Azir Is a marksman control mage. His powerful kit is overloaded allowing for you to outplay almost any opponent. Azir thrives at seiging towers, zoning the enemy, poking people down, and above all teamfighting. Azir is almost unanimously called the hardest
champion in the game but is probably one of the most rewarding. He takes hundreds of
games to master. This is why I have had this guide for so long, I add to it often as I
learn more about my favorite champion.

I run a small youtube channel and make mainly Azir montages feel free to check it out if you want to. Play Video ^Go to Navigation^

pros:

+bursty(late game)
+Carzy DPS for days
+if mastered can easily carry games
+amazing cc
+throwing people is fun (ult)
+a turret for free!!!?
+wins teamfights
+safe csing
+never face check again!
+not often picked so you suprise your enemy
+Safe
+Needs little peel from allies if Emperor's Divide is up
+potent control mage
+Can Kite very well if built that correctly

cons:

-hard early game
-without ult you are vulnerable to assassins
-HARDEST champ in game to play well


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A great summoner spell in general! True damage over time is great at securing kills. Azir can use this for kill pressure and should be used only if you think you will dominate lane.

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Many people question exhaust. I believe it greatly helps your dueling potential. The slow and weakened MR create an easy target for Azir's massive dps. On top of that it can save you from ganks,turn turret dives into kills,and stop people from escaping. On top of all that it weakens damage dealt by the target, so people like Zed/ Syndra/ Talon who burst with their ult can be seriously weakened.

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This is for all you passive players. The lane presence helps farming like crazy! If someone hard to kill like LeBlanc is fighting you, take this to help prevent her roam and outfarm her.

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This is for facing Talon, or if you just want to live and farm. This prevents you from dying to champs with lots of damage in more than one ability. Sure talon does use a good portion of damage from ult, but both his Noxian Diplomacy and Rake do absurd damage if he is fed. Recently due to the E nerf I have taken this over ignite and got great results!!! I now prefer this over ignite!



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Luden's Echo?

Luden's echo is a great boost on Azir. He constantly spams spells and moves around so its passive stacks very quickly. The actual movement is huge on Azir especially due to his Shifting Sands's knockup getting removed. 100 AP? Movement speed? YES PLZ. Some alternatives to this item are Rylai's Crystal Scepter as it provides amazing kiting and poke!

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Nashor's Tooth

Nashor's Tooth is often disputed on Azir. If you are behind and go for a Rod of Ages build then this item will bring your dps back on par with a less tanky Morellonomicon build. Other than that the new Azir loves mana over early attack speed. The build path for this item is also pretty bad for Azir.

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Rod Of Ages

I used to doubt this item, honest. More recently however, Azir has become more reliant on attack speed. This item also getting buffed recently makes it hugely rewarding when fully stacked. The mana, health, and AP all benefit Azir and make it easier to use Nashor's Tooth without mana problems. This end result is higher damage, sustain, DPS, and survivability throught the game. Rod Of Ages and Nashor's Tooth has become a very worthy item combo of Azir. The only drawback is its requires a smart Azir to trek through the weaker early game.

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Morellonomicon

Azir loves this item. It has tons of ap for how cheap it is and has 20% CDR making your eary DPS much higher. For how cheap this item is it creates an amazing power spike on Azir which really does help the early game. The mana is crucial to Azir's early and mid game. A manaless emperor is a dead one

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Ionian boots of lucidity

Ionian boots of lucidity gets cheep CDR which is vital to Azir's kit. Pick this occasionally when not running CDR runes. Sorcerer shoes offer much more in damage output.

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Sorcerer's Shoes

Best for ap carries, more magic pen for more damage. Buy this for any standard flat AP build. Magic pen is a great stat for a mage through the entire game. If you happen to face tons of crowd control opt for Mercury treads.

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Zhonya's hourglass
Zhonya's Hourglass This item has some decent Ap and good armor against those pesky Zeds or Yasuos. The main reason I have started m
building this item second is its amazing active. The survivability boost is crazy on this item. If you want to make good plays on Azir this item adds so much more potential to your playmaking!

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Berserker's Greaves
These are amazing on Azir. You become a DPS god. You buy these almost every game for the attack speed. Some heavy MR teams may make you swap to Sorcerer's Shoes. The Arise! passive greaty benefits from attack speed stats and these shoes are perfect for it!

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Void Staff What would Azir do without his staff? Blows through any magic resist. If your an ap carry without this item in the final build you make me cry. The damage you get from this item is insane with its great percentage magic pen. It can be bought in the mid game if you are fed. But it MUST be a part of any late game carry build.

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Rabadon's Deathcap TONS OF AP! Recently buffed as well! All heavy scaling ap champions build this and Azir is a crazy late game carry. I see a lot of mage players build this item second or even first. Mages need ap to make this item worth the gold. Azir especially wants to get attack speed and slows from his core items.

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Rylai's Crystal Scepter
This item offers good tankiness along with kiting ability. The added health scales with Shifting Sands for added dueling potential. This is a good pick instead of Luden's Echo if you want to be more tanky when getting focused. Recently reworked the slow adds tons of kiting potential and locks down targets without any need for getting close! Now a core item in my build! Recently Azir's poke with q has been nerfed, so couple this item with Nashor's Tooth for a much heavier sustained damage build, that also kites amazingly.

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Liandry's Torment
This is a good pick up against any heavy tank or bruiser team. The % health shred and bonus health aid in surviving longer skirmishes. The ap was recently buffed and the double effect on the passive is used in full with the help of your Conquering Sands's slow.

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Don't build!!
Athene's Unholy Grail

The high cost of this item is truely useless and slows down your build. On top of that, this item wastes gold on its passive, which Azir will never use.


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Shurima's Legacy A free turret! use for distracting from dragon/baron or changing an entire teamfight. The tower dies quicker when you leave it so be sure to stick around! It does do true damage and this suprises many enemies!


Conquering Sands Our main form of damage and soldier
positioning, we max this first. Awkward to learn how
multiple soldiers work with this but practice makes you a god! This spell is spammed quite often as you constantly reposition your soldiers.


Arise! is the spell we max second as the lower cool down means you're
never alone, and the bonus attack speed is very useful! Placing soldiers takes practice, but can be used to poke without conquering sands.


Shifting Sands the amazing gap closer/dash/escape/shield.
One of azirs best spells. Max this last due to its recent nerf.


Emperor's Divide the wall of death, great for forcing people into turrets or saving your golden hide.Level this as often as you can.


Azir's skillset is one of the most versatile in the game. Develop your own playstyle or become a master at every aspect. You have good poke with your Conquering Sands and auto attacks. Good zoning with your soldiers. Good DPS due to your attack based magic damage. Good lockdown and assassination with your Shifting Sands and Emperor's Divide. And amazing peel with the same spells mentioned before.



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COMBOS:

Classic harass:

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Escapes/Dashes:

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Kill combo:

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Teamfight combos:

The E-Q combo is probably the most potent and versatile tool an Azir master can use. It has amazing escape potential and engage potential. When mastered you become a super mobile Mage like that of Ahri or even Zed. This unique skill is perfectly displayed in this video by Drift king Azir. Play Video Check Out some quick combo examples I made in a quick video: Play Video
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Use your soldiers to LAST HIT minions. Do not spam autos or you will push the lane and be open to a gank. Place soldiers between the caster and melee minions. This allows good zone control, and easy access to the whole wave for last hitting. Harass with your soldier's auto attacks and use the occasional Conquering Sands to poke, but do not spam it(MANA). Farm for at least till lvl 6 unless your enemy takes enough harass to hit half hp,then all in. If they push the wave to your turret, try to pull off an Emperor's Divide on them, throwing them into your turret. They will either burn flash or die. Once you get 1 or two items you can become a poking monster, deny them CS or if they stick around at low HP kill them!

HARASS:
Use your Arise to place a soldier close enough for one or more AA's and then when the enemy backs of use Conquering Sands to damage them and then AA them again with your soldier.

Roaming

If you push lane up or the enemy has left lane because you beat the sh*t out of them, roam bot or top. Pick whichever is easiest to gank or whichever can snowball harder. Bottom lane is the best contender because there is a potential double kill. Also bottom lane can be ganked through the tri-bush by ulting them out of their own turret safety, forcing an engage. There is also roaming to a lane when it is pushed to your allied turret, which is even easier to gank! Some people make the mistake of only pinging missing, FOLLOW YOUR LANING OPPONENT! You can change the fight and get a potential triple kill! Roam is one of Azir's strong suits due to his strong cc and high DPS.



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there are 3 ways to trade easily and efficiently in lane.
Minion based trading
This utilizes minions to trade effectively. Watching ally minions allows for you to harass the enemy when they go to kill a minion. They cannot trade back because you will leave their range by the time their auto attack animation is finished. The other way to trade with minions is by favoring trades where you have a large minion wave. Try to fight the enemy in your minion wave so the minions win the trade for you.

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Cool down based trading
This means hit your enemy when they use an important ability such as if Viktor uses his E to wave clear. He has lost a ton of dmg for a few seconds so you can trade with ease.
This also applies to you as you should avoid trades with very few abilities off cool down.

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Position based trading
Use your positioning and your opponents to your advantage. First off stay behind minions against champions like nidalee or Morgana who can hurt you badly if not shielded, but stay to the side of the minions against xerath or Cassiopeia who will waste more mana by trying to harass and not farm.

Soldier based positioning should always be between minion waves so you can trade easily by zoning the enemy. HOT TIP to land free auto attacks, bind your attack click command to a specific button and use it on the enemy when they get in range of your soldiers.

The last part is watch your enemy for if they get in range or if they turn around. This means they are clicking away so you can poke for free!!


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Difficulty:HARD
Counter items/spells:
take Exhaust to stop his burst
take armor seals for his crazy damage
rush Zhonya's Hourglass as your first or second item
BUY PINK WARDS
Summary:
talon has crazy burst damage and does it super quickly. Make sure to keep your distance as without his Rake poking you he has a less chance of bursting you. Survive laning phase by playing very passive and ask for jungle pressure. This means ganks kills are nice but just the pressure will keep talon guessing and make him less agressive. In teamfights buy a pink to spot him out when he ults. Otherwise use zhonyas the second he blinks to you or disappears.

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Difficulty:HARD
Counter items/spells:
take Exhaust to use on him before he ults
take armor seals
buy Zhonya's Hourglass early game. Second item is good
Summary:
Zed can be abused if you are good at trading. You can dodge his combos and return with your own while his abilities are on cooldownn. You can even bully a bad Zed out of lane. The good ones however will easily jump you and burst you. Keep track of his shadows and avoid getting near them. When he ults throw him in a confusing angle either behind or to the side of you with Emperor's Divide. This forces him to jump to his shadow and maybe take some tower shots.

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Difficulty:Difficult
Counter items/spells:
take Barrier to prevent her crazy burst
Abyssal Mask or Athene's Unholy Grail both work as early items
scaling health seals work best here
Summary:
try to avoid trading with her when her q is off cooldown. if she uses it on a minion strike her. When she gap closes you can cancel it with your ult. Mostly focus on farm and try to make safe trades. Try to act like a Xerath would and poke from range and quickly back off. She is a mid range assassin.

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Difficulty:Difficult
Counter items/spells:
Abyssall Scepter and Zhonya's Hourglass Barrier/ Exhaust

Summary:
Harass him early in order to punish his lack of long range poke. Try to dash out of his e ability. Absolutely flash or get away from his ult(use Zhonya's if you have to). Buy defensive items early if he got first blood. If you can win the lane still get some MR as your third item.

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Difficulty:Difficult
Counter items/spells:
Barrier

Summary:
Skill matchup I'll be honest. You must dodge her stun if you want to win trades. If you play azir enough you know how to manage things outside your champion (soldiers). Do the same and watch where syndra places her orbs. Never let her get an angle on you.

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Difficulty:Medium
Counter items/spells:
Ignite/ Barrier/ Exhaust
Abyssal Mask
Summary:
Poke her like a xerath. You outrange her, and out dps her. Watch for her charm and ultimate. Those can be countered with minions, skill, and you Ult. My favorite Ahri killing move is to push them under tower and watch them burn ult charges into the wall. This can be applied in normal combat as well. Ahri often uses her ult to enagage on you.

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Difficulty:Medium
Counter items/spells:
Take Barrier/ Exhaust to stop his annoying burst or stickiness.
Take Abyssal Mask if he gets fed. It helps against his ap assassin nature.
Summary:
Ekko is very easy or very hard. You can massively poke him down early game. But he can push the wave very quickly with his Q. If he does go for a combo on you, place a soldier next to you and auto while kiting towards tower or your minions. If he persists, you can escape with a simple combo. If he backs off (more likely) push him by shooting your soldier onto him as he leaves. Try to put it where he is walking to get three autos or more. When you know he is going to use his parallel convergence walk forward if you cannot back pedal quick enough. Change dodge tactics often to confuse him. His stun is crucial to his kit.

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Difficulty:Mediocre
Counter items/spells:
Take Exhaust to help jungle ganks and to stop her ult, it has a long channel time so barrier is not as effective here.
Take Zhonya's Hourglass to stop her from reseting. Mid-lategame she cannot dive you because you have 3 counter measures: zhonya's,emperor's divide, and your shifting sands
Summary:
Harass her like hell. She has horrible early game. She cannot afford to trade with her shunpo because then she cannot escape your dps without killing you. If she does go all in, cancel her ult by knocking her up with Emperor's Divide. The key to truly winning lane is follow her if she roams. BUY PINKS!!! She can kill your team but you are very hard for her to 1v1. This means ping like crazy and try to follow her.

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Difficulty:Mediocre
Counter items/spells:
Barrier to prevent her burst from range.
Ignite if you are confident in your ability to stomp her.
Build Zhonya's Hourglass if she is a problem for you, otherwise standard build here.
Summary:
Lux pushes lane very well, which is good considering you can to. Stand away from the minions to force her to use abilities for poke and not cs. If she uses her binding try to dodge it and counter attack as she is weak without it. Even if she hits you, she wants to auto attack so you can counter trade and most of the time win. Lux for me personally is a common lane so you will learn how to deal with it very quickly.

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Difficulty:Mediocre
Counter items/spells:

Summary:
Trades rely on skill. He can burst you if he procs his passive. You can out dps him if he misses his knockup.

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Difficulty:Mediocre
Counter items/spells:
Barrier
Abyssal Mask if you really want some MR.
Summary:
All depends on how well he can hit you and how well you can dodge. Try to stand away from the minion wave to force him to use mana for poke separate from mana for CS. If he does miss his Q, try to get your own poke off. Do not get close and beware his stun. At level 6 you can out duel him easily.

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Difficulty:Easy
Counter items/spells:
Anything works here
Summary:
Heimer can do 1 of 2 things. Rely on turrets or rockets. If he maxes turrets you can easily take them down with soldiers and he becomes useless. If he maxes rockets, hide behind minions and ask for a jungle gank. The turrets do far less if he maxed rockets so your jungler should be fine. He is much easier to all in this way.

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Difficulty:Easy
Counter items/spells:

Summary:

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Difficulty:Easy
Counter items/spells:

Summary:
What an idiot, he counterpicked himself.

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Difficulty:Easy
Counter items/spells:

Summary:

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As Azir you have the most damage on your team to do not die early in the fight. Rarely engage for your team. Position behind your tanks or even a wall in some cases. This allows you to poke and deal as much dmg as possible without getting focused. If you do get focused shurima gave you the best peel move in the game, Emperor's Divide, use it!! Before a teamfight poke anyone and everyone!! No one is safe from you!! Sometimes in fights a good play opportunity shows,so go for it! Example from Unkown Martian Play Video
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Levels 1-2:
STOP! I know how fun it is to use Arise! right off the bat and start playing spear the minion. Wait for the first minion the get 1/3 health, use Arise! and last hit from here. Level 1-2 harass is not the best so focus on farming with both your soldiers and your super fun laser auto attack. If the enemy is some special kinda stupid, and sits in your soldier's range, poke em when you aren't last hitting.

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Levels 3-5:
You are ready to start trading with some simple Harass combos. This is where we talk about Mana Efficiency. You will use Conquering Sands at some point to harass. Use it wisely. Wait for a low health minion to be right in front of your opponent and hit both with one Conquering Sands. See how many minions you can safely last hit without using Arise as this means free mana from Doran's Ring without spending mana on a soldier.

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Level 6 KILL:
The classic way to kill with Azir is to get on top or behind the enemy and throw the into your turret with Emperor's Divide. You can use Shifting Sands alone if a soldier is near them or you can use Shifting Sands and then midair use Conquering Sands to extend your flight
into the enemy knocking them up and heavily damaging them. The follow up with Emperor's Divide in the opposite direction of their turret.

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Mid Game:
You have reached mid game where you want to roam into a lane because you have a few core items and can help snowball those lanes to. This is great! A good way to pick up free kills for your team is have bot push to tower. Run through their tri-bush and poke the from behind, or ult them out of turret. Also you can help in fights that break out bot lane and take a free dragon when you win them. If you have a tanky jungler ask them to tank dragon while you use that crazy dps to kill the drake for shurima!

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Late Game Teamfighting:
Late game you become an ADC, or at least play like one. You damage and range make you perfect for blowing your enemies HP away. Position yourself behind your teams tanks/front liners and poke with your soldiers using Conquering Sands, if a safe dive and Emperor's Divide can be made on the entire enemy team, go for it, but only do this if you are sure you can survive it, You are a huge part of your teams damage so DON'T DIE. Zhonya's Hourglass almost ensures you can make safe dive's and ultimates. Diving hopefully forces the enemy carries into your team, which should kill the squishy carries like Caitlyn or Vayne and help your team win the teamfight.

Other tips
-in early game never over extend without a ward or in general

-never use Shifting Sands into multiple targets without Emperor's Divide/ Flash/team to follow up

-dont be in middle of a teamfight, stay back and kill using soldiers

-ult is very useful think twice about a teamfight if it is on cooldown

UnkownMartian is a huge inspiration to me. If you want to see him in action check out his channel for awesome montages and streams. Have fun with Azir! Please don't give up on him he takes time to master! Play Video

Change Log :

1/20/2016 Updated for new season, new runes for mana (play tested and love it!), updated old preseason build to new rylai nashor build
11/26/2015 Added Luden's echo back into core build due to fast meta. say hello to assassin azir :D.
+Added rune planer
+updated masteries for s6
9/3/2015 Made a switch to nashors build Azir nerfs are hurting poke,mobility, mechanics, and my faith in this game RITO PLZ
7/22/2015 - Azir loses knockup on Shifting Sands
+ Azir gains passive attack speed from Arise!


7/14/2015 AP ITEM CHANGES! + Nashor's Tooth now better
than Morellonomicon


+ Rabadon's Deathcap got BUFFED!
5/11/2016
New ap items give CDR so new runes are now in place.
6/19/2016 Complete guide reformatting and dusting off build. More matchups to come

INCOMING REWORK!!!
AZIR BUFFS WTF RIOT!
27/9/17
Large Item changes and kit overhaul
-new build path
-new mechanics on w and e
-new ranges
-new ult damage and CD