Hello everyone! I am Ruins of Shurima and welcome to my guide on Shurima's one and only emperor Azir. I've been playing League of Legends since early season 3, and I have played mid lane consistently since season 5. I am currently unranked and residing on the NA server. I originally picked up Azir because I thought he looked insanely fun, and shortly gave up on him later. Fast forward to his rework, I decided to give him another go and I came to realize that Azir is one of the most complex, well rounded champions in the game. My enjoyment and pleasure playing Azir has lead me to create this guide in hopes that other players can experience how fun this champion can be. I would like to give a fair warning ahead of time that Azir is very difficult to pick up at first, but do not let that discourage you! He is well worth learning, and I hope you the reader learn something new and amazing in this guide!

Azir is a high skill ceiling control mage. He specializes both the art of zoning and controlling the pace of the game. Azir has immense area of effect damage and outstanding wave clear due to his skill Arise! allowing him to have sand soldiers that have piercing jabs, you can relocate Azir's soldiers to harass, farm, zone and extend dashes with Conquering Sands. What makes Azir different then a lot of other control mages is the fact that he has a dash in his kit Shifting Sands where as every other control mage has no dash. Shifting Sands can be used to engage in fights by dashing into the enemy team and using his ultimate Emperor's Divide to push enemies towards your team or it can be used to dash away from danger. Azir's primary strength is that he is able to have a strong safe laning phase and an even stronger late game if played correctly. You don't need to rely on getting kills or roaming to win games as Azir but solely on winning lane. You have enough presence to keep their mid laner from roaming due to your extra attack speed and wave clear from Arise!. If they choose to leave mid lane then odds are they're going to lose either their mid turret (especially if you've completed Nashor's Tooth) or a minion wave allowing you to get the edge in experience. Also Azir's ultimate Emperor's Divide provides self peel and can be used for fancy outplays! Azir's biggest weakness is lack of experience with his kit, lack of confidence and falling behind. It is essential to keep up all the vision you can early on and ward when pushing in with Control Ward, Stealth Ward and Farsight Alteration. It is also key to understand how to zone, when to hard/slow push and when to freeze the lane.

+ Safe laning phase + Great at zoning + Fantastic passive + Dash/Peel in kit + Excellent wave clear + Insane outplay potential + Scales well into late game Azir is a fantastic pick in both solo queue and competitive games. His kit has everything you'd want for a control mage. Self peel, a dash, excellent wave clear, tons of damage, and most of all he's a safe and reliable pick if you have experience with him. He also counters a lot of popular picks such as Yasuo, Katarina and Ekko.

- Vulnerable without ult - Not the strongest early - Squishy and easy to burst - You will be focused - Requires Experience - Weak if playing from behind - Difficult to master Although Azir has many strengths, like every other champion he has his weaknesses. Azir is very difficult to master and playing poorly can put you in very unfavorable positions. He also is hard countered by assassins and mages who out range him such as Syndra, Talon and Xerath.

Summon Aery is amazing for poke champions like Azir because it provides a reliable 20-60 damage (based on level)(+ 10% AP)(+ 15% bonus AD) that can be used every few seconds, you can shorter the duration to proc it again by retrieving Summon Aery by walking up or dashing through her. Its damage is also more reliable than Arcane Comet and gives more kill pressure early/mid game than if you were to take Lethal Tempo.

Manaflow Band is amazing for Azir because it gives him fantastic mana sustain for in lane and out, it allows you to poke more frequently and keep the pressure going longer before running out of mana as every minute your next ability's mana cost is refunded plus you gain 8% of your mana back. May be worth taking Nullifying Orb in match ups like Syndra, Annie, Veigar etc. I wouldn't recommend taking The Ultimate Hat over the other two runes because they offer much more in survivability and sustain early on.

Transcendence is fantastic for what it gives, you're guaranteed to get 40% cooldown reduction which means you'll get more damage and if you choose to go over max cooldown reduction you'll get compensated with extra ability power, also Transcendence works in all lanes unlike Absolute Focus where you're reliant on keeping above 70% health. I wouldn't recommend taking Celerity because in order for it to have more value you have to roam a lot and buy tons of movement speed items such as Luden's Tempest.

Scorch in my opinion is the best third rune in the sorcery tree for Azir due to the fact that the damage it provides adds up fast in lane, and it can help you snowball or get early kills. If the enemy team has 3+ tanks I'd recommend taking Gathering Storm due to it having more DPS later in the game, I wouldn't recommend taking Waterwalking at all because you shouldn't be leaving lane often enough for it to have more value than the other two.

Cheap Shot is great for Azir all through out the game because it provides reliable DPS. Dealing 12-30 extra true damage every time you use Conquering Sands followed up by an auto. This by itself outshines Taste of Blood's healing and Sudden Impact's magic penetration when you dash because you can use it for almost every Conquering Sands trade.

I take Ravenous Hunter on Azir because it's his only form of sustain in terms of health even if it only heals a 5% when full stacked due to Azir mainly being area of effect damage. This rune allows your abilities to heal you every time you use them (including soldiers autos). I would honestly say this mastery is the best for most scenarios and outshines all of the rest in the domination tree except for one which is Ingenious Hunter. Ingenious Hunter is insane with Zhonya's Hourglass cutting the cooldown on it by a whopping 48 seconds when fully stacked leaving Zhonya's Hourglass on a 72 second cooldown, meaning you can almost always have Zhonya's Hourglass active available when trying to Shurima Shuffle. I recommend taking Ravenous Hunter in match ups were Zhonya's Hourglass active won't be a necessity for every fight.

Perfect Timing is great against lanes like Zed, Katarina and Talon or other burst mages/assassins that don't rely on stuns as you cannot use the active while stunned. What makes this item good is that it gives you a one time use of a Zhonya's Hourglass active at six minutes into the game, which is usually when the enemy will have their ultimate. Also it makes Zhonya's Hourglass 600 gold cheaper as the item is part of its build path. Do not take Inspiration unless you primarily want this rune.

Magical Footwear is another fantastic rune for Azir as you should never be buying boots before you first item, so by the time you finish your first item you'll have a free pair of boots that will upgrade into their Tier 2 form 50 gold cheaper. If you don't want free boots then Cosmic Insight is another great alternative for the extra over capped 5% CDR. I wouldn't recommend taking Future's Market as buying too many items with it can set you back a lot (50g tax for each item in debt) and the rest of the runes in inspiration seem mediocre for Azir.

Presence of Mind is great for newer Azir players because you can get away with spamming more skills than you would be able to originally. Just remember to make use of it each time you level up, as when you level up you get five seconds to spam all the skills you want. There is no reason to take Triumph or Overheal over Presence of Mind because it offers much more value through out the game to Azir.

Coup de Grace is the other rune in Precision I would use as it is useful in more scenarios than Cut Down and Last Stand while also not needing kills to be useful like Legend: Alacrity or Legend: Tenacity. Do not bother taking Legend: Bloodline at all because it is life steal not spell vampirism like Ravenous Hunter.

Mirror Shell is fantastic for Azir in hard ability power poke lanes such as Xerath and Ziggs where you shouldn't be able to trade due to their range advantage, do not bother taking the armor variant Iron Skin because Perfect Timing is the better alternative and other runes in different trees will out value Conditioning by a mile, the only reason you take Mirror Shell is to survive the lane.

Second Wind is also another go to rune in hard ability power poke lane like Xerath and Ziggs due to you recovering four percent of your missing health every time you get poked, the rune itself pretty self explanatory. Do not bother taking any other runes in resolve other than Mirror Shell and Second Wind these are only useful in a heavy ability power poke lane scenario, all the other rune pages I listed before outshine resolve in every other scenario.

Barrier is usually your go to secondary summoner skill as it offers more burst reduction than Heal and isn't countered by Ignite. Use Barrier when you feel like you're about to be bursted or killed. I recommend taking it against champions that like to take ignite like Talon, Kassadin and Fizz

Heal is one of your alternative options. If you're playing against a more sustained damage team and you think they don't have Ignite then take Heal as it offers more than Barrier in most situations since it can be used to save teammates, I recommend taking it against champions like Xerath, Ziggs and Karthus.

Cleanse is fantastic for lanes with reliable hard CC like Twisted Fate, Lux and Veigar. Where you can cleanse their stun/snare and avoid a lot of damage from their combos.

Exhaust is great in match ups where you can predict the enemies burst and negate it immensely such as Zed, Yasuo and Katarina less experienced players should run Barrier or Heal as a fail safe as it is easier to mess up with Exhaust than it is with Barrier or Heal.

Flash is an ESSENTIAL summoner spell which can be used for defensive purposes such as escaping enemies or offensive purposes such as securing kills or making Shurima Shuffle plays. I highly recommend taking flash every game as it offers more than any other summoner spell.

____________________________________________________________________________________ Disc of the Sun: Azir places a marker above the ruins of destroyed turrets (both allied and enemy). Once within 400 units of the ruins, Azir can click on the marker to conjure a Sun Disc, which functions like a standard turret but grants Azir any gold it earns. A Sun Disc's health decays over 1 minute and will lose its armor if Azir dies or moves too far away. Azir cannot conjure Sun Discs within the enemy base. Mana cost : 0 Cooldown: 180 seconds ____________________________________________________________________________________

You don't really get to make use of Azir's Passive until a turret falls, but when it does it opens up opportunity to either siege or defend. Shurima's Legacy is fantastic for pressuring second/third tier towers and defending your second/third tier towers. You also get all the gold it receives for killing minions/champions etc which is pretty cool, try to keep in range of it when you summon it so it lasts max duration.

____________________________________________________________________________________ Azir orders all Sand Soldiers to rush toward the target location, dealing 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 / 170 (+30% of ability power) magic damage and slowing all enemies they pass through by 25% for 1 second. The slow stacks additively. Mana cost : 70 at all ranks Cooldown: 11 / 9.5 / 8 / 6.5 / 5 seconds ____________________________________________________________________________________

Conquering Sands is Azir's only skill to move his stationary sand soldiers, using Conquering Sands forces soldiers to dash to your cursors location dealing damage and slowing enemies it passes through for one second. You primary use this skill to position soldiers appropriately, harass and to extend Shifting Sands dash.

____________________________________________________________________________________ Passive: Azir gains 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60% attack speed. Active: Azir summons an untargetable Sand Soldier for 9 seconds. When Azir attacks an enemy in a soldier's range, the soldier attacks instead of Azir, dealing 60 / 62 / 64 / 66 / 68 / 70 / 75 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120 / 130 / 140 / 150 / 160 / 170 / 180 (based on level) (+60% of ability power) magic damage to all enemies in a line. If multiple soldiers strike the same target, each soldier after the first deals 25% damage, and the soldiers can't attack structures or wards. Azir can store up to 2 Sand Soldiers at a time (recharge time: 8 / 7.5 / 7 / 6.5 / 6 seconds), but there is no hard limit on the number of Sand Soldiers that can be active on the field at once. Sand Soldiers expire twice as fast while within range of an enemy turret, and will expire instantly if Azir moves too far away. Azir gains an additional 20/30/40/50/60% attack speed for 5 seconds whenever he summons a soldier while he already has two on the field. Stabs deal 40/70/100% damage to secondary targets (at levels 1/6/11). Mana cost: 40 at all ranks Cooldown: 1.5 seconds at all ranks Soldier recharge time: 8 / 7.5 / 7 / 6.5 / 6 seconds ____________________________________________________________________________________

Arise! is what makes Azir unique, his sand soldiers give him a unique play style since they are stationary soldiers that can use piercing autos in a small area. This skill is what makes Azir a control mage since they zone off targets and harass them when they're nearby. Note that each level of Arise! gives you attack speed, which is both good for general DPS with soldiers and damage to towers, note that your soldiers cannot auto towers, only Azir himself can.

____________________________________________________________________________________ Azir dashes to one of his Sand Soldiers, dealing 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+40% of ability power) magic damage to enemies he passes through and shielding himself for 80 / 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 (+70% of ability power) (+ 15% bonus health) for 1.5 seconds. If Azir hits an enemy champion, he will stop and immediately gain a charge of Arise! Mana cost: 60 at all ranks Cooldown: 19 / 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 ____________________________________________________________________________________

Shifting Sands is Azir's escape and engage skill, you can use Shifting Sands to escape bad situations (make sure that you do not collide with any champions when you do so otherwise the dash will stop), or engage in opportunities to Shurima Shuffle enemies.

When using Shifting Sands put Arise! in the direction you want to dash, then use Shifting Sands on the soldier you placed followed up by Conquering Sands in the direction you want to extend the dash. (note: to maximize the dash's length use Conquering Sands right before reaching the solider as shown in the video below)

____________________________________________________________________________________ Azir calls forth a phalanx of 5 / 6 / 7 shield-wielding soldiers who press forward, knocking enemies back and dealing 150 / 250 / 450 (+60% of ability power) magic damage to them. When the soldiers finish their charge, they stand as a wall for 3 seconds, blocking enemy champion movement. Allies can pass through the wall. These soldiers cannot be ordered to move or attack. Mana cost: 100 at all ranks Cooldown: 120 / 105 / 90 ____________________________________________________________________________________

Emperor's Divide is what allows Azir to peel for himself by pushing enemies back and creating terrain that they either have to dash/flash/leap etc over or walk around or become a player maker who can dash into teams and push them or their carries into your own team to hopefully pick them off. Try to play safe whenever this skill is on cooldown as it is your only reliable way to peel enemies off of you.





The ability sequence is pretty straight forward, you priority max R-Q-W-E. Azir's Q Conquering Sands is his main form on soldier movement and the additional damage outshines W Arise! and E Shifting Sands benefits of upgrading, W Arise! grants additional attack speed and soldier recharge time, Shifting Sands grants a bigger shield and additional damage and last but not least Azir's R Emperor's Divide is priority max because it offers the most for skill point value. The only thing that you should do if you want to change the sequence is potentially put one additional point in E Shifting Sands before putting a second point in Arise! at level 8 if you feel like the shield would make a big difference in some assassin/burst mage match ups. Other than that stick to the sequence given.

____________________________________________________________________________________ Doran's Ring and Health Potion x2 is the general best start on Azir as it offers him the most valuable stats he needs early on to succeed which are mana sustain, ability power and health. Some Azir players like to take Dark Seal and Refillable Potion against Xerath for the extra health sustain, if you choose to do this then be sure to take Manaflow Band and/or Presence of Mind to compensate for the lost mana sustain from Doran's Ring, I personally wouldn't recommend this build path but it is an alternative. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Stealth Ward should always be your beginner trinket as it gives you a free ward every 180-90 seconds (depending on level) that lasts for 60-120 seconds (depending on level), you should try to never have both wards available at any one time and be sure to ward whenever available. My advice on this is to use the first ward on the opposite side of the map that you think the enemy jungler started and the rest whenever you're pushing in. Also stick to the side of the lane that your ward is on and try to always have one side warded (with either a Control Ward, Stealth Ward or Farsight Alteration) when pushing in hard. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Farsight Alteration is the best trinket on Azir as soon as it becomes available as you can put it down from an extremely far distance meaning you won't be vulnerable when warding with it, due to this strength Farsight Alteration works differently than a normal ward ward as it does not stealth and it can be destroyed in one, but it lasts until it breaks and there is no limit to how many you can have up at once. My general advice is to always use it whenever it's off cooldown to maximize vision. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Fiendish Codex should be your first item when you back as the ability power helps you wave clear and poke. If you don't have enough gold to buy a Fiendish Codex then buy an Amplifying Tome, never buy Boots before finishing your first core item unless you plan on roaming a lot to make it gold efficient. Also note that if you're playing against a Vladimir, Dr. Mundo, Soraka etc. You should rush Lost Chapter and finish Morellonomicon instead of Nashor's Tooth. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Control Wards are immensely useful especially for Azir since he doesn't roam as often, maintaining as much vision around your lane not only can help you set up plays but keep you safe through laning phase when Azir is his weakest. My tip is to always try to have your control ward down, don't stress if if they break it just buy another one when you back or when you have enough gold for it, later on in the game when you have six items don't bother buying them anymore since an additional item is worth more to Azir than having a Control Ward take up a slot. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Nashor's Tooth is Azir's bread and butter item as it gives him everything he loves, attack speed, ability power and cooldown reduction. This item should be your first core item and first completed item in every game other than replacing it with a Morellonomicon against teams with Soraka, Dr. Mundo, Vladimir etc. Nashor's Tooth also helps you destroy turrets fast with it's unique passive granting you 15(+15% ability power) more magic damage per auto, note that the unique passive does not apply with Azir's sand soldiers. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Sorcerer's Shoes are currently the strongest boots on Azir as they recently got buffed and give you a huge chunk of magic penetration (18) and with the new season having no flat magic resistance runes other than Mirror Shell and Conditioning which most mid laners opt out for a different tree this makes magic penetration is an extremely valuable stat, letting you do near true damage with Sorcerer's Shoes and Haunting Guise alone if they choose not to build magic resistance, I highly recommend rushing these after finishing Nashor's Tooth or Morellonomicon. Mercury's Treads are the other boots I'd recommend into very heavy control control/ability power based compositions. Such as mixtures of Elise, Lux, Veigar, Twisted Fate etc. I do not recommend Berserker's Greaves due to Sorcerer's Shoes having so much value with its magic penetration. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Liandry's Torment for the same season as Sorcerer's Shoes has great value due to its magic penetration, I highly recommend rushing Haunting Guise over Blasting Wand directly after Sorcerer's Shoes to maximize your damage and survivability since it gives health as well. The upgraded version of Haunting Guise, Liandry's Torment is amazing even though you don't get any extra magic penetration as the upgraded version offers a fantastic % health damage passive, extra health and extra ability power. It's worth taking note that this item has great synergy with Rylai's Crystal Scepter as every soldier auto will slow and proc Liandry's Torment double damage part of the passive and that this item works very well against high health targets as it does 6% current hp damage over three seconds or 12% current hp damage over 3 seconds if the enemy is movement impaired. ____________________________________________________________________________________

Zhonya's Hourglass is practically essential for Azir if you plan on being the primary engage with the shurima shuffle combo Arise!, Shifting Sands, Conquering Sands, (potential flash), Emperor's Divide, as it leaves you alone behind the enemy and Zhonya's Hourglass active grants statis for 2.5 seconds leaving you invulnerable and untargetable. I highly recommend buying this as your third item as by this time in the game you'll be doing a substantial amount of team fighting and it'll allow you to get away with either some smooth plays or from bursts that you wouldn't usually be able to get away with. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Void Staff is the strongest offensive item if the enemy team builds magic resistance due to its passive that gives 40% magic resistance penetration, this penetration applies before flat penetration but take note that you cannot make enemies have below 0 magic resistance. An example of how Void Staff's magic penetration with other penetration items such as Sorcerer's Shoes and Haunting Guise. 100 (base magic resistance) - (100 x .4) - 18 - 15 100 (base magic resistance) - 40 - 18 - 15 = 27 magic resistance remaining after penetration items take effect. Fun fact: enemies with 55 or less magic resistance will have 0 magic resistance with Sorcerer's Shoes, Haunting Guise and Void Staff. I highly recommend buying this over Zhonya's Hourglass early if two or three enemies started building magic resistance and have over 55 magic resistance. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Abyssal Mask is a super situational defensive item, although it doesn't offer any ability power it's passive offers 10% magic damage dealt to nearby enemies which surprisingly works well with the reworked Azir since they cut his range down, it also offers a substantial amount of health, mana and cooldown reduction along with a passive that gives you sustain. I would only recommend buying this item when you have a heavy ability power team against a heavy ability power team, otherwise I think Banshee's Veil outshines this item, if the enemy is quite literally completely ability power based, then this item mixed with Banshee's Veil and Mercury's Treads will definitely make them cry. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Banshee's Veil is sort of like the magic resistance version of Zhonya's Hourglass but with a spell shield instead of an active that grants statis. This item is fantastic against lanes where the spell shield can stop hard crowd control or powerful skills such as Pick A Card, Cocoon, Light Binding, Cease and Desist and Nether Grasp. I highly recommend Banshee's Veil instead of Zhonya's Hourglass in lanes where hard crowd control can be the death of you or very strong ability power burst such as Annie or Katarina since the item gives you substantial amount of magic resistance, be wary of people breaking your spell shield early with other abilities. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Rylai's Crystal Scepter is great against melee champions who rely on running to reach you Udyr, Darius, Illaoi etc. I only really buy this item when I can't rely on my team to peel for me since it gives a short slow every time you auto with a soldier or use Conquering Sands on someone. I definitely would recommend this item if you lack a front line on your team. Rylai's Crystal Scepter synergies very well Liandry's Torment due to the 20% slow it offers each time you hit an opponent with an ability including your sand soldiers attacks. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Morellonomicon is an insane fifth item with Transcendence since you'll be over capped 20% cooldown reduction. Giving you a whopping total of 140 ability power for this item alone. It also offers tons of mana and grievous wounds which are both very useful on Azir, I would only take this item if the enemy team lacks magic resistance since Void Staff will do more damage if they have magic resistance. Buy this item against Vladimir, Dr. Mundo, Soraka and other champions that rely on heals as grievous wounds is extremely valuable in those scenarios. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Luden's Tempest is great against squishy team compositions without magic resistance, it's even better if you chose to opt out of transcendence and get Absolute Focus since you won't over cap on cooldown reduction with this item and it works well with Electrocute as well since you can get one third of the proc with this item's passive. I would recommend this item only if you go Absolute Focus and Electrocute, otherwise I feel like both Void Staff and Morellonomicon have better stat value. ____________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________ Rabadon's Deathcap is by far Azir's best final item since it gives him an immense power spike with all of the previous ability power he's bought. You can expect to get 200+ ability power from this purchase every time. Always buy this item last and if you can try to fill your last slot with Needlessly Large Rod then build into Rabadon's Deathcap once you finish it start investing your gold into Elixir of Sorcery. ____________________________________________________________________________________