Hello and welcome to my guide. I'm AzureArmatt and I'm EUNE Ahri main since season 5. With this guide i hope I will be able to share some knowledge with you and help you understand what kind of champion Ahri is. I hope that everything you find here will come in handy not only for people new to the champion but also for advanced players.

Before we dive into the guide let's talk about Ahri herself. She's mage/ assassin hybrid with nice mobility thanks to her ultimate. Her abilities have great synergy with each other so you won't feel like none of it do nothing. Ahri is also nice for new players who just get into the game because of her ultimate which enables her to go for offensive plays but also let her run away when situation gets too hot. Of course like every mid lane champion she has low hp pool that makes her easy to kill when locked down with CC.

Pros:
- fun to play
- has outplay potential
- very mobile
- abilities synergy
- Easy to pick
- Big damage when you get your items

Cons:
- very squishy (one of lower base hp pools in game)
- skill shot reliant
- vulnerable without ult
- small impact on the game when behind


With time you can basically delete cons I stated here. Like with every champion, the more you practice the better you are with that champion so putting some time might be necessary.

Every champion in League of legends has 4 abilities: Q, W, E, R. Ahri abilities don't have hard to understand mechanics so you should be able to learn how to use her kit fast but mastering it is different story. In this section we will talk about every ability and secret tricks that every player should know to master Ahri and be able to use her abilities to full potential.


Innate: Whenever Ahri lands 2 ability hits against a champion within 1.5 seconds, she gain 20% bonus movement speed for 3 seconds.

It's pretty simple passive, hit 2 spells on your enemy and gain movement speed for 3 seconds but Ahri kit has hidden trick to activating its effect. Both hits of her Orb of deception counts as different spell, so hitting your Orb of deception on the way out and when it returns will result with granting you benefit of this passive. Cooldown can't get lowered when building cool-down reduction so you need to keep that in mind when tower diving for example.


Passive: Whenever Ahri hits an enemy with one of her abilities, she gains a charge of Essence Theft, and can gain up to 3 charges per ability cast. Upon reaching 9 charges, her next Orb of Deception heals her for 3/5/9/18 (+ 9% AP) every time an enemy is hit.
Active: Ahri sends an orb of arcane energy in the target direction, dealing magic damage to all enemies it passes through, then pulls it back, dealing true damage instead.

This simple ability is our main damage source. It deals two types of damage:

• magic damage (can be reduced with magic resist)
• true damage (can be reduced only by shields and damage resist)

This skillshot has nice range which will let you farm minions and poke enemies from a distance depending on the situation. It might not seem that the first part is dealing big damage (when Orb of deception is traveling away form you) but if you add the damage from the second part (when the Orb of deception is returning) it will suddenly make your poke quite dangerous. not to mention that each hit from this spell on your enemy will count as separate spell so you can proc your passive with this spell alone. It's heal benefit is best used on minions since your Orb of deception] can hit multiple targets and it will result with bigger heal but if you have 9 stacks but only one target better save your Orb of deception for next wave.
The most important part about this skill is to master it's second part when orb is returning. The orb always returns to you so you can change the direction of the skill if you move around, flash or use your ultimate to hit that true damage.

Trick: Ahri Orb of deception has hidden feature of animation cancel. You can do this with pairing your Orb of deception with flash towards the target. To do this first you need to cast your Orb of deception and in the middle of animation press flash, the orb will fly out surprising your enemies and you will be able to get out from animation faster then normally (useful when chasing enemy)


Active: Ahri summons three spectral flames which orbit her for up to 5 seconds. Flames prioritize champions hit by Charm or any enemy hit by Ahri's last basic attack, within 3 seconds and Range icon 725 range. After 0.25 seconds, each flame targets a prioritized enemy, or after 0.4 seconds pursues the closest visible enemy in range, prioritizing champions, then the target of Ahri's last basic attack, dealing magic damage. Multiple flames can hit the same target, with each flame beyond the first dealing 30% damage.

This ability doesn't have some built-in crazy rng into it, you can control which target the flames will attack. Flames will attack the targets in this order:

1. targets hit by your charm
2. champions (especially those who u hit with basic attack)
3. target of your last basic attack
4. rest of enemies

Fox-fire flames will attack only visible targets so it's important that you have vision on your enemy when you cast it (enemies hidden in bush won't get targeted for example). If all flames hit 1 target only one of them will deal it's full damage and the others will deal only 30% of their damage each. Using this ability alone isn't good idea. Pair it with your ultimate and it comes out this ability gives you ability to delete your enemies if you have enough AP. This skill has no cast time either so it has no animation which will make u vulnerable for split second. After death fox-fire disappear if it didn't began their flight so don't expect miraculous "from the grave style" kills.

Trick: if you use zhonya hourglass after using fox-fire the flames will still attack the target so if you are fighting in close fight, well timed stopwatch or zhonya can grant you a kill.


Active: Ahri blows a kiss in a line that deals magic damage to the first enemy hit, charming and slowing them by 65%. If Charm hits a champion, Ahri abilities will deal 20% bonus damage to them for 5 seconds.

Charm is slow moving skillshot that applies debuff charmed on anybody who will get hit by it. it will cause enemies to walk towards you slowly while being unable to attack and it's a great set up for your Orb of deception damage since it will nearly guarantee you hit on both parts of the skill. it also increases your damage against the target hit by it by 20% for 5 seconds so it's great tool to help you with assassinating those ADC's and mid laners.

Trick: Ahri charm has hidden feature of animation cancel. You can do this with pairing your E with flash towards the target. To do this first you need to cast your E and in the middle of animation press flash, the charm will fly out surprising your enemies and you will be able to follow with your damage sooner rather then wait for animation to end.


Active: Ahri dashes in the target direction, and then fires energy bolts up to 3 visible targets to deal magic damage. Spirit Rush can be recast twice more at a 1 second static cooldown within 10 seconds of activation at no additional cost.

This is the skill that adds some assassin nature to Ahri kit. Your ability to reposition multiple times in a fight gives you big outplay potential but also let's u escape when the situation gets too hot. after each dash you cast 3 energy bolts that can hit same target with no damage drop offs so every bolt hits for 100% of it's damage. resulting with really big burst. pair it with your Fox-fire before dash and you will evaporate enemy ADC's before they will react with their heal (usually even heal can't save them if you are not behind). With this skill you can dash over walls too so it opens new ganking routes for you which are mot accessible normally.
Mastering efficient use of this skill to redirect your Q - Orb of deception and killing targets without risking your life (since you still can escape) will basically make you untouchable. Put some time in learning how to your spirit rush efficiently with your Q - Orb of deception in practice tool and you will do yourself a big favor.

At start i thought it's quite obvious but many players seems to not understand that summoner spells are "a bit more important" then your other spells and they are not meant to spam once they are off cooldown.

For mid lane there are few spells that you will want to use, due to in game balance you might not see your favorite spell here. I'm not saying that they are not viable but if you can use something 1/30 times i think it's not viable

Flash is must have on nearly every champion. Flash is the best spell in this game due to it's flexibility. You can use it to run away to safety but also you can also use it to secure kill on low hp enemy. There are countless situations where flash can save your life.

Ignite is main offensive spell we pick in lane. Just having ignite up makes you dangerous. It's not only dealing extra true damage to your enemies that scale with your level but also reduce healing effects on them at the same time. This spell creates pressure on your enemy and situations where you would normally won't able get a kill but thanks to ignite it's possible.

Cleanse is good against champions with lots of CC or champions who will try to lock you down before dealing damage like Lux or Zoe. It's always better to free yourself from hard CC then just wait for your death. Of course you sacrifice kill pressure from ignite but it's still better to survive and live rather then give your enemy free 300 gold.
Pro tip: it removes ignite and exhaust as well!

Exhaust is good vs assassins that will want to jump on you to deal their damage. Best examples for you to pick that spell against are Zed, Talon and Yasuo. They can't deal enough damage if you use exhaust because it will not only slow them by 30% but also the damage during that time will be lowered by 40%. can also be used offensively a bit to catch a target that's escaping.

Teleport is used against match up where you will be constantly pushed out of lane because of low hp or running out of mana (like Xerath or Malzahar) to not loose valuable experience and gold from minions

This section will introduce you to Runes i think are viable for Ahri for the current state of the game. Later will speak about some alternatives that are also viable but are better for players who spent some games as Ahri before and know how to use her to full potential.

Domination/ Sorcery rune page is standard pick for Ahri right now. Let's break each segment of this page so you will understand what's going on.


When it comes to our main rune we have 2 options:

• Electrocute is a rune that adds greatly into your burst combo. It's good for us since it helps us to win more fights when going all in. It's base dmg is better then that of Dark harvest and with that it offers better early game. I would pick this rune if i play vs someone who won't let me poke them too much so i will have to go for "all in" more often in order to kill them.
• New Dark harvest is surprisingly good. It offers you nice dmg after getting it stacked that outscales Electrocute somewhere in the mid game. The pros of this rune are that once stacked it makes your damage very brutal and also it's our go to "multi kill" (hopefully penta) rune since it cooldown is almost non existent after getting the kill. Imagine killing one enemy in late game fight, harvesting their soul... you get damage for another enemy! And same goes for another, and another one...! It's going to benefit more from "poking" in lane where you can stack it and also successful roaming.

Other options aren't interesting for us. Predator has long cooldown and once you activate it it can scare away the enemy. Why would you let your enemy know that you are planning to go for them? On top of that movement speed bonus isn't that good for us since we already have our ultimate that is super effective at chasing the targets who are escaping. If you decide to go with Hail of blades you must be absolute madman and expect flaming from teammates since Ahri doesn't benefit at all from attack speed.


Sudden impact is good on Ahri because your ult is a dash. On top of it you can cast this ult 3 times so in fight with maximum efficiency you can get extra magic penetration for 10 seconds (with break of 4 seconds after 1st 5 seconds because of rune cool-down). Cheap shot can be alternative pick but you won't get much benefit from it since your only CC is your E which you don't want to spam left and right. Taste of Blood is a good pick if you think you will be poked a lot so you can heal back up some of that dmg they did to you (or just want to win sustain war).


With recent changes all of those 3 are viable and you should decide which to pick based on your own experience and needs:

Zombie ward is encouraging you to clean enemy wards and as mid you might find it a bit hard if enemies in your elo don't ward often. Also you will use mostly trinket not sweeper lens so you might be risking a lot if you choose this option. On the other hand benefit of having more wards on the map is really nice.

Ghost poro is a bit safer option compared to Zombie ward but the poro effect that it offers will give you short term vision extension (cuz enemy jungler will scare poro away quite often). Also if your wards are destroyed you won't get benefit from this rune so it's good to use as a "defensive" vision boost and don't ward aggressively.

Good old Eyeball collection is still really good option for aggressive laners. as mid you will be ganked often when pushing turrets and also fights are part of a mid lane nature. you will fight on all stages of the game so this is the "most guaranteed" option for you when it comes to get adaptive bonus from the rune since chances to get this will appear really often.


This rune is important. It will define your play style and have big impact on how you want to play. if you are willing to have more heals in lane so your enemies can't push you out easily go with Ravenous hunter. If you want to roam often and move around the map often to be in specific spot before your enemies get there, go with relentless hunter which will give you out of combat movement speed. If you are aggressive player and/or prefer to have your ultimate sooner, go with Ultimate hunter who will enable you to have your ultimate more often which can be used offensively but also defensively. My personal choice here: Ravenous hunter since it gives me extra sustain and thanks to it I will be able to heal myself mid fight so i can be more aggressive (it can sometimes help you survive the Ignite too).


Transcendence is great mastery for Ahri since her cool-downs can reach really nice refresh timers once you reach 30% CDR. In the past there were many items that offered you CDR and so Ahri players used this rune to convert that extra CDR to damage (wasting stats in LoL is always bad choice). It's still useful even if you don't reach the cap because it will give you 10% CDR for free and all of this makes it a great choice.
Your other option is Nullifying Orb against match ups against Syndra or LeBlanc or anyone who can burst you really fast. Consider picking it if you don't feel confident when it comes to avoiding skills. For aggressive players good mastery is Absolute Focus which will give you some bonus AP when you are above 70% hp (if you know how to avoid skills this is great option). Some people choose to run Manaflow Band which in my opinion isn't as good as other options but still can help you lane if you are using your skills to push waves.


In your last rune slot you have what i like to call "filler rune" that will also have impact on when your runes will reach their peak performance. In my opinion you have 2 choices: Gathering storm that will give you more damage later into the game but you have to deal with weaker early game or Scorch what will boost your poke ability but is falling off later into the game compared to Gathering storm. If you decided to pick some utility in your previous runes you should pick Gathering storm to make up for lack of AP that you might miss early (you will get it back later thanks to that). Scorch is good if you want to secure lead early but as i said, falls of later. The Waterwalking is... surprisingly good. It can help you with roams that ends up with encountering enemy jungler in river (also movement speed is nice for roams overall). In late game objectives are also placed in river so the bonuses provided by Waterwalking can still be useful when it comes to fights over dragon/baron but it's situational mastery and you won't get much from it in lane.


<i'm reworking this section so i will re-add explanation for some runes later>

As you probably know Ahri abilities scales with AP (Ability power) but not every AP item is working on every champion. In this section we will break down items which not only in my opinion work on Ahri but also those which create some interesting combos which you can use on a rift to your advantage

Doran's ring and Dark seal are your starting items, how to decide which one to pick? Both offer you 15 AP but that's the end of similarities. Personally i go Doran's ring like 99% of the time because mana regeneration passive is always welcome on Ahri since early into the game you burn your mana really fast. Bonus damage on your basic attacks against minions is nice help when it comes to securing that cs. Dark seal in my opinion is viable option against champions who will try to poke you hard in lane like Xerath due to increased healing from potions. It also offers you a "gamble" option. You can skyrocket with glory passive or fall behind where this item will be useless.

Boots
they are important because of movement speed stat that is useful on all stages of the game. You have many upgrades you can get for your boots so when you should buy which boots?
Sorcerer's shoes - Buy them when you are either ahead or equal in lane (magic penetration helps you deal damage so don't skip this stat freely)
Mercury's treads - Great buy vs champions with insane AP burst in lane like Leblanc but also champions with dangerous CC like Lux or Syndra. Great, cheap defensive option. You will read quite often in match up section above "buy mercury to reduce CC on you" but if you can avoid abilities the are not necessary.
Ninja tabi - you want to get them vs enemy Zed or Yasuo (AD mid laners) but also good in situation when their team is mostly composed of AD champions. another defensive option to keep you alive for longer.
Ionian boots of Lucidity - if you decide to build those you won't only get 10% CDR stat but also get 10% CDR off your summoner spells. They are not bad but if u compare stats that boots we mentioned earlier gives you i think those boots will land in "situational buy" category.
Berserker's greaves / boots of swiftness / boots of mobility - Don't buy them because they don't offer stat's that are beneficial to you in any way. Ahri don't utilize attack speed and is fast enough with her ultimate so we don't need those in our inventory.

item Hextech Protobelt-01Hextech Protobelt-01
Even if not mentioned in any built path above this item is actually good if you are aiming for small amount bonus burst in your kit. I had many situations where this item decided if i will die in 1v1 or not. It's a good item but not many people are enjoying multiple active items in their inventory and not many people build it these days. But i still think this item deserve mentioning (who knows, maybe it will come back one day if the buff it a bit)

Rylai's crystal scepter
This is item which can make any Ahri main reading this guide wonder "why?". Honestly this item is good in situations where you need to kite your enemies and offers some extra hp which add you some points int terms of "defense" while still giving you offensive stats. Slow passive guarantees that enemies won't run away from you when you chase them but again, this is is situational item which will truly shine when paired with Liandry's torment

Void staff
Finally we will have a talk about more viable items. Void staff is pretty much important item no matter in what situation you are in. Magic penetration % and AP speaks for itself. This item greatly compliments Ahri and her damage because it does so much in the background that you will find it sometimes surprising how much your damage potential increases after this buy. You can think about it like "cheap Rabadon's deathcap" when you are low on gold

Spellbinder
The potential this item brings to the table is worth mentioning even if you normally don't see it often. Again, it's active item which has one big disadvantage: "you have to charge it". Without it this item is basically useless even if it grands you big AP stat. You want to have it charged as much as you can (80+ charges is optimal in my opinion) before using it in situations where your fight won't extend too much (active bonus last only 4 seconds). In longer fights it's better to buy Rabadon's deathcap with magic penetration from other items.

Zhonya's hourglass / Banshee's veil
Both of those items represent your defensive options you can have in game. With their stats you can guess right that Zhonya hourglass is more versatile them banshee's veil due to it's active but this is not a reason to look down on banshee's veil. This item can save you from death by Malzahar ultimate or will provide extra resistance against AP damage Annie offers (hint: it's high). It will give you resistance you need against AP champions. On the other hand Zhonya's hourglass is great against AD champions and any form of burst. it's active puts you in "stasis" state but in exchange you can't receive any damage which is useful when you need to save yourself from unavoidable death like Syndra ultimate. the only downside to using stasis is that you can't move for 2.5 seconds and you can't cancel it so if you use it in wrong time and place... don't expect much after effect wears off

Liandry's torment
Early mentioned item that we will now explain why it's viable. It offers some nice base stats (AP, health) but the true power lies in it's two passives. The first one increase your damage the longer you fight and after 5 seconds in combat your damage is increased by 10%. In a fair teamfight this extra damage will result with significant damage output increase as far as you manage to land your spells on enemies and not die (can't deal damage if you are dead, smart). The second passive burns your enemies with magic damage. This damage is doubled against movement impaired units (slows etc.) and that's where Rylai's crystal scepter comes in with it's slow and increase our burn damage on our enemies. This item combo is good against team comps where enemy have lot's of tanks.

Lich bane
Another item with lot's of potential but requires smart usage. It requires you to make use of it's passive which works only when you use basic attacks. Every 1.5 second after using ability you have empowered basic attack that will deal extra magic damage that scales with your AP on top of that. Pair it with hextech gunblade and you will get "secret" Ahri one shot combo. Lich bane is useful against Yasuo who will dash all the time and it will be hard to hit any abilities on him and even if he windwall your orb of deception you still will be able to land empowered basic on him for extra damage. Good item which adds to your poke damage.

Morellonomicon
This item is simply too good to pass in most scenarios. It offers you very powerful stat combination. Health makes you harder to kill while AP adds to your damage + it's quite big amount. Besides those 2 stats this item offers you two passives. First will give you flat magic penetration that will add to your damage and this stat is important on every AP champion that is focused on "bursting" their enemies. Other passive applies debuff on your enemies that reduces their healing effects so if enemy ADC is using heal or your opponent in lane has a way to heal himself/herself, this item will make their life nightmare (looking at you Vladimir)

Luden's echo
Our main item for reason. Nice AP, Mana (after mana item nerfs boost importance of this stat) and cooldown reduction. All we need in one package. Not to mention awesome passive that can even secure you some kills with a bit of luck and boost your minion pushing power. With this item you won't run out of mana in the middle of the fight too so i would recommend it to everybody who want to test their Ahri skills in ranked to build this item. Even Pros use it in their every build so it must mean something right?

Rabadon's deathcap
Two words: "Must buy". you can never go wrong with rabadon's deeathcap in your build. Big AP and passive increase your AP by 40% from all items which means you are not getting extra 48 AP from rabadon only but you can get suddenly 200+ bonus AP from other items too with the moment you buy it. I think it's enough to make you interested in this item. Raw power is sometimes best solution to your problems on the rift :)

Elixir of Sorcery
extra AP, more mana regen and nice "Sorcery" passive, you can't go wrong with this

Thank you for reading this guide, more things will be added here (fast i hope) so everybody can always come back to learn something new. Feel free to leave suggestions, Good luck summoner in your upcoming Ahri adventure :)

If you enjoyed the guide and would u like to ask questions or want to suggest something to this guide go ahead. We can only achieve best guide rank when people will read / let their thoughts flow in comment section (even if it's negative it still can add something to this guide)