I started playing League of Legends not too long ago and I picked Ahri as my first character. From the second I saw how she played it made me want to try her out, from there I build a mastery and runes based off of guides I saw and I ended up getting pretty amazing with her. Generally I see Ahri's that don't know too much of what they're doing, so I wanted to help out quite a bit. I am still working on the guide, any tips and suggestions to make it look/sound better I'd be incredibly happy to hear about!

I've seen Ahri played a number of different ways, but the most common way I see is Doran's Ring, then followed by an Ahri that doesn't know how to properly use her abilities to their full advantage, I've went over everything that you should need to do build wise with her, including explanations for most items. The entire purpose of this build is to maximize her damage, while keeping you able to push and sustain your lane, no matter who you are against.

The reason I chose the runes I did for Ahri is because it maximizes her AP level scaling so it can help her gain early advantages, as well as adding in that extra mana penetration for those times that the Sorcerer's Boots can be replaced (for instance going top Ahri against 2 AD's, you're going to lean more towards Ninja Tabi to sustain the lane). The reason for the mana regeneration and ap scaling is to cut back on needing items like Doran's Ring, so you can focus more on your AP build, instead of trying to compensate for mana, especially against characters like Katarina or Akali.

The masteries are pretty self explanatory for Ahri, you build her as a normal APC, however the reason I put Scout on instead of movement speed, is because Ahri has 4 flashes, movement speed is a very minute point for her, and being in mid lane you need to be able to see as much as possible. Scout enables that extra time to get away from a gank if your flash or Spirit Rush is on cool down, and you don't want to feed the enemy team. The mana regen, again to stop needing Doran's ring, and everything else explains itself.

Flash: Flash makes Ahri who she is, without flash she wouldn't be as good because he only escape would be her ultimate, not to mention with Flash you can flash towards them, drop your essence, orb, and foxfire to just destroy them, then you have spirit rush to finish them off in case the others don't work. Or it's a 4th escape in the same way. I honestly believe this is the best ability you can take for Ahri.

Ignite: Ignite is another spell that is essential for her. The unfortunate thing about Ahri is she does a RIDICLOUS amount of damage, but it's all at once and you have to wait for cooldowns almost the entire time while they try to get away with 20 hp. You flash, essence, foxfire, orb, ignite and they aren't going to survive it, if they somehow do (Which has happened a lot since the Elise patch) you're still going to have complete control over the lane until they return, or you're getting a kill.

Ghost: If you aren't comfortable using flash, use this, it's the only time I'd recommend it.

Teleport: Teleport is a fantastic option for many mid characters, however, in taking teleport you either have to give up one of the ways to take a guaranteed kill, or a guaranteed escape. I would only take teleport if you're in a match to sustain your lane, not to push at all. The only reasoning why is because if you over-extend without a guarantee you will die as Ahri.

Clarity: We fix the mana problem with runes/masteries/Chalice/Athene's. If you take this it's the same as teleport, but without the benefit of going to different lanes, and mana potions can make up for whatever Clarity could do for you.

So most of the time when I see an Ahri build the standard attack order is Orb, Essence, Foxfire, Spirit Rush (if needed) and it can be a -very- good idea, however it all depends on the current situation.

I start off with my essence first almost every time to capitalize on it's cooldown time, then I'll use Fox-Fire on the champion who is already walking towards me, into an Orb they won't escape, and by the time it's done they usually are too. However, since essence can be stopped with minions it makes it a complete skill shot, similar to Blitzcrank's grab. When using abilities ask yourself, are there minions in the way that could stop this, if there are, start with an orb, or if there's a group, and they're on one side, auto-attack and walk up a bit, if they're not running from you, flash in, enchant, then go into the combo.

Never be afraid to use Orb to farm minions either. For Fox-Fire however I limit it exclusively to champions, and will not use it on minions. The reasoning for this is because I feel the 50/100/150% damage boost that it gives you isn't worth the mana/cooldown time to be used on a minion, only to turn around and have every ability except that up, so you essence, spirit rush, and orb, only to find out they got away with damage your fox-fire could have easily done.

The items that I've built for Ahri maximizes her ability to take control of a lane. Starting off with Boots of Speed gives you a start to building into the Sorcerer's Boots, while giving you extra mobility against some of the faster starting characters, or the melee heavier mids. Most people would recommend 3 health potions, but because we maximized the AP we can get, at sacrificing some mana, and starting with boots, we don't have to rely on those health potions. You have the extra mobility to get away from a situation, with the mana potions to keep your mana up in the range to use Essence and Orb without having to re-call, so your health isn't as large of a concern.

Once you buy the Chalice of Harmony, everything else depends on which route you want to take the character, I personally chose Hextech Revolver because it not only increases Ahri's spell vamp to keep her alive in the fight, but also because it can build into Will of the Ancients, a great AP item for you and your entire team.

After I get my AP/Spell Vamp build up a little I go into Rylai's, which should be a common choice for any AP character, however some people do decide to go with Rabandon's Deathcap first. The only reason I don't go into that is because Ahri does have a slight problem. What is that problem? CC. If you encounter an enemy with CC, you might essence/orb and hurt them for quite a bit of damage, but if they stun you and run, they can get away pretty often, and that's where Rylai's comes in. With the added AP as well as the slowing effect of your spells, you slow them down so you might not have to Spirit Rush into a possible gank, and you can still crank out damage.

After Rylai's again it's completely up to you, but Rabandon's is usually a good choice afterwards, unless you're losing in team fights and have a heavy AP team, in which case Will of the Ancients into Rabandon's might be the best option for you, but it is an important item considering the increase it gives to your AP.

The reason why I have archangel's staff as the last item is generally you won't get that far in a game unless the enemy team is being horrible. By the time I get Rabandon's I'm usually around 600-700 AP, and I'm taking out tanks 1 v 1. If you have the money to get it earlier and you want to maximize the AP from Athene's (especially with the mana regen) it could be another option instead of Rabandon's or Rylai's, but I would only recommend it if you have nothing else to build to increase AP.

Zhonya's is here because of the 100 AP and it's active. You activate that mid chase, it can give your team enough time to catch up, pull the aggro off of you, and then you can turn and end the fight once it wears off.