Ahri Build Guide : LP print now ! Semiliterate textwall tryhard Ahri guide

Hello and welcome to my tryhard Ahri guide. Here, in addition to standart stuff, you may find some less discussed but important
topics. Regarding common game knowledge, healthy itemization, advanced Ahri mechanics, combat behavior, min-maxing and more.

**S2026-RELATED GOOD-TO-KNOW STUFF COMES AS CHAPTER NUMBER 10
(HERE )

The guide itself is boring textwall packed with poor grammar and bad formatting; and some explanations here are too long , thus most essential info in paragraph will be GOLDED sometimes. Chapters with [stub] tag are unfinished and optional. Better just skip them.

Recommended for tryhards, but anyone who is not afraid of damaging their eyes by reading this can gain some knowledge.

Feel free to make some breaks between reading sessions.

Here is summary of chapters and direct links so you can skip some if not interested:

01 Champ Identity Capabilities, playstyle, base techniques overview.

02 Skills Base+ advanced info about them, situational uses, less known interactions. Combos are NOT included.

03 Shortly about stats Surface-level good-to-know common knowledge about combat stats (AP AD MS armor MR etc) and how to build properly.

04 Itemization Important info about items, useful for Ahri. For common and situational use, including unpopular things. Optimization and some math behind builds.

05 Laning and macro Basic things, nothing too deep or complex.

06 Vision Weak chapter, I guess...Methods for building habits, some vision-related common sence thoughts. May be useful for beginners.

07 1v1 Patterns Step by step instructions on how to duel vs various types of enemy champs

08 [STUB] Individual 1v1s and matchups This chapter is not ready. Comprehensive information about every noteworthy champ. Laning, dueling, teamfight.

09 Game settings and Skillshot-related info Tips and tricks to make gameplay more comfortable and increase mechanicall skill. How to play/outplay users of skillshots.

10 SEASON 2026 CHANGES Extra short info for everyone+ Ahri-specific

Some abbreviations and concepts reader may encounter in this guide:

Spoiler: Click to view

01 Champ Identity

Ahri is bursty magic damage dealer with tools for many tasks due to her movement capabilities, long range spells, and hard CC. While these aren't best in their categories, when used correctly they can be beneficial in many situations.

Compared to other caster assassins, Ahri brings bit less damage for single target with single spell rotation. AKA "you cannot oneshot anyone". But she is mobile and has access to multiple spell rotations which can result in even bigger total DMG done, given bit more time.

PROS AND CONS

++ Easy to start with. Relatively safe. Not very mechanicaly demanding. Fun to play if you like hit n run playstyle and cat mouse games.
++ Good waveclear saves time for other things. Skillset allows neutralizing solo lane. Good blind pick. Always not too bad in meta.
++ Decent range, mobility, engage and disengage, outplay potential.

++--Ultimate-dependant. Sometimes ult is very strong. But it has long cooldown.
++--Jack of all trades, but master of none. Sometimes team needs specialized champ.
++--Easy on surface, requires (and rewards) game knowledge and using of opportunities to stay relevant

-- Lacks consistent damage and tankiness. This is main weakness and is typical for burst champs.
-- Skillshot-reliant (not always)
-- Situational pick outside of mid.
-- Bad base stats (HP, mana, DMG, weak passive)

WHEN GOOD

++Someone can apply their simple (point click, big AoE) CC first. Or, easily follow our engage in case of our dive. ( )
++We able to perform coordinated assault with another non-magical damage champ suited for this(mobile champs capable of extended chase:
++Enemy team is full of squishy targets. Not too much insta-CC.
++Our jungler is strong in early-mid game. Our post-6 2v2 is very good and we can do much dirty things around objects and kills anywhere.

WHEN BAD

--Your team lacks damage.
--Team needs more specialized champ.

Ex.1 Two or more lanes are hard counterpicked and you cannot help them early. And team do not "scale well" in average. For any chance for win, you need to pick some "1v9" carry. Imagine your jungler successfully permainvaded by , your toplaner losing to scaling counterpick champ . Botlane is even. You matched vs , who will not allow you go anywhere for free, and will make fun out of your team soon. Lose-lose situation. But you could pick something more solid and countering their scalers, for solo carry instead of hopeless roams. , perhaps.

Ex.2 Team is strong in front-to-back fight and do not need bursty diver like Ahri. To empower face to face teamfight you can pick champ who is more suited for this. Like

IN NUTSHELL

Ahri is champ suited for solo lanes. Preferably mid, due to her waveclear, not too bad pre-6 and strong post-level 6 2v2,3v3 setup and kiting power, which are useful for roams. She has no midlane hard counters and never gets too behind to the state of uselessness, but also cannot snowball pre-6 from her lane alone.

She has decent 1v1 self-peel after learning W and E , which only gets better with time and addition of R .

As mobile dodgy burst champ, Ahri has easy times dueling skillshot-reliant or melee dashless champs, since she dodges and kites a lot with W and R and damages along the way. Ranged autoattakers, dashy or skillshotless champs are more difficult targets, but can be outranged/dodged/short range bursted. Significant max range of allows her to punish any nearby misplay or weakness, including shorter range, low DMG, spells on cooldown etc...

Signature technique, and thing which many players ignore/unaware of, when playing as/against Ahri, is multirotatonal burst attack. Ahri gets close enough to her victim and hits some spells, then steps back to avoid being hit for too much or CC'd in return. This can be performed multiple times, with help of her W,R, and .It is possible mostly thanks to her ult, which has long cooldown. Safe to say that Ahri is Ability Haste-hungry.

Another important thing is her post-6 2v2 power. Variant of this is forced unfair trade. She can initiate with burst and take some fire without dying, allowing her ally continue assault from full HP. Then play from range, or get closer for another sure combo. This means all DMG from Ahri and her ally comes to single targeted enemy champ while enemy DMG spreads for 2 champs. She can bodyblock skillshots and use charm to safe an ally and ensure good outcome of 2v2

Variant of "two versus..." is coordinated assault or "double flank". Ahri and her mobile ally move to their prio target, dodging what is possible along the way, then attack it for unbearable mixed DMG. Then switch to next target.
Mere existence of mobile high DMG champ makes every enemy champ choose between building defence and losing some DMG/heal or being deleted fast before making impact. When attackers are more than one, it is impossible to build enough durability without losing too much DMG/heal. Very abusive! Double flank can be performed in front to back direction if enemy have weak counter-engage (lack CC/dmg)

In bigger fights you want create isolated 2v2 or 1v1 situation (by proper positioning) and burst enemies in 2 or more spell rotations, while occasionally hitting rest with Qs
When possible, Q and R through 2+ champs. Prioritize immobile and damaging targets first

You don't need rush all-ins unless it is absolutely neccessary. Until opportunity appears, play like casual mage, poking them with Q.

Sometimes you just need spread and item burn DMG and Q for as much targets as possible. While doing so, avoid being CC'd ( count all their cooldowns and possible chain CC) or damaged too much (charm biggest DMG source), get
This is usually part of coordinated assault thing. AOE version.

Depending on how fed Ahri is, what are team needs, and enemy setup, her role may change from second support to jungler's pocket support to 1v1 threat to 1v5 eliminator

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02 Skills

For damage,cooldowns and manacosts head cursor over spell icon.

passive Recently damaged enemy champs will heal Ahri for a bit after their death. DMG from items counts. Each 9 minions killed will heal for small ammount.

Q 900range 200 width

ACTIVE: Ahri sends her orb in the target direction that deals magic damage to enemies it passes through. Upon reaching maximum range, it returns to her to deal the same amount in true damage to enemies it passes through. Enemies can be hit only once per pass. If Ahri dies while the orb is out, the orb will visually disappear but continue to deal damage and return to Ahri.(sometimes)

Orb is our ~~bro~~ bread and butter. It is wider than it may appear visually, has small bonus size at the end and makes hitting most champs even at max range quite easy. By "max range" I mean 0.9*max range, or ~800 range, because it is too easy to dodge it from such distance and not only by side movement but also by backstepping. 900 ranged "max range" mostly good vs immobilized/slowed. Difficult part is to calculate range when we and enemy moving. But most of times it is enough to throw Q from 700 range for same effect.
Orb is useful to check for enemy champs in short bushes. It makes sound when hitting enemy units. Throwing Q into long bush for full length may be risky, as it requires moving closer.Thus can be thrown diagonally and cover most of bush.

W

ACTIVE: Ahri gains 40% bonus movement speed that decays over 2 seconds and conjures three flames which orbit her clockwise for up to 2.5 seconds.

After 0.25 seconds of the cast, each flame targets a visible enemy based on priority, or after 0.4 seconds, simply targets the closest visible enemy in range. Each flame deals magic damage, with subsequent flames against a target dealing 40% damage. Flames prioritize enemy champions hit by Charm, then enemy champions, then minions that would die to Fox-Fire's damage, and then the target of Ahri's last basic attack within 3 seconds.
Fox-Fire's damage is doubled against minions below 20% maximum health. Any unused Fox-Fires will fizzle upon death.

150 orbit radius(from center of Ahri). 550 range for non-prioritized targets(from missile location). 725 range for prioritized targets (from Ahri's center; this is range for charmed champs only but can be unintentionaly?? caused by Orb of Deception too, sometimes )

THEY REQUIRE VISIBILITY OF ENEMY UNIT TO START TARGETING THEM
After locked, they will follow their target anywhere, this may help discover ulting
shrouded , separate real from image etc.
Can be cast simultaneously with autoattack or other spell, and does not interrupt them.
Each fire has individual range and you can perform TICKLE secret tech by placing one of them between Ahri and target unit. This allows you damage foes from 150-65+550=635 distance, where 65=Ahri radius.
When you run for someone and autoattacking them, try send attak first, only then W and move with maximum MS bonus. Autoattak missile becomes charged by spellblade effects such as Lich Bane when cast occurs, not when missile fired.This applies to any spell, not just for When you're slowed, it may be useful to wait until slow effect expires, otherwise slow will eat percetage of base+ bonus MS.

E range 1000 width 120

ACTIVE: Ahri fires projectile in the target direction that deals magic damage to the first enemy hit, knocking them down and charming and slowing them by 65% for a duration.

**Charm stops already in-progress dashes. Ex. will nort be stopped if charmed before cast time ended and actual movement started. Knockdown effect may play against your team and stop enemy movement caused by allied hooks.
**It applies to unit which is currently unstoppable, and start working right after unstoppable status wears off. This way you may charm perhaps , depending on number of spellshield layers on them. So you can disable their full combo and fight them after they land onto you. To break possible items' spellshield, throw before , cast then move with bonus MS, R or simply run. In case of Nocturne, keep for later.
** can be interrupteded if you start casting (0.25s cast time) just before Warwick attaches to you. At the end of cast time it will spawn and charm during his ult. You can do similar thing to , reappears behind Ahri and inside Charm's hitbox and becomes insta-charmed.
** Q3 and Q3 landing damage and knockup effects can be canceled by

R 500 max range 600 bolt range (from arrival point) Dash speed 1200+MS 1400 missile speed

ACTIVE: Ahri dashes to the target location and then fires essence bolts to up to 3 nearby visible enemies, each dealing magic damage.
Spirit Rush can be recast twice more within 15 seconds of the activation at no additional cost, with a 1-second static cooldown between casts. Consuming a champion's essence with while Spirit Rush is active extends the recast duration by and up to 10 seconds, and grants an additional recast, storing up to 3 recasts at a time.

RECAST: Ahri mimics the first cast's effects.
Spirit Rush's recast duration will persist even after using all recasts.
There's a slight delay before a champion gains vision of the fog of war once inside it. Because of this, if Ahri dashes into it, it is possible that Spirit Rush will not target any enemy in range. The bolts do not fire if Ahri dies while dashing, unless she was saved by resurrection mechanics

Each cast counts as an ability activation for the purposes of on-cast effects such as Spellblade and triggering Kassadin's Force Pulse's passive.

Absorbing champion essence also resets 1s cooldown between casts.In rare occasions you may time enemy champ's death and your arrival with R to gain instant R reset,and make lil surprise for enemy.(Ex.Q(securing kill)+R nearby). Fighting in bushes may lead to DMG decrease, unless you have vision; prepare some . If you stay near targeted enemy champ, you may dash in place so the cast will end earlier and bolts have shorter distance to travel. Although DMG from single R is weak, it can hit multiple targets staying at significant distance from each other, and spread burn effects from or .

Using ult for dodging abilities is VERY nice. You basically trade 1 of 3 charges of one spell for dodging 25%+ of total enemy single rotation DMG and some effects each time you dodge. Just think about all these 85% AP missiles to nowhere...Also useful for breaking spellshield effects like

Some thick walls can be traveled through with, some not. You may find out each in "practice tool". Hotkey killing, ressurecting, moving champ since you cannot refresh unlike other spells here. Killing champ will help with ult resets. Turn off "move camera on revive".

and can be comboed with .

Charm+flash(while charm is still casting) allows charm to appear from Ahri's arrival point, and from here fly towards initial cast point. Same works for Orb of deception.

+ (while R dash is in progress) may allow you prolong travel distance and hit R bolts from flash arrival point.

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03 Shortly about stats

RELATIVE INCREASE THING

Spoiler: Click to view

DO NOT OVERSTACK SINGLE VALUE. DIMINISHING RETURNS. RELATIVE VALUE CONCEPT IS VERY NICE TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN MAKING ITEM BUILDS

RESISTANCES

Spoiler: Click to view

OFTEN DIMINISGING RETURNS FOR RESISTANCE/HP STACKING. STILL , ADDING SOME RESISTANCE/HP IS VERY VALUABLE WHEN YOU HAVE TO GET DAMAGE IN UR FACE

Expect most targets have less than 200 resists. Which can be further shreded and penetrated.

ABILITY HASTE MATTERS

It allows to play more comfortable and significantly increases damage output
Each point of AH allows spells be 1% more spammable. 100AH=100% more casts in same time. Or 100AH=50% cooldown reduction. Or 2xDAMAGE OUTPUT.
It may be too fast to be useful on some champs, who have long cast times or static cooldowns or whatever. Realistically speaking, 40-100AH is common and ok thing.

RESPECT ABILITY HASTE. GET COMFORTABLE NUMBERS OF AH

More info about AH and other stats

Spoiler: Click to view

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04 Itemization

Importance of item passive.

Spoiler: Click to view

Think about your estimated role in current match ( pure dmg backline burster; bruiser, playing front-to-back; splitpusher, etc.) based on expected roles and builds of your and enemy teams. Build standart AP stuff for chosen role and targets who are your job. You may adjust it as game progresses. Allow items with strong actives/passives for your role being included even if they lack AP. Get comfortable AH around ~20min (usually, at least 40AH ). Get defensive stuff when needed.

BUILD ORDER AND LIST OF VALUABLE ITEMS

Build order may vary depending on game. Sometimes you want add early and keep until late without upgrading small items like . These and even fully complted items may be sold in late after they served their purpose.
Late game core items are or and
Grab'em by the 40 min mark. With these you can do anything! Always should be in final build. Exept when you play very custom build.

Legendary mana item with AP is your 1st.

2nd item: Boots. In late you may replace them with anything (but this is optional). Perhaps for stats including some movespeed. Or even or for 1-time use in final battle.

3rd item is something into-midgame transitional. What provides big relative damage increase right now. or even . Sometimes it may be defensive instead. When enemy have threat you need to tank. Especially good when you can perform double flank with someone like blue Kayn/masta Yi and tank for them in addition to dealing DMG.

4-6 items. What is left.

SUGGESTED FIRST ITEM

BFT. HUGE burn early( 60+DMG per cast). AP increase is very good if you can play around it. Good stats. Burn helps with ult resets, strong for crab and raptor camps. OP. Best option for most builds now.

While AH gain is bit low, ult-related bonuses may be useful. Best option if you run , otherwise-second best.
It gives no bonuses outside of ult, which is kinda bad. 15 ult-AH difference with BFT kinda changes not much early and lately. Long base lvl 6 ult CD will not let you gain much from this. At higher levels you will have lots of AH, and again, these 15 ULT-AH will not make diff.
Best part is DMG and flat resist cut. Can be very strong early( up to 3xBFT burn), when you play around other magic DMG champ with immobilizing/slow, like AP .

AH powerhouse and very small added tankiness. Kinda possible sometimes if you need that extra AH.

Meh. AH is too low, and proc is on long CD and not always predictable, and not signifcant. It can be useful vs totally isolated champs, but I cannot bet on this. Ahri benefits more from extended fights early, and Luden falls off hard into mid-late.

Only for RoA build, which provides tankiness and lacks AH.

2ND ITEM-BOOTS

Ok.I lied, boots may be 1st completed item actually. You can build 1k gold( tier-2) boots BEFORE finishing 1st 3k gold big item, but after its 1st component, such as

recommended default option due to need of offensive stat early. My default is , since we rarely can do more than one spell rotation in early PvP, and I build AH soon anyway. Take what you find is better for you and do not bother about 5 % diff in something between them. Also mind their tier 3 upgrades from mid quest, just in case.

For complicated builds such as involving take into consideration your whole AH for mid-late game

Most of times tenacity does not help. You either position self better in fight or use hourglass/cleanse (75% tenacity). Sometimes enemies will have slow reaction and not follow their teammates' CCs in time. Mercs may help there. They rarely useful in 1v1, where enemy have prepared follow-up for their own CC, and CC shortened by 30% won't help.

It may be useful if you want some MR in early game and play passive and farm. Vs AP lane bully and/or early game often ganking AP junglers with CC cuz you gain no benefit fom AH/flat pen in such situation. And want just have tier-2 boots with MS, use spells once and survive.

Usually boots are built for immediate effect. These situational boots can be additional, thin, cheap layer of defence vs some ADC for later use, in midgame. But also may serve you asap, if you are afraid of mid + + combo or aggressive or something.

Other boots are even more situational...

You can sell one boots and buy other later with small gold loss.

3RD ITEM

RECOMMENDED

Almost always get this at some point for its empowered auto. As 3rd item or later. Increases tower kill and single-target potential. Some AH for midgame. Exact DMG increase is situation-dependant. Up to ~30% DMG increase in 1v1 may lead to additional kills and gold diff. AS buff does not end after attacking ward-kinda abuse for clearing them fast.

Most targets can be freely autoattacked by Ahri in 90%+ games. Do not buy this only if you don't like autoattacks at all, or need very special other build. In very tough games where you are limited in any access to targets, you may have to play from range as pure spellcaster most of time. Or when situation requires lots of AoE from you.
3rd will be better here.

Serious DMG spike: up to +20% just from passives. Lacks AH. Good if you want advantage in PvP-intense early-mid game and some kills, similar to L Bane. Passive benefits singletarget AND AoE situations. Default 3rd if you can AoE a lot. Flat pen bonus is ok for sorc. and ionian boots alike.

Most DMG increase for 3rd slot, benefits all DMG (AOE and singletarget, scaling item dmg). You may build this if you don't need other completed 3rd item 500-700 gold earlier. May delay next buy and comfortable AH gain. But also may help with push, raptors, kills and additional gold gain instead. Situational 3rd item.

Stat item with lower AP. Because you only have 6 slots, and other items often have strong combat actives/passives, this one may be not always a thing. Allows all spells be bit more spammable. This and bonus MS may be useful for kiting melee kinda fast champs like and dodging skillshots.

Another stat item, with VERY STRONG active: short ranged mobility, and decent range spell shield breaker+DMG for multiple targets. If enemy amass spell shields and you want enable your team's or pre-fight or something. Mobility can be used
vs some mechanical champs, and/or when your champ's mobility is not enough.Ex: If you need go closer to to start casting into him right now. In response he may break your face with skillshot combo if you waste ult dash for getting closer. With you can juke 70%+ of it.
Magic DMG from Active applies effects such as slow. Very strong item combo. Almost guaranteed hit=easy charm and full combo, without even using ult. Legal cheat for ranged AP users. Enemy champs such as can use this against our , and hit their burst, beware!

LESS RECOMMENDED (WEAK OR SITUATIONAL)

Greatest part is vision from passive. Which varies from useless to must-have. Good for tracking champs who can move into and cheese from bushes . To spot enemy squishies if they are hidden behind allies and you have strong dive.
Bonus DMG passive is not that strong. If you or team does not benefit from vision passive at all, better buy other item.

Similar to , passive effect is weak outside( and even inside) of one-time squishy elimination, and becomes weaker in time. Along with flat pen. Absolute bait item for most champs, unless you can 100-0 someone (solo or 2v1) in crowded areas for its AoE boom.

If you can farm stacks fast enough. Otherwise skip. This item may be very player preference- and/or performance-dependant, requires testing in number of games. It can allow snowball and earlier win. Can be followed by , if you are sure you can ignore AH, and burst anyone in single rotation. I personally never buy it in any somewhat competitive match.

Provides less DMG, but more utility, cheap. Situational but good item. May build if you need both of the following:
**If you want spend mana a lot. For pushing early and late, poking easy lane opponent and jungler. Some free long range Qs before teamfight.
**For enabling better fights with your jungler and team. MS from activation can be very useful, but it is teams-dependant.

DEFENSIVE ITEMS(3RD ITEM OR LATER)

Vs mages you gain both single dmg and effect block and MR passive value. Very strong vs AP burst champs.

**Primarly against AP champs who have important ability which, when it misses, renders them useless. Example: bullet(stun combo), followed by other spells which are easy dodgeable by Ahri, if bullet misses/negated. Bullet itself is not easy to dodge. Ex.2 deals DMG with base abilities only around himself , without he becomes too easy.

**As protection from some dangerous effects which can be cast on you quick from distance/bush and make you unable to respond. Example: Hooks+chain CC, flash+CC+burst combo( Annie,Garen). Being comboed like this can be crucial in late.
Or when you are vs difficult team and need to dive in hard-CC-filled zone to get treir carry.

**Allows negating physical efeects. Things like are significant dmg increase for their users. Think about and his spells/stacks.

**You need be careful and not lose passive from something long ranged and spammable, including active.

Passive armor serves as some defense vs physical DMG, but most of times you'll want use it while staying in CC's from AP users. Item allows to avoid otherwise inevitable major dmg/harmful effect and/or staying in danger zone while your spells are on CD. May be very good when you perform dive with allied follow-up. Useful to nullify delayed hardly avoidable big damages like . For dodging some CC/delayed CC, which can lead to chain CC:

Building more than one defensive item is possible.

OTHER ITEMS

Worth buying early even without upgrading into Mejazz, just as source of cheap early stats. Good as 1st-3rd recall buy. Do not buy it from minute 0, unless you want invade with good setup.

Broken as hell on Ahri vs not very tanky teams. 30% CD decrease is invaluable when Ahri burns her ult. It allows more W rotations, paired with , in addition to 15+ % spell DMG increase. Which leads to 30-50% DMG increase in 3-6s time window. Do not bother stacking lots of mana. One legendary + this item is enough. For AoE-heavy fights you may want prefer over .

Problems with this item: 1. Almost useless for Ahri without ult. 2. Much less useful in 1v1 without L.Bane 3. AH management is required for maximum effect( see below)
4. You never know for sure, at which stage of the game you can buy it for best effect. Cuz in early-mid game other items are valuable too. And we need as much as possible close to eachother CDs for active effect and Ult. We need carefully calculate our AH gains (universal, ultim. hunter, legend: haste for base spells) from runes and items. Then decide if we want spam pre-lvl 11 ults. DO NOT reduce your AH just because in late we will have 40s CD for Ult ( 20s lower than item active CD, this is fine)

By default, buy this not earlier than you get ~ 70s CD on by any means.

I see it as guaranteed good late game replacement for boots, especially if we need additional tank item for ADC deletion before they can delete us, if we engage in short range.

Alternatively ( Not recommended as difference is not that great with existing items): After reaching 6 slot build, sell and play with 1k mana pool. Get
Should be enough for most team fights, if you start from full mana. Other items are too valuable to be sold. Then add for crits and for tanking ADC+slow. Or something better if it will be added in game...

I recommend this over void staff. 20 AH worth more than 10%pen. Allows freely build AH-lacking items. Usually, you want buy it as 4-6th item. If your priority targets all rush MR and gain 70-100 MR at 20-25 min, 30% pen+AH will be more valuable than anything, and Cryptbloom can be rushed as 3rd item.
If you already have 70+ AH or so. Similar to above:4-6th item.
Antitank option. Synergies with RoA build. Good as last resort thing, if your team lacks consistent DMG against tanky builds.
Antiheal+spicy AH. Sometimes you are that hero, who buy antiheal...even if it weakens your main speciality.
Some slow and HP. When you want support your team. Or you may find it more comfortable for yeself. Less useful vs dashy champs. For kiting purposes it may be better just gain additional AH instead. Can make hitting + + easier since ORB's hitbox is 65% bigger than CHARM's. Can be comboed with .

for tanking 6 slotted or similar. If your team has no tanks and other options. These dudes have MS increase in skillset and stack crit and can be tough. If you have to engage in short range for guaranteed combo and survive for 2-3 W+R+ rotations, and reduce their lifesteal from you. This item may help. Also vs double ADC team even if they build not much crit. Overall very strong item with useful active slow.

support your teamfight with these(situational).
Percantage shred items do not stack. Useful when you participate in fight with other allied 1-2 AP champs

and full tank items are situational 4-6th or late boot replacement. If you are heavily focused and impactful. Tank items provide HUGE thickness, and general rule for any damage dealer is: Live longer=deal more DMG. Full tank item will allow you become up to 50% more durable against single type of DMG at the cost of 15% of your DMG. Just look at these stats:
This is ~~N.Sane~~ madness!

Note: for champs, who able restore HP by self or by allied healer, "bruiser" items (more resist-, DMG- , less bonusHP- focused) over full-tank are recommended. Do not take more tankiness than needed.

Example builds

Full support build vs. tanky team, where only 1-2 enemy champs are squishy, and we have enough consistent DMG. AH+utility for spamming Q2, slow and antiheal and enabling full-dmg builds for our damagers. We still deal almost 3/4 of our max possible DMG vs squishy per cast (for builds without ) and more frequently! Vs.tanks, for maximum debuff uptime, cast spells after delay between each other.

When you are the only champ capable of getting their carry , who is big threat for your team , and is problematic to reach. If the only possible play here is solo dive and quick duel with her, and allow follow-up while enemy team cannot respond fast enough and peel. For 100-0 solo or to make setup for your team. is pretty counterable by and movement if you do not misplay, for avoiding enemy team counterattack after Syndra is done, and/or .
Hourglass can be changed for offensive item if you feel confident and whole setup allows and benefits from bit extra DMG.

ADDITIONAL MATH AND CONCEPTS

**Glass cannon builds are best when you always can reach your prio target without taking much DMG along the way, and dodge this target's DMG, or its DMG is not that deadly. Or simply can outrange yer target.
For ex. when you have in role of obstacle and you attacking without her Ult and stacked Q. Which means free access to Ashe, who is not strongest rightclicker and can be 100-0'd quickly enough.
Ex.2 1v1 against vulnerable targets. Artil. mages, assassins (requires proper outplay), weak DPS low-mag resist ADCs, bruisers without great range.

***It is known that among all rectangles with same perimeter square is the one with biggest...square. We can apply this analogue to LOL, where rectangle sides are useful stats, square=useful function of these stats. For straightforward extended fights without healing (to simplify) we can treat champ's 1v1 power as function=DPS*longevity. Which reaches its maximum when there is no overstacking in one of the components. This is why bruiser builds are so strong for long fights, they gain big relative increase in all valuable stats and fight with them against less optimized for face to face 1v1, more specialized builds, which gets overpowered by bruiser as result. Even when used by champs who naturally deal less DPS in long fights. Get outbuilded, that is it.
Well-rounded "bruiser" build can be used by Ahri too. Which allows exchanging some DMG for significant durability gain. I am not big fan of RoA build and prefer simply adding useful items with HP or building 1 tank item vs. most difficult targets. Such as for dives into + , when I have no time for Charm fishing and want initiate in short range asap.

***We may treat flat pen as another DMG multiplier. 10 pen equals 130/(130-10)=8% DMG increase vs 30MR unit(EHP=1.3*HP), which is nice. Against 150MR unit: 250/(250-10)=4% bonus DMG, which is better than nothing. Flat pen devalues with time, and some champs tend to build MR as default option are common for on-hit ADCs, so you may invest more in other stats here and expect longer duel with them, or just focus other targets first.

***In early game champs have not much skillpoints distributed, which means AP/AD value from items provides huge DMG increase for them and should be prioritized over AH gain. Later, from 15min onward AH starts kicking due to AP/AD inflation and other reasons.For spells: 10 AH provides 10% DMG increase at 0 bonus AH, and 5% at 100 AH (50% CD reduction)
For maxlevel Ahri with 600 AP, base and scaling damages are Q1 140+300 W 120+240 E 240+510 R 120+210 Meaning roughly 1/3 is base, 2/3 is scaling DMG. To gain 10% DMG increase for at this point we need to add 0.1*(140+300)=44DMG by adding 88 AP.
For 600 AP: At 0/50/100 AH, each 10 AH added equals 88/66/44 AP added. In terms of DPS
More total AP = more AP value per 10 AH.

***For most dedicated tryhards: You need to avoid "overkill" situations with stacking stats, when fighting not very tanky prio targets. It is important to make quick kill in such situation, before they can get assistance. You may want test different builds to see some breakpoints against popular enemy builds.

Spoiler: Click to view

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05 Laning and macro

Wavemanagement highly encourages practice in competitive matches and not always works as expected, because of competition and switching to out-of-lane objectives. Often macro requires active map usage and planning; as anything else, these can be developed. Macro is strong, big and complex thing, and here I will provide only more or less basic stuff.

Before laning

Spoiler: Click to view

LANING BASICS AND MID STUFF

Champs have diffirent ability to clear, or "shove" minion waves. Defined by access to some AOE(with spells or . Ability to shove wave fast and take control over its state we may call lane priority, or "prio". This only happens when opponents have significant difference in waveclear power.

It allows to build bigger minion packs for further "crashes" to make it harder for opponent to last hit under tower without using spells. And after crash we have easier times for roam or recall since we grabbed all minion experience and most of gold. Also crash makes impossible to scratch out tower unless it pushed in. Champs with good shove and strong early powerspikes like , may try compete for level 2-3 spike and pounce on you soon after.

If we can crash such way that last of our minions will die when enemy wave comes to mid, enemy minions will stay near their tower for a little, and next wave will come and reinforce them earlier than yours. This will cause push toward you and can be used for "freeze" later.

Downside of pushing - lane becomes gankable. In this case, keep distance and ward bush near side where you standing. Or don't ward if you know for sure where roamers are. Pushing also allows to force some champs to spend their annoying spells if they want match your push and be able to farm. This is form of neutralizing against champs who are not neutralized well by your skillset.

If you're not planning to go anywhere from mid after crash, you may continue shove and lasthit near their tower, while dealing DMG to the opponent. Or allow enemy waves to push toward your base and make freeze.
For freeze, stop push and only lasthit, if there is no opponent, and enemy wave has enough minions. Otherwise it will be more problematic. Do it to make lane gankable by your jungler of build HUGE wave. If you want freeze above anything else you may stand inside minion pack and bait opponent for AOE into you. Freeze also allows you make some DMG to enemy, while they are far from their tower. Only useful vs some melee, be mindful about minions DMG to you. Freeze is much less effective in short lane such as mid, so do not bother too much.

Enemy freeze can be turned into fast push and tower scratch, so if you plan to go somewhere, it is worth to break freeze first. Be careful, and do not die to gank. It is worth just to keep mid opponent (and maybe jungler) here and not roaming, if you cannot safely break freeze.

Staying mid near jungler full clear timer may lead to gank. Which is useful to spare other lanes from jungler's attention, but may lead to midlaner's deth.

Big crashes often used for tower dive, cuz dived champ loses bunch of exp and gold, and some dirty, cheap 3v1 moves may occur. Be careful of this and use same tech for yourself.
After at least 2k+ gold in items (you and allies will need DMG) you may roam to side lane and try to perform tower ~~dive~~...ehm...walk. When you crashed big mid wave and chosen lane does the same.
Let's look at botlane roam example.

1 Variant.Your team can do it in more than one attempt if your minion wave is big and can tank the tower between attempts. Perform coordinated attack on someone, then step back, allow the tower to drop bonus DMG buff (5 sec). Repeat until they r dead.
2 Variant.Go closer to your victim, short ranged guaranteed + other stuff without ult + move out to drop tower aggro. Then allow your tanky supp (ideally) to tank and mitigate empowered tower shots. Watch out for being tower-focused again. If this flipped, finish the business with your ult and stuff.
Ideally, burst champ or tank starts engages into DMG champ, and consistent DMG dealer damages all time after engage. Normally, after 1st completed 3k item, should be piece of cake. Earlier side lane roams highly not recommended, unless you have good setup. Some supports can do early roams though, since they have such skillset and usually rush mobility boots for this.

You can do similar thing with mid/top lane. But 2v1 early tower dive is more difficult than 3v2 or 3v1 since you need enough combined HP to tank tower, DMG to finish target, and mid/top laners usually have CC/elusiveness/DMG or all together.

After gaining , you and your jungler can do 2v2 and bigger things. Use this time for snowballing your team.

While making crashes before going anywhere for long is nice default behavior, we may purposely sacrifice proper wave management and/or farm for quick greater good. But, unlike abusing lane prio and/or 1v1 advantage in trading, these can be far from guaranteed. For ex. early lane roams, or jungle 2v2s before finishing wave. You can do these, but need to be sure that it worth the risk, and calculate outcomes. If you succeed, slayed enemy will not only give you gold, but also lose some tempo(gold, exp), possibly good wave state, summs. And may get in unfavorable position in lane and be punished once more.
Usually it happens if someone overextends or makes obvious misplay with wasting too much resourses (big cooldowns, HP) that can be easily punished for free gold. Or mid and jungler just have better face to face 2v2.

(OPTIONAL) When roaming to lanes, you can use longer, alternative allied/enemy jungle out-of-river path. It may help counter river warding, but may be just waste of time since your raptors r warded. To ensure they are not, track enemy roamers for~ 90-120s before, and/or use -roamer's first-aid kit.
Wannable recall alternative route example: Crash mid. Go behind your tower, move to botlane tower2, enter botlane, kill everyone 3v2. Should only take 15-20s longer than normal mid-river-bot roam, but with much higher chance for success. Enemy still can recall before your arrival, check lane state and their unspent gold before commiting roam.

(OPTIMAL) Farm well, track jungler, grab items, big crash mid, go bottom shortest way(river or along bot lane after recall), use number advantage to crash bot and/or smack enemy champs. You may proxy catch enemy wave (if you came from river) if it may break your plan under tower. They have no choice but leave or get "outplayed" 3v2 right under tower. Unless they are and . If you attracted too much of them and cannot guarantee good result of incoming fight, peel your allies and let enemy waste time running for you.

In other words, it is better to create guaranteed situations by proper plays and exploiting enemy mistakes/weaknesses, than to hope for no vision/awareness from enemy. Like in example above, item and number advantage post 15 min matters. You can do anything to botlaners cuz you know enemy jungler with high chance is in other half of the map, and midlaner need to choose between losing big minion pack and late attempt for botlane countergank.
*If botlaners play overly safe closer to their tower when you start your roam, and/or midlaner goes for you into river, then they probably see or expect you, and it is wise just return to mid. Or don't return and make them guess what is next, and lose some farm. Similar half-commitment can be performed after every crash, sometimes with intent to make 2v1 against enemy jg/other roamer. Also it may apply some mental pressure and reduce farm for lanes who have no vision now.

In early game, farming junglers (passive gankers) clear jungle for roughly 1.5 min per one side. If you spotted them at some point you may try rewind their actions to see if they were able to ward somewhere recently. Look at minimap to spot laning champs moves for possible ward placement. Yellow wards lasts 90-120s, 150s for support wards.

When it comes to objectives...Yes, Rift Herald may break plated turrets, add gold advantage for shelly driver, deal with backdoor protected turrets and Nexus. But also may fail miserably. And you can break turrets completely without it. So why bother? If you have champ who can be funneled some gold this way, and become threat, then it may be useful. Or if there is open lane without any protection, and you can break another tower for free. Overall, situational epic mob.
By killing dragon (5 min respawn) in proper time, Junglers can make it so that Herald will spawn when there is no dragon. If one team have stronger jungle skirmish squad, they can do this way and take Herald for free.

I personally by default value dragons more, since they are of very approx ~1k team gold value+opportunity for soul, and stats serve you as additional slots until end of the match. And I like spending for botlane possible 2 champ elimination and/or summoner spells squeezing. Over toplane alternative. This is why I heavily biased toward botlane by default and recommend you do the same. Here are more kills, adc+sup diffs, dragon spawns, which are useful at any stage. Whlist toplane early epic camps more suited for additional early gold gain from push. You may alternate between bot/top kills if you are concerned by gold/kill debuff for repetitive kills on same champ, but this is not necessary

At epic monsters Ahri serves best as catcher/scout/zoning(zone enter for free preventing) champ. Not as DPS into jgl boss.

Choice between grubs and dragon is based on how uncontested you can do either of them. With prioritizing dragon a b_i_t. Do not force fight over any if your setup ( mid+jg+closest lane+ whoever can be there) is weak. Take one which is free. Maybe this is not always 100% accurate, but I see it like this.

Anyways, all this will be decided by junglers, not you! Unless you play duo.

With that being SAD, let's move to the next topic.

LANE OPPONENT ARCHETYPES

This part is kinda optional, but may help to understand general idea for classes without going deep in particular champs

Spoiler: Click to view

GENERAL IDEA FOR LANING

**Most of times your goal is to play from range cuz getting close means became easier target for spellcasters and ADCs and your skillset is bad for fighting inside minions. Sometimes you may catch for full combo immobile champ who decided to stop hiding behind minions.
Poke with Q, ideally shoving wave at same time if you need push now. Do not let same happen to you. Stay away from your minions pack, if enemy spells can go through them and reach you. You need force opponent to choose between poking you or clearing wave. This makes laning vs artillery mages and bullies much easier.

Vs.short ranged champs:their pre-6 is weaker than yours. Abuse this while you can.

**Avoid roaming lanes until it is 80%+free(for example at 15 min mark, your botlane crashing big wave into enemy tower, enemy jungler busy ganking top, enemy mid just met big midlane crash. You can go straight behind their tower from jungle and help secure double kill and tower, if your jungler is too far for this now ). But usually, focus on farm and jungle skirmishes, since lanes are far, warded, recalling, may have jungler in bush, whatever.
**When possible, play around "strong lane" first, which can snowball with little help, and set opponent far behind
**If you have some too valuable member who is "weak lane" for now because of early babysitting ,you may try to invest some resources here. Ex.You have decent who is countered early and ganked, and is one of two AD champs in your team. Enemy whole setup is vulnerable to post 20 min , and is AD-heavy, which is good for Riven's standart build. You may add some vision and combat assist and neutralize enemy jungler to enable before it is too late. Another good example may be , who is very strong vs autoattack-heavy setups, but can be countered early.

After destruction of outer turrets you can switch with botlaners and splitpush in their longer and more dangerous lane, or stay in pack of 3 and push 3-1-1 or go and catch someone somewhere, prioritizing annoying in teamfight champs like . Or do whatever is meta now.

YOUR OBJECTIVES IN ORDER FROM HIGH TO LOW PRIORITY (if you have no idea at all)

Farm and scratch turret, protect mid tower, go for 1v1 kill if easy, be ready to assist jungler when they are in your area of responsibility( circle with diameter between crab spawns, including enemy jungle), deny opponent's farm, steal crab, make useful vision when roam, steal Raptors, long range roams(lanes or deep jungle), split push, make everyone on the run for you and annoy with proxy farms/pushes( mostly when your team doing big objective and they are strong even 4v5 in case you have no rn)

TOPLANE ALTERNATIVE (NOT RECOMMENDED FOR BEGINNERS)

Yes, you can do toplane if you have some expertise here. Lane is longer and punishing harder. If you feel comfortable being solo self-found toplaner, and your team (composition and mental) is ok with that, then why not. Top is long lane meaning proper wave management is easier obtainable here. Including "rebound"-auto push toward your base after you crashed. and builds with more AH may be useful for disengages. Some matchups are much more difficult here. Those who have run you down function: , enjoyers. Take GHOST for yourself if needed. Also, take in mind your 2v2 setup with jg for competition in/around Nashor's pit, which you have to do as toplaner. Pick champ and build accordingly...

SPLIT PUSHING

Let's be honest, Ahri is not something that most champs want to face 1v1. Her DMG output is more than enough to deal with squishy targets and mobility+spell range allows to solve "beefy dudes" problem. With keystone it becomes even more kiteable and one-sided. Big shove and tower kill threat in addition to all above makes it clear: Ahri is capable splitpusher, especially when running default summ

If you got some duelist lifestealing from your minion wave a lot and want proxy push it to inhibs/nexus towers and you feel lacking DMG to compensate (worst case scenario), go behind them and meet next wave. If you are near enemy base , switch to another closest lane for push, stop enemy waves from threatening your base.

AKA similar mirrored play is possible but Ahri cannot restore HP that much in long run; only limited tower tanking/skirmishes allowed. In such situations, after de-push, it is better just gather with your team for some big teamfight and make use of your skillset here.

BOTLANE/SUPPORT (OFFMETA, NOT RECOMMENDED FOR ANYONE)

Going duo lane is not recommended because:
***Minions respond to players with repositions and Ahri's spells are less reliable in such chaotic botlane environement.
***They also may freak up lane state if you attempt poke opponent with .
***Unlike and other off-meta supports, damage numbers aren't great.
***Almost no support function.
***With lack of levels and gold early, you also fall behind in DMG for early game skirmishes,if they occur.

However, if you matched against passive laners and/or your lane ally can and want "just play safe and scale" , and if Ahri fits well in whole setup for mid-late, then why not? Still better than Mrs. Play-40min-4v5-Without-Vision Yummi. Or blindpicked chanter supps in general.
Build standart 1-2 items, skip 3rd (midgame DMG), rush 4-6 and have space for support items.Ex.

JUNGLE FUN IN UNRANKED (IF U WANT 2-WEEK VACATION)
Farm easy mobs until u can buy and play like casual jungler this is it

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06 Vision

THIS SECTION IS MOSTLY ABOUT BUILDING VISION HABITS AND DOES NOT INCLUDE USEFUL WARD LOCATIONS.

To make use of vision we need actually look at map or minimap(from here and until end of chapter-MM) sometimes. Players often don't pay attention to the MM, and this problem is not always overcome even at high ranks.

To develop this habit, we can try to check MM each time we are not busy. When not lasthitting, casting, dodging, etc. Gather some info in these time windows. Just create such additional objective for yeself. Do it when possible, no big deal if it you miss some attempts. Just make as much as you can in relaxed way. If there is much info to track, step back and work with MM/map. When it's done, continue main gameplay. In time, switching will become faster and easier.

Quite often, we do not need to see whole minimap actually. We just track for significant changes in MM picture by peripheral (aka INDIRECT) vision. If we see something BIG happening, we may check MM with direct vision then. Examples of BIG: additional champ's icon appears/disappears on minimap, faster than usual movements of champs' icons, slower movements ( Ex. hit and possible all-in which can be played around with our immediate )
Increasing MM size may help with peripheral vision for some users.

Sometimes you may want quick look at your allies. Including when mentioned above BIG things happening. There is "move camera to ally"(or something like this) setting. Rebind it for something easier for you. Perhaps, near QWER, like TYGH or GHVB for left hand, or 4856 or 0123 for right hand with numpad.

Vision may help your team to track state of neutral camps, roaming champ whereabouts, and predict their next move. Support/toplaner roam timers are not very predictable. Unlike full clearing jungler's.
We may expect some jg clear timers based on type of jungler

1.Full clear situation. Juns without great early game gank setup want clear their whole jungle and crab, then try to squeeze out of ganked laner before recall. Faster clearers may annoy you before crab spawn or if they know you already wasted .VS these you can place most common wards and they will work.

2.Strong Gankers. Ex. These have tools to make you dead or chunk alot of hp+flash right after lvl 2 gain, or bit later. This lowers clear speed, but may place ganked lane in very unfavorable position. Which will lead to successful kill next time they rotate here. For mid lane it may be: after clearing red buff, from one side; after stealing raptors, from other side; or just around 3m30s+ after crab. They also can be invaders at level 1 and later and it changes clearing paths and timers for both junglers a lot. These junglers mostly spottable when moving their gank/invade routes and not always in their own jungle.

TLDR:very unpredictable dudes, consider buying Placing it in your own jungle bushes or your half of the map in general(outside of vision from river) allows it survive longer and spot coming invades/some gank routes.
It is very important to gain as much vision as possible early vs such champs, and not let them snowball.

Place wards in nodes providing vision in max number of directions. Unless it is more important to get vision of the exact spot.
When warding popular enemy jungle spots, try to make it less countrable by lens or in-bush pink wards. Partial vision may be better than completely denied.

Later in the game you may want set up vision around objectives, some deep jungle wards to spot enemy groups movements and make objective plays or catch single targets. These wards may be anywhere between movement routes and object. You also want some vision inside your jungle if you're pushed in. To prevent surprise dives at your carries.

can be used to ensure area around you is not warded, which is useful when attempting roam to the lanes. This it when you may usually swap Yellow trinket. If you are not spotted early, you have much better chances. Use it when you start your roam, it will allow at least to clear enemy ward, or fully complete roam. You may keep/swap back to Yellow trinket for the whole game, as it is always have some use.
If you want roam to lanes a lot, clear wards around jungle objects and hide in bush, or enemy have Teemo, then Red trinked would be nice.

Blue trinket can be used for gaining quick info in small remoted area, before being destroyed. Situational thing for when you cannot facecheck. If it shows dangerous enemy pack near it, then you can focus on safer part of the map and more
freely place yellow stealth wards around it. Usually, used in Nashor/Dragon pit when you expect thar enemy team is already there.

Here are some examples.(Weak for now, maybe will add better version later)
NOTE. Wards in green circles are "home" wards for corresponding team, for their own jungle. Control wards are for places where they have long expected life time, based on enemy jungler invade power. They also can be basic yellow. All these are early-mid game, mostly for informing about jungler invades/ganks. Not including very deep wards (Krugs,Wolves and around),which r more difficult to place, and they r less informative. Late game, when anyone moving, vision may be placed anywhere. Remember to make vision around objectives ~40-60s before spawn.

To the top

07 1v1 Patterns

CHEAP DAMAGE CONCEPT

It is any DMG you can apply to the enemy without bothering too much. Non-comboed easy to hit spells. Ahri creates a lot of cheap DMG in form of , and .

Overall, Ahri can do a lot of dmg when ult is ready due to its synergy with and because most spells hit. While her scalings may look smol on paper, they hurt. Just open calculator and compare two "burst" AP champs*

650 AP: R1+E+ +Q1+Q2+W into single target=3013 dmg

Additional W+R+ rotation(3-4s later)= 1288 dmg; 3-4s later=1288 more
6026dmg in 6-8s(without using Q second time)

OR: Additional 680 + R (1.5s later)
and 1288 + R + W (another 1.5-2.5s later)
4980 dmg in 3-4s

currently 3s CD for W only possible with 100 AH, so 4s is more realistic

650AP: passive+R+Q+E DMG=3122 huh? Apparently it is Lux who cannot oneshot anyone! Sure,there may be another passive and lichbane proc for another 700dmg total, if we manage to play lich bane Lux within 550 range from enemy dudes, but I don't think so.

*not counting runes,some item dmg,etc. Which only means more dmg and "oneshots" in late. Mobility and range never inflates.

Let's take look at some 1v1 situations which may help you develop better understanding of these patterns. And implement them in bigger formats. From 2v2 to 5v5. Additional scenarios and schematics will be given in MECHANICS section.(not started yet)
NOTE:If you are not very tryhardy, try methods against only one type of enemy per game to maximize understanding and building habits. Items like Hourglass, Rocketbelt, Rylai(slow) may change spell sequences. Experiment with/against these by yourself!

VS ARTILLERY MAGE

Imagine you want fight some artillery mage. These dudes have one important ability(hard CC/at least root) which gives them +30% to chance of survival in 1v1 vs assassin. If they miss it, they're cooked. As an assassin, you don't want be hit by it and lose more HP than allowed. Let's analyze 1v1 scenarios for Ahri vs (artillery)Mage

1.Chilled poke scenario.
Approach to Mage for ~max range
If they cast something from longer range, and you can't reach them from single R usage, sidestep it and keep moving. This will either push them out of position or force to make bad move(getting closer than 800 range is bad move)
If they allow you poke them with Q, do it, then rethreat for moment. You don't need rush all-ins unless you need for sure. Repeat poke when Q ready.

2.0.Play time is over. When you want get rid of Mage fast.
If they are in range, rush with R1 straight to the point from where you can easily nuke them with E Q W +lichbane +R1(if bolts can reach). Important to do it quick so focus on hitting charm first, then Q, then W and auto. Element ot surprise allows you not being hit by more than one spell. Even if you're hit, your victim will be charmed for the rest of root you staying in. If Mage survives, keep dashing in response for spells and spamming and W.

2.1.They have flash.
R1 to unpredictable place near them(just enough range to hit auto with and R1 bolt), then auto-W-run away, sidestep their spell if it coming, then half-to-max range Q from safe distance. After W and lich bane come out of CD,repeat cheap DMG with R2 W auto. Or R3 auto, if you spended R2 for additional movement.

Difference with 2.0 variant:Do not cast anything exept cheap DMG(R,W,auto) at first arrival point for it takes time and can make you CC'd, and can be flashed. You may skip autoattack, avoiding CC is prio. If they flash at any point, continue as if it was 2.0 variant.I.E. engage into short range followed by almost point blank charm and other spells.

2.3.If you're CC'd and probably comboed early ,continue 2.1 with bothering about dodging less since they have some spells on CD.If you survive, of course.

3.Killthirsty. When you want get rid of Mage fast with increased risk of failure.
If Mage doesn't want getting closer, R1 in direction straight to Mage(or almost).If from here you can throw max range Q, -do it. If projectile comes from Mage, move perpendicular to it with movespeed by activation. Then R2 to the side near Mage from which you can easy hit combo ++ when it ready again. Then Q+R3+lich bane.
This is when Mage is enemy carry and priority target. Normally, you don't want spend more than one charge to get into position.

3.1.they have flash variant. After R1 and Q, keep running for them until all spells are ready and then...continue as if it was 2.1. with r1 renamed to r2 and r2 renamed to r3,and there is no R behind r3.

4.Oversimplified version. When they have 2400hp and less than 80MR, W R auto-move farther to not being hit too easily-wait for W cooldown. Repeat 2 more times for 3900dmg assuming 650 item AP. They will die from this. Keep running between Rs tho.

Overall you want react to artillery mage's abilities and dodge them while dealing cheap damage. From 800 distance it is easier for you to hit maxrange than for them hit you with anything. By trying so, they lock self in cast animation, and Ahri can just dodge this with ult before "anything" arrives. Keep moving after dashing to unpredicted places close to them (~600 range and less)to avoid being CC'd

This whole situation with imaginary Mage describing best Lux situation. And assuming execution is well done, which may be not allways the case. Still, 3 charges of is too much for artillery dudes. Some dudes are easier, cuz have short CC duration and/or delayed casts(Xerath, Vel'Koz(yes he is one of the easiest champs for Ahri despire countering her on paper)). Some are Brand, but we still can make him missing stuff, just keep some range and move. And some are Zyra with her charm-blocking plants, but these are doable too.

How to counter this as an artillery mage? Build EHP vs MagDmg. Stay with your team. Save your CC for short ranged guaranteed shot, follow it by buffered other spell if you see unavoidable charm coming. Spam only least cooldown, non-CC nukes from distance. Keep moving all time. Keep your flash ready when playing vs divers. You will probably still die, but not without wasting enemy resources.

VS ADC

We have range advantage over them. If they want hit us,they have to get close enough to become charmable with high chance. And they are vulnerable to from even longer distance. DO NOT COME CLOSER THAN NEEDED. WORK FROM 650+ RANGE WHEN IT IS EASY HIT. WE CANNOT DODGE THEIR DAMAGE IN THEIR ATTACK RANGE.

1.Easy peasy scenario. Poke with ,, move closer for and if ADC charmed. Move slightly out of attack range, repeat when CDs ready. Use W for MS and max range DMG "tickle".

2.Close range engage. If they are too far for 100% orb/charm and we have no time; or we need move near them for some reason. Close range R+E+Q++W+ move out and keep distance until W++R ready.
If they have or other mobility, R1+Q1+- wait for flash until Q2 hits. If ADC flashed, move with R2 for Q2 to follow(this Q2 hit is not always possible:if they flashed last moment, or too far) . ++W at arrival if anything of these ready. W may be used anytime for movespeed and/or temporal disengage,or DMG, based on how much you can tank.
Alternatively, use pure CHEAP DMG attack. R1(to range just enough for R bolts and your attack to hit)++W-move out. Repeat with R2 and R3, when and W ready. Use orb/charm when needed. Ideally, 700+range for Q1 , before another R, to allow Q2 hit.

ADC Counterplay: Get 100+ MR after 30 min,if you are main carry and heavily focused, or they have another champs with magic DMG who can pounce on you. It should only decrease your DMG output only by~10% and will increase EHP by 30%, which can be difference between life and death from CHEAP(unavoidable)DMG. In addition, Lifesteal item(or two) may restore bunch of HP in longer fights for autoattack-heavy champs like who are best vs squishy targets and build crit and less attack speed. Lower AS champs can maneuver better without losing much DMG.

Keep distance around your max range to be able dodge , which damages and disables your ~2-3 autoattacks, which is huge. Do not outplay self with zigzagging. Just attack, keep distance, dodge reactively.
Alternatively, move away with occasional counterattacks and dodges ,then allow to expire.

VS ASSASSIN

These are bursty, mobile and spellcasting for the most. Your goal is to dodge their spells, while dealing some CHEAP DMG. They cannot deal as much CHEAP DMG as you. Their misses are costly for them. If they hit, they hit hard.

Start from long range poke. If they rush into you, prioritize dodging over dealing DMG. If you rush into them, same thing. Dodging first, DMG second. Do not stay in melee without need. Keep until guaranteed hit, when their elusive/mobile thing is on CD, or abuse their fixed dash range or self-locking animations

Counterplay:Prioritize easier targets. Dodge charm at all costs(If you have some elusiveness spells, use only extra-short ranged dashes into Ahri to not allow cast charm in right time.Ex. and his last moment untargetability followed by point blank dash. is very visible spell now. If you have non-(point click straightforward targeted) dash like , you have better chances, and may even use it for dodging other spells. Building some MR will not hurt much your dmg output.

VS BRUISER

I am not a big fan of separating these to subclasses, and just call them all bruisers.
They often have some form of dashes, big EHP pool, and can heal out of DMG. Take fight with these when away from your/jungle minions. Keep distance needed, kite and waste their HP and cooldowns before main event. Save charm for disengage if they have long/multiple dash(es). Do not stay in melee without great need.

Counterplay:Dodge what is possible, all-in immobile consistent DMG source. Do not get baited from the start by things like . Only commit if they wasted mobility. Alternatively, splitpush and bait some easy target to come for de-push.

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08 [STUB] INDIVIDUAL 1V1S AND MATCHUPS

STUB SECTION, FAR FROM FINISHED

Here is list of popular lane matchups and some orher noteworthy champs. NOTE:This section describe nearly ideally played enemy champs. Human factor exists, high skill floor champs may be easier to confront. And I may simply lack exp., and/or be wrong in something. Some champs are not your lane opponents. Some most straightforward(Ex. ) not included.

Quick notes regarding all mid opponents:
1.If you want gank, make sure u get rid of opponent's mobility first
2.Often, enemy has similar to Ahri relations with range for their linear skillshots???. The closer is range, the better is chance to hit???. Avoid being too close unless it will allow you guaranteed hit or shove your wave by enemy AoE into u (if needed)
3.Here?? should be xtra short "tradeworthy" algotytm.

Champs with name starting from:

A

Spoiler: Click to view

Brand

Spoiler: Click to view

***

Caitlyn
Each autoattack adds stack; at 4-5 stacks AA deals bonus DMG. AA from bush generate 2 stacks.

Q wide long strong shove and nuke, easy to hit into E slow
W can be used to force chaser move around it, often as combo E+W
E Cait fires net for 750 range from cast point, and recoils for 400. Can be comboed with , similar to . Empowers next attack with lots of DMG and bonus range. Allows ez hit with her Q.

R just ult

She want permashove+freefarm and hit you with AA, including those empowered by or cuz yout skillshots are not reliable from her AA range. Net can be used for dodging your Q or E or for chasing you. It has long range and must be avoided at any stage of game. Her AoeE waveclear is weaker early and eats mana, but she adds to this with AA, and farms well and quickly increases AoE. Worst part: after your minion pack is reduced, she will non-stop AA you.

TLDR: SADGE. But setup power is weak, she is semi-immobile and we must play around this. Shove as much as you can and keep your minion pack big, so she will not try AA you much. Grab any CS you can and protect your tower, spam ganks when she cannot scratch ur tower and you have ult ready. Big part of her late game power can be chunked by . Or allow tankier champs engage on her first.

Camille
passive-If attacks someone, gains 20% maxHP shield for 2s.
Q grants MS on-hit, allows AA reset. Avoid Q2 recast.
W slow
E Dashes to the wall and sticks to it (E1), then, after up to 1s, can jump down(E2) near that wall or get over it or pounce on enemy champ from long distance. E1 can be used as reveal tool as it shows extended distances toward champs, included not visible ones. E1 can be relatively easy charmed from short distance when it comes perpendicular to Charm, just after hook hits wall and Cam start dashing. Or, E2 can be ez charmed from long distance when it comes from the wall to Ahri.

R Range 500. Can be cast during E dashes. You can dash inside. completely cancels creation of ult barrier, if stasis is cast during her Ult untargetabiliy+ dash( 0.5s). If you can Charm her from 500+ range (when Charm hits) during her dashes, do it. If not sure-get ulted, move from center and avoid 1-2 autos (or don't move yet) to one of sides and tank her, Charm just before her Q2 recast ready ( track it by ramping sound) , W+ move and allow Q2 expire. OR: Charm inside asap, move to the side/corner, use OR: Charm asap+Q+W, move to corner + Zhonya When she winds up Q2. How you will kite her while inside -it is up to you.

If she is lane opponent... Shes weak and bullyable early, but can stun you for jungler skillshot. Keep dist from walls, which she can reach with E1; be ready to charm E2 from long range especially post-6. If you can, crash and make rebound at first levels, then freeze before junglers rotate there, lower her HP along the way. is nice if you have weak support in teamfight and can be focused.

Mel

pre-6
q annoying, needs this for push or easy poke on you
w deals nothing...okay, it is some MS.
e root, weak at pushing
In early game perma shove or whatever. Keep distance and dodge
post-6 q e dodgeable w can reflect something.Cast something 1 after another,not all into reflect,dodge something, after reflect wasted use what is left.
***
Kata. Do not stay in dagger pickup slash(passive) radius. 80% of job is done. Use charm ONLY to interrupt her ult. another 15% is done. do not tank melee. that is it.
***

Weaktor
-spend charge of ult to move out of his ult.Other than that,you both have similar damages and cooldowns for q's and E's. And his W is not damaging at all. and you are better lichbane user. and(surprise) yer DMG output is bigger if you move out of lasor2 even if we count his shield DMG cut. Get some mr for late just in case...
****
Yasuo

Keep distance from minions,shove beforehand or he will block yer Q and crash wave.After laning he becomes melee minion unable to charge his Q and dash and be useful. Find him and turn into 275g before he gets into teamfight. Windwall may appear transparent,but it blocks.Explain this to your team before match started and pray it will work cuz 99,999% of players unaware of how windwall works.
****
Yone

Play around his E(ribbon-like thing with long CD). keep W and E in case he want all-in you. The more spells he has ready, the more reactive with yer W and E and safe you should play.When Q3, E(ribbon) are on CD,you may go for some aggro. Kiting him become easier with time. after 25 min: Find him and turn into 300g.

ZED

main weakness:Zed and his shadows are very telegraphic about where and when they will throw shurikens (slow animation with visible cast direction) Never dash before his Q's are cast! Exeption=you have rocket belt ready. Never throw Charm into him if he has Ult or Shadow ready,unless u want him spend these.
After 30 min,1v1 becomes pretty Ahri-favorable if you do not misplay, and have vision of Zed and shadows. Build Hourglass if feel unconfident.

09 Game settings and Skillshot-related info

IMPORTANT SETTINGS FOR SKILLSHOT-RELIANT CHAMPS

QUICK CAST

You can adjust way of how spells are cast.
"Normal cast"-on pressing spell hotkey, game will show possible trajectory for that spell, press left mouse button to cast spell. Legacy option, not very useful now.
"Quick cast with indicator"-press hotkey to show trajectory, release to begin cast. Aka cast on release. Default recommended option for spells which support this
"Quick cast"-press hotkey to begin cast spell, aka cast on press.
Spells may have cast time( often 0,25s) before firing actual spell.

Try to test both settings( QCast with and without indicator) in PvP matches without switching inside the match to find which setting is best for you. Against some champs who require your quick reaction rather than precision, you may prefer QCast without indicator. Ex. and their dashes.

Note that quick cast with indicator delay between press and release may be insignificant, if you have quick fingers and/or capable keyboard. Thus you may want it as default option for the most of times.

NATURAL PREFERENCE

Players naturally have different efficiency in throwing skillshots in diffirent directions. I personally have much easier times hitting to somewhere between north and east. Can almost hit it with eyes closed. While doing so quick to near-west or south-west direction is much more difficult. This is why my winrate on will be lower when i play for the red team. I find this champ is mostly played in direction from allied base to enemy, at laning phase and later. And her precise stun combo is what makes big difference.
Find your easy directions, try to test/improve skillshots in all directions by training, make adjustments if needed. When playing Ahri, consider moving with R such way that you can perform precise and quick shot from the easy direction.

CURSOR

Some linear skillshots are easier if you place your cursor behind the target. Often it is true for close targets. Because even small mouse movement near your champ when firing skillshot creates big angular displacement, you want minimize it. And whole skillshot trajectory may be less clear visible from here.
Some are easier when cursor is between you and the target. Train both situations in practice tool with small and big monsters and dummies. From diffirent angles and ranges. Make some muscle memory. Adjust mouse sensitivity for it being good for close and long range cast. Repeat from time to time or as your warm up.

When fighting some champs as Ahri, sometimes you may want be close and abuse player's high angular displacement misplays(caused by high mouse sensitivity for close range moves), or inability to follow your movement nearby.Ex. -delayed casts, and/or not easy to hit from close range, may have turn rate limitations. Such as 180°/S for

Try to not place cursor too far from champ you are playing. In any given moment you may need to cast spell towards distant unit, which is in your max spell range. Or simply to move. The closer to your champ is your cursor, the faster you can start moving in new direction ( and dodge stuff or react in other way ), and change spellcasting directions. Keep your cursor not farther than your champ's autoattack range, as default. You may find better for you options by experimenting.
Note: very long range champs may have special preferences.

Legacy cursor enabled may be better for some players.

LOCKED CAMERA

Locked camera can be useful when you need to feel distance, exact direction of incoming projectile or champ and make quick and precise shot, more accurately evaluate your position after using Ult, etc. Do not hesitate to use locked cam often even if you have camera unlocked+spacebar centering as default. To make it easier, find better keybind for it.

2.5D BLUE TEAM HITBOX ADVANTAGE

Blue team has easier times hitting enemy units' legs, when laning, as they are not obscured by champ's model. If you have natural preference toward this direction, you may perform much better with this. But it is possible to just make habit of ignoring unit's model and play only around hitboxes. From any direction.

ELEVATION ISSUE

Skillshots can miss if source and target unit are at different heights. This is signifigant and DISGASTANG!!!
River is low ground here. If you are in the river, you need to aim little bit lower and if enemy is in the river you need to aim little bit higher. I cannot say if this works similar for any champ/patch/place on the map. You need to find out required correction for your champ and current map version using practice tool. In general, take fights on flat ground when possible, or abuse this against skillshot reliant champs. and his shadows' shurikens can be screwed a lot from this.

SKILLSHOT-INVOLVING TECHNIQUES

DOUBLE TROUBLE (SKILLSHOT OVERLAP) TECH

One skillshot can ensure that another will hit, if they overlap each other or target unit's hitbox.
Throw your Q in the center of enemy champ. They will try to move out. As soon as you got their movement direction, throw E in front of them such way that they will hit by it if they continue moving there, or just by staying still. Now, if they step back to dodge Charm, they will be hit by Q2 (and possible by Q1 if you do it quick, and distance allows). If they stand in the middle between Orb and Charm, they have good chance to be hit by both. Enemy without dash have no chances to dodge both spells, thrown in such way. Best counterplay possible for 99% of times=dodge Charm, let be hit by Q2.

GUARANTEED HIT ZONE

When unit stands near straight wall, it can be hit by linear skillshot with very high chance. Cuz the only useful for dodging direction that unit can move is direction FROM the wall, perpendicular to it. Hitting such unit with just corner ( maybe 20% width to ensure hit) of your linear skillshot is enough, and makes it almost impossible to escape through all skillshot's width, instead of half-width, like usual in open space.
Same logic applies to walls of any form. Destroy some turrets in "practice tool" and practice in these wonderful zones. Find these extra-narrow spaces near towers and in other places. Avoid getting there in PvP matches, when you can be skillshotted hard.

IN BETWEEN TECH

Champs with linear skillshot can lineup two or more enemies and fire skillshot "between" them in attempt to hit them all or least someone, without trying to hit one particular champ in the center. Usually it is result of targeted champs misposition. OR if targeted champs are slowed/immobilized. In this case it is optimal play.

This means champs' hitboxes only partially covered by skillshot hitbox. This tech very useful when you combine it with zoning and/or slows/immobilizing Ex. You have 2 champs whom you chase. You can launch linear skillshot such way that it will hit farther with 70% of its width, and hit closer with only 20%. If closer champ want to dodge, he need to stop, which is lose-lose situation. At same time, farther champ need to dodge "70% potent" skillshot, which can lead to hit, especially if this champ is slowed by some DoT.

Ahri can ( optional=fixate one with charm,) lineup and hit 2 champs with most of her spells. Details in MECHANICS section when it ready.

DOUBLE TROUBLE can be combined with IN BETWEEN while abusing GUARANTEED HIT ZONE for extra cringe effect!

COUNTER SPELLCAST

Spells can be answers to enemy champ self-locking animations. Such as attacks, short spellcasts( 0.25s cast time mostly), long/channeling casts. This leads to increased chance to hit. Especially effective from shorter range. Ahri has luxurity to move at 1.4*300=420 MS from insta-cast W, ( right after casting her "counterspell" ) and dodge original spell/AA . Or initiate cast , and dodge enemy counterspell by W+ run, If they want make self-lock and allow Ahri's initial spell hit.
Whole thing is very common and important. Build some habits here if want git gud.

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9.1 [STUB] mechanics

Whole reason why I decided to make this guide...feelsbad lul

10 SEASON 2026 CHANGES

Maybe it will surprise someone, but not that much has changed...in terms of gameplay. Despite the fact there is a lot of changes on paper.

1. Feats, Attackan, petals - all gone.

2. Pushing is more valuable now. Everyone has mini- , which favors your regular interaction with enemy tower in form of autoattack. Builds with are even better now. Minions move 50 MS faster. Some new push-reliant Bauss-style strategiess may yet emerge. And Ahri may become less useful. For now, she is solid pick.

3. Every lane gains quest, similar to jungle and supp roles. Rewards are NOT game-changing , do not bother too much. What stays gamechanging is good draft , execution , mental. Focus on these. Quest rewards will find anyone at some point, no need to rush them.

Play around champ identity, like usual, and deny enemy resources. They want complete their quests too. By killing them, denying lane farm, jg mobs, etc. you delay such possibility.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE DENYING ENEMY RESOURCES WHEN IT IS EASY TO DO, even if it will cost you some CS. Denied enemy CS, exp, cooldowns are also important, despite fact they are not shown in score.

ADC and top getting best quest rewards (stats-wise), but this does not mean that you should always prioritize lane roams over standart in 2025 play around mid and jungle. And, once again, around push.
If enemy team is tanky enough, and your ADC is good vs tanks, you may play around them a bit. Cuz is great again, and ADC quest allows them to buy additional slot for extra-late game power.

TLDR: When ult ready- seek for opportunities for 2v2-3v3, as before. By default, affect top/bot evenly. They have nice quest upgrades, and repetitive kills of same champ worth less gold. But this is not obligatory.
If you are vs dangerous opponent, roam less. Keep ult for yourself, push your lane, scratch towers.

3. Most noteworthy thing among new items is . Which is good on Ahri too. If you do not want adapt your playstyle for playing with , then, probably, do not bother much. Expect it to become new meta soon, until nerfed to the ground, mark my words. Cuz item is Yuumi 2.0 and goes extremely well in 30+ min matches on anyone who can stick to their target (and not relies purely on autoattacks) and output crucial DMG/heal/utility ( which can multiply with each other sometimes) in 8s window. And currently it is on 60s CD...smells balanced! Will not be surprised if it works on champs like (or even ) too.

Do not be fooled by treacherous deception they made with Luden's thing. This is NOT return of good old Luden's Echo. This is just same cheap copy everyone built in 2025.

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CHANGELOG & OUTRO

Created changelog so returning readers can easily find fresh added stuff. Minor updates not shown.

Spoiler: Click to view

I hope you found something usefull here. For now...it is what it is. Maybe will add more later.

THAT'S ALL, FOLKS!

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LP print now ! Semiliterate textwall tryhard Ahri guide

LP print now ! Semiliterate textwall tryhard Ahri guide

Recommended Items

Runes: Short trading/burst ( default)

Spells:

Flash

Teleport

Cleanse

Flash

Flash

Ignite

Items

Ability Order Default skill order

Essence Theft (PASSIVE)

Orb of Deception (Q)

Fox-Fire (W)

Charm (E)

Spirit Rush (R)

Threats & Synergies

Aatrox

Akshan

Aurora

Caitlyn

Irelia

Kalista

Ahri

Vi

Kayn

Jarvan IV

Master Yi

Nautilus

Pyke

Maokai

Vi

Kayn

Jarvan IV

Master Yi

Nautilus

Pyke

Maokai

League of Legends Champions: