ABOUT ME

Hello guys and gals. I'm Ahri Simplord,a D3 Ahri abuser from the EUNE server,looking to improve even further this season. I've been playing the game since season 1 with massive breaks in between but it has come down to this season for me to commit to the game and climb hard. Im currently sitting on 210K mastery with 78 games this season with Ahri in Solo queue and 61.5% win rate which rose a lot after the Ahri adjustments. I've had no problem reaching D3 in a short amount of time so I don't see why I can't reach higher and I'm looking to transfer to EUW since EUNE starts to fall off skill wise after D2

These are my stats with Ahri this season:

Ahri has been one of the least banned champions the last season and that's come to change this patch. She's become one of the most fun to play champions,being able to jump up to around 8 times on a single teamfight, she has turned into long teamfight overlord with high mobility and survivability.

PROS + High mobility + Good waveclear and safe laning + Bad possitioning not as punishable as other champions + Amazing teamfighting, great pick potential + Goes well with a lot of champions and can be a safe blind pick + Great roaming Ahri might be one of the safest blind picks you can have in the mid lane. Even though she has bad matchups her Spirit Rush provides enough safety to avoid sketchy situations and also has insane counterplay capabilities. Her waveclearing allows her to get priority in most lanes and enables her roaming to win other lanes. She excels in playing around her jungler since there's not many champions that can survive her Charm during a 2v2. Also after the adjustments she's become a teamfighting god, jumping around the battlefield and getting those juicy essences while keeping herself healthy with every kill

CONS - Low base HP and Armor - Low damage and all in power - Bad sustain - Falls really behind if she can't get the initiative in roaming - Mediocre at best versus oneshot comps - Has to land skillshots to be useful After the adjustments she got, her base HP,Armor and HP regen took a big hit,this led to her to be more prone to all ins and in need of corrupting potion which leads to even less health due to Doran's Ring absence. Her Essence Theft adjustment is actually a nerf in laning phase and a boost in teamfighting as you sustain less from minnions than you used to. Because she excels in teamfights she can really fall behind if she's stuck in a lane she cannot get out of and she has to land her Charm to make picks even though she's not as reliant to it as she used to be. Her Orb of Deception is actually really hard to hit both ways if you dont land your Charm first.

Those 2 are the go to for most matchups as Ahri. Flash is the spell you take 100% of the games while Ignite helps her finish off duels in her favour that otherwise she wouldn't be able to do so considering her low damage


Teleport is a secondary choise to Ignite. There's no matchup where you Ignite isn't needed to finish off your opponent but sometimes survivability and macro are much more important than finishing off kills. You'll be looking to pick up Teleport in lanes where you're not looking to win the 1v1's through pure damage but through lane management. Fizz, Qiyana are 2 of the examples where teleport can be picked.

DOMINATION

will be the main rune you'll be looking to go for as Ahri. As a low damage champion, Electrocute really provides that tiny bit more damage you need and it's really easy to proc. A simple way to do it early is AA->W->AA.

For the second part of the tree all 3 options are viable. Generally you'd want Taste of Blood vs matchups where you can easily AA them without being punished. Cheap Shot used to be the standard choice but after the Spirit Rush buffs it's likely better to go for Sudden Impact

For the 3rd part Eyeball Collection is a must go. Ahri lacks damage as I've said multiple times during this guide, every single point of AP you can collect is a plus and welcomed

Lastly Ultimate Hunter is also a must go for Ahri since her kit is really reliant on her ultimate,if her ultimate is up,her pick potential and survivability shoot up to the moon.

INSPIRATION

For secondary runes you'll want to go Biscuit Delivery and Time Warp Tonic after her laning phase sustain nerfs.

Other options include runes from Sorcery such as Manaflow Band, Celerity, Scorch and Bone Plating and Overgrowth from Resolve,vs AD assasins mostly

However,when facing champions that you can freely harass with AA early like Kassadin and Yone changing to Summon Aery as primary rune is more beneficial as it will lead to early lead in the game

This is where we analyse every item that's viable for Ahri

STARTING ITEMS

corrupting potion This is the most optimal starting item for Ahri after the laning phase sustain nerfs. It enables you to use more spells before you have to back while also providing HP regen

Doran's ring This is still a viable option for every matchup,however, I only pick it anymore into matchups where the opponent can make an all in happen early,so mostly against AD mid laners and Fizz

MYTHIC ITEMS

Liandry's Anguish This is my personal favourite this patch. Ahri has lost some of her oneshot potential after the removal of damage amplification from her Charm so there was a need to find another way to deal damage,the easiest way was to go for max ability haste. The burn from the passive is enough to help you oneshot caster minnions if the pure damage isn't enough and the bonus ability haste on each legendary really adds up to a lot of it. Also the item has insane synergy with her the triumph part of her Essence Theft and her Spirit Rush since the burn adds a bonus 4 seconds of being in combat with enemy champions so its easier to collect their essence

Luden's Tempest This is still a really good option into comps with a lot of squishy champions or if your team lacks damage. I still continue with ability haste after it however.

Everfrost Even though it's a really good item and it's picked in a high percentage of master+ players, I don't really like it. I haven't had much trouble landing my charms and that's likely I am more used to throwing them than my opponents dodging them which might not be the case in really high elo.

Crown of the Shattered Queen This is the most situational out of all of them. You only want to pick it versus champions like Qiyana, Talon,in general champions that have to commit ot an all in usually. However even when you're facing them you have to take the entire enemy team into consideration. If you pick it in a game where the enemy support is playing Yuumi she'll just pop it with her Q without much trouble,making you lose all value off it.

LEGENDARIES

This is where the fun starts though

Cosmic Drive This is the best item you can get on Ahri at this moment. It gives everything she needs right now,mobility through the bonus movement speed,huge ability haste boost and some ability power which isn't really used a lot to be honest. After the Spirit Rush boosts, Ahri is able to make multiple rotations of her abilities until her Spirit Rush goes back to cooldown. Also if you follow my go to build,once you're full items you have the opportunity to even waste your ultimate for a potential pick that because even if you don't land the Charm and fail,your Spirit Rush will be on 20 seconds cooldown by the time the 15 second timer is over

Zhonya's Hourglass Even though Ahri has gained a lot of survivability by being able to get more Spirit Rush stacks with each takedown, Zhonya's Hourglass is still and will always be a really good item to build on her. As she has low base stats, avoiding damage will always be better than tanking through it.

Banshee's Veil You won't build this as usually as Zhonya's Hourglass but there's certain champions you have to pick this against. Thought proccess is same with Crown of the Shattered Queen,if the enemy team doesn't have someone who can pop it without even trying,it's good,however its still situational. It really shines against CC like Amumu's Bandage Toss, Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab and Karthus' Requiem.

Morellonomicon It's pretty clear when this item is needed, if the enemy team has a high healing champion or an enchanter with heals, it's usually a must build

Rabadon's Deathcap Straightforward item, really good 4th pick if opponents don't build MR and will likely be built every game even if it's fifth.

Shadowflame This item is really gold efficient vs some champions. Sometimes I build it second if there's certain champions on the enemy team. For example if the enemy team has Seraphine or Sona then it's a no brainer since it'll give 20 magic pene no matter the target. Not good vs tanky opponents that don't utilize shields

Void Staff And this is the go to when the opponents have tanks that don't utilize shields or just stack MR, really situational and I avoid it most games.

Lich Bane I tried this in the practise tool and damage is indeed nice when you're full build but I haven't given it a chance in action. I imagine the bonus movement speed and ability haste is nice but I am not sure if you are able to send out AA all the time during a teamfight since you staying at the same spot during the AA animation might kill you.

BOOTS

There's only 2 boots I ever build.

Ionian boots of lucidity These are my favourite. Low cost-high reward. The ability haste is good for Ahri and the summoner ability haste can give you an advantage in a 1v1 against an opponent that used flash at the same time as you.

Sorcerer's Shoes I don't build them as much anymore. I pick them mostly if we have 2 ap champs in my team's comp cause enemies are likely to get some MR but even then going for Shadowflame 4th is better in my opinion, only case I pick them 100% is if they are going to build MR no matter what(if we have 3 ap champs for example).

Laning phase

VS most champions every pre-6 laning is unique since sometimes you need to play for level 6 while other times you need to win the lane before 6. Generally what you are looking to do is to harass the opponent at every chance you get but not at cost of you having to recall cause of mana problems while also avoiding bad trades and most importantly, all-ins. Ahri has no problem missing a couple of minnions but you definetely should go down more than 10 cs than your opponent. On the 2nd-3rd wave always ward one of rivers,preferably not inside the bushes because a lot of junglers tend to go around the bushes and surprise you by appearing next to your turret. You also want to shadow your jungler when he's going for scuttle and help him get it by having priority in your lane because junglers tend to greed for it and you might find a pick against the enemy jungler. After level 6 is when you look to start roaming bot preferably. Ideally you want to lose as less minnions as possible so you want to shove in your lane before roaming. Watch out for bushes on your way down because you dont want to lose your R by having to using it to survive. A good way to not have to do that is to track the opponent jungler so you know where exactly he might be at the moment of your roam. If you are platinum and above lanes should not be playing a seperated game,that means if you see the enemy jungler diving or ganking top that it's free for you and your jungler to head bot and dive the enemy bot lane,ideally you want to be around there before even the enemy jungler appears top. All ins are still kinda hard to do but are definetely possible if you land your charm but since the adjustments you're not that dependant on it, which means that you don't have to use it at the start of the combo which makes it easy to dodge,but rather hold it and wait until you're 100% sure it lands.

Mid game

Because bot lanes tend to lane swap to mid lane a lot of mid mains start falling behind on csing during this time. It's okay to farm mid lane if you're closer to it and your adc is not there since he can just go bot and pick up the lane but generally what you wanna do is perma shove bot and look to play around your team to find picks. This is where Ahri shines since she's a pick up artist and the enemy adc doesn't have enough ad yet to 2 tap you with his auto attacks. Vision is really important during this time so you should look to have Vision Wards in your backpack while running Oracle Lens unless its impossible for you to get close to bushes and e to clear them because an assasin might be hiding in one of them. This is also the point where it's really easy to stack deaths and die over and over again so you need to be aware of the enemy jungler's possition and back off if you are over extended. You should take in consideration which of the 2 teams has better teamfight and what's the win condition for each team. As an Ahri you're both good at teamfighting and picking up champions but if the opponents have a Kennen top with Azir mid then you're not looking for a teamfight but a pick before the teamfight that'll win you the drake or whatever objective is up for taking.

Late game

With old Ahri,if the game got into that point then the game got pretty hard because flashes are used less frequently while you didn't get many chances to make picks. I used to sit into random bushes in the enemy jungler and wait for someone to step close only to oneshot them. Now I don't think this is a viable option anymore. You must stick with your team and realize what's the ideal thing you can do. If you have a 6 items Jhin in your team and the enemy jungler is a Vi it might be ideal for you to sit on top of him and just charm Vi of him after she's done with her R. On standoffs in baron and elder you shouldn't be scared to step in front of your team just for a second if someone over steps. Even landing a charm on a tank at that point might burst him down down to 40% making him unable to fight the best he can. This is also the point where you must keep track of the opponents at all times cause you will need to clear vision and setup vision around objectives, so walking into fog of war in the river without knowledge might kill you. Ahri still lacks damage in this point so you're not looking to make picks solo like an assasin since you'll have to use Spirit Rushes to kill the opponent which will likely be shadowed by another opponent..

I still see a lot of people going for Luden's Tempest and Everfrost every game while continuing the build with more AP and magic pene. Everyone can prefer it as he wants but currently I believe that CDR is much more easy to play,especially for new players or players that are not used to the champion since you can make more mistakes.

While full AP-magic pene Ahri can likely still do oneshots I don't necessarily think that's better than being a teamfight god. Perhaps on silver-gold elo it's good because you cannot really depend on your team to follow you and finish the opponents. The problem with full AP-magic pene Ahri is that if she uses her Spirit Rush defensively or offesively and failing the pick,she's become useless for the next 70 seconds waiting for the cooldown to come back.

I've come to the realization that with CDR Ahri you end up doing a lot more damage than you actually do with magic pene build. This is because with the amount of resets you get in a good teamfight,throwing your Orb of Deception every 3.5 seconds and pressing your Fox-Fire every 5 seconds while it lasts 2.5 is nuts. Also late game because of Flashes and Galeforceses,ADC's tend to be really mobile so using your Spirit Rush to get close and Charm them will likely end up in a missed Charm and your Spirit Rush going on cooldown. This really hurts if there's an elder coming up and you have a 60 second cooldown on Spirit Rush. With CDR build however once the 15 second timer is done and your Spirit Rush goes on cooldown, you have it back in like 25 seconds which is nothing. If you time your attempt well you can make your attempt and have your Spirit Rush back by the time you need it for the fight. Also I believe that it's impossible for magic-pene Ahri to achieve teamfight god status because even if you get Spirit Rush resets,you cooldowns on the rest of your skills won't allow you to jump around as much. I've actually gotten a penta on a flex game this season,which although it was in low plat, it wouldn't be possible with magic pene build or old Ahri. In conclusion, even if you decide to go for a mythic other than Liandry's Torment, I believe going for Cosmic Drive next and continuing the CDR build is worth.