Hello, I am a season 4 Platinum player on the NA servers, and this is my third mobafire guide. I really enjoy Azir's play style and I feel that there are many misconceptions and difficulties with Azir so I decided to make a guide for him. With his extremely high damage, range, teamfight, and good mobility Azir is a great pick.

Pros

+ Very high damage mid-late game + Safe laning + Exceptional in teamfights + High skill cap + Long range

Due to his long range and good mobility, Azir has a very safe laning phase. Once he has completed 1-2 items his damage skyrockets, and late game he is able to 2-3 shot enemy carries from a safe distance. With his long range and AOE skills he excels in team fights, especially with his ultimate that can separate the front and back lines. His kit also allows him to initiate fights in a way similar to Lee Sin which can be very useful. Along with all of this, Azir has a very high skill cap which can allow flashy outplays and hard carrying.

Cons

- Difficult to master - Awful early attack speed - Difficult to play against assassins - Hard to CS without using skills.

While having a high skill cap is good, it can also be bad for players just starting to play Azir. He can be very hard to master which may frustrate some players. His early attack speed is quite awful which can make farming hard in the early game. You might be able to farm with your soldiers but this may drain your mana fast if you are using them to last hit every minion. Many assassins such as Katarina, Zed, and Fizz can easily pass through Azir's ultimate and burst him down which can be very troubling.

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Magic Penetration marks allow for great early game damage especially when matched with Liandry's Torment. Only run greater mark of hybrid penetration if you are having a very hard time last hitting, because otherwise it serves no purpose as you will not be hitting the enemy with your auto attacks very often. Flat armor seals are standard against AD. I run Seals of Scaling Cooldown Reduction because, with the cooldown reduction from Morellonomicon and the Sorcery mastery, it allows you to get 40% CDR without having to buy Nashor's Tooth(More details in Items chapter). Flat AP Quints are also standard.

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When against an AP laner or AP team, simply switch out the Flat Armor Seals for Scaling Health and switch out the Scaling CDR Glyphs for Flat Magic Resist. Scaling Health seals are very useful on Azir because the shield from Shifting Sands scales of bonus health. The Flat Magic Resist simply provides early resistances against an AP laner. //IMPORTANT: In order to make up for the lack of Cooldown Reduction, you should consider buying a second Morellonomicon(more details in Items section).

Shurima's Legacy(Passive)

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Azir's passive gives him 1.25% attack speed for every 1% cooldown reduction that he has. This is why cooldown reduction is so important on him, and why Morellonomicon, Sorcery, and Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction are so important.

Azir's passive also allows him to create a temporary tower from destroyed ally or enemy turrets(excluding enemy inhibitor and nexus turrets). These turrets are stronger than normal turrets and are able to get farm and kills for Azir so it's always great to fight under these turrets. If you are trying to siege against the enemy team it's helpful to create a tower directly behind the one that you are trying to siege. This gives your team a place to fight and discourages the enemy team from trying to flanking you. If the enemy team is trying to siege against you then create a tower in front of the one that they're trying ot siege to slow their efforts.


//Note: I recommend you start from Azir's W ability, because it will make the other abilities make much more sense.

Conquering Sands(Q)

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Azir's Q sends all existing soldiers to the location of the player's mouse, damaging and slowing all enemies hit. This is Azir's main damaging ability which is why I recommend maxing it first.

Conquering Sands is very useful for harassing the enemy in the laning phase. It's large range makes Azir an astounding lane bully. A common combo for harassing with Azir's Q is:

(W) Arise! --> Auto Attack --> (Q) Conquering Sands --> Auto Attack

Arise!(W)

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Azir creates a Sand Soldier at the target location. Note that no other skills can be used unless a Sand Soldier exists. Once Azir summons a Sand Soldier, he will attack through the sand soldier rather than through his own auto attacks. Keep in mind that the sand soldier will only attack if Azir is in a certain range of them, otherwise he will use his own auto attacks.

The sand soldiers' auto attacks pierce through enemies giving Azir great AOE damage and wave clear. Sand soldiers will disappear after a short amount of time or if Azir walks out of range of them. Azir also passively stores sand soldiers as charges similar to Corki's ult or Akali's ult.

Azir's soldiers will disappear quicker under towers and cannot attack towers. This is to prevent killing towers from over walls. Instead, Azir is able to deal a large amount of damage to towers if he uses his W on the tower. This along with his great wave clear makes Azir an excellent pusher. //Important: A sand soldier will not be summoned if you use your W on a tower, so make sure you have an extra stored sand soldier while using W on towers, to make sure that you are able to escape with W--> E.

Shifting Sands(E)

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Azir dashes to one of his sand soldiers and knocks up the first enemy champion that he collides with. Upon collision not only does Azir briefly knock up the enemy but he shield himself for 15% of his bonus health. This allows him to soak up quite a bit of damage and trade very well in lane. Since his shield scales off of bonus health it is very efficient to build health items such as Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Liandry's Torment. A common combo for trading/all-inning in lane is:

Arise!(W) --> Auto Attack --> Conquering Sands(Q) (BEHIND THE ENEMY CHAMP) --> Shifting Sands(E)

In some cases, the enemy is too far for you to reach your Q behind them. In this situation you can use a different combo. Keep in mind that this combo is very difficult and will take time to master. In this combo you will use your W to place a sand soldier and then retreat a few steps backwards, enough to make the enemy feel safe. Then E towards that soldier but before you reach the soldier, position your mouse behind the enemy champion and press Q. This will send the sand soldier AND you towards the target location which is behind the enemy.

Emperor's Divide(R)

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Azir creates a wall of immovable sand soldiers in front of himself, knocking up, pushing back, and damaging all enemies it hits. Enemies cannot pass through the wall nor jump over or dash through the wall. Allies that pass through the wall gain movement speed as well. Azir's ult is a high damage spell so it is very useful for killing an enemy is lane.

Keep in mind that it knock people back so it is very useful if you can knock the enemy back towards your tower or an ally champion. In this way, it is very similar to Lee Sin's ultimate. Azir can dash behind the enemy using either of the combos shown above and then ult the enemy back into your team/your tower. This makes it a very efficient tool for initiating fights or picking off the carries.

Azir's ultimate is also very useful in team fights as it can separate the enemy front line from the enemy back line. It can also be used to peel for your own carries by blocking the enemies from reaching your back line.

Start

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Doran's Ring is the standard start for almost all AP mids and is your best option for your first buy. It grants an adequate amount of AP and mana regen which is useful for Azir early game as you may find yourself using your W to farm. I do not recommend starting Cloth Armor even if you are against a dangerous AD champion like Zed or Talon because the AP from Doran's ring will allow you to trade well in lane and the health will help you survive as much as the armor will.

First Buy Options

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Fiendish Codex as well as Forbidden Idol build into your first core item Morellonomicon. Pick this item up on your first back if you have the gold for it. You will benefit from the early cooldown reduction because it will give you 12.5% attack speed which will help you last hit and give you a larger window of time between placing your Q and auto attacking.

The main reason why you should buy Forbidden Idol on your first back opposed to Fiendish Codex is the lack of money. You may have the money to afford Fiendish Codex but find yourself running low on mana quite often; in this case buy Forbidden Idol over Fiendish Codex because of the mana regen.

Pick up Seeker's Armguard on your first back if you plan on building Zhonya's Hourglass as your first core item(see Build Sequence section for more information). This item provides very good armor and AP but costs a large amount of gold so you will either have to stay in lane until you have the money or pick up a Amplifying Tome/ Cloth Armor on your first back.

Build Sequence

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Morellonomicon is Azir's first core item. It provides a substantial amount of AP for an item that also gives 20% CDR and an adequate amount of mana regeneration. The cooldown reduction especially benefits Azir due to his passive. This first buy will spike Azir's power with the major increase in AP and CDR/Attack Speed.

You should complete tier two boots after your first completed item. Sorcerer's Shoes will give you increased damage and roaming ability. I recommend that you upgrade into Enchantment: Alacrity because the increase in movement speed will allow you to flee, kite, and chase more efficiently. Enchantment: Homeguard is also a good option especially if your team is being pushed upon or the enemy is inside your base.

Rabadon's Deathcap will substantially increase your AP due to the large amount of flat AP that it gives, along with its passive that increases your AP by 30%. This item will spike your AP and allow you to burst squishies very quickly. You don't have to worry about buying more CDR because of your Scaling Glyphs of CDR. If you are against an AP and aren't running Glyphs of Scaling CDR then look at the Consider section of this chapter.

Liandry's Torment is Azir's third item. It provides decent AP, Magic penetration and a good amount of health which benefits Azir because of the fact that the shield from Shifting Sands scales off extra health. The passive burn also allows you to poke very well especially considering that the passive burn is doubled if the enemies movement is impaired(Azir's Q applies a slow).

Zhonya's Hourglass will be your fourth item and is a very good buy not only because of the impressive armor and AP stats that it provides but the extremely useful active. The active of Zhonya's Hourglass allows you to become invulnerable and untargetable for 2.5 seconds which allow you to dodge large amounts of burst, dodge damage over time skills(such as Karthus ult, Zed ult, or Fizz ult), or simply survive for slightly longer in a teamfight. It is also a very useful active when you want to use your Emperor's Divide to knock someone back into your team. Once you have knocked the enemy(s) into your team you will in a very dangerous position behind the enemy team. Using the active of Zhonya's Hourglass after you engage gives your team time to advance onto your position and save you from impending death.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter will be your last item. It gives a good amount of AP and health, which provides adequate survivability in the late game and more scaling for the shield of Shifting Sands. The slow also allow you to keep enemies inside the range of your Sand Soldiers and allows you to chase/kite more efficiently.

Consider

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Banshee's Veil is a good item to replace Rylai's Crystal Scepter if the enemy team is heavily AP or if the enemy has a long range skill that can potentially mean your death(ex. Thresh hook, Blitzcrank hook, Ahri charm, Annie stun, etc).

You should already have enough magic penetration from Liandry's Torment and your Marks of Magic Penetration, so Void Staff should only be bought if the enemy is stacking a large amount of Magic Resist. In this case, Void staff will replace Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

If you are against an AP laner and are forced to use Glyphs of Flat Magic Resist opposed to Glyphs of Scaling CDR, you will not have 40% CDR by level 18. In order to make up for this lack of CDR I recommend that you buy a second Morellonomicon. You may be thinking that buying two of the same item is ridiculous and won't be very useful. Well, in this case, all stats from Morellonomicon ,aside from the unique passive, will be given to you. The stats of Morellonomicon are EXTREMELY cost efficient so this is not a bad choice whatsoever (to be precise, Morellonomicon is about 150% gold efficient whereas Athene's Unholy Grail is around 100%). You will be given a large amount of AP, more mana regen (which is never bad, especially on Azir), and the CDR needed to reach 40% CDR. In this case, you should build your second Morellonomicon after Liandry's Torment and then finish off the build with a Zhonya's Hourglass afterwards.

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Many people argue that Nashor's Tooth is the best buy for Azir because it gives Attack Speed and Cool Down Reduction which are the most needed stats on Azir. But in reality, that much attack speed is no needed on Azir, and more AP is much more important. Think about it this way, if you use your W on a champion and they use a dash/flash to get out of the range, you will only be able to get off a single auto attack on them, regardless of attack speed. In this situation you will be better off with a stronger single auto attack (more AP). This is a common situation especially in the current meta because of the vast amount of gap closers and dashes that champions have.

Along with this, having more AP over more attack speed means that your skills will do substantially more damage because of the AP scaling which is very useful, especially with your ULT damage.

Buying Nashor's Tooth on Azir is also not gold efficient because Azir cannot utilize the passive of Nashor's Tooth (because Azirs' soldiers' auto attacks don't apply on-hit effects). Overall, Morellonomicon is a much better item on Azir compared to Nashor's Tooth, so I advise against buying it.

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Void Staff is a very standard item on most AP carries and it is a very good buy because it provides percentage magic penetration and a large amount of AP. So why do you buy Liandry's Torment over Void Staff on Azir?

Not only is the burn very efficient on Azir because of his ability to poke from long range, but that burn is doubled with this very low cooldown slow.

Along with that, the main reason for buying Liandry's Torment over Void Staff is because of the fact that Azir benefits from the health from Liandry's Torment (because the shield from his Shifting Sands scales off of extra health).

(Easy) Akali has a extremely weak early game especially against ranged poke base champs. Azir's long range allows him to harass Akali out of lane very easily. Akali normally gains a huge power spike at level six, due to her insane gap closer, and is able to snowball by killing her lane opponent. Against Azir, this is close to impossible. With Azir's ultimate in place, Akali can no longer ult to Azir, therefore taking away all her damage and kill potential. If Akali attempts to flash over Azir's ultimate, you can simply flash over to the other side of the ultimate and she will still be unable to ult to you!

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(Easy) Leblanc's kill potential stems mainly from her Distortion(W) that gives her extremely high mobility and damage potential, due to the fact that it can activate her Sigil of Malice(Q). Azir can counteract this by ulting immediately when a Q is placed onto you(when she is about to all-in you). With the ultimate in place, Leblanc can no longer W towards you, therefore nullifying most of her damage. Be careful as she can still harass you out of lane and use Ethereal Chains across your wall to keep you in place. Simply try to avoid this move, and you should be fine in this match-up.

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(Easy) Yasuo cannot block any of Azir's abilities with his Wind Wall(W) thus making it easy to harass and all-in him. Laning is simple against him but, as you would do as any champion, play passive when he has his third Steel Tempest stack (the knockup) because he can easily knock you up for a potential set up for a gank. Keep in mind that he cannot use his Sweeping Blade(E) on you through your ultimate, so try to dance around it to prevent him from closing the gap and auto attacking you.

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(Even) Laning against Katarina is straight forward; poke her with your Sand Soldiers and Conquering Sands and stay out of the range of her Bouncing Blades and Shunpo. Keep in mind that Katarina can Shunpo across your ultimate so it's best to save it for interrupting her Death Lotus(ULT). You can also interrupt her ultimate with your Shifting Sands.

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(Difficult) Ahri has a very long range just as you do so it will be difficult to out-harass her in lane with her Orb of Deception. She can also poke you very easily when you try to CS because you CS through the means of Arise! and Auto Attacks, both of which are short range. You can possibly place and sand soldier and then move back and CS from a distance with your soldier, or you can Summon a Sand Soldier and use Conquering Sands to move the soldier into the minion wave, which is much safer but will drain your mana very quicky. The only outplay potential you have is using your ultimate to prevent her from using Spirit Rush(ULT) towards you, whereas she can get out of the range of your Sand Soldiers using her Ult, and Charm you out of your Shifting Sands.

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(Dangerous) Fizz is a difficult match up due to the fact that he can go over your ultimate with his Playful / Trickster and very quickly burst you. You may have a chance to win in this lane if you take an early advantage which may be difficult because his early damage is nothing to laugh at either. Try to safely harass him the best you can and call for a jungle gank. When fighting Fizz, try to avoid his ultimate to the best of your ability using Flash or Shifting Sands. Save your ultimate for AFTER he uses Playful / Trickster so that you can ult him away, and he will be unable to go back over the wall with Urchin Strike. This is a very good counterplay but is only possible if he uses Playful / Trickster first which is very unlikely.

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(Dangerous) Orianna can poke and harass Azir in lane very easily with Command: Attack and Command: Dissonance and block Azir's poke with her Command: Protect. Thus, she can trade very well against Azir. Although Azir does gain a shield from Shifting Sands Orianna's shield is MUCH larger. She also out-scales and damages you, making her a bigger threat in the late game. There is no possible counterplay with Azir's ultimate, because Orianna can simply stay on the other side of the wall and damage you without having to come over. The best way to out play her is by dodging her ultimate, either with Flash or Shifting Sands and then ulting her back into your tower or ally.

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(Dangerous) Zed ,although melee, can farm fairly safely and efficiently in lane with his Razor Shuriken, therefore it is difficult to harass him as Azir. Zed also has decent poke in the laning phase, which allows him to trade quite evenly with Azir. Zed's high mobility makes it difficult to attack him with your Sand Soldiers. What's even more frustrating is that both his Living Shadow and Death Mark allow him to pass over Azir's ultimate. Zed out-scales and out-damages Azir in the late game, and can easily all in you in lane, making this matchup incredibly hard. //IMPORTANT: Rush Zhonya's Hourglass in this lane as it will help you greatly by allowing you to dodge most of his damage from his ultimate.

I hope this guide helps you get better at Azir. If you have any suggestions on how to improve this guide or making guides in general, please leave a comment. Also, if you enjoyed this guide, check out my guides for Irelia Top, Zed Mid, or LeBlanc Mid!