Hello, I am a season 4 Platinum player on the NA servers, and this is my Ahri guide. Ahri has been one of my best champions and one of my favorite champions. She is a very fun champion with extremely high mobility, out-play potential, and high skill-cap. In this guide, you will learn how to build her in almost every situation and how to play her in lane and out of lane. I hope you enjoy!

Pros

+ Extremely high mobility + Safe laning + Amazing cc/assassination with her Charm + High skill cap + Long range

Ahri has a very safe laning phase due to her ability to kill minion waves very quickly and from longe range with her Q. She can also escape ganks with her Charm, speed from Q, and dash from ultimate. You can also tell from that, that Ahri has amazing mobility and can escape, roam, chase, and position well in teamfights because of it. Her long range, high cc Charm allows Ahri to catch people out all throughout the game, in order to set up ganks, or set up teamfights. Her high mobility and high skill cap make her a fun champion to play and master.

Cons

- Difficult to master - Dependent on landing skillshots - Difficult positioning with ultimate - Low damage output late game

Having a high skill cap benefits those who are dedicated to her and play her very often, but detrimental to those who are just beginning to play her. Her high dependency on skill shots will cause trouble for inexperienced players. Being able to position well with her ultimate will also take some practice, as you can easily misplace yourself with your ultimate during fights, causing you to die in a quite embarrassing and game losing way. Her low damage late game may also affect her ability to fight late game and increase her dependency on finding opportunities to assassinate which can be difficult in the late game.

The marks of hybrid penetration are standard on Ahri because they help you to last hit in lane without using skills constantly because that obviously quickly drains your mana. It also allows you to poke enemy laners, especially melee laners, with your auto attacks, keeping them from going for minions. The flat seals of armor provide early resistance against your AD laner, allowing you to survive for the first few initial levels where AD laners tend to bully their enemies. Because you're against an AD laner, you don't need the Magic resist in your glyphs, therefore you can take scaling ability power to increase your power spike in the mid game, where Ahri excels. The flat AP quints are standard on almost all AP champions.



When against an AP laner or AP team, simply switch out the Flat Armor Seals for Scaling Health and switch out the Scaling AP Glyphs for Flat Magic Resist. Scaling Health seals will provide more resistances to all damage in the mid game, whereas AD seals would be useless against an AP laner. The flat magic resist glyphs will provide good resistances in the early game so that you're not bullied by poke or high damage early AP skills like Kassadin's Q, Ziggs' Q, or Xerath Q. The AP quints are once against standard and do not need to switched out for anything.

Essence Theft(Passive)

Ahri gains stacks for every enemy hit by her spells (max 3 per spell). Upon gaining 9 stacks, her next spell will heal her (more healing for every enemy hit).

Any skill can build up stacks, but remember that Charm will only give you 1 stack because it can only hit one enemy, and Fox-Fire is unreliable because it have hit 1-3 targets, so it's rec-commended that you use your Orb of Deception to gain stacks. You will gain these stacks during lane while farming/ poking. Use your Q as your healing ability as well because it can hit the most enemies thus healing you the most.

During the laning phase you can hit every minion in the minion wave with your Q to heal almost half of your health, allowing you to out trade your opponent and allow you to sustain through laning phase. It's an overall extremely useful spell for the laning phase especially.

Orb Of Deception(Q)

Ahri's Q is a long range skill shot that goes through minions, can hit multiple enemies in its path, and returns to you once reaching its maximum range during which the skill also deals damage.

This skill is Ahri's main damage source as it deals incredible damage to multiple enemies going forward and back. This skill can be used to farm as well because of its range and ability to return to the user. It also works as a long range poke spell, but its most often used as a farming skill, and damaging skill during fights.

Upon a recent patch, Ahri's Q was buffed so that it drastically increased her movement speed while the Q is traveling. This gives Ahri incredible movements speed during fights, allowing her to position well and kite efficiently.

It's important that your position yourself so that the orb hits the enemy while going forward and back, and remember that if only the tip of the orb touches the enemy, both instances of damage (going forward and back) will be applied, so don't be afraid to throw out those maximum range Q's.

Fox-Fire(W)

3 wisps of fire begin to circle around Ahri upon activating this ability. These wisps will home into the closest enemy once Ahri steps into range of them.

The 3 wisps can all focus one enemy or 2-3 different enemies. This skill is maxed last because it does not provide very good damage and its range was also severely nerfed. It's mainly used as a back-up damage source to her Q and charm, and is used immediately after her charm lands, so that she can apply the 3 wisps easily to the enemy target. There not much more to say about this extremely straight forward skill.

Charm(E)

Charm, Ahri's most iconic skill, is also one of her most useful skills, as it provides incredible amounts of single target CC, allowing her to excel at single target assassination. This ability is a long range single target skillshot that causes the enemy, upon being hit, to stop all actions and walk towards Ahri.

This skill is able to interrupt channeling abilities (Fiddlesticks' ult, Warwick ult, Katarina ult, etc) as well as dashes, meaning that if the enemy is hit by the charm mid-dash, then the enemy will stop and no damage from the dash will be applied to you. This can be very useful to stop damage and stop enemies from jumping onto you and sticking to you. It is also extremely useful against LeBlanc who depends heavily on landing her Distortion dash, although it's hard to charm her during the dash.

The skill, being an amazing cc tool, also allows her to peel for her teammates, meaning she can keep the enemy from killing your ADC or other teammates.
Your charm is also the first skill in Ahri's main combo. Upon landing the Q, you will immediately use your Orb of Deception to reliably land both instances of its damage (forward and back) and during the Q, use your Fox-Fire and walk towards the enemy to apply the damage. It's Ahri's main tool for assassination.
Charm is just overall an extremely good skill for Ahri, and is a core part of her kit (and personally very overpowered).

Spirit Rush(R)

Ahri's ult provides her with extremely high mobility as it gives her 3 charges, each giving her an opportunity to dash in a given direction while also creating a wisp that damages enemies (much like Fox-Fire) with every charge.

This skill allows Ahri to set up assassinations, as she is able to either dash towards the back-line in order to land a long range Charm onto the enemy carry, allowing you to dish out your full combo, or dash extremely close to the enemy target, allowing her to land an extremely reliable Charm in order to set-up the combo. The latter of the two is recommended only in 1 on 1 situation because it leaves you very vulnerable to other damage threats that are nearby. Although, you may be fine if you use Zhonya's Hourglass very well after landing your combo while deep into the enemy team.

Spirit Rush also allows you the escape ganks and kite very well, making her almost impossible to catch! Make sure to use the three dashes wisely!

Start

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 Ahri in the early game because of her tendency to clear minion waves and heal with her Orb of Deception that has a relatively large mana cost. I do not recommend starting Cloth Armor even if you are against an AD champion 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 in the early game. I prefer two health potions over mana potions because spamming my skills to heal from my passive drains far too much mana sometimes, so health potions are useful to heal up from poke.

First Buy Options

//IMPORTANT: Note that most of your first buy options will depend on what you want to build as your first core item, so I suggest reading the Build Sequence section further below first to determine which first core item is best for your specific circumstance.

If you are forced back to base very early (due to an early gank, an unfortunate mistake, etc) and don't have enough gold for any of the items below, then buy another Doran's Ring(-400g). This may sound strange, but Doran's Ring is one of the most gold efficient items in the game. This is will provide you the extra damage, health, and mana regen to catch up and not fall behind against your lane opponent who may be up a kill, a level, or a few farm. You will probably have to sell the Doran's Ring later to make room for a full item, but for now it will make sure that you can hold your ground after your unfortunate early back.

Fiendish Codex as well as Forbidden Idol build into your first possible core item Morellonomicon. Pick this item up on your first back if you have the gold for it(+820g). The AP and cooldown reduction you get from this item is great for early game trading. If you DON'T have the gold for Fiendish Codex then buy Forbidden Idol(+600g), which will still be useful because of the mana regen it gives you, allowing you to spam your skills and clear waves faster.

Pick up Seeker's Armguard on your first back if you plan on building Zhonya's Hourglass as your first core item(see Consider 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.

Pick up Chalice of Harmony as your first item if you plan on building Athene's Unholy Grail as your first core item. It is an extremely efficient item, especially because of its decreased price as of a recent patch. It provides a large amount of mana regen because its passive that regenerates 2% of your missing mana per 5 seconds. It also provides magic resist that helps you protect yourself in difficult lane matchups against threatening AP champions( LeBlanc, Diana, Fizz, Cassiopeia, etc).

Pick up Needlessly Large Rod on your first back if you plan on building Luden's Tempest as your first core item. Needlessly large rod is an amazing pickup for your first back because it will provide incredible burst that will allow you to pick up easy lane kills or allow you to easily bully out your lane opponents. While it is an amazing first back pickup, it's also really expensive for that reason(+1600g). If you don't wan't to wait in lane for the gold to get Needlessly Large Rod, or you can't because you're forced out of lane, then pickup Aether Wisp(+850) which is the other item that builds into Luden's Tempest. Although not as great as Needlessly large rod, it still provides some decent ability power and movement speed that will help you dodge skill shots, roam, and get back to lane quickly.

Build Sequence

Morellonomicon is the STANDARD first core item for Ahri. Note that this first core item can vary depending on your situation within the game, so please read the Consider section to determine this first core item. Morellonomicon provides a great amount of AP to dish out enough damage in mid game team fights to be relevant while still having the cool down reduction and mana regen to use your spells more often, giving you better sustained damage throughout a team fight. The passive, that reduces the healing of a champion if your damage them with a spell when they are below 40% health, makes it a great item against champions with high health regen like Volibear, Zac, and Dr. Mundo.

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.

Void Staff is Ahri's third item. It provides a very good amount of AP to provide even more scaling to your skills, thus more damage and more burst which is what Ahri is all about. The passive of Void staff is the real reason it's a core item on Ahri and most AP casters. The passive allows Ahri's spells to ignore 35% of enemies' magic resist. This is useful because most tank champions at this point in the game are building magic resist, so this way you'll be able to cut through this magic resist and still be relevant against all the tanks in the meta these days.

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 very useful if you ever do Spirit Rush into the team, because you can dash in, deal all your damage and assassinate someone, then use the active of Zhonya's Hourglass to survive until your teammates can catch up with you.

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. The slow also allow you to kite enemies more efficiently and provide even more CC to teamfights, keeping you more relevant in the late game where you can't assassinate as well.

Consider

Athene's Unholy Grail should be picked up as your first core item if you're up against a threatening AP laner such as Fizz, LeBlanc, and Diana or if you're against a heavy AP team, meaning an AP top laner( Rumble, Vladimir, Maokai), an AP mid laner, and an AP jungler( Gragas, Sejuani).

Buy Luden's Tempest as your first item if you are very confident in your ability to snowball games. Buying Luden's Echo first will give you the largest possible early game AP power spike possible. It will give you incredible early game power to assassinate people earlier than you usually would in a game. With it's passive, you gain great wave clear, with the large amount of flat AP you gain great damage on all of your skills, and with the movement speed you gain the ability to roam more easily. By doing this, you are forced to use this opportunity to find as many kills as you can. You will have to clear the enemy minion waves in the mid lane as quickly as you can, then roam to other lanes and pick up as many kills as you can. I prefer this as my first core item because I personally have a very aggressive play-style.

Buy Zhonya's Hourglass as your first core item if you are against Zed. That's basically it. It not very useful against any other AD champions because Ahri benefits so much more from AP and cool down reduction rather than armor. It's mainly only bought against Zed because it allows you the survive Zed's Death Mark which is Zed's main damage source for most of the game. With this buy, you have pretty forced Zed to target someone else in the game because he will not be able to kill you.

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).

(Easy) Ahri will be able to harass and poke Akali very easily pre-6 because before Akali gets her ultimate, Shadow Dash, she has very low range. Try to hit Akali with your Orb of Deception or your Charm(followed up by your full combo) when she goes for a minion. When she gets her ultimate you want to save your charm for when after she ults you. after you charm her, use your Orb of Deception then Fox-Fire immediately after, and then Spirit Rush backwards immediately after. With her being charmed, your dash, and the movement speed from your Q, you will be able to get out of range of Akali's ultimate so that she cannot do it again. She has essentially done no damage to you at this point, so you can wait until your skills are up again and go back in for a very favorable fight.

(Easy) Ahri can farm out of range of Cho'gath's Rupture (knockup) which is Cho'gaths' only way to get into range of you. If you simply stay out of range of this skill you can kite and kill him from afar. If Cho'gath is ever able to land a Rupture under you, you have to have the reaction time to Spirit Rush or Flash out of it before it knocks up, because being hit by the knockup means you're practically dead because of his silence and burst from his ultimate.

(Even) Azir is not a very difficult lane for Ahri because of Azir's nerfed range on his soldiers. He is no longer able to poke and bully Ahri in lane. Instead, it's the other way around. Try to poke and harass Azir so that he cannot farm. Come late game, Azir will have very high damage even if he is behind a few kills. He will definitely be a much stronger force in late game team fights, therefore you have to either kill him alone outside of team fights, or dive the back line and assassinate him in team fights.

(Even) Diana may be melee, but she has a long range spammable Q that will allow her to farm easily, so it will not be extremely easy to find opportunities to poke and harass her in lane. If she ever DOES go to auto attack a minion, punish her immediately. Try to avoid her Q because if she lands her Q on you, she will be able to ult you and reset the cool down of the ult. Try to farm at a long range so that only the tip of her Q can hit you. This way, she will not be in range for her ultimate after she hits you with her Q. Once the Q debuff runs out, you can go in on her.

(Even) Orianna will wave clear very well and poke you as well. Her E (shield) will keep her safe against your poke, but if you land your charm first, she will not be able to use her shield while she is charmed, meaning you can land some meaningful damage while she if charmed. Much like Azir, Orianna will be much stronger in team fights so you much assassinate her out of lane or kill her quickly in team fights before she can land a game changing ultimate.

(Difficult) Zed is a slightly more difficult match up because he will harshly bully you until you get your Zhonya's Hourglass. He can farm from a long range with his Razor Shuriken and poke you with his combo. His ultimate Death Mark will allow him to get a very easy lane kill on your unless you outplay him. Save your charm for after he ults you because if you use it before then, he can use him ultimate to dodge your charm. Right after he ults, you can time your charm to hit him immediately after he becomes vulnerable, meaning he will not be able to apply any damage. After that, use your Spirit Rush to keep your distance against auto attacks, and dodge shurikens.

I hope this guide helps you to learn and master Ahri. 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!