Hi all! Although I stopped playing competitively in Season 5, I want to thank everyone for all support I've received throughout the years. From starting the guide in Season 2, to winning the Mobafire guide contest in Season 4, it has been a wild ride that I never would've imagined when I first started.

When Mobafire user LaCorpse initially archived their top rated Ahri guide, I had some big shoes to fill, but I managed to with feedback from all of you guys! My spotlight is long gone, but luckily mobafire user ElusiveFerret has created a bigger and better guide to take over as the top Ahri guide on Mobafire! Seriously, it's great, you really need to check it out if you want to be up to date on the latest Ahri builds. Thank you all, once again!



The xDanielWang Ahri guide project has come to an end. I will leave the rest as a memento for all the great times I had. Please check out ElusiveFerret's guide if you haven't already done so. This guide will only help you if you're planning on time travelling back to Season 5.

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Hello! Guten Tag! Olá! Hook'em! \m/


Why should you read this legendary, contest-winning guide?

"I DON'T HAVE TIME FOR THIS! I'M IN LOADING SCREEN AND NEED TO SEE MATCH-UPS!!"
No problem. Read the rest of the guide if you have time though.
Shortcut to Match-ups

A little about me


A little about Ahri
Ahri is once again a popular champ in tournaments and Solo Queue. She is a very flexible champ that can be used successfully with many playstyles. The playstyle I prefer most is the high-burst Assassin, while another useful style is the heavy utility DPS mage. Ahri is blessed with a decently strong early game, and an incredibly powerful roam-centered mid game. She is a rather safe first pick in ranked and if played right, can handle all match-ups. Ahri loses some power in late game, but still provides valuable CC with Charm. She relies on her strong mid game and a very powerful burst to let her deal tons of damage in skirmishes and team fights.


Note: I'm a bit wordy, if you're gonna try to read the whole guide, but I have included numerous tl;dr sections as well as condensed versions of various chunks of text. Spoilers will contain additional information.



If you put the training and practice into mastering Ahri, you can pull off sick plays like in this montage (credit to paw)

New masteries are really interesting. Basically, they made it so AP Mages aren't forced into the exact same 21 points every game. Now you actually need to decide which ones are more suited for you.

For masteries, I think this tree looks like a standard 21-0-9 AP Page.



Quick explanation on Individual Masteries




A possible defensive 21-9-0 tree:

Runes are based on what you prefer. They're also expensive. D:


This is what I PERSONALLY run on Ahri (usually). Every game, I assess the situation and decide if I want to run with Mana regen or Armor yellows. For blues, I take 4 AP flats, 3 AP scalings, and 2 flat MR. You can run all the same blues since it's much more simpler, but this collection is what feels right for me.

Recommended Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Magic pen Reds are the standard marks for AP Casters. They help get rid of the enemies' pesky magic resistance and helps you do more damage. Everyone always builds MR runes so you might as well make them all useless.

Greater mark of hybrid penetration

Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration: Hybrid Penetration Marks have seen some usage in high elo games. You sacrifice a bit of Magic Pen for a lot of Armor Pen. That Armor pen will make your early game auto attacks do more damage. You'll also last hit a bit better. Is it worth it for sacrificing a bit of MPen? I personally think so, but the choice is yours. Not a very beginner friendly choice, but really good if you can use them well.

Recommended: Greater Seal of Scaling Health: A nice amount of health late game which may cause you to barely survive an attack and win the game. You don't want to be hyper squishy. Pick up some Doran's Rings because you'll need the mana.

Greater Seal of Mana Regeneration: Mana regen for more early game harass. Usually Doran's Rings will cover mana regen, but Mana Regen recently got buffed and might be good on players who go oom a lot early or have trouble managing mana.

Greater Seal of Armor: For some armor, pretty self-explanatory; Helps a lot for late-game. (although it's not as useful early game because you're most likely going up against an AP) These are ideal if laning against AD Casters mid.

Greater Seal of Health: For health which helps a bit for survivability; extra HP never hurts

Recommended Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power: Ability Power per level for a slightly stronger late game presence; they give nearly 3x the AP of Greater Glyph of Ability Power at level 18

Greater Glyph of Ability Power: Hey, maybe you're a dude who really loves wrecking and snowballing in the early game. Flat AP blues will give a stronger early game.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist: Good for laning phase to soften those pokes received

Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: MR per level runes give slightly more MR at 18, if you feel you need more MR later

*Note - although the MR runes got nerfed a while ago, they are still a viable choice, just not as good as before.

Personally I take a hybrid of AP flat blues and AP scaling blues.

Greater Quintessence of Ability Power: Flat AP Quints are generally the best way to go for AP Mids. Increases your damage output, and when is that ever bad?

Flash and Ignite are your friends. You will (or should be) using these spells for almost all (95%) of your games.

Flash

Ahri already has 3 dashes with her ult, why take Flash? Flash will help you escape from a gank pre-6 or when your Spirit Rush is on cooldown, or for the desperate situations that require 4 flashes. It's saved my life countless times. Definitely a must-have.
Note: If you have not unlocked Flash yet, then a proper replacement would be Ghost.

Ignite

will add that extra bit of damage to your burst and can make the difference from your enemy escaping with 15 health followed by a table flip, to a nice and solid kill.







These aren't better than Flash or Ignite on Ahri in general, but there are times when you might want to consider them.

Barrier

This is okay if your enemy can burst you down instantly. Not recommended though generally, but fares well if against Veigar, LeBlanc, or other heavy bursters. It'll save your life a fair share of times. The defensive replacement of the offensive Ignite.

Teleport

Great for getting back to lane faster. Great for teleporting top or bottom lane and picking up a kill. It makes you weaker in lane though since you don't have Ignite.

Ghost

Only if your level isn't high enough for Flash; otherwise, Flash outclasses Ghost infinitely because you're not a melee initiator. Except for dominion. Ghost is better than Flash in dominion.





Inexperienced players might get these since it looks good on paper, but they're pretty bad on Ahri in general.





Summoner Spells that are plain wrong:

Ahri

Essence Theft: This is Ahri's passive. When your orb is glowing green, your next spell will give you hp depending on how many enemies it hits. It's not going to completely turn around a game, but it's nice to get some built in sustain. It gives health back depending on how many enemies you hit with your next spell, so when you see the passive is up, toss an Orb of Deception down a minion wave for maximum sustainebiliteh. Try not to waste this on a Charm or Foxfire because that can only hit 1 target or 3 targets respectively, while Orb can hit multiple. This is basically the main reason why Hextech Revolver is not 100% mandatory.

Ahri

Orb of Deception: This is Ahri's main spell that is useful throughout the game. It's your main damage spell, your main farming spell, and synergizes with the rest of her kit (passive, charm, spirit rush). It takes out a chunk of health from your enemy and will make them sad. If you hit the enemy at the very tip of the orb, both procs will occur simultaneously. They can't dodge that! Max it first for a small nuke of damage. The true damage part of it is always nice against enemies who stack tons of MR. The movement speed you get from orb now makes Ahri a bit more kite-based champion and makes the laning phase a bit stronger. Play enough so you understand the range of this spell and learn to smartcast it. It will change the game.

Ahri

Fox-fire: Ahri's W. Use this after following a Charm for some nice burst. It has a 5 second cooldown max level, so spam this during team fights and hope you're close enough for the fires to lock on. Max this second. Some people are experimenting with maxing this first, but with the damage reduction in patch 3.13, it's simply a bad idea. All 3 of these little flames procs the 35% slow on Rylai's Crystal Scepter for op chasing and peeling. A confusing about this spell is that each of the 3 little flames have their own independent range. That means 1 flame could be in range of a champ and hit it while the other 2 flames aren't in range and go and hit minions instead. If you want all 3 flames to hit the champion, you have to be a bit closer than you think.

Ahri

Charm: Ahri's E and provides some much needed cc. Oh, it's a stun right? Wait, the enemy is forced to walk towards you? LOL! This has a variety of purposes, see an enemy out of place? Nope, Chuck Testa. Now he's mindlessly walking towards his death. They're foolishly trying to tower dive you? Nope. Charm and watch the tower murder him. Spirit Rush down and need to run away? Hit 'em with a Charm and watch them slow down for some much-needed escape time. Teamfight? Try to hit the ad carry and follow up with Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire. If you miss charm, your assassination potential drops drastically. It's a lovely spell and you will sometimes have people raging. Like your Orb of Deception, you should aim to smart cast this when you are familiar with the range. This is basically what makes Ahri useful late game. Late game Charm on AD carry = Won teamfight

Ahri

Spirit Rush: This is arguably Ahri's most iconic spell. It's 3 dashes and each dash deals damage to 3 enemies. If you're experienced at LoL, this allows for some opportunities for mad outplaying (See PAW's Ahri montage video up above for examples). In Early/Mid game, use Spirit Rush for gap-closing to set up your charm combo or escaping from ganks. It's also very strong for ganking since you can dash 3 times to get to the enemy laner. Even if it's warded, they can't outrun a dash-happy fox. In late-gamae fights, it is up to your judgement on the best use of Spirit Rush. You cuold use it to pick off a squishy, add it to the end of your burst combo, chase low-hp enemies, or escape from a grim team-fight. Perhaps all of them.

The order you want to prioritize leveling your skills are as follows:

fillerzz

Ahri

-->

Ahri

Ahri

-->

Ahri

Ahri

-->

Ahri

Spirit Rush

is your ult. You should always max ults first on every champion you play (exception being Janna maaybe)

Orb of Deception

is your long-range primary poke/harass and you want it to be as powerful as possible.

Fox-Fire

comes closely after. Leveling it up does not increase the mana cost and it does more damage. The reason I max this after Orb of Deception is that the range is fairly low, but still scales better than Charm.

Charm

is, imo, a 1-point wonder. Putting 1 point into charm provides Ahri with a very nice medium-range stun. Leveling charm up will slightly increase the damage and increase the duration of the stun/taunt/whatever-you-want-to-call-it. 1 second is enough, as that's all you need for pulling off your full combo. However, at least scaling it makes the taunt longer, so that's good.


First few points:

1. Usually take Orb of Deception with your first point. You can use it to harass in lane level 1. The exception to this rule is invades. If you are invading, you can should take Charm level 1. It is CC and if your team finds an enemy, if you charm them, they're dead. If you do this, then take Orb of Deception second. If we are invading, something I do is to not scale a point into E until I actually see someone. The moment I see someone, I press ctrl+E to immediately scale a point and use Charm on them. If I take charm first and I don't see anyone, then level 1 laning is going to be harder.
2. I take Charm second (if I took Orb first). It's your utility so you don't want to go too long without it. If a jungler comes at level 2, Charm will shut him down. Without it, you could die easily.
3. Take Fox-Fire at level 3 or 4. It really depends on you. Whether you want a stronger Orb of Deception earlier, or more combo burst.




No...You can't save your points til level 6 and then put 6 points into Spirit Rush. But it'd be pretty cool if you could! ^____^



Note: I only covered the basic usage of abilities. Additional and in-depth ability details can be found here http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Ahri

(Original picture credit)

If you saw the item build in the cheat sheet all the way up there ^^^ you might be a bit confused on why it's weird. It's a personal preference. Also check out the other item builds at the very top. Those are just examples of what item route you can take. Of course, you can mix and match and get an Abyssal Mask on the first item path, or a fast Will of the Ancients instead, etc.

The purchase order is not staple. Sometimes it will be better to get 1 item before another. You will learn the circumstances as you play more. But this is just a helpful guide to assist you :)

Aight, Here we go!

Ahri

The most sensible Trinket for Ahri to start with is the Stealth Ward. It gives you a free (weaker) ward. Since starting flask+ward reduces the # of hp pots you can have by 2, this is a great way to have 3 pots and a ward. The Sweeping Lens is a great swap in the mid-late game, if you want to sacrifice a ward to fight for map control. Scrying Orb...well let's just say no one ever gets this. You can upgrade this whenever you have pocket change, but I rarely upgrade it unless I am full build.

Ahri

Ahri

Doran's Ring is a very strong start that I usually use, and it gives some very efficient stats. While I mainly pick it up for the needed mana regen, the bonus health and ability power can turn an early all-in in your favor. I get at least 1 every game, and sometimes get a 2nd. I rarely get 3, but if you're behind in lane, it might be necessary. While it gives a very strong early game, it falls off since it takes up an item slot and it doesn't upgrade into anything. The only option is to sell it later, so you'll want to make sure the money you invested into it paid off.

Ahri

Ahri

Season 3 revolutionized the world of Boots. Boots now have 25 less move speed, but every champion now has 25 more move speed. What does this mean? Well, boots are now a whole lot less important. You can get away with delaying purchasing boots for longer. But most of the time, I still start out with Boots on Ahri because that 25 bonus move speed is crucial to dodging skillshots and are extremely important against champs like Karthus, Cassiopeia, or Brand. It also plays a huge part in escaping early ganks. Also, starting Boots allows me to also start with 4 Health Potions for sustainability.

Ahri

Go for these EVERY GAME (Shoes+Trifecta Group of 4 items)

Ahri

Generally I get Sorcerer's Shoes for that Magic Penetration, but if I'm laning against someone with high burst and cc such as Veigar or LeBlanc, Mercury's Treads might be necessary. You definitely want to upgrade them before mid-late game since movement speed is OP.

Ahri

These 4 items share 3 things in common.

1: They (almost) all build from a Needlessly Large Rod RIP DFG.
2: They help you do tons of damage.
3: They're all core on Ahri.

As an assassin, they provide everything you need, Burst, Damage, and Survivability. When I play Ahri I just beeline for these 3 items (usually morello>rabadon>zhonya but it can vary). It's important to note that 2 of these items have actives, and they're really good, important actives. Learn how to use the actives properly and love them. If you always forget to use the actives, try playing some dominion games with only active items and focus on using them. If you don't use the actives, you're just buying overpriced AP items. Aim to have these 3 items by about 30 minutes in the game.

[Ahri]

Since dfg got nuked from existence, I guess we now have to settle for an alternative. That alternative is Morellonomicon. The 20% CDR will make it your main CDR item and there's a nice chunk of AP on it. The mana regen isn't bad and the grevious wounds can make a noticeable difference in a fight whether it be gimping an ADC's lifesteal or stopping all those heals. It isn't quite as strong as DFG but it's a solid item. Morellonomicon isn't as mandatory as Zhonya's or Deathcap, but there isn't really much else to get.

[Ahri]

Ahri

Once you build this sucker, your damage will send the enemy running as soon as they see you. It gives a TON of AP and AP = tons of damage. If all goes well, you will have this around 17-20 minutes. This is arguably one of the best AP items in the game and your enemies won't have that much magic resistance yet. This is your time to dominate. It increases your damage by an insane amount, so basically, BUY THIS. The only times I would not get this is if I was trying to fulfill a sustained DPS-support role (want to peel for our vayne or something) Note If you find yourself losing your lane, this might not be the best choice. Instead buy a Rylai's Crystal Scepter since that will provide utility for your team. Rabadon's Deathcap is an item for people who are generally doing well in lane.

Ahri

Ahri

With 120 AP, Luden's Echo is meant to be a less-bursty replacement of Deathfire Grasp (RIP). The 120 AP packs a huge punch and damage is always necessary for an AP Mid champ. The movement speed is just good in general as it ramps up your roaming efficiency along with allowing you do dodge crucial skillshots and the like. The Passive is a weird Static Shiv for AP Mages, but it's a nice bonus. If you have Luden's Echo, it won't hurt to run around more in circles to build up the charges. It synergizes with spell vamp and Rylai's so you can possibly take those items into consideration (if you're going the more supporty role), but I rarely see myself picking up Rylais. Take this before Zhonya's if you're fed out of your mind and not at all worried about dying, but beware that going Morellos -> Rabadons -> Luden's leaves you insanely vulnerable without the defensive boost Zhonya's gives.

Ahri

Ahri

This item is amazing on AP Casters, such as Ahri. It will save your life many times if used properly. Don't get it too early though, since the armor is a lot better for late game than early game as your enemy will most likely be doing magic damage. The active alone counters the kits of so many champions. A simple click of the active will make numerous painful ults such as Karthus's Requiem, Brand's Pyroclasm, Fizz's Chum the Waters, Caitlyn's Ace in the Hole fizzle out and become useless. It's quite the item, highly recommended.

Ahri

The 5 Items above are almost always core on Ahri. For the 6th item I recommend Void Staff, but there are a few alternates:

[Ahri]

As the 3rd biggest damage item (after Morello's and Deathcap), Void Staff is the next big hitter. This item is exceptionally good for when the enemy is stacking a bunch of Magic Resist. Magic Penetration is pretty tough to come by as an AP caster and Void Staff is your 1-way ticket to shredding the enemies Magic Resistance. The more MR the enemy team has, the more cost efficient this item is. It's also a relatively cheap item. I ususally get this late game, since that's when % Magic Penetration really becomes useful. (Flat MPen is more useful early game)

Ahri

A Rylai's Crystal Scepter works really well on Ahri. Reaaaally well. Ahri is probably one of the best champs to have Rylai's on. It gives you a lot of health for some tankiness and survivabiliteh so you can stay in those small duels for longer times. It gives you AP and AP = tons of damage. It gives you a slow. Your Orb of Deception, Fox-Fire, Charm, and Spirit Rush (every single skill) will apply the slow which will: 1. Help your teammates chase down the runners in teamfights 2. Peel off enemies from your friendly team (Helps keep your Vayne alive!) 3. Help you run away with 3 enemies on your tails; simply toss out any skill behind you and they won't catch up to you ^^.

[Ahri]

Some Ahri players love this item and it's easy to see why. Once an AP Mage uses their spells, they won't have any damage, but Lich Bane helps prevent that by adding bonus damage to your auto-attacks. I personally rarely get this since I feel like it is only worth it in super-specific conditions. You might as well call this Niche Bane (hahaha). Lich Bane is strongest when you're laning against someone with a melee auto-attack that you can auto-attack often with little danger (like Gragas). Q + Auto-attack him = good harass. If you try to walk up to a LeBlanc or Ryze to auto-attack, it won't end well for you. One reason it's good on Ahri is because you can auto-attack in between your Spirit Rush dashes, but you need to remember to auto or it will go to waste. I don't recommend getting this item if you are behind in lane, it's only good if you are in a commanding lead.

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Wait, you think my item build sucks??

(jk, post a comment with good reasoning and I might change it)




These items are situational. Get them when the situation arises. Like, get more MR items if they are an early-game burst mage. Or get spell vamp if you're against a sustainer. You can swap one of the core items for one of these items if you think the situation calls for it.

[Ahri]

This gives you a health boost, which is also nice to have, along with some decent ability power. It also gives really nice Magic Penetration, and if you get one early along with Sorcerer's Shoes, then early game, you'll basically be doing true damage. That's just crazy. Haunting Guise was considered an early game item in Season 2 because you couldn't upgrade it into anything and had to sell it to get something better. But in Season 3, you can upgrade it to...

[Ahri]

It builds from Haunting Guise. That makes Haunting Guise a good item since you don't have to sell it anymore. It gives health for some tankiness. It gives Magic Pen which is really good for dealing nice damage. It gives a sweet passive that will help shred the hp on tanks. You get bonus shredding if you have a Rylai's also, for some sick synergy. Oh, and Fox-Fire counts as a 3x single-target spell so it does tons of damage.

[Ahri]

Provides you with a lot of Magic Resistance and a nice chunk of Ability Power. The Magic Resistance will heavily reduce the damage from your enemy and it will give you some nice tankiness, especially for early game.The aura is super nice and reduces the Magic Resistance of nearby enemies by 20. Very viable on Ahri and consider starting to BUILD it early if facing a super burst enemy mid. Highly Recommended. If you're going to get this, get it early. (Rush it, skip Doran's Ring)

[Ahri]

Well, this item gives spell vamp, and if you reaaaallly want more sustain (flask should cover it), then you can build WoTA. It no longer gives an aura to friendly allies, but it's pretty cheap and at least it's gold efficient.

[Ahri]

This is a really cheap item and an amazing active. Removes all CC from you which will likely save your life. This will cancel crowd control, even suppresses, from various ults such as Warwick's Infinite Duress, Malzahar's Nether Grasp, Skarner's Impale, Amumu's Curse of the Sad Mummy and basically any other crazy cc that people find annoying. If you buy it, just make sure you use it! Don't build this too early. You can buy an early Negatron Cloak for early game MR, but you don't need to buy it early unless you're facing a Warwick jungler, Malzahar mid, or anyone else with very dangerous abilities mid. (Example: don't rush this early if there is an enemy Urgot bottom lane, you're rarely going to see him until late/mid game.)

[Ahri]

I don't think I've ever been in a situation where I needed Banshee's on Ahri, but it's theoretically possible. If you're scared of CC from the enemy team or you want to lessen poke spells you can buy it. It gives good HP and MR.

[Ahri]

Provides a blend of Armor and Magic Resistance. It's useful if no one on the enemy team is extremely fed, and everyone on their team is about even. Also, it revives you, so you can do a bunch of damage, die, come back, and do more damage. It's good for the people starting out because it's a good replacement for people who have trouble remembering to use their Zhonya's Hourglass or Quicksilver Sash's actives. However, it's still vital to learn to use those actives, so try to refrain from buying Guardian Angel every game if possible.

[Ahri]

A really nice item for solo queue if your jungler is not giving you the blue buffs. It will keep your mana healthy while spamming abilities, provides cooldown reduction, and some nice Magic Resist. Not bad at all. Don't get me wrong, this item is still good even if your jungler is giving you the blues. Doesn't give as much AP as it used to, and the way I play Ahri, I need a lot of AP.

[Ahri]

Get ready for a huge chunk of text. You can skip it, but here we go... This is a questionable item on Ahri. It gives you a lot of health for tankiness, some mana and some ability power. Many semi-tanky AP mids, such as Ryze or Morgana will get this fast because it makes for a very smooth laning phase. However, I believe that in order for Ahri to be successful, she needs to assassinate the enemy quickly. The Rod of Ages is necessary for a mid to tank up some damage by having to be in close range, like Kassadin or Ryze. Ahri is usually jumping into the fight, killing a squishy, and jumping out. ROA doesn't give you the needed AP to fulfill your role as an assassin. That's why I take a quick Rabadon's Deathcap instead of Rod of Ages. If you are aiming to play passively or need some tankiness, you can take this. However, Rylai's Crystal Scepter gives enough tankiness and a very nice slow that is helpful late game, unlike Rod of Ages.

Rod of Ages

Tl;dr: This item sacrifices early game damage (which is crucial on Ahri) in exchange for survivability (which is not ideal for a champ like Ahri). I would not recommend it.

As you get better, you will learn of different items that apply to different situations. It is your job to pick the right items in specific situations, not mine, since it's impossible to have an all-in-one build that counters everything. For instance, don't get a Void Staff if they have no MR. Get a Warmog's Armor if they have a bunch of true damage (Edit: This got nerfed and Ahri shouldn't be stacking hp anyway. Please don't get this. Ever. Rylai's Crystal Scepter is 100x better). Each game will be different.
*Note: If you are planning on getting a Deathfire grasp or Morello's evil tome late game, it would be a good idea to get Kage's Lucky Pick before you get some Doran's Rings. If you are going to get either of the late game items, you might as well get kage's lucky pick early and earn a bunch of extra gold on the side, which put into perspective, is a free champ kill (300 gold) every 10 minutes :) You will sacrifice a bit of your early game with delayed Doran's rings and a delayed Rabadon's deathcap, but you will have some more gold later that may make a more powerful late game.
Lol I left this section in here so you can nostalgia over how nice and fun Season 2 was. Ooh well, it's still amusing to think about how different S2 was.Lol i left this paragraph in because rip DFG. We've come a long way from season 2, huh.

Get excited, because you just enrolled in Learning to Itemize 101. You saw that cheat-sheet up top and you saw those 2 or 3 item builds that I suggested but you don't know the reasoning or situation behind them. Which one do you choose though? 1 build might be better for one situation, another might be better for another. You want to spend your hard-earned money on the items that will give you the biggest impact. In this chapter, I will give semi-full example item builds and explain why and when you should do it. They are lengthy but if you really want to learn about itemizing, then suck it up and read. Don't take these paths 100% literally. You should be buying Health Potion, Stealth Wards, and tier 2 boots throughout the paths.

Build 1: The Damage Dealer/The Heavy AP rush

-> -> -> ->



When to build it: You're one of the team's main damage dealers. Other than the ADC, your other teammates are mainly tanks or supporty champs.

tl;dr This build sacrifices defense for more damage and a bigger burst. It requires good farming and a good understanding of Ahri's limits and is a more advanced build.

Build 2: The DPS-Utility build

-> -> ->



When to build it: Your team has a lot of damage (squishy bot and top lane) and/or you have a hyper-carry ADC like Vayne or Kog'Maw that you NEED to keep alive.

tl;dr: This build gives you utility and more DPS in exchange for removing the high burst items. You get more CDR and use your Slow from Rylai's to keep enemies off of yourself and your Damage-dealers. It's a safer build and you'll have a lower chance of dying from positioning mistakes.

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Notice how I only provided the start of the paths. If I gave you instructions to build any more specific items, then they could be wrong depending on your situation. This section was designed to provide example build and the reasoning behind them. In your game, you're going to have to think if you should be following one of these builds, or building your own path.

I'll add more when I think of them/have the time. Even though I gave you these item path's that doesn't mean follow them exactly. Maybe you should be getting a Seeker's Armguard before the Morellonomicon since you don't want to get all-inned by the Lee Sin mid. The ITEMS section right above this chapter will explain each item in more depth.

Early Game - Farm and Trade Damage

Okay, the game starts up. First of all see if your team is doing any invade-like tactics. Guard your side's jungle if you're not. Second of all, there's a small chance you'll need to leash your jungler if they want to start a buff. It's always good to offer help at the beginning of the game in case they need it and it helps set a good mood. If you do end up leashing, this means that you should launch an Orb of Deception as soon as the blue buff or red buff, (or even small camp) spawns depending on where your jungler decides to start.

Now you stroll back to your lane, which most likely is mid. This means last hitting. Don't constantly auto attack the minions. Auto attacking will push your lane outwards, and you will be forced to be closer to their turret in order to continue last hitting. The enemy jungler can stroll behind you, and you'll probably die from an deserved gank. Also, a pushed lane will mean that your jungler cannot gank from your side. Double-lose.

Feel free to push hard if they don't have a jungler, or if the game is approaching mid game. And use your Orb of Deception for harassing since it does quite a chunk of damage to them. Getting the enemy low enough with your Q sets up for a early kill for your combo.

Using a full combo of Charm, Orb of Deception, and Fox-Fire will drain about a third of your mana instantly, so try to refrain from doing a full combo unless you are sure you won't completely miss everything (mainly depends on hitting Charm).

Keep on harassing them. Try to keep their health low. You need to play Ahri a looot, but eventually you will be able to tell when a E>Q>W> Ignite combo will be able to secure the kill. It's not worth it if they still survive since now you don't have ignite and much less mana. Overall, I can't stress how important it is to obtain every creep score. Take a look at this creep score calculator http://mullinator.com/tools/cscore?c=54&t=10.0&p=50. If you get only 50% of the Creeps at 10 minutes, you're down 1100 gold you could have had. That's a whole Blasting Wand and Boots! You'd be sooo much stronger if you had more CS.

It is very important to note that pre-6 might be the only time you can press your advantage against certain champs. If the enemy is an Akali, Veigar, Kassadin, or any melee champion, do whatever you can to totally ruin their laning phase. Seriously, I mean it. If you let these guys farm freely, once they turn 6, you're going to be in a whole world of hurt.

Mid Game - Roam and Destroy

Now you've hit level 6. Your über ult is now up. Hopefully your laning opponent will have somewhat medium-ish health by now (given that you haven't already killed him/her yet). This takes many Ahri games worth of experience, but you should be able to tell if you can kill the enemy laner with one huge burst.

People that are not familiar with Ahri will not know how high your kill potential is at 6. This is your chance.

Your burst should look something like R>E>Q>W>R>R> Ignite, and at 6, it should pretty much guarantee a kill. By starting with a Spirit Rush towards your opponent, you can jump out of a minion wave and land a secure Charm. After level 6, you want to start constantly ganking the other lanes due to Ahri's advantage of high mobility/strong cc ganks. Push your lane hard and start roaming.

When you both hit 6, your laning opponent could possibly be either much stronger than you, or weaker than you. If he/she is now stronger than you, you need to focus on helping your other lanes get kills. It will help your team much more than getting constantly wrecked by your laning opponent.

The odds are, for the majority of low-elo or normal games, wards are not as frequently used as they should be (no not even trinket helps that much). Top lane should be vulnerable for an easy kill (check if the enemy top has Wriggle's Lantern for the free ward first(s3 edit: lol can u remember when top laners used to buy that) or ask your top if the enemy has laid a Stealth Ward). If you want to gank bot, go through your jungle if you are Blue team, or go through the enemy jungle if you are Purple team. Keep on ganking.

Important note! Using your ult for damage is not always the optimal choice. Sometimes if you are ganking and you see the enemy is running back to their tower (since they obviously see you via ward) use your ult to get closer to them faster to get a kill! If you are planning to save your ult until you catch them, you might not actually catch them. Sure you waste the damage portion of the Spirit Rush, but if you get a kill, it doesn't matter. Although if you do this, please be fairly certain that you can get the kill, wasting it for nothing would be bad~

You want to ensure that your lanes end up winning, so your AD carry, such as Vayne or Graves can demolish everyone in team fights. Ahri is unbelievably good at small skirmishes (3v2's or 3v3's that happen often bot lane during a gank), and you should have a pretty nice score by now. If you happen to fall too many levels behind your team (i.e. 2 or 3), farm in a safe spot that will not get you ganked by the opponent. The last thing you want to do is die more. Getting more gold will put you back into the game.

Late Game - Teamfight to Victory

You do significantly less at this point.
Generally you want to just spam out everything during the huge teamfights. Cooldown Reduction is vital now. Your options are either to

1. Try your best to get to the enemy ADC without dying and kill him
2. Stick with your ADC and protect them. Dish out DPS to anyone within range.

However, if you completely dominated up to this point, then your damage should be nothing to sneeze at. It could be completely possible to insta-gib the enemy AP or AD carry with 1 combo. You need to catch them out of position though, as even if you do tons of damage, a simple stun can totally get you killed instantly. Your tanks are going to try their best to protect you. Dashing into the enemy team to initiate on the enemy ADC is basically suicide, and yes, you will lose.

Hopefully, the other members of your team should be fed due to your consta-ganking during midgame, and you should win. Note that initiating a fight by landing a Charm on a squishy enemy carry, not the tank, will almost ensure that your team will win that fight or score at least one kill as long as everyone is paying attention and focusing the right target.

Aight, here's what you've been waiting for. A general guide on how to face different match-ups! (Yeah you're gonna have to read a bit of text for each match-up. Too bad.) Note: These will be for people somewhat new to LoL. It is much less accurate for people above gold division etc., since I have not had too much personal experience with plats, and if you're diamond or, or God forbid, challenger tier, I don't really understand why you're here. Not all of the match-ups are listed, only the ones that I have chosen to do. I will gradually add to this list over time.

The tl;dr section is for a super brief overall note to keep in mind, like if you are in the loading screen or something and don't have much time.

omg, xdanielwang y you only say "outplay opponents", y u no give actual helpful advice??/


If this has helped you in any way, please take time to consider upvoting this guide. This has taken a lot of time and I would like to see the guide reach above 93%! Thanks!

>Akali >Anivia >Annie >Akali >Azir >Brand >Cassiopeia >Diana >Fiddlesticks >Fizz >Galio >Gragas >Karma >Karthus

Kyou F best girl <3 :D lol..

>Kassadin >Katarina >Kennen >Kha'Zix >LeBlanc >Lissandra >Lux >Malzahar >Master Yi >Morde >Morgana >Nidalee >Orianna

Kyou F best girl <3 :D lol..

>Ryze >Swain >Syndra >Talon >Teemo >Twisted Fate >Veigar >Vladimir >Xerath >Yasuo >Zed >Ziggs >Zyra Mashiro Shiina Mio Akiyama

Akali

Anivia

Annie

Azir

Brand

Cassiopeia

Diana

Fiddlesticks

Fizz

Galio

Gragas

Karma

Karthus

Kassadin

Katarina

Kha'Zix

Kennen

LeBlanc

Lissandra

Lux

Malzahar

Master Yi

Mordekaiser

Morgana

Nidalee

Orianna

Ryze

Swain

Syndra

Talon

Teemo

Twisted Fate

Veigar

Vladimir

Xerath

Yasuo

Zed

Ziggs

Zyra

Match-up section to be continued...

Requests: Coming soon(tm) when I have time: Kennen, Fiddlesticks, Galio, Karma, Jayce, Heimerdinger

Am I missing someone that you want to be listed? No problem!, just mention it in the comments section and I'll get around to it....eventually~