Hello! I'm Sozzoh and this is my guide on Azir. I'm an Azir one trick on PBE, (currently M7 with 111k mastery points) and on live servers (M4 lol). I play both Azir mid and Azir top, using about 3-4 rune pages for any situation. If I get autofilled support, or if I feel like playing support I will go Unsealed Spellbook Azir, running a full tank build with the occasional Nashor's Tooth. In this guide you'll find tons of runes to go for what situations, detailed matchups, pros and cons of Azir, and what to do early-mid-late game on Azir. I hope you enjoy my guide! Enjoy!

Pros + Extremely strong siege + Good interactions between opponents + Insane zone control + Strong engage/disengage + Game changing ult + Strong play potential + Strong pushing power Azir is perfect against strong melee picks such as Yasuo, Darius, or Fizz. He's also extremely good in teamfights because of his zone control and ult, which is able to either peel for ADC, disengage a teamfight or engage a teamfight. Azir is extremely good late game and has terrific sieging. Azir can quickly setup ganks by shuffling the enemy away from his/her turret, resulting in a kill.

Cons - Extremely hard to play decent - Has only one means of mobility - Useless without soldiers - Extremely squishy - Hard matchups - Bad early game if played wrong Azir is a great champion, but he is probably the hardest champion in the game, and takes a lot of mechanical skill and good positioning to play decent. He can be absolutely destroyed if he's against a somewhat decent Zed, LeBlanc, Ahri, etc. His early game is "eh" due to his mana problems and high cooldowns on his Q and E. Corrupting Pot and Time Warp Tonic (and Biscuit Delivery) will help with this. Azir is hard countered by very mobile champions and long range mages, and once he wastes his Q or E, he's pretty much dead if he's caught out.

Summon Aery Summon Aery: this keystone on Azir is pretty much core. Aery has a lot more utility than Comet, as it helps with shields and poke. Aery is better than Comet in may situations, such as if you're against a high mobile champion (Akali, Ahri, etc.) and if they have the tiniest sliver of health and you auto them once, Aery will follow them and kill them (it's happened before, it was amazing) even if they flashed or used their 20 million dashes champions have nowadays. You can always go Comet, but I prefer Aery. Arcane Comet Arcane Comet: this keystone is the most picked keystone by anybody (newcomers to Azir, or learning Azir players) playing Azir. While Summon Aery lands everytime, it doesn't do nearly as much damage as Comet does. Comet is pretty good against low mobile champions and long range mages ( Xerath, Ziggs, Lux, etc.) and it's a lot easier to land with your Q slow. I don't take this rune as much as I take Aery, it's still really good. It's the default Azir keystone and it works really well.

Manaflow Band

Manaflow Band: This rune can help Azir in the early-mid (around level 6-7) game as it grants 25 maximum mana up to 250 mana, but upon earning 250 mana, Manaflow Band restores 1% of your missing mana every 5 seconds. Since Azir is very mana hungry in the early game and can go OoM way too quickly, this rune isn't the greatest until early-mid game. Manaflow band is trash on Azir as well is PoM, so the only other alternative is Nullifying Orb against hard ap counters, full ap team comps, etc.

Absolute Focus

Absolute Focus: is a decent rune for Azir since it will help with trading in lane, teamfights, and objectives (Baron, Dragon). With the tiny boost of 5 ap at the start of the game from this rune will help just a teensy tiny bit, but nonetheless, free AP! Alternatives to taking this rune are Transcendence and Celerity, but I feel as though Absolute Focus is better than these, since it lasts throughout the whole game granting AP boosts for teamfighting, objectives, etc.

Gathering Storm

Gathering Storm: is the rune to help Azir scale like an absolute monster the longer the game goes on. Always take Gathering Storm as it is almost a core rune on Azir. While you could take Scorch or Waterwalking for roaming against hard counters, Gathering Storm is better overall.

Biscuit Delivery

Biscuit Delivery: is pretty good on Azir as it helps with they early game mana issues, and it can really help in a pinch if you're about to die from ignite or you're extremely low and being chased. You can take precision as a secondary rune tree, but I don't like it compared to this choice in runes.

Time Warp Tonic

Time Warp Tonic: is really good on Azir because it synergises with buying Corrupting Pot, and Biscuit Delivery (and it also synergises with buying Dark Seal on first back for the potion passive). This secondary rune tree is only good for early game, but if you want to go another rune tree, go right ahead. I'm just showing you what I like to go and how it helps me.

Hail of Blades Hail of Blades: This keystone on Azir is really good for early game poke (so is Summon Aery, but aery provides more utility) and it also is really good for a Luden's rush build, as you will already have the AS from HoB. This rune is really good on Azir, it's almost as if it was made for him. I would recommend playing very aggressively early game. This rune is also really, really good against low-non mobile champs like Darius, Zoe, Lux, you get the idea.

Electrocute

Electrocute: This really good if the enemy team has a squishy team comp. It's also good for trading and poke in lane, as a W AA Q AA smacks the **** out of the enemy, taking about 40% of their health in one basic combo. I love to take this when I want to have fun and 3 shot people late game. The damage that this rune pumps out is insane, as I get a usual 4k dmg from the rune alone in a game. I've seen a lot of high elo Azir mains climb with this rune + ignite (and sometimes a Luden's Tempest rush)a few divisions. People like WitnessAzir, OneStrike, etc. have been using this rune lately and I think you will too.

Cheap Shot

Cheap Shot: Cheap Shot is a good rune in the domination tree (a lot better than sudden impact and taste of blood) and it activates after your q slow which is quite nice. It also synergises well with your ult. The cooldown is 4s, which works well with your Q (especially fully maxed Q) because then you'll have true damage on every Q! Take this over Sudden Impact and Taste of Blood, it's just a lot better.

Eyeball Collection

Eyeball Collection: is pretty damn good on Azir especially if you get super fed which means this will stack a lot faster. You can always grab Zombie Ward or Ghost Poro for more vision. I like to take this rune because it gives some nice AP.

Ravenous Hunter

Ravenous Hunter: Is good for some sustain, especially late game. While the healing is reduced because your soldier's AAs are AoE, it's better than no sustain right? The only other rune that is somewhat useful in this tree is Ultimate Hunter. You can take either of those two, but I like the sustain a lot more. It also helps in 1v1's.

Legend: Alacrity

Legend: Alacrity: Is really good because of the AS it provides. If you're going to dip into the precision tree, you always get this rune. This rune gives you some extra AS so it can help with getting more DPS off in a trade, or in a teamfight.

Coup De Grace

Coup de Grace: is really, really good to get that kill on an escaping low health enemy, or good for kill steals. Other runes you could grab are Cut Down or Triumph, whichever one you prefer. Cut Down would be for a team with 2 or more tanks, and Triumph is optional, whichever one you want to take. Triumph is good for teamfights or escaping with a sliver of health from diving an enemy under turret and living, whereas you would die if you didn't get that triumph heal. For me, I prefer Coup De Grace just to do more damage to low health enemies. It's all preference though.

Lethal Tempo Lethal Tempo: is a really good keystone against tanks. (Or immobile champions) While it does take a bit of time for it to activate, it pumps out a lot of DPS once it is activated. Combined with a Rylai's, this does some nasty damage. You can also take this rune if you're planning on farming your way to late game, and then you can destroy teamfights and objectives. I love Lethal Tempo, it just is hard to use all of that AS on a champion (for 6s) that has a ton of dashes, so avoid using this rune against Yasuo, Irelia, etc. Overall, this rune is pretty good especially against tanks.

Triumph

Triumph: is damn good for anything. Need to turret dive a low health enemy champion but you need to take a tower shot that would normally kill you?Kill the enemy before the turret shot hits you and you'll live because of Triumph. About to be dived and low health? Ult them away and hope to get a kill. Boom, sustain (and some gold). I love Triumph as much as the next person, so you should always take this if you're going lethal tempo. Presence of Mind is trash.

Legend: Alacrity

Legend: Alacrity: Is really good because of the AS it provides. If you're going to dip into the precision tree, you always get this rune. This rune gives you some extra AS so it can help with getting more DPS off in a trade, or in a teamfight.[/s]

Coup De Grace

Coup de Grace: is really, really good to get that kill on an escaping low health enemy, or good for kill steals. Another rune in this tree you could grab is Cut Down. If you're going Tank Melter build, I would recommend Cut Down which will really help in all phases of the game against a tank. 12% more damage against a tank with 2k more max health than you? Liandry's and Rabadon's please! For me, I prefer Coup De Grace just to do more damage to low health enemies, but if I absolutely have to, and there are 2 or more tanks on the enemy team, I will grab Cut Down.

Biscuit Delivery

Biscuit Delivery: is pretty good on Azir as it helps with they early game mana issues, and it can really help in a pinch if you're about to die from ignite or you're extremely low and being chased. You can take precision as a secondary rune tree, but I don't like it compared to this choice in runes.

Time Warp Tonic

Time Warp Tonic: is really good on Azir because it synergises with buying Corrupting Pot, and Biscuit Delivery (and it also synergises with buying Dark Seal on first back for the potion passive). This secondary rune tree is only good for early game, but if you want to go another rune tree, go right ahead. I'm just showing you what I like to go and how it helps me.

Flash: is an amazing summoner spell on a 300 second cooldown. You should always take this, as it will help you escape any situation imaginable, help Azir with his low mobility issue and is an important part in your W - E - Q - R combo (if needed).

Ignite: is amazing on Azir, as it can help with finishing off your enemy laner, steali- I mean, getting a kill on a low health enemy, or anything else related to killing a champion. I take this summoner spell almost 99% of the time, as it helps with early kill pressure immensely.

Exhaust: is a decent spell against champions like Zed or LeBlanc to try and prevent them from one shotting you, or it can also help with extremely mobile champions like Ahri or Riven. Take this spell if you plan on playing a passive laning phase, only using it to prevent one shots and outscale everyone.

Barrier: is good against champions like Ziggs or Jayce (or any poke champion). You can also use this spell to annoy the **** out of your opponents to give them that slight sense of hope, in killing you but instead barrier gives them a big old middle finger.

Teleport: is good for getting around to objectives or teamfights quickly. It's also pretty good for roaming either bot or top behind them, instead of walking all the way to bot or top. I would recommend this against heavy wave clear champions or hard counters that require you to roam to pick up a lead.

Cleanse: is pretty good against CC champions like Zoe or Lissandra, or hard CC team comps. I personally would never take it unless I'm against 5 Lissandra's, but it's always helpful in any situation where you're, you guessed it, CC'd.

Heal: surprisingly this spell isn't too uncommon for many Azir players, since it can give you that little MS boost along with the obvious restored health trying to escape a chase, or it can help your whole team in a teamfight, possibly turning the whole fight around. Heal can also save you if you're about to die from Ignite, or red buff's burn from the enemy jungler. I still wouldn't recommend this at all, but if you feel the need to grab it, go ahead.

Ghost: I honestly don't see a situation where Ghost would be good on Azir unless you're about to be creep blocked by a huge horde of minions, being chased by an angry enemy team. If you grab this you're 110% trolling.

Smite: The only situation where I could see an Azir grabbing Smite is if their running Azir jungle cough Yusefu's guide cough. Go check out Yusefu's somewhat outdated but still informative Azir jungle guide! <3

P: Shurima's Legacy: Azir's Passive is Shurima's Legacy, where every 3 minutes, Azir can click on the ruins of a destroyed turret, both allied and enemy turrets to summon a Sun Disc. A Sun Disc functions like a normal turret, but will give any gold it earns, as well as kills.

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This passive is amazing for sieging, protecting, or even trying to set up a teamfight in your favor. This passive has granted me so many free kills and has helped me with so many 1v2's and teamfights. Try to use this passive wisely, as it has a long cooldown and can impact the game in either a good or bad way.

Q: Conquering Sands: Azir's Q is Conquering Sands, where it orders all soldiers that are currently up towards the target location dealing 60-140 (+30% of AP) magic damage and slowing all enemies that they pass through by 25% for 1 second.

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This ability is extremely important, as you can use this to dive deep into a fight paired with your E, to poke down your enemy laner, to farm safely from a distance if in a hard matchup, etc. Your Q is very useful, but extremely mana hungry in the early levels. Try to use this ability sparingly, or else you go OoM and die when you have no way to fight back because you are out of mana. This ability is fantastic for repositioning your soldiers in a teamfight to really poke at the back line, possibly picking up a kill. This ability also resets Azir's autoattack timer, very useful for poking and trading in lane with the combo W-AA-Q-AA.

W: Arise!: Azir's W, Arise! is the bread and butter of your kit. Azir summons an untargetable soldier for 9 seconds. These soldiers replace Azir's basic attack with their own, dealing 60-160 (+60% of AP) magic damage in a line. Azir stores up to 2 soldiers at a time, but there is no limit to how many soldiers can be placed on the field. Azir gains 20-60% scaling attack speed for 5 seconds whenever he summons 3 soldiers.

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This ability is literally the only thing you can start with as Azir, because all your other abilities (besides your R) can't be cast without your W. This ability is perfect for zoning off enemies in laning phase, it's 3 soldiers attack speed proc is perfect in teamfights and taking objectives such as Dragon or Baron. In the early game, try to only use one soldier at a time for farming, as this will help you get used to your mana pool and conserving it.

E: Shifting Sands: Azir's E is Shifting Sands, where Azir dashes to one of his soldiers, dealing 60-180 (+40% of AP) magic damage to enemies he passes through, shielding himself for 80-240 (+70% of AP) for 1.5 seconds. If Azir hits an enemy champion, he will stop and gain an extra charge of Arise!.

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This ability is Azir's only mobility spell, with a very high cooldown throughout the game, Azir must use this spell sparingly and wisely, or else it could mean his life. This ability can be used to setup a gank, combined with your R, it can be used to get out of sticky teamfights, it can be used to close a gap between you and a low health enemy, the possibilities are endless. A little tip, if you're about to die from ignite in lane or want to sustain yourself in a duel, place down a soldier and E to it, giving you a shield and bonus health to wait out the ignite or to get an edge in a 1v1. You can also use the extra charge of Arise! for a steroid 1v1 combo. W-W-Q-E(into enemy champion)-W this combo will give you 3 soldier's and your extra AS proc'd, which is amazing for 1v1'ing an enemy champion in the jungle or in lane. It really gives you an advantage.

R: Emperor's Divide: Azir's R is Emperor's Divide, where Azir calls forth 5-7 soldiers who push forward, knocking all enemies back and dealing 150-450 (+60% of AP) magic damage. When the soldiers finish the charge, they stand as an immovable wall for 3 seconds, blocking enemy champion movement. These soldiers can not be affected by your other spells.

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This ultimate ability is a game changer and live saver. You can use this ability for endless uses, such as peeling for ADC, disengaging/engaging a teamfight, setting up a gank, duels in laning phase, etc. I love this ultimate ability, and it can be used to pull of some nutty plays. You'll primarily want to use this ability to knock the whole enemy team back into a turret or your own team. If used correctly, this ultimate can change the whole game.

Ability Sequence > > > R > Q > W > E

Maxing your Q Conquering Sands first is vital because it is our main transportation of our soldiers and main source of poke/damage. Maxing out your W Arise! next is great because it lowers the CD, and increases the damage each soldier deals. Lastly, maxing out your E Shifting Sands is good because early on in the game you won't need it as much, but later in the game when more teamfights break out, you'll need all your abilities to be up to be able to W - E - Q - R and then be able to E out or E towards a low health enemy escaping the fight. If you feel the need, you can put a few points into E earlier into the game.

Nashor's Tooth Nashor's Tooth: This item synergizes extremely well with, well Azir overall. I recommend always building this item unless you're up against an unfavorable matchup such as Zed or LeBlanc. This item gives 80 AP, 50% AS, and 20% CDR for the early game mini DPS spike on Azir. While Nashor's Tooth passive doesn't apply to his soldier's attacks, it still has a decent amount of AP and AS as well as 20% CDR for a good first item power spike. Luden's Echo Luden's Tempest: The 90 AP, 10% CDR, and a plentiful 600 mana, Luden's Echo is a good first item for a lot of Azir players. I myself prefer a Nashor's first, but for certain builds like HoB build, I rush a Luden's. This item provides a lot of burst and it helps with newcomers to Azir to get used to attacking, moving, attacking, moving, etc. with the passive that grants 100 (+ 10% AP) bonus magic damage on the next ability hit. You can never go wrong with a Luden's rush, it works wonders. Liandry's Torment Liandry's Torment: The 300 HP and 80 AP on Azir is a perfect item for him in the early game as it gives him more HP, due to his squishiness it'll help him in teamfights to stay alive longer, whereas the passive is great and really spikes his DPS due to the % damage. The second passive synergizes well with Conquering Sands and also massively increases the kill potential and DPS Azir has in the early game, leading to a possible snowball. Void Staff Void Staff: Is a good item on Azir because it's a good mid game power spike, good against magic resist, and gives a decent amount of AP. I barely build this but when I do I have a lot of fun with my Sorc Shoes + Void Staff + Rabacap damage. It's also a really good first item against ap counters like Kassadin, and Galio.

More Items Coming Soon!

Gameplay Coming Soon!

Laning Phase Coming Soon!

Teamfighting Coming Soon!

To conclude, Azir is a high DPS teamfighting god, and is extremely overpowered in the right hands. May I wish you luck in your journey of mastering Azir, and I hope I helped.
I will be updating this guide whenever possible, and it may take a while to update this when Azir gets his upcoming rework(?), but don't quote me on that.

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I would love to credit Jovy for helping me out with the graphics, advice and a bit of code for this guide. Without her this guide would look like complete trash and I'm very thankful for the work that she has done willingly for me. You should go check out Jovy's Signature Shop where you can order either a signature, banner(s), or both! She's extremely friendly and responds quickly. Her work is amazing!
Good Luck!