Ahri Champion Guide

One of League’s most popular champions just received a mini update to give this nimble mid-laner a little more power; let’s break down Ahri.

Abilities

Passive - Essence Theft - whenever Ahri kills a minion or monster, she gains an essence fragment. Upon reaching 9 fragments, Ahri consumes them to heal herself. Whenever Ahri scores a recent takedown on an enemy champion, she also heals herself.

Q - Orb of Deception - Ahri sends out her orb in a target direction, dealing magic damage to enemies hit. Upon reaching its maximum range, the orb starts travelling back to Ahri, dealing true damage to enemies hit.

W - Fox-Fire - Ahri gains 40% bonus movement speed that decays over 2 seconds, and conjures 3 flames around her for up to 2.5 seconds. After 0.25 seconds, each flame targets a visible enemy, or after 0.4 seconds, the closest visible enemy in range, to deal magic damage. The damage is doubled against minions below 20% health, but multiple flames against the same target have their damage reduced. The flames will prioritise enemy champions hit by your E, then enemy champions, then minions that would die to a flame, then the target of Ahri’s last basic attack.

E - Charm - Ahri blows a kiss. This deals magic damage to the first enemy hit, slows them, and charms them as they to walk toward you.

Ultimate - Spirit Rush - Ahri dashes to the target location, dealing magic damage to up to 3 nearby enemies. This ability can be recast twice more (1 second cooldown) within 15 seconds of the initial cast. If Ahri procs her passive by scoring a recent takedown against an enemy champion, the duration of Spirit Rush is extended by and up to 10 seconds, and you gain an extra cast charge (up to 3).

Early Game

Orb of Deception (Q) is a fantastic wave clearing tool, as you are able to hit all the minions and if you have enough AP, can one shot the wave. It’s even better if the enemy mid is hugging the minion wave so you can not only farm the wave but also poke away at the enemy. Considering the Q deals magic damage on the way out and true damage on the way back to you, it’s better to hit enemies with the true damage but easier to land the magic damage.

Ahir’s bread and butter combo is landing her E (Charm) to make the enemy start moving toward you, making it easy for you to land an easy Q. Fox-Fire (W) should also be cast instantly upon landing the Charm, as this will hone toward the target and grant you the movement speed if you need to get in range of landing the Q. Fox-Fire is also useful to last hit minions, as it deals bonus damage against low health minions, or escape when you’re vulnerable thanks to the bonus movement speed.

Team fights

Before the recent update, Ahri’s greatest strength was taking advantage of the fog of war to pick off enemies with her Charm combo. Now that her Charm no longer increases the damage dealt to the enemy hit, her pick potential isn’t as strong. Nevertheless, her ultimate is now much more powerful as scoring a recent takedown will grant another charge and extend its duration, meaning you can become incredibly nimble and slippery in team fights.

The E → W → Q combo is still very potent in team fights, and can be made even stronger by using your ultimate to get in range to land the initial charm. The dash is very quick and can catch enemies off guard, so look for opportunities for out of position enemies to take advantage of them. Spirit Rush can also be used to escape enemies if you’re caught out of position, or finish off a low health enemy. Remember you get 3 initial charges which last for 15 seconds, so staggering out your charges is useful to ensure you can adapt to the state of a team fight.

Skill Order and Build

Ultimate → Q → W → E

Electrocute compliments Ahri’s kit perfectly, as her strongest combo of E → W → Q will also proc Electrocute and increase the damage. The rest of this rune patch enhances her sustainability she already gains in lane from her passive, with runes like Taste of Blood, Biscuit Delivery, and Time Warp Tonic. Luden’s Tempest is a great mythic for Ahri, as it increases your burst damage even more and is pretty easy to proc with your Q. This can be followed up with standard AP mage items, like Sorcerer’s Shoes, Void Staff, Rabadon’s Deathcap, Shadowflame, or Zhonya’s Hourglass.

Summary

Ahri is a mobile assassin with a lot of potential burst damage and the ability to pop off in team fights. Mastering Ahri requires excellent skill shot accuracy, the ability to play around vision effectively, and good judgement during team fights about how to best use your ultimate.

-Rilea