A Guide to Effectively Playing Ahri from League of Legends

A Guide to Effectively Playing Ahri from League of Legends

Please note that League of Legends is a very difficult game to understand and play well, so don't get frustrated if you don't immediately do well.

If you're looking for a basic guide on how to effectively play as or against Ahri from League of Legends, then you've found the right article. I am a very experienced one-trick (in case you don't know what that means, I play exclusively Ahri), with over 600 hours of Ahri gameplay under my belt. 

Why Ahri?

If you're wondering why I play Ahri, it's because, for me, she's the only truly fun champion in League of Legends. I bore easily on other champions, but, for whatever reason, I enjoy Ahri. 

Now, if you're wondering why you should play Ahri, here's a small list.

• Ahri has a very simple kit (set of abilities) that is easy to use.
• She is very safe in her laning phase, as her ultimate provides a "safety net" to get out of hairy situations.
• Her Q passive heals her on every 9th hit.
• Ahri is very versatile, able to effectively be played as an assassin, or as a support mage, depending on what the situation calls for. There is no wrong way to play her.
• While her kit is easy to learn, she has some deceptive tricks up her sleeve.
• She capitalizes on the mistakes of her enemies.

Runes, Summoner Spells, and Items

Runes

Ahri has two commonly used Runepages that fit two different playstyles, but we'll only be covering one, the Domination-Sorcery path, pictured below. A completely different playstyle is the Inspiration-Domination path, which I won't be discussing for the sake of simplicity.

The Domination tree focuses on damage, and therefore, suits a more aggressive playstyle, or when your team only has one heavy damage champion, aside from you. The Sorcery tree supplements your damage. Or, you can simply make this your default page for playing Ahri. There is no wrong way to play Ahri. Take Adaptive power for Offense and Flex, and health for defense.

Remember that this is my personal Runepage, and yours can be changed to whatever you like. This is simply what works for me.

Summoner Spells

Flash is a must on Ahri; you'll only make your life difficult by not taking Flash.

You can then choose to take Ignite (which you will take 99% of the time), or Teleport. Take Teleport in matchups that demand your presence in lane (like Anivia), or when you're toplane. Take Ignite the rest of the time.

Items

A basic Ahri build.

You have all of your bases covered with this build:

• Sorcerer's Shoes for magic penetration and movement speed.
• Luden's Echo for AP (ability power), additional mana, and cooldown reduction.
• Morellonomicon for AP, additional health points, and the unique effect Grievous Wounds, which reduces healing on any target hit by your abilities for a short period of time (important for assassination and cutting down on your enemies' ability to remain after a fight due to reduced healing).
• Void Staff for more magic penetration, though instead of being flat, like Sorcerer's Shoes', it ignores a percentage, 40%, of your enemies' magic resistance (basically, more damage).
• Zhonya's Hourglass for AP, armor (take less damage from basic attacks), cooldown reduction, and the unique ability to put yourself into a stasis which makes you invulnerable (meaning you can't take damage) and untargetable (enemies can't target you for abilities or basic attacks) for 2.5 seconds,  but making you unable to do anything during the 2.5 seconds. The 2.5 seconds will give you a chance to think about your next move, or dodge a deadly ability.
• Rabadon's Deathcap, which increases your AP by +120, and an additional 40% of your total AP.

You'll want to follow the build in this order, except, in most situations, you'll finish your Sorcerer's Shoes after Luden's Echo. With this build and your Elixir of Sorcery, you'll have about 732 ability power and 30% cooldown reduction at level 18, which are the statistics that really matter on Ahri. Don't forget your Elixir of Sorcery, it really makes a difference!

Ahri's Combos

Ahri, like any other champion, has a passive and four abilities. I won't be going into detail on her passive though, as it, quite honestly, doesn't affect her gameplay much.

A basic Ahri combo is E (for the damage amplification on ability damage), followed by Q (to guarantee a double-hit on the way out and way back), with a W immediately following. A kill combo is almost exactly the same. E+R+Q+W, or R (to close distance), followed by E+Q+W, with Ignite to supplement damage and secure a kill should the enemy Flash away.

Flash Combos

Three of Ahri's four abilities can have their animations cancelled by Flash. The most recognizable and known is her Charm-Flash (E+F) combo. Charm is casted, followed immediately by Flash, to make it almost instant and nearly undodgeable. It's a great combo to catch enemies that are out of position or is a way to catch out an enemy AD-carry and turn a fight into a favorable one for your team.

The next is her Orb of Deception-Flash combo (Q+F). It isn't often used, as the Charm-Flash combo is generally more favorable due to the 20% damage increase from Charm. The Q+F combo is great for finishing off an enemy that might have lived from an all-in. It works the same way as the Charm-Flash combo, making Orb of Deception cast nearly instantly.

The final Flash combo Ahri has is Spirit Rush-Flash. However, Flash makes Spirit Rush not only (nearly) instant, it extends the fairly short range of Spirit Rush to help Ahri get into a better position for a Charm.

Ahri's Weaknesses

Ahri has several weaknesses. The first being the long cooldowns on her abilities, namely Spirit Rush. Without your ultimate, you are very vulnerable to ganks, and have little kill pressure in-lane. Your best bet, while you have Spirit Rush on cooldown, is to play safely. Don't push up to your enemy laner's tower, or overextend (be too far out in your lane).  Your Charm cooldown is long as well, so use it sparingly.

Ahri's damage is also subpar compared to other mages. She needs to poke down her enemy to kill range (generally to about 60% of their maximum health, if they are relatively squishy), unless she is extremely far ahead in items. If she misses her abilities, she's out of luck, and has to wait until her next rotation is available.

Now..

You're ready to play Ahri effectively. It takes a game or two to really get a feel for Ahri's gameplay and weaknesses, but once you're used to them, you should be able to play Ahri well. 

From one Ahri player to another, good luck!