Hi, I am Xpecial and I am Team SoloMid's support player. Even though I am more known for my supports, I am very proficient with both the AP and AD carry roles. During Season One, I was rank 1 on the solo queue ladder and was well known for my AP carries. Even in Season Two, I peaked at rank 2 with my Xerath, Nasus and Kog'Maw, all of which fulfill different roles. Despite not being the absolute best AP carry player, I do hold my own against many of the top players and hopefully one would take this into account when perusing my guide.

Ahri, formerly Kumiho, was a champion announced as a sneak peek several months back. Riot's goal was to appeal to the Korean League of Legends players who only recently had their own server. The end result is a fun and unique champion that has her background dipped in Korean mythology.

03/29/12 - Updated guide

02/14/12 - : The allied HUD indicator will now remain green until all 3 spell casts are used.
Cooldown between casts increased to 1 second from 0.75.
Cooldown increased to 110/95/80 seconds from 90/80/70.

01/17/12 - : Mana cost increased to 70/75/80/85/90 from 60/65/70/75/80.
: Cooldown increased to 90/80/70 from 80/70/60.

12/22/11 - Released Guide

Ahri is a high skill-cap champion who excels at dealing sustained damage by staying at the edge of a fight and taking advantage of low cooldown spells.

Strengths:
+Low CDs
+High mobility with ultimate
+High DPS
+Powerful CC
+Sustain

Weaknesses:
-All skillshots
-High CD on ultimate
-Mediocre burst damage
-Needs time to outdps bursters
-Low base movement speed

21/0/9

With the mana masteries in the utility tree and two Doran's Rings, Ahri has enough mana and mana regeneration for all situations, minus extended kiting.

Marks:

Magic Penetration is the most popular option for AP carries and most obvious option for AP carries.

Flat Magic Resistance is an increasingly popular option due to the passive playstyle that is more characteristic of the mid lane.

Seals:

MP Regen early on allows you to spam more spells in lane whether to harass or to push the lane.
HP per level will result in quite a bit of HP approaching into the mid game.
Armor is another viable option, especially if you find yourself going into the top lane.

Glyphs:

AP per level will net the most damage in an offensive build
Flat Magic Resistance on Glyphs are also becoming extremely popular. Being more tanky through runes will allow you to farm for a longer period of time while under harass and also survive ganks.


Quintessences:

HP for aggressive early plays or surviving jungle ganks, AP for extra offensive power or MS for extra maneuverability. AP is the most common pick, but any of the three are excellent choices.

Ahri gains a charge of Essence Theft whenever one of her spells hits an enemy (max: 3 charges per spell). Upon reaching 9 charges, Ahri's next spell has 35% Spell Vamp.


Rather straightforward passive, after nine stacks, the next spell will have a lot of spell vamp.

Note: Using on a minion wave will amount to the most amount of healing.





Ahri throws out and pulls back her orb, dealing 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+33% of ability power) magic damage on the way out and 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+33% of ability power) true damage on the way back.

Cooldown: 7 seconds

Cost: 70/75/80/85/90 mana

Range: 880


Skillshot nuke that travels forward and back a set amount of distance, similar to Sivir's Boomerang Blade. Knowing the max range will allow you to land both hits more reliably, but requires much practice.




Ahri releases three fox-fires, which after a short delay lock on and attack nearby enemies (prioritizes champions), dealing 40 / 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 (+38% of ability power) magic damage. Additional fox-fires that hit the same target deal 50% damage, up to a maximum total damage of 80 / 140 / 200 / 260 / 320 (+75% of ability power).

Cooldown: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 Seconds

Cost: 60 mana

Range: 800


Fox-Fire has a very, very low cooldown at later ranks and should be used at every cooldown.

Note: Each Fox-Fire has its separate range, therefore it is very easy to miss shots when you are further away from your target.


Each Fox-Fire is highlighted by a color and its respective range.




Ahri blows a kiss that deals 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+35% of ability power) magic damage to an enemy and charms it, causing them to walk harmlessly towards her for 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds.

Cooldown: 12 Seconds

Cost: 50/65/80/95/110 Mana

Range: 975


Likely the best type of disable in the game. Charm functions as a stun that pulls in your target, with the added bonus of being on a short cooldown allowing one to pull a target into a vulnerable position very frequently.





Ahri dashes forward and fires essence bolts, damaging 3 nearby enemies (prioritizes champions) for 100 / 140 / 180 (+30% of ability power) magic damage per bolt. Spirit Rush can be cast up to three times before going on cooldown.

Cooldown: 110/95/80 Seconds

Range: 450


A three usage spell that combines nukes with dashes. Likely the best escape skill in the game, but has a very long cooldown. Unfortunately, this nuke also functions as Ahri's only escape, a wasted ultimate will make Ahri very vulnerable to ganks.

Note: There is a 1 second cooldown between ultimate casts. There is a 10 second period after the initial cast of the ultimate in which you can use your remaining Spirit Rush charges at any time.

There are two choices in skill orders: Maxing first or maxing first.

first: This is much more for a farm lane. Maxing Orb of Deception first means that you will be more focused on farming.

first: This is much more for a kill lane. Maxing Fox Fire means you want to kill the opposing mid lane. Fox Fire is an easy to lane skill that does an extremely high amount of damage.

> = >

Start:

Very standard start on AP carries. This gives you extra maneuverability that will allow you to close in for the kill or escape ganks. The health potions provide some early sustain to live through enemy harass damage.

Early buys:

Ahri is very strong at level 6 and can easily chase down targets. After using to lower an opponent down, using towards an enemy, plus landing the rest of her spells while combined with will guarantee kills in most lanes.

2x provides extra HP, AP and MP regen which all immensely benefit Ahri. The gives extra Magic Penetration for the increased damage early game, which will allow for early kills.

First Core Item:

Rylai's Crystal Scepter provides excellent stats for Ahri. Since Fox-Fire is treated as a single-target spell, Rylai's slows for the full 35%, which allows Ahri to land more spells when chasing. The bonus HP and AP provide extra damaage and survivability which to endure a long chase with making it an absolute necessity on her.

is another popular item for Ahri. However, I have found that the extra mana isn't worth it on Ahri, as most of Ahri's spells do not cost much mana. I feel that getting a with is much better. The slow from Rylai's is absolutely crucial to chasing down targets and kiting.

combined with Magic Resistance in runes will amount to over 100 MR. This tanky build works extremely well against or with a double AP comp.

Second Core Item:

Will of the Ancients is another core item for Ahri. Whether you first build or , the increased sustain will allow Ahri to stay in a fight much longer. Also, the synergy this has with another AP carry cannot be overstated.

Late Game:

Deathcap provides bonus damage that will be needed now that you have enough survivability. Due to Ahri's low cooldowns, it is much more effective to rely on base damages and constant spell rotations rather than a quick burst of damage, which makes delaying high AP items reasonable.

Situational:

Void Staff is an excellent magic penetration item, but not needed if you build into the path.

Deathfire Grasp provides burst damage for when you wish to take out an important target quick.

Quicksilver Sash allows Ahri to cleanse suppressions and stuns if you feel that you are being targeted and are falling too quickly in fights.

Zhonya's Hourglass provides extra armor and a stasis that will allow you to survive a bit longer in a teamfight.

Guardian Angel is also a strong defensive item, but will mainly be for if you wish to end a game and can not afford to die.

Despite Ahri scaling very well with CDR, AP carries tend to not build much of it due to the availability of the Blue Buff and which will provide nearly all of it. Building a is a decent alternative, but you will give up a lot of the early burst potential that will give.

Due to the low mana cost on her , it is worth harassing an opponent while also getting extra minion kills that may otherwise be out of reach. By doing this, you also take advantage of and will gain extra sustain that will help you survive your lane. As always, a solo's main goal should be to farm up minions and avoid deaths.

Landing your spells is crucial to playing Ahri. With Doran's Rings and Sorc Boots, you will win most engagements if played correctly, watching for opportune times (after Sion uses W on a creep wave, Annie just used stun, etc.) and going in accordingly is key to getting kills. The concept is simple, but the execution can be difficult.

With and simply chasing with , it is very simply to chase down overextended targets. Always look to gank the sidelanes if such an opportunity arises.

Ahri is NOT an assassin the way Akali and Talon are as her role is not to go in and focus down carries. Instead, you want to harass and poke at the front lines, using to force tanks to take unnecessary damage.

In actual engagements, Ahri will simply continue to spam her spells, but can not fully dive into the backlines. Your goal should not be to snipe targets, but rather lower numerous targets by outsustaining them and then chasing all of them with your powerful slow from . At the end of fight, you will want to save at least one charge on for chasing, which combined with on will guarantee easy chasing.

New commentary!

Ahri is a very difficult champion to be effective with. Learning the ranges on her spells, while having the ability to land skillshots, but at the same time maintain smart positioning is not easy. It will likely be very frustrating in the first few games starting out, but mastering all of these will make Ahri a powerful pick and a ridiculously fun champion to play.