Ahri Guide - by dignitas/Shiphtur
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Ahri |
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Ever wanted to know how the pros play? Read on to find out exactly |
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Special thanks to Robert 'Roscoe' Wery for |
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Related links: |
INTRODUCTION
Ahri's one of my go-to champions in both solo queue and competitive play. She's a high mobility assassin that can dart in to create a play, but has the option to escape or go even deeper. For an assassin, her wave clear is great and after pushing out her lane can roam around and start snowballing her team. If you're looking for someone that requires quite a bit of practice but can become a serious threat, this is a great champion for you. I, Danny 'Shiphtur' Le, will show you how to play Ahri! I've got my usual rune, mastery and item setups down below, but I run through other contingencies for unique situations.
RUNES
I go for the standard AP mid lane runes. Nine Greater Marks of Magic Penetration, Nine Greater Seals of Scaling Health, Nine Greater Glyphs of Scaling Cooldown Reduction and three Greater Quintessences of Ability Power. With this setup I get the usual AP and penetration that’s a default necessity, some extra cooldown for good enough wave clear and more charms for picks. The only variable in this page is switching out the scaling health with Armor, but only against AD mids.
MASTERIES
Rather than putting four points in Sorcery, I like to take that last point and fill out Devastating Strikes. In this case, I regard the magic penetration above the cooldown, you get enough of that from other sources explained later.
The reason why you see many pro mid laners come into lane with biscuits is because they put nine points into utility rather than defense. From a ranged champion’s perspective, autos and abilities, you should have enough breathing room to farm and harass. If you’re playing other melee mids like Fizz then you can go with defensive masteries, you’ll likely take many more hits than an Ahri. Don’t forget to get the couple points in Summoner’s Insight and Culinary Master for the CDR and biscuits.
Go for utility over defense. Go for defense if you’re using someone melee like fizz because they’re much more likely to take a few hits from autos and trades. Ranged champions like Ahri, while they will inevitably take damage, they should be able to keep the wave and their opponents at an arm's length.
SUMMONER SPELLS - Ignite and Flash
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I always take Ignite and Flash, but in VERY rare scenarios you might take Cleanse. If they’ve got an obscene amount of lockdown or stuns, things that can halt your rapid assault, then you can opt for it. However, even then Ignite is often the better choice.
SKILL ORDER
The Skill order goes Q level one, E two, and then Q again at three. When maxing, the order is R>Q>W>E. Because the charm has a low duration at lower levels, your Q may not always hit on the back swing. Leveling charm three times (then maxing W) helps you ensure you land the entirety of your Q. You want to hold off on maxing W too early because it’s very mana costly and will put you behind in lane. However with Rylai’s as your first item, W synergizes well to help close down slippery targets if you feel the need.
ITEM BUILD
For my first set of items, I usually go Doran’s Ring, a health pot (biscuit with masteries) and the warding trinket. If I expect a lot of harass and trading with my lane opponent I grab a Flask, two biscuits and a mana pot instead.
I try to get around 1400 gold from farm before I return to fountain because that way I can afford the newly priced Needlessly Large Rod, change to Sweeper and grab an assortment of wards and pots. Vision is knowledge and in this game, knowledge is a big advantage. With that Rod, I plan on rushing Luden’s Echo as my first full item, more often than not.
If their team is slippery and mobile, Rylai’s Crystal Scepter isn’t out of the question. It goes well with your W, but needs to be the right scenario, otherwise you’ll be mana hungry pretty often.
After that I often choose to get a Rabadon’s Deathcap. With the recent changes to AP items and how cheap they are now, it’s important for Ahri to get a strong surge of AP, otherwise her presence in roaming and fights will fall off. If you wait until later to get it, you’ll likely have missed the opportune moment to snag a kill and begin to snowball.
If you’re in need of some armor in particular, or just an extra safety net for team fights, Zhonya’s Hourglass is the next item in the list. This point is also a good time to fully upgrade your boots. With Ahri, I prefer to take Lucidity boots for the cool down reduction. Because Ahri’s greatest strengths are her mobility and ability to create a pick with charm, having them up as often as possible are pretty important. In terms of defensive items, Zhonya’s is really the only item you’ll want to pick up.
Throughout the game, kind of like the level two boots, keep in mind to upgrade your Sweeper and Homeguard whenever convenient. Go for it when you can, but not when it’ll hinder you from picking up the bigger items like our next pick up: Void Staff. The flat AP and Magic Penetration from Void Staff are self-explanatory, more burst damage! Finishing out the build with your sixth item, you can grab that Rylai’s for more damage as well as a little utility in your rotation.
MATCHUPS/SYNERGY
When it comes to champions that give Ahri a hard time, Annie comes to mind first. Ahri wants to be able to dash around a fight uninhibited, so Annie, and others with point and click crowd control can really jam up her gears during a game. Champions like MaoKai with abilities that interrupt Ahri’s flow can stop her in her tracks when she needs to be the fastest.
Champions that work well in the same team as Ahri tend to be the supports, in my opinion. Thresh and Morgana go with Ahri like peanut butter and jelly. The moment one of them lands a hook, binding or charm, the other essentially has a free ticket to GG Land, a magical place where it’s incredibly easy to land the other crowd control.
In the honorable mention category is Gnar, well, moreso Mega Gnar. I get the stats and the fantasy points, but thanks to Gamsu’s exquisite Mega Gnar ultimate I was free to lay down my full rotation on our opponents.
CONCLUSION
Ahri’s a great champion for competitive play and she can create or make use of single moments to change the tide of a game. She’s a unique assassin that can clear waves easily, but also be a quick predator when she spots an opening. I’ve got a few secret tactics I like to use, but I can’t reveal them all here, you’ll have to watch us play in the LCS to see my best moves!
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