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Hello everyone and welcome to my guide on Ahri! 

Ahri has been a dominant and popular champion in solo queue ever since she was introduced to the game. She is often known as a Jack of all trades midlaner, being able to do many of the things that are necessary for success in the midlane. She has waveclear, burst, mobility, hard CC, and even healing. These traits give her the option to play safe while simultaneously being a major threat to the enemy team with her pick potential and damage. She can quickly shove waves and roam to other lanes to make an impact. Currently she is one of the best solo queue champions in the game thanks to her safe early game and strong midgame. In competitive, she has also been very dominant, but nerfs to her reliable burst damage (W and R) have made her a less attractive pick. The recent meta's favoring of reliable mages over assassins also means that she is unlikely to see more professional play. 

Her downside is that she does not specialize in anything. She does not have the mobility of many other assassins and needs to be concerned about her ult downtime. Her burst relies on landing skillshots (in particular, charm) and is a lot less reliable compared to other assassins. She is also outranged by many other mages, who at the same time might possess stronger CC (larger hitbox/AoE). And her sustain is in no way comparable to the sustain of champions like Vladimir. 

Detailed ability descriptions can be found at http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Ahri . Here I will focus on explaining how to make the most out of your abilities. 

 Passive: Vastayan Grace 

One ability may provide mulitiple ability hits. Ahri's passive is easily triggered by landing both ticks of Q or at least 2 Fox-Fire bolts onto an enemy champion. The movement speed is nice for dodging skillshots and kiting, but most of the time it is difficult to feel its presence.

 Q: Orb of Deception

Ahri's Q is what gives her strong waveclear and harass. From Level 9 onwards, you should be able to consistently one-shot the caster minions by landing both hits of your Q onto them, as long as you are building AP. 

I recommend playing with quick cast with indicators to familiarize yourself with her Q's range. You want to hit enemies at the maximum range whenever possible, since Q will then immediately begin returning, giving enemies little to no time to dodge the true damage portion of her ability. 

The best time to use her Q is when an enemy is going for a last hit. With careful aiming and positioning, you should be able to land both ticks at the same time. 

You can adjust Q's returning path by using flash or your ultimate. Positioning right next to the enemy (with the enemy between your orb and you) will guarantee the true damage hit. 

Be careful when using Q to harass, as it may push the wave and put you in a dangerous spot vulnerable to ganks. 

Now, onto her Q's passive. You can use your W and Q to generate enough charges, as each ability will help you get 3 charges per cast. Once your passive is up, aim it so that it will hit an entire wave, healing you 12 to 14 times. If you hit the enemy, then it is even better.

When you are trying to stack your passive, be careful with your mana bar as well, as it can be quickly depleted if you aimlessly use your Q and W whenever they are off cooldown. It is most efficient to use your abilities to land harass while trying to generate charges. 

In the mid to late game, this passive can often help you regenerate almost your entire HP bar. As you will be having more mana to use, feel free to spam your abilities to stack up your charges as quickly as possible. In addition to minion waves, you can also use Q on the raptor camp to heal up to 12 times. 

Your R should be able to generate 3 charges per cast, up to 9 times over 3 casts. Be sure to use this to your advantage while in the middle of a teamfight. It is preferable to save your Q for when you have 9 stacks. 

 W: Fox-Fire

W has received a mini rework a while ago and now it is much easier to land all 3 Fox-Fire bolts onto an enemy champion in lane. Before, you would have to stand very close to an enemy champion in order to land all 3 bolts, but now you can reliably land all 3 as long as you land an auto-attack beforehand. 

The bolts will all fire onto a target within 725 range of Ahri (not the bolts themselves) as long as it has been autoattacked or charmed by her less than 3 seconds ago. If there are no appropriate targets in range, then each bolt will fly to the nearest target within 550 units of itself, prioritizing champions and then targets autoattacked by Ahri. If your goal is to land all 3 bolts onto something, then the effective range (with Ahri as the center) is far less than 550. 

Since W has no cast time, you can use it as you are auto-attacking and then immediately back off to avoid minion aggro. Your W will fire at the enemy even if you back off, as your auto-attack range is 550 while your W range is 725. 

 E: Charm

Ahri's most iconic ability, Charm, is what makes her so threatening at times. Because of how iconic it is, all of her skins must retain the pink color on it. Your charm sets up your Q and W and allows you to deal a lot of burst damage with your other abilities. The CC duration at even rank 1 will guarantee both hits of your Q as long as you are standing sufficiently far away from an enemy (around 400 units). It is best to use the ability first in order to maximize your burst potential, and you should use E first if you only have a small window to one-shot an enemy carry, but sometimes it can be a better idea to hold on to it and use your other abilities first. By holding onto charm in a fight, you can make enemies more nervous and your other abilities will come off cooldown soon enough for you to land that charm and take advantage of the damage amplification from charm. 

Don't be afraid to make attempts to land this ability in lane, even if you are uncertain about whether you can land it or not. Because of its lowered mana cost, it's no longer as punishing to miss it as it used to be. Simply play safer for the next 12 seconds if you do indeed miss it. However, if you are aware that the enemy jungler is nearby, then save it. If you know that the enemy has reliable engage and will immediately punish you for a missed charm, then save it. 

Ideally, you want to start off combos by landing a Charm (maybe using one charge of your ult to engage beforehand), as it maximizes your burst potential. But there are situations where it is difficult to land it, and it's ok to use other abilities before Charm. Just make sure that you can take advantage of the damage amplification; you should have your Q and W cooldowns come up before the Charm damage amplification expires. 

 R: Spirit Rush

Spirit Rush is what allows Ahri to be able to play safe and make plays. Having three dashes for a duel, skirmish, or teamfight allows her to dodge enemy skillshots while putting herself into a position to land her Charm and other abilities. You can use the ability to chase down immobile enemies who foolishly try to flee from you with only their flash. You can dash over walls and flank from unexpected locations to kill an enemy. The fact that you have 10 seconds to recast the ability up to two more times allows you to ult away from a gank and re-engage when the enemy doesn't expect you to do so. There are many ways to use her ult effectively, and it is up to you to be creative! 

Her ult is what gives a lot of reliability to her roams. In addition to its strong mobility, it is also a source of reliable damage. The bolts will always prioritize enemy champions in its range. However, don't use up all three charges at once, unless the damage from the ability is sufficient to kill your target. It is best to hold onto your charges and use them to stay in range and set up your other abilities. Early on, the ability does not do a lot of damage, so do not overestimate your burst with your ultimate. Focus more on its utility. If, however, you are absolutely confident that one cast of your ultimate will kill your target, you can cast it right on top of your current location and the bolts will come out faster. 

Without your ultimate, you are very vulnerable to ganks and all-ins and your playmaking ability is very limited. In lane, while your ultimate is on cooldown, you must be very careful about certain abilities that can cost you your life, such as Fizz's ult , Orianna's ult , and Lux's combo . Make good use of your Charm and Flash to get out of sticky situations. In some matchups, you may want a Stopwatch/Zhonya's Hourglass to bail out while your ultimate is down. 

In some situations, while you have both flash and your ultimate up, it may be better to flash away from something than using your ultimate. Your ultimate has a shorter cooldown, but it also includes three dashes (compared to flash's one blink). 

Recommended
 Flash - The best summoner spell in the game. Helps you dodge skillshots, escape, chase, make picks... The possibilities are endless. Mandatory for every single game. 
 Ignite - Great for securing kills early on and starting your snowball. Recommended in most matchups.

Other Viable Choices
 Cleanse - Take this versus champions with hard CC that are difficult to dodge (eg. Veigar), or versus champions that will delete you if you get hit by their hard CC (eg. Zoe). 
 Exhaust - Useful against assassins such as Zed and Katarina. However, you can still take Ignite if you are confident enough. 
 Teleport - Inferior to Ignite for solo queue. Teleport gives you the option to recall and return to lane immediately and lets you have more impact on the map, but Ignite is better for all-ins. 

Avoid
 Ghost - You don't need it. You are already mobile enough, and ghost just is not in a good state due to the time it needs to ramp up. 
 Heal - Ahri has more than enough safety in her kit. Heal might be nice in 2v2 skirmishes, but Ahri needs to snowball to win, and Ignite does a better job at that.
 Barrier - Same as above. 
 Smite - Ahri is not a jungler.
 Mark: Unfortunately unavailable for Summoner's Rift. You can consider it for ARAM. Good gapcloser.
 Clarity: No longer an option in champion select. XD

The standard page for Ahri gives her plenty of damage and cooldown reduction, things she need to have a large impact on the game. There is, however, room to change these runes around, and it largely depends on your personal preference. Many different runes in the domination and sorcery tree are very good on her, so don't feel obligated to stick to one page for all games!

Standard Runes
Primary Path

Domination: Recommended

 Electrocute - If you want to have a damage-oriented keystone, then Electrocute >  Summon Aery/Arcane Comet (although these two keystones are certainly viable). Electrocute provides plenty of burst damage and you can consistently proc it in lane through Q + Auto + W. Because of this, our primary path will be Domination. Keystones in the other paths are not recommend at all, and neither are the other keystones in the Domination path (except Dark Harvest). Currently Electrocute is an inferior choice to Dark Harvest. This may change once Riot hits Dark Harvest with further nerfs. 

 Sudden Impact - Extra magic penetration when you use your ult for an all-in. It increases your burst damage, but you essentially have no rune in this slot until Level 6.

 Eyeball Collection - The three runes in this slot are all very decent in my opinion. while Eyeball Collection provides consistent AP. Eyeball Collection is recommended for its consistency. 

 Ultimate Hunter -  Allows you to make more plays with your ult. Because Ahri's ult is so important to her success, we take Ultimate Hunter. 

Domination: Other Viable Choices

 Dark Harvest - It helps improve Ahri's teamfighting and mid-to-late game, but you will sacrifice a lot of lane presence for it. You will not do a lot of damage with this rune from the early to mid game (usually a few hundred damage), but once you get some stacks, you will do a lot of burst, and the resets also help the keystone do even more damage. In a good game, you can end up with several thousand damage from Dark Harvest alone. The nerfs to Dark Harvest's base damage, however, have made Electrocute once again become the best keystone on Ahri. Before the nerfs, Dark Harvest's early game power was not great but passable, but now it's barely existent. 

  Taste of Blood is a great option if you want to have more HP in lane. It, however, starts losing value later on as your Q healing passive gets stronger. Cheap Shot is not a viable option, as you can only use it once within a burst combo and you will need to land your charm to have access to it. However, it is a crucial rune for the Glacial Augment build.

  Zombie Ward and Ghost Poro provide more utility along with some damage, but their damage output is not as consistent as Eyeball Collection. However, with enemy invades becoming a lot more common, you may need to take Ghost Poro to cover the river bush for the side where your jungler is not at (before camps spawn). That way, you can track the enemy jungler if they happen to do the Scuttle Crab on that side. Your jungler can choose to invade the enemy jungle based on this information and prevent the enemy jungler from ending up with 3 buffs (in case they do invade). 

  Ravenous Hunter is the best combat rune in the final Domination slot, but its effects are not as significant on Ahri as it could be on other champions due to how Ahri has access to plenty of healing already. Ingenious Hunter is only used when you have a lot of item actives (Glacial Augment build). Finally, Relentless Hunter gives you plenty of roaming power, but Ultimate Hunter is what allows you to make plays more frequently. 

Secondary Path

While there is a clear consensus on what runes Ahri should take for her primary path runes, people have varying preferences for her secondary path runes.

Sorcery: Recommended

 Transcendence helps Ahri hit the 40% CDR cap with a mana item + defensive AP item, giving Ahri more chances to make picks. Celerity is also a good option with its extra movement speed and damage, which will (slightly) improve her burst and allow her to dodge more skillshots. It has been nerfed quited a bit due to its strength, but you can still take it over Transcendence if you prefer extra movespeed over cooldown reduction.

 After the nerf that cut Scorch's damage by half but also reduced its CD by half, it's not as good as it used to be. However, if you are consistent with your skillshots, you can deal plenty of damage with it in lane.  Gathering Storm does improves your late game by quite a bit, and the nerfs to Scorch certainly made it a more attractive choice.

Sorcery: Other Viable Choices

 Nullifying Orb is very situational and its shield is not that big, but it may help out in some rough matchups against magic damage dealers. Manaflow Band is not as good as it used to be, and Ahri doesn't have a lot of mana issues. Finally, Nimbus Cloak gives you more speed to reposition after you use your ultimate.

 Absolute Focus - Shines when you dive onto a carry while being at full HP and may prove to be useful in some situations.

 Waterwalking - Good if you are focusing on roaming, but since you don't really roam that much before level 6, other runes overshadow it.  

Inspiration: Recommended

 Time Warp Tonic - Great rune if you plan to start Corrupting Potion. Because of the nerfs to Doran's Ring, Corrupting Potion is a strong start on mages because of its strong healing, mana regeneration, and early game damage. Combine this rune and Corrupting Potion with a Dark Seal to get more value. If you plant to take Inspiration secondary, Time Warp Tonic > Other runes in this slot. Not even Cosmic Insight's CDR is more valuable than TWT's sustain and movespeed. 

The nerfs pretty much rendered Time Warp Tonic into a poor choice for most situations (except when you need that extra bit of healing against that Ignite). 

 Biscuit Delivery - Even more sustain in lane. Recommended second rune if you take Inspiration Secondary.

 Cosmic Insight - Despite being a strong rune, it unfortunately shares the same slot with Time Warp Tonic. It really shines when you have 45% CDR, but Time Warp Tonic's value is just much greater than 5% CDR.

After Time Warp Tonic's nerfs, Cosmic Insight once again resurfaces as a strong choice.  You

Inspiration: Other Viable Choices 

 I like having access to boots earlier on in the game, so I would not take Magical Footwear over Biscuit Delivery, but free movement speed + 300 gold is definitely nice. Perfect Timing comes in only at 10 minutes into the game, but you get a 600 g item for free and it saves you 300 g in your Zhonya's Hourglass purchase. The plays you can make with Stopwatch can be well worth what you sacrifice for this rune. Consider this rune if you think you need an early Zhonya's Hourglass.

 Future's Market helps you access your power spikes quicker, but its cost is also very significant. Minion Dematerializer can help you push the lane faster, but Ahri usually does not have issues clearing Caster Minions. If you take this rune, I recommend using them on the melee minions.

 Time Warp Tonic - Great rune if you plan to start Corrupting Potion. Because of the nerfs to Doran's Ring, Corrupting Potion is a strong start on mages because of its strong healing, mana regeneration, and early game damage. Combine this rune and Corrupting Potion with a Dark Seal to get more value. If you plant to take Inspiration secondary, Time Warp Tonic > Other runes in this slot. Not even Cosmic Insight's CDR is more valuable than TWT's sustain and movespeed. 

The nerfs pretty much rendered Time Warp Tonic into a mediocre choice for most situations (except when you need that extra bit of healing against that Ignite). 

Inspiration: Avoid

 Hextech Flashtraption - There used to be some animation cancel combos with Hexflash, but these have been fixed by Riot. 

 Approach Velocity - You don't really need that movespeed after landing a Charm. 

Glacial Augment Build:

The Glacial Augment build has become quite popular on Ahri due to its playmaking potential, cheap itemization, and reliability for landing skillshots. 

With the nerfs to Time Warp Tonic, however, the build has started falling out of favor. 

Primary Path

Inspiration: Possible Choices

 Glacial Augment - The most important rune in this path! In lane, you can use autoattacks to slow down your enemy and hit both ticks of your Q. If they are exposed, you can also use the rune to help you land a Charm. Once you get your core items ( Twin Shadows,  Hextech GLP-800), you will be able to catch people from afar and potentially slow down an entire team, setting yourself up for a Charm and your teammates for a fight. 

 Magical Footwear is equal to 300 gold! But it does come with the drawback of not being able to have enough movespeed before the 10 minute mark. Perfect Timing is better in some matchups where you absolutely need to rush Zhonya's Hourglass and would like to have access to the active early on without committing 600 gold for it. Otherwise, Magical Footwear is superior in the sense that it contributes more gold (300 vs 250) and can be obtained earlier if you get enough takedowns.

 I would still recommend Biscuit Delivery as it allows you to play more aggressively in lane and stay on the map for a longer period of time, but Minion Dematerializer can allow you to shove faster by dealing more damage to melee minions. In games where you might find yourself a bit behind, you might not have enough AP to one shot the caster minions, but Minion Dematerializer can help you deal with that.

Time Warp Tonic - The rune you need to take if you are starting with Corrupting Potion. The extra potion duration and 5% movespeed keep you healthy and allow you to roam faster. The effects also apply to Elixirs, so even if you sell your Corrupting Potion later on, your  Elixir of Sorcery will continue to grant you that 5% movespeed. Cosmic Insight is a useful rune that lets your abilities come back up faster, and it shines once you hit 45% CDR with it. If your goal is to assassinate, however, then you would benefit more from the movespeed than the extra 5% CDR, since you would most likely have only the opportunity to use one rotation of spells. 

 Cosmic Insight - With the nerfs to Time Warp Tonic, Cosmic Insight is the best choice in the third row. 

Secondary Path

Domination: The Only Choices 

 Cheap Shot - Because you have so many slows in your kit (autoattacks and item actives), you can constantly proc this rune in lane and in teamfights. 

 Ingenious Hunter - We want our item actives to be available as frequently as possible. Having access to your  Oracle Lens/Warding Totem more frequently also allows for more vision control. 

Starting Items

   Doran's Ring and 2 Potions - The most standard starting items, as they provide you with a good amount of mana regen and HP/sustain in the laning phase. With the nerfs to Doran's Ring though, the build does not provide as much mana as it used to do, which leads to...

 Corrupting Potion - Although it does not provide any AP, it gives an incredible amount of health and mana sustain throughout the entire game, and the burn damage is also very helpful. Use a charge of Corrupting Potion whenever you initiate a trade in order to deal more damage. Pair this with  The Dark Seal to get even more health sustain. It also synergizes with  Time Warp Tonic, making this rune extremely attractive should you choose to start Corrupting Potion over Doran's Ring. 

Standard Core Items

There is no particular order in which you should build your items, and everything depends on the situation of the game. That being said, the following information presents and itemization order that you will frequently use.

In your first few backs, you should at least have your  Boots of Speed and  Lost Chapter. Sometimes you may want to build  Cloth Armor or  Null-Magic Mantle in harder matchups.  Against AD assassins, you may want to build   Seeker's Armguard even before Lost Chapter. 

Whether you complete your boots or get a  Blasting Wand first depends on what you want to do for the game. Do you want the AP to push minion waves faster? Or do you want more movespeed and magic penetration to be a kill threat on the map? Or do you need other boots to handle your aggressive lane opponent?

If you choose to get Blasting Wand, you will have to think about this question again as you decide between completing your boots or your mana item. You should, however, upgrade your boots before you start working on your second item. 

Now, let's get into the items: 

 Sorcerer's Shoes - A great amount of magic penetration that will help with your assassinations/DPS. Unless you absolutely need to itemize defensive boots, you should get Sorcerer's Shoes.

 Luden's Echo - AP, mana, CDR, burst/waveclear, you name it. It provides Ahri with a lot of the stats that she needs to start snowballing. It's great for waveclear because it will generally be the melee minions that take the Luden proc. Your Q should already be able to one shot the caster minions, and the Luden proc will help you clear the melee minions faster. This item is mandatory for every game, unless if you are using the Glacial Augment build (or if you think you can get away with no mana items).

 Morellonomicon - It provides a good combination of AP, HP, and magic penetration while significantly increasing your burst potential. In combination with Sorcerer's Shoes and Sudden Impact, you have a total of 39 magic penetration and will be dealing true damage to squishy targets. The grievous wounds are also great against champions such as  Dr. Mundo,  Vladimir, and  Soraka as well as against ADCs who already have lifesteal items. 

 Void Staff - Void Staff is strong against both squshies and tanks. Even a tiny bit of magic penetration will be significant against targets with a low amount of MR. Against targets with a lot of MR, percentage magic penetration is the most effective way of increasing the damage Ahri deals to them. Almost mandatory in every game, unless no enemies are building MR and you need several situational items listed down below, making it impossible to itemize both Rabadon's Deathcap and Void Staff. In those cases, Rabadon's Deathcap will provide greater item slot efficiency. 

 Zhonya's Hourglass - Great defensive item to buy some time after being caught, diving into the enemy team for an assassination, or waiting for another rotation of spells. Also great against assassinations from champions such as  Zed and  Fizz. You may substitute Zhonya's Hourglass with  Banshee's Veil depending on the situation, or you may choose to forgo defensive items completely (and sometimes, you might even need both Zhonya's Hourglass and Banshee's Veil).

 Rabadon's Deathcap - So much AP! But also so expensive... Rabadon's Deathcap shines when you already have a lot of AP, as it increases your total AP by a percentage. Generally it is itemized later on in the game, when you already have items such as  Void Staff. The combination of Void Staff + Needlessly Large Rod will yield more value than Rabadon's Deathcap alone. You may find yourself not building Deathcap at all if you need to build more situational items while dealing with targets that have a lot of MR, but generally speaking you will be needing this item if games last long enough.

Situational Items

 Mercury's Treads: - Against targets with CC or plenty of magic damage burst, eg.  LeBlanc,  Twisted Fate,  Lissandra,  Syndra. 

 Ninja Tabi - Great against champions such as  Yasuo or teams with a lot of autoattackers. The 20 armor is also nice against  Zed and  Talon if you are vulnerable to their burst. 

 Hextech Protobelt-01 - CDR, AP, HP, a dash, and more burst, all for only 2500 gold.  Hextech Revolver also gives you a lot of burst even before you complete your Protobelt. You may want to build this item, possibly even in lieu of Luden's Echo, if you want as much burst as you can possibly get.

 Rylai's Crystal Scepter - Sometimes you might need this item to kite against champions such as  Garen. The slow has been nerfed a lot, however, and even if you need slows against juggernauts, you can simply opt to use the Glacial Augment build. 

 Lich Bane - Similar to Protobelt, Lich Bane provides a lot of burst as well, on top of its AP, mana, movespeed, and CDR. However, its itemization path is not ideal, as Ahri doesn't get a lot of value from Sheen. You can choose to combine Protobelt with Lich Bane to deal a lot of burst early on in the game.

 Banshee's Veil - Great defensive item against champions such as  LeBlanc,  Zoe,  Veigar, and  Evelynn, as even blocking one spell against them can prevent your death. You may choose to itemize this over Zhonya's Hourglass, or even get both in extremely rough situations.

 Spellbinder - A lot of AP and movespeed for an acceptable price of 2900 gold. You may consider replacing your boots with Spellbinder when your items are capped, though losing the magic penetration will hurt. 

 Liandry's Torment - A good item if the entire enemy team is stacking a lot of HP and it is impossible for you to assassinate anyone. It synergizes with the Glacial Augment build and  Rylai's Crystal Scepter, although you are not obligated to combine Liandry's with any of these items. 

Glacial Augment Build 

The build takes advantage of the synergy between Glacial Augment and AP items that also provide slows. 

 Twin Shadows - You can easily catch up to targets far away or use it as a way to disengage. Its movespeed, AP, and cooldown reduction are valuable stats for your roams. You want to build this item first and rely on  Corrupting Potion +  The Dark Seal for mana, since Twin Shadows is cheaper overall, gives movespeed for your roams, and has cheaper item components. 

 Hextech GLP-800 - GLP has been overshadowed by other mana items due to their greater amount of damage, but the utility and cheap item powerspikes that GLP provides should not be underestimated. Use this item once you are in range in order to set up your Charm. With the cooldown reduction from  Ingenious Hunter, you should have GLP up quite often in fights. 

Your other items should mostly come from the list of standard items, although you may find yourself building some of the situational items as well. 

Trinkets

 Warding Totem: Start off with this trinket in the early game and use it to keep your jungler safe and prevent enemy ganks. You may need to hold onto this trinket if your team is behind and struggles to maintain vision of your own jungle and neutral objectives. The trinket is also great if enemies are trying to escape from you by going into bushes. Keep in mind that Ahri's W and R cannot hit a target unless you have vision of them!

 Oracle Lens: Great for roaming and setting up assassinations. You want to catch the enemy by surprise and the best way to do so is by denying vision. You can also use it to check bushes in order to set up an ambush. Generally speaking, you want to swap to Oracle Lens once you are ready to start roaming. 

 Farsight Alteration: You might need this trinket if your team lacks control over neutral objectives and cannot risk getting too close. 

Triggering Electrocute

There are many ways to do so in lane, and I will list some of the most commonly used methods.

Level 1:

AA +  + AA -> 

Weave in your Q in between your autoattacks. 

Level 2:

 +  + AA ->

The CC duration provided by Charm should allow you to throw out a Q and autoattack without receiving retaliation. You will most likely land the return Q as well.

Level 3 (or 4 if you decide to take Fox-Fire at level 4):

 +  +  -> 

Standard combo after landing Charm.

AA +  +  -> 

Use W as you are performing your auto-attack so that all 3 bolts hit your target, and follow it up with your Q. 

With Electrocute's reduced damage and reduced cooldown, you should aim to proc it whenever it comes up. 

Basic Combos With Your Ultimate

 +  + +  + AA

A very standard combo for a lot of burst damage. The rest of your ult charges should be used based on the situation. Weave in auto-attacks whenever possible. 

 + AA +  + / + /

Sometimes you might not be in a great position to land your charm (too many minions, a mobile enemy). Use your other abilities to change your positioning and bait out enemy escapes. Throw your skillshots when you are certain they will land. 

More Tricks!

 +    while Q is returning
You can adjust the direction of your returning Q with your ult. After throwing your Q, your enemy will be inclined to dodge its return, so you can dash right towards your enemy, keeping them between you and your orb. That way, you should be able to land your return Q. 

With 5 points in Q and W as well as 40% CDR, your Q should be on a 4.2 second CD and W on a 3 second CD, while Charm should be on a 7.2 second CD. You can cast your abilities multiple times during the 10 seconds where your ultimate is available. Our combos can get even more creative. 

Here is a sample combo you can perform:

 +  + +  +    while Q is returning +  AA  + AA +   + AA + +   while Q is returning + AA +  +   + AA

There are many ways you can combo Ahri's abilities together. Be creative! 

Hiding Your Projectiles/Animation Cancels

 +  after waiting for a brief moment 
 +  after waiting for a brief moment

You can hide your projectile by dashing along with it, leading to some surprise attacks. However, since both Q and E have a cast time, pressing R immediately after pressing Q or E will not activate her ultimate. Wait for a brief moment so that Q or E's cast time is complete, then press R to follow the projectile. 

You can also use your  to hide your  by firing your Charm immediately after pressing W. The effect is very noticeable on skins where W and E have a similar color (Popstar/Challenger). 

 +  or  + 
You can simultaneously cast both Ahri's W and R. Be careful when using this combo. Although it deals quite a bit of burst that cannot be dodged, your W will fly to minions if there are any nearby. Use it only when there are no minions around the target or your target is charmed already. Otherwise, it is better to use  + AA + . 

Let's add in Flash!

 +  immediately

Once Charm's cast time is complete, it will fire from the location Ahri is currently located at. You can flash during Charm's cast time and change the starting location of the projectile.

The projectile will always head towards the direction where your cursor was located at when the ability was casted. 

This combo can be used to get into range for a Charm. Simply put your cursor onto the place where you want to fire the projectile and press  + . 

You can also use this combo to get around minions. In that case, that will require quick movement of your mouse. Let's say you want to Charm an enemy champion hiding behind a minion wave. You would cast  with your cursor on top of the champion, quickly move your cursor to the side of the minion wave, and press . 

Here is an example of Shiphtur's Ahri performing this move for a solokill on bobqinXD's LeBlanc:

Why not  + ?

The moment you flash, you are giving the enemy a warning. They will instantly start expecting you to fire a Charm, and it will increase their chances of dodging it. After you flash, you will then have to press E and wait for the cast time to complete before the projectile is fired. 

If you use  + ,  you start the cast time of Charm first, before you adjust your current position. You are initially firing Charm when the enemy thinks it is not possible for them to get hit by the ability. They're either comfortable with the range between you and them, or they think their minion wave will provide enough protection. Once you flash and they realize what you are doing, however, you have already fired the projectile, giving them little to no time to react. 

The same principles also apply for Ahri's Q. 

Cast  +  to adjust the projectile's starting position. The main purpose of doing this would be chase down an enemy for a kill. 

You can also use  + Wait for the orb to return +  to adjust the orb's returning location. In some cases, you might even want to use your ultimate as well:  +  + . 

 +  is a bit more complicated. 

Normally, Ahri's R will only fire its bolts once the entire dash is complete. Flashing, however, will immediately cancel your dash and your R will then fire up to three bolts to nearby enemy champions. This combo can be useful for a clutch 1v1 where you want to fire out your damage as quickly as possible. 

You can also use this combo to extend your ultimate's range. Do not use Flash immediately after using your R. Wait for a fraction of a second, and use your Flash when Ahri is just about to complete her dash. She will damage the enemies near her newest location. The timing here can be very tricky.

You can also use  +  (press both keys immediately, one after another) for a long-range engage. Although the engage is slightly more telegraphed, your R has no cast time and your enemies would still have little time to react. 

Generally speaking, you want to control the wave so that it is just outside your tower's range. That way, you can keep yourself safe from ganks, force the enemy to walk into an uncomfortable position to last hit, and make it harder for many assassins to all-in. However, for matchups like Talon and Aurelion Sol, you want to push as hard as possible, as they have a lot of pushing power and want to roam even before level 6. 

Level 1

Ahri's pushing power is decent and you should try to hit level 2 as quickly as possible. Against enemies with weak waveclear, it's ok to shove the lane as fast you can (while harassing the enemy) so that the minion wave can bounce back and be closer to your side by the time the junglers hit level 3 and are ready to gank your lane. Beware of level 2 jungle ganks if you intend to use this strategy. Beware of level 2 jungle ganks if you intend to use this strategy.

You should be pushing primarily with autoattacks in order to conserve mana. While trying to harass the enemy, you should position yourself so that the tip of your Q would conveniently hit the enemy (and shove the wave, if possible). It may be harder to trigger Electrocute and land the true damage portion of your Q in one convenient trade, as your autoattack range is 550 while Q will return after travelling 880 units. Nonetheless, you can still make these trades whenever the enemy is going for a last hit. 

Since Q doesn't exactly do that much damage to the minion wave early on, you should use it to shove  only if you can also land harass on the enemy as well. 

Against champions who need to walk up close to last hit (such as  Fizz), it is better to avoid pushing the wave and only go for the last hits. Harass Fizz only if you will not attract minion aggro (which will cause the wave to push to the enemy's side) or push the wave too much. Make sure that the wave does not get too big to the point where you cannot prevent it from crashing in front of your tower. However, the enemy wave should have 4 more minions than your wave if you want the wave to freeze on your side.

Pay attention to the minimap when the laning phase begins and see whether the enemy top or bot came to lane late. Whoever came late should have leashed for the enemy jungler, so you know which buff the enemy jungler started. 

Level 2

If you hit level 2 before the enemy, use it to your advantage and position yourself in a place where you can threaten to land a Charm. Be aware of the enemy jungler's presence, however. You're not likely to get ganked,but anything could happen. It is ideal to position to the side where your jungler is at. If your jungler wants to gank mid, however, then position to the opposite side of your jungler. 

You can use the level 2 power spike to force the enemy to concede some last hits. Be careful about minion aggro. Should you be able to land a Charm, use your Q and throw an autoattack. You should be able to land both ticks of your Q, and you are advised to back off immediately after triggering Electrocute, as Charm would be expiring and the enemy will be ready to trade back. 

Level 3-5

After getting your W, triggering Electrocute becomes much easier. AA +  +  is the standard combo, although you can still choose to AA + / + AA.

Now that you have all your basic abilities, you should be conscious about managing your passive. I don't advise casting spells purely to stack up your passive, unless your mana bar is very healthy and you want to heal as soon as possible. There should always be a purpose for pressing Q or W (to push the wave, to land harass, to secure a last hit).

This is the time when the enemy jungler is ready to gank. Since we know where the enemy jungler started, we want to ward the opposite side of the lane. If you can gain lane priority through pushing at level 3, you can conveniently walk into the river on that side and place a ward there. Don't ward the side bush at this time; the ward won't provide enough of an advanced warning if the enemy jungler ganks and it doesn't cover up the other positions where the enemy jungler can gank your lane from. 

Look to harass on enemy last hits, aim to control the wave on your side, and try to land Charms whenever you expect the enemy to put themselves into a vulnerable position (eg. moving away from the minion wave in order to land a skillshot on you). 

Don't be afraid to commit to an all-in, as long as you are certain that the enemy jungler is not nearby. Although Ahri's laning phase isn't exactly the strongest, you can still threaten to kill the enemy if you have landed enough harass. Don't be afraid to attempt a Charm Flash. It's absolutely worth it if you secure the kill, and you have the option to play safe if it fails. 

When you are close to Level 6, start tracking your own experience while paying attention to the wave. You may want to commit to an all-in if you can hit level 6 before your opponent, but you want to make sure that the wave is in a position where the enemy has to stand away from their tower in order to last hit.

Level 6

You now have your ultimate. Now you can play a lot more aggressively, knowing that you have an escape in case anything goes wrong. Although your ultimate is crucial for success in roaming, don't hesitate to use it to secure a kill in lane. 

Now you want to shove the lane as quickly as you can and disappear from enemy vision when there are no minions for you to farm. I recommend putting a control ward in the side bush on the bot side so that you have a path for yourself to roam to bot without being spotted to early. 

Ganks are still likely to occur, so you want to continue your task of tracking the enemy jungler by warding the lane's entrances and possibly the enemy jungle. 

Sometimes you might be holding onto your ultimate in lane but get hit by an enemy CC skillshot, dying quickly afterwards to their burst damage or to a well-timed enemy jungle gank. Whether you use your ult to dodge it or not should depend on several factors, including but not limited to:

-Do I have enough HP?

-Is the enemy jungler ganking mid?

-Can I sustain back or recall after getting chunked without losing too much gold, xp, and lane pressure?

In general:

If you know the enemy jungler is ganking and you are not confident about dodging that CC skillshot from either the jungler or the midlaner, eg. Anivia Q , Lux Q , Elise ranged E , Taliyah W , then use your ultimate. 

If your HP is not that healthy and you know you're going to get hit by skillshot such as a Lux Q  or Zoe E , it's a good idea to use your ultimate to dodge.

Always use your ult to dodge Fizz R . You can easily be 100-0'd if it lands, and it's very difficult to dodge it. 

In the end, it comes down to your own judgment. You may be losing a lot of roaming/all-in pressure if you don't have your ultimate, but you have zero pressure if you are dead. 

In terms of laning, you should focus on the same things you have been focusing on from level 1-5: harassing on last hits, triggering Electrocute whenever it goes off cooldown, looking for enemy mistakes to commit to an all-in, warding and tracking the enemy jungler. However, you seriously want to start looking for opportunities elsewhere on the map now. 

Generally, it's best to start roaming once you hit level 6. You want to shove the wave as fast as you can in order to gain lane priority and roam without losing too much gold and XP. 

One Shotting Caster Minions

Your Q will start one shotting caster minions once you hit level 9 and are building a good amount of AP. Sometimes, you may be stuck between choosing Sorcerer's Shoes or a Blasting Wand, and both choices have upsides and downsides. While Sorcerer's Shoes provides more burst against enemy champions and allows you to walk faster to another lane, Blasting Wand might provide you with enough AP to one shot caster minions and start roaming much earlier. You have to use your own judgment for these situations. 

With the changes to minion HP in preseason 9, caster minions will only stop gaining HP later on the game, meaning you have to keep building AP throughout the game to ensure that your Q one shots caster minions. Just keep building your core items and make sure to farm well to avoid being behind. 

Pay attention to the minimap and look at what is going on in other lanes.

• Is the enemy HP really low? That's an opportunity for you to roam down and pick up these kills.
• Are your teammates' HP really low and they are being pushed to their tower? They could get dove, and you should be ready to save them.
• Where is the enemy jungler? What camp are they on? Where are they pathing to? Are they going to gank top or bot? (You should be tracking this through good warding.) 
• Is the enemy blue or red spawning? Is your own jungler near those buffs as well? Does your bot lane (for bot side buff) or top lane (for top side buff) have lane priority? 
• Is the enemy wave pushing towards your team's side? That means the enemy would be overextending and that is a chance to punish them. However, be aware that trying to gank another lane while the wave is crashing at your side's tower might not be an ideal time, since it's usually better for your laner to pick up that farm and get that guaranteed amount of gold. Your laner might be reluctant to help you out and will ping you to stay away, and fighting among a lot of enemy minions will put your team at a disadvantage. You could still go for it if your team is willing to commit and you have absolute confidence that you can secure the kills. 

Looking for Opportunities

As mentioned in the previous section, putting a control ward in the side bush on mid lane's bot side allows you to begin roaming and give enemies less time to prepare. Even if the enemy mid pings MIA, they will not know exactly where you are, and the enemy top and bot might continue to overextend. 

Once you see an opportunity to get a kill in another lane, start heading off towards the other lane. Use your "on my way" ping to alert your allies that you are coming, and pay attention to the enemy movement. If they immediately start backing off while you are en route, it could mean that you have been spotted by a ward. I recommend getting a sweeper once you are prepared to roam, since it will help you clear vision and find gank routes while stacking up your Eyeball Collection.

Don't be afraid to towerdive as Ahri, as you have the mobility to disengage should things go wrong. Just make sure that your team is following up properly. If you are not sure on whether to towerdive or not but your laners decide to commit, then follow up. 

What if I can't roam freely?

Sometimes you will not necessarily have the lane priority in a bad matchup where the enemy has waveclear as good as yours (or even stronger) and going too close to the enemy in order to push the wave might prompt the enemy mid to commit to an all-in (eg. Talon, Fizz, Diana). They will be roaming much faster than you, so you need to ping MIAs. In such matchups, it may be better to hold onto your yellow trinket and ward key points in the rivers to track the enemy mid. You may choose to follow once you clear the wave, but beware that the enemy might be setting up an ambush on your way. Unless you have vision of the enemy, it's better to take a safer route. If you choose not to follow because of insufficient vision and the high risk of getting ambushed, shove the wave as fast as you can and start doing damage to the tower. Be prepared to disengage with your ult if enemies start showing up and are ready to fight you. 

Ahri usually can take one out of these two roles in teamfights:

The assassin: Flank from an unexpected location and assassinate the backline.

The damage dealer/peeler: Stay with your ADC and do damage to the frontline while charming anyone who tries to harm your carry. 

Assassination

I would take on this role if I am very fed and need to deal with one or two major threats from the enemy team. A fed Ahri can easily 100-0 a carry as long as she could land Charm, and even if she misses her CC skillshot, she could cause enough disturbance to create opportunities for your team. If you successfully distract their supports and tanks, your team might be able to kill the enemy diver who fully committed to the teamfight. 

This approach, however, is very risky as you could easily be chain CCed and killed before you can dash away to safety. Therefore, you want to find an ideal timing to go in before fully committing yourself to the assassination.

Here are some tips:

• Use the red trinket to make sure you are not in enemy vision, as they will be much less prepared for you once you dive in. 
• Determine the hard CCs/shields/heals/summoner spells/mobility spells/item actives (such as QSS) that the enemy champions have and track their usage. 
• Be patient and wait for an enemy carry to be exposed. Pay attention to their positioning, their nearby allies, and important cooldowns (shields, heals, summoner spells, hard CC, QSS, etc.)
• Use the  +  +  +  +  (once your Q starts returning) combo to set up your abilities. In some cases, you might want to attempt a Charm Flash  +  to ensure that the charm lands. 
• You do not have to worry too much about Banshee's Veil, as you can use your  to get rid of it. It will not interfere with your Charm in that case. 

Damage Dealer/Peeler

You want to help out your ADC if you are not ahead enough to one shot their carry (or if the enemy carry has so much peel that it's unrealistic to attempt an assassination), or if your ADC is extremely fed and can solo carry this game for you. This teamfighting approach is much safer, but you are going to be much more dependent on the rest of your team. 

• Save Charm for any assassins/divers (eg. ) who attempt to go onto your ADC. Use the CC duration to burst them down. 
• Against champions who want to land a skillshot onto your ADC in order to burst them down, eg. Fizz R , don't be afraid to bodyblock that skillshot. You should have either a Banshee's Veil or Zhonya's Hourglass, and your ADC will have no way of getting rid of that shark if it lands. Ideally speaking, the tanks/bruisers should be taking those hits, but when it is impossible for them to block it, then you need to step up. 
• Generally speaking, you want to damage the frontline with  and . Use your  to reposition in case you are being threatened or need to land a charm on an important enemy champion. Once the teamfight is turning in your favor, you can use  to chase down the enemies and clean them up. 

Patch 8.20

Ahri's ult cooldown was increased by 20 seconds at rank 1 and 10 seconds at rank 2. 

From 110/95/80 to 130/105/80.

The nerf significantly lowers her playmaking potential during the midgame and also increases the window for enemies to punish her after she uses her ultimate. Matchups against champions who rely on long-cooldown ultimates to pose a kill threat to Ahri have become significantly worse for her. Against Fizz, Ahri would usually have her ultimate up to dodge his shark. After this nerf, if Ahri uses her ult to dodge Fizz's shark, Fizz's shark would come back up much earlier than Ahri's ult, giving him a greater window to get a kill on her. 

Ahri should hopefully still have enough damage to conduct assassinations, but with her playmaking potential and safety reduced, it's going to be harder for her to get the kills she needs to snowball the game, which in turn will reduce her damage later on as well. 

Cooldown reduction is now much more desirable for her as she needs her ultimate to be up as frequently as possible to make plays. Ultimate Hunter's value is much greater now.

StrategyZero has a great review on all of Ahri's skins and I recommend you to check out these reviews before deciding what Ahri skin you would want to purchase: http://www.strategyzero.com/blog/2012/league-of-legends-ahri-skins-review/

I will comment on these skins based on their influence on your gameplay. My opinion on the smoothness of auto-attacks in the skins is personal, and you may find them work differently for you. 

Dynasty/Midnight/Academy Ahri

These skins feature model changes but retain the classic particles. The model changes aren't significant enough to influence the gameplay. 

Foxfire Ahri

Particle colors are changed to orange, except , which remains pink.

There are also some modifications to the auto-attack particle, which is more fluid than the classic auto-attack particle and may help with last hits. 

The glowing orange tails, however, could make you stand out more and get focused more easily by enemies in chaotic teamfights. 

Popstar/Challenger Ahri

 , , and  all feature pink particles, and you can use your  to hide your , making it easier to land. 

Recommended for competitive purposes.

Arcade Ahri

 is a bit smaller than usual, making it more deceptive at times.

In Ahri's other skins, Vastayan Grace is barely visible (you can see a faint trail), but Arcade Ahri has arrow lines underneath her model, indicating that she has the movespeed buff from Vastayan Grace. This indicator is very helpful at times, as it's not easy to feel the presence of the 20% extra movespeed. 

Recommended for competitive purposes. 

Star Guardian Ahri

Ahri's model turns pink when she uses her  and she remains in this form until she can no longer cast her ultimate. Other skins have a circle underneath the model instead. It will be harder for enemies to notice the circle in other skins and realize that Ahri can cast her ultimate up to two more times within 10 seconds, but a pink model is a clear indicator. 
However, you can hide your  more easily with your , as the character model and Charm are both pink. 

The changes in auto-attack particles, sounds, and animations make her auto-attacks feel clunkier. It may be difficult to get used to at first. 

Not recommended for competitive purposes. 

K/DA Ahri

Her tails change color depending on what ability she is using: 

Green for her healing passive, Blue for  and , pink for , and a mixture of green, blue and pink to indicate that her   is active. While the tails do look really fancy as a result, they also clearly indicate what abilities Ahri is using or has available. 

The skin, however, has probably the smoothest auto-attacks out of all of Ahri's skins. 

The gameplay advantages/disadvantages that these skins have, however, are not very large, and it is your skill that truly matters.

Thank you very much for reading through my guide and I hope you have success with Ahri in your normal games or ranked climb!