ChickenWrap's Guide-A-Week. Week 2: Ahri
Too long; won't read (TL;WR): Ahri is awesome
If you have questions after this read that you don't feel would fit in this post, feel free to direct them here: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/miscellaneous/aE2d7x74-i-am-a-crappy-player-that-knows-almost-everything-about-league-ama
Hello everybody. My name is ChickenWrap, and welcome to Guide-A-Week. A segment on the boards that I will be conducting involving the ins and outs of champions voted on by you, the viewer. Based on a vote conducted earlier today, we're going to start with the well-known-Waifu champion Ahri, and when, where, and why you should pick her, how you should play her, and soforth.
Without further adieu, Welcome to Guide-A-Week.
http://i.imgur.com/8C7z5JH.png
Skills and Abilities http://i.imgur.com/VSn0ZdO.png Ahri's Passive: Essence Theft. Ahri gains a charge of Essence Theft with each enemy unit hit by any of her spells, with a cap of 3 charges gained per spell cast. Upon reaching 9 charges, Ahri's next spell will heal her for 2 + (Ahri's level) (+ 9% AP) for each enemy hit.
This is useful to Ahri to help her stay in lane. It's not too difficult to acquire stacks for this, and the health return can be a great asset to her lane phase or her teamfight and if it's timed well enough, can even save her from an ignite. Take note that the more enemies you hit, the more you are healed for. In an ideal situation, one would set up their Orb of Deception (Q) to hit an entire minion wave going both forward and back for maximum health gains. The healing is increased with Spirit Visage (
).
http://i.imgur.com/VNtunmq.png Ahri's Q: Orb of Deception. Ahri sends out an orb in a line in front of her and then pulls it back, dealing magic damage on the way out and true damage on the way back. RANGE: 880 COST: 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 Mana COOLDOWN: 7 Seconds MAGIC DAMAGE / TRUE DAMAGE: 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+ 35% AP) MAX DAMAGE TO THE SAME TARGET: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+ 70% AP)
This is a very basic line skill shot. Not much to say about this honestly except to remember that on the way back it deals true damage, which is not increased by magic penetration. You can, however, curve the ball by moving, just like Draven's Ultimate. If you toss it forward and use your Spirit Rush (R) to dash to the side, it will come back to you where you arrived. I would hold off on using this to harass too much in the early levels, as it will cause you to go OOM fairly fast.
http://i.imgur.com/tLtE4BD.png Ahri's W: Foxfire. Ahri releases three fox-fires to surround her for up to 5 seconds. After a short delay after cast, each flame will target the closest visible enemy unit to itself, prioritizing champions, and deal magic damage to the target. Additional fox-fires that hit the same target will only deal 30% damage. RANGE: 800 COST: 50 Mana COOLDOWN: 9 / 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 Seconds MAGIC DAMAGE PER FOX-FIRE: 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 (+ 40% AP) MAGIC DAMAGE TO THREE TARGETS: 120 / 195 / 270 / 345 / 420 (+ 120% AP) MAGIC DAMAGE TO THE SAME TARGET: 64 / 104 / 144 / 184 / 224 (+ 64% AP)
This spell is a great low-mana way to build up your passive stacks and an easy spell to burst someone with in conjunction with your ult (R + W and they'll all fly to your target champion) One thing you need to remember is that they deal less damage to the same target by about half as well as that they hae a slightly lower range than Ahri's Q or Charm (E). Keep in mind that each one of these little flames also procs Rylai's Crystal Scepter (
).
http://i.imgur.com/D9cDCpj.png Ahri's E: Charm. *Ahri blows a kiss that travels in a line in front of her. The first enemy it hits takes magic damage and is charmed, forcing them to walk harmlessly towards Ahri while being slowed by 50% for the duration. *
Enemies hit by Charm take 20% more magic damage from Ahri for 6 seconds. Orb of Deception's true damage is also increased by this effect. RANGE: 975 COST: 85 Mana COOLDOWN: 12 Seconds MAGIC DAMAGE: 60 / 90 / 120 / 150 / 180 (+ 35% AP) DURATION: 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 Seconds
It's a line skillshot "taunt" (not showed very well in the movie A New Dawn (Darius and Draven are charmed and run at her pretty intent to kill)). At level 3 if your opponent is around half health, you can easily kill them by chaining your E with your Q and W. This spell increases damage dealt by a whopping 20%. This also **STACKS WITH DEATHFIRE GRASP! (
) **This means that if you land your E and then use DFG, it will increase the bonus 15% max health magic damage nuke to an 18% magic damage health nuke, which will THEN increase your total magical damage multiplicatively by 44%!
http://i.imgur.com/aIU9NnR.png Ahri's R: Spirit Rush Ahri dashes towards the cursor and fires essence bolts, dealing magic damage to up to 3 visible nearby enemies, prioritizing champions. In the next 10 seconds, Spirit Rush can be cast two additional times before going on cooldown. Each enemy can only be hit once per dash. RANGE: 450 COST: 100 Mana COOLDOWN: 110 / 95 / 80 Seconds MAGIC DAMAGE: 70 / 110 / 150 (+ 30% AP) MAX DAMAGE TO SAME TARGET: 210 / 330 / 450 (+ 90% AP)
Again, not a lot to say here. It allows you to reposition yourself when you're in danger, it allows you to catch people off-guard, and allows you to leap over walls to kill unsuspecting supports. wink
If you are in lane phase, use this spell to jump around or through a minion wave to engage upon your opponent, or to easily escape an attempt on your life. Alternatively, you could roam with this spell and not be afraid to dash in and out of towers, landing hefty damage on your opponent. Each of these essence bolts also proc Rylai's. If you enjoy building Lich Bane (
) on Ahri, you'll also be pleased to know that each time you cast this spell, you get a proc, and can proc all 3 LB casts throughout the duration of your ultimate.
Runes: For runes, I like taking my Classic AP runes. These consist of: Magic Penetration marks (red) Armor/level or Health/level Seals (yellow) Ability Power or MR/level Glyphs (blue) Ability Power Quints (the large brown ones)
Against another mage who can't instantly burst me down, I prefer health yellows and AP blues, but if they pose a threat, I transfer to MR/level blues. If I'm against a scary burst AD, I prefer to take armor/level yellows and AP blues.
Masteries
For masteries, I suggest the classic 21/0/9.
http://i.imgur.com/Sww4qP9.jpg
I choose these masteries specifically because currently, Expose Weakness increases the damage of your own spells as well, and Double-Edged Sword isn't too much of a gamble for Ahri, since she tends to build Zhonya's Hourglass ( 
) as well as has the ability to burst almost anybody down in an instant. More damage, more fun! Plus, all the masteries end up increasing the bonus damage you deal off Charm and DFG, including its max health burst ( magic pen and bonus damage apply to its ability)
Suggested Item path
Typical:
x2
(If winning)
(If losing)
You will have significantly less damage than if you had rushed DFG, but you will at least be able to (probably) survive the onslaught of abilities coming at your face and tails
Winning:
Losing:
From here, I would suggest getting what you would feel best benefits you.
all come to mind as good items to pick up.
If your AP opponent begins to deal serious damage to you, invest in an Abyssal Scepter. This will give you bonus MR as well as a flat +20 MR reduction Aura for your team an yourself when you're in range (700, slightly less than your Q). If you feel you deal enough damage but want more survivability, spring for the
VS AD:
x5
From here, build:
Next:
Then:
all come to mind as good items to pick up.
This isn't much of a change aside from rushing a Zhonya's to deal with the threat of your AD opponent being able to deal seirous damage to you.
Phases
Laning Remember that your passive can really help you out here. Every W and R proc adds to your passive counter and each time you Q a wave you'll get +3 to your neeed 9. W is a great way to gain passive stacks without spending too much mana, but be sure to use your Q (you should be maxing it first) to cash in on all of your health, as it hits the most targets.
When you hit level 3, remember that you can all-in most champions to kill them or force them out of lane the second you land a charm. Try to accomplish this as much as you can to get yourself ahead of your opponent. When you hit level 6, your R is about the range of a flash, except it does damage. A non-mobile opponent should be running to the hills when they see you hit 6. Their flash will not save them from your wrath. Also, roaming will be a great benefit to your team. Push your lane up with your Q and then seek to acquire kills in the side lanes. Usually with your ult and your Charm you'll be able to easily land a kill and even take a tower.
If you do not land a Charm, do not go in if you don't deal hefty damage. It will not be worth it.
Post-laning You are an assassin above all else. Seek to Charm opponents into bad positions and to dive the enemy back line looking for kills. If you miss Charm, do not go in. You will explode unless your team landed some of their CC and engaged a teamfight. If this happens, lock on to somebody and blow them up with E DFG Q W, then get out. Take objectives with your team and stick with them. If your ult is down and you get caught out, you're toast.
Who I would avoid playing against as Ahri
Kassadin out-damages you and can easily dodge your Charms. You may be able to out-run him or catch up to him if he is fleeing, but he can shrug off your damage, and his burst is generally higher. Keep a distance and harass him. if he does go in on you, land a Charm and go to town.
See Kassadin
See Akali
See Fizz
He hurts and can silence you and bursts harder than you do post-6, but if you can hit him from afar, he's mince-meat.
OP. Presses W and doesn't die, presses Q and halves my health. RIto what was u thinkin?
This is actually a pretty even match-up now that she lacks a silence. Keep your distance and smack her if she goes in on you with her Distortion. She won't be able to jump back when you Charm her until Charm ends, and by then, you can deal serious damage to her and she won't be able to hit you back.
Syndra can out-damage you, can stop your dashes, and can put out more damage with her Qs faster than you can. Play very passively. GO in when you land a Charm, but NEVER overstay your welcome.
Who works well with Ahri? Everyone who has CC or who is a melee champion who doesn't have a gapcloser. Ahri's charm brings them to you, and you can just blow them up.
Also, other mobile champions compliment her quite well. Also, Orianna. Because it's fun to ult into a team and then have Ori ult you, and then jump back out and hit somebody with a Charm.
In closing Ahri is very storng and most of the champions that do well against her all have a common theme, so all have a common playstyle to use to beat them. They're also mostly Melee with gapclosers and lots of burst. Harassing them really helps you out here.
My name is ChickenWrap, and thanks for reading my segment on Ahri, whom I rarely ever play ever. I hope you've learned something today, and good luck on the Fields!
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