As an avid League of Legends player with over 5 years of experience playing Ahri in ranked matches, here is my guide on how to effectively play as Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox.
Table of Contents
Overview of Ahri’s Kit
Ahri is a burst mage assassin who excels at picking off isolated targets. Her kit revolves around landing skillshots and using her high mobility ultimate to reposition in teamfights.
Passive – Essence Theft: Ahri heals whenever she hits an enemy with her abilities. This allows her to sustain in lane and during skirmishes.
Q – Orb of Deception: Ahri sends out and pulls back her orb, dealing damage both ways. This is her main poking and waveclear ability.
W – Fox-Fire: Ahri gains movement speed and sends out fox-fires to attack nearby enemies. This ability is used for burst damage and chasing down targets.
E – Charm: Ahri blows a kiss that damages and charms the first enemy hit. Charmed enemies walk harmlessly towards Ahri. This sets up her combo.
R – Spirit Rush: Ahri dashes forward and fires essence bolts, damaging enemies hit. She can cast this ability up to 3 times and gains additional charges whenever she takes down an enemy champion. This makes Ahri incredibly mobile in teamfights.
Runes and Item Build
For runes, I recommend taking Electrocute as your main keystone to maximize Ahri’s burst potential. Secondary runes should include Precision or Inspiration depending on matchups and team comps.
As for items, Ahri’s core items are Luden’s Tempest and Sorcerer’s Shoes. This gives her a huge power spike with magic penetration and cooldown reduction. Next items to consider are Zhonya’s Hourglass for armor and its active stasis ability, Rabadon’s Deathcap for raw AP and damage, and Void Staff to shred through magic resist.
Ability Order and Combos
Level up Q first for waveclear and poke, then E to lower its cooldown and have your charm ready for ganks and picks. Level up W last as it’s mainly used as a secondary damage ability.
Some combos to execute as Ahri:
- Charm Pick Combo: Hide in a bush and try to land a long range charm on a priority target, then use Spirit Rush to gap close and full combo with Q, W, Ignite and autos. Use second R charge to chase if needed.
- Poke Combo: Lead with Orb of Deception to apply damage on both parts of the ability, then use fox-fires for a quick thunderlords proc. Save charm for when the enemy tries to retaliate.
- All-in Combo: Look for a flank angle and lead with Spirit Rush for the movespeed. Charm the priority target and use orb of deception mid-flight. Follow up with Ignite, fox-fires and autos while using second Spirit Rush charge to chase and finish off low health enemies.
Playstyle Tips
- Focus on farming safely and looking for opportune charm picks in lane
- After level 6, push lane and look to roam with your jungler
- Flank teamfights and find isolated carries to burst down
- Use Spirit Rush to reposition and kite divers chasing you
- Build Mejai’s Soulstealer when ahead to snowball
Some bad matchups to watch out for are assassins like Fizz, Kassadin and Leblanc who can easily dodge charm. Long range mages like Xerath and Vel’koz can also poke Ahri out of lane.
With some practice, Ahri can hard carry games once she starts roaming and accumulating kills with her snowbally kit. Mastering skillshot accuracy and smart use of Spirit Rush will lead to big plays.
Conclusion
In summary, Ahri is a high risk, high reward assassin mage who dominates the rift through picks and flanks. Her core items of Luden’s and Sorcs provide immense burst potential and her ultimate allows her to dance around teamfights picking off key targets. To climb ranks with the Nine-Tailed Fox, work on nailing combos after landing charms and utilizing her mobility to create picks and accelerate leads.
With this guide, you are well on your way to mastering Ahri! Let me know if you have any other questions. Good luck on the Rift!
