Hey guys. I normally take the role of Support but I've recently branched out to try to learn others.

I understand what Ahri's skills do, but I was wondering if there were any cool techniques that I could learn. What are some good combos with her? Any unique uses for her ultimate or other abilities?

Trying to figure out some new things so I'm not a mindless mid that gets stomped.

Her cooldowns are relatively short, so I usually open up my spell combo with Q.
This also clears minion for me to E. If the minions aren't cleared, then I'll R once to position myself for a E.

Activate W, R again to follow once they come out of charm and save the last R as an escape or finisher.
Q should be up again by now, so you can throw that then decide whether to use your last R to finish or escape.

Also remember, you're more of an assassin than an AP carry. Wait until the fight has started before jumping in and murdering the nearest damage dealer. Because if you get CCed or Focused you're dead. Rylai's and Rod of Ages are your 2 core items. They both grant you the survivability in case you get hit a few times.
I recommend packing Quick Silver Sash to escape CCs if the team is heavy on that.
The only armor item I would consider on her is Hourglass.

Her R is on a really short cooldown, don't be afraid to use it to escape or just in the harassment phase of things.

Also, this is purely my opinion, but I feel that the Ionian boots are better than the Sorc boots because there isn't as much CDR in her build, nor move speed (Aside from ulti) and she has a good skill shot CC, all of which you want up as often as possible.
It's not that you don't want Magic Pen, but you can itemize for that elsewhere, while there aren't as many CDR options that I like.

Do not use R for harassment ever. Either use it to burst someone, escape or some combination of both. It's on a relatively short CD for an ultimate, but it is still an ultimate and the CD is much longer than your basic abilities.

Use Q for harass and try to aim on the edge of it's range so the opponent has little to no time to dodge the incoming and returning damage.

A basic combo when you can catch your opponent not hiding behind a minion wave is E + Q + W. Charm should hold the opponent in the trajectory of Q for its full damage and W has high damage output when all 3 fox fires land on a single target.

Just landing one basic combo can drop your opponent to 50% health. Wait for CDs and another opportunity to follow up with either another combo or go on the offensive and use R to position yourself to use your combo + ignite.

Ahri Cheat sheet: All of your spells are skill shots and can be avoided or buffered against if people know what they are doing. Ahri's ratios are really low because she can hit multiple targets (get some magic pen duh!); also Fox Fire and Spirit Rush become further complicated with diminishing returns and damage caps against single targets.

-Essence Theft is strong spell vamp passive that makes even Morgana jealous; but doesn't have constant or reliable up time. Try and get some spell steal quints or Will of the Ancients (or both) to offset this. Also the ball turns green in a rather obvious tell that you have a sudden spike of spell vamp. It is nice but it isn't going to keep you alive or in lane forever.

-Orb of Deception is a great poke on a modest cool down, and you really need to practice this boomerang skill shot; its true damage is icing on the cake. It goes through walls, champions and minions and built right can downright melt waves and low MR targets. Also it has GREAT range. When the ball is Green use this on multiple targets for the biggest gain.

-Fox Fire can only hit things that you see and does reduced damage to the same target but you can't control how fast or how many it fires off. It is sort of frustrating to use but at the same time it has an extremely short cool down, finally it can be cast while running away and punish someone (Pan) for pouncing you. It has slightly shorter range then Orb of deception and each fox fire counts as a single target spell in respects to Litch bane and crystal scepter. When the ball is green use this on single targets for the biggest gain.

-Charm is really slender skill shot/crowd control on a decent cool down; and is downright frustrating to miss or hit the wrong target. Its damage is modest, it only lasts 2 seconds at max rank and finally it makes the target walk slowly (and harmlessly) towards you. Get lots of practice with this, it might as well be Ahri's signature spell considering the fun things that you can do with this. You can throw people out of position with this pseudo-taunt, pull bush campers out and even stealth targets! All your frustrations soon melt with a well placed charm. It has the longest range of your whole kit. Don't use this when the ball is green it just doesn't do enough damage.

-Spirit Rush is Ahri's three dash ultimate that doesn't need to be used all at once. It is pretty much flash and fox fire (Flash Fire would have been a cool name) mixed together, it can go through some walls and takes a bit of practice (and wasting a few charges) to get used to it. You can charge Fox Fire -and- Spirit Rush to dump onto a target. With some good cool down reduction (like 25%) you can cast your full combo BEFORE you need to jump again which can charge your passive quickly. Finally this wont always save your skin because you can be silenced/CC between activations; and can be extremely dangerous way to get out of position.

That's about all I can think off the top of my head without jumping back into the game or writing a guide lol.

I don't play her so can't give combo advice. However I have noticed spell vamp is really strong on her.

Mostly u want to make sure you land her Charm and do ur q at the same time. Since her charm is like 1 sec long you should be able to see if it hits to use your q and w. You should have your w activated already if you are not in the middle of a minion wave because it would just hit the minions... but overall land your E and then use your Q and go from there.

If you arent in lane and lets say in a brush and someone is walking towards you then you want to q e w fast since you would do dmg with your q then use your charm and your w while your q which has a very low cooldown should be back while u chase them since they should be very low by now.

Check out 'colbycheeze' on Youtube. He has an excellent "first impressions" video of Ahri that's boosted my game immensely.

The main point he makes that helps me to be successful with Ahri is this: despite her design intentions, she plays better as a carry than as an assassin. She's bursty, but not enough to drop someone's health from full to zero in a few seconds like some assassins do. Also, most assassins work the way they do because of their builds (items like Phantom Dancer). There aren't any AP items that function in the same ways that AD assassin favorites do, so it just doesn't happen.

That said, Ahri is still capable of some pretty sick pick-offs, mainly with her ult. If you're chasing an enemy at low health and you don't think you can catch up, don't be afraid to spend her first ult dash only to get closer. Her ult is also crucial for ganks, as you can easily put yourself between and enemy and their route to safety - and if they change course, you can do it again, and again. Her W works really well with her ult since you can appear in a spot and smash someone 3 times in addition to her ult blast.

I tend to play patiently aggressive with her (not passive-aggressive). She can't bring a champion down from full to zero, but she's excellent at taking advantage of someone out of position - wait for that moment, then unload. Charm can sometimes be used as an initiate for a team fight, but don't run in too far for it. I use E, Q, W, and if I have Sheen or Lichbane, I try getting an autoattack in between if I can. I also like to watch for the weak points - if someone drops low, ult in before they can escape, but remember you have three jumps. In an ideal situation, I like to ult myself in a triangle, hopping around the enemy team and landing back where I started. Sometimes you will need to use that last jump to escape if they all turn on you - don't be afraid to do that. Remember that she's kind of squishy, and in case of emergency her ult can be used as an escape. It might feel like a waste, but remember that dying gives the enemy team money, so if you have to use it to deny them that, it's still worth it. Consider this your worst case scenario, though the cd is only a minute so it's not a terrible worst case.

Obviously you'll see her mid-lane, though sometimes she goes bot and does pretty well there. This is really a sort of extenuating circumstance, but it can be an effective way of throwing off your opponent. My build order is boots + potions, Sorc boots, HT revolver, sheen, WotA, Lichbane, and then it's situational. If your team's doing well, go Rabadon's. If not, Abyssal Scepter. If you want faster cooldowns, then Morello's is good, or sub Sorc boots for Luminosity. I personally feel like her cds are low enough that this isn't necessary, and she makes good use of the magic pen.

You can pull off some fancy trick-shots with Q if you shoot it, then ult laterally to your orb. This lets you shoot the orb in a V pattern, and if done properly you can get some nice clutch kills this way. In-game example: I was chasing a Nasus and knew he entered a side-lane bush to recall. I didn't know where exactly he was, I was running out of time before his recall finished, and I wasn't lined up correctly to ensure the orb could travel through the entire bush. So, I threw the orb toward one end of the bush, then used my ult jump to get into the opposite end. This forced the orb's return trip to go through the entire bush, hitting him and cancelling his recall just in time for me to get the kill.

Lastly, remember that her skillshots and her ult goes through walls. This can put you in very interesting situations. For example, Charm is kinda silly if you land it through a wall. The enemy can't walk straight toward you, so they'll walk around the wall to get to you however they can. You can use this to your advantage to drag an opponent toward gank bushes from odd angles.

Despite Phreak saying to max out Charm first, I disagree.

I get a point in that at around level 4 or 5, maxing out Q and W first. I find she has low dmg at first so if you're getting pushed by minions and the enemy champion def. consider putting a point or 2 more into those than you are normally. Also, just farm the first few levels.

Yes, she's skillshot based but if you lvl up your W more so then that's more guaranteed dmg. Paired off w/your Q, you can farm a lot better as well.

Anyways, I'm kinda sounding like a broken record. Your core items as someone stated are in fact RoA and Rylai's. However, I go RoA, Deathcap, Morello's for CDR, then Rylai's. I may get Rylai's sooner if I do need that extra HP.

Hope this helped.

Edit: I go Sorc boots too somewhere in my build too. Maybe I should experiment w/Ionian.

If you are building her as an assassin, rush a dfg.. guaranteed to work..
My build order is
Sorc boots
DFG
WoTA
Deathcap
Haunting Guise/(Sell for Void staff later)
Rylai's

RoA is not really THAT good, ahri is an assasin with 1 unreliable CC. If u happen to miss ur e ur screwed, they will escape. Thats y rushing a Rylais is ur best bet, + it gives HP and AP instantly, unlike RoA which you have to rush to get the benefits. Only reason Phreak took RoA was because he needed mana, but ahri has no mana problems later in the game (and ur jungler should be giving u the blue buff anyways).

Try to go:

*Boots + 3 pots/ Dorans
*Then get a hextec revolver to stay in lane for long periods of time (it also helps healing enemy pokes)
*Giants belt
*Tier 2 boots
*Rylais
*WotA
*Deathcap
*Morellos/ Void staff
*Abyssal/ Zhonyas

Explanation:

Boots - If they are skillshot based champs or high harass champs, you'll need the pots for sustain (I personally prefer boots). Also mobility allows better farming, your attack animation is good for it.

Dorans - If your enemy doesn't have dangerous skillshots

Giants belt - This would be good first, ur damage is still high (this of course depends on how you farmed or did in game, before the 15 min). also it makes you harder to kill, burst champions will have a hard time with u)

And really the rest is personal preference and experience, I can't say that my method is the best but it does work.


Hope to have helped