When playing Ahri in League of Legends, you want to keep her elusive and wild nature in mind, utilizing her mobility and burst to outmatch your opponents. You want to be constantly on the move to keep your enemies guessing, and when they least expect it, go in for the kill.

Abilities

Ahri is a Vastayan mage with a fiery yet charming skill set. Passively, when Ahri hits 9 enemies with her abilities, her next ability will heal her. Her Q, Orb of Deception, throws out an orb that deals magic damage on the way out, and true damage on the way back to Ahri. This is a relatively spammable ability that can used to clear minions or to burst down the enemy as part of her combo. Her W, Fox-Fire, unleashes 3 sparks of flame that jump to nearby enemies, dealing magic damage and granting Ahri movement speed. Her E, Charm, is a skill shot that allures Ahri's enemies close to her, allowing her to easily burst them down, as it also causes them to take 20% increased damage from her. Finally, her R is Spirit Rush, where Ahri dashes forward and hits her enemies with small bursts of magic; this ability can be used twice after its initial cast.

Ideally, you will want to Charm your enemies and use both Q and W to burst them down while they are unable to react. You can engage with your R to surprise your enemies and then Charm them, or you can use your R to safely disengage. As it has two extra charges, you can usually engage with R, burst them down, and quickly disengage if needed. Charm can be used to pull enemies close to your turret or ally team, as well as used to distract your enemy from harming members of your team.

The Build

For starting items, Ahri can either come to lane with Corrupting Potion, or Doran's Ring and two Healing Potions. Doran's Ring is a better choice if you plan to stay more passive during the early laning phase, as you would not get the full value of Corrupting Potion if you do not plan on taking consistent trades with your enemy. You will want to start building the mythic item, Luden's Tempest, throughout the course of the early game. However, if you are having issues against an assassin, you can build Seeker's Armguard first, which will eventually build into Zhonya's Hourglass, to give you some early game protection. Going this smaller item before building Luden's can be really helpful against lane bullies who are bursting you down with attack damage, like Zed or Yasuo. After building Luden's, you can build Morellonomicon and then Zhonya's Hourglass; however, you can also build Zhonya's second, especially if you already bought your Seeker's Armguard earlier in the game. Alternatively, you can build the mythic item Everfrost first, then paired with Horizon Focus as a second item to dish out some extra crowd control. For boots, you can go Sorcerer's Shoes for extra damage, or Ionian Boots of Lucidity for some extra cooldown reduction.

As far as runes go, Ahri has two main options here. You can go Domination as your primary with Electrocute, Sudden Impact, Eyeball Collection, and Ultimate Hunter, with Sorcery as your secondary with Manaflow Band and Transcendence. Her second option is Inspiration as your primary with Glacial Augment, Magical Footwear, Minion Dematerializer, and Cosmic Insight and then Domination as your secondary with Cheap Shot and Ultimate Hunter. For summoner spells, you will always want to have Flash paired with either Ignite or Teleport. Ignite is best if you plan to constantly duel it out with your enemy laner and need a finishing ability, while Teleport can be an optimal tool to quickly arrive to team fights or return to lane after a hard battle.

Laning Phase

Ahri has good poke with her Q, especially if you can hit enemies with the orb on its way back to Ahri. This is also a great way to clear the wave as it can hit multiple minions at once to secure the CS. Keep in mind that her W will also hit minions if they are closer to her than her enemy laner, which can affect your trades and engages. You will want to throw out E only if you can combo with the rest of her abilities, since it does not do much on it's own. If you find yourself getting low on mana, save your E for whenever your ally jungler comes in to gank for you, so you do not run completely out of mana by the time your ally comes. Vision is always key, since Ahri can easily be collapsed on if she does not have her R available, so be sure to plant Control Wards and regular wards in nearby brush. Ahri can be an exceptional help to her allies with the use of her E, so keep on eye out when nearby allies may need your help, especially when it comes to objectives. Once achieving level 6 and gaining her R, you can start finding ways to really shut down your enemy, using R to close the distance between you two and then dishing out her combo.

Keep in mind that you do not need to constantly use your abilities to clear the entire minion wave, as it will quickly eat up your mana, thus leaving you more vulnerable. It is best to use your Q to grab a group of low health minions, like the ranged minions or cannon minions, to better priortize your mana consumption. If you aim it right, you can even hit the enemy champion with your Q to maximize its usage. You want to save W for enemy champions, as it will not be a very effective tool for wave clear, so hold onto it until you can combo and burst down your opponent. Try not to use E if you know you will not hit it; for instance, if the enemy is too far away or is hiding behind their lane minions, as this will merely waste your mana and the ability's cool down.

Roaming and Ganking

With her E, Ahri can come and engage on the enemy team and bring them to their doom, giving her a lot of potential when she goes to gank for her allies. You will want to try and push out the minion wave before leaving your lane, usually forcing your enemy laner to stay and clear minions instead of following you. Always communicate with your team, whether it is through pings or chat text, that you are coming to gank for them, so that they can prepare to fight. If you arrive and your ally did not notice you coming, you can easily lose your chance to defeat the enemy, which could even lead to your own demise if you end up fighting the enemy alone. While Ahri has decent burst, she is not the strongest mage, and definitely not the tankiest, so fighting fed or bruiser-type enemies by herself is not the best idea. You want to surprise your enemies with a quick engage from her R, targeting key members of the enemy team like a squishy support or an adc caught off guard. If the engage does not go in your favor, you want to be able to R right back out to safety, so try to hold on to your charges as long as possible.

If you can not find a good opportunity to roam and gank, make sure you are doing your best to farm the lane minions, especially if you can not easily trade with your enemy laner. If you can not get kills or assists, cs is going to be your ticket to success, and can help you catch up to a lane bully. Since you are playing the midlane, you have both the Rift Herald or Baron and the Dragon on either side of you to contest, so you always want to be on the lookout for when your allies might need your assistance. Fighting over Rift Scuttlers is also a good opportunity to rotate and help secure, especially if the enemy jungler is sighted nearby.

Team Fights and Late Game

During an important fight over an objective, Ahri can act as an assassin of sorts to single out an enemy and burst them down, whether she is alone or she is luring them to her allies. However, if you miss E or there are multiple enemy champions ready to collapse on you, you might want to retreat and wait for your team to engage. Since Ahri can easily be shut down, be sure to utilize Zhonya's Hourglass to put a pause on any incoming burst and give you some time to wait for your team's assistance. You will not be any use to your team if you get immediately caught out and defeated, so remember to save the extra charges of your R to disengage if you are not successful at bursting a target down. The key to playing Ahri is to be quick and unpredictable by catching your enemies off guard and speeding away before they can react.