Guide · Mid

Ahri Guide

the Nine-Tailed Fox

Mage

Assassin

Tier B Mid

Ahri, the Nine-Tailed Fox, is a mage and assassin champion of medium difficulty. Across our 1219 analysed ranked games, Ahri is mostly played in Mid (96% of its games), with a 50.4% win rate in that role: tier B among Mid champions (#15 of 42, ranked by win rate). Ahri's damage is mostly magic (72%): magic resistance items are therefore effective against this champion. 21% of that damage is true damage and therefore ignores resistances. Win rate varies with game length: 53.2% in long games (over 35 min, 141 games) versus 47.7% in short games (under 25 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.22

Averages measured over 1166 Mid games played with Ahri, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Ahri is a mobile mage who wins games by catching an isolated enemy with Charm and burning them down before they can react. Orb of Deception deals magic damage on the way out and true damage on the way back, which keeps it effective even against targets stacking magic resistance. Her ultimate gives her three dashes and can be recast when she takes part in a takedown: she is at her best when she chains kills, and at her worst when she engages badly, because without her ultimate her survivability is very limited.

The basic combo (pick)

E › Q › W

When: An enemy is within Charm range and no minion blocks the path.

Cast Charm first: it interrupts the target's movement abilities and makes them walk toward you, which guarantees the rest lands. Follow up with Orb of Deception, then Fox-Fire, whose fireballs lock on and attack nearby enemies while you reposition.

The ultimate engage

R › E › Q › W

When: The target is too far for a direct Charm, or you want to close the distance at once.

Spirit Rush opens the way: it brings you closer, lets you land Charm, helps you hit twice with Orb of Deception and puts you in range of Fox-Fire. Keep a recast in reserve, since the ultimate can be cast up to three times.

See all 3 Ahri combos: key order, when to cast them, cooldowns →

Laning phase

Early on, poke with Orb of Deception at maximum range and only spend Fox-Fire to finish a target or get out. The mana cost of Orb of Deception rises with each level, so check your mana bar before trading. Your passive heals you after 9 minion kills, so farming cleanly makes up for part of the enemy's harassment.

Common mistakes

• Casting Charm without checking the minions: the first enemy hit is the one charmed, and it is rarely the right one.
• Using the ultimate to open a fight without knowing whether you can recast it: without it, you have almost no survivability left.
• Forgetting that Orb of Deception also hits on the way back: position yourself so the target is on its path in both directions.

Riot's official tips for playing Ahri

• Use Charm to set up your combos, it will make landing Orb of Deception and Fox-Fire dramatically easier.
• Initiate team fights using Charm, and chase down stragglers with Spirit Rush.
• Spirit Rush enables Ahri's abilities, it opens up paths for Charm, helps double hitting with Orb of Deception, and closes to make use of Fox-Fire.

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Malignance, Zhonya's Hourglass, and Shadowflame (101 games, 53.5% win rate), usually with Spellslinger's Shoes (52.7% over 569 games).

Malignance+Zhonya's Hourglass+Shadowflame

101 games · 53.5%

Rabadon's Deathcap+Malignance+Shadowflame

96 games · 53.1%

Rabadon's Deathcap+Lich Bane+Malignance

79 games · 51.9%

Skill order

Max order : Q > W > E50.0% · 98 games

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
Q		●		●	●		●		●
W	●							●		●		●	●
E			●											●	●
R						●					●

The order shows which abilities reach rank 5 first; the grid shows the most-played level-up sequence with that order (measured over 129 games).

Starting items

Doran's RingHealth PotionHealth Potion49.2% · 128 games

First completed items, in order

Malignance›Shadowflame

31 games · 51.6%

Blackfire Torch›Lich Bane

20 games · 65.0%

Malignance›Lich Bane

19 games · 26.3%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3721 gold, 78 CS, 4907 XP. At 15 min: 5715 gold, 117 CS, 7427 XP.

Boots

Spellslinger's Shoes52.7% · 569 games

Crimson Lucidity50.2% · 424 games

Chainlaced Crushers47.5% · 120 games

Summoner spells

Flash + Ignite48.9% · 595 games

Flash + Teleport52.2% · 561 games

Most-played runes

Electrocute + Sorcery

50.7% · 852 games

Primary tree · Domination

Taste of Blood93%

Grisly Mementos85%

Ultimate Hunter98%

Secondary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band94%

Transcendence66%

Shards

Attack speed96%

Adaptive force97%

Health scaling61%

Electrocute + Resolve

50.4% · 115 games

Primary tree · Domination

Taste of Blood97%

Grisly Mementos59%

Ultimate Hunter100%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Bone Plating93%

Overgrowth73%

Shards

Attack speed97%

Adaptive force93%

Health74%

Deathfire Touch + Domination

50.0% · 72 games

Primary tree · Sorcery

Manaflow Band100%

Transcendence96%

Scorch93%

Secondary tree · Domination

Ultimate Hunter100%

Taste of Blood94%

Shards

Attack speed90%

Adaptive force94%

Health scaling86%

For each row, the most picked rune among the games played with this page (share of games in brackets).

Which items to build against the enemy team?

We sort every game by the enemy team's damage. These are Ahri's completed items and their win rate in each situation; "▲" marks an item that does at least 3 points better than its usual win rate.

Mostly magic-damage enemy team52.8% · 345 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Malignance 51.4%

Lich Bane 52.0%

Shadowflame 54.0%

Rabadon's Deathcap 51.5% ▼

Blackfire Torch 56.9% ▲

Zhonya's Hourglass 58.1%

The item that stands out most is Blackfire Torch: 56.9% win rate, +5 points versus its usual win rate.

Mostly physical-damage enemy team48.8% · 291 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Malignance 45.4% ▼

Shadowflame 50.4%

Blackfire Torch 54.6%

Lich Bane 54.6%

Zhonya's Hourglass 55.8%

Rabadon's Deathcap 58.1%

No item clearly stands out in this situation: the usual build remains the reference.

Balanced enemy team49.8% · 530 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Malignance 50.6%

Lich Bane 52.4%

Shadowflame 50.9%

Blackfire Torch 47.8% ▼

Zhonya's Hourglass 55.8%

Rabadon's Deathcap 59.7% ▲

The item that stands out most is Rabadon's Deathcap: 59.7% win rate, +3 points versus its usual win rate.

Counters and matchups

Who counters Ahri in Mid

Locke Ahri: 31.6%19 games

Locke has the edge in 68% of the 19 Mid duels against Ahri. See the Locke guide.

Viktor Ahri: 33.3%24 games

Viktor has the edge in 67% of the 24 Mid duels against Ahri. See the Viktor guide.

Twisted Fate Ahri: 39.1%23 games

Twisted Fate has the edge in 61% of the 23 Mid duels against Ahri. See the Twisted Fate guide.

Veigar Ahri: 40.0%20 games

Veigar has the edge in 60% of the 20 Mid duels against Ahri. See the Veigar guide.

Galio Ahri: 42.1%19 games

Galio has the edge in 58% of the 19 Mid duels against Ahri. See the Galio guide.

Who Ahri is strong against

Yone63.9% · 36 games

Katarina60.0% · 30 games

Zed58.1% · 31 games

Sylas53.7% · 41 games

LeBlanc52.4% · 21 games

How to play against Ahri

• Ahri's survivability is dramatically reduced when her Ultimate, Spirit Rush, is down.
• Stay behind minions to make Charm difficult to land, this will reduce Ahri's damage potential significantly.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed. See all of Ahri's matchups.

Ahri Mid: what our games say

Laning phase against the Mid average

Measured over 129 Ahri games with a timeline; the average covers 72 champions played Mid in our ranked games.

Win rate by game length

Best result: long (over 35 min). Only groups of at least 30 games are shown. A gap of several points shows the phase where the champion is the most reliable.

Ahri in another role

Role	Games	Win rate	CS/min	Gold/min	Most-built items
Top	53	64.1 %	7.2	403

Roles where we have at least 40 Ahri games.

Abilities

PassiveEssence Theft

After killing 9 minions or monsters, Ahri heals.
After taking down an enemy champion, Ahri heals for a greater amount.

QOrb of Deception

Ahri sends out and pulls back her orb, dealing magic damage on the way out and true damage on the way back.

WFox-Fire

Ahri gains a brief burst of Move Speed and releases three fox-fires, that lock onto and attack nearby enemies.

ECharm

Ahri blows a kiss that damages and charms an enemy it encounters, instantly stopping movement abilities and causing them to walk harmlessly towards her.

RSpirit Rush

Ahri dashes forward and fires essence bolts, damaging nearby enemies. Spirit Rush can be cast up to three times before going on cooldown, and gains additional recasts when taking down enemy champions.

Other Mid champions to know

Most played

Syndra53.0 %Viktor48.9 %Yone49.8 %Locke50.8 %Yasuo48.9 %Zed51.8 %Sylas48.5 %Akali49.0 %

Strongest (at least 100 games)

Vel'Koz54.3 %Kassadin54.0 %Twisted Fate54.0 %Lux53.0 %Diana52.9 %Katarina52.6 %Anivia52.3 %Aurelion Sol52.1 %

Frequently asked questions

Full Ahri page · League of Legends tier list · All champion guides