Guide · Mid

Azir Guide

the Emperor of the Sands

Mage

Marksman

Tier C Mid

Azir, the Emperor of the Sands, is a mage and marksman champion that is demanding to master. Across our 286 analysed ranked games, Azir is mostly played in Mid (100% of its games), with a 49.3% win rate in that role: tier C among Mid champions (#41 of 42, ranked by win rate). Azir's damage is mostly magic (95%): magic resistance items are therefore effective against this champion. Win rate varies with game length: 62.7% in long games (over 35 min, 51 games) versus 45.5% in medium-length games (25 to 35 min).

Updated Oct 10 2026 · Patch 26.22

Averages measured over 286 Mid games played with Azir, from our ranked Solo/Duo data collection.

How to play and combo preview

Azir is a sand-soldier mage: Arise! summons a soldier that attacks in his place, and the soldier's attacks deal magic damage along a line. Conquering Sands sends all the soldiers, Shifting Sands dashes him to a soldier, and Emperor's Divide pushes enemies back. His passive lets him summon the Sun Disc from the ruins of turrets.

Harassment

W › AA AA › Q

When: An enemy is within range.

Arise! summons a soldier that attacks in your place; Conquering Sands sends all the soldiers over an area: they damage and slow for 1 second.

The engage

W › E › Q › R

When: A carry is within range.

Shifting Sands gives you a shield and dashes you to a soldier; if it hits a champion, a new soldier is prepared and the dash stops; Emperor's Divide pushes back.

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

Laning phase

Place your soldiers so they hit your target; they replace your attack against targets in their range. Shifting Sands dashes you to a soldier.

Common mistakes

• Not placing soldiers before attacking.
• Casting Shifting Sands with no soldier nearby.
• Using the ultimate with no direction.

Riot's official tips for playing Azir

• Be careful about putting down both of the soldiers stored by Arise! Unless you're going all-in, always have a soldier in your back pocket if you need to escape over a wall or if you misposition your other soldier and need damage now.
• In the lane, try to position your soldiers between the enemy's minions and the enemy champion. This way you can use them both to last hit and to project threat onto your lane opponent.
• Think of Emperor's Divide as a defensive ability first and foremost. Use it when the enemy engages on you or your allies. Remember that your team can walk through the soldiers summoned by Emperor's Divide and use this to your advantage when enemy melee champions engage on you.
• Be a bird!

Build, runes and summoner spells

The most-played core build is Rabadon's Deathcap, Nashor's Tooth, and Shadowflame (50 games, 54.0% win rate), usually with Spellslinger's Shoes (51.6% over 219 games).

Rabadon's Deathcap+Nashor's Tooth+Shadowflame

50 games · 54.0%

Nashor's Tooth+Zhonya's Hourglass+Shadowflame

34 games · 55.9%

Rabadon's Deathcap+Nashor's Tooth+Zhonya's Hourglass

23 games · 47.8%

Skill order

Max order : W > Q > E57.5% · 40 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 45 games).

Starting items

Doran's RingHealth PotionHealth Potion52.3% · 44 games

First completed items, in order

Nashor's Tooth›Shadowflame

22 games · 59.1%

Laning phase (averages)

At 10 min: 3528 gold, 81 CS, 4963 XP. At 15 min: 5500 gold, 122 CS, 7536 XP.

Boots

Spellslinger's Shoes51.6% · 219 games

Chainlaced Crushers52.9% · 34 games

Armored Advance50.0% · 16 games

Summoner spells

Flash + Teleport47.6% · 233 games

Flash + Ignite50.0% · 34 games

Most-played runes

Lethal Tempo + Sorcery

50.7% · 69 games

Primary tree · Precision

Presence of Mind96%

Legend: Alacrity97%

Cut Down87%

Secondary tree · Sorcery

Gathering Storm65%

Manaflow Band52%

Shards

Attack speed100%

Adaptive force86%

Health scaling91%

Press the Attack + Sorcery

54.0% · 63 games

Primary tree · Precision

Presence of Mind67%

Legend: Alacrity97%

Cut Down84%

Secondary tree · Sorcery

Scorch67%

Manaflow Band64%

Shards

Attack speed100%

Adaptive force64%

Health scaling60%

Press the Attack + Resolve

41.1% · 56 games

Primary tree · Precision

Presence of Mind96%

Legend: Alacrity98%

Cut Down93%

Secondary tree · Resolve

Bone Plating95%

Overgrowth91%

Shards

Attack speed100%

Adaptive force95%

Health scaling66%

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 Azir'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 team48.3% · 89 games

At least 50% of their damage is magic

Nashor's Tooth 48.0%

Shadowflame 56.6%

Rabadon's Deathcap 57.1%

Zhonya's Hourglass 56.2%

Dusk and Dawn 46.2%

Void Staff 50.0%

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

Mostly physical-damage enemy team52.3% · 65 games

Less than 35% of their damage is magic

Nashor's Tooth 50.0%

Shadowflame 60.0% ▲

Zhonya's Hourglass 42.9%

Rabadon's Deathcap 43.8%

Dusk and Dawn 66.7%

The item that stands out most is Shadowflame: 60.0% win rate, +4 points versus its usual win rate.

Balanced enemy team48.5% · 132 games

Mixed physical and magic damage

Nashor's Tooth 47.7%

Shadowflame 53.4%

Rabadon's Deathcap 67.7% ▲

Zhonya's Hourglass 60.7% ▲

Dusk and Dawn 54.5%

Void Staff 64.7%

The item that stands out most is Rabadon's Deathcap: 67.7% win rate, +9 points versus its usual win rate.

Counters and matchups

How to play against Azir

• Azir relies on his soldiers to deal damage and can only move them so often. Try to capitalize on windows of time when his soldiers are stationary.
• Azir has immense damage over a prolonged amount of time but lacks the upfront burst of other mages. Try to burst him out before he can turn a confrontation around.
• Try to think of Sand Soldiers as fire. Don't stand in the fire.

Win rates measured over direct same-role duels; only matchups with more than 15 games are listed.

Azir Mid: what our games say

Laning phase against the Mid average

Measured over 45 Azir 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.

Abilities

PassiveShurima's Legacy

Azir can summon the Disc of the Sun from the ruins of allied or enemy turrets.

QConquering Sands

Azir sends all Sand Soldiers towards a location. Sand Soldiers deal magic damage to enemies they pass through and apply a slow for 1 second.

WArise!

Azir summons a Sand Soldier to attack nearby targets for him, replacing his basic attack against targets within the soldier's range. Their attacks deal magic damage to enemies in a line.

EShifting Sands

Azir shields himself briefly and dashes to one of his Sand Soldiers, damaging enemies. If he hits an enemy champion, he instantly readies a new Sand Soldier for deployment and halts his dash.

REmperor's Divide

Azir summons a wall of soldiers which charge forward, knocking back and damaging enemies.

Other Mid champions to know

Most played

Syndra53.0 %Viktor48.9 %Ahri50.4 %Yone49.8 %Locke50.8 %Yasuo48.9 %Zed51.8 %Sylas48.5 %

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

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