For the majority of gamers, Ahri has long been a Mage champion with an Assassin tendency, possessing the ability to engage and deal damage effectively, taking down targets quite well. After this champion was slightly reworked in season 12, Ahri has even become stronger than before and is widely used by many teams in professional tournaments. Just recently, Faker also used this champion to defeat KT Rolster at the LCK Spring 2022.
However, alongside traditional Mage playstyles, a style that isn’t exactly new but is still incredibly interesting is the Ahri ADC, which has gradually emerged and proved to be extremely powerful. Even G2 Esports star – Caps has continuously utilized this playstyle at the Challenger rank in the Western server, earning a lot of ranked points. So what makes this playstyle so appealing that Caps favors it? Let’s find out.
If you’re someone who frequently plays Ahri, you’ll know the champion’s weakness is her long cooldowns. Especially her E – Charm, which has a base cooldown of 12 seconds at all levels. Therefore, during the early and mid-game when itemization is still limited, Ahri will struggle to participate in fights consistently while this skill is on cooldown.
With the ADC playstyle, this weakness is completely mitigated as Ahri will deal a lot of auto-attack damage while her skills are merely supportive elements. Even if you miss the E – Charm skill, the damage output of Ahri ADC is still not significantly affected. The result is that players have a powerful crowd control tool, but if they miss, they lose nothing, which is something very few traditional ADCs possess.
Furthermore, according to Caps’ playstyle, you will max the W – Fox-Fire ability when playing Ahri ADC, rather than any other skill. The reason is that this skill only costs 25 mana, increases movement speed for 2 seconds, and allows Ahri ADC to maneuver flexibly and dodge skill shots much more effectively, with a cooldown of only 5 seconds at level 5. For a playstyle that doesn’t build mana or cooldown reduction like Ahri ADC, this ability is incredibly strong.
Additionally, with the recent slight rework, Ahri ADC shines even more thanks to her passive that allows her to accumulate charges and heal by simply taking down minions. Meanwhile, her “new” ultimate will grant an additional dash when this champion participates in takedowns. The effect is that instead of facing an Ahri ADC with 3 dashes (which is already quite strong), this fox lady can now dash many more times in team fights.
Regarding the item build for Ahri ADC, you should aim for items like Kraken Slayer, Galeforce, Blade of the Ruined King, and Moonstone Renewer. You should also choose the Precision rune tree for Ahri, which helps her maximize the powerful on-hit effects provided by these items.
In summary, Ahri ADC is a playstyle that takes advantage of Riot granting this champion immense mobility after her rework, allowing your team to have a mobile and hard-to-take-down ADC. If you want to “switch things up” with a playstyle that is fun, interesting, and extremely strong in the ADC role (even mid lane), then Ahri ADC is an excellent choice.