Azir/Strategy

Gameplay
is a mage who summons Shuriman soldiers to control the battlefield and basic attack for him. The soldier's piercing basic attacks furnish most of Azir's damage potential, making him an outlier amongst mages as a right-click-focused champion. Azir's spells, on the other hand, manipulate his and his soldiers' positions to keep him safe and establish dangerous no-go zones for his enemies.

Azir establishes shifting zones of power through soldier placement, gaining control of the lane and farming with their assistance. For instance, a soldier placed near the enemy's caster minions dares a lane opponent to harass or farm through the piercing spear. When the opposing laner missteps, Azir commands the attack, repositioning soldiers with Conquering Sands to make the most of the opportunity. Once a favorable trade or two unlocks kill potential, Azir utilizes Shifting Sands, knocking the enemy champion up and setting himself up to compel a Conquering Sands and finish them off. When the (ancient) coin is flipped, a quick Arise! and Shifting Sands rushes Azir out of danger.

Add Azir's ultimate to the mix and the Shuriman leader exercises even more zone control. To go for the kill, start off with Arise! and Shifting Sands to position Azir behind his opponent. From there, Emperor's Divide drives the foe deep into Azir's side of the map. Pushed so far into Azir's territory, the opposing champ's sure to meet their end at a spear's tip. If offense proves temporarily unwise, Azir's ult provides safe passage from a fight, building a wall between Azir and his pursuers.

Teamfights
As in lane, as in teamfights: Azir shines in battles tied to one physical location, where he can safely order his soldiers around and dispatch adversaries from afar. In that vein, Azir dominates Baron and Dragon fights, using his ultimate to lock enemy teams into (or out of) the pits. If teamfights take a roadtrip, Azir must be judicious with Arise! and Conquering Sands, moving his zone of control along with the combatants. Post-initiation, Azir's an expert at punishing uncoordinated enemies. Shifting Sands—combined with Azir's ultimate—separates enemy front-liners from their damage dealing dependents, dividing the enemy team for methodical conquering. With the baddies split, Azir charges his soldiers in for the kill, pumping out marksman-level sustained damage until none challenge his rule.

In jungle skirmishes, Azir sets up nasty ambushes with Conquering Sands, transforming convenient exits into spear-guarded gauntlets. Similarly, Emperor's Divide wholly closes a jungle entrance, sealing Azir's foes in with him. Trapped, they're surely short work for Azir, his soldiers and their allies. If a fight goes south, Azir reliably disengages with his ultimate or beguiles baddies with Arise! and Shifting Sands, spiriting himself over a jungle wall. Disc of the Sun doesn't raise a turret quick enough to be of much use in teamfights, but sieges are a different story. When attacking enemy inhibitors, Azir can resurrect their inner turret, trapping the enemy team inside their crumbling base and making counter-engages a dangerous proposition. Conversely, when Azir's base is under assault, Arise! and Shifting Sands help him jump the base wall and sneak around the siege to rebuild his own inner turret. Caught between the inhibitor turret and the Sun Disc, the enemy team can either scatter or be crushed.

Build Usage

 * (Note: These suggestions are based on the personal experiences of other players, and may not work for your individual play style. Please keep that in mind.)


 * is an ideal item for Azir, and in many cases will most likely be your first completed item. While expensive overall, Nashor's gives Ability Power, Attack Speed, and CDR all in one item, granting an early spike in both burst and sustained damage that few other items can replicate. It is recommended that  be your absolute first buy thanks to the early AP and CDR, which also grants Attack Speed via Azir's passive.
 * Despite 's sustained damage playstyle, his kits reliance on low-cooldown spells for damage and utility can cause Azir to run low on mana early on. How to mitigate this issue is up to the player, but options include:
 * into can give Azir both in-lane sustain due to its HP/Mana regen passive and steadily increase his HP (helpful for  HP ratio), mana, and Ability Power as the game goes on, making it a valuable lategame item.
 * , while not granting any HP or additional flat mana, can prove valuable thanks to the variety of stats it does grant. The mana regen passive heavily mitigates Azir's mana issues, while the 20% CDR grants a hefty boon to Azir's attack speed thanks to his passive- this item can be built in place of in tandem with  to reach 40% CDR, opening up additional options in terms of boots. The AP and marginal Magic Resist also assist Azir both offensively and defensively against an enemy AP mid.
 * While its mana regen isn't nearly as significant as Athene's, grants the same amount of CDR, much more AP, and decent mana regen on its own. The Grievous Wounds from its passive can also be extremely helpful; because Azir's Sand Soldiers apply on-spell effects while dealing damage in a line, the Grievous Wounds can be inflicted against multiple enemies quite effectively, making it quite helpful against enemies with heavy sustain.
 * A would arguably be the most lategame-focused mana item to pick, offering solely mana and mana regen. However Azir's relatively low-cooldown kit and near-mandatory goal of reaching 40% CDR means he can build Mana Charges quite quickly. Once it's been built into  it will give a respectable boost to AP, and after evolving into  will grant Azir a very helpful means of defense.
 * It is NOT recommended to build or any items that build out of it; Azir's soldiers apply on-spell effects only, and thus do not benefit from the Spellblade passive in any way.
 * can be very helpful against a team full of tanks or bruisers; its HP% burn passive can be applied and quickly refreshed through Azir's Sand Soldiers, and ' slow will briefly double the HP% burnt. The AP and Magic Penetration benefit Azir's damage overall, while the HP will benefit the shield gained from.
 * In the case that 40% CDR has been reached without, Azir benefits from a wide variety of boots. grant Magic Penetration,  and  grant defense against AP/CC and AD/Auto-attacks respectively, while  will increase Azir's DPS. If you can afford to do so, pick Boots based on the enemy team composition.
 * While it offers little offensively, can be a very powerful defensive item in a variety of situations. The Armor and Health improve general durability, while the HP specifically will grant a more powerful  shield. Although in an ideal situation Azir shouldn't be in range to make use of Randuins Cold Steel passive, the active can give Azir a last-ditch escape against enemies that get too close.
 * thrives on dynamic positioning and quick repositioning; on top of its raw stats s passive can assist in making Azir even more slippery and more difficult to lock down by blocking potentially lethal CC.
 * While most of his skills don't have very high AP ratios, the Sand Soldiers from s have a very respectable 70% AP. Being the focus of his damage by replacing his auto attacks,  can give Azir absolutely devastating damage.
 * is a very useful item for Azir, granting a large amount of AP, respectable Armor, and an active that can negate potentially massive amounts of damage. If you have a secure lead and are doing well, you can potentially get away with this as your lone Armor-based item.

Countering

 * s Sand Soldiers are untargetable and can only be moved via ; with proper positioning and timing, you can bypass the soldiers and strike the Emperor directly.
 * Aside from  has relatively low cooldowns that are complemented by an almost mandatory need to build 40% CDR. As such it would be best to engage on Azir based on his available mana rather than his spells, which are almost always going to be available before a fight.
 * is marked as a secondary Marksman for a reason; his damage is most often dealt over a sustained period of time and based primarily on his auto-attacks. Making him a high priority for burst and CC or somehow reducing his attack speed will significantly mitigate his threat level.
 * can be built as a bursty glass cannon, sustained DPS Ability Power Carry, or tanky AP bruiser. Determine the build path being taken based on Azir's items, then adjust your approach accordingly.
 * Azir's only escape is his, which even at 40% CDR has a cooldown of about 7 second. If you can bait Azir into using it offensively or otherwise preemptively, then he can be quickly locked down and eliminated.
 * Azir reaches his full potential in the late game, where his heavy sustained damage and utility can sway teamfights drastically, the tradeoff for Azir's strong late game power is his weak early game, by picking to counter him and/or co-operating with your Jungler, you can help shut him down early game.
 * Azir's ultimate, Emperor's Divide provides great utility in teamfights and blocks most dashes, however it does not block blinks, so champions like Warwick, Zed and Kassadin can bypass the wall and assassinate their targets. Champions like Vi, Malphite and Hecarim can also bypass the wall with their ultimates.

Champion Spotlight


Azir/Strategy