League of Legends - AP Azir Solo Mid Guide

Welcome to my Azir guide! 

Today, I will show you how you can dominate the mid lane, gain elo, and climb the ranked ladder with our favorite emperor of the sands, Azir. 

Let me introduce myself. My in-game summoner name is Hafu Jr, I am main mid lane and jungle. The highest rank that I have peaked at is master tier. 

SUMMARY

 

       Azir Azir Azir. This guy was released with a ton of bugs, and still has some bugs, which makes playing him and playing against him quite annoying. As most people know, Azir has a really good late game, and I mean REALLY GOOD LATEGAME. Azir scales really well, and scales pretty evenly as the game goes on, so naturally, Azir's weakness is his early game, which, by the way, is not weak at all.
This guide will cover Azir's early game playstyle, and let you transition smoothly into the late game, where you're pretty much set for easy teamfights and easy objective controls.

        Just a brief introduction though, because Azir can be a little complicated, Azir's main damage late game comes from his soldiers. Azir's Q is used as a tool to reposition his soldiers to keep damaging enemy champions. Azir himself actually stands farther than the ADC in teamfights. Many people would consider Azir as a high skill champion, while that is true, I want to make it clear that Azir is a high skill CAP champion, meaning that you don't have to be Bjergsen to carry games, especially in Silver.

      This guide will cover what to do in the early game, what items are most optimal, and go over some common mid lane match ups. However, the most important section of this guide is the tips section, which will cover some likely scenarios as well as tips and tricks to being a better Azir player. Remember that mechanics can be acquired by playing a few custom games and getting the feel for the champion, but tactical decision making is something that can only be acquired through playing the game. Azir's mechanics are not complicated, but the decision and judgement is what differentiates Azir players. 

PRIMARY RUNES

           Standard AP page for Azir, AP Quints, AP Marks, Armor Seals, and MR Glyphs. AP because Azir needs AP to do damage and wave clear early game. Armor against mid lane mages that weave auto attacks, and MR against magic damage so you don't die. Also, screw Fizz.

           Attack speed is not ideal because you're not looking to win early game as Azir through attacking your opponent. Azir is a champion that does not have burst damage early game, like ZERO burst. Putting attack speed runes will hinder your damage because you don't do damage early game in the first place.
Magic Penetration Marks are a good choice as well, and will greatly benefit you in the mid game. However, minions don't come with a lot of MR in the first place, and Azir really needs to get those levels to start rolling, so getting more AP is better for farming and pushing than getting MPen. 

PRIMARY MASTERIES 

 Ferocity Tree
Fury for early attack speed, but since early attack speed doesn't matter too much, you can also get Sorcery if you prefer.
Feast and Vampirism for sustain. As Azir, farming is very important, and the more time you spend recalling to base to fill your health and mana, the less CS you're going to get.
Oppressor is good because Rylais is core on Azir, and getting the extra damage on top of slow can secure targets that are low health.Cunning Tree
Wanderer because the other mastery is for single target spells, and Azir is all AoE.
With the amount of selfish junglers in Silver, its best not to take Runic Afiinity. Instead, take Secret Sash, because the little bit of mana you get early can help you stay in lane just a little longer. Azir is not an assassin, so Assassin mastery isn't as good as Secret Sash.
Mericiless is better for any champion because the other mastery is useless late game. As an teamfighter, you want the most damage possible.
Dangerous Game is for mages, Bandit is for Supports. You're a mage, go Dangerous Game.
Azir does a lot of damage already without Magic Pen, Azir is about summoning as many soldiers out, so CDR is definitely better. Take Intelligenceinstead of Precision, and besides, you'll be building Void Staff anyways. CDR is just better.
And finally, Thunderlord. This is the best mastery on Azir because it allows you to trade evenly in lane, while being at a safe distance. Thunderlord will CHUNK ADCs in the mid and late game, and once you get Nashor's Tooth, this mastery becomes extremely easy to proc. 

SKILLS

          Max Q, its a reposition tool, and its super useful. His soldiers scales very well with items, so you don't need to worry about the lack of damage early game. Q offers good poke and a slow, and its your only form of CC pre-level 6, and also your main CC spell. Maxing Q reduces cooldown, allowing you to reposition and keep the enemy champions at bay.

         Max W after Q, because soldiers need points to do more damage. W is Azir's main damage tool, so after Q, aim to get this spell maxed for maximum damage output. (Max R whenever you can put points in R. Azir has an ultimate, its a great ultimate, so get it).

       Then Max E, because E is just an utility tool to get away.
The skill order isn't too important, but its how all the skills will mesh important in the late game that will determine how good of an Azir player you are. 

STARTING ITEMS

           Doran's ring for mana recovery, some HP, and some flat AP. Azir is very squishy early game, so getting that little bit of HP can save you from an all in by the enemy mid laner. Azir also runs out of mana very fast if you spam, so the extra mana recover is good.

          WARD WARD WARD. Azir has long range, but if you don't ward, and you drop your guard, you get ganked and you get fucked. Silver players don't have the best map awareness, speaking from experience, and often times, pings can go unheard or unseen. Having a ward to spot the incoming gank from enemy botlane WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE, rather than not seeing the ping, not warding, then getting ganked by enemy botlane and spam retreat pings on your botlane, then you cause a fiasco, calling your botlane terrible and you lose game because no one can concentrate and everyone is typing instead of playing.
Anyways, just ward and avoid all the hassle. 

PRIMARY ITEMS

 This build incorporates an innate 35% CDR so you can reposition and summon as many soldiers as you want. Coupled with blue buff, you will hit the maximum 45% CDR and spam spells. Azir is all about keeping his damage while staying at the back, and as the teamfight progresses, the teamfighting spot will also shift, so Azir needs to reposition his soldiers and keep up with the teamfighting spot.

CDR boots because Azir himself needs to move as so he can reposition himself and his soldiers, boots give CDR and a bit of movespeed.

Nashor's tooth grants attack speed, AP, and CDR. Unfortunately, the passive on hit effect does work with Azir's soldiers (Azir's auto attacks can still proc the Nashor's on hit), so that portion of the item is forfeited. Still, the 20% CDR, attack speed, and bit of AP is well worth the cost without the Nashor on hit passive. Get this item first. Having Nashor's will guarantee that you proc your Thunderlords due to the attack speed benefit.

Rylais is super good, because it provides a slow that can be proc'ed by Azir's Q and W. Imagine Being slowed, and getting stabbed 3-4 times, on top of Q damage, while being unable to do anything about it. That's right, Rylais is your item. Rylais offers a good amount of HP, a good amount of AP, but the slow effect is just ridiculous because it allows each soldiers to get 3-4 hits along with Q damage FOR FREE.  GET THIS ITEM NEXT.

Rabadons is good for extra damage and the 30% increase in AP upon completion of the item, making it the item that gives the most AP in the game. For Azir, more AP means crazier damage. Get this item ASAP, but not before Nashors and Rylais.

Void Staff is to get through tanks. Azir's soldiers can respectably shred through tanks even without Void Staff, so get this baby to add more punch to each stab, and make those tanks feel the pain.
The last item doesn't really matter, as long as you get a last item. It can be Zhonyas, GA, Abyssal, for defensive options, or Ludens, Rod of Ages for more AP

 General Tips and Tricks

-Against enemy assassins, IT IS CRUCIAL YOU GET THE THUNDERLORD PROC to put you on even footing. You will not win lane unless the enemy misplays badly.

-As Azir, you start having a noticeably easier lane phase once you reach Stinger, because you will have sufficient attack speed to proc Thunderlords reliably. Nashor provides a much higher guarantee, but Stinger will allow you to make decent trades reliably, and clear minion waves at a decent speed as well.

-There is an animation when Azir is summoning his turret. During this animation, Azir cannot use any skills. However, you can Zhonyas during that animation, and the turret will still be summoned. This is good when you get dived but you are summoning a turret because the enemy diver will take a few turret shots, which may deter them from following up with their dive.

-Azir has had some changes where he will E to where his soldier's final position is, rather than E'ing to catch up to his soldier. E is also much more reliable when crossing terrain than previously. Azir can E to a soldier, use Q, and travel in the complete opposite direction. Azir can also use ult while using E. Strongly suggest practicing how to Drift as Azir, because it is extremely useful to escape or catch up. 

Watch this video made by "youtube.come/redmercy", demonstrating easy/advanced trick you yourself can do on azir.

CONCLUSION 

 Dealing with frustration
DO NOT RAGE, BE PATIENT. Azir is a champion that takes time because he scales pretty evenly throughout the game. Azir's powerspike is literally lv 16, when all his skills come together, because E doesn't really matter in the last two levels. So be patient, give up objectives, not your life, and give yourself time to scale.
Azir is an extremely fast farmer, so take jungle camps if your jungler or enemy jungler is not around. Clear the camp for extra EXP and gold, and get out before anyone notices.

Don't feel the need to be flashy
Outplays are cool, but Azir is much more about tactical teamfight position rather than outplays. This might seem boring to some people because Azir is not a flashy champion since he just sits back and lets his soldiers do the work. Azir has a high skill ceiling, but a good Azir does not have to be a flashy Azir. Sometimes, the simplest method is the most effective method.

Warding
WARD. Azir has long range, but that doesn't excuse Azir players from not warding. Dropping wards to cover areas is a team effort, even if it doesn't benefit you directly, it will benefit the team. Ultimately, Azir needs wards to farm safely just like any other champions. So ward.

BUY IT^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (those are pink, i'm totally colour blind)

I can't stress this enough
Lastly, DONT RAGE. ITS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH, AND ITS NOT GOOD FOR THE TEAM. You rage, you tilt your teammates, and everyone's angry with each other. All you have to do, is not be salty, and you'll have a great game. 

Sorry if this post isn't up to par with the usual steemit quality. This is my first post, and I thought I would give this a try. Feedback on this guide would be greatly appreciated, as I am more than happy to make more guide on champions that you want to learn about!

GLHF, i'll see you on the rift. Go get that challenger :)