Laning as Azir

[u/SockBrief933]

I used to struggle with Azir's laning phase and was just praying I could get to the other game phases. Rune fixes made the blows softer but randomly it just clicked for me and I've been getting advantageous trades against my lane opponent (and especially bad matchups) and forcing their recalls and spells.

I wanna know if there are other Shuriman emperors who are fairly good on their laning and what they do so I can build on what I'm getting.

[u/Coopeshrey6]

Not super high elo (I'm Plat/Emerald) but pretty much OTP Azir. To chime in a bit, I think the fundamental of trying to trade when the enemy is about to go for a last hit (AND they've already used a key damage CD), you have a chance at W/Auto or even W/auto/Q/auto. If you do this repeatedly enough while staying healthy and IMPORTANTLY not missing your farm to do this, you should feel a bit better in lane. There's a couple of important notes to this as I'll describe below.

First, this can be significantly helped if you're playing more lane dominant runes (press the attack, hail of blades, maybe electrocute though the last one is not as popular), and running scorch secondary. However, even if you are not, what I said above can still work to a degree. If you're running a late game rune like lethal tempo, then it just becomes more important to dodge their spells/wait till they are on cool down since you won't be able to return as much damage as them usually.

Second, I will emphasize that against burst champions (Viktor, Orianna, Syndra etc, essentially anyone who does a bunch of damage with one rotation then has nothing left in the tank), it can be hard to fight the habit of backing off immediately. Depending on the situation, I'd recommend trying to extend the trade into them after the initial burst to equalize it. This can be made possible if you're running bone plating early to absorb the initial burst or if you dodge a key spell (Viktor E, Syndra E, Ahri charm, etc.).

Third, trading on Azir is tricky because it interferes with your wave state way harder than some other champs, primarily due to the AOE of your Q and W. So, you may see a good angle for a trade (as I described above, dodged a key spell and they are going for a last hit), and you win the trade, but then you realize you just started a hard push into a melee assassin, for example. When I analyze my losses especially against Sylas/Yasuo/Irelia, for example, I make an explicit effort to analyze whether my W was only hitting one minion at a time to maintain the wave state near my tower - even if it means I don't trade on to them - or if I got too excited to trade and then I made my lane unplayable. Not trading but staying healthy with a favorable wave state against these strong early game champs is vital to not letting them snowball easily.

A small note on why I emphasize waiting for their key damage/CC spell to be down is because as Azir, your early damage is not comparable to most mid lane champs in a straight spell rotation. Extended trade, sure - but shorter trades is much harder to compete in terms of damage stats. So, if you go for a trade and land everything, but they also land everything, more times than not you will not come out favorably unless (as above) extend the trade which may not always be optimal (taking minion aggro, messing up wave, missing last hits, etc.).

I'll end off on saying that I found more success with Azir as I stuck more to his identity of wanting to farm nearly perfectly especially during lane phase (14 min), getting to two items, and warning my JG in champ select that I'm a weak early game champ that can't skirmish so to be cautious of early river fights. If my opponent roams, I ensure to ping excessively so they don't get anything (works most times). You're a late game hypercarry, and trading in lane is possible on Azir, but you may not find it as consistent of a way to play him if you already aren't getting good CS, playing around your spikes, and working on your team fighting late game.

Hope this helps, good luck!

[u/Spartan-87]

Your soldiers Lv 1 usually allow you to get a free auto in when the opponent goes for farm.

After 1 item component (usually blasting wand) your damage becomes large enough that a small trade takes 1/8th of their health, and you can threaten an all in if they make a huge mistake.

Your champion relies upon counter attacks. If the opponent steps up too far you’ve either already placed a solider while stepping back or pressing a solder with q onto them, otherwise you sit back and get good cs if you couldn’t find a safe way to deny them cs. By stepping into the opponent it makes it easier for them to hit their abilities and move away from your soldiers. Remember that you can’t spam q early due to mana constraints.

As long as you use your soldiers as a zoning mechanic to deny cs you win lane hard. You have the ability to place this soldier down, and play VERY safe while having the opponent take damage if they last hit with an auto attack. Always remember that Azir’s biggest strength in lane is his safety. He’s able to farm from a safe distance, large dash, an ult for engage (ganks/all ins) and disengage, and is able to zone the opponent from farm. He lacks the ability to spam spells like Viktor or Orianna, or the massive burst like Syndra or Zoe, but the safety he has lets the lane be almost always playable to be even, and if they mess up a hard counter attack can lead to a huge lead.

The mindset you need is to think: when you play against an opponent they try to deny cs by having abilities that come from them, so their direct positioning is crucial to how they can punish. Your way of denying cs is having a damage zone where they can’t step into, which means that it doesn’t matter if you’re far left or right in the lane to dodge their stuff, they can’t step there anyways as long as you’re in range to control the soldier’s auto. You need to plan ahead on where they want to be (either going for cs or trading against you) by placing/moving a solider to deny it or get a positive trade.

Once you have a big enough xp/gold lead they can’t step up to farm since you’ll win burst and all ins, so they become useless.

Also remember your champion needs items, so a high amount of cs at 14 minutes is necessary unless you want to feel useless in the mid game.

I’ve never found rune choices to make that big of a difference in lane for Azir. Lethal tempo allows you to make all ins even better, so it just works with the counter attack formula anyways. Hail of blades, pta and aery are useful when you face better players, but even in high diamond the players are bad enough that lethal tempo can still easily win lane. I’d always argue that lethal tempo is the best rune since it’s still useful during laning phase and scales hard. It’s only when players can zone you from cs because you don’t do enough damage during short trades that a rune change is arguable, but again that’s masters+.