This is an Azir guide,not made by me ofc. Enjoy it.
STARTING ITEMS
Dorans ring + 2 Hp potions and a warding totem is a standard start for most mages. You should opt into this choice of starting items under a few conditions. One, if you need to be able to survive an opponents kit. What I mean by this is if you are afraid you can die in a full on, one on one, or if they have an easy way to initiate all in engagements. Second, if you will not be under heavy poke and can get away with only having two hp potions. Lastly third, if you feel like you will be initiating these one on one engagements to try and get a kill on your lane opponent. Dorans ring provides duel potential as well as an acceptable amount of mana regen for early stages of the game. Warding totem is the go to trinket for the middle lane, as it provides you safety from the jungler and as well as provides you with vision or information to help you make correct decisions during the early and mid game phases. I suggest placing the ward first ward around 2:50-3:10 minutes as this is the average time most junglers gank for the first time. ( also play safe around this time till you know where they ended up ganking )
CORE ITEMS
Athenes should be your first non-boots item no questions asked. Since Azir is so poke heavy early stages in the game he benefits a TON from always having mana. On top of that he scales well with ap, and CDR which Athene provides as well. The CDR allows you to attack faster because of the passive conversion, and allows you to re-position his sand minions which is vital to Azir. All of his basic skills rely on the positioning of his ARISE! .... sounds awkward, his sand minions. Rylai's allows his sand minions to slow what they attack, this will allow them to get those all important auto attacks in as well as Azir's kite and chase potential. Also the durability helps him survive and makes his shield slightly bigger ( as it scales with hp ). Azir is a mage and all mages eventually get void staff because magic pen is just very good. I would get his mid to late game as it is more better spent when your enemies are investing a lot of money into magic resistance.
ENDGAME ITEMS
Athene's and Ionian boots mixed with 5% cdr from masteries should let you hit your 40% cdr cap very early in the game. This will allow Azir to rekt faces. The more he can re-position his minions the more amazing stuff he can pull off. Also the early 40 % will give him great attack speed for his sand minions. After that you can follow it up with a Rylai's if you need to kite or chase, as well as survive. However Rabadon's or hourglass can be built before it as well. Just depends on the situation, but all of these heavy AP items will give him so much extra damage that he can keep putting out their with his 40% CDR. Void staff is a buy when you see about 2 or 3 enemies over 60-80 magic resist. This will give the item its maximum value and keep your damage out put to an acceptable level.
RUNES
Standard mage runes, these are the safest runes to run for most mages. It provides armor and magic resistance which help you survive the lane phase, as well as flat ap and magic penetration. These have stood the test of time throughout league's history for a reason. The sand never runs out on these rune pages hourglass ( hehe ).
Alternative Rune Builds: I will list a few situational rune builds that you should only use if you know who your lane opponent is and they fall under a few types. One would be Flat HP seals, these help in all in situations however if you are against an enemy that is attack damage or a mage that can auto attack you freely and frequently then stay with armor seals. Another situational build would be against an ad mid, such as zed, talon, etc. This will consist of the same runes but instead of magic resistance, you can run flat ap glyphs, this will help you deal surprisingly more damage early game without the cost of durability vs these type of assassins.
MASTERIES
21/9/0 is a great way to play any mage, some prefer 21/0/9 but if you are an aggressive player you might want to extra 9 in defense. I also run a few times 21/6/3 and put the 3 points in the utility tree in mana regen, or movement speed if you need help dodging spells. The 21 points in offense will allow you to deal the damage that a mid laner should bring to the early to mid game. You want to get the 5 percent cool down reduction, because once you get Athene's and Ionian boots you should have reached the maximum cap of 40%, who wants to have 35% CDR eww.
SUMMONER SPELLS
Flash Ignite
Flash Ignite once again are standard mage summoner spells for a reason. Flash is incredibly strong as it allows you a free instant re-positoning. Ignite gives you the kill potential to captivate on your opponents mistakes. A mage's purpose is to deal damage and ignite is perfect for that goal. So go out there and be standard! :/
Flash Barrier
Barrier is a good pick up if you are against someone that has a lot of kill potential over you or deal a lot of burst damage. An example would be Syndra or Zed, these champions have a lot of burst and kill potential. Barrier will give you the time to escape , or deal more damage.
SKILL ORDER
STRATEGY AND TACTICS
Early Game
Early game should be fairly easy and safe. Azir comes with a nice long dash and lots of poke. This spells for a strong lane phase, if you over extend trying to push an opponent out you still can be safe with your dash. However be careful because junglers can will quickly figure out the only way to really gank an Azir is to come from behind. This way they can cut your dash off by standing in front of you. This is when you are just like any other squishy mage with no escape. Say your good byes. Also be very very careful when E'ing aggressively early lane phase, this has a huge cool down and is your only means of escape. Make sure you know what you are getting yourself into before making a commitment to an aggressive move like that. This picture below represents red arrows for likely jungler flanking ganks. ( either if you are on blue side or red side respectively ) and in blue circles good warding areas to help prevent this from happening in their favor.
Synergies
Champion 1: If you can utilize flanking with Azir's ultimate well you can force opponents into fights by cutting off their escapes. Champions that lack stick or mobility can benefit greatly from this, these champions would include Darius, Nasus, Rumble, Renekton, Tryndamere, and Mordekaiser hue hue hue ... These champions excel at close range brawls but lack the tools to keep champion close to them for long periods of time. I would really like to not be forced into a melee fight against a Darius, ouch...
Champion 2: I choose Amumu as a generic AOE CC tank. Azir has an AoE cc that is an AoE speed up these two types of champions should get a long just fine in fights. These type of champions can lock people down and soak enough damage up for you to let your sand minions decimate your opponents. Also they have AoE with their attacks as well so if your enemies get locked up in close proximity you can deal so much extra damage.
Champion 3: I pick Janna as a generic kite composition. Azir has quite a lot of mobility mid to late game as well as an AoE speed up for allies that pushes enemies away. This can be used very effectively for disengaging if you wish to run a split pushing composition or something rather.
Counters
Champion 1: Well, Talon just in general destroys most mages that build on the more damage side. He can deal his damage while the silence is on his prey. Be careful of this match up mid game, and try to poke him as much as possible without getting in range early on to try and get an xp and gold lead so that later he wont be able to one shot you.
Champion 2: FIzz is another assassin to look out for. During the early levels it may not seem to bad since you can poke him pretty heavily, however if he can pick a fight with you on fair grounds you better watch out. He can, if timed right, Stop your Q - E escape with his Q. Fizz's Q brings him other side of his target, this in turn can put him in the path of Azirs dash and stop him in his tracks. Much like running in front of a Rammus to stop his rollin.
Champion 3: Syndra just in general has no really bad match-ups, she can poke you from a distance as well as stun you from a distance and kill you before you can move. She is usually going to win most lane phases, the best thing you can do is try to farm, dodge, and send out some poke every now and then. You do not need to commit to an aggressive play style against a Syndra for you will be far more of a benefit mid to late game then a Syndra.
Here's a challenger playing Azir.
Dorans ring + 2 Hp potions and a warding totem is a standard start for most mages. You should opt into this choice of starting items under a few conditions. One, if you need to be able to survive an opponents kit. What I mean by this is if you are afraid you can die in a full on, one on one, or if they have an easy way to initiate all in engagements. Second, if you will not be under heavy poke and can get away with only having two hp potions. Lastly third, if you feel like you will be initiating these one on one engagements to try and get a kill on your lane opponent. Dorans ring provides duel potential as well as an acceptable amount of mana regen for early stages of the game. Warding totem is the go to trinket for the middle lane, as it provides you safety from the jungler and as well as provides you with vision or information to help you make correct decisions during the early and mid game phases. I suggest placing the ward first ward around 2:50-3:10 minutes as this is the average time most junglers gank for the first time. ( also play safe around this time till you know where they ended up ganking )
CORE ITEMS
Athenes should be your first non-boots item no questions asked. Since Azir is so poke heavy early stages in the game he benefits a TON from always having mana. On top of that he scales well with ap, and CDR which Athene provides as well. The CDR allows you to attack faster because of the passive conversion, and allows you to re-position his sand minions which is vital to Azir. All of his basic skills rely on the positioning of his ARISE! .... sounds awkward, his sand minions. Rylai's allows his sand minions to slow what they attack, this will allow them to get those all important auto attacks in as well as Azir's kite and chase potential. Also the durability helps him survive and makes his shield slightly bigger ( as it scales with hp ). Azir is a mage and all mages eventually get void staff because magic pen is just very good. I would get his mid to late game as it is more better spent when your enemies are investing a lot of money into magic resistance.
ENDGAME ITEMS
Athene's and Ionian boots mixed with 5% cdr from masteries should let you hit your 40% cdr cap very early in the game. This will allow Azir to rekt faces. The more he can re-position his minions the more amazing stuff he can pull off. Also the early 40 % will give him great attack speed for his sand minions. After that you can follow it up with a Rylai's if you need to kite or chase, as well as survive. However Rabadon's or hourglass can be built before it as well. Just depends on the situation, but all of these heavy AP items will give him so much extra damage that he can keep putting out their with his 40% CDR. Void staff is a buy when you see about 2 or 3 enemies over 60-80 magic resist. This will give the item its maximum value and keep your damage out put to an acceptable level.
RUNES
Standard mage runes, these are the safest runes to run for most mages. It provides armor and magic resistance which help you survive the lane phase, as well as flat ap and magic penetration. These have stood the test of time throughout league's history for a reason. The sand never runs out on these rune pages hourglass ( hehe ).
Alternative Rune Builds: I will list a few situational rune builds that you should only use if you know who your lane opponent is and they fall under a few types. One would be Flat HP seals, these help in all in situations however if you are against an enemy that is attack damage or a mage that can auto attack you freely and frequently then stay with armor seals. Another situational build would be against an ad mid, such as zed, talon, etc. This will consist of the same runes but instead of magic resistance, you can run flat ap glyphs, this will help you deal surprisingly more damage early game without the cost of durability vs these type of assassins.
MASTERIES
21/9/0 is a great way to play any mage, some prefer 21/0/9 but if you are an aggressive player you might want to extra 9 in defense. I also run a few times 21/6/3 and put the 3 points in the utility tree in mana regen, or movement speed if you need help dodging spells. The 21 points in offense will allow you to deal the damage that a mid laner should bring to the early to mid game. You want to get the 5 percent cool down reduction, because once you get Athene's and Ionian boots you should have reached the maximum cap of 40%, who wants to have 35% CDR eww.
SUMMONER SPELLS
Flash Ignite
Flash Ignite once again are standard mage summoner spells for a reason. Flash is incredibly strong as it allows you a free instant re-positoning. Ignite gives you the kill potential to captivate on your opponents mistakes. A mage's purpose is to deal damage and ignite is perfect for that goal. So go out there and be standard! :/
Flash Barrier
Barrier is a good pick up if you are against someone that has a lot of kill potential over you or deal a lot of burst damage. An example would be Syndra or Zed, these champions have a lot of burst and kill potential. Barrier will give you the time to escape , or deal more damage.
SKILL ORDER
STRATEGY AND TACTICS
Early Game
Early game should be fairly easy and safe. Azir comes with a nice long dash and lots of poke. This spells for a strong lane phase, if you over extend trying to push an opponent out you still can be safe with your dash. However be careful because junglers can will quickly figure out the only way to really gank an Azir is to come from behind. This way they can cut your dash off by standing in front of you. This is when you are just like any other squishy mage with no escape. Say your good byes. Also be very very careful when E'ing aggressively early lane phase, this has a huge cool down and is your only means of escape. Make sure you know what you are getting yourself into before making a commitment to an aggressive move like that. This picture below represents red arrows for likely jungler flanking ganks. ( either if you are on blue side or red side respectively ) and in blue circles good warding areas to help prevent this from happening in their favor.
Synergies
Champion 1: If you can utilize flanking with Azir's ultimate well you can force opponents into fights by cutting off their escapes. Champions that lack stick or mobility can benefit greatly from this, these champions would include Darius, Nasus, Rumble, Renekton, Tryndamere, and Mordekaiser hue hue hue ... These champions excel at close range brawls but lack the tools to keep champion close to them for long periods of time. I would really like to not be forced into a melee fight against a Darius, ouch...
Champion 2: I choose Amumu as a generic AOE CC tank. Azir has an AoE cc that is an AoE speed up these two types of champions should get a long just fine in fights. These type of champions can lock people down and soak enough damage up for you to let your sand minions decimate your opponents. Also they have AoE with their attacks as well so if your enemies get locked up in close proximity you can deal so much extra damage.
Champion 3: I pick Janna as a generic kite composition. Azir has quite a lot of mobility mid to late game as well as an AoE speed up for allies that pushes enemies away. This can be used very effectively for disengaging if you wish to run a split pushing composition or something rather.
Counters
Champion 1: Well, Talon just in general destroys most mages that build on the more damage side. He can deal his damage while the silence is on his prey. Be careful of this match up mid game, and try to poke him as much as possible without getting in range early on to try and get an xp and gold lead so that later he wont be able to one shot you.
Champion 2: FIzz is another assassin to look out for. During the early levels it may not seem to bad since you can poke him pretty heavily, however if he can pick a fight with you on fair grounds you better watch out. He can, if timed right, Stop your Q - E escape with his Q. Fizz's Q brings him other side of his target, this in turn can put him in the path of Azirs dash and stop him in his tracks. Much like running in front of a Rammus to stop his rollin.
Champion 3: Syndra just in general has no really bad match-ups, she can poke you from a distance as well as stun you from a distance and kill you before you can move. She is usually going to win most lane phases, the best thing you can do is try to farm, dodge, and send out some poke every now and then. You do not need to commit to an aggressive play style against a Syndra for you will be far more of a benefit mid to late game then a Syndra.
Here's a challenger playing Azir.
