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Akali Build Guide by

Akali (6.24) - Absolutely Meme On Your Foes

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58 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author agentxorange

Akali Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (58) More Akali Guides

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(5) |

Thank you, I already tried Akali and ****ed up xD Now I'm pretty good with her (I guess ^^)

Just got her shard from an Hex chest, read your guide and you convinced me to get her.
Will give it a try, will let you know in 30 games how it went... Good job with the guide!

(34) |

great meme

your poetry is actually beautiful

Your Veigar matchup is pretty dated, no point in starting Long Sword because his passive doesn't steal AP anymore.

(3) |

LOL yeah figures I don't play against Veigar enough for it to even matter.

He's still like a 2-3 matchup though, especially now you can escape his babycage with W.

hi,
awesome build it looks super fun, I am trying to pick up Akali jng because of the shortage of viable ap junglers. I have a couple questions about what you think about her jng:

Do you think she is viable in the jungle?
what runes you would use?
any other tips?

thanks and awesome guide.

(3) |

Uhhhhh I mean she's essentially a worse Warwick since she can't gank effectively pre-6 and she's basically a sustain jungler with way worse sustain.

1. No I think she's bad in the jungle but depending what kind of players you're playing against, sometimes anything goes.
2. Armor yellows, flat/scaling AP blues, flat AP quints, MP reds.
3. Gun it to 6, probabbbbbbbbbbbbly max E first? I'd probably take 2 points in Q and then just max E. You'd be going essentially the top tank Akali build.

i really love this guide and it gave me lots of good things to think about/know while playing akali (I've kinda picked her up). Also you should add me on league, my name is wizard2020... im just trying to get better. Thanks again!

Thoughts on upcoming ptr 6.24 change: Akali's passive now procs on structures, minor buff or more significant? (Imo it's a really nice buff that might be underestimated)

(3) |

Extra damage/healing off towers is nice. It's minor since you're still a melee champ tho. The buff can't hurt.

What are your opinions on building Nashers Tooth second, i find it really utilizes her passive ever since the update.

(3) |

I thought it would be good, so I tested it a lot - it just isn't good enough of an item for her. It kind of has fake synergy, where it looks like everything synergizes with her new kit. However, the build order is horrible, it's too expensive an item for what it gives you, and attack speed is just not that good on her, especially with your new W where it isn't as hard to get 2 autos off in fights since you have more opportunities to zip to opponents.

Part of this stems from her not really having as good an identity as the other assassins, but don't be fooled. A bunch of AP on her is still the way to go, especially after the buffs.

(3) |

Just as before you can build anything you want if you are ahead and nothing you built will save you if you are behind.

She is more feast or famine than ever.

Also do your fcking math man (sorry for swearing but SALT)

New akali (6.23) only does a ~5000 DMG DPS in 5 sec.
6.21 Akali could reach 8500 DMG in 5 sec.
Burst is not just delayed. DPS got destroyed.
Late game sustain is a joke compared to spellvamp.

She is weaker and unless you snowball you fall flat on your arse.

People need 1 MR item to survive a full rotation and then you either wait in shroud for 4 sec to do 2nd rotation or die.

Her ULT>

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(3) |

Not totally true, although the "feast or famine" approach is pretty standard across assassins. In The Guide, I say all this stuff. Burst is delayed - she has more staying power in fights then before to make up for it. And although I think your numbers are wrong (if you proc auto on minion before leaping in she does more damage on the first target than old Akali), I think part of it is that you can survive so much better now than you used to, which makes up for it by a lot. Notice I'm not saying she's busted either, I just think she's FINE.

And hey, then snowball dude? If you're having trouble with her, then roam and get kills. If you feed, then that sucks.

(2) |

Hi there
First, ty for this very good guide. Well writen with interesting things.

But i just wondered. What's going on with maw of malmortius and mercurial scimitar ?
Is it possible to switch zhonya to malmortius then GA to scimitar when facing heavy AP bursts.

I wont detail too much writing on a non english phone is insanely boring. But i think you got the main idea

I understand that the reworked Akali now draws in more power from her passive but I have no idea how you can sit there and say that you like the new Akali. Her passive scales much better with AD (Akali is almost always built AP) and her Ult got reduced by about 50%.... FIFTY PERCENT. She's so unbelievably weak now! Oh but wait her E got buffed! Then again no one really cares about that ability... Oh but it scales more with AD! (not by much but you get the point) (...). The only think I'll give the new rework is the outplay potential with her w but in all honesty it just doesn't make up for the lack of damage she has now. I guess the only way you're gonna win now is to draw out the fight to get more passive procs. I haven't bothered to touch her yet but who knows maybe I'm wrong and now the right way to play her is the smart way and not just march up and knock down that midlaner a door just cause you can. Tell me how you think about an AD Akali. Does her ult just not do enough damage to compensate even though e has been buffed? How about a hybrid build? I'm mostly bringing the scaling of her passive into question here. Just how much of a game changer is it in terms of AP vs AD vs AD/AP. Let me know

Update: So I went back and played Akali for two games and I must say I'm extremely surprised. I think I'm gonna go ahead and contradict my earlier statement and say I actually like the rework. I think the biggest difference you notice is that Akali's pre-6 isn't that bad anymore. She heals more health and deals more damage all around. And the new w is as I originally thought a game changer for her kit. Also I'd like to mention I'm having a great success starting with a long sword and 3 pots. After boots and hextech I'm still experimenting with builds but I believe a hybrid build is the way to go right now. With more emphasis on her auto attacks and the ad that hextech already gives it's a no brainer in my opinion. I'll keep you posted if you'd like.

(3) |

I don't appreciate the "tone" in your original post but at least you updated it. I'm not saying she's busted or even good, I think she's okay damage wise, I really the like the direction of the rework, and I think a lot of the hate is misguided by people who honestly didn't play Akali in any other season other than the one she was busted in (3 I think?). I think once they tone her power levels a bit she'll hopefully be pretty good.

I think the correct build (when all the reworks settle down, and Akali gets buffed) will be only a slight alteration of the old build. As I talked about in the rework section, they shifted power from her ult onto the 2nd hit of her passive, thereby increasing the value of getting autos off in teamfights; this is especially true after level 9 when the passive has a 4 second CD. Additionally, CDR becomes more important due to the ult scaling with it and because of the E CD nerf. I think all this changes is Nashor's Tooth and Lich Bane become buildable, and just rushing into heavy AP items becomes less important since your mid-to-late game powerspike is less item dependent. Zhonya's may also not be 2nd item core since your W is so much more useful now, however it's still a good item on any AP dmg champion.

Have you seen the Akali buffs on the PBE yesterday?

Twin Disciplines (passive) - First strike's healing AP ratio increased to 60% from 30%
Twilight Shroud (W) energy cost lowered to 60/55/50/45/40 from 80/75/70/65/60
Crescent Slash (E) AP ratio increased to 70% from 50%

Seems pretty nice.

(3) |

I've been more focused on playing her, so I haven't seen the buffs - I actually don't know if buffs are the way to go. I'm always a little wary of Riot overbuffing a strong champ before people figure out how to play them, and then nerfing them into oblivion (the Kalista treatment). I think she's okay -> good in her current state.

That being said, that's a huge AP ratio increase on two pretty strong farming abilities. Also, wow that energy cost lowering? Lowering of the overall mana/energy cost for an ability which you max last always has a big impact. Those have the potential to make her quite strong if they go ahead with it, which again, make me nervous for the long-term future.

(83) |

She needs buffs. She's way weaker in her current state after the changes. I agree with you on that Shroud buff tho, that's quite a big cost reduction. Not entirely sure where they're heading with these buffs overall, they seem kinda random.

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(3) |

In terms of sheer numbers I agree, but I think people need some time to get used to her. For people who have puts lots of games on her, they will think the changes feel cool but reduce her damage, since it takes longer to dish out now. I have a strong feeling after a couple dozen games it'll feel different. She's way smoother now, better farming, and the fact that you can dodge abilities with W is huge. It just takes games to figure her out. I absolutely don't think she is worse than before though, it's just some damage has been taken out in favour of utility and outplay ability.

I agree she needs a healing and maybe a SMALL damage buff especially after the ult nerf, although it is made up for slightly by it being affected by CDR (which I think people may be forgetting). As I said, I'm just worried about overbuffing and the overnerfing cycle.