Now I have played Akali quite a bit now and I also think I main her too. If I look at the builds right now too I see a lot of hybrid Akali builds, which is good, but the way I play her is full AP. The reason is that with this build you can burst and outplay someone down. You may not agree with the choices I've made in this build, but since I notice it works really fine you can always try it out.

This is also my first guide so feel free to leave some comments before you rate and maybe some tips to improve myself :). My first language is not English too, so if you spot any bad grammar or what not, please feel free to comment on that too :). (And let me guess, in that last sentence there is a lot of mistakes and in this one too...)

Pros:

+ Amazing single-target damage output
+ Ult has huge range, can't easily get away from her
+ Great for ganking
+ Easily drops aggro with Twilight Shroud
+ Easy farmer
+ Easily gets to carries
+ Snowballs easily
+ With this build, you have extreme Spell Vamp

Cons:

- Squishy
- Focused a lot, especially once fed
- Oracle or a vision ward kills her
- Silence and CC are enemies of Akali
- Skill based, need to calculate a lot
- Both Akali and Hextech Revolver are nerved.
- This build is really expensive and you fully notice its glory end game

For runes I start off with Greater Mark of Magic Penetration so you can counter any magic resistance early game. This can both work on magic resistance runes that people have or the natural magic resistance on each champion.

Next I go Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power and Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power for the extra late game AP. Also it makes you stay in a lane longer because you get extra AP every level. Especially if you're low ELO when not everyone has runes yet.

Then for my Quints I go Greater Quint of Potency. This gives you great early game advantage (or at least no disadvantage).

Now if you are a very defensive player or you notice that you die a lot, you can take some defensive runes too. You then need to replace some of the AP runes into like armor, health or magic resistance. I never tried it though, since I never experienced fast dying. This is because I get Will of the Ancients very early.

In my masteries I take 21 points in Offence, picking out all of the AP and extra damage. Since you are very squishy AND melee I take the last 9 points in defense. The masteries are actually pretty standard for Akali overall.

My items are a pretty standard choice for an AP carry. Though it all depends on what you encounter. Anyway let's get started on the goals.

Starter Items

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The reason why I start out with Boots and pots is pretty basic. It allows you to stay longer in your lane, but also allows you to dodge a lot of spells especially if you are mid lane against a caster.

Early game

Pretty standard too. Mercury's Treads against ganks and against any caster and Hextech Revolver helps you staying in a lane longer.

An item you can also purchase during early game is, it might sound funny, but:

The reason being: it gives you alot of things you need, and even though it's not full AP, it still gives you amror, in case youre top lane against an AD, it gives you AD and spellvamp, and it gives you lifesteal, so you're not depending on the spellvamp for sustain and potions. This is why I take this item in early game. You can also get some creeps with it faster and sell it when not needed anymore.

Mid game

Rylai's works just really well on Akali, especially because she has not really any CC, except for the slow on her Twilight Shroud. It also gives you health and since you're squishy it helps you a lot. If you don't get as much gold, just buy a Giant's Belt first. As for Will of the Ancients I get it early because the Hextech Revolver is nerved and you really want that Spell Vamp.

End Game

As to finish your build just get a Rabadon's and a Void Staff for more AP. For the last item you see I go Spirit Visage This is actually an optional item. For the last item there is a few items you can go:


This item, believe me, it works great with the Will of the Ancients. First of all it gives you cooldown reduction, which Akali doesn't really need that much, but it can't hurt to get it either. It also grants you more magic resistance and HP, so more survivability. Really give this item a try.


Is really nice if you get focused down a lot, which can happen of course. Overall this item is a great last pick.


If you get stunned, slowed or whatever a lot. When you are noticing that you are the person that constantly get stunned and then caught.


Works really good too for survivability. But you don't need the mana from the Catalist, so its not as rewarding.


When you really don't die and just want to go Godmode.

Both of these summoners are pretty basic for an AP carry too. Flash you can use either to get in range of your Shadow Dance or Mark of the Assassin or to escape. Ignite is really nice to make sure to get a kill against a champion that has a healing ability or if you run out of energy and still want to ensure a kill.

If you don't like Ignite or Flash, you can switch them with either of these spells.


It can work to keep in autoattack range to get a lot of Mark of the Assassin triggered, but you can also use your ultimate for that. If you have trouble with controlling your ultimate it can work well though. You also have a slow from Rylai's Crystal Scepter and Twilight Shroud.


Some people prefer this over Flash. I still prefer Flash, because Akali can't jump over walls.


I guess it can work for a champion like Akali, but I think Ignite is a way better option for her.


Works really good on ganks, on farming, on being in time near your tower/in team fights.


Only use this when their team has a lot of CC you are afraid of.

As far as escaping with Akali there are a few things you can do.

1. Use your summoners spell Flash to flash over a wall, or to flash out or range to someone. Make sure to flash towards a save point (like your tower) and not towards for example enemies.
2. Always use Twilight Shroud to escape. It both slows down your enemies and it makes you invisible. Its really important to always have enough energy to use it. If you commit too a fight make sure you have other tricks left, like flash.
3. You can sometimes get away by using Shadow Dance onto an enemy that in a position of your favor (even minions). Its really risky though, since you're dashing to an enemy. So only use it when you have no other escape up.
4. If you are on the run and an enemy didn't attack you in a while you can try to for example kill yourself by a tower or Baron. This way they wont get the money from the kill.
   
   Now the last one, its very important:
5. Do the unexpected!
   If your survival instincts say go left, go right. Because your enemy probably also thinks the same way, he probably also clicked to the right. Sometimes even you can run until you're full of energy and until you have your ultimate, and then face the enemy. Especially when you have your Will of the Ancients and Spirit Visage. When you have your full build you just spell vamp a lot, so facing someone just heals you.

This build takes form as an AP carry, but don't forget: you are an assassin too. As Akali you mostly go either top or mid lane.

Early game top lane
Try and farm as much as possible, because your build is really expensive and you really want your core items. Also try to help out your jungler if he gets caught and the same for your mid lane.

Early game mid lane
Mid lane is mostly pretty hard to farm, since you're most likely against a ranged caster. So try to last hit with your Mark of the Assassin. Also since your position on the map is really nice, try to gank at level 6.

Mid and end game
If you have your items, just try and catch as many people as you can and help your team out when you can. If you don't have your mid game goal, try and farm as much as possible.

Team fights
In team fights you need to try and stay in the back as much as possible. You don't want to get caught. You also don't have any poke (except for your Mark of the Assassin, but its quite hard to hit). You might even wanna try and go to the back of the enemy team, without being seen of course. When the fight starts immediately go to their squishy champions that deal the most damage. And you mostly can, since your Shadow Dance has extreme range. If the enemies focus you, use your Twilight Shroud to drop aggro, but be careful for oracles and vision wards. Else try use one of the other escapes.

Here I will put some material of me playing with this build. If you have any good examples of you or someone else playing with this build just message me.
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I want to thank you for reading my build/guide. If you see any faults, any improvements please leave a comment. Also please give your opinion and experience about both the guide and the build and if you have any suggestions also please comment them too.

I do not force you to both leave a comment and a rating, but it would be very appreciated, because this is still my first build/guide :).
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Also, please check out my Teemo Guide.