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Akali Build Guide by

Hit-and-Run Akali [A Comprehensive Guide]

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2 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Mewberry

Akali Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (2) More Akali Guides

Spells:

Ignite

Flash

Items

Start 1

Start 2

Start 3

First Back

Completing you first item

them pesky tanks

Core Items

Situational

Snowballing hard?

Enchantments

Example Full Build

My Personal Build for Glass Cannon

Ability Order

Akali Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Mordekaiser

Extreme

Mordekaiser is not IMPOSSIBLE, but will be extremely difficult early game. He will out sustain you with his shield and mitigate most of your damage on trades with it. Hang back; call for support.

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction

Akali is one of the easiest champions to learn with everyone saying she's a face roll champ and takes no skills, but one of the hardest to master and most rewarding once you do.

I am a Silver player, who is too lazy to play ranked to see where I actually belong. I usually just play "Penta-Queue Normals" with a group ranging from silver to diamond, so I've faced everyone in-between and sometimes higher.

I'm a BM Akali that runs around doing my own thing. I tried to find relevant games, but a lot of my time has been spent on Akali jungle recently :P

Pros / Cons

Pros:
+Easy to learn
+Very high burst potential
+No mana
+Very high sustain
+Invisibility

Cons:
-Difficult to master
-Fairly squishy
-Countered by CC
-Hard countered by reveals (aka Lee Sin and Pink wards)

Masteries

Runes

Precision

Fleet Footwork

Phase Rush

Most of these runes are specifically chosen to ease your notoriously weak laning phase (mind you, I said weak, not bad _{*coughvaynecough*})

is great for early game, providing you with the needed power to give you an edge in laning phase.

is also very good for your laning phase. It will help take the edge off of a mid laner's AA poke even if they aren't an AD champion, and helps you beef up against those OP winions.

greater mark of hybrid penetration is your bread and butter rune. Free penetration from all sources is amazing on Akali (and any hybrid champion for that matter).

is chosen to help you snowball. AP Quints are more than enough damage early game to get you the lead you need to carry, so these glyphs are interchangeable.

Other viable options:
is also helpful for you laning phase, especially against a predominantly AP mid lane. I find that Akali's laning phase isn't so weak that you need the resistance until late game when you and the enemy mid laner are both capable of one shotting each other, but it is a very good option nevertheless.

is also viable and focuses on your laning phase rather than your scaling into mid and late game. Not as strong in the long run, but can get you to late game faster if everything goes as you desire.

is about equivalent in viability to .

will give you better magic damage, but Akali's (scales with AD and AP) and AA are very important to her rotation, so these are not as powerful. Still a good choice if you don't have Hybrid Pen Marks.

For Late Game Consideration:
is probably the best (mathematically) seal for late game scaling. works similarly, but is a flat increase, so ends up being less effective. Both of these become better than flat health seals at around level 7.

provides you a considerable armor increase at later levels. Again, becomes optimal at around level 7; but is out-shined by percentage heal runes.

Spells

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Twin Disciplines (Passive)

Spell Info

This makes your AA very effective early on and synergizes well with . This starts stacking very nicely after just a couple items, making AA more important as the game progresses.

Mark of the Assassin

Spell Info

This is Akali's main source of damage. Ideally, you want to have a Mark active when you engage and ready once you attack.

Twilight Shroud

Spell Info

Important things to note here:
1. Akali gains 20%-100% movement speed while in her smoke. This makes Shroud very useful for chasing and evading. Especially against a very mobile champion like Lee Sin or Fizz, being able to dodge some of their more potent spells by being faster than they expect.
2. Enemies inside the Shroud are slowed by 14-30%. This makes Shroud a very good engage tool while you wait on CDs or a disengage tool if you're trying to run away with no minions to dash to.
3. Shroud provides vision. You can use your shroud to check bushes for enemies or to reveal a jungle camp that you can then dash to as an escape.
Additional Tip: If you cast Shroud into a bush that is not occupied, the enemy will not be able to see it, but you will still be able to gain the full benefit of Shroud's range, which can be very disorienting to your enemy.
The More You Know: While disengaging to a jungle camp, you can either use a Ward or Shroud to reveal the neutral monster to Shadow Dance to. However, a Ward will generate aggro while Shroud will stealth you as soon as you land, allowing you to safely Shadow Dance without having to worry about needless jungle damage.

Crescent Slash

Spell Info

This spell is very strong in conjunction with Mark of the Assassin and works similar to a Lich Bane (thus the reason that buying Lich Bane can be put off until late game). You can also use this spell to proc Mark through dodges (Jax) and various blinds.
Additional Tip: Crescent Slash's range is about twice that of your AA. If you are close enough to AA, use the AA and try to save Crescent Slash for enemies that are starting to get away.

Shadow Dance

Spell Info

Akali's signature spell. It has amazing range, low CD, and a reset for kills.
Remember: Your Ult will stack to up to 3 charges, and then stops, so use your Ult when necessary to take full advantage of this CD.

Items

Hextech Gunblade: It gives a great damage boost to both AD and AP, lifesteal on both sides, and a 40% slow; what's not to love about it?

Lich Bane: I personally love this item. It is undoubtedly a very strong item on Akali, but it effectively acts as either a second or a substitute for it in your rotation. For this reason, it can be neglected for late game or not bought at all.

Abyssal Scepter: This item works similar to Void Staff. It's AP bonus and penetration are lower, but it provides MR and an aura reduction. This makes Abyssal more favorable for team fights or AP heavy teams.

Mejai's Soulstealer: Everyone knows what this item is and when it is appropriate to pick one up.

Rabadon's Deathcap: This item is almost a necessity on any AP caster or assassin. +120 AP and +30% additional AP is very powerful. It should be one of your capstone items, though.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: I personally don't like this item, but I've seen a lot of Akalis use it. 35% slow on most of your spells is really good for chases, but I find it excessive with a Gunblade.

Void Staff: Another one of those AP champion staple items. 35% magic penetration is very strong in general and synergizes very well for an Akali focused on assassination and roaming.

Zhonya's Hourglass: This is a very powerful item regardless of the situation and can be effectively used in any build and team comp. You're going to want this item first or second most of the time (unless you snowball really hard), so it really just comes down to midlane match up. AD, heavy burst, and CC are good reasons to rush Zhonya's.

Banshee's veil: This item is very effective against a CC heavy team or a carry with a strong engage spell (like or ).

Guardian Angel: This is going to be one of your last items if not the last. It will provide some defense if you are being forced to brawl a lot and still provide a save/stall depending on the situation. Generally, you'd want to by this OR Zhonya's, but you can buy them as you see fit.

Items to Look Out for

Zhonya's Hourglass: This can be very dangerous to you. It can either completely mess up your focus or put you in a really bad situation that you have to survive long enough to finish the fight.

Vision Ward: A pink placed anywhere near or inside your Shroud will reveal you; beware.

Greater Vision Totem: The same as a Vision Ward.

Oracle's Lens: This will give true vision when activated. More likely to be a support item, so be cautious of bot lane.

Skill Sequence

Akali is very squishy and doesn't have a lot of escape unless you position very carefully or dive. Team work is imperative if you hope to make it out of the mid lane. Communicate with your jungler who will most likely camp you in hopes that you snowball.
Additional Note: For some of these sequences, I suggested that you throw down a Shroud for CC and protection. However, Shroud is your highest energy costing skill, so you don't have to use it if you don't feel like you need it. This will ensure that you have plenty of energy to take on multiple enemies.

There are three ways to initiate a fight.

Standard Way

Against Careful Laners

Against an Opponent Ready to Counter

How to Lane

Obviously, I used bots to demonstrate proper strategy, so these screenshots are not going to be 100% accurate to a real game, but the principles still apply. What is laning? Well Akali's major power spike comes at level 6 when you get your gap closing ultimate. So most of these tips are going to be for that pre-6 phase while you're just trying to get levels before you can roam. It is suggested that you start looking for gank opportunities as soon as you achieve level 6.

Step 1: CSing

Step 2: Dodging

Step 3: Poking

Step 4: Positioning

Step 5: Warding

Conclusion

Akali is going to be tough. Before level 6 you have nothing to offer and then after that you're one of the strongest in the meta if you can figure out a rotation that works for you and the game you're playing. Work with your team, ignore people that rage because they can't play Akali and think that it's unfair how much damage a fed Mid laner does to the squishiest champion on the enemy team, and just have fun. Akali gets a lot of hate for having high base damage, but that alone doesn't carry a game. Lastly, don't get discouraged if you lose a game or two or can't figure out how to use her too well; not every champion is for everyone, and some just take time and experience.

Goodluck out there!

PS: This is my first and probably only guide, so please leave feedback so I can make this guide as useful as possible for everyone! :)
Also: If you have any suggestions for Laning Match Ups that you want me to rate or change, please leave a comment along with your reason (for changes).

Thanks!
Mewberry