UNDER CONSTRUCTION AND OUTDATED!


Hey! Arzndragon here with my guide of how to play AP Akali. As you know Akali is a ninja, so she just relies on her health to stay in lane because energy can easily be recovered, thus giving her the farmer attribute. She's a great burst damage dealer and is hard to take down when she's stealthed with Twilight Shroud.

Pros:
-Stays in lane as long as her health is high enough.
-Easy harassment with Mark of the Assassin
-Chases down enemies easily with Shadow Dance and Twilight Shroud.
-Very, very easy juking with Twilight Shroud and Flash.
-Insane burst damage, taking down squishy carries VERY fast.
-Very important in team fights because her main job is to take down the squishy people first.

Cons:
-Slightly squishy.
-Lacks damage early game.
-Slightly item dependent.
-Using Shadow Dance at the wrong time can get you killed.
-Targeted first occasionally.

Let's talk about the runes and masteries.
For her runes, it's a standard caster build. Magic Penetration marks, HP seals, and AP per level glyphs. For quintessences, I have AP per level because mid-late game is where Akali really shines. That's when she starts ganking people and being the main damage dealer in team fights. If you'd like to tweak a few of the runes, I'd say keep the marks for sure. Anything else is up to you.

For my masteries, I have 9-21-0, having the 9 in offense for improved Exhaust and magic penetration. The reason I did not go 21-9-0 is that I do not feel that Akali really needs the extra boost in offense. She can already deal enough havoc. With 21 in defense, I feel that I can walk away with at least 1 kill from a team fight just fine. The reason I did not put 21 points in utility, rather than defense is that normally it would branch out like this....
3 points in Good Hands
3 points in Perserverance
4 points in Awareness
1 point in Greed
2 points in Utility Master
3 points in Quickness
3 points in Intelligence
1 point in Blink of an Eye
1 point in Presence of the Master

This totals out to a not too great of an outcome as you can see because she doesn't use mana. It's the same thing for utility mastery people like Vlad and Kennen.

Now, let's see Akali's skills.

Discipline of Force - Upon obtaining 20 ability power, Akali's attacks deal 10% bonus magic damage, increasing by 1% for every 5 ability power gained thereafter.
Discipline of Might - Upon obtaining 10 attack damage, Akali gains 10% spell vamp, increasing by an additional 1% for every 5 attack damage gained thereafter.

Her passive is great. Either way, if you go straight AP or AD, the disciplines help one another out. This is what Guinsoo Rageblade was made for. Spell Vamp and extra magic damage as you stack more AP? Holy cow...

Akali throws her kama at a target enemy, dealing magic damage and marking the target for 6 seconds. Akali's melee attacks against a marked target will consume the mark to cause additional damage and restore energy.
Cost: 60 Energy.
Energy restored: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40
Magic Damage: 50 / 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 (+0.4 per ability power)
Cooldown: 6 / 5.5 / 5 / 4.5 / 4 seconds.

The skill you should have max first. It's a long range harassment skill to enemy champions and easily helps you last hit. If you miss a last hit with Mark, just hit the minion with the mark and it will deal bonus damage, hopefully, getting you the last hit.


Akali throws down a cover of smoke. While inside the area, Akali gains armor/magic resistance and becomes stealthed. Attacking or using abilities will briefly reveal her. Enemies inside the smoke have their movement speed reduced.
Duration: 8 seconds.
Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Movement Speed Reduced: 14 / 18 / 22 / 26 / 30 %
Cost: 80 / 75 / 70 / 65 / 60 Energy.
Armor and Magic Resistance Bonus: 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50

Epic juking skill. This skill has saved me (and a couple of teammates) before. Right when the enemy is about to step in the brush, place the shroud on you, then flash away. With the fast movement boost from Boots of Swiftness and Lich Bane, you should be able to outrun anyone, unless you got exhausted.

Akali flourishes her kamas, hitting nearby units for physical damage plus 30% Ability Power and 60% Attack Damage.
Cost: 60 Energy.
Damage: 30 / 55 / 80 / 105 / 130
Cooldown: 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 / 3 seconds.

Not too strong of a skill if you don't add some AD. But a good skill to hit multiple minions. When ganking, use this immediately after Shadow Dance and place a Twilight Shroud over you.

Akali moves through the shadows to quickly strike her target, dealing magic damage. Akali gains an Essence of Shadow once every few seconds up to a total of 3, affected by cooldown reduction. Additionally, Akali gains an Essence of Shadow for a kill or an assist.
Cooldown: 2 / 1.5 / 1 seconds.
Magic Damage: 100 / 175 / 250 (+0.5 per ability power)
New Essence of Shadow: 25 / 20 / 15 seconds.

This is what makes AP Akali BEAST. So much burst damage from this skill because you can spam it three times over 5 seconds. That's over 1k damage just from using this three times.

What item to take first....
Amplifying Tome or Long Sword? I think it is a must to get one of the two items in order to have one of the discipline effects. I only take amplifying tome to jump start Hextech Revolver, boost the damage from Mark of the Assassin and the discipline of force gives even more power. But Long Sword gives you the spell vamp, helping you stay in lane longer. It's your preference.

Now boots are kind of an option. Sorcerer's Shoes may seem like a good choice because of course, it gives magic penetration but normally I like to stick to Boots of Swiftness to help chase down people with Shadow Dance. Mercury's Treads are always an option if you need to get it for CCs on the other team.

But you should get Hextech Revolver and Sheen. Hextech Revolver gives AP and spell vamp, helps early game. Sheen is also amazing. Double damage after you do a skill. So now you can actually freely use Mark of the Assassin on a enemy minion. Deal double damage on the next standard attack and bonus damage from the mark should finish it. Once you have both these items, move on to Boots of Swiftness.

Rylai's is the next item you should get. You need the Health, you need the slow and the you need the AP. Perfect item for Akali to destroy mid game. Always take Rylai's Crystal Scepter no matter how well you do.

Guinsoo Rageblade is an amazing item for Akali. It gives both AD and AP and increases her attack speed. Great item once you get Lich Bane. You'll be hitting 800 to a turret in between every few attacks.

Lich Bane! You should have about 200 AP now. It helps jungling and it helps blow down turrets fast. You may not use it much when in a fight but definitely a extremely good item for Akali.

Hextech Gunblade is the next item you should get because it's slightly cheaper since you already have hextech revolver. Hextech Gunblade gives a lot of AD and AP so it's definitely something Akali needs if the game lasts that long.

Trinity Force? Whaaaat you say? Well...it's not really something you get during the game. I really doubt you'd even get this item since it's too expensive. But it gives everything which Akali benefits from because she doesn't exactly go straight AD or AP. She goes both.

Take side lane with a ranged attacker, preferably a tank. Stay in lane until you have enough to get Hextech Revolver. Then stay in lane until you have enough for sheen and hopefully boots of speed, at least. Gank like crazy once you have Sheen, Hextech and Boots of Swiftness. You should dominate enough to be able to get at least Rylais, Rageblade and Lich Bane. Maybe Hextech Gunblade.

Have fun with Akali. Vote up, comment and ask questions below. Thanks for viewing!