Akali is a great early game champion that has great chase and escape mechanisms. Akali shouldn't be picked in draft mode all the time, because depending on what the opposing team gets, Akali may not contribute to anything end game (Hard stuns or team too tanky).

She is sort of the "clean-up killer" and the "KSer." Extremely high damage output if built right but is easily shut down when it comes to Oracles. Akali should probably never be built as AD, only enough AD to activate her passive. Other than that, Akali's damage output is mainly through AP. Akali is one of the most underrated champions in the game that has so much potential if played right.

Take 21 in offensive and 9 into utility. 21 in offensive because she is an assassin, her main job is to do damage, and with the 3 points in Brute Force you will have the AD Twin Disciples passive at lvl 1 (assuming you followed the rune page). Her shroud is enough defense for the early and mid game. Also, get 9 points in utility mastery because Akali is a farmer and in some cases, suicidal, thus having more XP and quicker respawn time essential.

Akali NEEDS her passives to be strong. You have a minimum of 20 AP through runes for her magic damage passive, and a minimum of 10 AD from runes ans masteries. Doran's blade may work if you don't have the minimum 10 AD because you don't have enough IP to buy AD runes. Akali is probably the only champion in the game that may require her own rune page (that is if you want to start boots).

Get flat AP runes because you need to do a lot of damage early game. It is really important to land those Q abilities on creeps for when you're getting zoned out, and the extra AP provides this. Also, your Q + autoattack will do an insane amount of burst damage if your opponent ever decides to get up close to you. Usually with this rune setup, if anyone ever tries to get near you, you will punish them by taking 1/3 of their hp in one combo (before 6). But depending on your play style, you may want to get AP/lvl if you decide you want to play more defensively before level 6. Hp/lvl is crucial to have, because it will be your only source of HP (if the opponent sees you with only 4 bars of health, then good luck...)

Get ignite because it really helps with your burst early game as well as the additional +10 AP from your mastery build.

Get flash because it is great for juking ganks after you shroud on the ground or on a brush. Flash also helps land your Q if you don't have any ultimate charges left (make sure to wait half a second before jumping in prior to your Q mark to ensure a trigger on the first auto attack).

Akali is a great 1v1 Champion. Use Shroud efficiently while 1v1. Your Q is your MAIN source of damage. So Q then auto attack your opponent, hide in shroud and wait for Q cooldown, then you Q and autoattack again.

Akali is never a 5v5 team fight initiator, unless you are absolutely CERTAIN that they don't have an Oracle. Still very risky, but its better in few cases if you want to kill off one of the easy squishies in the front.

Tower diving with flash can sometimes have a good outcome, Especially because your Ultimate makes you leap at them. Q your opponent, wait for the Q cooldown, R your opponent, trigger 1st Q Mark, Q your opponent again, trigger 2nd Mark. After that, your opponent should be dead. Don't dive with them being over 50% HP, unless its a squishy Kog'Maw.



(Akali General Combos):
Setup Full Burst Combo: (Q) + (wait for CD) + (R) + (auto hit) + (Q) + (auto hit)
-Usually not good in teamfights.
-Only in a duel most of the time when the enemy doesn't see it coming.

Quick Poke Far Range: (R) + (Q) + (auto hit) + (E)
-When you're desperate to kill off someone.
-Instant R then Q. General combo.

Kill Running Enemy No Ulti: (Q) + (wait .5 seconds) + (flash onto enemy) + (auto hit) + (E)
-When you have no ult charges left.
-Use only if guaranteed a kill. Otherwise not worth it to burn flash.
-Sort of hard to do, so get used to doing this.

Generally, you can use combos out of these orders because situations sometimes vary. Also, using W to slow down enemies before initiating can be sometimes good (don't waste if you're prone to a gank), but you shouldn't use it if you already have Rylai's because that provides enough Slow Effects for you to catch up. Using Ignite (if it's up) before a full combo is best, because you get the extra 10 AP from your masteries, and thats more damage output to your combo.

Your Q ability is your primary damage output ability, so maxing this first is best. Put only 1 skill point into W because it would be your only early defensive mechanism, then prioritize E second (for faster farming and damage).

I have tried maxing out W before E but I didn't see much come out of it. I couldn't farm as well if I don't max E after Q. W's main purpose is to cloak yourself, not mainly for the extra slow (which you can get from Rylai's) or extra defensive stats.