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Akshan Build Guide by Zethal_Na

Middle [13.18] Zethal's Akshan Guide | In-Depth Guide

Middle [13.18] Zethal's Akshan Guide | In-Depth Guide

Updated on December 30, 2023
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Zethal_Na Build Guide By Zethal_Na 138 25 371,174 Views 14 Comments
138 25 371,174 Views 14 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Zethal_Na Akshan Build Guide By Zethal_Na Updated on December 30, 2023
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If you have any questions and you want fast responses, join my discord server and there will be a section where you can ask your questions!

----> Discord Server <----


YOOO! Akshan is SOO FUN. With the new infinite E, you are able to proxy TWO waves level 1 (don't recommend this because it can tilt your teammates :)) As of Season 12, I'm currently ranked Grandmasters and hit Challenger awhile ago as a midlaner. With Akshan's E, you bet I'll be swinging by and taking other's lp. Make sure to follow my socials to get the latest/upcoming content!

If you do have any questions about Akshan, make sure to let me know! I stream on Twitch so drop by and ask! I'll answer your question(s) in a timely manner.

If the guide was any helpful to you, a thumbs up vote would be great! I hope you'll enjoy my guide just as much as I enjoyed creating it. Remember, the only way to get better is to practice!
NOTE: I'll explain why you should take each rune and when to take something else. If something is unclear or you have a question, you can always let me know (via Twitch livestream, comment section, etc..) and I'll get back to you ASAP.


Press The Attack Setup


Hail of Blades Setup


IN-DEPTH REASONING ON WHAT ITEMS YOU SHOULD BUILD.
Doran's Blade + Health Potion: Typical start on Akshan. If you're feeling ballsy, going Long Sword + Refillable Potion would also work.
Kraken Slayer: If you want to 1 v9, building Kraken Slayer will be your best mythic choice. However, if for some reason, there's a fed Talon, going Immortal Shieldbow wouldn't be bad.
Immortal Shieldbow: Take this if you're against heavy burst enemies. Remember, if you do build this, a decent of damage is taken away so farming safely and not taking risks in the next 10-15 minutes is crucial. You'll need your 3rd item to start to be a threat.

Blade of the Ruined King: With more testing and in practice tool, I've found that Blade of the Ruined King + Guinsoo's Rageblade is actually insane with Akshan. Build Blade of the Ruined King whenever you have a decent front line and whenever you can spam your autos.
Berserker's Greaves: This is another personal preference. You can go Ionian Boots of Lucidity for more ability haste. But since I like to be able to kite and attack faster, Berserker's Greaves is just the better option for me.
The Collector: Once you have completed this item, you'll start doing some damage and start to be a kill-threat. Surviving this stage of the game is key since getting Infinity Edge will be a huge power spike. You can also go Guinsoo's Rageblade next if you do go for the on-hit build.
Infinity Edge: Congrats on making to this stage of the game! Now that you have 3 items, you are able to 1 v 1 most champions (excluding a ton of other ADCs like Aphelios, Caitlyn, Vayne, etc...) I find that this champ isn't really good at 1 v 1 (unless the enemy lets you channel the whole Heroic Swing ). Akshan is great at cleaning up and then taking over the game.
Bloodthirster: If you do end up fed, building Bloodthirster can tip the balance towards you in 1 v 1s. It can also give you a ton of sustain in long extended fights (which is what Akshan excels in).
Lord Dominik's Regards: If the enemy starts building armor or are hp builders, Lord Dominik's Regards does a great job at shredding them and provides a ton of value. However, if the enemy has a ton of burst ( Talon, Zed, Evelynn, Draven), building a Guardian Angel wouldn't be bad.


Muramana: If you find yourself in a VERY slow paced game where it's 0-0 at like 8 minutes and everyone is just farming, getting a tear on your 2nd or 3rd back can be really nice. Muramana synergies well with Akshan's kit and boosts his kit's damage abit. I find myself building Tear of the Goddess into Ziggs, Viktor, and occasionally Malzahar. If you do build Muramana into on-hit, you'll be losing alot of auto damage but you do get some ability damage in return.

Guardian Angel: Really good as your last item if you are against heavy ad comps. Yeah, there really isn't that much to say about this. Heavy ad? Build Guardian Angel. Also, you can build Plated Steelcaps, but just remember, you won't be doing much damage and there's a damage trade off for more durability.

Guinsoo's Rageblade: If you're building on-hit, Guinsoo's Rageblade will be a great choice for more on-hit damage. Synergies really well with Example #1 and #2 build above (Thanks to Vasuke). Proc'ing your passive faster also feels really nice.
So when do you build Crit and when do you build On-Hit? I've been testing this out for awhile now and it's interesting.

If you build on-hit, you can attack much faster (duh... but it does feel less clunky) and your autos do way more damage than the crit build. However, if you do go for the on-hit build, your abilities do less damage (building Muramana with my Example #1 build can increase the damage abit but it will take awhile for you to stack tear. Wouldn't recommend building Muramana as it does decrease your auto damage by quite abit). Also, the on-hit build heavily relies on items being finished ( Blade of the Ruined King, Kraken Slayer and Guinsoo's Rageblade) for you to start doing consistently more damage than the crit build.

If you build crit, your abilities will do more damage (especially with Comeuppance). However, with this day and age where everyone can just jump on you, channeling your Comeuppance can be tough and is really inconsistent on landing your bullets on your target (minions, champions, monsters can block the bullets). Yes, you can use Heroic Swing top redirect the Comeuppance, but it's very hard. If you are ahead, building crit can maximize your damage and snowball your lead early game( Kraken Slayer> The Collector> Infinity Edge.

In conclusion, what you build depends on the enemy composition and game situation. If you're fed and ahead (or if you feel like there's absolutely zero chance that the game is going to 30min+), you can build crit to snowball your lead. However, I like building on-hit for it's sustain and it's damage once you have 3+ items. For late game, on-hit build will be the best option for consistent damage and burst survivability.

Whenever Akshan uses a basic attack, he fires an additional shot, dealing 50% AD physical damage, increased to 100% AD against minions. If Akshan cancels the second shot, he gains 35−75 (+1.0% bonus attack speed) bonus movement speed decaying over 1 second (depending on level). The additional shot benefits from critical strike modifiers at 30% effectiveness.

Akshan's basic attacks and abilities apply a stack to affected enemies for 5 seconds, stacking up to 3 times and refreshing on subsequent applications. The third stack consumes them all to deal 20−175 bonus magic damage (depending on level) and, if the target is a champion, Akshan is granted a 40−300 (+0.4% bonus AD) shield for 2 seconds (depending on level). The shield may only be gained once every few seconds.

My Thoughts
Akshan hurls a boomerang in the target direction, dealing 5 / 25 / 45 / 65 / 85 (+0.8% attack damage) physical damage to enemies it passes through and revealing them for 1 second, granting sight of the area along its path, as well as extending its range every time it hits an enemy. If the boomerang hits an enemy champion, Akshan gains 40% bonus movement speed decaying over 1 second.

Upon reaching maximum range, the boomerang returns to Akshan, applying the same effects to enemies hit along the way.

Avengerang's damage is reduced by 40 / 47.5 / 55 / 62.5 / 70% against non-champions.

My Thoughts

Enemy champions that kill allied champions are marked as a Scoundrel for 60 seconds. Upon scoring a takedown against a Scoundrel while alive, Akshan receives an additional 100 gold and revives all dead allied champions that were slain by that enemy champion after 1 second at their summoning platform, and removes the marks from all other enemies.

ACTIVE: Akshan gains camouflage, which lasts for 2 seconds or indefinitely while he is near terrain or inside brush. Going Rogue can be recast after 1 second, and does so automatically at the end of its duration.

While Going Rogue and moving towards nearby Scoundrels, Akshan gains 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120 bonus movement speed and bonus mana regeneration equal to 12% of his missing mana. He can also see trails leading towards Scoundrels.

RECAST: Akshan ends Going Rogue.

My Thoughts

ACTIVE: Akshan can activate Heroic Swing three times before the ability goes on cooldown, and can use the third cast only after 0.5 seconds of the second cast. Akshan may input a movement command to use the second and third casts.

FIRST CAST: Akshan fires a hook in the target direction, which grapples to the first instance of terrain hit for 1.5 seconds. Heroic Swing's second cast can be used while the hook is attached. If Akshan becomes immobilized or grounded during this time, the hook will detach, ending Heroic Swing prematurely.

SECOND CAST: Akshan swings around the terrain, rapidly firing at the nearest visible enemy to deal them 30 / 55 / 80 / 105 / 130 (+0.1% bonus attack damage) (+0.3% bonus attack speed) physical damage and apply on-hit and on-attack effects at 25% effectiveness per shot, and stopping upon colliding with an enemy champion or terrain, or after 3 seconds.

Akshan will be knocked down by any immobilizing crowd control during the dash.

THIRD CAST: Akshan jumps off of the rope to the target location and fires one last shot at a nearby visible enemy.

Heroic Swing's cooldown resets upon scoring a takedown against an enemy champion. The shots benefit from critical strike modifiers and apply life steal at 100% effectiveness. Akshan prioritizes firing at enemy champions with stacks of Dirty Fighting, will not fire if he is channeling Comeuppance, and reveals himself during Heroic Swing.

My Thoughts
Akshan channels for 2.5 seconds, locking onto the target enemy champion, revealing them, and storing 5 / 6 / 7 bullets into his weapon, as well as revealing himself. Comeuppance can be recast after 0.5 seconds during the channel, and does so automatically at the end of its duration.

Comeuppance is placed on a 15-second cooldown if its channel is canceled.

RECAST: Akshan fires all stored bullets at the target, each dealing 20 / 25 / 30 (+0.1% attack damage) physical damage to the first enemy hit, including structures and increased by 0−300% (depending on target's missing health).

Each bullet benefits from critical strike and critical damage modifiers at 50% effectiveness, applies life steal at 80% effectiveness, and executes minions.

Akshan may still move and cast Heroic Swing while channeling Comeuppance.

My Thoughts

I will be covering three different types of playstyle (there's probably more, but these 3 should be enough) with a template for the early game and some videos on how you can play Akshan. Like any template, you can always change and you can "innovate" my playstyle.



When you are playing against champions that outrange you it'll be really hard to trade onto them (if they know what they are doing). Even if you use Heroic Swing, they likely have abilities that can stun you ( Syndra's E, Xerath's E, Anivia's Q) so I wouldn't be focusing on swinging onto them. However, all of these champs do have mana problems early and dodging their skillshots is crucial.

From levels 1-4, you should be focusing on cs'ing and dodging skillshots. Level 4 is when you can start looking for more aggressive trades since they should be nearly out of mana. Early Mercury's Treads works wonders.

If you are almost out of mana at level 4 you can always ask your jungler to help you shove and reset. That way, you can get items and come back into lane before the enemy. While you are walking back to lane, make sure to look at the map to see if there's roaming potential. If there is, shove and roam. If there isn't, shove again and reset again. Again, we're not trying to kill the enemy mid, we're trying to impact sidelanes and the jungle (which means perma shoving and roaming will be your best option)

Really wouldn't recommend going on-hit versus these champions as you probably wouldn't get in range to auto (unless they are really bad). Build Crit and use Q to waveclear.

LeBlanc, Ziggs, etc...


When you are playing against champions that have similar range, 100-0 trades will be your best friend (by 100-0 trades, I mean they take alot of damage and you take 0 damage). Also, if the opponent doesn't have a good waveclear like Ziggs, you can abuse that and roam. Otherwise, staying in lane and looking for solo kills is viable too.

At level 1, I would walk up to use two autos and Avengerang to proc Dirty Fighting. Focus on doing this over and over while maintaining a good cs number.

At level 2, (assuming that you proc'd Dirty Fighting twice or more), you can look for a safe trade (safe trade looks something like this). This should get them below 50% hp.

From levels 2-4, keep on using the "safe trade" and the enemy should be killable at level 5. If enemy resets, shove the wave and reset. I would recommend building Vampiric Scepter early on to have more lane sustain and building on-hit overall.



Honestly, trading into melees can be a pain. They'll most likely out damage you in a short trade and can get on top of you before you can Heroic Swing out. Spacing will be your best friend in these matchups. If you let them get onto you, you're basically dead or you're going to take a bad trade. However, if you're against an immobile melee like Kassadin pre-6, I would treat it like medium range matchups and instead of safe trades, you can look for more aggressive trades by using Heroic Swing on the enemy instead of swinging away.

From levels 1-2, try to last hit minions and have the wave come into you. The moment your wave is slow pushing into Yasuo, Talon, Qiyana is the moment it gets 10x harder to lane. So instead of autoing the enemy, last hit minions.

For the third wave (when the cannon minion comes), try to thin out the wave before it crashes into your turret. Remember, if the enemy mid can't kill you, you are winning. You outscale most of the melees later game with on-hit build. By winning in these matchups is by not dying and having a respectable cs per minute (8-9ish).

Before reaching level 6, you should have already took a reset and bought some items. Early resistence items like Cloth Armor or Null-Magic Mantle is great. Upon reaching level 6 is where it gets dangerous for you. Most of the melees should have ultimates that have the potential to kill ( Akali's R, Fizz' R, etc...) and surviving their all-ins is important.

Once you come out of laning phase with 0 deaths and a good amount of cs, the matchup should start tipping towards you. Would recommend building on-hit vs melees.

Solo Kill - Level 4

( Irelia)



If you manage to get the opponenet down to very low hp (I did this by using safe trade), then you can Heroic Swing onto the turret and easily kill the enemy.

Solo Kill - Level 6

( Miss Fortune)



You can surprise the enemy with your level 6 powerspike! If they are low (around 50% hp) and you are able to get in range with Heroic Swing, then you can swing in and deal deadly damage.

Turning Jungle Ganks

( Kayn)



If the jungler comes at you isolated, it is really easy to turn with your Heroic Swing. In this case, I E'd over Kayn to create space while dealing alot of damage. Then I Flashed to finish him off.

Jungle Skirmish

( Lee Sin)



Playing for scuttle fights can be game winning. If you know the enemy jungler is on it, then surprising him with Going Rogue can get yourself and your jungler a lead.

Just like many champions, taking Flash can be crucial for a fight (especially if you can kill the scoundrel and outplay them). I have tried Teleport + Ignite and yes it does work. But it requires you to constantly check your minimap, track the enemy jungler, track the support roams, etc... In short, if you're just starting out on Akshan, I would recommend going Flash
I take Ignite for 99.9999999999% of my matches. Akshan can snowball pretty hard if he gets a kill or two. Taking Ignite can also be great for scuttle fights or fights in general.


USES




USES




USES




(Auto + Avengerang)


USES




USES



If you are chasing an enemy, you can keep autoing once to get your passive moment speed.

You can always use Flash (or any type of summoner spell) and you won't get revealed!

Avengerang can reveal an area around it, so throwing it out in bushes can be safer than fast checking them.

Ignite can't reveal your Going Rogue! Only pinks can!
Guide Updates (I'll be posting here and in the guide's discussion section to let you guys know what I've updated)

July 22nd:
-Added some gameplay videos to show how one can play Akshan
-Added more insights on on-hit vs crit builds

August 2nd:
-Removed Ionian Boots of Lucidity since it wasn't viable on live servers.
-Clarified when to build crit and when to go on-hit.

September 2nd:
-Changed the build. Building Blade of the Ruined King 1st item isn't as good as Immortal Shieldbow or Wit's End.

Hope yall took one thing away from this guide (hopefully more)!

I enjoyed writing this guide and testing out many many different types of builds/runes setup. Special thanks to Vauske, NuclearBurrito, Luke, and many others for providing insightful knowledge on builds and runes :)

If you found the guide helpful, make sure to give it a thumbs up. Otherwise, peace out and have fun swinging on the rift!

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League of Legends Build Guide Author Zethal_Na
Zethal_Na Akshan Guide
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[13.18] Zethal's Akshan Guide | In-Depth Guide

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