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Akali Build Guide by KajiKumihoAkukei

Middle Kaji's Akali Dominating Top and Mid ~ The Fist of Shadow

Middle Kaji's Akali Dominating Top and Mid ~ The Fist of Shadow

Updated on October 29, 2020
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League of Legends Build Guide Author KajiKumihoAkukei Build Guide By KajiKumihoAkukei 218 14 557,798 Views 18 Comments
218 14 557,798 Views 18 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author KajiKumihoAkukei Akali Build Guide By KajiKumihoAkukei Updated on October 29, 2020
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Akali
    The Rouge Assassin
  • LoL Champion: Akali
    The Grasp Assassin

Runes: Burst VS squishies

1 2
Domination
Electrocute
Sudden Impact
Eyeball Collection
Ravenous Hunter

Precision
Presence of Mind
Coup de Grace
Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Ignite

Ignite

T
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O
f

C
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1. Kaji's Guides
2. Fist of Shadow
3. Introduction
4. Climbing in Ranked
5. Summoner Spells
6. Pros / Cons
7. Runes
8. Grasp Akali
9. Understood
10. Items
11. Unique Abilities
12. Skill Sequence
13. As balance dictates
14. Melee VS Ranged
15. Vods
16. Akali Mid ~ Full Gameplay
17. Special Thanks
18. Update Log


Kaji's Guides





Fist of Shadow



~"So many noobs... Will matchmaking ever find true balance?"~



Introduction

Why Akali



Hi, I am KajiŌkami.

I made this guide because I think Akali is a really fun and versatile champion.
With her rework coming though, I feel like Akali has bechte a more well rounded champion without losing her carry potential!

If you do like my content, feel free to follow me on Twitch, Twitter, YouTube or Facebook!

Note: If you are playing the reworked Akali for the first time I strongly advise playing some normals first!
Enjoy the guide and have fun out there on the fields of justice!



Climbing in Ranked

Challenger to Bronze V


If you want to be able to climb the ladder in ranked here are a few pointers in general (counts for every role and every champion). League of Legends is, and will always be, a team game. This means that you will have to rely on others in order to win games. Some games you can carry your team, some games you will be the one getting carried by your team. Just remember: everyone can have a bad game!

Do's

+ Be positive
+ Be a teamplayer
+ Play the vision game
+ Take objectives
+ Play mastered champions
+ Keep your cool
One of the most important parts about being able to win consistently is being positive. If you go into your games with a clear and positive mindset it will not only help you, but also your teammates. Part of playing as a team includes going along with plays your team commits to. Even if you don't 100% agree with the play. By not joining when your team is committed to make the play you just lower the chances of a play succeeding or not!
Another very important key to victory is vision! It's not only the support's job to provide vision. It is a team effort, by buying a Control Ward on every opportunity you have, you will help your team out tremendously! Once you have learned to help your team provide vision, the next step is learning to secure objectives, because they win games. Taking turrets or slaying an elemental dragon can help your team get global gold or increased stats!
Next thing to keep in mind is to play champions you feel comfortable on, don't force yourself into taking the meta pick if you don't know how to play the champion through and through! Knowing everything there is to know about your champion is very important to consistently win lane!
Last but not least: keep your cool! If you are having a bad game, don't start making risky plays or going by yourself. Play safe and rely on your team to help you get back into the game. Same thing goes if your team is playing poorly. Stay calm and don't blame it on them, just keep playing and help them get back into the game.

Don'ts

- Flame
- Be negative
- Afk farm
- Surrender
- Chase kills
- Be a KDA player
Never flame your teammates, because this will cost you the game more often than not.
For example: We've all been there, the enemy jungler seems to have a tent set by your lane and your jungler doesn't visit your lane once. What to do next, flame and blame your jungler? No! Just play safe, don't give away free kills and let your jungler have impact elsewhere on the map. The same goes for being negative, this will just have a bad impact on your teammates. It will affect their play and your chances of winning decrease by a big amount.
If a game isn't going according to plan, don't go sit in a sidelane doing nothing but farm all game. Yes, farming is important, but helping your team and assisting on plays is a lot more important!
Surrendering is also never an option. If you are behind, just stall out the game until your have caught up with the enemy team or at least until the difference in items and gold doesn't matter as much anymore. A lot of games can be won by just playing smart and waiting for your time, even if you are behind.
One more thing to keep in mind: don't chase for kills. Most of the times you keep chasing for a kill you are just wasting your time or worse, getting yourself killed! If an enemy gets away with just a bit of health take this opportunity to take an objective or provide and clear out vision. This will help your team globally a lot more than trying to get that one kill to boost your KDA and risk dying.



Summoner Spells




If you are going to play the new Akali in the mid lane, then you will be best of taking Flash and Ignite as it will give you a much higher kill pressure in lane and it can help you secure kills if you roam towards your other lanes.
You can also take Ignite when you go toplane, this gives you much more kill threat in lane and it's more of a preference.



If you want to play Akali top then I suggest you take Teleport for the amount of global pressure it provides you with.
By taking Teleport you can match your opposing laner, if he is also running Teleport when he tries to make a play on the map.
Teleport could also be possible for mid, but I do not recommend it!
Note: patch 8.14 nerfed Teleport to the ground, putting it on a 6 minute cooldown. That's why I personally prefer to take Ignite no matter what now.



Pros / Cons


Pros


+ Very fun champion
+ High burst
+ Awesome duelist
+ Big outplay potential
+ Carry potential
+ True invisibility

Reworked Akali will be a very fun and versatile champion with a high burst potential. She is very good at picking out squishies who overextend or wander around the map alone. Her 1 vs 1 outplay potential is going to be extremely high once you master her kit.
With this rework she will still be able to snowball very hard as and you have the potential to really carry the game if you get an early lead by roaming to other lanes and helping them get fed as well. The biggest difference in playstyle will be that reworked Akali will have a stronger late game.
Cons


- Harder to master
- Vulnerable to cc
- Ult higher cooldown
- Sensitive to poke
- Very squishy

Reworked Akali is going to be a lot harder to play and master than old Akali. Just as before, she will be very vulnerable going up against comps with a lot of cc. You can be stopped before you can blow somebody up if you aren't very careful. Another thing that hasn't changed is that she will still be very squishy and sensitive to getting poked out of lane.
One thing that has changed drastically is her ult. You no longer have 3 stacks, which have a pretty low cooldown. Reworked Akali has 2 ult stacks and a much higher cooldown. But more on that in a bit!



Runes


Runes Reforged

First things first: because of the new runes system there are now so many different building paths, depending on your playstyle, that it can become hard to choose.

In this chapter I will go over the runes that I personally think will be best on reworked Akali. If you feel like the runes should be different, feel free to disagree!


First path ~ Domination


In Domination these are the runes you want to take, because they give you the biggest damage output.
Note: I will be talking about the new abilities of Akali here shortly, but a more detailed explanation can be found in the unique abilities chapter!

Just as with old Akali, you are an assassin and you will be going for as much instant burst as possible, so naturaly you should maximize your damage output.
That's where Electrocute comes in. Once you hit level 2 and have a point in your q Five Point Strike and w Twilight Shroud, it becomes very easy to proc your Electrocute for a big chunk of damage on your opponent.
Update: patch 8.16 nerfed the damage done by Electrocute by a substantial amount. You will feel this in your burst damage. But the bright side is that the cooldown has been decreased dramatically. The early game cooldown has changed from 50 seconds to 25 seconds and the cooldown at level 18 has been changed from 25 seconds to 20 seconds.
So yes, your burst damage has been brought down, but you can still abuse this lower cooldown to get your opponents low enough to be able to kill them anyway!

I don't think that there's much to explain about why you should take Sudden Impact. Bonus lethality and magic penetration after a dash or blink.
Akali has a lot of build-in dashes what her e Shuriken Flip and r Perfect Execution, which makes it very easy to proc Sudden Impact and get that little bit more damage on the squishy targets that you want to assassinate.
So there's no excuse to not take Sudden Impact.
Update: patch 8.16 nerfed the amount of magic penetration you get from 8 to 6, but this doesn't change the fact that Sudden Impact should still be the rune you take here.

The reason you take Eyeball Collection is pretty clear: get as much damage as possible. This rune doesn't give you bonus stats from the start of the game, but as you start racking up the kills, the value of this rune starts going up.
With the way Akali works, being an assassin, you will automatically get a large number of kills (in the worst case assists).

Ravenous Hunter is the rune you will most likely be taking because of how good it works with Akali's q Five Point Strike. This heals you when it is used with enough energy. You can see if you have enough energy when the color of ht energy bar changes.
The extra healing you get from Ravenous Hunter will be a huge help when entering teamfights and trying to survive as long as possible!

VS

Ultimate Hunter is also worth concidering because with the rework of Akali's ultimate the cooldown has been largely increased.
Your new ultimate, Perfect Execution, gives Akali 2 dashes with a cooldown in between.
Needless to say that having your ultimate up as much as possible will greatly increase your mobility and damage output!
Update: patch 9.9 gave a little more power to Ultimate Hunter. It now gives 5% bonus cool down on your ultimate (+4% per stack), up to 25% at max stacks (before 5% + 3% per stack, up to 20% at max stacks).

Bonus Stats


This preseason has brought something new and, in my opinion, very useful to the rune-page crafting: the option to pick you own bonus stats. There are 3 tiers, each with 3 options.



Tier 1 ~ Offense
+ 6 AD or 10 AP
+ 9% Attack Speed
+ 1 - 10% CDR (level 1 - 18)
Tier 2 ~ Flex
+ 6 AD or 10 AP
+ 5 armor
+ 6 magic resistance
Tier 3 ~ Defense
+ 15 - 90 HP (level 1 - 18)
+ 5 armor
+ 6 magic resistance


I will tell you my personal view on these stats for Akali. These bonus stats should be your pick no matter what the rune page you are going to run is.

Tier 1 ~ Offense: adaptive stats, which in the case of Akali will be + 10 AP all game if you start with Hextech Revolver or + 6 AD at the beginning of the game if you start with Bilgewater Cutlass and later it changes to + 10 AP. The reason behind picking the adaptive start as a bonus stat is very simple. Akali doesn't really need that much cooldown reduction or attack speed and the bonus damage you will deal is very good for trading and going all-in.

Tier 2 ~ Flex: adaptive stats, same reason as above!

Tier 3 ~ Defense: here you will pick the 15 - 90 HP (level 1 - 18) in most match-ups for one simple reason: bonus health is the stat you will be getting the most value out of as Akali. If you aren't comfortable on the champion yet and there are some harder match-ups, you could take the bonus armor or magic resistance, depending on the match-up. But that's more about your own personal preference.

Secondary path ~ Sorcery


If you want to increase your damage output you should go for Sorcery.
Celerity is a very good rune on the new Akali because of how her new passive, Assassin's Mark works. If you land an ability on an opponent a circle will form around that opponent. When Akali runs out of that circle, she gains bonus range + damage on her next basic attack.
For that purpose, taking Celerity can be a good choice because it will boost your movement speed a little more. Making it easier to proc your passive.
Update: patch 9.9 gave a small revert to Celerity it now only increases movement speed bonuses on you by 7% (instead of 10%) but it once again gives you increased movement speed, although it is only 1%.

Scorch will most likely be your second choice just because of the extra damage it will make you do every 10 seconds. This allows you to maximize your damage output in the most efficient way.
Update: patch 8.16 cut the damage dealt by Scorch in half, but in return the cooldown was also cut in half.
Update: patch 9.9 gave a small boost of power to Scorch. It now deals 15-35 bonus damage based on level (before 10-30).


Secondary path ~ Resolve


If you feel like Domination gives you enough damage and you want more sustain, Resolve is your go-to path. This is recommendable when you are going to be in a tough match-up.
Bone Plating is a very good rune on Akali to give her better sustain during the laning phase. The damage reduction you get will make your life in lane a lot easier when you know that the match-up your are going to be in will be a tough one.
Update: patch 9.9 gave some more power to Bone Plating. It now blocks 30-60 damage based on level (before 25-50).

With preseason came the new turret plating: all 1st tier turrets now have 5 stacks of plates during the first 14:00 minutes of the game. Destroying a plate gives you 160 gold (solo, if there are more teammates in the area the gold gets split). This change to turrets was made to put more focus on the laning phase of the game. For that reason taking demolish can be a smart choice as it can help you pop the turret plates a lot faster.
If you can get an early lead and take down a few plates you can now very easily get your snowball going as Akali without having to roam and risk losing experience.
Update: patch 9.7. buffed Demolish by increasing the amount of bonus health damage from 30% to 35%.


Secondary path ~ Inspiration


If you want to be able to make more plays and you feel like you have enough damage but don't need the extra sustain... You should look into the Inspiration tree.

Cosmic Insight is a very good rune to take on Akali in my opinion: reduced cooldown on your Flash and Ignite are always a good thing + 5% reduced cooldown on your abilities and item actives (meaning Hextech Gunblade and Zhonya's Hourglass).

By taking Perfect Timing you will have a free Stopwatch at 8 minutes in the game, which can help you survive after making a play or when you find yourself in a tough spot when getting ganked.
But what makes this a very good rune to take in my opinion is again that it reduces the cooldown of your Zhonya's Hourglass even more, combined with Cosmic Insight.

If you don't feel like taking Cosmic Insightor Perfect Timing you can always take Magical Footwear. This will give you free boots and + 10 movement speed, which is good for being able to proc Akali's new passive Assassin's Mark.
And of course, let's face it: who doesn't like free boots.


Secondary Path ~ Precision


Personally I am a big fan of going into Precision as the secondary path just because of the bonus attack speed you get from taking it. Which can help you farm under turret and shove waves faster.
Coup de Grace allows you to do just that little bit more damage to an already low on health target. This enables you to assassinate enemies even faster.
This makes Coup de Grace the perfect rune if you want to go for the Precision tree.

Triumph is a very strong rune because of the extra health you get back after getting a kill or assist.
Playing as Akali you are always at risk of getting bursted down after going in, even if you enter your Twilight Shroud. So getting 12% health back after a kill or assist can be very helpful to survive.



Grasp Akali


In this chapter I will explain the runes and reasoning behind the Grasp of the Undying build.

First path ~ Resolve

The idea behind taking Grasp of the Undying as a keystone is simple: when you duel with the enemy toplaner, every 4 seconds of combat you deal bonus damage based on your max health + you heal based on you max health + your health permanently increases by 5.
Needless to say that this, makes you a lot tankier and harder to kill. On top of that taking this runepath doesn't really cut Akali's damage down.
You will still be able to deal next to the same amount of damage as when you would take Electrocute on top of being a lot harder to kill. So Grasp of the Undying is 100% worth considering!

With preseason came the new turret plating: all 1st tier turrets now have 5 stacks of plates during the first 14:00 minutes of the game. Destroying a plate gives you 160 gold (solo, if there are more teammates in the area the gold gets split). This change to turrets was made to put more focus on the laning phase of the game. For that reason taking demolish can be a smart choice as it can help you pop the turret plates a lot faster.
If you can get an early lead and take down a few plates you can now very easily get your snowball going as Akali without having to roam and risk losing experience.

Bone Plating is very good for obvious reasons. The damage reduction can help you get through laning phase a lot healthier and it helps you out after taking bad trades as well!

Overgrowth is my preferred rune in this tier because of it's synergy with the reasons behind going into Resolve in the first place: increasing your durability.
Preseason had a change in store for Overgrowth as well. It has been modified to now give you + 3 maximum health for every 8 monsters or minions that die near you. After 120 monsters/ minion deaths you also gain +2,5% max health.
These changes made Overgrowth an even better rune for Grasp of the Undying Akali. Combine the permanent max health increase of Overgrowth with the increased max health you get from getting of a proc of Grasp of the Undying and you will be one healthy and durable assassin!
Update: patch 9.7. buffed Overgrowth by changing the bonus max health on completion from 2,5% to 3,5%.

Secondary Path ~ Precision

Sudden Impact is the go-to rune in this tier because of how easy it is for Akali to proc it. She can proc it very easy with her Twilight Shroud as well as Shuriken Flip and Perfect Execution.
This means 3 out of your 4 abilities will give you bonus magic penetration, making Sudden Impact the perfect rune to help you take down the squishy AD carry in the back-line who is trying to get away from you!

Eyeball Collection is the rune I personally prefer here because it increases your birst potential even more.



Understood



~"I suggest you run... I want to savor this."~



Items


Starting Items

Dark Seal and Health Potion are going to be the way you want to start almost every game. Since you are Akali you don't need to buy Doran's Ring for the mana.
The AP + increased healing from Dark Seal are very good for your sustain in the early game. An extra benefit from this item is the stacks you get a kill or assist, which give you bonus ap.

In some matchups you want to start with Cloth Armor. This is mostly the case when the enemy team is full AD or in specific matchups. There are only a few matchups where I recommend Cloth Armor, such as Fiora, Renekton, Pantheon, Riven, Talon or Zed.


Essential Items

In every matchup you want to rush Hextech Gunblade, as it is such a great item on Akali.
Akali on Hextech Gunblade is one of the biggest powerspikes there is. Once you complete it you are ready to start all-in killing people.

Lich Bane is a must build 2nd or 3rd item now on Akali due to her now, reworked passive Assassin's Mark. The bonus damage when you proc Assassin's Mark will increase so much more due to the passive on Lich Bane.
To make it even better, this item also gives you 10% cooldown reduction and 7% bonus movement speed. All of these stats complement the way Akali wants to play perfectly.
The cooldown reduction will help you with the longer cooldown on your ult and give you more opportunities to use your Twilight Shroud.
The bonus movement speed well make it even easier to proc your passive combined with the passive of Lich Bane itself.

In 99% of your games you want to buy Zhonya's Hourglass.
As you are an assassin and you need to get in people's face it will help you survive a lot longer because of the invulnerability. It also allows you to stall for time while your team is on the way and while you wait for your abilities to come of cooldown.


Boots

When the enemy team doesn't have a lot of cc, or when they aren't full ad, you should go for Sorcerer's Shoes.
If you get an early lead you should build Sorcerer's Shoes regardless of the enemy team comp just to continue building up the lead you already have!
The extra damage you get on your burst is very nice and will help you assassinate the squishies even faster.

Go for Mercury's Treads when the enemy team has a lot of crowd control.
Crowd control is the biggest enemy of Akali. The increased tenacity will help you reach the wanted target before you get chain cc'd and die.

In games where the enemy team is full ad, you should buy Ninja Tabi just because it will help you so much against full ad comps. The reduced damage from auto attacks and the extra armor will keep you alive a lot longer when the teamfights start against these kinds of comps.
Buying Ninja Tabi will also help you during laning phase in these kinds of comps because all the damage when you get ganked will be AD.


Complementary Items

Morellonomicon is a very good item on Akali!
The magic penetration it gives you is very useful for an assassin, because your main targets will be the squishy members of the enemy team like the ADC.
Another important change to Morellonomicon after the AP items changes is that they removed the mana (which you don't need) and focused more on the grievous wounds.
This is so good on Akali because, when you are trying to burst down the enemy AD carry, or when you catch out a champion like Swain or Warwick, this cuts their healing significantly!

Rabadon's Deathcap can be a great 5th or 6th item to top of your build.
The flat amount of ability power it gives you, combined with the 40% ability power increase make it an amazing item to get that extra burst you need!

When the enemy team is buying a lot of magic resistance, you will most likely have to buy Void Staff to negate as much magic resistance as possible.
Generally, you want to build this when at least 2 players on the enemy team have stacked magic resistance items.
For example: when their top-laner has Spirit Visage + Mercury's Treads and their mid-laner bought Banshee's Veil and Mercury's Treads it would be a very good idea to buy Void Staff.

Liandry's Torment is a great item on Akali.
Since the ap item changes it has become somewhat less effective to build it as a standard item due to the removal of the magic penetration. This is where Morellonomicon took over.
Right now it is more a go to item if the enemy team has a lot of tankiness due to the passive burn + in games against tanky champions the teamfights tend to be a lot longer, which makes the passive damage increase over time of Liandry's Torment even more efficient!.

Banshee's Veil can be a great option to finish of your build.
In games where the enemy team is heavily focused on ability power, or when they have a lot of crowd control, Banshee's Veil is the item to go.
The spell shield every 40 seconds will prove very useful to you when engaging on a squishy target.
Or when you are the one getting collapsed on, it might just make the difference between instantly dying or being able to survive and hide in your Twilight Shroud until your team arrives to help you out.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a solid item on Akali. It gives you bonus health, which can be really useful when trying to survive as long as possible while bursting down a target. Furthermore it's passive is really good for chasing people down because of the slow it provides.
In patch 8.9. Rylai's Crystal Scepter go a small buff on the amount of ability power it gives.



Unique Abilities


PASSIVE
Assassin's Mark (Passive):When Akali hits an enemy champion with an ability she creates an energy ring around them.
When Akali get's bonus movement speed while walking to the edge of that ring.
Once she has crossed the ring, Akali's next basic attack going double range, deals bonus magic damage and restores energy (based on level).
Bonus: Akali gains bonus movement speed towards enemy champions once she has crossed the ring and activated her passive.

Q W E R
Five Point Strike Q: Akali slings kunai in an arc in a targeted direction, dealing magic damage. Enemies that are on the back of the arc are briefly slowed.
At max rank, Five Point Strike will deal bonus damage to minions and monsters.
Update: patch 9.3 removed the healing you got from casting Five Point Strike on at least one enemy with at least 180 energy. Instead her base health regeneration has been increased from 3.5 to 6 health per 5 seconds.

Q W E R
Twilight Shroud W: Akali drops a smoke bomb, unleashing a spreading cover of smoke in a circle that hides her from enemy vision and which grants her bonus movement speed.
Leaving and re-entering Twilight Shroud will lengthen it's duration by a small amount each time up to a maximum of 9 seconds.
Akalis auto attacks or abilities break the invisibility for 1-0,625 seconds (depending on the minutes in the game).
Twilight Shroud restores 80 energy on cast. So when you are in lane and want to shove out the wave quickly because you want to back, you might want to consider using Twilight Shroud just to be able to use your other abilities more.
Update: patch 9.3 marks the end of safe tower diving for Akali as they made it so that turrets reveal Akali when she is in Twilight Shroud.
Update II: patch 9.5 made another small change. Now turrets only show Akali when she is in the turret's attack range, not it's vision range.
Update III: patch 9.9 nerfed Twilight Shroud even more, it's cool down now has been increased early and the extended duration by breaking and re-entering invisibility has been decreased from 3 seconds to 2 seconds.

Q W E R
Shuriken Flip E: Akali flips backward and fires a shuriken forward, dealing physical damage and marking the first enemy hit.
Re-cast: Dash to the marked target, dealing the same damage.
With this ability, Akali can follow enemies no matter where they go on the map.
Example: if you land the first part of Shuriken Flip on Shen when he is channeling Stand United and you re-cast Shuriken Flip after he teleported to his teammates, you will follow him across the map to where he is.
Fun fact: you can use Shuriken Flip to mark your Twilight Shroud. This allows you to return back to the safety of your obscure, after engaging / making a play. Needless to say that you can make some serious outplays if you know how to properly use this ability!
Update: patch 9.5 changed the damage on Shuriken Flip a little bit, making it deal more damage on the first cast and less damage on the second cast. Overall it is +20 damage buff.

Q W E R
Perfect Execution R: Akali's ultimate has been reduced from 3 dashes to 2 dashes, with a higher cooldown after being used and with a small cooldown in between the casts.
Two dashes: The first vaults over enemies, stunning them briefly for 0.5 seconds and dealing physical damage. The second is a piercing thrust that executes, dealing magic damage based on missing health.
Fun fact: These dashes don't need to be directed on a target, so they can be used to just dash over walls if you want to escape a tight spot or if you want to catch out a squishy target that is wondering on it's own.
Update: Patch 9.5 buffed Perfect Execution by reducing it's cooldown at all ranks.



Skill Sequence


Skilling Order

> > >

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Q
W
E
Q
Q
R
Q
W
Q
W
R
W
W
E
E
R
E
E


Reasoning

Perfect Execution: your ult as Akali is a big source of damage and it provides a lot of mobility, so for that reason you will want to put a point in it every chance you get. This means at levels 6 > 11 > 16.

Five Point Strike: this is your best ability to shove out waves, it provides you with decent sustain during laning phase and it can be used to try and activate your passive as much as possible. For that reason you will want to get this skill to level 5 as quickly as possible.
Especially since at level 5, Five Point Strike will deal bonus damage to minions and monsters.

Shuriken Flip: you level up Shuriken Flip second because of the increased damage and the reduced cool down. Twilight Shroud no longer increased in refunded energy, so it doesn't give you any more value to level this before Shuriken Flip.

Twilight Shroud: the simple reason for leveling Twilight Shroud last is that the amount of energy it restores doesn't go up per level anymore.


As Balance Dictates



~"Hesitation is the seed of defeat."~


Melee ~ Ranged


Melee Matchups


If you are in a matchup versus another melee champion, you can just walk up to the minions and last hit them. Try to land your q, Five Point Strike, on your enemy laner as much as you can to make sure that if they come to trade with you, you can deal some good damage. Once you hit Five Point Strike on the enemy laner, be sure to walk out of the circle and then back up towards them to threaten damaging them with your passive.

In melee matchups you will be trading a lot in lane, even before you reach level 6. It is in these lanes that you can try to get early kills the safest. Because it is a melee versus melee matchup and you will not get poked nearly as much as when you are versus a ranged champion.

Ranged Matchups


If you are in a matchup versus a ranged champion, you have a few options.

You can use your Five Point Strike to last-hit minions and stay at a safe distance (this is the option you will take in the tougher match-ups). This way you can get as much gold as possible so you can buy your Hextech Revolver on your first back.
Once you are level 6 and have your Perfect Execution + your Hextech Revolver the lane becomes a lot easier and you can start going for all-ins.

You can do the same as when you are laning against a melee champion and try to use your Five Point Strike on the enemy laner as much as possible.
Note: be careful for minion aggro when you use your Five Point Strike on the enemy laner. In the early levels of the game minions can do a big amount of damage!
Also be aware that you can get poked out if you don't play it right, this might force you to take a disadvantageous recall.

If you are in a matchup where you know it will be almost impossible to get a kill, like against Morgana or Galio, just try to roam once you hit level 6.



Vods


In this chapter you can find different videos I recorded to explain not only explain, but also show the different mechanics behind Akali. Hopefully this, combined with the rest of the guide will be able to show her power.

Full Combo

This clip shows how you can fully use Akali's kit to secure an easy kill!

Notice that as I walk back I use Twilight Shroud to instantly regenerate energy.
Doing this allowed me to guarantee that I had enough energy to secure the kill.


Tower Dives

This clip shows how easy it is to execute tower dives as Akali with your Twilight Shroud. You can easily escape tower aggro with it to make sure you don't just end up dying from all the tower damage.


Survivability

This clip is a perfect example of how easy it is to buy time for your team to arrive if you are being chased or in a tough situation as Akali.


All-In

This video should give a perfect example of the fact that you shouldn't be afraid to go all-in when you get the chance.




Akali Mid ~ Full gameplay


Stream Replay

These video are a replay of some games I streamed.
They contain, in my opinion, everything you need to know about reworked Akali gameplay.

I will be uploading new videos with different matchups frequently.






Special Thanks!


~ Thanks to jhoijhoi's Making a Guide guide! ~


Update Log

  • 31-07-2018: published guide ~ Chapter 1 - 14.
  • 02-08-2018: slight guide lay-out tweaks + added new chapter: Understood + changed guide name after archiving old Akali guide.
  • 04-08-2018: slight guide lay-out tweaks.
  • 06-08-2018: slight guide lay-out tweaks (almost there where I want it to be).
  • 16-08-2018: updated guide for patch 8.16.
  • 04-09-2018: updated guide for patch 8.17.
  • 18-09-2018: updated guide for patch 8.18.
  • 03-10-2018: updated guide for patch 8.19.
  • 15-10-2018: updated guide for patch 8.20 + added new gameplay videos.
  • 22-10-2018: updated guide: added new build and rune page + new chapter on runes with Grasp of the Undying.
  • 24-10-2018: updated guide for patch 8.21.
  • 29-10-2018: added link to other guides in new chapter.
  • 07-11-2018: updated guide for patch 8.22 + added link to newest guide Thresh support.
  • 10-11-2018: added new chapter: vods!
  • 28-11-2018: updated guide for preseason (patch 8.23) and added new segment on bonus stats.
  • 05-12-2018: updated guide for patch 8.24.
  • 12-01-2019: updated guide for patch 9.1.
  • 25-02-2019: updated guide for patch 9.4.
  • 16-03-2019: updated guide for patch 9.5.
  • 30-03-2019: updated guide for patch 9.6.
  • 27-04-2019: updated guide for patch 9.8.
  • 04-05-2019: updated guide for patch 9.9.
  • 15-05-2019: updated guide for patch 9.10.
  • 26-06-2019: updated guide for patch 9.13.
  • 02-10-2019: updated guide for patch 9.19.
  • 21-10-2019: updated guide for patch 9.20.
  • 04-11-2019: updated guide for patch 9.21.
  • 06-11-2019: updated guide for patch 9.22.
  • 25-11-2019: updated guide for patch 9.23.
  • 22-01-2020: updated guide for patch 10.1.
  • 27-01-2020: updated guide for patch 10.2.
  • 10-02-2020: updated guide for patch 10.3.
  • 29-03-2020: updated guide for patch 10.6.
  • 20-10-2020: updated guide for patch 10.21.
  • 29-10-2020: updated guide for patch 10.22.

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