Hello there! My name is Eastwood/AznFrog911, please do not down rate my guide until you try it first. This is my first guide for my favorite main. I absolutely dominate with Akali, and always get a ridiculous KD (Kill/Death/Ratio) With this guide, you will maximize survivability, dps, and you'll just be a total bamf. Please remember, this is my preference on how I play Akali, this is just what works for me. This guide is intended for middle or top solo IF the other team has a jungle and they have a top solo. Please give me feedback on any tips or what I might need to improve on. I'll take any recommendations. Let me know how this guide works for you! credits go to Xalrons for his amazing build that inspired me to make my own and Redmercy of youtube, he's an amazing akali that has guided me become great with akali.

Akali
Adjusted Twin Disciplines to trigger at 9.5 AD and 19.5 AP to account for rounding
Doran's Blade
Fixed a bug where Doran's Blade was providing an unintended effect
Damage increased to 10 from 9

What does this mean? Well that means no more having to have two attack damage marks! Yes that's right, akali's passive will now activate from Doran's Blade itself. Now you will have more damage early game than you already had! Woo!


Monday, September 26, 2011.
I've been gone for a REALLY long time, I'm back! this build is still VERY viable. There's not much I have to touch up on, but keep the comments rolling in and I'll do my best to keep it updated.

Tuesday, October 04, 2011.
I shall soon make a dominion guide, I'm still debating whether to add it into this guide or make a completely new guide focused on dominion. Give me some feedback on what you'd rather see!

Monday, October 10, 2011.
There's A LOT of complaints about Akali on the forums. It's likely that she'll receive some type of nerf come the next patch. As soon as the new release notes are released I'll start to edit the guide based on the changes so that Akali still is viable.

Friday, June 15, 2012.
It's been a while since I've updated this guide. But I'm back now! I've been away from LoL for a while when the mastery change happened. But I've finally sucked it up and started playing again.

Pros
Great Ganker
Anticarry!
Mids and Solos great
Great Mobility
Great Escaper!
Deals HUGE damage
Stealth
Sexy Ninja

Cons
Squishy
Can be screwed if no stacks on her ult
Focused down once the other team finds out how op you are
Countered by Oracles
Needs a sexier dance

x2 Greater Mark of Insight
x7 Greater Mark of Strength
x9 Greater Seal of Fortitude
x9 Greater Glyph of Potency
x3 Greater Quintessence of Potency

The reason for x7 is to proc the passive that Akali has at level 1. Giving her survivability at level 1.

The reason I get is because, Akali is a in and out type of champion, she's not supposed to be up against one person toe to toe. She's the type of champion you want to catch someone off guard and kill them with. But sometimes it can backfire and your shroud simply won't be enough. Flash is the butter to Akali's bread. It is the best summoner spell for Akali and shouldn't be substituted.

The reason I get is because it helps with those early kills. Akali is the type of chick that can get fed easily if played correctly. The earlier you get kills, the faster you'll get fed increasing the likeliness of you winning the game. Not to mention the 10 extra ap early game.

Now, could be substituted with spells like for going up against those melee champs, or if you haven't mastered "Shroud" control and aren't the best escapist.

What you shouldn't get.
You don't need ghost on Akali, with boots of swiftness and your ultimate chasing someone with ghost will be useless. Not to mention you could just ult to a creep and escape safely into the jungle if things start to turn ugly.
Leave it to the tanks or support to get it.
Uh, obviously you have no mana.
Summoner level 1 anyone? Haha
You should never be in the position to need heal. You're an assassin not a super fighting melee crazy Jarvan/Jax/Garen/Xin champion.

Akali's Spells
Akali's passive makes her able to be a great hybrid. The extra damage from ability power, and the extra spell vamp makes things great on Akali. But with my build you won't be going too "hybrid" so you'll just have the passive really at 10%+

Akali's main damage ability. This skill can cause MASSIVE damage to a target, especially early game with my build. This is what you're going to be using to pull off that epic dps.

Man o man.. In my opinion besides singed's ult + Ghost and Cleanse. This has to be one of the best escaping spells ever. If you can master juking with Akali's Shroud you will have a insane time getting crazy kills and getting away with it! This bad boy with Flash just makes Akali the true assassin.

This skill is a moderate aoe spell that is good to help sustain dps while your Q is on cooldown.

Now, this is one of the best spells in the game. Shadow dance is a spell that truly needs practice to master. I haven't even mastered it yet. You can make or break any gank, you can catch any foe, you can escape into the jungle, you can get out of a tower dive. This IS the bread and butter for Akali, without this spell there is no Akali.



Masteries
Burning Embers
Veteran's Scars
Ardor
These 3 spells make you dangerously powerful at level 1. You will be a mean green fighting machine. I feel as if Akali needs a little defense but needs to be able to dish out good damage. With how my runes are set up you are able to get Ardor for early damage along with burning embers for early damage with the extra health from Veteran's Scars AND the health Seals.

Early Game
First I start off with a and x3 and run off to mid. Since you will have your passive 10% Spell Vamp, it's really easy to get health back. You should not attack the creeps in middle. Instead last hit, if you don't know what last hitting is, it's where you will attack the creep when it's health is just about to end. You can last hit with your auto attack or your Q ability if you're getting harassed. But you never wanna push, you just want to last hit. Once you hit level 2 continue to last hit but you can play a little more aggressive now. If the enemy is pushing you hard and you're stuck at your turret here's what you do. Throw your shroud where the caster creeps are and hide in your shroud. If the enemy is bad he'll probably stay near it, or run away for dear life. If he stays near it, Q him then auto attack him. He'll really pay for it, then run back into your shroud. About 2 seconds before it ends you want to run to the end of the shroud so you can get away from your enemy safely. If you're low on health, just wait till creeps go to your turret, when creeps are about half hp, you can throw your Q on the creep and immediately attack it to activate the life steal and spell vamp to heal you. If you do this enough you'll notice your health get back to full pretty quickly. Just last hit and harrass with your Q.

Mid Game
level 8 and go B and grab a and and head back to middle. At this point, you will be able to really do a lot of damage to your opponent. Now you should push mid a bit then go bot or top for a gank. A really good tip is to go for the lane with the most carries or squishys. After you get some ganks, (it's really really easy to get a killing blow with your ultimate, or Q + Auto attack) and are around level 11, go B and pick up a and if you can afford it. A huge mistake I see a lot of akali's do is that they don't grab a when they have the chance. EVERY time you go b and can afford a get one! I cannot stand it when I see akali's do this. It's just annoying, it helps so much. Now, go back to ganking and watching middle. You should be fed at this point so ganking won't be hard, once you have enough gold to afford go grab red buff then recall and buy your Rylai's. Once you have enough gold go by a and and continue to gank and watch mid.

Late Game
Now go grab your . You should now just be straight up overpowered. You can 1v1 just about anyone now. If they didn't surrender go grab a and eventually your if they still didn't surrender and you still haven't won go sell your and grab a and then finish your . You should have won by this point but if not go grab a You now will become the ultimate akali and you will be feared.

Q=
W=
E=
R=

Now for the skill sequence, you want to throw your Q at your opponent and wait till your Q is off CD then you want to R in, auto attack, E, W, Q, Auto attack, and R if they aren't dead yet. Akali is a great diving champion, if your opponent has about 1/4th hp and is recalling at his turret, if his creeps pushed to about the middle of the lane you can ult in, Q, auto attack, E and then ult out to a enemy creep. I can't tell you how many times I dive and live to tell the tale!

Now if you're in a teamfight you might want to do things differently. As Akali your job is to dominate the carries while the enemy team is focusing your tanks. NEVER initiate a teamfight as akali, that is the dumbest thing you can do. Wait for your tank or tanks to initiate then you want to ult in and TS on them, and MA on the squishys and auto attack, and QS and again MA, and auto attack till the squishys die. You can also use 2 stacks of your ultimate if they aren't dead yet. If the enemy team has an oracle make sure you tell your team to focus that person down first, because if they don't. You're dead.

Use these if your opponents have a lot of crowd control.

is usable instead of the if the enemy team is focusing you hard and you need some MR.

is a good alternative if you can't afford your

Sometimes I get this instead of my deathcap just because this item is a great way to stay alive. Lets say you're getting focused in a teamfight and you pop this. Your team has time to get on the carrys. Therefore they will either run or die OR switch targets because it's going nowhere. Not to mention the armor :D

This item is a good balanced item that can be picked instead of your if the enemy team hasn't gone all out with Magic resist.

Now this badboy is pretty nasty on Akali. You feel like you're not pulling enough burst? this will fix that.

Akali; Great ganker, great anticarry, great escapist, great last hitter, can get fed easily, just is a total bamf. Please remember this is how I like to play Akali, so please try it before rating. Please leave me feedback so I know how I have done with this guide. Again, credits go to Xalrons and Redmercy for making me a great akali and inspiring for me to make a guide. Redmercy's Youtube Channel

Just remember last hit, wait for your Q to get off cd, map awareness!, shroud control

~Eastwood