Hello everyone,

this is my first guide and it's all about jungling with "Akali, The Fist of Shadow".
I won't talk about laning with Akali, because there many good and detailed guides you should have a look at.
I hope you like it and it's helpful for you.

Akali is a very strong burster champ and in my opinion the best chaser.
Her role in team fights is to take out the squishiest and high dps champs in the enemy team. (Anti-Carry)
Don't try to focus the tank (nobody should!).

Pro:

- Enjoyable
- Very good burst damage
- One of the best chasers
- Useful in team fights (take out the dps champs)

Pro-Jungle:

- Surprise attacks
- Faster leveling
- More map control (if you want to help your team, especially in ranked games buy wards they really save life!)

Cons:

- Squishy champ at early game
- Hard to master
- Get's focused all the time
- Prone to CC/Oracle

Smite:
Smite is a must have if you want to jungle with Akali. Smite is not only useful for jungling, it also heals you. Smite makes pure damage but with spellvamp you get HP back. With level 18 smite makes 870 Damage and we got 30-40% spellvamp. This is a free heal (250-400). Smite is also a good spell against Heimerdinger. When ever he activates his ultimate just smite first tower and easily kill him.

Ignite:
We are going to need ignite while jungling, it even helps us to get some kills while they're trying to get back and if we use ignite we got 10 extra ability power.

Runes:

Armor Pen: Why armor pen and not magic pen? If you look in the summary after the games you will see Akali makes much more normal damage then magic.

Dodge: Dodge is the best choice you get for seals. You can take armor if you so desire.

Ability Power: We need it to activate the passive fast. If we use ignite we got 10 ability power so we "activate" the passive.

Heath: We need a bit more HP for jungling.

Now let's start with the early game.

Normal jungle route with both teams got 1 jungler:

Golems -> Wraiths -> Recall -> Red Buff -> Wolfs -> Blue Buff -> Gank or Recall or Jungle -> Wraiths -> Golems -> Gank or Recall

Golems = Smite
Wraiths = Ignite (the blue one)
Recall = Buy 3 ~ 4 HP pots (it's possible with 3 but I prefer 4)
Red Buff = Smite
Blue Buff = Smite

I'm going to start with the Golem camp, Mark of the Assassin = = > Auto Attack = = > Smite = = > Auto Attack.
When they're both dead you are level 2.

Go ahead to the wraiths and stay in the middle. First you target the big blue wraith. Mark of the Assassin = = > Auto Attack = = > Ignite = = > Crescent Slash = = > Auto Attack.
Recall and get the HP pots. When you're ready go ahead to red lizard.

Just spam your skills and don't forget to use your HP pots.
!!! Use Smite after you lost 100 HP !!! - The Reason for that is: You need smite for blue buff. When you use smite just for last hits you will have 35 seconds CD when you want to start kill the blue golem. If you use it early you just got 20 ~ 25 Sec.
Now we got red buff. We want to get the wolfs and the blue buff before we gank.

So we go ahead to the wolfs and kill them. Use your pots when ever the first one runs out.

Let's make a break now. Akali isn't the fastest jungler. You may get ganked from other junglers like WW or Olaf, while you try to kill the blue golem. So be careful and tell your mates to observe you. After you killed the blue golem for the buff you got 400 ~ 600 HP and you are level 4.

Now it's time for ganking. Try to help top lane if there is no useful ganking spot.
After a successful gank you may got first blood.

Now it's time to shop the items listed at the top.
You are level 5 or nearly 5. You're going to start again with the golems and clear your jungle.
If you're level 6 you are there to gank the whole game! :) (just jungle for the buffs!)
Play Video

Jungle route while you are the only jungler:

First of all you're going to need 5 HP pots but it's much faster then the first route.

Golems -> Wraiths -> Recall -> Red Buff -> Wolfs -> Blue Buff -> Wraiths -> Golems -> Red Buff -> Wolfs -> Wraiths -> Golems

Golems = Smite
Wraiths = Ignite (the blue one)
Recall = Buy 5 HP pots
Red Buff = Smite
Blue Buff = Smite
Wraiths = Enemy's Jungle
Golems = Enemy's Jungle
Red Buff = Enemy's Jungle / Smite
Golems = Smite

Remember to use your pots when the first one runs out. So you are always above half of your HP because you don't want to die.
Play Video

Akali is very strong around mid-game, so this is our chance to kill everything we see. Make sure you always got red buff when it's available. So you got free slow and damage dot.
Try to get some soft-target kills with the help of some mates. Very helpful mates got exhaust or CC.
You are also able to towerdive but make sure that they don't got any CC.

Akali works in team fights as Anti-Carry. She can take out squishy champs very fast.
You shouldn't begin the fight! - Stay in the back of the enemy team so you can attack from the back and nobody will notice what happens.

Normal Attack Rotation:

1 vs 1:

= = > Recharge = = >= = > Auto Attack = = >= = > Auto Attack = = >= = > Auto Attack = = >

5 vs 5:

= = >= = > Auto Attack = = >= = >= = > Auto Attack = = >= = > Auto Attack = = >

Now I'm going to explain why I choose this item build.
Boots: The reason why I take the "Boots of Swiftness" is because everyone got boots with +2 speed. So we got the +3 boots and we are much faster than everyone else. I take these to get in range for the ulti.

Core Items:

Hextech: Hextech has everything you need ingame: Spellvamp/Lifesteal/AD/AP/Slow. You can easy gank soft-targets when you use the slow.

Rylais: Must have! We get a good HP boost by Rylais, the slow and a good AP boost. With this item nobody will ever run away.

Guinsoos: Very nice for hybrid. We get a nice attack speed boost and AP/AD.

Lich Bane: Lich Bane is a very strong item. Buy it nearly last, because there are stronger items we need first. Lich Bane gives us a damage burst but nothing like slow, what I really prefer.

Optional:

Have a look at the enemy team. If they don't have any CC or tanks you can try to take one of them.

These are the best places for Wards. Make sure you got always a Ward at Drake, especially the enemy got a Jungler.
Nashor should be warded after Level 12. Make sure to keep upright.
Drake and Nashor will be always warded from both Teams so use vision wards.
After you Warded both get in the enemy jungle and Ward the Lizard and Golem.

- Compare the jungle speed from Akali with other junglers

- Compare the strength of Akali with other sunglers

- Explain Skills and the special tricks

- Trying to start in enemy jungle ;)

I really hope the small guide helps you to be a better jungler. Just try it out, it's fun.

I would love if you comment my guide and criticise it if you think something is missing or something is wrong.
If you have some questions you can contact me ingame: Pureandy - EU-Server.

Special Thanks to silec who helps me to improve my guide.


Greetings,
Andy

P.S.: Sorry for my bad English but it isn't my native language, please keep that in mind!