I'm a midlane main that thoroughly enjoys playing Akali. Akali was the first champion I picked up on League and since then I've been playing her all the time since she's a strong pick in the right hands but is also very fun to play and has a lot of outplay potential :)

-High Mobility
-High Damage
-High outplay potential
-Extremely fun to play
CONS
-Very squishy
- Twilight Shroud can be countered by true sight
-CC massively inhibits any successful plays at all

Akali’s passive Assassin's Mark is an empowered auto attack. Damaging a champion with any of Akali’s abilities will proc your passive- this creates a ring which if you walk out of, Akali uses her empowered Kama to auto attack enemies at a longer range and higher damage than her regular auto attacks. Hitting an enemy with the passive restores 10 energy to Akali.
The passive lasts 5 seconds which pairs well with when you use her Q Five Point Strike at max range on enemies as they are slowed for a very small amount of time- but just long enough for you to use the passive ability on them.

Akali’s Q Five Point Strike is AOE damage. It isn’t very long range but it slows enemies if they are hit by the tip of it. This is the ability that you will max first as it becomes your main source of damage. The cooldown on this ability is very low and when paired with the presence of mind rune Presence of Mind, it can be used multiple times on enemies for even more damage and kill potential within a very short space of time.

Akali’s W Twilight Shroud is a smoke shroud which conceals her (it grants you invisibility while you are inside it) and grants a short burst of increased MS.
Using Akali’s shroud restores 80 energy which will enable her to use her abilities faster.
Use the shroud to better position yourself in teamfights and also to more easily dodge enemy skillshots.
Even though you are invisible in the shroud, you can be revealed by true sight, such as:
Karma’s W Focused Resolve
Leblanc’s E Ethereal Chains
Morgana’s R Soul Shackles
Kai’sa W Void Seeker
Twisted Fate’s R Destiny
Enemy wards Stealth Ward Oracle Lens

Akali’s E Shuriken Flip is a two part ability and can be used for combat and for making quick escapes.
Akali throws out a shuriken and flips backwards. If the shuriken hits a champion or enemy minion, the ability can be recast and will cause Akali to dash back to the marked opponent or enemy minion. Both parts of her E Shuriken Flip do the same amount of damage.
Akali can use this ability to flip backwards through terrain and distance herself from enemy champions chasing her or she can use it as a gap close to catch up to enemy champions fleeing.
You can use your E Shuriken Flip in conjunction with your W Twilight Shroud to allow for quick escapes- simply throw your shuriken into your shroud, which will mark it, and recast the ability; this will cause Akali to dash back into her shroud.

Akali’s R is Perfect Execution an execution; this ultimate ability can either be used as an execution tool or as a means of escape.
The first part of her R Perfect Execution can only be used on an enemy champion (since it is a targeted ability), the second part of her R can be used against anything (other enemy champions, monsters or minions), in any direction or to escape through terrain or close in on fleeing enemies. There is a 2 second waiting time between the first part of her R Perfect Executionand the second part, this can be useful for deciding what to use it against.

There are so many different combos you can try with Akali but here are a few of my favorites:

Combo#1:Q Five Point Strike → Passive Assassin's Mark → Q Five Point Strike

Combo#2:E Shuriken Flip → E Shuriken Flip recast → W Twilight Shroud → Q Five Point Strike → Passive Assassin's Mark → Ignite

Combo#3:Q Five Point Strike → W Twilight Shroud → Passive Assassin's Mark → Hextech Gunblade → E Shuriken Flip → E recast Shuriken Flip → Passive Assassin's Mark

Combo#4:R Perfect Execution → E Shuriken Flip → Ignite → Passive Assassin's Mark → Q Five Point Strike → E recast Shuriken Flip → Passive Assassin's Mark → R recast Perfect Execution → Passive Assassin's Mark

Combo#5:Q Five Point Strike → Hextech Gunblade → E Shuriken Flip → E recast Shuriken Flip → W Twilight Shroud → R Perfect Execution → Ignite → R recast Perfect Execution

Long Sword: Personally, I always take this as a starting item as it gives me a bit of an edge in order to play more aggressively instead of staying back and getting poked out every time.

Hextech Gunblade: This is Akali's Akali most essential item. This should always be the first full item that you build. The passive on this item grants you a lot of sustain which will allow for a longer stay in lane. The active is deals damage and slows the target which can be used to help land her E Shuriken Flip or even allow her to catch up to enemies and use her R Perfect Execution.
The item can also be used on a low health target fleeing a teamfight or gank, in order to secure the kill.

Oblivion Orb: This is a great second item for early-mid game as it grants you a lot of magic pen quite early in the game.

Seeker's Armguard: This is a very situational item and I would personally only purchase it instead of Oblivion Orb Oblivion Orb if I am behind against some heavy AD.

Zhonya's Hourglass: This is a great second/third item for Akali Akali, especially if you're against a heavy AD team since it gives you armour. The active on Zhonya's Hourglass places your champion in stasis which means that you cannot be targeted by any abilities, from both your team and the enemy team, and you cannot cast any abilities. This active especially useful in teamfights to avoid large amounts of burst damage, seeing as Akali Akali is a very squishy champion.

Liandry's Torment:Personally, I would purchase this as a third/fourth item to complete the core damage build for Akali Akali. The item grants you more health which is crucial for mid game skirmish surivival.

Banshee's Veil: This is an ideal item for Akali Akali if the enemy team is heavy AP. The cooldown reduction is also extremely useful going into the late game where Akali Akali gets somewhat weaker.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: I don't usually build this item at all but it has a strong synergy with Liandry's Torment Liandry's Torment which can be very useful, especially if you're up against fast champions such as Lillia Lillia or Teemo Teemo.

morellonimicon Morellonomicon: You only need to fully build this item if the enemy team have a lot of healing, for example; Mordekaiser's Mordekaiser W Indestructible or even Kayle's W Celestial Blessing.

Rabadon's Deathcap: This is an awesome late game item if you're ahead with Akali Akali, it gives you a massive amount of AP to continue dominating the game with one-shots.

Void Staff: This is also an excellent late game item and can be purchased as your very last item since it just adds a heap of magic pen and AP- the icing to the cake.

Flash: This is an essential spell as it can aid with quick escapes since Akali is particularly squishy. You can also use Flash as a gap closer to trade with enemies that are playing out of your range.


Ignite: This is almost always my go to summoner spell as you can use it on fleeing enemies, against champions with healing such as Soraka or Vladimir, or just for that extra bit of damage to secure kills.

Teleport: This is also an extremely useful spell as you can get back to lane more quickly which minimizes the minion farm you lose when you recall. This is also great late game for getting to teamfights as quickly as possible to maximize late game kill potential and keep the pressure on the enemy team since your late game with Akali is massively weaker than her early and mid game.

Electrocute: This keystone is my personal favorite as it is the most consistent for Akali Akali since it works very well with her basic combos which I will talk about further down in this guide.

Conqueror: This is also an excellent keystone for Akali as it provides her with some much needed healing whilst trading and also in teamfights- where she needs it the most. I would take this rune if you're up against a tanky opponent or team. This keystone will not grant you the burst damage that Electrocute Electrocute does but it will do damage over time instead.

Fleet Footwork: I would recommend taking this rune if you're up against champions that can easily poke you out of lane, causing you to miss out on farm. The sustain from Fleet Footwork Fleet Footwork will allow you to stay longer in lanes even if you're getting harassed quite early. This is the safest keystone for Akali Akali in my opinion as the sustain is extremely useful for early laning where you would be rushing Hextech Gunblade Hextech Gunblade.

Presence of Mind: This is an essential side rune for Akali Akali; weather its used on the primary or secondary rune tree. Akali's Akali abilities have very high energy costs and this will inhibit you from carrying out her full combos which is why the extra total energy you receive from this rune is so important.

Triumph: Before the nerfs to Akali's Akali total energy, this would be my go to; however, this is not the most ideal rune to take since Presence of Mind Presence of Mind has a much larger and more essential impact on Akali Akali. If you decide to take this side rune, it isn't a bad choice but you will have to deal with constantly waiting for your energy to regenerate throughout the entire game- this is not ideal at all for playing Akali Akali.

Legend: Alacrity: I believe this is a good side rune since the extra attack speed is useful for allowing you to hit fast moving enemy champions with your passive.

Legend Tenacity: This side rune is my personal go to from the "Legend" runes on the PrecisionPrecision tree. It reduces the amount of time that you are CC'd for which, especially in Akali's Akali case, is extremely important due to how squishy she is and how she functions as a high mobility assassin.

Legend Bloodline: I rarely take this side rune but the lifesteal can be very useful for late game,and it works well with the sustain she gets from Hextech Gunblade Hextech Gunblade, since Akali's Akali overall chances of survival are lowered drastically then.

Coup De Grace: I always take this as the final addition to my primary runes page for Akali [akali. The role of an assassin is to eliminate squishy and low health targets so it helps a lot with fulfilling your role whilst playing.

Sudden Impact: Apart from having a very short cooldown, it works very well with Akali's Akali kit since she has a few dashes (E Shuriken Flip and R Perfect Execution). I prefer this side rune for the extra damage.

Taste of Blood: Staying in lane longer, especially for the early game, is very important for Akali Akali, which is made possible by the sustain this rune gives you. Akali Akali already has a lot of sustain which is why I don't personally use this rune unless I'm against a champion that heavily pokes me out of lane such as Malzahar Malzahar.

Cheap Shot: In conjuction with the active from Hextech Gunblade Hextech Gunblade, it can work but it is no where near as consistent as the Sudden Impact Sudden Impact and Taste of Blood Taste of Blood. I personally would not recommend this rune for Akali Akali.

Eyeball Collection: I always take this rune with Akali Akali as it works well with her snowballing and grants additional AP- more damage, more fun.

Ravenous Hunter: The stacks you get from this rune grant healing which works well with the sustain from Hextech Gunblade Hextech Gunblade. I always take this rune for the extra healing.

Ingenious Hunter: I personally do not take this rune but it will decrease your cooldowns on everything including Hextech Gunblade and Zhonya's Hourglass. This can come in handy since you'd be able to abuse the actives on both these items even more than usual.

Relentless Hunter: I don't really use this rune a lot either but I do believe it is extremely useful for roaming due to the movement speed increase it grants you. Roaming is one of the best ways to snowball on Akali Akali of course since you would be able to pick up more kills and create pressure on the entire enemy team. Use this rune if you are planning on roaming a lot.

Ultimate Hunter: The cooldown reduction on Akali's Akali ultimate Perfect Execution is useful for the early game but once you reach the mid game, her ultimate is already on a low cooldown. I wouldn't take this rune personally since it isn't the most efficient on Akali Akali.

In general; laning with Akali is very situational. If you can secure an early lead- you will be able to purchse your most essential item: Hextech Gunblade much faster which will mean your sustain will increase and, thus, your stay in lane will be increased as well. Purchasing this item is of the utmost importance!

Early Laning Phase: At this point you want to farm safely against poke heavy champions and wait for level 3 before taking a trade. Do not prioritize an unnecessary trade, or one that you don't think is worth, over a minion wave. You need the gold for your first item purchase ( Hextech Gunblade)- aim for getting it by 9-11 minutes into the game. Remember to play safe if you are not feeling too confident as it is better to be safe than to mess up early with Akali.

Mid-Game Laning Phase: You should have your Hextech Gunblade at this point. Making plays and picking up kills is what you want to be doing here mostly, push your lane and then roam either top or bot lane to try and pick up kills and pressurize the enemy team. You want to do this since you will need the stacks for your runes such as; Ravenous Hunter or Relentless Hunter.

Late Game: This is the worst part of the game for Akali as she does not scale so she becomes a lot weaker here. Your role as an assassin is to take out the enemy ADC (Attack Damage Carry) and other squishy champions. Remember NOT to focus on the enemy tank! Stick to your role of eliminating squishies where possible and your'e on the right track. Make sure you are joining in on all teamfights as you do have a lot of damage and your team can easily win the teamfight with you there to contribute your burst damage. You want to make sure that all lanes are being pushed and that you take out their carries wherever you can and always go for the win!.

When it comes to laning against mages, you will need to wait until level 3 at least before going in for a trade. Most mages will be able to poke you out of lane easily at this stage and for that reason I think level 3 is the optimum time to take a trade since you will have your W Twilight Shroud to use as cover while you harass with you Q Five Point Strike and hide in to make hitting your E Shuriken Flip much easier. Against particularly poke heavy champions, use your Q Five Point Strike and E Shuriken Flip to farm minions with instead of taking unnecessary damage early on by going in to auto attack them. Look to ping your jungler for a assistance with a gank to get an early lead.

Laning against a melee champion is much easier early game since they cant poke you out as easily as a mage which means you can play aggressive early on to get that early lead with a first blood- this is very easy to do once you hit level 2 since you will have enough damage to kill other squishy champions such as Katarina. The gold from first blood is extremely good for Akali since it means you can purchase Hextech Gunblade faster. Go in for early trades once you hit level 2 and try and push the enemy out of lane to cripple their minion farm score. You can easily make solo plays against melee so it isn't always necessary to ping your jungler for assistance here.