Akali Build Guide by lolkassadinop

ChangeLog

10/23: Made the guide.
10/24: Clarified how to use Twilight Shroud and made sections on why I prefer Trinity Force over Lich Bane and Abyssal Mask over Void Staff. Changed a lot of the coding in the guide. Added some notes.

Introduction

Thanks to Searz for the awesome guide format! ! You can find it here.

TIP: Mouse-over any item or abilities to see their tooltip.

Hi everyone, welcome to my Akali guide. This is my first guide, so don't expect it to be legendary or anything. I've been playing Akali for a while now, and I want to share what build I use to be successful in your LoL careers! xDD

Btw, I'm pretty new to this coding stuff, so bear with me here. >.<

If you don't understand any of the terminology in my guide, go

here

Masteries

Masteries
1/5	3/5	3/1	4/1	4/5	4/1	1/1	1/1	1/5	3/1	4/	1/

Yorick

Garen

Renekton

Runes

Runes are very important on Akali to trigger her passives. Don't play Akali if you don't have the necessary runes to trigger her passive, unless you want to have a REALLY bad early-game.

7 Greater Mark of Strength 2 Greater Mark of Destruction I take 7 flat AD runes to trigger Twin Disciplines. I take the armor/magic penetration runes because they scale with your masteries. 9 Greater Seal of Resilience I take Flat Armor runes to stay in lane because you most likely picked Akali to counter an AD offtank at top. They also help you survive in early trades. 9 Greater Glyph of Force I take AP per level runes because they help maximize your burst throughout the game. These also help you trigger your Twin Disciplines passive at level 1. 9 Greater Quintessence of Potency I take Flat AP quints because it improves your level 6 burst and helps trigger Twin Disciplines.

Summoner Spells

Ignite I think ignite is a must because it increases your burst and you want to kill your enemy ASAP. Flash Flash is for when you need to get out of the fight. A good way to escape is to use Twilight Shroud and if possible, flash over a wall, or just run away and use flash. Be sure to wait the few seconds you are stealthed when you leave your shroud, or your enemy may catch up to you. Ghost Good for chasing champions, but I think flash is just overall better. It's situational I guess. Exhaust Against a heavy AD team comp.

Skill Sequence

Ability Sequence
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18

Mark of the Assassin

Crescent Slash

Twilight Shroud

Shadow Dance

Skills and How To Use Them

COMBO: -> -> -> -> -> -> -> Auto-Attack

This pretty much guarantees a kill as long as you're not focusing a full tank.

Twin Disciplines

Twin Disciplines is what makes Akali so strong. The spell vamp allows her to stay in lane a bit longer and be able to soak up some damage when bursting someone. The extra magic damage also lets her burst down her target in no time at all. This passive also scales very well into late-game. Proccing this at level 1 is vital because you need everything you can get in the early-game stages.

Mark of the Assassin

Mark of the Assassin is what makes Akali the burst champion she is. Always lead your combo with this skill, so you can have it up sooner and also to proc its effect. Your enemy should be dead after the 2nd proc if you executed your combo correctly and your enemy is not full tank.

Tips and tricks:

• Remember that Mark of the Assassin refunds energy when proc'd.
• Wait for Mark of the Assassin to come off cooldown before you use Shadow Dance to reach your enemy. You can use your Twilight Shroud to make your enemy surprised when you burst them down.

Twilight Shroud

Use Twilight Shroud both offensively and defensively. Offensively, this can be used after you burst down the enemy AD/AP carry (whoever is more fed) to stealth, so you won't get caught by their team. When your stealth ends, your team can follow up and pick them off 1 by 1. Defensively, use this to survive in your lane to make it safer and also increasing your survivability in a fight. Throwing Twilight Shroud in a bush can help you juke enemies to escape/kill him. You can use Twilight Shroud to facecheck, too.

Tips and tricks:

• Don't forget that this makes you a bit more tanky and slows your enemies.
• Don't wait too long to use this skill, or you'll already be dead. On the other hand, don't waste this skill, as it uses an abundant amount of energy.
• Use Twilight Shroud to escape ganks easily. Try to keep enough energy to use Twilight Shroud at any time in lane.
• Remember that you are still vulnerable to AoE and skillshots while in Twilight Shroud
• In teamfights, using Twilight Shroud on stragglers running away can be useful. It slows them, makes you tanky, and your Abyssal Mask aura also takes effect, increasing you and your AP carry's burst. This allows your team to catch up and destroy them quickly.

Crescent Slash

An AoE-dealing damage that procs your Mark of the Assassin. Use Crescent Slash to clear minion waves more quickly.

Tips and tricks:

• This uses a fair amount of energy, so don't spam it.
• This skill does a lot of damage; don't underestimate it. Especially after Trinity Force.

Shadow Dance

Abuse Shadow Dance's range to gapclose like a boss!

Tips and tricks:

• Be careful when you use this skill; the enemy will have a chance to use all his skills if you don't burst him down quickly.
• Surprise the enemy by using Shadow Dance out of Twilight Shroud after you have Mark of the Assassin'd to proc and unload all your skills after that for the kill.

Ideal Build

This build is built for a team with an average early-game AD offtank, AP carry, AD carry, Support, and a Jungler (preferably without a stun/root/snare). If their top has amazing harass early-game, then I suggest you to not use Akali. Also, if their jungler does have a stun/root/snare, consider if Akali is worth taking.

Build 1

Recommended Sequence:
This build is ideal against AD offtanks because once you hit 6 and have your Hextech Revolver, you can poke them a bit with Mark of the Assassin. Then, you can burst them down easily. Even if you don't kill them, you can still bully them out of lane, so you can get freefarm to get your gunblade/shoes. After Hextech Gunblade, though, the laning phase will probably be over. This is when you get Abyssal Mask to survive the AP carry's burst while you melt their face. Late game, Rabadon's Deathcap and Trinity Force are bought after for more burst. Deathcap gives massive AP and increases your burst by a lot. Since Akali is more of an AP carry, the enemy will probably build MR to counter the AP top+mid team comp. This is why Trinity Force is bought. If the enemy team doesn't build MR, you can always opt to build a Lich Bane instead.

Starting Items

Boots of Speed You need the movement speed to avoid harass and skillshots. 3 Health Potions You need sustain in early-game because you can't do very much but farm and be harassed.

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Doran's Blade This item can be used if you do not have the appropriate runes to proc your lifesteal passive. You give up the movement speed, though.

Core Items

Hextech Revolver Get Hextech Revolver when you first get back to base for sustain and some AP. Sorcerer's Shoes These shoes help you burn through the opponent's MR. If the enemy team has a lot of cc, consider buying Mercury's Treads

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Hextech Gunblade Try to get Hextech Gunblade when you get back to base for the second-third time. This gives you early burst damage. When you get this item, you'll most likely be winning trades until the enemy team starts building MR. Abyssal Scepter This item is good because your AP carry benefits from the unique passive. It also helps you survive the enemy AP carry's burst.

Trinity Force vs. Lich Bane

As I said, I like taking Trinity Force to fully utilize my 30/0/0 masteries. I get it instead of Lich Bane because your enemies will probably be stacking MR with the 2 AP (Top and Mid) comp. You may want to take Lich Bane if your opponents are not stacking MR, though. Otherwise, take Trinity Force. The crits from Trinity Force do moderate damage once you unload your kit and waiting for cooldowns(this scales with the crit damage mastery). Hextech Gunblade gives you some AD as well to go with your Sheen proc.

More Uses:

• Phage gives perma-slow.
• Extra health.
• More movement speed.
• Allows you to kite more easily.

What About Void Staff to Burn the MR?

You already have Abyssal Mask to burn through some MR while increasing your burst AND making you more tanky. Also, Void Staff doesn't give any defensive stats whatsoever, so you will be taken down more easily. The lifesteal and spell vamp won't keep you alive if you're being focused by the enemy. Abyssal Mask also increases your burst AND your AP carry's burst because the aura reduces MR (you will be in close range). The ranged AP carry most likely will be taking Void Staff to further increase your team's damage output. This is why it is recommended that you take Abyssal Mask while your AP carry takes Void Staff.

Remember: You're always more useful when you're alive, not dead.

Other Viable Items

Quicksilver Sash This item is good if the other team has a lot of AP and CC. Warmog's Armor Good item against true damage or champions with high burst potential.

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Rylai's Crystal Scepter I find this item too expensive to be bought, but it's good because of the HP and more reliable perm-slow ( Phage). Deathfire Grasp Deathfire Grasp is good if you're up against a champion who is stacking hp because hp is annoying to be up against trying to burst them with your combo.

Laning

Akali has a hard time laning in the first few levels, but try to get as many last-hits as possible. Also, getting a Hextech Revolver at level 6 is a good choice because then you can start zoning your opponent more. If they try to go in, use Mark of the Assassin on them, use Twilight Shroud to wait for your cooldown, then burst them down. After level 6, laning becomes much easier and more controllable. Be sure to ward top river to look out for ganks. Health Potions are never a bad thing as well. Buy AP/AD pots when appropriate, and remember: farm, farm, farm.

Tip on getting ganked: When pushing your lane, be careful of jungle ganks. Every time you go back, try to buy some wards to have vision of the river, especially if the enemy jungler has a lock-on stun/snare/root (Such as Maokai). This allows you to shroud and dodge the stun/root/snare, allowing you to safely escape the gank.

Matchups that I don't recommend are:
It mostly depends on your skill level, but I feel that Akali has a hard time laning against these champs. If you're against one of them, farm as much as possible and try not to feed them. Ask your jungler for ganks when your lane is pushed, and you should be fine. Then, you can start melting people after laning phase is over.

Teamfights

In teamfights, Akali's role is to burst down the most threatening opponent. If you're fed, consider if the 1-for-1 is worth it, and see if your team can 4v4 the other team without their strongest champion (your team won't have you). If you're lucky, though, you can escape with just a sliver of health. Most likely, the trade will be worth it and your team will probably get an objective, which helps greatly. Try to stay with your team because if you get caught, your team will have just lost a lot of burst damage. IMO, knowing when to enter the fight makes or breaks an Akali. Don't jump into the fight immediately. Have your jungler (who should be pretty tanky) initiate fights and after all cc has been blown, jump on the most threatening opponent. This will most likely be the AD or AP carry. Remember that you have a lot of spell vamp and life steal, so the HP bars may look deceiving. Don't get too overconfident, though. Use Twilight Shroud when necessary.

Closing

Keep in mind that Akali is a very situational pick and should not be picked before the other team picks their top. If you're facing a hard laning matchup, feel free to change the build a bit to fit your needs.

Thanks to:
Me for making the guide.
You for reading my guide.
Riot for making such an awesome champion.

Feedback is appreciated and I will update changes if needed. Drop a comment/like if you want. ;)

Byee!!