PLEASE READ THIS FIRST PARAGRAPH!

For some reason the runes shown at the top are screwed up. Mobafire doesn't offer the Energy Regen runes that I use. Therefore In the introduction I will be saying what the runes are.

Marks: Greater Mark of Insight (spell Penetration)
Seals: Greater Seal of Lucidity (Energy Regen Per lvl)
Quintessences: Greater Quintessence of Meditation (Flat Energy Regen)
Glyphs: Greater Glyph of Focus (Cooldown Reduction)

Introduction:

Akali is possibly one of the most strongest carry's I have seen. This isn't to say that she can win it by herself but the survivability and damage output rivals if not surpasses my Ezreal build. Akali is truly as she says: Red Lightning. In and out of combat in a second with two successful kills in hand.

Pro's:
Damage output Extremely Heavy
Survivable past anything that comes at her
Amazing Ganker

Con's:
If countered properly can be useless (true about most champions but akali is one of those special damage dealers)
Very easy to kill early game
Easily killed if trapped

Flash: Flash is that nifty escape tool and get out of jail free card when your in danger or caught inside your Twilight Shroud without any escape. With this you can suprise enemies and turn the tables inside a battle without people being prepared.

Ignite: Ignite has given me hundreds of kills that would not have been possible without it. The extra damage is helpful and it gives you the only advantage against someone with a lot of Lifesteal (Jax, Yi)

I don't really know any other variations to use simply because I have never bothered to look. These two spells have served me for more then anything else. Without them this build probably wouldn't be possible.

The Masteries are designed to give spell pen and give you extra damage. But let's not forget this champion is built to be a survivalist. More damage is just helpful to that cause.

For some reason the runes shown at the top are screwed up. Mobafire doesn't offer the Energy Regen runes that I use. Therefore In the introduction I will be saying what the runes are.

Marks: Greater Mark of Insight (spell Penetration)
Seals: Greater Seal of Lucidity (Energy Regen Per lvl)
Quintessences: Greater Quintessence of Meditation (Flat Energy Regen)
Glyphs: Greater Glyph of Focus (Cooldown Reduction)

The items start off with boots of speed. This may be questionable to some people however it is the only time that I find it to even buy boots without disrupting the main build itself. The 3 health potions are simply there because you wont have much to keep you alive.

Hextech Revolver: This gives you the spell vamp necessary to stay in lane and some extra damage with your passive.

Guinsoo's Rageblade: This gives you attack speed and more Ability power when it comes down to you running out of abilities (or energy, whichever first)

Hextech Revolver: This increases your Spell vamp and Life steal and gives your passive a huge boost to damage output and SV(Spell vamp)

Guardian Angel: To long to build anything else that gives good armor and Magic Resist. Not to mention if you get focused but you get your Twilight shroud down you spawn without them seeing you during a team fight and gives you the initiative to get out there and kill.

Beserker Greaves: Finally time to get that extra attack Speed. With this even without your abilities you still can hit people preferably hard.

Hextech Revolver: Again this does the same as the first hextech however this will boost your SV up to about 88% and your LF around 44 or so. Not to mention your abilities will be healing you for about 40 to 50% and your Extra damage from the Passive will give you an extra 80% (these numbers for the passive arent checked but I will post everything in the Summary section to be added at a later date)

Warmog's armor: I questions this one a lot to figure out a good end build. You might say why not get another hextech or build more armor. I would agree with you however the end doens't justify getting it. Having 100% SV is fun but you can get someone else on your team to get Will of the Ancients to get you that SV. At and end game your Health will be around 3000. This combined with LF and SV will keep you going through practically every battle.

Variations:

For Warmog's you can actually switch this out for whatever you really need. If the game you've been in has lasted long enough and your killing atleast 2 people a fight then building a final item won't be a problem. Out of anything I would suggest build a Rabadon's instead of a Warmog's if you really want to put out more extra damage(see Passive below).

Void Staff: I have found myself questioning this item many times. Generally though you wont face all of them tanking. If you do end up facing such foe's simply build this halfway when building your guardian angel and finish it off after you've done that. If you had to rush it however build it in place of the Rageblade but build the Rageblade later. It really is helpful.

The first three items are set. There is no differing with the: Boots, Rageblade, Hextech. With these your pretty much dealing enough damage to kill people. The 4th item can be if you need to stack Magic Resist or Armor. The ones I recommend for either is: Force of Nature - Thornmail. Either work perfectly.

Twin Disciplines(Passive): Upon obtaining 20 Ability Power, Akali's basic attacks deal 10% bonus magic damage, increasing by 1% for every 5 Ability Power gained thereafter.
Upon obtaining 10 Bonus Attack Damage, Akali gains 10% Spell Vamp, increasing by an additional 1% for every 5 Bonus Attack Damage gained thereafter.

The passive is one that almost requires you to go hybrid to use Akali to her true power. With this passive alone Spell vamp goes up to 88% when only 3 items (two hextech's and 1 rageblade). Your extra damage does suffer a little bit with The final item of Warmog's but it can be replaced with whatever you may need.


Mark of the Assassin(Q):Akali spins her kama at a target enemy to deal magic damage and mark the target for 6 seconds. Akali's melee attacks against a marked target will trigger and consume the mark to cause additional damage and restore Energy.
Akali throws her kama at a target enemy to deal 50/75/100/125/150 (+0.4) magic damage and mark the target for 5 seconds.
Akali's melee attacks against a marked target will consume the mark to cause 50/75/100/125/150 (+0.4) magic damage and restore 20/25/30/35/40 Energy.

This is your Primary tool for harass and one of your strongest Spells for immediate healing. Once this is level up most peoples armor will drop quickly once you hit them a second time. The only way I find to kill people is to Q them and then shadow dance on top to grab the kill. Sometimes Shadow Dancing works first however they will generally run before I can get the hit.

Twilight Shroud(W): Akali throws down a cover of smoke. While inside the area, Akali gains Armor and Magic Resist and becomes stealthed. Attacking or using abilities will briefly reveal her. Enemies inside the smoke have their Movement Speed reduced.
Akali throws down a cover of smoke that lasts for 8/8/8/8/8 seconds. While inside the area, Akali gains 10/20/30/40/50 Armor and Magic Resist and becomes stealthed. Attacking or using abilities will briefly reveal her.
Enemies inside the smoke are slowed by 14/18/22/26/30%.

This becomes your only way to survive half the battles. The technique for trying to survive is really to pop your twilight shroud as quick as you can after you have used your other abilities and if you start to die just hide in the bubble and wait. 99.9% of the time this is what keeps me alive and the battle a win for the team. Just remember you arent trying to get back into the fight asap. You have to give yourself time to regen important things like Energy or a shadow dance.
Anyone with oracles cancels you out and you become very easily targeted. (Trust me people will target you).The only way is to come in from an unseen angle (flash) and focus on the person with oracles. Confer with your team as well for a kill order to ensure that you become useful. Losing 1 battle means nothing if you win the war. The other most noteable factor from this is the extra armor. As said above this extra armor boosts you to near position of being a tank in its own. Just be wary to not leave it when in a fight unless your ready.

Crescent Slash(E) Akali flourishes her kamas, dealing damage based on her Attack Damage and Ability Power.
Akali flourishes her kamas, slicing nearby enemy units for 30/55/80/105/130 (+) (+0.3) physical damage.

This is truly a powerful skill and is your perfect tool for farming. Once this hits level three its damage truly becomes deadly and essential for healing. Though it is not as much as your Mark of the assassin it is one to keep your going when it gets tough.

Shadow Dance(R(Ultimate) Akali moves through shadows to quickly strike her target, dealing damage and consuming an Essence of Shadow charge. Akali recharges Essence of Shadow charges both periodically and upon kills and assists, max 3 stacks.
Akali moves through shadows to quickly strike her target, dealing 100/175/250 (+0.5) magic damage.
Akali stores an Essence of Shadow on kills and assists as well as every seconds up to 3/3/3 total.

Your ultimate chase skill/initite/suprise attack. This Ultimate is one for the books. With this spell you are immediatly ported to the enemies location not only dealing good damage but also giving you close enough distance to activate all of your spells and hit them with Mark of the assassin. Using this to your advantage will be described in the "Ranked Play Section."

I heard a lot around the game and forums that you want to level crescent slash first or you want to max out Mark of the Assassin. In all truthfulness this doesn't work. Your damage output along with your Spell vamp is to worthwhile to simply pin all of your hopes on 1 spell being the damager (not to mention cooldowns). With the way I did it is simply to keep you dealing damage and when the time comes to get your ult you can put out enough to make sure that kill is yours.

There is sometimes a variation at the begining. You will always get Mark of the Assassin first simply because its your only farming tool on hand(and fun damage to squishies). After wards though if your getting hit a lot or you need some type of escape method getting the Twilight shroud will definitely save you.

I play Akali as a Survivalist and an Assassin. However in truth it was entirely built for surviving team fights while killing anything in her path. In this section I will detail how I play her throughout team fights, in-game orders, and simple map movement essentials and Items. Read the Team Fights Section below to know how you go through an actual fight itself.

Early game _ Initially I buy the boots because there really is no time to buy it later. Early game you need to stay mobile especially with the way your Q ability works. The 3 health potions are always used however they are helpful when your being harassed beyond belief. Stay in Lane until you have 1200 gold. When you get that going back to base to buy the Hextech Revolver is what will be your saving grace for the next 5 minutes or so until you get your Rageblade.

A constant factor that I keep with me is never dive unless they are below 1 bar of health. The reason for this is you want to secure first blood if you can. The best times to set up a gank are once your level 4 or 6.


Early to Mid game: you will be level 6 now and the way you play gets a 180. Passive? whats that even mean. Find the squishiest or the lowest HP guy on there side and get ready to rock. Its fine to even go in once and harrass but with your ult you will never want to stop going in. Now its good to have control of when you do it but diving people and coming out of nowhere is practically your only way to get kills. And thats exactly what you need. Once the kills start they never stop. The more fed you get the better the game will go. But what if they counter me? Bait out your team and go in as a support instead of a front liner.

Oracles. It's not all the scary. The hardest part about it is simply they target you and only you. Again just sit back and wait for a second or two then jump in after whoever has it. Remember your teammates abilities will be your only way to stay alive in this situation. So try and set up something with them.

Mid game: So you got your Rageblade and your Hextech? Good dive more. Work your way through forests and grab Blue and red buff. Make yourself as strong as you can and just keep ganking. It will be good to grab wards(confer with your team to do the same) and place it in there jungle. By now most front turrets will be dead either side. perfect time to ward everything, and keep it warded. With this you can find people and rush them. As said before you don't ever want to stop trying to aim for a kill.

Mid to Late game: Guardian angel done? Hextech halfway built? Great start making a team fight happen. As long as a team fight happens and you get the kills.

Late game: Warmog's is on the way and you should still be killing. Now take note that the way I see late game is once your build is finished. The fastest I have completed this build is 35 to 40 minutes. Once your at end game buy the potions and get the buffs on the map and you'll kill anything.

A most noteable factor at end game is that your a massive damage dealer and can survive but dont think that you are something late game without your team. I have to say this again "you will be targeted first" The teamwill somtimes not even are about the rest until you are in the fight. Problematic but not hard to beat. See below for fighting.

Once you've found your mark your technique is to shadow dance when hes in opportune position and attack. Once your in Q is your first ability to use. Now you can use your E Immediately or you can wait for your auto attack to go off for that big initial damage. But there after will be your Crescent slash. Save your Twilight Shroud until its known what the enemy is doing. Many times he will just try to run away. Remember that your W is a slow. Put it in front of him and shadow dance again and re-hit your Q and E. Keep this up until hes dead.

If he decides to fight simply put your shroud right on top of you and you'll get him.

In an open battlefield if your doing well for yourself (a 2 to 1 score) then you want to play your team fights more passively. More times then not the enemy will buy oracles to counter you. This isn't something to fear but a challenge to overcome. When a team battle starts just make sure you know who you're hitting and wait for everyone around you to go in. (either be the last or the 3rd person in.) Once the team fights starts pay extremely close attention to your health. If you see it drop more then 300 activate your Twilight Shroud. Again this will give you enough armor to really stay in the fight if not you can hide(this is to say your team killed the one with oracles.)

There isn't much else apart from these tips and pointers. Rely on your team when you can and don't run alone.

Please leave comments below on what you think and what needs work. I haven't played Akali to much so I am not an expert on everything so if you think there can be somthing added I would like to know and try and come up with a better build (if there happens to be one).

(P.S.) I am buying a lot more champions so maybe ill be making more builds soon. Maybe a Kennen.