Hello, welcome to my guide to Akali. This guide will show you the basics of Akali and a few things about her that you might not have known. This guide will not make you able to 1v5 the opponent's whole team however, because Akali is a champion that requires a lot of skill to master. At first, when you begin to play Akali, you might not be so good, but after a while you will be able to kill a lot more efficiently. Hard work pays off with Akali, so give her a try and you just might like her :)

Akali is extremely fun and provides a high amount of damage output. Her skills combo up nicely and are extremely spammable. This allows her to be a very good and balanced champion in my opinion. Trust me, there are not a lot of champions who are fun to play AND have high damage output.
(Cough cough... Karthus is boring after like 3 games...)
(Cassiopeia is insanely fun but can't kill a damn Annie unless Annie stays still for 20 seconds >.>)

These runes may seem pretty stupid at first, but with these runes, at level 1, you will have both effects for your passive, allowing you to get any item you want without worrying about if spell vamp is more important or damage. It will also help scale your ability power so your passive also gains some power at level 18.

These masteries are made to help Akali escape. Akali only has 2 ways of escaping without Rylai's Crystal Scepter, which is to use your R skill (Ultimate / Shadow Dance) towards an enemy minion who is far away from the enemy, or to use your W skill (Twilight Shroud) and hope you can fool them into walking away from you so you can make a clean escape. Both these methods are not very dependable because...
1. There won't always be an enemy target standing out of the way for you to Ulti to
2. Sometimes they stay so close to your W skill that you can't get away.

So with flash and ghost, you will have a much better chance of living.

Other viable skills are...
Teleport - For getting back to lane in 5v5
Heal - Never hurts to have a heal around with you
Exhaust - Helps you kill or run away from an enemy. This is very useful if your going for first blood too
Ignite - Helps you get kills, pretty good spell

Not as viable spells:
Fortify - Let your support or tank have this, you have better choices
Clairvoyance - Read above ^
Revive - 9 minute cooldown. Really nothing else to say
Rally - Pointless spell unless your trolling
Cleanse - Hmmm... there are definitely better skills you can get, so don't waste a slot on this skill
Clarity - You... don't even have or use mana......... that about says it all doesn't it?
Smite - Very good for jungling, but Akali is now a lot worse at jungling ever since they buffed neutral minions

Pros -
Extremely fun to play
Fun watching people try to run away even though you have 3 Ulties :P
Ninja! No MP!!
Insane burst
Awesome juking abilities
Kills squishies in a second
Can harass like hell

Cons -
Pretty hard to master
Very squishy
Usually targeted because you do a lot of damage
Runs out of energy fast if you don't kill the enemy in 1 combo
Lacks good CC

During early game, between about levels 1 ~ 8, you should play very defensively and focus on last hitting minions. Try not to die because you need a lot of farm if you don't have many kills.
Mid game, about levels 9 ~ 16, you should try to gank a lot and run around the map helping teammates out.
Late game, about levels 17 and 18, farm until you have all your items or just kill champions for the money. Do not fight people alone unless they are squishy. In team fights, aim for the squishiest first. If their whole team is tanky, wait until you see someone with low HP. Then drop in with your Ulti for the kill.

Your basic combo should be...
R in > Q the enemy > W to slow > Auto attack to activate the second effect of your Q spell > E to deal a bit more damage. (Repeat if necessary)
Sometimes its a good idea to go Q first if they are close enough, or W right after you Ulti in if they're hiding in a crowd consisting of the other team's champions.

- Don't forget, Akali is not invincible, so don't do stupid stuff such as solo Baron Nashor, solo a Tryndamere, etc. Since Akali only has a slow(s), she is easily destroyed when facing a LeBlanc or a Kassadin (Heavy CC champions).
- Remember, if you fail with Akali the first few games, practice her in Co-Op games until you get like... 30 kills every game, then try her in a normal game.
- Also, Akali is an assasin. Most assassin type champions require fast reflexes, and you also have to be able to mash your QWER buttons fast as hell. Akali is meant to mash Q and R while mashing your right key for your mouse.
- Be very aware of your Ulti stack count. Don't go and fight if you only have 1 stack because you won't be able to chase very well.
- If you are in your Twilight Shroud and are trying to run away from a few people. Take note of what skills these champions have. If they don't have any AoE spells (Area of Effect spells such as Rupture or Volley. Basically skill-shot skills) then you can just stay in there and wait for your team to come. If they have AoE spells however, you still may die, so it's a wise idea to run and not stay in your Shroud.
- You can auto attack your Q'ed target about half a second before your Q comes off cooldown. This will allow you to pretty much have 3 packs of Q damage. This is a very good way to burst someone down or just to harass.
- If your running away from 1 champion and you are hiding in your Twilight Shroud. Go ahead and try to kill them! (Unless you have like 100 HP and they have 2000 >.>) This might make them retreat. Who knows, you might even end up killing him/her!
- Tell your team to help you kill whoever has an Oracle's Elixir on the opponent team. This will help you survive longer.
- Never start a teamfight! You're extremely squishy so if you initiate first, it's basically suicide.

To conclude, try out Akali when you can. Use her in a Co-Op game first! (Too many people using champions who they never used before in normal games... making me lose all the time >.>)
She's insanely fun to play and will very often be the highest-killing champion on your team.
:)
P.S. I've seen a few Akalis start off the game with Doran's Blade... DO NOT DO THIS. Though this gives you health, life steal, spell vamp (Passive), and attack damage, this can't be built into anything. And every time the opponent Akali bought a Doran's Blade first, my team ended up winning and I killed their Akali in like 3 seconds. One time, their Akali was so bad, she couldn't even kill me while I was AFK at my tower. (True story! :O)