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Comprehensive Akali Guide: The Shadow Warrior

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Akali Build Guide by

Akali: The Shadow Warrior(Rework)

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23 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Zippo33

Akali Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (23) More Akali Guides

Spells:

Flash

Ignite

Ability Order

Akali Passive Ability

More Akali Counters

Introduction

Akali: The Shadow Warrior

Hey everyone, this is my Solo top/Mid build. is a melee assassin, she has incredible burst damage to take out anybody in her path. Ive been playing for a while now and I think Ive found the perfect build for her. Im very open to change and will take any suggestions seriously. (:

Lore

There exists an ancient order originating in the Ionian Isles dedicated to the preservation of balance. Order, chaos, light, darkness - all things must exist in perfect harmony for such is the way of the universe. This order is known as the Kinkou and it employs a triumvirate of shadow warriors to uphold its causes in the world. Akali is one of these shadow warriors, entrusted with the sacred duty of Pruning the Tree - eliminating those who threaten the equilibrium of Valoran.

A prodigious martial artist, began training with her mother as soon as she could make a fist. Her mother's discipline was relentless and unforgiving, but predicated on the fundamental principle: "We do that which must be done." When the Kinkou inducted her into the order at the age of fourteen, she could slice a dangling chain with a chop of her hand. There was no question – she would succeed her mother as the Fist of Shadow. She has had to do much in this role which others might find morally questionable, but to her it is in service of her mother's inviolable doctrine. She now works with her fellows and to enforce the balance of Valoran. This hallowed pursuit has unsurprisingly led the triumvirate to the Fields of Justice.

"The Fist of Shadow strikes from the cover of death itself. Do not impede the balance."

Spotlight

I highly reccommend that you watch this, Its old but you get the idea of who is and how to play her.

Pros / Cons

has many different pros and cons. If you like playing assassins with amazing amounts of burst damage then she is probably the character you've been looking for. She takes a while to master but when you do it will be worth the time and money. I highly recommend you to buy her if youve got the extra rp or ip.

Pros
+ Amazing Burst Damge
+ Stealth
+ Movability
+ Tank killer

SPACE

Cons
- Almost no CC
- Takes time to learn to play her
- Need specific masteries
- High priority target

Masteries

Okay, so you might think that the masteries in offence look a little wierd. Bear with me, dont just look at them and go "This build sucks". With the runes I use,which you will see next, I go straight AP runes with just a smidge of AD. So to get her passive that heals her for some of the damage, I need attack damage. So I put masteries on AD to get it faster.

Runes

Marks

: These marks will let you deal more damage early to mid game. If youre going solo top you'll need these for whichever "off-tank" you have to fight against. I wouldnt replace these runes for anything else.

: You need these marks so that you can get your second passive as fast as possible. But the choice is yours. You can get the second passive by level 13 with the masteries if you so choose.

Seals

greater seal of vitality: is a very squishy champion in early game. These seals help counter that.

: If you would rather have armor over health you could also choose these seals.

: These aren't my first choice for but if you feel that you arent doing enough damage early game you can pick these seals up.

Glyphs

: If youre going mid then these are a MUST HAVE. Theres no way around it. When you go mid you'll normally be facing an AP Caster. These magic resist runes will help you counter them and sustain your lane longer than normal. I wouldnt go with any other Glyphs.

Quintessences

: Who doesnt want an extra 15 Ap at beginning game? I love these quints and would change them for the world. The let you deal mor damage along with your Marks.

The Good the Bad and the Ugly Summoner Spells

The Good

: Teleports your champion toward your cursors location. I always have flash on. It can help you in many different situations. It can be an offensive and defensive summoner spell.
: Ignites target enemy unitdealing 70-410 true damage over 5 seconds and reduces healing efects. I cant tell you how many times Ive gotten first blood from using this summoner spell. It really helps out beginning to mid gsme.
: Your champion ignore unit collision and has 27% increased movement speed for 10 seconds. This is usually a chasing tool, it could be used for escaping but I would rather use flash for escaping. I wouldnt recommend this for new s.
: Teleports your champion to friendly turret or minion. I use this spell every-now-and-then, it helps out in sticky situations like when an enemy champion is pushing to your turret you can teleport there and save it. I would recommend this to new s
: Exhausts target champion, reducing their movement speed by 40%, attack damage dealt by 70%, and ability and item damage dealt by 35% for 2.5 seconds. Akali can perform some of the best ganks in the entire game. But the only flaw is that she has no CC. But this fixes that and during teamfights you can shut down their AD Carry for 2.5 seconds which could win you the fight

The Bad

: Restores 100-525 health to your champion and 505 of that to nearby allies. Only beginner akalis should take this. If its your first couple of games with her then you can take this, otherwise, no.
: Revomes all summoner spells and debuffs on your champion and lowers the duration of incoming disables by 65% for 3 seconds. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need this just use your . Plain and simple. Ive never needed this summoner spell in all of my games.
: Instantly revives your champion at your teams summoner platform and increases your champions maximum health by 220-560 fro 2 minutes. If youre having the worst day ever I guess you can try this out. Otherwise, no. Just no.
: Deals 445-870 true damage (depending on champion level) to target enemy minion or pet. Yes I have actually seen a jungler . I havnt personally tried it but any expearienced player could jungle her. She doesnt have a good sustain in jungle but the ganks she can provide are insane.

The Ugly

: Reveals a small area of the map for your team for 4 seconds. A support ? NO.
: Restores 190-700 mana to your champion and 50% of that to nearby allies. doesnt use mana....

Ability Explanation and Ability Sequence

Upon obtaining 20 ability power s
hits deal 8% bonus magic damage increasing
by 1% for every 6 ability power she has

Upon obtaining 10 attack damage
gains 8% spell vamp increasing by an
aditional 1% for ever 6 bonus attack damage
she has

spins her karm at a target enemy
to deal 45/70/95/120/145(+40% of ability
power) and marks the target for 6 seconds
s melee attacks attacks against that
target wil ignite it dealing 45/70/95/120/145
(+40% of ability power)

SPACE

moves throught the shadows
quickly to strike her target for 100/
175/250 (+50% of ability power) gains
an essence of shadow every 25/20/15. She also
gains one for any kill or assist. (Up to a cap of 3)

SPACE

throws down a cover of smoke that
lasts for 8 seconds. While inside the area
you gain 10/20/30/40/50 armor and magic resist
and becomes stealthed. Enemies inside the smoke
have their movement speeds reduced by 14/18/22/26
/30%

flourishes her karmas hitting nearby
units for 30/55/80/105/130 physical damage (+30%
of ability power)(+60% attack damage) Note: this
can activate

R>Q>E>W>

You want to max as fast as possible for ranged farming and a lot of damage to enemy champions when you get . Once you get / your damage output will be HUGE. Cescent slash will be your next focus for more damage output. You obviously mas whenever you can. doesnt need to be focused on because you dont really need its change until late game.

Gameplay

Beginning Game

In the beginning you want to farm and try not to over-extend. Use your to kill minions that have low health. If the enemy champion is in range taunt them with it instead. It will push them back and not let them get as much farm. Keep farming until you get once you get that you can go for the enemy champion.

Note: If they have a jungler a good investment would be a sight ward or

Once youve destroyed your lanes top turret or mid turret look to see if the enemy team is pushing hard and over-extendig. If they are make them pay for it. (See next chapter for ganking tips and tricks)

Team battles

When a team battle breaks out your role as an assassin is to take out the enemy champions dealing the most damage, target AD Carries (,,,etc.)
and AP Casters (,,). Once you take them out the battle and the game should be smooth-sailing. Make use of your ult, do it as many times as you can so the enemy champions cant focus you because they have no idea wher youre at.

Ganking

When using right she can perform some of the best ganks League of Legends has to offer. When preparing for a gank make sure your ally/allies knows which target to focus or put cc on. Ultimate to the enemy champion for some initial damge use use your ultimate again, then after all of that and their still alive your probably ganking a tank. Dont do that.

Items-Damage

Here it is. The reason most people even scroll down this far! The Items I choose for and the reasons I choose them!

Lich Bane:This is your main damage dealer. This item goes super well with Mark of the Assassin your damage output will be crazy. I wouldn't recommend changing this item for any other
Hextech Gunblade:This items is any hybrids dream item. It goes well with Akali as well even though this guide plays her as straight AP. Its active is a great finisher for people you just cant get down all the way. You can exchange this item for Deathfire Grasp as well. Its your choice
Abyssal Mask: I did have Void Staff on her but I decided to change the items. I did the math and the 20 extra MR reduction is actually more than what Void Staff would give you. It gives you some nice AP with some durability as well
Rabadon's Deathcap: This item is only for AP. Once you get this you enter what I call "god mode" the enemy team wont know what hit them

Other Reliable Damage Items
Will of the Ancients: A good item that you can get beginning,mid,or late game. Gives you ability power and spell vamp so you can stay in lane longer
Deathfire Grasp: I mentioned this item before. You can replace Hextech Gunblade for this. Its cheaper, focuses on AP (unlike hextech which focuses on AD and AP), and still gives you that great active were looking for

Items-Survivability

Now that we have discussed damage we need to talk about being able to stay in lane longer and making it out of team fights alive.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Yes, I only have one item for durability in my build. BUT, that doesnt mean you cant have more. I choose this item because it gives you a good amount of health along with much needed AP and some utility along with it.

Other Reliable Items
Guardian Angel: This item provides a good amount of armor and MR. But everybody knows the real reason you get this item. You get this item for its amazing passive that lets you defy death itself
Zhonya's Hourglass; If you find yourself getting focused in team fights get this item and right when they start to focus you just activate it and then flash out of the battle. The enemy team wont know what happened to you and your team has a very high chance to win the battle

Summary

Well if youve made it this far thank you for reading my guide. Ill be adding more to it and my other guide as time passes and my learning of coding gets better(:
I hope youve learned a little bit mmore about one of my favorite champions in the League. If you have any questions fell free to PM me. If you have any suggestions about the build let me know and I will take them seriously, if you see anything wrong with my coding or suggestions to make my guide look nicer. Plese, let me know. See you on the Rift. Happy Gaming!(:

Special Thanks

Special thanks to everyone who has upvoted my guide! It really means a lot, it keeps me going and motivated to keep improving this guide and my others.

SPECIAL THANKS: To jhoijhoi I would not be where I am today with the help of her. Thank you for the line dividers and your How To Make A Guide It has helped me out in so many ways

Change Log

Timeline

8-7-12: Guide was started
8-8-12: After pulling an all-nighter and a half-dayer? (: Guide was published
After playing a couple games, I reached the decision to replace Zhonya's Hourglass with Hextech Gunblade 8-8-12
Added Spotlight Chapter 8-8-12
8-31-12: Added Exhaust to "The Good" Summoner spels. Meant to do it a long time ago but just now got around to it
9-9-12: Added Smite to "The Bad" Summoner spells.
9-16-12: Small Changes
9-17-12: Complete rework on the "Items" Chapter. Also added Abyssal Mask to build instead of Void Staff
9-30-12: Small changes in coding

To Do List
Make a FAQ chapter
Make situational items section in the Items chapter
Improve Coding