Here is my Jungle Akali resource! This is IMO the best way to jungle her I've trialed all different builds/runes/masteries and these all take the absolute best that Akali can offer and makes her an extremely strong jungler.

I know she can be so much stronger in a lane but it's good to know different ways of playing your champion, it allows for so much more versatility and in the end, you will be a better player for it.

Note: Do not expect positive results with different runes and/or masteries.

Summoner Spells

Absolutely necessary, don't even bother jungling without it. IF you skip it your jungling will be so slow it won't be worth it. Also you won't have good buff control.

Escape/Chase spell, becomes more obsolete as game progresses. Use this, or . IMO is absolutely necessary for pre-6 ganks with red.

Masteries

OFFENCE
AP/lvl because the others are useless to Akali (in this build)
Improved Smite because we are jungling
Archaic Knowledge for the %MP
AS buff and ArP buff for faster jungling
+1 AD to gain the other half of Akali's passive
DEFENCE
I take 3 points in Hardiness to be a little tougher against jungle creeps
UTILITY
I took Improved Ghost because I use it as a Summoner Spell
3 points in reduced death timer to get to the next stage
4 points in increased XP gain for faster jungling
Increased Buff duration, DUH.

Runes

x9
These combined with the offensive masteries gain us half of Akali's passive.

x9
These combined with Cloth Armour and Hardiness make Akali super tanky against jungle creeps.

x5
I only use 5 of these as my masteries and other runes already reach 20AP which lets me change the other four to per/lvl granting me a bigger bonus later on.

x4
As explained before, these runes get the most out of the rune slots.

x3
These are used to gain the other half of Akali's passive.

Route

Here is my route;

~Rundown~
1. Double Golems - Smite one, and use Q on it until dead, switch to other and Q until dead.
2. Wraiths - Attack the large one with Q and E until it dies, Q the others until dead.
3. Wolf Camp - Q Large wolf and E+Q until all are dead.
4. Mana buff - Use all your skills on the large golem and smite at 500~ health. Take Shroud as your next skill.
5. BACK AND BUY - Buy boots (for better ganks as enemies in the lane most likely won't have them) IF you popped health pots when you needed them you should have 1 left. After you buy you should have 3!
6. Double Golems - Use your skills on these but SAVE SMITE FOR RED.
7. Red Buff - Use your skills on this guy, it's dangerous to use shroud though because sometimes it resets his health, save smite until he's at 500~ health.
8. TIME TO GANK, pick mid or bottom lane and give it a shot!


Here is a video of my route;

(COMING SOON HOMIES)


-PRE-6 GAMEPLAN-

After getting red you can take any of these options;
1. Gank, you will most definately need to for a kill, remember to get red proc on the enemy for the slow. IF no ganks are available;
2. Steal enemy buffs or creep camps. This denies the enemy jungler gold and XP and is almost as good as ganking. IF you can't steal creep camps;
3. Continue jungling your own jungle. This is not that good and you should be looking for ganks or camp steals instead.

-POST-6 GAMEPLAN-

Now your ganks are a force to be reckoned with, however I'd still recommend red. How to gank?
1. Ghost in (optional) and Shadow Dash to chosen target.
2. Throw Shroud behind enemy.
3. If they flash or blink then continue to use Shadow Dash to keep red proc on them.
4. PROFIT!


This is a bit tricky and done wrong will end up with a dead Akali =O.

The biggest problem people do is just rushing into the middle of a fight going PAST the tanks, this is such a BAD idea.

The smarter thing to do is to bypass the main fight and launch yourself directly in the middle of the enemy carries, once there, shroud and start pwning away. It's not uncommon for Akali to be able to take out every carry if their tank is a dumbass.

If their tank is smart you're gonna have a hard time focusing down a carry. The tanks will just take oracle and then CC you to the ground whether you're shrouded or not. The best thing to do in this situation is to engage in short bursts and then backing out to refill your energy and Shadow Dash charges then launch yourself back in again. It shouldn't take more then 3 bursts to kill most squishy champions.

My reasoning for these boots is because I'm missing MP from my marks. IF you need them buy Mercs.

My favourite item for Akali, every skill of hers will slow when you get this item, basically like a long-range version of .

This and Akali's Q do insane amounts of damage.

Best AP item in the game really, really boosts damage from .

This item is the same as giving Akali an extra skill, it's a beautiful round-off to my item set because of it's active and lifesteal/spell vamp.

Lovely item and the only defensive item we'll need all game, if you are ROFLstomping or don't need armor/magic resist then just skip this item.

Now if you didn't like any of these items here are some optionals which are still good but lack the strength of the 6 I have mixed and matched.


Beautiful item which grants us MR, MP and AP. I find that it's absolutely necessary because we'll lack MR without it.

Pretty decent item but pales in comparison in the late-game. Basically good for tower pushing but with Madred's you don't need it.

Ahhh.. Not needed at all we have 40 flat MP which is definitely enough to take down any squishy with ease.

If you are VSing a Morde or a Vlad that target you then you might want to consider taking this item. An Akali ghost is f*#king scary! Hell you could even get this against heavy CC teams, great item, but under-rated.

Definitely an early-game item which I don't pick up much, still good if you are having trouble with the mages and want a cheap solution.

Transform your plain old razor into this killing machine. This makes auto attacking with Akali not only worthwhile but absolutely deadly. You'll notice how much damage you do with her passive extra damage, Madred's extra damage AND red buff. It's absolutely nuts. Of course you could just sell your old razor for something else, it doesn't matter that much.

So if you're still wondering if Jungle Akali is worth it I say give it a shot. For me, it works better then laning but maybe it's just the way I play. She's an average jungler and an average ganker but by god she's one of the most versatile champs in this game. Just the fact that she can jungle should be enough to make anyone try it out.

There you have it, I still have some things to add but I'll chuck this out there for now to see what the general response is, any sections you want to see? Leave me a message.

All comments are welcome. Enjoy!