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Akali Build Guide by Neltarionsama

Assassin Akali Top - Ninjas work alone [6.7]

Assassin Akali Top - Ninjas work alone [6.7]

Updated on June 2, 2016
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League of Legends Build Guide Author Neltarionsama Build Guide By Neltarionsama 30 4 1,437,422 Views 69 Comments
30 4 1,437,422 Views 69 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author Neltarionsama Akali Build Guide By Neltarionsama Updated on June 2, 2016
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Akali
    The reaper
  • LoL Champion: Akali
    Nightblade
  • LoL Champion: Akali
    Fast and Furious

Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Teleport

Teleport

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Introduction

6.9 Work in progress. Just one thing to say:
Air, Water, Earth, Fire.
Slay all the dragons!
Master all the elements!
Become the AVATAR!
Everything was balanced until the fire nation attacked.


Death is the name
Akali is the main
Top is the lane
Assassination the game

For glory and fame
I start my campaign
Of blood and pain
Gold to obtain
Experience to gain
Enemies to lay slain
So I show it plain
Top is my domain


Skillshots you arraign
All your efforts in vain
I dodge like insane
My speed unmatched again
Beyond anything arcane

Shadow dance I unchain
My burst you can't contain
My sustain you can't restrain
Kamas fly in a hurricane
Blood starts to rain
And you see your bane
In the rift I reign!



Why play Akali top?


Simple really. If you ever played Akali on mid you know how frustrating farming pre lvl 6 can be.(Annie, Oriana, Lux and etc.)
On top there are few match ups which are hard to farm. You also can't leave your tower a lot and roam. However you are a lot less likely to end up against someone who can harass you even when you are under the tower trying to last hit.
That is just my main reason to try her on top.
On average going top resulted in at least a minion advantage of 15 by minute 8 compared to the oppression experienced on mid.

Having discovered the synergy with Nashor Tooth one beautiful day
(there was a maokai that refused to die to my burst so I decided to bruise with him instead)
I can now honestly say Akali is a top tier split pusher and champions who can duel her or take down towers faster are very few.

Check this out for proof of Akalis split push prowess.


Yo this is a shout out to all Akali players. I submitted an Akali skin suggestion. Please check it out.
http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/skin-champion-concepts/ZtdIBqYu-akali-skin-reaper-death-the-horseman-please-read-before-votes
Back to Top

Changelog

Patch 6.2
    30/01/2016 Updated to reflect changes to masteries. Also added changelog.
    31/01/2016 Updated match up section in build (Shen is quite different than before)
Patch 6.6
24/03/2016 Updated match up section (Panth, Irelia, Shen, Rengar, Riven)
- Added situational items (Sunfire, Zrot and Black Cleaver)
Changed masteries section a bit (let us do damage and forget about TP plays) but not every game.
Patch 6.7
22/04/2016 Updated my Unique skills section
- some info there was severely outdated, also put more advice there.
Back to Top

Runes

Why scaling runes?


By this point you probably think I'm an idiot and you are wasting precious time reading this guide. Well keep reading and I will make it worth your while.

Akali does not fight pre lvl 6 (it's just dumb unless the enemy laner is really bad and stays around when you shroud). Why take flat runes when you don't even intent to trade before lvl 6 and by lvl 8 scaling runes give more?

Akali has one of the strongest passives in the game. Sadly because she needs AP for her
burst you can't really get many AD items without lowering that burst substantially.

Meanwhile what does AD do? Twin Disciplines It gives spellvamp (Read tons of sustain).

So we pick AD scaling marks and quints. AP may give you more dmg on the Q and R but in a messy teamfight half the dmg I deal comes from E and AA. Akali is a champion of balance.(Seriously thats all she talks about!) By keeping it between AP and AD you get the most dmg and sustain possible.

Getting 2AD per level is insane advantage as soon as you hit lvl 9. That is 18AD 10 minutes in the game and 18AD=3% spellvamp + ~25%(magic dmg to AA passive) lets say 5magic dmg on AA and 10 dmg to your Crescent Slash

Final build is about 628 AP. Now thats 110% Bonus magic dmg to AA and you will get 36AD from runes so it's going to result in roughly 75 mixed dmg to AA, 21 dmg to your Crescent Slash and 6% spellvamp.


I will prove how these runes are better than AP Quints and H pen Marks if you read what is bellow!





Now lets take some time to read this valuable information on how Armor/MR and Pen work.
EXPLANATION ON HOW IT ALL WORKS


Now that we are not ignorant lets see what runes do for us:
CALCULATIONS WITH DIFFERENT RUNES AT LEVEL 6



There you have it!
Pen Marks + AP quints = 957 Actual DMG to lvl 6 Combo.
AD quints and marks = 909 Actual DMG and extra 18HP healed from combo.


Take those cherished 48 DMG but I prefer to take the Mid and Late game.



As you can see AP + Pen runes sounds great and it is great before lvl 7. Then AD scaling gives more or less the same DMG unless you are hitting someone with a lot of bonus HP.
After that it's nowhere near as good as AD. Getting gunblade lvl 11 (106AP - 124%AD AAs 22AD runes) and piss arse poor after the Nashor(50%AS).

Also the more MR/Armor they build the less Increase of DMG Flat pen runes give. They will actually give you most dmg at about lvl 7 and fall off later unless the enemy keeps building HP and no resistance. (DMG reduction formula from above) So H pen runes are very weak against people with more than 100 Armor/MR.


You building AP will continue to increase the AD scaling of your AAs!
Those pen runes will help you kill someone in lane a bit easier (If they suck!)
However seriously speaking if you can kill them with a 957DMG combo you can probably kill them with 909DMG one and a bit of patience to harass for an extra AA or two.
So just take Scaling AD runes!

Then you snowball easier.

AP/Pen will do little for you after the 12 minute mark of the game and if your opponent knew what he was doing. (Build any MR)

Never forget how 6% Spellvamp is insane on a champion that can spam abilities so fast.

I wouldn't get AP quints and Pen marks on Akali unless i planned to go vs Mundo/Voli ect. and could really make good use of the penetration. (Even then you trade so much sustain)

Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power hardly need explanation. 14AP lvl 9 and 28 AP lvl 18 is a lot. ~5% Magic dmg to your 250 Dmg AAs.

As for scaling Greater Seal of Scaling Armor they are best if most of the enemy team dmg is AD.
You can replace them with Greater Seal of Scaling Health if you are vs AP heavy teams or true dmg.
Or use a nice mix of both = 0.5Armor/Level (3seals) and 8HP/Level (6seals)

I don't recommend taking MR seals as they don't give as much as scaling health would.
Back to Top

Items

They got me surrounded again... those poor bastards.

Why Nashor?

Well gentleman (and maybe ladies) there is one main reason why Nashor is a core item for Akali:
Her burst without it is extremely SLOW. Ever since Riot decided to remove E proc of Q Akali has struggled to detonate the marks before being stunned and killed. I had many frustrating games where I would mark an opponent but my scythe swing would be so slow(read 1 sec) that I would eat 4 stuns and 3k dmg before I complete it (Read die miserably). Alternatively the marked has a lot of time to dash or flash away. (Again denying you detonation and spellvamp which can kill you if you are being focused.)

Nashors 50% attack speed shortens the Q proc by 0.34sec on lvl 1!

The shortening is drastic if you have less bonus AS and more tempered if you build more AS.

With Trinity 15%AS, Nashor 50%AS and lvl 18 extra 52%AS Bonus AS is 117%

Your AAs per sec are calculated as: Base AS(0.69) + (1.17 x 0.69) = 0.69+0.81=1.50 AAs in 1 sec with both items. Q proc goes down to 0.67sec

With no Nashor or Trinity Math is:
0.69 + (0.52 x 0.69) = 0.69+0.35 = 1.04 AAs in 1 sec.
So 1/1.04=0.96 sec to proc Q. So the extra 65%AS from items in the build gives 0.29 Sec faster Q proc. (0.25 With Nashor alone and no Trinity at 18)

This is one invisible strength you won't truly appreciate until you try playing with it.

To be perfectly honest with you this item gives akali the most dmg in any fight that lasts longer than 6 sec. CDR, AS, AP and a fancy bonus magic dmg to AA(109 magic dmg to AA end game). Literally everything you need to fight tanks face to face like a bruiser instead of an assassin. Nashor is also the main item that allows you to make plays and crush towers. (Read kill 2-3 people in quick succession and never standing in one place for more than 1 sec until someone can react with a stun)

Unparalleled mobility!


Shadow Dance has a 2/1.5/1 sec interval between dashing. Now when you get 40% CDR it goes down to 0.6 sec between dashes. This gives the opponent a lot less time to react or try to disengage.
Also the 15 Sec to get a charge go down to 8 sec. (You will get one extra R in 10 sec fight even without kills or assists)

Here comes my extra health bar(Your 1st item. 90% of the time)
This new season nerfed gunblade for Akali a lot (Goodbye double active!) but it's still her most valuable item.
80AP, 40AD and 15% Drain + Active 350 Dmg 40% slow is simply way to slot efficient.
Also now that the 20%spellvamp was reworked into 15%drain it is more efficient buy for a Nashor Akali that does 50% more AAs than an full AP Akali. (My build is a lot better on sustain compared to full AP build this season)

The active should never be used 1st in the fight where you expect the opponent to trade back instead of running. (It is a near instant 10% Max HP heal if you suddenly get bursted to low hp and it's a shame to use it in the initial 1st second of the fight before they traded you any dmg.)
Exceptions apply when you want to kill someone as fast as possible so he does not stun you.
I have made many fearless dives on supports like Leona when they are low enough to burst in a second just to eliminate the threat of being stunned. Then I proceed to slaughter 2 or 3 from the others with my unrestrained spellvamp while fighting a team of 3 or 4.
If you are ahead with 2000 gold and don't get stunned you can fight up to 3 people and win.

You can never have to much AP. Unless they have a veigar....


I'm not to happy with Riot for making it even more expensive than it was but it's an essential item for your DMG.

This is normally a 3rd and sometimes even 4th item. You can take it 2nd (after gunblade) only if you trashed your oponent in lane completely and have tons of gold.

If you are going even/slightly ahead go for Nashor 2nd.

If you are behind itemize with Thornmail or Abyssal Mask so you can outrade your laner better.
(If you are behind skip the boots! Seriously having mobility is fine and dandy if you can go around roaming/chasing and killing stuff but if you are behind you need fighting stats to get back in the game and not MS)


Why dance only in the shadows when you can dance in between dimensions as well
Ionian boots? Well 1st Akali is Ionian so they fit her in the great scheme of things.
Second as I said before CDR is really good to have if you want to dodge skillshots and make teams panic on seeing you.
Also the boots now make Summoner spells CD shorter.
( Insight + Ionian Boots of Lucidity + Enchantment: Distortion = 40% CDR on summ = 180 sec CD on Flash and Teleport Pssst this is OP! )

From there on you can take situational items as your insane dmg is secured.


Where do you think you are you going?
item info


How to start a fight 101.
item info



Can't touch this! ta-na-na...
item info



Die Hard!
item info



Your Magic Has No Power Here!
item info



Elementary maths:
item info



Deathfire x2
item info



You Shall Not Burst!

item info


You shall not CC! (kinda of reusing the previous one but whatever.

item info



Right back at ya!
item info



I'll be back
item info



Towers? What where? I see only rubble...
item info



You bought MR = trololo
item info



Some ninjas just like to see the world burn
item info



Zerg Rush!
item info


Get one of these:

(lategame burst)


OR This can be 5th or 6th item.
(Better as 6th Unless you are very ahead in gold and want to close)
If you got a Guinsoo's Rageblade early you are better off getting a defensive item than one of these.


I prefer the trinity because it simply makes people go WTF when I fearlessly dash in 4 players with near full hp 2 of them being tanks and kill 3 of them solo. Not to mention towers go down in less than 10 sec by this point.

Since the nerf (30AP removed) AS(15%removed) and AD(-5) on the Trinity a Lichbane would actually do more dmg to towers and in short fights(under 9 sec).

However I'm a loyal trinity fan. Every crit (20%chance) is an extra 220 Physical dmg which Hextech Gunblade and Elixir of Wrath interacts with (30% drain)


Lets check out some turret changes this season. Patch 5.22 changelog:

Turrets

Lots of numbers below, but the gist is that turrets are more vulnerable on average unless you give them time to scale up. Take down an outer early enough and you'll be able to put meaningful damage on the next (or even take it outright!) before it can fortify if your opponent isn't respecting your demolition power.

Turret mechanics
Removed: SHIELDS OFFLINE Inner towers no longer shield nearby players from damage
THIS IS A MAGE BUFF Basic attacks against turrets deal damage equal to base attack damage + either 1.0 bonus attack damage or 0̶.̶4̶ ̶a̶b̶i̶l̶i̶t̶y̶ ̶p̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ ⇒ 0.5 ability power, whichever is higher.

Turret resistances
BASE ARMOR AND MAGIC RESIST 1̶0̶0̶ ⇒ 0
New WE CAN REBUILD Turrets gain 2 armor and magic resist per minute, up to a maximum of 30. Outer towers begin scaling at game-start, Inner towers at 15 minutes, Inhibitor & Nexus towers at 30 minutes.
REINFORCED ARMOR Turrets gain 3̶0̶0̶ ⇒ 200 armor and magic resist if no minions are nearby

Turret health
OUTER TOWER HEALTH 2000 ⇒ 3500
INNER TOWER HEALTH 2500 ⇒ 3500
INHIBITOR TOWER HEALTH 2800 ⇒ 4000
NEXUS TOWER HEALTH 3000 ⇒ 4000

Turret gold rewards
OUTER TOWER LOCAL GOLD 150 gold ⇒ 220 gold
INNER TOWER LOCAL GOLD 100 gold ⇒ 250 gold



Akali's passive magic dmg works on towers (that is 110% of 253AD=278dmg to towers with Preferred Final build) and when you have 628AP it uses 50% of that = 314 and your base dmg = 112 on AA against the turret. (Nashor Passive does not apply on structures but the AS helps a lot) A spelledge is 224DMG The math at lvl 18 comes down to:
Spelledge AA = chunk of 928DMG(0.67sec). Then 3 hits follow for 704DMG each in 2.01 sec =3040HP in 2.68sec.

If you have minions and the tower is fully stacked (30 Armor and MR) you will do 77% dmg to it. That is 2338HP in 2.68 sec! so you will need 4.5 sec to kill a nexus tower.

If you have no minions and the tower is fully stacked (230 Armor and MR) you will do 30% dmg to it. So that is 1012 Dmg in 2.7 sec to towers when doing back door.

(Guinsoo takes towers down a lot faster than trinity or lichbane but as discussed above it's not a good item to take unless they have less burst and more tankyness)
Back to Top

Spells

General combo wombos:


1st The fist of shadow

(Your main pre lvl 6 combo)
+Wait+ +AA+ +AA

This combo is good in lane but becomes useless later. Your shroud will only serve as slow/MS boost and bush face checker after lvl 6. Once you get to Gold III and above the amounts of teamfights where no one will drop a pink immediately after seeing a shroud is ZERO! (I had a teamfight where i shrouded after going into the fray and they put down 3 PINKS + 2 oracles) It gave me laughs but i still died cause I wasted the energy on a skill that did not raise my survive-ability in the least.
Your shroud is good early and to chase or dodge a skillshot later (hop over monster camps in the jungle) but never put it down in the middle of a teamfight unless you are about to die (so you can get assists on any kills your team makes).
Feel free to shroud in fights before Gold III but after you will feel that the spell doesn't even exist post minute 10.

2nd Preying mantis (Needs lvl 6 and 2 R charges)

+ Wait + + AA + + AA + + AA +
This is your main all in combo while in lane. It works well but you need to do the AA + R at the end before the E if the enemy is running (as he will likely get out of E range after the double Q+AA procs and you don't want to waste energy on the air around you). If they are standing do it in the above order as it will sustain you better when you are trading dmg and burst slightly faster. (also E will come off CD sooner.)



Now this 3rd Master combo is what makes people flame and call Akali noob champ etc.


Before we go to it lets do some Attributes math.



Preferred Final at lvl 18(35-40min) with Trinity stats (if you follow the build by the letter):
    2682HP(650Bonus HP),
    253 AD(112Base+141Bonus AD),
    29.5% Spellvamp(Passive with 141 Bonus AD),
    628AP, (110% AD Magic Dmg on AA from passive),
1.51 Attacks per secound! (Akali and Kalista have the highest Base AS of 0.694! Building AS on them is more profitable than other champions! and AS is calculated by ASbase + (ASbase x %AS bonus) with Nashor and Trinity you have 65% AS bonus and Akali gets 3.1%AS bonus on lvl(52% at lvl 18) so thats 117.5% bonus AS. (The reason I repeat it is so you remember!)
    0.694 + (0.694 x 1.175) = 0.694 + 0.815 = 1.51 Attacks/Sec,
    40% CDR, (Summoners as well)
    113Armor, (46% Dmg taken from physical)
    53MR, (65% dmg taken from magic)
    414MS, (without the Trinity MS procs)
    15% Omni Single target Drain (all dmg sources but 5% for AoE and Dot)
    15% Physical Single target Drain (All physical dmg done 5% for Crescent AoE)
As you can probably imagine it gets v̶e̶r̶y̶ ̶b̶r̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ BALANCED!


With Lich Bane you have 108AP more.

736AP that's 128% AD as bonus Magic on AA or 18% more than Trinity but your AD is 10% less.
(you would have 25 less bonus AD)
So Lichbane AA is 128% of 228AD = 291 Magic dmg on AA.
25 less physical so AA is 228Physical + 291Magic = 519 Dmg AA (Wrath will heal 4HP less)

Trinity AA is 110% of 253AD is 278 Magic dmg on AA. AA is 253 + 278 = 531 (12 Dmg more :D 4HP extra drain from Wrath)

116 Bonus AD of Lichbane results in = 25% Spellvamp or 4.5% less than Trinity.

15% less AS (1.40 Attacks/Sec so in 10 sec you make 14 AAs on none moving targets and with trinity you make 15AAs and have better sticking power because of the MS boost)

You will have 250HP less (2432HP) which is a lot for Akali.

However Lichbane Spelledge procs hurt a lot more (75% base AD and 50% AP) = 84 + 325 = 399 Magic Dmg and 15% drain =60HP
Trinity is 224physical with 30%drain (Wrath) = 67HP


3rd Spinning Leaf Hurricane

(Preferred Final build - Deus Ex Trinity + Blue + Wrath elixir)


+ + + AA + + + + + AA + + + AA + +

OR
(~5.00 to 5.40 sec to execute depending on how well you cancel animations)


With
530%AP + 540% Total AD + Base dmg spells(1432 magic & 520 physical) + 45%AP(Nashor) + 330%AD(3xAA Passive with 628AP) + 8 Base(31.5%AP and 75% Bonus AD from Deathfire) . That is the output in 5 sec.
(+ 2 x Spell edge = 2 x 224 = 448 Physical)

Total maths: 606% AP + 907%AD scaling output + base spells and 448 Dmg Spelledge in 5 sec.



If you fight for 10 sec add ~720%AD(6xAA+2xE) & 270%AP(2xR+1xQ+2xE) + 660%AD(AA passive) + 90%AP(Nashor) + 6 Base with 31%AP and 75% Bonus AD (Deathfire Magic)

Total maths: 997%AP + 2325%AD scaling output + base spells in 10 sec.


4 Trinity Spell edges as well so that's another 8xBase AD(112 lvl-18) = 896 physical.


With
530%AP + 540% Total AD + Base dmg spells(1432 magic & 520 physical) + 45%AP(Nashor) + 330%AD(3xAA Passive with 628AP) + 180Base(10%AP and 30% Bonus AD from Decree) . That is the output in 5 sec.
(+ 2 x Spell edge = 2 x 224 = 448 Physical)

Total maths: 585% AP + 885%AD scaling output + base spells and 448 Dmg Spelledge in 5 sec.



If you fight for 10 sec add ~720%AD(6xAA+2xE) & 270%AP(2xR+1xQ+2xE) + 660%AD(AA passive) + 90%AP(Nashor)

Total maths: 945%AP + 2265%AD scaling output + base spells in 10 sec.


4 Trinity Spell edges as well so that's another 8xBase AD(112 lvl-18) = 896 physical.
AD in build is irrelevant to Trinity procs.

I show you the scaling of the keystones for a reason.
Thunderlord helps more in trades in lane early but trust me it's **** in extended duels.

Thunderlord damage at lvl 18 with pref build = 180 + 0.1 x 628 + 0.3x141 = 285 DMG (once in 15 seconds)

Deathfire Damage at lvl 18 with pref build = 6 + 0.25 x 628 + 0.6x141= 247 DMG in 4 sec. + 247/4=62 DMG sec. So 5 sec = 309 DMG.

309-285=24 DMG more in 5 sec from deathfire over thunderlord.
in 10 sec it becomes 618 - 285= 333 DMG more.

Also Deathfire sounds a lot better than Thunderlord. Like it wins 2 times - on estetics and DMG.


So once you have 600AP, 50%AS and 40% CDR in the build you start outputting 66% AD dmg and 33% AP.


(Mixed ~37% physical and 63% magic)


Now guys a bit of math again because some of you may still doubt my AD rune choice:
(If you don't you can skip it as it will make your head hurt)
Runes: AD Scale VS AP + Hpen ROUND 2 FIGHT!


FINISH HIM!



On Void staff when we go to deep with penetration?




BALANCE is the key!


BALANCE between burst and sustained damage.

BALANCE between AP & AD.
BALANCE between tankyness and damage.
BALANCE between light and dark!
BALANCE in your bank account!
BALANCE IN THE FORCE!


Spinning leaf hurricane the painful math:

2132 splash dmg (4 x 533 Crescent physical with 20% drain) +
1920 dmg(3 x 531 AA + 3 x 109 Nashor bonus mixed roughly 40%Physical/60%Magic
has 15%omni drain(and 15%wrath of 3x253=759) if no crits and you have a 20% chance that's not calculated)+
448(2xSpelledge physical with 30% drain)+
401 (1xGunblade magic 45%drain )+
309(5sec Deathfire magic 5% drain ) +
1692(3 x 564 Shadow dance magic 45% drain)+
1650(2 x 825 Mark of the assassin magic 45% drain) = 8551 DMG in 5 sec!
(3.3k physical and 5.2k magic)
Anything with less than 3000HP and 180Armor/MR will be deleted.
You will heal for 3501HP!
(If the Crescents hit at least 3 Targets)
an Ignite or Exhaust screws this considerably so try to avoid trading while ignited or exhausted.
For example you go in and immediately get ignited/exhausted (try to flash away and shroud or dash on a minion or something but get away from the fight for 3 sec and then re-engage)

After the Spinning leaf hurricane you are pretty much out of Energy for 1.5~1.8 sec so you will get 3 AA-s in some tank before having energy for another Q (and then E) 3 more AA then E and any extra Rs you have received in between for kills and assists.

This is the point where Trinity out-scales Lichbane. A lichbane spelledge would do 400 magic dmg compared to a 224 physical Trinity spelledge (a lot more in 4 procs - 700Dmg) but your AD would be lower as well as your AS. (At the end of a 10 sec fight you will do 1 more AA dmg with a Trinity than Lichbane and would have spellvamped 5% more. Also you will have 250 bonus HP.

Before they nerfed the Trinity AP, AS and AD it was such a massive difference in both dmg and sustain I rarely even considered the Lichbane but this season Lichbane go buffed and trinity nerfed so it's really a choice of do you want to be tankier with more of a hybrid dmg or do more magic dmg and burst.

Post the combo is also the point where all that AD from runes comes ahead of AP/Pen in dmg. And those 6% Spellvamp from runes are an extra 518HP stolen.



Ladies and Gentleman I believe this proves my point.


I have a lot of free time doing my night shifts so I did all the math properly (calculator) as of today 17/12/2015. (Before this I posted an ~ Close estimation of what it actually is.)

You can play with your Penetration Marks and AP quints.
Go max AP items(Gunblade/Luden/Rabbadon/Lichbane/Rylai/Penetration Boots).
Kill that 1 or 2 squishy champs and don't build any AS.
Do a more dmg in 3 sec(20% more dmg) if you like it but be warned that you will run out of steam and get killed!

My build offers 12% MORE dmg in 5 sec and does 45% more in 10sec.

(If the Enemy Champions have 100Armor/MR average)

The AS I build is the best sustained DMG stat for Akali when you get 600AP for the 200%AD AAs

Not to mention you are likely to get CC-ed a lot more with no AS or CDR since you will be sticking around for 1.5 sec every time you dash and hit someone.


I however like to slaughter entire teams by hoping like mad between targets not caring if they are tanks or not and brutalize towers like no one else.

P.S. In the combo cast the gunblade at a point where your HP drops bellow 50% as it does not interrupt anything else.
Back to Top

Masteries

Deathfire Touch this is definitely the best keystone (there is also a nostalgic ring to an old favorite item of mine) Thunderlord's Decree
A good Mastery build for lane presure (Full Ham) is also my most used mastery set up as of late: Spinning Leaf Hurricane.
Precision does more DMG to anyone with less than 120MR but the AD pen compensates so they need to be at 150MR and 100Armor for you to do more DMG to them with Piercing Thoughts .

Last but not least is that Deathfire Touch out-scales Thunderlord's Decree at 4.6sec inside the fight. However for this to happen you need tons of stats.
Technically in 5 sec fights Thunderlord does more damage if you haven't shopped in a while since half the damage it does comes from champion level and not the items.

Generally Deathfire does ~ 117% performance over the Decree in 10 sec fights.(an extra ~333 DMG splash) at the very late game full build fights.

Otherwise the 2nd masteries give tons more DMG and are very good for lane and mid game.

If you want to focus on farm and beating your opponent in lane take the 2nd.

If you are after Teleport and Flash plays for dragon fights, ganks and better split push oportunities take the 1st. The first are more defensive as well so if in a lane where you expect tons of poke get the first.
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Pros / Cons

Pros:

  • Top tier duelist(considering she is also an assassin)
  • Insane sustain (read 30%spell vamp and 15% drain)
  • Insane Dmg to buildings (thanks to Nashor and passive)
  • Godlike waveclears (5 minions heal you to full HP and die In 2 Es thats 1.2 sec with max cdr)
  • Akali is a ninja (people will have trouble escaping the fist of shadow and you are quite good at escaping them)

Cons:

  • Stun in a teamfight = gameover (anoying as it is)
  • You are The Target (no kidding Akali is primary focus of everyone and everything as soon as you step into a fight. It's very rare for me to not tank the most dmg from my entire team)
  • weak laneing (and you are easy to dive around lvl 3-5 if the enemy jungler bought a pink ward)
  • No pentakill skin (even tought all my pentas (read 12) are on akali except 1)
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Unique Skills


Immortality out of CC


A thing to note is that Blue buff is extremely valuable to you once you are over lvl 13 as E will be on a very short CD and you will run out of energy if you spam it.
Blue boosts your Energy Regen to 16/sec from 10/sec and this is massive!The AP it gives while small is also a lot of damage so taking the buff is worth it even if you have max CDR already. (Seriously this thing is wasted on mid laners. Akali uses it to brutal effectiveness)
Nothing better than trading with a Darius surrounded by 10 of his minions and him looking dumbly as you heal 30% HP every 0.6 sec by spamming E - getting further away from an execution HP.

Another thing to note is that you prefer to take Elixir of Wrath over the Elixir of Sorcery. (unless you are the only AP in your team)

Remember! Touching an enemy champion with the edge of your Twilight Shroud - even if it does not apply a slow (Yi/Morgana) on them and just barely touches their hit-box, you will get an assist if he dies in the next 10 sec.

I do this a lot when I'm too low to go in for a kill or too far (with no R) but want some gold nevertheless.


Your Shadow Dance is unique.
  • 1st it makes you ignore unit and object collision this makes for some interesting interactions:
  • This way you can dodge Malphite's Unstoppable Force since it's coded as movement skill and Alistar headbutt if you targeted another unit (not Alistar himself or someone directly behind him).
  • You can go over an Anivia/Jarvan walls but not Azirs.
  • Another interesting interaction is Bards magical journey:
    If an enemy is in the tunnel you can spam the R on them (they need to be in range) without actually moving from your place and DMG WILL REGISTERED ON THEM. Which I find cool :D sure it trades your mobility but it's a nice unexpected burst. If you have a Bard premade try it - get someone to follow you on a journey then do 800 DMG to them while they are in the tunnel.
    (Works with enemy Bards as well so have fun with this knowledge)
  • I don't know when most of these happened (probably on shadow dance rework) but a lot of interactions where you passed through skills are gone now. Outside of those 2(Rock and Cow) pretty much any knock up or knock back can stop you in mid dash breaking the R DMG and wasting your stack....
  • 2nd The Dash puts you behind them. This is the best way to dodge skill shots at point blank range and a tool for truly outdueling and juking pretty much everyone. Master it.
  • 3rd While mid-air in-dash you are target-able (Graves point blank AA hurts a lot when you are dashing him) but can also use skills and items(Q,E Gunblade and Trinkets) so make use of that.
Hint* the only way to perform Spinning Leaf hurricane in low time is to cast skills while dashing. This reduces the cast time of E a bit and everything else can be cast immediately. I gave a realistic time for it as if you mash keyboard buttons any faster you may disrupt the order of skills and mess up which will leave you with not enough energy to do the max dmg in 5 sec, but I have performed it in 4.5 sec before.

Important thing here! There are 2 types of combos Akali does.
  • One is the single target (take down the tank in duel) combo where you Q first (since they are melee) then R on them.
    R has built in command to AA right after completing the dash. If your target is marked already this is faster for burst. (Preying mantis combo)
  • However if you are doing the long range engage (typical for jumping ranged carries) in other words R then Q you need to E first! (Press it right after seeing Q fly out as you are still in the middle of dashing) Otherwise Q will not mark the target before you finish the AA and you will need to do a 2nd AA which delays burst. (If you get really good at casting Q as you go past them with dash it is possible to proc it with AA first but this is rare and hard to time right.)
    Typically the best way to delete someone is to get in range for a Q throw. (with max CDR Q is 2.6 sec) then 1 sec later Gunblade + R on them AA + E + Q + AA.
    This can be done in a very small window with Nashor and max CDR once you get used to Akalis animations.

Spinning leaf hurricane is good at wrecking havoc in team fights and very quickly eliminating carries and making people blast all CC on you.
The combo focuses a lot on now or never - doing maximum damage to priority targets and those around them while running out of energy. (Do it if you know they are just gonna melt your team if you don't go in right now and believe your team can manage if you take down a carry.)

All that being said, getting a flank, managing your energy and picking a good time to go in is key if you want to take out more targets.
Don't spam E unless you are low HP and can hit at least 3 targets (preferably at least 2 champs). E is your quick heal and slightly faster burst but AAs do just as much damage to a single target and actually heal for more in 1vs1.


When pushing second tier towers leave a trinket by the jungle monster camps so you can dash them. You can also shroud over a camp to dash it. If you have good vision you are extremely hard to corner.
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Team Work

As mentioned many times above. If you go Akali top you want to be a split pusher.



However to achieve that you need to be able to win a 1vs1 against anyone on the enemy team and even pressure them when they are on towers.

Remember that matchup difficulty scale in the beginning of the build? (Where Rene/Voli/Mundo are 10)

The scale is exactly that.
I made it relevant for Higher Elo.
1 point Difficulty means you will have 10% chance to loose lane without jungler intervention if EQUAL SKILLED opponent.
10 Means lane is lost if you are left alone. (As they will counter you hard while in lane and know that they can deni you as much gold and exp as possible)

I can still beat like 70% of the Gold Elo Renektons and Volis
(I know this because i have a gold smurf on EUW and often go there to get my revenge against these champions)
But I haven't won my lane even once without jungle help against them now that I'm in the Higher Elo (Almost every time i check LoLskill for my game atleast 1 other player than me is in the top 1000 Best players for his champion)

SPLITPUSH how it's suposed to work.

Splitpush means being on one side of the map and praying your team listens to you and gathers on the other side.

So you push at the same time. What this achieves is that you get a tower no matter what as long as you didn't screw up considerably your lane phase you would be fine killing anyone on the enemy team 1vs1 and if you are ahead even 1vs2. This will give a number advantage to your team on the opposite side and if they have any form of siege (read a decent range adc with wave clear mid or adc) they should take down a tower (or poke the enemy team and get the object).

For your team to be able to siege as 4 players they will need a beefy tank (the jungler or support) lots of CC for peel and picks as well as poke champions preferably with kiting mechanics like dashes or MS boosts.


The sweetest scenario possible is the enemy ignoring your split push treat. If your team can bait all 5 of them and prolong a teamfight making them chase I have done feats such as taking 2 towers and inhibitor in the span of 35sec.

By the time the enemy team looks at their minimap and realizes a lot of their buildings are missing there. They would have normally lost 1 or 2 players to kill most of my team and used most of the ults to that purpose. What happens next is someone comes rushing to save an inhibitor or tower and instantly dies making a stupefied expression at his gray PC screen (and reading how he took 2-4k Dmg in less than 2-4 sec.) Meanwhile the rest of them have not recalled on time to support him (thinking 1 or 2 can defend against me and pushing my base themselves) and I still get an inhibitor or finish the tower. Then they all panic and recall coming to stop me and never again leave me to push unattended.


That being said there are times where you must join with the team. (Especially if your team did poorly in their lanes.) Situations like the enemy mid and adc standing behind the tanks and sieging your base are a must show up ones. Just TP behind them and signal your team to engage on them. Dash and kill the squishes right after the team creates the 2-3 sec of chaos (when everyone with dmg is deciding what to focus and everyone with cc who to cast it on) as soon as the fight begins you want to be on top of the squishies but not before some of the CC has been used. Engage and if you see a CC flying at you flash if you have to and disperse the fight. Getting stunned while being close to 3 champs is certain death unless your team does some massive cc at the same time.

What will also help you would be to watch this video by: foxdropLoL - Be a Better League Player as it is very educational and also one of the reasons I moved from gold to diamond in just a few months.
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Summary

I will be updateing the guide with match-ups tips (1000+ games as akali top left me with a lot of experience on this).

Btw I should mention that I Carried myself from Silver to Diamond using mainly Akali Top.

On updating this guide I am currently the 63 best Akali player in the world.
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