Akali Build Guide by jjplay175

I.Updates - Whats changed?

22/12/11 -Added Summoner Spells Section

21/12/11 -New Last Item Options

17/12/11 -(New Rune + Master) Pages

16/12/11 -Created Guide, Added (Rune + Mastery page, Skill Sequence, Items, First 10 games)

II.Introduction

Akali is one of the best Assassins In LoL and the reason for this is very simple, she can jump to players with her ulti 3 times! even more depending on the battle and an extra jump for every kill! (Q = Dmg) and (ulti = Dmg) but then hit someone who has Shadow on them and that = kill!

Assassin: Able to pick off kills in battle or kill someone thats fleeing, Has talons ulti as her W, Can burst and kill just about anyone within a few seconds with this build, No matter How tanky they may be!!

III.Builds

1. Ok build one is not complete, I normally get all these items without failing but the rabadons.. hmm i will talk about that later, This build gives you a lot of ap meaning you can jump on people, land your Q then finish them with the Mark from Q and the Lich Bane passive will score you a kill (Also very good at last hitting)

2. This is exactly the same as the 1st build but i put this here just to show you what i mean, I got the Guarding Angel in some of my games when i was doing enough damage to easily kill everyone, that means getting more damage would be pointless and i figured a Guardian Angel will allow me to run around and kill people without the worry of dieing ^^ it allowed me to score a lot of kills under enemy towers that i would normally not attempt

IV.Pros / cons

+ / Can easily escape with Twilight Shroud and Shadow Dance
+ / Can roam very well, Executing kills in many lanes at a time
+ / Can combo her spells to farm minions easily
+ / Attack damage gives you spell vamp, Making Doran's Blade Perfect!
+ / Has an insane amount of burst damage.
+ / Can carry an entire game with just a single early game kill




- / Can be hard to get used to her play style
- / Practically no crowd control. ( Rylai's Crystal Scepter)
- / Crowd control with ignite can kill you in team battles
- / Really squishy early game
- / Huge focus on you in team battles
- / Items like Vision Wards and Oracle's Elixir Makes it 100x harder to do good in a game

V.Runes

Now The rune page i picked may be a little different from most rune pages but i always use this because it works soo well with soo many champions but let me good deep into it

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration This is flat out magic pen and as you may know the less magic resistance they have the more every 1 unit of deffence will give them so take away 8-9 just from the marks and thats 4-5% Atleast just from marks so thats 5% more damage early game!! :D it may also help late game because the ones that do the most damage go for damage items and not defence items so you can kill them soo fast, This gives me a huge early game advantage and like i said before

Greater Seal of Ability Power This will give you a small amount of ap.. not the best but a little extra damage early game and a little extra late, More handy early game because of the extra damage but you may want to change this rune on what you personaly prefer, A friend suggested Greater Seal of Health for an extra 48 health for early game survival and said it would be better than ap in the seal slot *Feel free to comment what you think!*

[strike]Greater Glyph of Potency[/strike] I replaced this rune with..
Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power with Greater Seal of Ability Power and Greater Quint of Potency your passive will be active already and you dont really start going for full out kills untill level 6 and by then the Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power will give you a little more ap than Greater Glyph of Ability Power and its only really when you get Shadow Dance that you will need the ap for ganking


Greater Quint of Potency 14-15 Ability power.. Early game that can really tip the tide of a close death or a close escape, will help with your spell vamp aswell by allowing you to deal extra magic damage

All these runes will work with just about any ap character so if you buy these its a long time investment! :)

VI.Masteries

i went for 21 in Offence because Akali is an assasin, It gives you flat out cooldown reduction so you can spam your spells out with your nice spell vamp, A nice bit of magic pen and all the nice damage increasers with The Executioner which is good with your Shadow Dance to last hit people or just to win a close fight!! i would not change the offence.. i would keep the 21 i have now but if you prefer it a little diffrent don't be afraid to try it out and comment!

Now for the other 9 points.. i put them into a nice little bundle in Defense for early game survivability, Feel free to comment if you have any better ideas as this build is not set in stone and i'm willing to improve it from your experiences

VII.Skill Sequence + when to use

Ok so start of the game i always go for Mark of the Assassin Because its great with my starting spell vamp, 8% is not a huge amount but just throw that out at the enemy and it can do a decent amount of damage if you're against squishy champions and not to mention after you throw it you can hit the target and do even more damage so.. = Healing ability to stay in lane


First i will give a basic explanation of spells

Q: Mark of the Assassin This is a great spell, throw it out to hit a target, then smack them in the face for huge Damage, Early game and late game this can do huge amounts of damage and Thats why i max this one first

W: Twilight Shroud ok now i get this one on level 4 but max it last, Reason? well... I never really have trouble with anyone before level 4 and i sure as hell dont get ganked that early, its rare you do so its better to get an extra levelin Q, anyway this skill throws down a circle where you are invisible in.

E: Crescent Slash This i get 2ed, It will attack all the targets around you but i find that getting Q[icon=Mark of the Assassin size=20 first will do a lot more damage and heal you a lot more, Good late game and to finish people off but its nothing compared to the Mark of the Assassin

R: Shadow Dance This spell allows you to jump at targets and stacks like teemo shrooms, you can jump at enemys that try to run and it does a great amount of damage for last hitting, can also use to escape by running into a bush then using it on a minon behind them

Now i will go in more detail of how these spells work with eachother!

Mark of the Assassin Ok this will activate on an enemy making your next auto attack do soo much more damage! so use Shadow Dance to jump at them then activate your Q on them when you can, then your next attack will do a lot more damage on auto attack, this is very good at finishing them off as they run Because when you cast Shadow Dance your auto attack will hit them a second later, just about killing anyone

Twilight Shroud Ok this will make you invisible to the enemy! :D this mean you can hit a q out run around them, smack them a little and take just about no damage from them! and after it runs out Exhaust and finish them off *By then they are probably dead so you wont need exhaust* You can also use this to run into a bush and hide while you wait for a minion line to push.. when the minions are near use Shadow Dance to jump away from the enemy and run with Ghost to easily escape

Crescent Slash this can be really good with minion farming and in pvp when lots of enemy are around you while you hide in Twilight Shroud but i dont really see it as that much of a valuble spell, it can be really good in pvp when i spam out my spells but i dont see any real special use for it, farming minons and getting a bit of life back ^^ it just adds to the burst i guess

Shadow Dance The best ganking spell in the world.. just jump at an enemy and do the chain i'm about to tell you to kill anyone you want!! its dead easy, this spell will even give you an extra charge per kill, Doing lots of damage and killing the enemy as they flee :) goes well with Rylai's Crystal Scepter when ganking

This is how you kill anyone instantly in a 1 v 1

Q= Mark of the Assassin W= Twilight Shroud E= Crescent Slash R= Shadow Dance
Q R W - Q - R - E R

Normally i will jump to an enemy then get my W out ASAP to avoid (Debuffs) And so they cant attack me! so ulti to jump at an enemy, cloak yourself with a W, Hit your Q out to activate it on an enemy, Ulti again, Auto attack, Ulti = Kill

VIII.Items

Ok start game i always go for a Doran's Blade Reason = 100 Health just to give you a little bit of a better chance of surviving, Life steal is terrible but it's still a + And the attack damage will activate 8% spell vamp.

Now after this i go for Boots of Speed just to get around better, easier escapes and be able to hit people i land my Q on, Goes well with my W

Now a big important item.. If you go back and cant afford a Hextech Revolver you're probably not doing that great but Don't worry!! get an Amplifying Tome or 2 then get the Hextech Revolver when you can, 15% spell vamp and an ap boost for more damage in your lane, by now you should be able to gank lanes a little better + stay in lanes and survive (23% spell vamp)

Giant's Belt This is my next item because i want to build into a Rylai's Crystal Scepter so i can gank and get a kill just about every time, but why belt first? Simple.. To survive, when you look at my first 10 games you will realisethat i have a few death in some and in others i have a little too many, I would of had a lot more if i didnt have this belt ^^ and the ones with really low deaths is because of the extra hp this gave me!

Mercury's Treads now most teams have someone that may be able to stun me or knock me back, this can knock me out of my Twilight Shroud and leave me open for attacks.. the merc treads means i wont be stunned as long as i have a better chance of surviving + the extra magic resistance is really good because we dont really get much defence in this build

Rylai's Crystal Scepter i already coverd this mainly but the reason we get this is for ganking!! cast Shadow Dance on someone and they have a lower than low chance of escaping.. not even flash will save them with this ;) Oh and you can also use it to save allies (Ps: not sure if it works with Twilight Shroud so if you can confirm this please comment) i assume it does

Sheen Ok this item is really good but not as good as Lich Bane of course.. but it builds into it and it will still do well, i will explain more in the Lich Bane

Lich Bane Now akali is an ap champion but her Q/ Mark of the Assassin means you need to auto attack to do a lot of damage, with lich bane you do (Auto attack damage, Mark of the Assassin Extra damage on hit And a hell of a lot of damage) because you're ap lich bane will turn this into attack damage!! I mean come on.. enough said *This Item Is A Must!*

Hextech Gunblade Ok now you can sell your Doran's Blade This item is soo good with akali!! its life steal and spell vamp + ap + ad, So you get the life steal and Spell Vamp then the attack damage will trigger even more Spell Vamp! i find the active useless though because i normally kill them faster with my burst than taking time to fire this and i already have Rylai's Crystal Scepter slow

Rabadon's Deathcap You can get this earlier if u want.. but this is the only space i really see to get it ;/ all the other items are too important for me with the passives they give but after you get this the Lich Bane will doo a godly amount of damage, Nevermind all your other skills getting stronger

Last item? You choose!! now i can never sit down and choose one item.. i find diffrent items good on how my game is going but by now i'm normally fed like i had a bit of a Cho Gath feast

(Please let me know what items you use as your last item, who knows if i really like your reason for choosing it i might add it to the guide and try it myself!

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Items you may like to use

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Guardian Angel This is one i sometimes get, it allows me to take risks by doing things that might kill me, This normally allows me to get more kills without dieing, Can also save you from ganks.. walk into bush *KO* Get back up W Twilight Shroud

Void Staff If they have a tanky team with items like Force of Nature You may like to get a Void Staff so you can get past that magic resistance and do even more damage!

IX.Summoner Spells

Summoner spells, Now these can really turn the tide in a battle for quite a few reasons
1.They can save your life in battle..
2.They can score you early game kills = Gold!

What I get and why

Exhaust Early game this helps a lot, If you're in bot lane run out get your W Twilight Shroud down and start dishing out the pain! but dont worry.. If you used exhaust right then you shouldn't take as much damage!, You can also use this to save yourself when running from enemies or if they have someone like Tryndamere

Ghost Now i used to get flash but since the nerf i find Ghost works better on akali, Now the reason i get ghost is for escaping :D i dont need it to chase.. i can jump at people easily and with the Rylai's Crystal Scepter they cant escape.. So example for a good time to use Ghost *In combat... you get your W Twilight Shroud down and then ooh no.. a lot of enemies run at you.. what do you do? Simple.. run into the bush closer to you.. they will chase then use your R Shadow Dance to jump back into lane and Ghost Out of there!! works soo well!

What other things you could use?

Flash I guess you could use Flash if you really wanted to.. but personly its just what Shadow Dance can do without needing an enemy.. waste, + the Ghost will save you a lot more than flash will trust me.. but its up to you guys ^^ Optional!

Ignite Now.. this will only help you early game really but i dont normally have a problem.. But that early cash can really give you the advantage, Akali can easily get them low and Ignite can finish them! :: Personly i have not tried it so if you like Ignite Just comment and give feedback

Teleport if you're mid this could really help you but only early game really.. On the other hand may give you some nice advantage late game, But honestly Exhaust and Ghost will help you more.. but it depends on your lane so choose wisely!

Surge I heard this was really good on Akali but from personal experiance.. i did a 1 v 1 mid with an Akali that had Surge And my exhaust made the surge pointless

What to NEVER Use


Revive This is really good if you're planning to die!! But don't die.. enough said

Clairvoyance Another good spell if you plan to be useless :) so what will you trade this for? Exhaust or Ghost?

Clarity If you think this is a good idea, Go back to tutorials

Smite I dont jungle and i dont think you should jungle Akali personly, she is much better at roaming if you want something like that

Promote Good for pushing lanes, but we dont want to push lanes.. we want to score kills

Heal With all the spell vamp you will have the heal is pointless, Exhaust and Ghost Wil save you a lot more.. trust me

X.My first 10 games

Ok so before i started to write this i tested it out in 10 games, I wont crop any i wont give you my 10 best games like most guides do.. i will give you straight from my match history the last 10 just to prove how well it works
(Image is missing) Sorry guys ;/




I did bad on my 5th game but its ok!! not every game is going to be perfect, i'm not sitting here saying i should be in the league with 100% good kd.. I'm here to say i'm a decent player that knows how to play and using this guide i got a good kd in 90% Of my Games!! so dont worry if u have 1-2 bad games with this build.. everyone has bad games, all i'm saying is if you play this build right then you will have a better chance of winning your games