Hello, I am The1Panda, a League of Legend players on the NA server,this is my very 1st guide on league of legends so please do not be too hard on me, and make your comments constructive and tell me how I could make it better, not how it sucks. There will also very likely be quite a few grammar and spelling mistakes hopefully you will forgive me for that has well. Those runes and masteries are those that I choose because they suit MY playstile the best , that does not mean they are the best for you please dont ***** about it just use differant ones if u think they will work better for you.

Thank you, The1Panda.

Akali is an hybrid assassin with potentially the best combination of mobility and burst damage of all the champions in the game right now. In this guide I will discuss my strategies, my item choices, my runes and masteries choice has well how to deal with the champions I find most annoying against Akali. I play her has a top champion and never tryed this build has ap carry at mid.

The reason I chose those runes is because they allow you to start with the 10 attack damage you require for your passive wich allows you to buy a amplificating tome and to benefit from both passives from the start.

The armor penetration helps early game with harassing opponents and once you get sheen, the armor pen helps you make the best out of akali's combos.

The magic penetration is always a great addition to any character who deals magic damage, especialy in the early game wich is why I wouldnt say magic pen glyphs are a bad choice but I hovewer like to have more survivability wich is why I choose to go for flat magic resist rune to help me sustain early on. I rather take flat magic resist runes because those give you an advantage early on wich is where she is most vulnerable. This is also the reason I get flat armor seals.

I chose this 21-6-3 build most balanced for akali because it boots her damage, give her a bit more lane sustain and the 10 extra energy is what just might save your life or get you a kill at various points in the game, you never want your energy to run out in a fight. However akali has a quite decent energy sustain wich is why I deem unnescessary to use energy runes for this purpose.

Has I explained earlyer, amplificating tomes allows you to start with your magic damage on hit passive wich is a must, in my opinion. Sheen is probably the one item that makes akali the most dominent early on. I will explain why in the combo section of my guide. Boots are quite self explanatory. Haunting guise is one very good item early on especialy on akali, it allows you to go trough your enemy's magic resist and it gives you more health and ability power at the point of the game where you should normaly be able to afford it, I do not see any other item more useful than this. Some will say hextech revolver, but I just dont think akali benefits enough from that 12 percent lifesteal on her spells for it to be worth at that point. After haunting guise upgrading your boots to sorcerer shoe's provide you with better mobility and a huge amount of magic pen, wich allow you to deal something close to true damage to any champions that did not build magic resistance items. Considering the damage her ability can deal and they'r cooldown, it is a very good item to get. By the time u have sheen, sorc shoes and haunting guise, you should be just about lvl 11, thats when hextech revolver becomes an interesting item to get because most of her damage will be coming from magic at that point and the revolver gives her decent sustain and more ability power.

Mid - Late game

Once your core build has been completed it is time to get items wich will make you capable of remaining a strong damage dealer troughout the game and who wont instantly die in a team fight.

At this point I like to get phage for the bonus AD and health before upgrading it to trinity force. Trinity force is also a great addition to akali's arsenal, this will also be explained in the combo section.

For more survivability and damage, I usualy upgrade my revolver to gunblade after geting trinity force, wich gives a great boost to your spell vamp thanks yo your passive and it also
allows you to benefit from lifesteal on your E wich allows you to heal quickly by striking it in the middle of a pack of minions.

When the game keeps going after this point, I would usualy get, according to the situation either rylai's, Deathcap or void staff.

I would get rylai's against a team with a lot of champions with strong escapes, such has ezreal, vayne, leblanc, etc, Or if I needed more survivability because I got targeted often in team fights ( wich is likely to happen if your bot lane lost in the lane phase ).

Void staff is a must get if the enemy team has started to build some magic resist items and I believe I do not need to explain myself here.

Deathcap is an item that is, yes giving very good amount of AP but that I would only recommand geting if you do not need any more sustain or magic penetration in the late game. You could also trade your haunting guise for a deathcap when you have your full build.

Akali's Q is her main source of damage and what makes akali akali. If you do not max this first I am not responsible for you geting uterly destroyed on your lane, have fun with that.

How to use : Akali's Q is a very strong harassing tool thanks to its range and the fact that it apply a mark on your target. People that are marked usualy will back off or if they try to make a trade with you, even if they do have a silence or such you should be able to out damage them. It is also a great farming tool because you can quite easily 2 shot minions with it.

Akali's W is only an utility spell, geting more than 1 lvl early is a pure waste, this spell is only something you need to use when you are going 1v2 or against someone much more fed and lvled than you are. It can also be used to escape a fight, quite obviously.

Akali's E is not has strong has her Q in my opinion however it is just has useful and the fact that you can use it while walking makes it a strong tool to activate your mark of the assassin. Because lvling up this spell means decreasing its cooldown, I think it is definatly a good idea to level it up right after mark of the assassin to be able to harass and deal damage more often.

Akali's ultimate. This is when you say goodbye to the hardship of lvl 1-5 of akali.
The cooldown on akali's ultimate is nearly unexistant, once you have 3 charges you can prety much constantly harass your opponents and take them down so low they have to run for theyr life before they even had time to say QQ AKALI MAD OP.

I will explain how to use and combine akali's skill harmoniously in the combo section.

With Akali I like to grab flash and ignite.

Flash allows you to close in on a low health champion when you are running low on charges of shadow dance. It can also help u escape from tight spot or jump over a wall to grab a kill. It can also be used to teleport on a short distance to reach your lane faster. (not recomanded)

Ignite is very useful to shut down healing/fast regenerating champions and it can also be used to grab a kill under an enemy tower and get away while avoiding to take those few extra tower hits you would normaly do if you stayed to hit that last mark of the assassin for the kill. It can also be used to harass a full hp volibear. (not recomanded)

Akali's spells arent made to be used by themselves, they were created to be combined to make them efficient.

One quite obvious combo is mark of the assassin and normal attack. In the item section I also talked about sheen being a great addition to akali's arsenal, this is where it comes in. Landing mark of the assassin activates sheen/trinity force and then just geting a basic attack on your enemy will activate it and deal double your basic attack damage. Early, that can easily mean 1/4 or 1/3 of the your opponent's hp.

The other combo would be Mark of the assassin, shadow dance and crescent strike + basic attack/run away. HOWEVER THIS COMBO MUST NOT BE DONE TOO FAST You must wait for the mark of the assassin to reach your target or for it to be close to it before using shadow dance otherwise the damage of the combo will be greatly reduced. Geting a basic attack is also a very good idea considering using your spells activated sheen, however if in doing so you also take damage then it might be better to run away after landing crescent strike.
This combo has an extremely low cooldown and does an huge ammount of damage, it is not rare that you get your targets to 50 percent of theyr health when you are level 11 using this. It is also a great zoning tool.