An excellent hybrid champion, probably one of the best. Just my comment on the subject. Aside from that, I agree with B-Wong. :P
Personal habitual activites? Utilizing gargantuan idioms to fabricate intelligence.
"It's a colloquial shorthand that means the paradigm exists because of how the game works mechanically. Hence, "the Meta." Stop being a useless pedant." - PlayGooYa
"It's a colloquial shorthand that means the paradigm exists because of how the game works mechanically. Hence, "the Meta." Stop being a useless pedant." - PlayGooYa
Restrictnine#5232
<Veteran>
<Veteran>
lol i feel like this is a loophole to posting builds. i guess its ok cuz technically ur not inviting people to vote on your guide... lol. but i have a feeling he will be posting this as a guide.
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Guides By RestrictNine, A.K.A. Taggrin
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Runes:
Greater Mark of Strength x2 (1.92 AD)
Greater Mark of Insight x7 (6.65 Magic Penetration)
Greater Seal of Fortitude x9 (48.15 Health) or Greater Seal of Evasion x9 (6.75% Dodge)
Greater Glyph of Focus x9 (5.85% Cooldown Reduction)
Greater Quintessence of Strength x1 (2.25 AD)
Greater Quintessence of Potency x2 (9.9 AP)
Masteries: (11/19/0)
Offense Tree
1/3 Deadliness
3/3 Archmage's Savvy
4/4 Sorcery
1/1 Burning Embers
1/1 Archaic Knowledge
1/3 Sunder
Defense Tree
3/3 Resistance
3/3 Hardiness
4/4 Evasion
1/1 Nimbleness
1/3 Harden Skin
4/4 Veteran Scars
3/3 Ardor
Summoner Spells:
Ignite: The reduced healing is nice throughout the entire game, and it's great for kills early game. Also good if everything is on CD and it can get the kill (Or come close enough that myself or someone else will) I'll tag them with it.
Flash: Useful both offensively and defensively. Offensive - generally early game or to get that little extra distance for Shadow Dance. Also great for when you tower dive and there are now enemy creeps to Shadow Dance to after the kill (I find that if you flash while the turret missile is in the air, you will take no damage). Defensive - I don't know how many times I've been saved by flashing through walls/forest or dropping a shroud when low, wait for the opponent to run through, and then flash from the edge in the opposite direction, or to flash into some bushes.
Skill Order:
Shadow Dance (R) > Mark of the Assassin (Q) > Crescent Slash (E) > Twilight Shroud (W)
I get Mark of the Assassin at level one, then Twilight Shroud, and then Cresent, afterwards I start following the priority list above.
Mark of the Assassin: Amazing burst damage throughout the game, and the first of your two main attack abilities. I focus on this after Shadow Dance. I find early game hitting someone with mark, waiting a few seconds to proc the secondary hit, then hitting them immediately again will take out a good 1/3 to 1/2 of an opponents health. If you have Lich Bane and a good bit of AP you will be hitting like a truck. Even those pesky super minions will drop after 1-2 hits from this when you have gear.
Twilight Shroud: Great for harassing and escapes. Drop a shroud on a creep wave and most opponents back off, leaving me to farm while they can't. When low and running through forest or the river, dropping a shroud and waiting for them to run through and then run back the opposite side to Shadow Dance an enemy creep once in range has saved me many a time. You can do some nice trickery to get out of a bind combining this with Ghost or Flash (Personally prefer Flash) by flashing into bushes or to get that extra distance. If a partner is in trouble I'll drop this between them and the opponents, sometimes they'll completely back off, if not they're slowed and may not get to my partner in time while I focus one of them down.
Crescent Slash: Amazing for creep farming late game. I especially enjoy when an enemies creep wave has stacked up (Usually a bunch of the mage creeps) Shadow Dance into the middle of them and use this, and then again when the CD falls off. I find Mark of the Assassin to be more reliable for last hitting early game however. Mid/Late game I'll take out an entire wave with 2 of these, or get them low enough with 1 that I can take them all out with 1 hit.
Shadow Dance: My favorite skill to chase down opponents, and the second of Akali's main attack abilities. Especially deadly with Rylai's. With a 2-3 second CD I find that with the slow from Rylai's generally no one can get away from me unless they're close enough to a turret and have enough health that I wouldn't be able to tower dive safely. Exceptions would be Yi with his immunity to snares ability, Tristana with her jump ability (Usually can counter by using another Shadow Dance) etc.
Item Order:
For item build I start out with a Doran's Blade, in combination with my runes it will get me the 10 AD I need for the passive, and with the 9.9 AP from runes plus the additional 10 AP I get when Ignite is on cooldown I also receive the magic passive. I find that the additional health, and lifesteal although small keeps me in the lane for extended periods of time.
Afterward I tend to go for my Giant's Belt for Rylai's or Amplifying Tome/Blasting Wand (If Amp Tome or Blasting wand I get the Boots of Speed to go with it) depending upon how the game is going. I generally go for the Giant's Belt first since I would have my magic passive already.
Once I've finished Rylai's I will either start building Lich Bane (Sheen first) or complete my boots (Generally I go for the Mercury's Treads unless the opposing team has little to no CC). Then a Guinsoo's Rageblade (At this point I can sell Doran's Blade should I feel it's not needed anymore/could use the extra gold to build my next item). Usually the games are over by now.
At this point there are several paths I feel I can go depending upon how the game is going. If the opposing team has started stacking magic resistance I will go for an Abyssal Scepter or Void Staff (Only Void Staff if they are really stacking on the resists, 2-3+ people with over 100 magic resistance). Priority to Abyssal Scepter if the opposing team has a lot of magic damage. If the opposing team is not stacking any resistance items and they have relatively low magic damage (1-2 Mages that I'm not having problems killing) I will go for Zhonya's Ring for the large AP bonus. It's also good for group fights as by this time they will usually be focusing me whenever they can (Usually Shadow Dance in after a fight is initiated and drop a Twilight Shroud to distract them, and Zhonya's should they be doing too much aoe damage to kill me.)
If the game is still going on and I went for Zhonya's Ring and not either of the other two (Abyssal Scepter or Void Staff) I check their items again, if they're building magic resist I'll get one of the two, otherwise I will start building a Hextech Gunblade (Hextech Revolver then Gunblade).
Early Game:
I find that Akali is pretty weak when it comes to ganking until level 6 unless she is partnered up with someone that has a good slow/stun (I tend to take bottom or top), early game I focus more on Last Hitting with a combination of Q and E (Only when the creeps are low). This tends to keep the creep wave in the middle or more to my side. I'll drop a Twilight Shroud whenever I can on top of the enemies creep wave and either harass with Q or if they're being defensive and keeping away I'll focus on last hitting, the purpose being that I'm farming while not allowing them to do so. This is becomes much more difficult however, if your lane partner decides that pushing the wave is a good idea and does not listen to reason. If the enemy is foolish enough to stay in the lane and not heal up at half health I'll Q them from Shroud, wait until the CD is almost up, then Flash to them to get the second hit off, Q again then E and ignite if they're low enough. This has generally gotten me a kill 70% of the time unless the opposing target or their partner stun/cc me before I can get the combo off. Once I've gotten Rylai's Crystal Scepter I start ganking opponents and assisting team members (At level 8 or 9 I can take on the Dragon solo for some extra gold).
Mid/Late Game:
At this point I have Rylai's, Sheen/Lich Bane (depending on how well early game went) and my Merc's Treads. Both teams are now starting to fight as groups or are still pushing lanes. If I can find anyone going solo I generally try to catch them from behind with Q, R, Melee hit to proc Q then E. If the opponent is keeping up with me in damage and health I will drop W and wait for Q to come back up. Otherwise I continue with Q > R > Hit > E combo. Generally at this point they are dead or running, If it's someone like Tryndamere who pops Endless Rage I will drop a shroud and wait, if he looks like he's going to run I will slow him with Q or R depending on distance to keep him in range long enough that I can do a Q/R combo to finish them off.
If attacking from my side I will initiate with R to get in range and slow the opponent (I find that if I wait to get close enough with Q they will generally have started running before I can get to them, and I sometimes end up having to run around the creep wave.) Follow it with Q, Hit, E combo and proceed as started above.
For group fights I will wait for a tank/fighter to go in and initiate. Find someone who is either low or a squishy I know will drop fast and R in, Q and drop W if I find/know that they will focus me the moment they can. Otherwise continue to kill with Q > R > Hit > E combo until dead, find the next person, and do the same. If the fight is going badly or I am getting focused and I've already dropped W, I will use Zhonya's or Flash out, I find if I can get to a forest wall and flash to the other side it's generally a good getaway.
Things to keep in mind:
Akali is not a good initiator unless well fed and the opposing team does not have a large amount of disables (Generally it's the opposite case). If you are doing well you will get focused like a Pie lover on Pie, or cake if you prefer. My preference is ice cream cake... anyways, back on topic. If you are the initiator for the team jump in to the opposing group with R then drop W and sit for a second or two, pop Zhonya's if needed. Any time they are spending to try and kill you is time they aren't spending killing your team, and time your team is spending taking them out.
Do not give up! I don't know how many games that a good tripple/quad/quint kill would finish a game, even if it seemed like all was lost and people were spamming the surrender option. I've had a few games where all our towers were down except the 2 side base ones, or even just the last 2 towers, while the opponent had most of theirs. Then pushed through an entire lane for the win (NOTE: Take this with a grain of salt, if it really is hopeless and no matter what anyone does they're just steamrolling you. Don't be a jerk and deny people from ending a game quickly so that they can get into a fresh one). On the flip side, be careful even if it seems like the win is in the bag. If you're in a group fight and it looks like they're going to win, retreat. 1-2 people alive to defend a turret is much more effective then everyone being dead. You'd be surprised how easily positions can be reversed and they come back and take out everything while your entire group is dead.
Contrary to common sense/popular belief, bursting a tank down isn't that terrible an idea. A lot of tanks stack armor and very little magic resist, and as AP focused Akali a lot of your damage is going to go through. If an opposing tank is causing your team a lot of problems with disables and the opposing carries are weak/dead/fleeing, take them out. That's all the less CC your team has to deal with for a little while. You and your team will be all the better off for it.
Snowball items such as Mejai's Soulstealer and Sword of the Occult are amazing for Akali if you play her defensively. The reason I do not go for these items is that Akali is already on the hit list for focus in group fights. Having one or both of these items just makes that target that much more appealing. Personally if I see anyone using one of these, especially squishy carries, I go for them first, even if it means my death in the process. Making their carry lose stacks does more damage to them then to you. I also find that most of the games I've had where I manage to keep both items up at 20 are games that would have been won anyways.
Fighting other Akali, this is pretty fun, if you're chasing down another Akali and they drop shroud, use E on top of it if it'll mean her death as aoe's go through her stealth. If I see an Akali running and she drops Shroud, I will drop mine on top of it and sit in the middle. Bring up R and wait till she appears for the kill.
One thing you'll want to watch out for if you have an Eve, Twitch, or Shaco on your team is Oracles and Sight Wards. With Akali's temporary stealth I find most players won't bother to go for these items, but they will if one of those characters are on your team. Dropping a shroud and finding that the opponent can still see you is a nasty surprise you won't enjoy.
Last Thoughts:
Well that's all I can think of for now. Going to update this once I've tested it out a bit (Just hit 20 so am able to get the important runes at least to get a taste for it). Feel free to give critic and suggestions. I've only been playing for 3 weeks so I know I still have a lot to learn. ^_^