Akali
BY picklepants
Table of Contents
[REWORKED] Nurse Akali | Top Lane Guide – Diamond [Season 8]
Akali
BY picklepants
Summoner Spells Back to Top
Summoner Spells
With changes to 
Teleport and other summoner spells falling in and out of favour in the current meta, the best spells you should take on 
Akali are 
Flash and 
Ignite. Flash is always a good summoner spell and you should take it whenever you play Akali. This is because Flash is a very reliable summoner spell which can be used in a variety of ways to engage, disengage and help you escape. Overall, I always recommend that you take Flash as your first summoner spell.
Usually, you would want to take Teleport on top laners, however, with the current meta being snowbally and with nerfs to the cooldown of Teleport, you should take Ignite instead. Ignite is a great summoner spell as it can allow you to get kills in the early game and snowball your lane. With games ending quickly and where every lane feels decided on kills, you should try to win the lane by taking Ignite.
Alternatively, if you do not want to take Ignite or you are sure that you can't kill the enemy, then you could take 
Exhaust. Exhaust is very good against champions with all in potentials like 
Fiora or 
Quinn. Exhaust can save your life, so it’s worth taking if you are unable to kill the enemy laner.
Personally, I would recommend that you always take Flash and Ignite on Akali.
New Runes Back to Top
Rune Suggestions
The main rune page you should take when playing Akali is Domination. This page is fantastic for champions who have burst damage like Akali. The first and main rune you want to take in this page is 
Electrocute. Because Akali usually goes in for short, sharp burst trades, Electrocute is perfect for her. Electrocute allows you to deal bonus damage in each trade which will allow her be more of a threat to the enemy. The next rune you want to take is 
Sudden Impact. Akali has multiple abilities that benefit from Sudden Impact. As her 
E and her 
Ultimate are both dashes, when using one of these, she will gain bonus lethality and magic penetration. This is also helpful because the first dash on your Ultimate deals AD damage, and the second deals AP damage. So having mixed forms of penetration is beneficial for all ins after level 6. The next rune you want to take is 
Eyeball Collection. As Akali has a lot of kill potential and outplay potential, you will often find yourself picking up kills on the enemy through outplays or pure skill. Taking Eyeball Collection will give you bonus damage which is extremely helpful in snowballing your lead. For your final rune, you have a little choice. You can choose either 
Ultimate Hunter or 
Ravenous Hunter. Each is pretty good on Akali depending on what you want to achieve. Ultimate Hunter reduces the cooldown of your Ultimate which will allow you to go for more trades, whilst Ravenous Hunter is good for survivability as it gives you 
healing from your abilities. Using Ravenous Hunter in conjunction with your 
Q will give you a lot of sustain in team fights. Personally, I would recommend that you take Ravenous Hunter for the sustain in fights.
For the secondary Rune tree, I recommend that you take Resolve. This is because the Resolve tree offers you sustain in lane and protection against enemies. In the current meta, snowballing is everything and you need to have the best laning phase as possible. You will often find yourself facing champions who are strong in the early game and able to kill you: champions like 
Camille, 
Darius and Fiora come to mind. It’s important that you do not fall behind in the lane and taking these runes will prevent you from falling behind. The first rune is 
Bone Plating. This is a great rune as it stops some damage from the enemies in extended trades. This is helpful as it gives you protection from the enemies damage allowing you to stay in lane for longer. The other rune you can take is 
Second Wind. Second Wind provides you with sustain after each trade by restoring some of your missing health. This is helpful as it will give you free health restoration and allow you to stay in lane for longer. Alternativly, if you’re against an early game champion who is notorious for early game domination like Quinn or 
Vayne top, you can take 
Chrysalis. Chrysalis gives you 60 bonus health at level 1 to survive the early game. This can be helpful if you are prone to being constantly harrassed by enemies early.
Overall, I found this to be a perfect rune page for Akali as it gives her the damage she needs to finish off enemies, the sustain to survive the laning phase and all the empowerment anybody would want when going in on enemies.
Abilities Back to Top
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Ability Rundown
Akali’s Passive is Assassin’s Mark
When hitting an enemy champion with one of your abilities, they will hold a ring around themselves for 5 seconds. When Akali moves towards the ring that is around them, she gains bonus movement speed. When Akali is outside of the ring, she will also gain bonus movement speed when she walks towards an enemy champion. When she does this, she also gains swinging Kama for 4 seconds.
Swinging Kama: Akali’s next basic attack gains range and you’ll deal extra damage. Auto attacks with Swinging Kama also restore energy.
Akali’s Q is Five Point Strike
Akali throws a plethora of kunais in the target direction which deal damage to all the enemies that they hit. Enemies hit at the maximum range of the kunais are also slowed briefly.
If the Five Point Strike is cast when Akali has above 180 energy, she will also heal for a small portion of the damage that is dealt to the enemies.
Tips and Tricks:
Your Q can go through minions if they are in the way. This means you can use your Q whenever you want without fear of some of the damage being wasted. If you're low on health or are having a hard time in lane, try to poke with your Q whenever you have over 180 energy so you get some health back.
Akali’s W is Twilight Shroud
Akali restores energy and detonates a smoke bomb in a circle that grows for 5 seconds. Entering the 
shroud makes Akali invisible. While she is in there, she gains bonus movement speed. Whilst she is in the shroud, all sources of true sight like 
control wards and turrets will not be able to see her.
The duration of Twilight Shroud is extended each time she comes out of the shroud but it can last no longer than 8 seconds.
Tips and Tricks:
Akali’s W has no cost but it does restore energy. This can help you if you need a slight amount of energy before going into a trade or if you’re trying to eliminate the enemy. While you’re in your shroud, you can auto attack the enemy or use some of your abilities. However, you will break the invisibility for a short period of time which can let the enemy hurt you. After 0.65 seconds, you will become invisible once again. When you do become visible, towers will focus you down.
Akali's E is Shuriken Flip
Akali flips backwards and throws a shuriken forward dealing damage to the first enemy it hits. Enemies that are hit by the shuriken are also marked. Whilst a target is marked, Akali is able to reactive and recast her E within 3 seconds.
Second cast: Akali dashes towards the marked target and deals damage to them.
Tips and Tricks:
If you do not hit an enemy minion, champion or it kills the enemy, if applicable, it will mark the outside portion of your W. This can help you escape and juke the enemy. For example, if you’re trying to escape the enemy, you can use your W in one place and then through your E through it. Continue running- reactivating your E when they follow you.
Your E can be used to get over walls if you hit a jungle monster. Alternatively, you can throw your E in the opposite direction to “flip” over the wall.
As your E has no range and only a 3-second limit, you can keep walking and juke the enemy with your other abilities. There are plenty of combos you can master and perfect with your E.
We will talk more about Akali's E in the combos section later on.
Akali's Ultimate is Perfect Execution
Akali dashes in the target direction dealing AD damage and stunning any enemies that she hits for a brief amount of time. After 2.5 seconds, you can reactivate your Ultimate within 7.5 seconds. On the second cast, she does not stun any enemies but does AP damage to enemies hit.
Ultimate within 7.5 seconds. On the second cast, she does not stun any enemies but does AP damage to enemies hit.
Tips and Tricks:
Your Ultimate doesn’t have to have a focused target. You can use your Ultimate anywhere you want and in any direction, this means you can get over walls and move where ever you want to thanks to the mobility it gives. You can use your Ultimate in a variety of ways and with many different combinations, in most cases, it will be used as an engaging tool thanks to the stun. It can also be used as a gap closure and used in conjunction with your E to get closer or further away from an enemy champion.
We walk talk more about Akali's Ultimate in the combo section below.
Items Back to Top
Starting Items
Core Items
Situational Items
Itemisation
We will be building Akali as an AP focused champion. While her kit does mixed damage, we will be buying AP items. As Akali doesn't have any mana and instead have energy, we will not be taking 
Doran's Ring as your starting item. Instead, we will be taking either 
Doran's Shield, 
Corrupting Potion or 
Long Sword as your starting item. Doran's Shield is the more favoured item because it gives you protection in the lane and it is best suited for Akali out of all the items available to her at level 1. If you do not want to start Doran's Shield, you can choose to start Corrupting Potion instead. This is good on her and gives her sustain, however, she only benefits from the health and not the mana that Corrupting Potion provides as she doesn't need mana. Your final option for your starting item is a Long Sword. In some cases, you may want to pick up a Long Sword at level 1 for the extra damage. It is a good starting item as you can also pick up some pots with it, however, it's not an ideal start because Long Sword doesn't have a passive and you will not get any benefits in the lane from it. Now we've finished with the starting items, let's get on to your first item. The first item you want to get on Akali is 
Hextech Gunblade. This item is a fantastic item on Akali for a number of reasons most notable it will help her burst down enemies when she goes for a combo, but also as it gives both AD and AP which synergises well with her kit. You want to rush this item in every situation, without it- you're really going to struggle. The second item for Akali is 
Boots! The only pair of Yeezy you're wanting to get on Akali is the Boots that provide her with magic penetration. 
Sorcerer's Shoes are great and will allow her abilities to go through the enemies defences. This is a must-have item and you should always get Sorcerer's Shoes as your 2nd item. For your third item, I would recommend that you pick up a 
Zhonya's Hourglass. This item is very good on AP champions as it gives them some defensive capability in team fights. Thanks to this item's active, you're able to protect yourself and become invincible to enemies damage for a few seconds. Using this item at the right time when you're abilities are on cooldown will allow you to stay protected until they come up allowing you to escape. Zhonya's as a whole is a great item as it gives you armour, damage and makes you a real threat in fights!
Akali as an AP focused champion. While her kit does mixed damage, we will be buying AP items. As Akali doesn't have any mana and instead have energy, we will not be taking Doran's Ring as your starting item. Instead, we will be taking either Doran's Shield, Corrupting Potion or Long Sword as your starting item. Doran's Shield is the more favoured item because it gives you protection in the lane and it is best suited for Akali out of all the items available to her at level 1. If you do not want to start Doran's Shield, you can choose to start Corrupting Potion instead. This is good on her and gives her sustain, however, she only benefits from the health and not the mana that Corrupting Potion provides as she doesn't need mana. Your final option for your starting item is a Long Sword. In some cases, you may want to pick up a Long Sword at level 1 for the extra damage. It is a good starting item as you can also pick up some pots with it, however, it's not an ideal start because Long Sword doesn't have a passive and you will not get any benefits in the lane from it. Now we've finished with the starting items, let's get on to your first item. The first item you want to get on Akali is Hextech Gunblade. This item is a fantastic item on Akali for a number of reasons most notable it will help her burst down enemies when she goes for a combo, but also as it gives both AD and AP which synergises well with her kit. You want to rush this item in every situation, without it- you're really going to struggle. The second item for Akali is Boots! The only pair of Yeezy you're wanting to get on Akali is the Boots that provide her with magic penetration. Sorcerer's Shoes are great and will allow her abilities to go through the enemies defences. This is a must-have item and you should always get Sorcerer's Shoes as your 2nd item. For your third item, I would recommend that you pick up a Zhonya's Hourglass. This item is very good on AP champions as it gives them some defensive capability in team fights. Thanks to this item's active, you're able to protect yourself and become invincible to enemies damage for a few seconds. Using this item at the right time when you're abilities are on cooldown will allow you to stay protected until they come up allowing you to escape. Zhonya's as a whole is a great item as it gives you armour, damage and makes you a real threat in fights!After you've purchased Zhonya's Hourglass, you should look to buy a 
Lich Bane. Lich Bane is a fantastic item on Akali thanks to your 
Passive and how you play Akali. Akali likes to burst down enemies as quickly as she can and Lich Bane will allow her to do that. In some cases, you may want to get this item before Zhonya's Hourglass, however, I feel that this Zhonya's is better for mid-game protection. Honestly, it's personal preference. Alternatively, you can pick up a 
Stopwatch before going Lich Bane and that would be just fine too. Your 5th item on Akali is going to be 
Void Staff. Void Staff is a great item on any AP assassin thanks to the magic penetration it provides you. Magic Penetration is incredibly important to break through the enemies defenses. Its important that you always buy this item on Akali otherwise you will not be able to assassinate the enemy. Your final item is going to be 
Rabadon's Deathcap. As you may all know, this is an expensive item so it should be brought last. As Akali is an AP dominant champion, she needs AP to deal damage. Taking this as your final item will allow you to assassinate enemies with ease.
Zhonya's Hourglass, you should look to buy a Lich Bane. Lich Bane is a fantastic item on Akali thanks to your Passive and how you play Akali. Akali likes to burst down enemies as quickly as she can and Lich Bane will allow her to do that. In some cases, you may want to get this item before Zhonya's Hourglass, however, I feel that this Zhonya's is better for mid-game protection. Honestly, it's personal preference. Alternatively, you can pick up a Stopwatch before going Lich Bane and that would be just fine too. Your 5th item on Akali is going to be Void Staff. Void Staff is a great item on any AP assassin thanks to the magic penetration it provides you. Magic Penetration is incredibly important to break through the enemies defenses. Its important that you always buy this item on Akali otherwise you will not be able to assassinate the enemy. Your final item is going to be Rabadon's Deathcap. As you may all know, this is an expensive item so it should be brought last. As Akali is an AP dominant champion, she needs AP to deal damage. Taking this as your final item will allow you to assassinate enemies with ease.
Matchups Back to Top
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DariusHard -
FioraMedium -
GnarEasy -
JaxMedium -
JayceMedium -
KayleHard -
KledMedium -
MalphiteEasy -
MaokaiEasy -
PantheonHard -
QuinnHard -
RivenHard -
RyzeEasy -
SionEasy -
SwainMedium -
TeemoHard -
VladimirMedium -
YasuoMedium
VS
Darius
Hard
When fighting Darius, the key to winning is to not get hit by the edge of his Q because it will give him a Bleed stack, extra damage, and a large heal. Either stay out of his range or get into Darius's face because the hilt portion of the Q does very little damage and does not apply a bleed or heal.
Darius's damage is based on him getting bleed stacks (5 max). Once he does, he gains massive AD, a chance to reset, and massive ult damage. Keep trades with him short and watch your spacing or else his damage will creep up on you.
Don't trade with him when behind and look to focus on farm. One bad trade against a Darius could mean your death - it's better to avoid the risk altogether and farm.
VS
Fiora
Medium
Fiora is rather annoying to play against because she is an AD champion and a fighter. In the early game you must not let her attack you for free, beware of her W as it can stop some of your abilities. In this lane you need to just farm and get ready for level 6 all in. If she is 6 and ults you, back off so she doesn't get the heal bonus.
VS
Gnar
Easy
This champion easy to play against however before level 6 Akali must not let him poke you down. He is rather squishy especially in the early game, so you must try to go for trades that are in your favor. For example, when he wastes his jump. This would be a good time to engage on him as he has no escape. You must not let him poke you down and put you behind especially early. Once you a level 6 his lane becomes much easier.
VS
Jax
Medium
If Jax uses his E then back off and usual W to escape. This is a frustrating lane because he is a fighter champion, try to poke him as much as possible with you Q auto attack combo. However do not let him trade if you long because he's an AD champion and we'll come out to her.
VS
Jayce
Medium
This matchup is hard because they have the Range advantage. All you need to do is Play safe and not get poked down by the enemy. At level 6 you should be able to all in them and have an easier time in lane. Try your best to not to get put down and fall behind, sacrifice CS for experience.
VS
Kayle
Hard
This matchup is hard because they have the Range advantage. All you need to do is Play safe and not get poked down by the enemy. At level 6 you should be able to all in them and have an easier time in lane. Try your best to not to get put down and fall behind, sacrifice CS for experience.
VS
Kled
Medium
When dueling Kled, pay close attention to his Courage meter after he dismounts. Even if it's a close fight, if the meter is almost at 100%, you have to walk away because Skarl will return and he'll gain a lot of health and mobility back. Do not get baited by this or you may throw your lead.
Kled's scariest tool is his ultimate - it has a 160 second cooldown early, and auto-attaches to the first champion in its path. It cannot be canceled, meaning if you can sidestep its path, he will continue to run by you.
His abilities early on all have 10 second CDs or more. If you trade with him and then re-engage, you'll be able to out trade him in the extended fight.
VS
Malphite
Easy
This is an easy matchup because he is a tank champion. Akali does really well against tanks such as Malphite. Poke him early, and try to dodge his Out level 6. You can use your W to escape.
VS
Maokai
Easy
This is an easy matchup because he is a tank champion. Akali does really well against tanks especially Maokai because he is melee. In this match up you want to poke him and go for trades whenever possible, however be aware of his passive and do stay away from bushes as his saplings grow and will do extra damage if you're caught by them.
VS
Pantheon
Hard
Pantheon is hard to play against because he is one of the strongest early game champions in the game. For this lane, you need to play Safe and not over extend for farm. Unfortunately there is no easy way to win this lane except waiting for him to miss position and going out of mana. After level 6 this lane turns into your favour you just need to survive the early game.
VS
Quinn
Hard
This matchup is hard because they have the Range advantage. All you need to do is Play safe and not get poked down by the enemy. At level 6 you should be able to all in them and have an easier time in lane. Try your best to not to get put down and fall behind, sacrifice CS for experience.
VS
Riven
Hard
Riven must use all of her abilities to escape if she is weaker. Be aggressive and leap on opportunities if she plays too far forward, just don't blow your lead by tower diving her recklessly. She has two forms of CC and a ranged execute, making it easy for her to kite around tower.
Riven is extremely reliant on levels and cooldowns. Her CDs are long in the early game without CDR so look to bait her shield with autos and feints - look to go hard when it goes down.
Riven has incredible punish power when ahead. She can cover 700 range very quickly and if you're not at full health, you can be very vulnerable to a dive. Stay healthy and close to your turret to minimize her threat of trades or dives.
VS
Ryze
Easy
This matchup is hard because they have the Range advantage. All you need to do is Play safe and not get poked down by the enemy. At level 6 you should be able to all in them and have an easier time in lane. Try your best to not to get put down and fall behind, sacrifice CS for experience.
VS
Sion
Easy
This is a tank matchup and easy for you. You must dodge his q, and not directly fight him. I recommend trying to poke him whenever possible. Try your best to gain a CS advantage, and to deny him as much as possible. You want to abuse your level six and go for extended traits. Pre-6 this is a farm lane. You can dodge his Q with your w or ultimate.
VS
Swain
Medium
This matchup is hard because they have the Range advantage. All you need to do is Play safe and not get poked down by the enemy. At level 6 you should be able to all in them and have an easier time in lane. Try your best to not to get put down and fall behind, sacrifice CS for experience.
VS
Teemo
Hard
This matchup is hard because they have the Range advantage. All you need to do is Play safe and not get poked down by the enemy. At level 6 you should be able to all in them and have an easier time in lane. Try your best to not to get put down and fall behind, sacrifice CS for experience.
VS
Vladimir
Medium
Vlad's W, Sanguine Pool, has an extremely long cooldown at 28 seconds at rank one and also costs 20% of his current health. Force him to use this as much as possible since it will not only hurt his health pool, but will also give you a chance to kill him is when it's on cooldown.
Most of Vladimir's sustain and early poke comes from Transfusion (Q). Avoid getting hit by his empowered Q's at all costs or he will sustain and poke you down, even at the cost of you missing some CS.
If you know Vlad has his ult (150 second CD rank 1) and Flash up, be careful when you see him at full Crimson Rush stacks while charging his Tides of Blood (E). He will be looking to Flash on top of you and do his full rotation of abilities which will likely 1 shot someone when he is ahead. To avoid this, walk very far back until you notice Crimson Rush and Tides of Blood are finished charging.
VS
Yasuo
Medium
If you're reliant on projectiles, play around Yasuo's Windwall, which has a 26 second cooldown. As long as you're not using your ultimate, you can safely use your projectile to bait out Windwall without committing. When your abilities come back up, abuse this window timing. You can also keep the wave close to your turret which will inhibit Yasuo's ability to use his dash for mobility and allow you to trade more aggressively.
Yasuo is like a gnat when he's behind. He may be mobile and annoying but at the end of the day he can't actually fight back and escape. If he overextends and you want to fight, make sure to focus and step forward past the wave so to cut off his escape route.
Play cautiously and let Yasuo push the wave to just in front of your tower but not under it. Yasuo will have a hard time using minions for mobility and trading which will give you breathing room to farm and harass safely.
Early Game Back to Top
Early Game
Akali's early game is by far her weakest. As an assassin, she doesn't have the strongest level 1 unless she catches the enemy out by surprise. When playing Akali, you want to hit level 2 before the enemy which is the first minion wave followed by 1 of the melee minions on the second wave. As soon as you hit the level up, you want to engage on the enemy with your E then use your E again, auto attack the enemy and use your Q on them. Your main goal for a level 2 all in is to get them down to lower health where you will be able to engage on them at level 3 and kill them with Ignite.
The laning phase for Akali is pretty straightforward. In most matchups, you will want the wave to be pushed towards you and kept outside of your tower. If the wave is close to your tower, you will be able to freeze and deny the enemy farm. As Akali is an assassin, you will be able to chase down the enemy if they over extend for farm. Because Akali has multiple dashes, she can easily follow up and get on the enemy if they do this. If you push the enemy under their tower, Akali will be unable to assassinate the enemy.
Mid Game Back to Top
Mid Game
In the mid game, Akali is looking to assassinate the enemy and get kills. By this time you should have your Hextech Gunblade already completed which will help you in securing kills and hitting the rest of your abilities. You always want to use your Hextech Gunblade first to slow the enemy which will make the rest of your abilities easier to hit.
Anyway, as Akali is an assassin, she wants to abuse her mobility and mid game dominance by roaming around the map, pushing waves and assassinating enemies who are out of position. With Akali having multiple forms of dashes, she can over extend and play rather risky thanks to her Ultimate and her E.
However, there is a fine line between risk and a reward, if you're continually getting caught out, you need to stop dying and instead group with your team. It is best to stay around the side of your team rather than in lane with them as you will be unable to assassinate enemies if they know you're there.
Staying around the side of your team and going in when an enemy rotates to another lane, over extends or miss positions will allow you to assassinate them. Thanks to your E, you can quickly get into the team fight easily.
Late Game Back to Top
Late Game
In the late game, Akali needs to continue trying to assassinate and catch enemies who are out of position. Map awareness in the later stages of the game is crucial as one mistake can get you killed and cost your team major objectives like towers, inhibitors, elder dragon or baron. However, as your kit has lots of dashes, you can play slightly riskier. Your late game, in many respects is just like the mid game. Your job and your goal in team fights in the later stages of the game is by going on the squishy enemy targets like the enemy Support or ADC. Every situation is different, so try your best to do what you can in the late game to kill and get rid of the enemies squishy targets.
In the later stages of the game, you need to stay grouped with your team and not split push unless you have Baron buff.
Combos Back to Top
Akali Combos
Akali is a fascinating champion with a huge variety of different combinations that you can use on her. As Akali is an assassin with lots of ability uses, you have a wide selection of combos you can use on her.
- Remember to use your Hextech Gunblade at the start of each fight to slow the enemy down and deal damage to them. It will also give you an easier time at hitting all your other abilities as the enemy will be slowed.
- Remember that your Passive empowers your next auto attack and deals extra damage. So try and use this tactic as much as you can.
- Q + AA | Standard combo during the laning phase. You should utilize this as much as possible on the enemy to poke them down.
- E + E + AA + Q + AA | Standard combo during the laning phase. You can use this combo whenever you want to engage on the enemy champion. Before going in, make sure that you check the map as you do not want to go in if the enemy Jungler is nearby.
- E + E + Q + AA | Standard level 2/3 all in combo.
- E + E + Q + AA + Ignite | Standard level 2/3 Kill. Before trying to execute the enemy, make sure you poke them down level 1 so this combo can work.
- R + Flash + AA + E + AA + E + AA + Q + AA + R | Advanced all in combo. You can use this combo after level 6. Make sure that you are going to hit the R before Flashing. Do not Flash to stun the enemy if you've got no chance of securing the stun.
- R + AA + E + AA + E + AA + Q + AA + R | Advanced alll in combo. Like the previous combo, you want to engage with your R and hit the enemy, then you should follow up with the rest of your abilities whilst also utilizing your Passive by getting as many auto attacks in as possible.
- R + E + E+ Q + R | Fast all in combo. If you cannot auto attack the enemy, or you're afraid you wont be able to perfect the combo, this is the full combo without any auto attacks. Of course, you should try to hit as many auto attacks whilst dueling the enemy to utilize your Passive and get more damage down on the enemy..
Pros and Cons Back to Top
Pros and Cons of Akali
With Akali's rework finally hitting Summoners Rift, she has become a much better champion. With a huge playstyle change and now becoming much harder to play, Akali is now the assassin everyone wants to play. Like every champion in League of Legends, there are some pros and cons to picking her up and here are some of them.
Pros
- Incredibly fun to play. If you ever played the original Akali, it feels so much better than that. Akali now is so fun to play like many other assassins in the game.
- High skill cap. If you're into playing difficult champions and you want to challenge yourself- Akali is the perfect champion for you. With a high skill cap and high outplay potential, you're going to love playing Akali.
- Amazing outplay potential. With Akali having such a high skill cap and with many of her abilities being able to dodge the enemy, you can find out new and wonderful ways to outplay the enemy with your abilities. As the reworked Akali is still relatively new, you can abuse the enemies knowledge of her an use it to your advantage.
- Lots of combos to learn and perfect. As Akali can use her abilities in a variety of ways, you can perfect and master her abilities to outplay, dominate and assassinate the enemy laner and win the lane. If you want to learn some of the combos, check out the combos section on this guide.
- Very good against squishy targets. As Akali is an assassin, she can easily jump on immobile and squishy targets. She can often pick up easy kills in the lane when she's level 6.
- Good all in potential after 6. Akali is an amazing assassin after level 6. When she gets her Ultimate, she can go in for kills and try to kill the enemy as soon as she levels up.
- Can dive enemies thanks to her W. As Akali's W grants her invisibility, she can dive towers without fear of being chunked down by them. When you want to dive an enemy, beware that once you use an ability or auto attack the enemy, you will be spotted and focused by the tower.
- Good sustain in lane thanks to your Q. If you use your Q on as many minions and enemies as possible, you will gain a large amount of healing from it. You should let the minion's group up and then use your Q on them all in a line to get the most healing possible.
- Bonus damage in lane thanks to her Passive. Wherever you go for a trade of abilities with another champion, it's important that you utilize your champions kit and follow up with an auto attack to deal extra damage in trades. As your Passive gives your next auto attack extra damage, you really want to auto an enemy whenever you use your abilities.
- Escape abilities. As Akali has her E and Ultimate, she can escape ganks pretty easily. If you hit the enemy with your E, you can dash towards them, then run away or you can use your Ultimate to get away. If you're running through the enemies Jungle, you can use your E to get over walls or use your E on a jungle camp to dash towards it and escape. Akali's W also makes her invisible which has little to no counterplay. This can help you escape and juke the enemy. There is a lot you can do with her kit!.
- She's frustrating to play against. Something that is often overlooked when playing League is how frustrating some champions are to play against. Akali is incredibly frustrating to play against which is helpful when you're playing her.
Some of the pros for Akali are also negatives for her. Let me explain...
Akali are also negatives for her. Let me explain...Cons
- High skill cap with a very sharp learning curve. As Akali has so many combos to perfect and with her kit relying heavily on timing, it will take a lot of time to perfect and master her. Do not worry though, we've given you the head start on her with this guide.
- Frustrating to play against. When playing against an Akali, you need to focus her down and not let her pull the wool over your eyes to win the lane. She is very mobile and quite frustrating to play as she is so mobile. This means you may find it quite annoying to play against.
- Easy to kill early and easy to kite. If you miss your skill shots, you will be out of position and easy to kill. Without your abilities, you will find it hard to kill the enemy. Akali is also a melee champion which means she will struggle against ranged champions during the laning phase and in team fights.
- Prone to being poked down in the early laning phase. As she is melee, she loses to pure damage early from the likes of Quinn,
Teemo and Vayne's auto attacks. To counter this, start Doran's Shield.
Tips and Tricks Back to Top
Tips and Tricks
We're coming to the end of this guide now, here are some final tips and tricks you can use to help you win lane and win the game. Remember that Akali is a very difficult champion with tons of outplay potential.
- Good sustain in team fights and the early game. When using your Q over a certain amount of energy, you will receive healing from it. You can get the maximum amount of healing from this by hitting as many minions and champions as you can with it.
- You have good escape ability thanks to your E and your Ultimate. You can use the back end of your E and both sets of your Ultimate to escape. You can also use these to get over walls around the map.
- You can use your E in a variety of ways and on a variety of enemies. Neutral monsters like Dragon, Baron and Rift Herald will all allow you to dash towards them. This also includes enemy Jungle camps.
- Your Ultimate doesn't have to have a target. Unlike the previous Akali, you can use your Ultimate whenever you want with no intended target, This is helpful as you can jump over walls and escape the enemy.
- Your W makes you invisible.
- You get lots of movement speed and bonus damage if you use an ability on an enemy champion and follow it up with an auto attack.
- Your E has no range and only a timer. If you hit an enemy with your E, you can reactivate it to dash to them up to 3 seconds after. This aallowsyou to juke a chasing enemy and make them waste their time.
- Control Wards and Towers do not spot you while you're in your W. Unless you show yourself, the tower will not focus you and nor will the wards spot you.
- When diving the enemy under the tower, start tanking the tower and as soon as you cannot tank anymore, pop your W down and drop tower aggro.
- In team fights, you should use your W defensively as it may only be the only way to defend yourself.
- Remember to utilize your Passive in the early game in team fights by using your basic attacks on the enemy whenever you can.