| Introduction | 1 |
| Abilities | 2 |
| Overview | 3 |
| Pros / Cons | 4 |
| Jungling as Akali | 5 |
| Masteries + Runes | 6 |
| Summoner Abilities | 7 |
| Items | 8 |
| Skilling Order | 9 |
| Outtro | 10 |
Welcome to GiRLSTAR & Medikai's Ultra Pro Semi-Comprenshive Semi-Comprehensible Akali Guide. Over the past week, we have spent countless games testing item builds, skilling orders, and other viability options to see how far Akali can take us in 5's. We hope you enjoy our semi-comprehensive, semi-comprehensible guide!
We dont really have any credentials. I wrote a Morgana guide. She's just awesome. And with our combined powers we shall write awesome guides !
Oh, plus we play a lot of league. Generally as 4 or 5 man premades in the Elo where everyone knows what to buy, how to counter ults, and how to play as a team. Give or take a few ragers. :/
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| Akali's passive sounds really nice on paper, but the wording can be a bit misleading. Discipline of Might Upon obtaining 20 ability power, Akali's hits deal 10% bonus magic damage... The bonus magic damage is a percentage based off your attack damage. So having your attacks hit for an extra 20% damage of 100 attack damage, gives you an effective bonus of 20 magic damage on-hit for Akali's auto attacks. It becomes counter productive to stack ability power to make your auto attacks hit harder. While it is a nice boost in damage, if you're spending gold on Ability power with the purpose of increasing Akali's damage output via Discipline of Might, you're going to see greatly diminished returns from gold spent without a significant amount of attack damage gained. Discipline of Force Discipline of Force - Upon obtaining 10 additional attack damage, Akali gains 10% Spell Vamp... This aspect of Akali's passive is amazing. While her Crescent Slash does Physical damage and is affected by Armor Penetration, it still receives Spell Vamp from Discipline of Force. Because of this, stacking attack damage will increase the amount of health you gain from Crescent Slash multiplicatively. eg: +10 Attack damage gives you +10% spell vamp. +10 Attack damage increases your Crescent Slash damage by 6. Your Crescent Slash returns health of base damage +.6 per 10 attack damage. |
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| Akali deals 50/75/100/125/150 (+.4 per ability power) magic damage and marks her target for 6 seconds. If she hits a marked target, the mark triggers dealing 50/75/100/125/150 (+.4 per ability power) magic damage and restoring 20/25/30/35/40 energy. With a 6 second cooldown at rank 1 and a relatively low energy cost, this ability can be an incredibly effective harassment tool, even without completing the ability with an auto attack. A few things of note about this ability. Mark of the Assassin can be much more effective to farm with at lower ranks and lower levels than Crescent Slash. It does nearly double the "bonus" damage of Crescent Slash if you can auto-attack the target. While Crescent Slash is not reliant upon your auto attack speed and hits multiple targets(providing for higher total DPS(damage per second) against multi-target), Mark of the Assassin provides much higher burst DPS to single targets. Because of this I much prefer to increase my ranks of Mark of the Assassin, over Crescent Slash in early game. Mark of the Assassin's damage is pure magic damage ontop of a physical damage strike. When you use it on a target that you're melee'ing, you will see three numbers. The first will be Crescent Slashes' primary magic damage, the second will be your auto attack physical damage, and the third will be Crescent Slashes' secondary magic damage. This magic damage is affected by magic penetration, and if you build Ability Power Akali, remember to take the magic penetration mastery, as well as either runes or items to maximize the effectiveness of this ability. |
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| Akali throws down a cover of smoke for 6/6.5/7/7.5/8 seconds. While inside the area, Akali gains 10/20/30/40/50 armor and becomes stealthed. Attacking or using abilities will briefly reveal her. Enemies in the smoke have their movement speed reduced by 14/18/22/26/30%. Twilight Shroud has its advantages and its shortcomings. While it can be used as an effective escape mechanism, I much prefer to use it as a disruption tool while fighting opponents who rely on targeted casting, or auto attacks. I will try and highlight some of its strengths and weaknesses with short videos here; Strengths - Escaping, using Twilight Shroud to escape into a bush. - Using Twilight Shroud to extend the bush. - Using Twilight Shroud to disrupt opponents. - Using Twilight Shroud to check bushes. - Using Twilight Shroud will reduce damage you receive when jungling. - The Armor you gain from Twilight Shroud can and will help protect against physical damage. - Using Twilight Shroud to slow pursuing enemies, or catch fleeing enemy champions. the following are video examples of using Akali's stealth to extend a bush, and to move unseen to a position that your opponent will not expect While this isnt the best example, watch in this first video as Akali uses the size and shape of her stealth cloud, to travel around the barrier an into the bush without breaking stealth. This weird placement can give you positional advantage over unsuspecting opponents. One thing to note about the second video. While it can be obvious to your opponent who is actually watching the lane that you have jumped from one bush to the other.. you will not appear on the minimap by using stealth to travel between bushes, even in plain view of creeps in the lane. Weaknesses Use of Twilight Shroud without additional cover lets opponents know EXACTLY where you are. Twilight Shroud WILL reset jungle bosses. |
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| Akali flourishes her kamas, hitting nearby units for 30/55/80/105/130 physical damage plus (+0.3 per ability power and +0.6 per attack damage) On a slightly longer cooldown than Mark of the Assassin at rank 1 (7 seconds), Crescent Slash does fairly moderate damage to creeps. Its real strength at low level, lies in the amount of vamp steal you get from a little bit of attack damage, and hitting a large number of creeps. There are a few oddities to note about Crescent Slash; The first is that Crescent Slash does physical damage. As such it is subject to the laws of Armor, and Armor Penetration. Due to this, and the Attack Damage coefficient, this ability will always be more effective than Mark of the Assassin if you are stacking attack damage. The second is that even though this ability deals physical damage, it also procs on spell-hit functions. This means that it WILL slow all targets around you if you have a Rylai's. Even though it does physical damage, it does not proc on-hit abilities such as the Lizard's fire debuff and DOT(damage over time). And lastly, it returns health from Vamp Steal, even though it does physical damage. I am unsure/unaware if other physical damage abilities (such as Pantheon's spear, or Gangplank's Parley do the same). Please also note that, because this ability does NOT require a target to cast, it will proc both Sheen and Lichbane. This allows Akali to make very short work of towers and inhibitors. |
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| Akali moves through shadows to quickly strike her target, dealing 100/175/250 (+.5 per ability power) magic damage and consuming an Essence of Shadow. Akali stores an Essence of Shadow once every 25/20/15 seconds up to 3 total. This is by far one of my favorite abilities in the game. Shadow Dance gives Akali the amazing ability to both kill fleeing champions, and very easily dive champions who are sitting under the relative safety of a tower, or behind their team during a team fight. While the ability power coefficient is nothing to write home about, It can still do fairly moderate damage if you are stacking ability power. It's short cooldown, and no energy cost, combined with Akali's burst damage strength can very easily drop enemy champions in a solo environment. Here are some things to note about Shadow Dance; Shadow Dance applies slows from Rylai's Scepter. Shadow Dance also procs both Sheen and Lichbane. Shadow Dance has incredible Synergy with both wards, and clairvoyance. The ability to charge through jungle walls to any hostile unit(aside from towers) allows Akali to easily escape enemy champions. Consider it like a Flash, to be used in very specific places, under certain circumstances. In this video; watch as Akali uses her synergy with wards, to create line of sight allowing her to easily escape a pursuing Corki. Normally a difficult champion to outrun with his natural ability to leap over jungle walls. Please note that this example is simply a demonstration on using the ult to escape with synergy from wards. This synergy also exists with Clairvoyance or any other form of line of sight to neutral or enemy creeps. |
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In this guide we will be discussing a very particular item build, skilling order, and playing guide. While it is completely possible and viable to play Akali in many other ways, we feel that this build order compliments organized team play the best, and as such; is more viable in higher Elo's and competitive play.
I would like to preface this guide with Akali's Pros and Cons. This should give you a solid overview of what we feel Akali should and shouldn't be used for.
Pros
Akali is exceptionally good at jungling. Really truly on par with champions like Udyr, and Warwick. It is VERY silly not to have a jungling Akali. Especially since you only have to sacrifice a single summoner spell for smite, and we're at the point where I've seen Akali's with all sorts of bizarre summoner spells.
The real truth is that Akali doesn't have a ton more synergy with any summoner spells beyond what the majority of other champions get. Sadface.
I'll go into jungling a bit more in a later section.
Akali has incredibly high burst damage, and due to the bipolar nature of her damage (magic and physical) it can be very hard to mitigate.
With a proper item build, it can be virtually impossible to escape Akali. She makes an excellent chase and diving champion.
Cons
Against the wrong champions, Akali can be very weak in the laning phase of the game. She really doesn't "blossom" until 6, when she gets her ultimate.
Regardless of the health items you build, Akali generally remains very squishy. She's hard to keep alive, even with her Twilight Shroud being used defensively.
Akali has virtually no CC. While her Twilight Shroud does slow; the amount it slows by, and the ability to walk around it make it fairly negligible. Be wary of putting Akali into team comps with other CC weak champions.
While Akali does have some team damage, her lack of AOE can be a hindrance. While she excels at cleanup, she should hardly be a front runner during team fights.
I made reference to this during the Pros/Cons section, and I would like to get into this in more detail.
Akali jungles amazingly well. If done properly, Akali can nearly match solo lanes for experience gained, and will finish ahead of side lanes in experience.
Simply put; With Akali jungling, you get the advantage of two solo lanes, and a jungler who finishes nearly as well as a solo lane in experience and money. This means that once Akali hits 6, she is free to gank side lanes with her ult over under leveled opponents.
There are a few very key pieces, that allow Akali to jungle successfully.
The first is that you MUST have a 2.25 damage Greater Quintessence of Strength. This combined with the +6 damage from a Doran's Blade and the +3 attack damage from masteries, allows you to reach the +10 damage requirement of Discipline of Force. Your passive.
The second is that you NEED Smite. Without Smite, Akali will jungle too slowly. If you are absolutely reliant upon having two summoner powers of choice, than jungling is not going to be for you.
Here is Medikai and GiRLSTAR's Akali Jungling video, explaining the basics of Jungling from 1-6.
The funny thing about Akali runes is that they dont seem to make or break her like they do many other champions. This is a particular rune combination I found effective throughout the entirety of a normal game.
1x Greater Quintessence of Strength
2x Greater Quintessence of Insight
9x Greater Mark of Insight
9x Greater Glyph of Focus
9x Greater Seal of Evasion
This rune combination gives you a significant amount of magic penetration for synergy with both your Mark of the Assassin and your Shadow Dance. It also provides you with the 2.25 attack damage you need for your Discipline of Force passive. With the 9 Glyph's of Focus, your jungling should be easier as you will receive more health back while jungling(by casting more damaging abilities in a shorter time span). An lastly, the 9x Greater Seal's of Evasion should help with the squishyness.
** An excellent point was made in the comments section. You can replace the Greater Quintessence of Strength with a
Lesser Quintessence of Strength and still reach +10 attack damage, without the heavy 2k IP cost of the tier 3 rune.
For Masteries, I generally build a standard 21/0/9 jungling build. If you're unfamiliar with jungling masteries for champions like Warwick, here is an example;
http://leaguecraft.com/masteries/0013430132300100000000000000013040001000000
The relevant points of interest in this build are;
1x Plentiful Bounty - Reduced cooldown and more gold from smite.
2x Offensive Mastery - +4 damage to minions, assists with jungling at low level
3x Brute Force - Without this, you cannot reach your Discipline of Force passive with a Doran's Blade
4x Awareness - Without this, double Golem jungle spawn will not give you a full level from 1 to 2.
1x Utility Mastery - This buff increases the duration of neutral monster buffs, which a jungling champion should possess at all times.
The two I would recommend primarily are;
Smite
Ignite
The attack combo of Shadow Dance +
Mark of the Assassin +
Crescent Slash +
Ignite +
Shadow Dance can be a very effective ganking combination at level 6, often times taking squishier targets into the red for an ignite kill, even from full health.
Although I've seen many other players utilize;
Flash
Ghost
Exhaust
Heal
Due to the squishyness of Akali, I do find it hard to disagree with these choices. Each one helps increase Akali's survivability. Although I also feel that due to the escape viability of Akali's abilities and the strength of Akali as a jungler, it is too much to lose the extra damage from Ignite, or the jungling viability of Smite.
An often left out skill with moderate Akali synergy is;
Clairvoyance
Remember to use Clairvoyence's synergy with your Shadow Dance to turn your ult into a jungle-escape mechanism.
I've tried Attack Damage, Ability Power and Hybrid Akali builds, and this is the one that I've found most effective.
Begin the game by purchasing;
Doran\'s Blade
Health Potion
Return to base once you've earned enough gold jungling to purchase;
Amplifying Tome
2x Health Potion
Your next complete items will be;
Boots of Swiftness or
Mercury's Treads or
Ninja Tabi or even
Sorcerer's Shoes
[item=Rylai's Scepter]
Lich Bane
After that, you're fairly free to build what you want, but I highly suggest either building more AP, or building survivability.
Here is the reasoning;
3 of 4 of Akali's abilities directly gain damage from ability power.
Rylai's Scepter applies slowing on-hit effects from 3/4 of Akali's abilities.
Lich Bane's proc will activate upon use of ANY of Akali's abilities. Due to the short cooldown of her abilities and the extra synergy from going pure AP, this item can very change Akali from a nuisance during team fights to a one woman team killing wonder.
The boots are solely dependent on your role on your team, and the enemy team composition. Please choose wisely, the fate of the world depends on it!
This is the skilling order I most commonly use;
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | |
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Thanks for reading our Akali Guide. We hope that you have enjoyed the information we have provided, and that it helps you step up your Akali game!
As the community develops, and we learn more about using this champion to her fullest extent we will be constantly updating this guide.
Also, if you enjoyed this guide or any of the others that GiRLSTAR and/or Medikai have written and would like to request a guide on your favorite champion, please leave us a comment in the comments area!
Thanks again for all your support,
- Medikai
- GiRLSTAR
And dont forget to check out
GiRLSTAR's Super Awesome Delicious Morgana Guide
