League of Legends Guide: Akali


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  12. ------------
  13. INTRODUCTION
  14. ------------
  15. Hello, I'm CheezWhizX. My ingame name is Vave and I've been playing League of
  16. Legends since December 2009. I'm currently playing on the NA servers and reached
  17. 1500 ELO during Season 2. Currently, I am 1700 ELO in Season 3. I've been
  18. playing Akali since she was released and have been playing her through all of
  19. her buffs and nerfs. She's my favorite champion and that's why I'm writing a
  20. guide for her.
  21. This guide is intended for people interested in learning how to play Akali. I
  22. will already assume you know the basic mechanics of League of Legends, which
  23. includes but isn't limited to: terminology, hotkeys, movement, and last
  24. hitting. This guide will also assume you are Lv. 30, are able to afford the
  25. runes, and are fill out the mastery page completely. This guide is mainly
  26. inteded for playing on the 5v5 map of Summoner's Rift, but can be applied to
  27. some degree of success to Twisted Treeline and Dominion.
  28. ------------------------
  29. OVERVIEW OF THE CHAMPION
  30. ------------------------
  31. Akali is a high-risk but high-reward AP assassin. Akali has some of the highest
  32. damage potential in the game, but risk is she has to go in melee range. With
  33. her base stats being average-slightly above average across the board, going
  34. into melee range is dangerous for her. Luckily, she comes equipped with an
  35. array of defensive tools, including stealth, an armor/magic resistance buff,
  36. and innate life steal and spell vamp. She also utilizes the Energy resource
  37. which has it's benefits and drawbacks.
  38. Akali has a good early game and decent lategame, but her true power lies within
  39. her ability to completely dominate mid game. Typically, mid game is the point
  40. where a lot of champions are still trying to farm up and obtain items in order
  41. to play for the later game, but Akali is generally excluded from this. Her base
  42. abilities' damage coupled with how well she can synergize with 1 or 2 items
  43. allows her to take on nearly any champion 1v1 and come out winning.
  44. Akali is generally taken top, but recently has had a surge of popularity in
  45. playing mid lane. Rarely, you can even see her in the jungle or in a kill lane
  46. bottom. This guide will be focusing on the top lane match-up.
  47. ----------
  48. BASE STATS
  49. ----------
  50. As of January 9th, 2013, Akali's base stats and abilities are as followed:
  51. HEALTH: 445 (+85 per level)
  52. HEALTH REGENERATION: 7.25 (+0.05 per level)
  53. ENERGY: 200
  54. ENERGY REGENERATION: 50
  55. RANGE: 125
  56. ATTACK DAMAGE: 53 (+3.2 per level)
  57. ATTACK SPEED: 0.694 (+3.1% per level)
  58. ARMOR: 16.5 (+3.5 per level)
  59. MAGIC RESISTANCE: 30 (+1.25 per level)
  60. MOVEMENT SPEED: 350
  61. ---------
  62. ABILITIES
  63. ---------
  64. PASSIVE - Twin Disciples
  65. "Discipline of Force: Upon obtaining 19.5 ability power, Akali's auto attacks
  66. deal 7.916% bonus magic damage, increasing by 1% for every 6 ability power
  67. gained thereafter. (This bonus damage affects all targets, including
  68. structures.)"
  69. "Discipline of Might: Upon obtaining 9.5 bonus attack damage, Akali gains
  70. 7.916% spell vamp, increasing by an additional 1% for every 6 attack damage
  71. gained thereafter."
  72. This passive is what allows Akali to synergize so incredibly well and output a
  73. lot of single target damage with only 1 or 2 items. This passive provides her
  74. with extra magic damage as well as spell vamp, which allows you to regenerate
  75. health when fighting or last hitting. However, the drawback to this passive is
  76. you need to dedicate specific runes and masteries to Akali in order to activate
  77. this passive at level 1.
  78. Q - Mark of the Assassin
  79. RANGE: 600
  80. COOLDOWN: 6/5.5/5/4.5/4
  81. COST: 60 Energy
  82. INITIAL MAGIC DAMAGE: 45/70/95/120/145 (+40% of AP)
  83. MAGIC DAMAGE AFTER HIT: 90/140/190/240/290 (+80% of AP)
  84. ENERGY RESTORE: 15/20/25/30/35
  85. "Akali throws her kama at a target enemy, dealing magic damage and marking the
  86. target for 6 seconds. Akali's basic attacks or Crescent Slashes against a
  87. marked target will consume the mark, dealing the same damage again and
  88. restoring energy to Akali."
  89. Mark of the Assassin is Akali's bread and butter ability. This ability has a
  90. multitude of uses, such as last hitting, harassment in the top and mid lane, the
  91. ability to spell vamp and thus regenerate health from it, and is her highest
  92. bursting skill. Luckily, with the way energy regeneration works, you are more or
  93. less able to spam this ability over and over without running out of energy. The
  94. incredible scaling on this ability and it's rather high base damage is also
  95. what let's Akali have such high damage potential.
  96. W - Twilight Shroud
  97. RANGE: 700
  98. COOLDOWN: 20
  99. COST: 80/75/70/65/60 Energy
  100. BONUS ARMOR/MAGIC RESISTANCE: 10/20/30/40/50
  101. SLOW: 14%/18%/22%/26%/30%
  102. "Akali creates a smoke cloud in the target 300-diameter area for 8 seconds.
  103. While within the cloud, Akali is granted stealth, and bonus armor and magic
  104. resistance. Attacking or using abilities reveals her for 0.5 seconds. Enemies
  105. inside the smoke suffer slowed movement."
  106. Twilight Shroud is Akali's only defensive ability, but it's really all she
  107. needs. Her ability to stealth on will is an incredible tool that allows her to
  108. trade really well early game when your opponents do not have the resources to
  109. afford a pink ward or Oracle's. This ability is also great for escapes and
  110. retreats, as well as keeping on the enemy via the slow. You always want to fight
  111. an enemy in the sdhroud if possible. An extra 10-50 armor and magic resistance
  112. is
  113. nothing to scoff at. If you're able to, you'd also want to place the shroud
  114. right
  115. before the enemy decides to harass you with an ability in order to take less
  116. damage.
  117. E - Crescent Slash
  118. RANGE: 325
  119. COOLDOWN: 7/6/5/4/3
  120. COST: 60/55/50/45/40 Energy
  121. PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 30/55/80/105/130 (+30% of AP) (+60% of AD)
  122. "Akali flourishes her kamas, dealing physical damage and triggering any Marks of
  123. the Assassin on nearby enemies."
  124. This ability used to be considered a waste of energy on Akali until they buffed
  125. it by allowing it to trigger Marks of the Assassin. Now, it's an essential part
  126. of her burst combo, as well as a good farming tool. A thing to note about this
  127. ability is that it's physical damage, meaning it's incredible hard to build
  128. defensively against Akali due to her ability to output both magical and physical
  129. damage.
  130. R - Shadow Dance
  131. RANGE: 800
  132. COOLDOWN: 2/1.5/1
  133. COST: 1 Essence of Shadow
  134. NEW ESSENCE OF SHADOW EVERY: 25/20/15
  135. MAGIC DAMAGE: 100/175/250
  136. "Akali uses an Essence of Shadow, dashing to and dealing magic damage to a
  137. target
  138. enemy. Akali gains an Essence of Shadow periodically, affected by cooldown
  139. reduction, up to a maximum of 3. Additionally, Akali gains an Essence of Shadow
  140. for each kill or assist she obtains."
  141. This ability is what allows Akali to be the assassin she is. This ability
  142. provides a decent amount of damage, but more importantly allows Akali to chase
  143. down her targets with incredible ease. Even better, the dash will reset upon a
  144. kill or assist, potentially enabling Akali to ult around for a good amount of
  145. time. This ability also allows her to juke extremely well via dashing to creeps
  146. or other enemy champions in order to escape. However, this ult has Akali deal
  147. with another resource system, making it a bit tricky to handle.
  148. SKILL LEVELING BUILD:
  149. R > Q > E > W
  150. The reasoning behind this skill build is that Akali's job is to do damage, plain
  151. and simple. By maxing Q and E first over W, you maximize Akali's damage
  152. potential
  153. as early as possible. The stealth is really all you need out of W, the defensive
  154. bonuses are just a plus and the slow is redundant when you get your ultimate. Of
  155. course, we take the ultimate at every point possible.
  156. -----------------------------------
  157. RUNES & MASTERIES & SUMMONER SPELLS
  158. -----------------------------------
  159. SUMMONER SPELLS:
  160. FLASH
  161. Flash is pretty much a required spell on everyone. It just has so many uses:
  162. Escaping, Getting over walls, Flashing out of abilities, etc.
  163. IGNITE:
  164. This adds a bit of true damage to your arsenal, but more importantly, it's use
  165. activates the Summoner's Wrath mastery, which adds +5 AD and AP to you when
  166. Ignite is on cooldown. This is usually what accompanies Flash.
  167. TELEPORT:
  168. In the top-lane, you're incredible far from bot lane, so having teleport on hand
  169. to counteract a gank or dragon is an incredible tool.
  170. CLEANSE:
  171. Cleanse is very strong if you against a champion whose main damage source comes
  172. after a hard CC, such as Jax or Kennen. You may want this if they have a
  173. champion
  174. who is able to disrupt you in teamfights constantly, such as Amumu or Morgana.
  175. EXHAUST:
  176. If you find yourself facing a hard match-up with a heavy burster, Exhaust may be
  177. beneficial if you can time it well. Otherwise, it isn't recommended to take this
  178. over any of the above 4.
  179. RUNE PAGE:
  180. +26 ABILITY POWER
  181. +175 HEALTH AT LV. 18
  182. +6.6 PHYSICAL DAMAGE
  183. +1.7 MAGIC PENETRATION
  184. x7 Greater Marks of Damage
  185. x2 Greater Marks of Magic Penetration
  186. x9 Greater Seal of Scaling Health
  187. x9 Greater Glyph of Ability Power
  188. x3 Greater Quintessance of Ability Power
  189. This is typically the rune page that most Akali players utilize. This is to
  190. maximize Akali's damage potential by allowing her to activate both of her
  191. passives at level 1. I personally utilize Health per level Seals mainly because
  192. Akali's base stats in both Magic Resistance and Armor aren't TOO bad, with the
  193. added bonus of having bonus armor and magic resistance in her shroud. If you
  194. want, you can switch out the Seals for whatever you like (such as flat Armor,
  195. flat Magic Resistance, etc.). It's really personal preference.
  196. MASTERIES:
  197. 21/9/0
  198. OFFENSE TREE:
  199. 1/1 Summoner's Wrath
  200. 4/4 Sorcery
  201. 4/4 Blast
  202. 1/1 Arcane Knowledge
  203. 3/3 Havoc
  204. 2/2 Brute Force
  205. 1/1 Spellsword
  206. 4/4 Archmage
  207. 1/1 Executioner
  208. DEFENSE TREE:
  209. 4/4 Durability
  210. 1/3 Hardiness
  211. 3/3 Resistance
  212. 1/1 Veteran's Scars
  213. This is my most utilized mastery build. This gives Akali a good amount of
  214. offensive power as well as giving her a bit of defense. The 2 points in Brute
  215. Force are especially important because that talent, coupled with the runes
  216. above,
  217. allow Akali to activate Discipline of Might at level 1 without any items. The
  218. runes chosen in the defense tree are interchangeable. Depending on your personal
  219. preference and and lane match up, you may wish to go 3/3 in hardiness or 3/3 in
  220. Perseverance, the health regeneration mastery.
  221. ---
  222. 21/0/9
  223. OFFENSE TREE:
  224. 1/1 Summoner's Wrath
  225. 4/4 Sorcery
  226. 4/4 Blast
  227. 1/1 Arcane Knowledge
  228. 3/3 Havoc
  229. 2/2 Brute Force
  230. 1/1 Spellsword
  231. 4/4 Archmage
  232. 1/1 Executioner
  233. UTILITY TREE:
  234. 1/1 Summoner's Insight
  235. 3/3 Wanderer
  236. 1/1 Improved Recall
  237. 3/3 Mastermind
  238. 1/1 Biscuiteer
  239. This mastery build is more for defensive purposes. You get a free potion at the
  240. start of the game, as well as a faster recall and more movement speed. Also, if
  241. you enjoy utilizing Flash more often, this build shaves off around 40ish seconds
  242. off the 300 second cooldown. Really, the masteries here can be changed around a
  243. bit like putting points into the item active cooldown one. Overall, I wouldn't
  244. recommend using this mastery build very often, since it's more technical and
  245. requires a bit more knowledge of the game than if you're just learning.
  246. ----------
  247. ITEM BUILD
  248. ----------
  249. NOTE: There are no set item builds for ANY champion. This is just a guideline of
  250. what you can build if the game is going smoothly without anything happening. If
  251. you feel as though you need defensive items, don't try and rush that Rabadon's
  252. Deathcap before a GA and so on.
  253. STARTING ITEMS:
  254. ==============
  255. Boots of Speed
  256. x3 Health Potions
  257. ==================
  258. This start is mainly if you need that extra movement speed to dodge skill shots
  259. or you feel you don't need the extra sustain. This used to be the mandatory
  260. start
  261. for nearly all champions during Season 2, but Season 3 shifted some of the
  262. movement speed on this item to every champion's base movement speed, so this
  263. isn't as mandatory. It's still the most preferable item if you are facing
  264. extreme
  265. burst damage, however.
  266. =================
  267. Crystalline Flask
  268. x5 Health Potions
  269. x1 Sight Ward
  270. =============
  271. This start is the safest start. It's great for anyone just learning to play
  272. Akali
  273. and needs a crutch. This start provides an incredible amount of sustain as well
  274. as an early ward to catch junglers with. It may seem like a waste to buy
  275. Flask when it regenerates mana, but it's still cost effective even if it only
  276. regenerates health. This combo is also great if you feel as though you're laning
  277. with a strong early-game harasser.
  278. ===========
  279. Cloth Armor
  280. x5 Health Potions
  281. =================
  282. This start is mainly for Akali in the top lane when she's facing a strong,
  283. physical harasser such as Jayce or Darius. The extra armor, however, usually
  284. isn't worth it compared to the Boots or Flask start, but if you feel you need
  285. it, it's always an option.
  286. ==================
  287. x13 Health Potions
  288. OR
  289. x9 Health Potions
  290. x2 Sight Wards
  291. ==============
  292. This start is basically an all or nothing start vs. heavy harassment. While
  293. these
  294. starts do provide an incredible amount of sustain (2500 or so extra health), if
  295. you fall behind with these items, it's going to be very difficult to climb back
  296. up.
  297. EARLY GAME:
  298. When you've farmed a bit and maybe even got a kill or two, you should go back
  299. and make your first purchases. Besides wards and health potions, here's a list
  300. of good items for your first buys. Of course, if you can't afford the item, you
  301. can always buy the parts leading up the item.
  302. CORE:
  303. ================
  304. Sorcerer's Shoes
  305. OR
  306. Mercury Treads
  307. ==============
  308. These are the two shoes you should be looking at to build as Akali. Sorcerer's
  309. Shoes are generally the to-go item as Magic Penetration is an incredible stat
  310. for
  311. what it does and allows Akali to do even more damage. Mercury Treads are for
  312. those situations where your opponent bought a pink ward and has enough CC to
  313. counter your high burst with. It also provides a decent amount of magic
  314. resistance.
  315. ================
  316. Hextech Revolver
  317. ================
  318. This is a key item in Akali's build. Not only does it build into Hextech
  319. Gunblade, but it also provides a good amount of spell vamp and AP that allows
  320. you
  321. to sustain in lane even further, adding on to your passive.
  322. EXTRA:
  323. ==============
  324. Haunting Guise
  325. ==============
  326. This item is ridiculously good early game if you can afford it. It has a good
  327. amount of magic penetration (which is now much stronger due to Season 3 changes)
  328. and gives a bit of health and AP to boot. If you intend on snowballing hard or
  329. having the tankiness and damage output to trade well with the bruisers up to,
  330. consider buying this item.
  331. ===================
  332. Mejai's Soulstealer
  333. ===================
  334. If you're just running train on the enemy team as Akali, I recommend this item.
  335. This item is looked down upon for being a pubstomper item that literally is
  336. based
  337. off snowballing, but that's essentially Akali. By no means is this item core on
  338. Akali, but consider that Mejai's becomes worth it's price with only 5 stacks.
  339. MID GAME:
  340. THis is the part where Akali starts to shine. All she really needs is one or two
  341. items to get going and being able to outburst nearly anyone in the game.
  342. Consider the following for those one or two items.
  343. CORE:
  344. ================
  345. Hextech Gunblade
  346. ================
  347. This is, by far, the single best item on Akali in the game. It provides
  348. everything that Akali needs: Burst, Spell Vamp, Lifesteal, AD, AP, and a Slow.
  349. It's ridiculous how well Akali can synergize with this item. This item should be
  350. your first completed item with Akali.
  351. EXTRA:
  352. ===============
  353. Abyssal Scepter
  354. ===============
  355. This item synergizes extremely well if you built Sorcerer's Shoes and/or
  356. Haunting
  357. Guise. The magic resistance reduction that you provide can make you hit nearly
  358. true damage with your abilities. It also gives a good amount of AP and magic
  359. resistance. Consider building this vs. an AP-heavy team.
  360. =================
  361. Deathfire's Grasp
  362. =================
  363. This item makes Akali's burst insane. With this, your already strong burst
  364. becomes strong enough to finish off anyone in 1-2 combos. If you're snowballing
  365. hard, consider this.
  366. ============
  367. Twin Shadows
  368. ============
  369. This is a really underrated item in general. While it gives a decent amount of
  370. magic resistance and ability power, it's true strength lies in the movement
  371. speed bonus and active. It's active sends out two ghosts that look for enemies,
  372. even through fog of war and not only reveal them, but slow them as well. If
  373. you roam a lot as Akali, consider this item to make your roaming much stronger.
  374. LATE GAME:
  375. Here is where Akali's power starts to diminish. She still has a strong burst
  376. overall, but really everyone starts to have the damage and tankiness to contend
  377. with her. Besides getting more of the above items, consider these to make
  378. lategame easier.
  379. ==================
  380. Rabadon's Deathcap
  381. ==================
  382. If you feel as though you aren't doing enough damage as Akali, this item easily
  383. doubles your total AP and makes you hit like a truck. However, the Season 3
  384. nerf hit it hard and you may want to consider more defensive item options.
  385. ==================
  386. Zhonya's Hourglass
  387. ==================
  388. This is a great second buy if teamfights start to break out frequently. Being
  389. able to jump into teamfights and burst their AD carry, then Zhonya's for
  390. invincibility is incredible. The armor it offers is good for surviving well and
  391. it gives a good amount of AP. Personally, this is usually my second choice of
  392. item after Hextech.
  393. ==========
  394. Void Staff
  395. ==========
  396. With the way magic penetration was changed, Void Staff became much stronger.
  397. With
  398. this, you'll still be able to hit your opponents hard even if they build magic
  399. resistance. Coupled with Abyssal Scepter, Haunting Guise, and Sorcerer's Shoes,
  400. consider yourself to be doing true damage.
  401. =======================
  402. Rylai's Crystal Scepter
  403. =======================
  404. This item makes Akali extremely tanky and basically ensures that her target will
  405. never be able to get away. I find the slow redundant due to Twilight Shroud's
  406. slow and her ability to stick on people regardless of their movement speed, but
  407. who knows? You may need the extra tankiness to survive, especially in a meta
  408. where high-health bruisers are running around.
  409. =========
  410. Lich Bane
  411. =========
  412. This item sounds like it synergizes well with Akali, so why is it not core?
  413. That's mainly because the mana is wasted on Akali and her burst is already
  414. strong
  415. enough without having to drop 3,000 gold on this item. But it does make her
  416. stronger and the movement speed bonus is always a plus.
  417. ================
  418. Guardian's Angel
  419. ================
  420. Akali is going to be in the middle of teamfights very often, so having a GA on
  421. hand to revive her is going to help a lot. The resistances aren't much, but even
  422. if you revive at 30%, her ability to get back to full health via spell vamp and
  423. life steal is incredible.
  424. --------------
  425. LANE MATCH UPS
  426. --------------
  427. ========
  428. TOP LANE
  429. ========
  430. vs. Akali
  431. This is a straight-up skill match up. Basically, whoever can get the first kill
  432. usually wins the lane. Try getting an early Vision Ward to counteract her
  433. stealth.
  434. vs. Cho'Gath
  435. You want to take him out early and reach level 6 before he does if possible. If
  436. you simply let Cho'Gath farm and turn the lane into a farm lane, he WILL scale
  437. much stronger than you going into lategame. Burst him down before he buys any
  438. defensive items.
  439. vs. Darius
  440. This match-up is very rough for Akali. Darius has his AOE and pull to mess you
  441. up, even if you're in Twilight Shroud. Even at Lv. 6, Darius easily has the
  442. burst potential to put you down. Your jungler is really what makes or breaks
  443. this match-up.
  444. vs. Gangplank
  445. This is a really easy match-up. His Parrrley does outrange your Mark of the
  446. Assassin, however, so be wary of that. Gangplang is really weak without items,
  447. however, so he's simply food for Akali at level 6.
  448. vs. Garen
  449. This is another match-up that Akali should dread. Not only does Garen's silence
  450. prevent you from stealthing or jumping away, but his spin damage and execution
  451. ult can easily kill you considering Akali's base armor. His innate sustain and
  452. incredible tankiness from his W also make him very hard to harass and burst
  453. down.
  454. Do not expect to win this match-up without assistance from your jungler.
  455. vs. Irelia
  456. You're going to want to kill her early game, a lot. Without significant items,
  457. Irelia is
  458. much less of a threat, but once she's able to start building tankier and
  459. tankier,
  460. do not consider yourself able to win 1v1 with her.
  461. vs. Jarvan IV
  462. This is another skill match-up. Jarvan has a lot of early game strength and a
  463. good amount of tankiness to back that up. While your ult CAN counter his ult by
  464. your dashing away, you should be wary while fighting him.
  465. vs. Jax
  466. Jax's ability to dodge prevents you from being able to burst him effectively.
  467. Not
  468. to mention his tankiness and straight insane-damage output. Don't expect to win
  469. this lane very often. You're going to want to try and harass him with Mark of
  470. the Assassin as often as possible. Jax's only way to trade back is to jump on
  471. you, which you can counter with stealth.
  472. vs. Jayce
  473. Another strong top-laner. I used to think Akali stomps Jayce, but now I see it
  474. more of a skill match-up. Jayce's ranged early game will cripple you if you
  475. get anywhere near him. Luckily, your Mark outranges his ranged attacks, so abuse
  476. this to your advantage. Jayce isn't innately tanky either, so consider trying to
  477. kill him once you get your ult and before Jayce gets his AD items. Shadow Dash
  478. also counters Jayce's only ways to to escape (his knockback and movement speed
  479. bonus), so keep that in mind.
  480. vs. Kayle
  481. This is a rather uncommon match-up because Kayle doesn't see much play. Early
  482. game, you do have the damage to straight-up kill Kayle, even if she ults. She
  483. doesn't have the damage to fight back until she gets her items.
  484. vs. Kennen
  485. A battle of ninja. Kennen's incredible CC allows him to easily take-on Akali in
  486. a straight up fight. Unfortunately, all of his abilties can hit you despite
  487. stealth, so be wary stealthing near him.
  488. vs. Kha'Zix
  489. His burst is INSANE. In fact, I consider Kha'Zix one of the few champions able
  490. to
  491. outburst Akali. If you can, try to hit Level 6 before he does. Kha'Zix needs a
  492. few seconds to add a point in from his ultimate to his other skills, so try to
  493. exploit this.
  494. vs. Lee Sin
  495. Lee Sin straight up counters Akali. His damage and tankiness early game allow
  496. him
  497. to easily trade with you and two of his abilities reveal you in stealth. He also
  498. has access to nearly as many ways to retreat as you do to chase him. Sit back
  499. and try to farm as much as possible.
  500. vs. Malphite
  501. Malphite's shield is annoying, but you can spam Mark all day against him. His
  502. level 6 burst is something to be wary of, however.
  503. vs. Mordekaiser
  504. Before Mordekaiser gets any tanky items, he's pretty much food for Akali.
  505. Depending on his summoner spells, however, be careful trying to kill him at
  506. level
  507. 6. His ult + ignite is a significant amount of damage and Akali doesn't have the
  508. means to mitigate it very much.
  509. vs. Nasus
  510. Nasus loses lane to practically everyone. Akali isn't an exception. Kill him as
  511. much as possible early game, because he can scale ridiculously into lategame.
  512. vs. Nidalee
  513. A skill match-up. Back in season 1, the best Akali (Westrice) and the best
  514. Nidalee (HotshotGG) faced off 1v1 and Hotshot ended up winning. There's been
  515. signifcant changes to both champions since then. If Nidalee is smart and builds
  516. tanky vs. you, don't expect to be doing a lot of damage vs. her.
  517. vs. Riven
  518. Riven's kit allows her to fight Akali very well. Her on-demand stun can mitigate
  519. Akali's burst very well. Try harassing her from ranged and going for the kill
  520. when she's low.
  521. vs. Olaf
  522. Another hard match-up. Because of how Olaf can straight build health, the one
  523. thing that can nerf Akali's burst hard, he ends up being a hard match-up. Count
  524. on your jungler for this one.
  525. vs. Pantheon/Renekton
  526. You're not going to fight either of these two unless you're absolutely sure you
  527. can 100-0 them quickly. They both have abilities that cut through your stealth,
  528. stuns to keep you in place, and gap closers to make harassing from ranged not a
  529. possibility. Another one to count on your jungler for.
  530. vs. Rengar
  531. An easy match-up since Rengar's nerfs. He doesn't have the damage to put you
  532. down
  533. or the tankiness to stop you from bursting him.
  534. vs. Rumble
  535. Hard match-up with all of Rumble's abilities. However, he relies on sustain
  536. while
  537. you rely on burst. You CAN outburst him, but don't expect to win any fights if
  538. the fight drags on.
  539. vs. Shen
  540. His tankiness and damage output early game as strong and unfortunately, you do
  541. not have any abilities to shut down his Stand United. This lane will probably
  542. turn to a farm lane unless you can lane a kill on him.
  543. vs. Singed
  544. One of Akali's easiest match-ups. You simply crush him early game enough so that
  545. he's unable to work his way into lategame. He has no signicant abilities that
  546. outdamage you, so feel free to kill him as much as you can.
  547. vs. Teemo
  548. Another easy match-up, although this can rely on the skill of the Teemo. Try
  549. baiting his blind so you can go in and burst him with your full combo. Teemo has
  550. no escapes, so exploit this as hard as you can.
  551. vs. Vladimir
  552. Fortunately, neither of you have the damage to put down the other early game,
  553. but
  554. once you hit level 6, Vladimir is food. His sustain does not help him against
  555. your incredible burst and his only escape is countered by your 3 gap closers.
  556. vs. Warwick
  557. He's a rough match-up. He has the ability to heal for a truckload and wear you
  558. down until he can ult in for the kill. It's worse if he builds Spirit Visage.
  559. Take advantage of the fact you have a ranged ability and he doesn't.
  560. vs. Wukong
  561. He hits hard. Very hard. Good for you though, because Wukong is one of the few
  562. champions that actually doesn't have some sort of sustain. He does have a gap
  563. closer and make sure you don't accidentally burst down his clone. His ultimate
  564. is
  565. a strong disengage or engage, so be careful of it. It can hit you through
  566. stealth.
  567. vs. Xin Zhao
  568. Because Xin Zhao relies on auto attacks, your stealth is a very good tool
  569. against him. He doesn't have burst to contend with you, nor does he have any
  570. real escapes.
  571. vs. Yorick
  572. This lane is living hell. He has the sustain and damage to put you away very
  573. easily. Nothing to really say except hope your jungler comes along often.
  574. --------------------------------
  575. NOTE: While a lot of top lane match-ups are hard for Akali, you have to
  576. remember these
  577. are based around a even-skill scenario. The better player will usually win the
  578. lane.
  579. ------------------------------------------
  580. PLAYING THE GAME: EARLY, MID, AND LATEGAME
  581. ------------------------------------------
  582. As Akali, there are a couple of things that are expected of you:
  583. -Kill the opposing laner as often as possible
  584. -Roam around and gank
  585. -Have the ability to strike down the squishy but important targets in teamfights
  586. A thing to note is at Level 6 is where you make one of your first major choices:
  587. Whether or not your can burst down your opponent. If you can't, that's basically
  588. your cue to go and roam around. If you can, try to get as many kills as possible
  589. from your opponent before starting to roam.
  590. As Akali, you may or may not be dominating your lane. Regardless, your lane
  591. opponent will most likely be trying to freeze the lane at his tower, so use
  592. this time to roam around. Push your lane hard and constantly be on the move.
  593. Move
  594. to mid and bot. Even your mere presence can force a lane to miss CS if the lane
  595. pushed to your side's towers. Akali can reach some incredible damage ranges with
  596. only 1-2 items, so farming isn't as important for you as, say, the AD carry. I
  597. cannot stress this enough, you want to roaming around as Akali. I've seen too
  598. many Akalis that don't push their kill advantages to other lanes or don't
  599. realize
  600. that even if they're behind in their lane, they can go to other lanes and still
  601. kill them.
  602. Lategame is where you make it or break it as a great Akali. Being able to dive
  603. their AD carry and make it out alive is a miracle in itself. However, if you can
  604. trade yourself for their farmed AD carry, go for it. This may leave you dead,
  605. but
  606. this leaves your team with an AD carry and the enemy team AD carry-less.
  607. ----------
  608. LAST WORDS
  609. ----------
  610. Hopefully you have learned a bit more on playing Akali today. I do plan to
  611. expand
  612. this guide more, such as going more in-depth on match-ups and the playstyles of
  613. mid Akali, when I do have the time. If I did make any mistakes, please message
  614. me
  615. and I'll try my best to fix it. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to
  616. read my guide!
  617. CREDITS:
  618. -http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/League_of_Legends_Wiki
  619. For having a good amount of in-depth info on Akali and all the other champions,
  620. including their base damages, base stats, ratios, etc.
  621. -http://na.leagueoflegends.com/
  622. For being a great game. Special thanks to the forums for having odd bits of
  623. info,
  624. like general opinions on lane match-ups and various graphs and charts!
  625. -http://www.gamefaqs.com
  626. For hosting this guide!

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