Homiejomie's Akali Guide! - Topic

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Posts: 90,777

Joined: Sep 23 2009

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Jul 16 2011 05:55pm

Hello everyone, welcome to my guide for Akali, The Fist of Shadow.
Akali is one of my favorite champions to play.
She has huge burst damage, and can really eat away at squishy champions.
Here are some pros / cons of Akali:

Pros:
- Enjoyable
- Amazing assassin
- Decent farmer/laner
- Can jungle
- Deceptively strong burst
- Great chasing/juking abilities
- Snowballs well

Cons:
- Squishy melee
- Countered by CC/focus/oracle's elixirs
- Skill/micro intensive
- Requires good judgment/awareness/decision-making

Runes

Marks
7x Greater Mark of Strength
2x Greater Mark of Alacrity

Seals
9x Greater Seal of Vitality

Glyphs
4x Greater Glyph of Potency
4x Greater Glyph of Force

Quintessences
3x Greater Quintessence of Potency

The reason I use these runes is to be able to have both of my passive buffs at level 1, allowing me to start out with boots / health potions for an easier time harassing early game.

Masteries (21/0/9):
Offense
Deadliness: 1
Archmage's Savvy: 3
Sorcery: 4
Alacrity: 4
Burning Embers: 1
Archaic Knowledge: 1
Sunder: 3
Brute Force: 1
Havoc: 1

Utility
Good Hands: 3
Perseverance: 1
Awareness: 4
Utility Mastery: 1

Summoner spells
Flash / Ignite

Skills

Twin Disciplines
Akali's passive is what makes her a viable hybrid. She gains bonus magic damage from AP and spell vamp from AD. With AP runes+3/3 Archmage's Savvy and AD runes+3/3 Brute Force, both buffs will be activated at level 1.

Mark of the Assassin
This is Akali's main damaging ability. Max it first. Use it to harass early game. Whenever it's safe to fully engage, wait until the cooldown is up to burn the first mark and afterward use it again for a double auto attack double mark burst. Deals tons and tons of magic damage, fast.

Twilight Shroud
This is Akali's stealth ability, which gives her the control she needs to dominate her lane. Use it in the thick of a team fight, for zone control, to juke, to 1v1 kite, to slow enemies, and for face checking brushes. Be advised that it starts at 80 energy, so be careful when using it while bursting. Use it at the edge of brush or around a corner to juke. Flash out of it when death is otherwise imminent. Also don't forget that it gives Akali armor and magic resistance, so it just might save you from that DoT or turret shot.

Crescent Slash
This is Akali's only AoE ability. Use it for farming and bursting. Remember that its range is very short and easy to miss on fast moving targets. It scales off both ability power and attack damage, but only does physical damage.

Shadow Dance
Akali's ultimate is what defines her. You can do so many things with this ability. Start off a surprise gank with it, last hit that about to die creep, chase and kill steal like a pro, burst with surplus charges, and most importantly, juke. Does a surprisingly large amount of magic damage.

The standard bust order is Q > R > auto attack > Q > auto attack > W (If needed)

Skill order
Q > W > Q > E > Q > R > Q > E > Q > E > R > E > E > W > W > R > W > W

Long story short, give to your Q first, and every other time you can give to it.
Twilight shroud should be your second skill to help you harass a bit, but only give to it once until everything else is maxed.

Items

I get boots first to help me get in and out of the combat zone during harassing early game.
I hardly see people go Hextech Revolver on Akali, because her passive has spell vamp, but it helps out a lot throughout the game.
Sorc boots for more magic pen, since this is a full AP build.
I used to not buy a Rylai's, but I have realized that it helps a ton because of the HP, AP, and the slow on your moves.
Lich Bane is also a very good item because you get the extra damage after a spell is used, and your cooldowns are pretty low, so it helps a ton.
I finish my Hextech Gunblade for the extra attack damage.
Void staff for more magic penetration. :]

Thanks for giving my guide a look,
HomieJomie