Overview
Like most assassins, Akali is a champion with a high ceiling when it comes to potential, which means her floor for entry can be rather difficult. She’s a champion that can weave in and out of the fight with excellent mobility while still dealing a ridiculous amount of burst damage and is a great pick for anyone who watched too much Naruto growing up. Click here for the latest data on her best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Keys to Remember About Akali
- While your ultimate and Shuriken Flip are the abilities that will lead to kills and highlight reel plays, it's how effectively you use your Twilight Shroud that separates the good from the great. The ability to dip in and out and reposition yourself will let you get away with your life in situations where you absolutely should not.
- Despite being a melee champion, Akali has potential to stay aggressive in lane with good Five Point Strikes that hit minions and enemy champions -- don't be afraid to play up to threaten an all-in on opponents.
Strengths
You’re going to feel like you can play your way out of any situation, and if you play back a fight and slow it down, you’ll probably be able to think of a lot of different ways on how you should have played a fight. Shuriken Flip and Perfect Execution give you a ton of mobility, which makes getting onto a desired target to be a rather simple job for Akali. And as long as they can’t just circle you like hyenas, Twilight Shroud will allow you to buy enough time to figure out a proper escape route.
Weaknesses
Like other assassins, she can be prone to CC, and it won’t take much time to kill her if she’s locked down. The options allowing her to jump onto an enemy can backfire instantly if you don’t watch out for CC or Exhaust -- this makes teamfighting a bit difficult as you’ll have to constantly look for creative angles to reach the backline without dying on the way.
Game Plan
- Early Game: Your goal is to farm and stay alive without being poked out of the lane -- Five Point Strike’s can be deceptively long and catch opponents off guard as they step up to CS, and it’ll be a good way for you to keep pressure on enemies who are trying to poke you out of lane. Once you have Twilight Shroud, you can look for more aggressive trades.
- Mid Game: At this point, you should identify which champions you can kill and then do your best to find them in isolation. Players are not apt to group properly at this point and Akali’s mobility can make it really easy to find and execute someone before any sort of reinforcements arrive.
- Late Game: You’ll likely need a bit of help before you’re able to kill your targets -- this can come in the form of waiting for them to be poked down or by having another ally who is able to dive with you. Otherwise it’ll be more prudent to look for angles to threaten from the side and from behind.
