Akali Ultimate Guide - Counters, Build, Runes & Playstyle
Akali Ultimate Guide (Latest Patch 13.15) - Counters, Build, Runes & Playstyle
What Dose Akali Abilities Do:
Akali's kit revolves around swift and precise strikes, granting her unparalleled agility and killing potential. Let's explore her abilities:
Passive: Assassin's Mark - Akali's passive empowers her attacks and abilities with bonus magic damage, marking enemies. Consuming two marks triggers a burst of damage and energy restoration, making it crucial to weave auto-attacks into your combos.
Q: Five Point Strike - Akali hurls her kunai, damaging enemies and restoring energy if it hits. Perfecting the aim and timing of this ability is the key to consistent trades and wave control.
W: Twilight Shroud - This ability is Akali's getaway card. She vanishes into a cloud of smoke, becoming stealthed and slowing enemies within the shroud. Use it to disengage, confuse foes, or reposition in team fights.
E: Shuriken Flip - Akali dashes forward and throws a shuriken backward, dealing damage in both directions. This skill serves as a gap-closer and a way to execute your combos effectively.
R: Perfect Execution - Akali's ultimate is a multi-faceted tool. She dashes and can cast it twice within a limited time frame. Properly using it allows for outplays, escapes, and finishing off wounded enemies.
Akali Abilities Skill Order
Here you can see the full skill order for Akali in the mid lane.
Q - You will always start with [Q] and you should max it first as well so you can clean minion waves much faster, on top of t hat it's a great way to poke your eremy.
W - You usually want take your shroud as 2nd or 3rd ability it just depends on your playstyle and what will happen in the lane.
E - Most of the time you want it third or sometimes second since then you got a nice gap close to use as well as possibility of full in and killing your opponent even after they flash, if you managed to hit your [E].
R - You always plan to max your Ultimate Ability [Perfect Execution] whenever you can & you be surprised but Akali can actually 100 to zero a target with no magic resists or if they got super little of them!
Summoner Spells
1. Flash is a must have in most champions in League of Legends anyway since it can be used offensively or defensively which makes it a great choice for most champions and well Akali too!
2. Ignite amazing choice for Akali against any champion since it's the usual set up that works against all matchups in the mid lane.
Akali Runes
Primary Path - Domination:
Electrocute - Good source of extra damage that as an assassin Akali you will need, most of the time you would only play Electrocute against squashy team comps.
Sudden Impact - Amazing synergy with your [W] shroud to gain extra damage on trades, this rune is good always during the whole game since it also has synergy with your ultimate.
Eyeball Collection - When you play mid lane you will be in the middle of the map and you will stack some extra AP/AD much more easily.
Relentless Hunter - Good for all kind of assassins to get that extra movement speed that is crucial in your assassin role.
Second Path - Resolve
Second Wind - Since Akali is a melee assassin she will get poked in the lane most of the time against most common mid laners that's why is good to take it, only against range enemy and take bone planting against melee mid laners.
Overgrowth - You will need some extra maximum health because Akali isn't quite building anything more tanky and it's the only good choice as 3rd in the resolve tree.
Stat Shards
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP) - Since you are not a tank and you are an assassin mage you do want to go adaptive shard to gain that 9 Ability Power.
+15-140 HP (lvls 1-18) - Always good into anything, it scales super good as well but you can always change it for armor or magic resists, if you prefer.
General Playstyle Tips & Tricks
As Akali, your primary focus should be on picking off isolated enemies, flanking in team fights, and assassinating high-priority targets. Capitalize on her mobility and stealth to strike when the enemy least expects it.
Akali Combos - Lane / Burst / All in
Success as Akali hinges on executing her combos with precision. Master these combos to maximize her damage output and secure kills:
W-Q-AA-Q-AA-E-E-AA-Q Combo: Use this in a lane when your target is about half health to kill them easily.
Q-E-AA Combo: Use Five Point Strike (Q), Shuriken Flip (E), followed by an Auto-Attack (AA) for a quick burst of damage.
R1-Q-E-AA-R2 Combo: Engage with Perfect Execution (R1), then swiftly unleash the Q-E-AA combo before triggering the second part of Perfect Execution (R2) to finish off your target.
Akali Build / Items to Buy:
Start Items
The right start items can shape your early game as Akali. Consider these options:
Doran's Shield: Ideal against poke-heavy matchups for extra sustain and survivability.
Dark Seal: Provides nice AP start and ability to stack it into a Mejai's Soulstealer, it typically involves aggressive playstyle.
Doran's Ring: Great start item against melee matchups.
First Back Items
First Back Under 650 Gold
When you back to the base with less than 650 gold, it's ideal to get a single Amplifying Tome & Refillable Potion at least!
First Back 650-800 Gold
The ideal gold you want on your first back that is not bad is always 650-800 since then you can buy, Dark Seal to start stacking it and have bigger ability of carrying the game with stacks & boots that are necessary for each game as well as Refillable Potion to not buy normal pots that are expensive.
First Back 1050-1400 Gold
This is a winning tier base reset, you will usually have this kind of gold when you killed the enemy and then you will have a choice that will always be, Hextech Alternator if you got enough for it with a Refillable Potion, then sorcerer's shoes in next base backs.
Akali Full Electrocute Build
Here you have all of the options that are great for full burst, assassin, carry build:
Hextech Rocketbelt
It's the usual choice in terms of the mythic for the assassin build to get that extra magic penetration for each legendary item as well!
Shadowflame
It's a good choice item as 2nd or 3rd if enemies got lots of shield.
Zhonya's Hourglass
Really good into a lot of AD Champs, can be bought for playing for time (engaging then insta zhoniya to make chaos in teamfight, then your team can follow up)
Banshee's Veil
Awesome into a lot of AP Champs, or when enemy has 1 main ability thats either 100% death (like Blitz hook), or champions like Karthus Ultimate because of low cd.
Rabadon's Deathcap
You will gain a tone of ability power with rabadon which is an obvious choice especially when you are getting feed.
Void Staff
Good against lots of champions that stack magic resist to get through that and deal them some damage.
Mejai's Soulstealer
Under Master Tier you should always try and build it since lots of players do a lot of mistakes, not saying that Master players are perfect however for most people it will help them to snowball quicker under it.
Morellonom Icon
Good source of anty heal against these healing champions such as: Vladimir, Mundo, Draven, Yasuo…
Lich Bane
It's super good when we want to deal as much damage as possible vs specific target asap, with Rocketbelt>Flash R>Auto for example (preferably with electrocute only).
Akali Counter
She excels at diving into the backline and eliminating high priority champions that are feed. However, like any champion, she has her weaknesses and can be countered by certain picks and strategies these kind of champions are:
Vex
Vex is a hypothetical champion introduced after my last update, and I don't have specific information about her abilities or interactions with Akali. However, if Vex were designed as a counter to Akali, it's likely that her kit would include abilities that could disrupt Akali's mobility and burst potential, making it harder for Akali to assassinate her targets. For instance, Vex might have crowd control abilities, zoning tools, or area-of-effect damage that can punish Akali for diving in and trying to burst down opponents.
Swain
Swain's kit is well-suited to dealing with Akali's strengths. Swain's Q ability, Death's Hand, is a reliable source of poke and damage over time, which can help him wear down Akali's health during the laning phase. His W ability, Vision of Empire, grants him vision of the area and can reveal Akali when she tries to hide in her shroud (W - Twilight Shroud). Swain's E ability, Nevermove, is a root that can catch Akali when she uses her dashes, preventing her from repositioning and avoiding damage. Swain's ultimate, can be an effective tool to turn the tide of teamfights, as he can sustain himself and deal significant area damage, making it challenging for Akali to assassinate his team members and himself too!
Galio
Galio is a powerful anti-mage tank, he can effectively counter Akali's burst damage with his crowd control during her engagements and since he has a magic shield it can be difficult to kill him too. Galio's passive, deals bonus magic damage based on his bonus magic resistance, making him naturally tanky against Akali's AP burst based damage. His Q is an area-of-effect poke and wave-clear tool that can pressure Akali in lane and prevent her from roaming easily. Galio's W grants him a damage-reducing shield that taunts enemies when fully charged, interrupting Akali's combos and locking her down which is super annoying to play against.
Taliyah
Taliyah's kit offers strong wave clear and crowd control, which can make it difficult for Akali to find opportunities to engage and assassinate her targets. Taliyah's Q provides her with consistent poke and wave-clearing capabilities, forcing Akali to focus on farming under turret or risk taking significant damage. Taliyah's E ability, is a powerful ability that can interrupt Akali's dashes and mobility, making it harder for her to close the gap and kill you or your team mates.
Kassadin
Kassadin is known for scaling well into the late game and countering AP champions effectively. While Akali can be a strong laner, Kassadin's passive, reduces magic damage taken, making it easier for him to survive Akali's early harass. His Q provides magic damage shield that can absorb some of Akali's burst damage. As the game progresses, Kassadin gains his ultimate which allows him to rapidly reposition and engage or disengage, making it challenging for Akali to pin him down. In the late game, Kassadin's mobility and burst damage can threaten Akali and other squishy targets on the enemy team, potentially turning the tide of the match.
