Summary
Itemization
Early Game
Doran's Shield gives Akali enough health and regeneration points to make your lane viable in the early game.
Boots
Your choice of boots will depend on your opponent. While Sorcerer's Shoes allow you to increase your damage, Akali is very susceptible to crowd control and burst. In that case, defensive boots such as Ninja Tabi or Mercury's Treads are almost mandatory.
Core Items
- Hextech Gunblade is a must-have on Akali, as she has many abilities that use both AP and AD. The real power of the item is that it gives Akali an effective crowd-control spell, allowing her to land her E - Shuriken Flip and lead into her other abilities without any difficulty.
- Zhonya's Hourglass is now a mandatory item for Akali. Don't hesitate to pick it up before Morellonomicon if needed. Combining its activatable stasis with W - Twilight Shroud makes you invisible and untargetable for several seconds, meaning you can survive longer during a team fight.
- Morellonomicon is a sure value for Akali. The item will give her extra health points, but above all, it will give her a lot of damage. Magic penetration is very important for an assassin. Moreover, inflicting damage to your opponent will reduce his healing, and this is not negligible!
Situational Items
- Void Staff allows you to ignore a large part of your opponents' magic resistance. The item is very powerful against fragile targets if accompanied by magic penetration (Sorcerer's Shoes and/or Morellonomicon). On the other hand, it is also self-sufficient against tanks, allowing you to optimize your damage.
- Liandry's Torment is a somewhat special item on Akali since, as with any assassin, the burst must be optimized first and foremost. However, Akali's gameplay being based on hit and run, this item allows you to amplify your damage by 10% over time and thus increase her efficiency even more.
- Lichbane perfectly synergizes with Akali's abilities while allowing her to destroy towers more effectively.
- Rabadon's Deathcap is a classic late-game item for Akali. It increases your AP enormously, allowing you to take advantage of Akali's big power ratios.
How to Play Akali
Akali is a rather weak champion for her first few levels. This is especially true in midlane, where you can find a good number of ranged opponents. To compensate for this weakness, you will have to play according to your move speed and the range provided by Q - Five Point Strike.
- Level 1: Play using mobility, and feel free to sacrifice minions to conserve your health. Use Q - Five Point Strike on your opponent whenever your energy bar is orange.
- Level 2: Start putting pressure on your opponent with W - Twilight Shroud. By throwing it among minions, they won't know if it is to attack or to farm. You have to use this advantage to both prevent your opponent from reducing your health too much, and to kill minions easily enough to get to level 3 without issue.
- Level 3: Now that you have E - Shuriken Flip, you can get a little aggressive. Use W - Twilight Shroud in the middle of a group of minions, and when your opponent gets too close, launch an auto-attack quickly followed by E - Shuriken Flip. Reactivate it as soon as possible to dash to it, then follow up with another auto-attack then Q - Five Point Strike.
Match-Ups
Tips & Tricks
- W - Twilight Shroud lasts 5 seconds but you can increase the duration a few more seconds by leaving and entering it several times.
- E - Shuriken Flip allows you to move far enough away from a champion to allow you to activate your other abilities. In addition, you are now within maximum range for Q - Five Point Strike - so wait for it to come off cooldown, throw it as soon as possible, then reuse E - Shuriken Flip to attack your opponent.
- The second activation of E - Shuriken Flip has no range limit, and allows you to jump on an opponent regardless of distance. The mark lasts 3 seconds, so use this to your advantage.
- R - Perfect Execution has two activations. The first allows you to stun your opponents for a very short time and inflict physical damage. The second activation inflicts more damage based on your opponent's missing health, allowing you to kill your enemy easily.
