Skill usage Edit

• Beyond rank 1, the  Mark of the Assassin debuff lasts longer than the cooldown, allowing Akali to cast  Mark of the Assassin followed by  Shadow Dance, then finishing with another  Mark of the Assassin for extremely high bursts of damage.
  • More specifically,  Mark of the Assassin --> wait for the cooldown -->  Shadow Dance --> autoattack -->  Mark of the Assassin --> autoattack.
  • If you are under level six, you can surprise enemies low on health by substituting  Shadow Dance with  Flash to net a kill.
• Due to the low cooldowns of Akali's damaging abilities, the constant usage of  Mark of the Assassin followed up by auto attacks can prevent her from running out of energy.
  • This also allows her to heal more due to her innate spell vamp.

The stealth and slow of  Twilight Shroud can be used offensively to provide cover and allow her to chain skill combos on the enemy more quickly, but can also be used defensively to prevent drawing enemy focus during team fights and to provide aid in retreating after team fights or running from ganks. Be wary of Oracle's Elixir, vision wards, as well as champion abilities that may reveal you.

•  Twilight Shroud is great for running from enemies in the jungle, especially near brush, as you can overlap them to break vision with both the brush and  Twilight Shroud to juke enemies. You can drop a Sight Ward over a wall and use the vision provided to Shadow Dance to a monster over the wall.
• The ability can also be used to check brushes for enemies as the stealth prevents you from being seen by enemy champions in the same brush.
•  Shadow Dancing to nearby minions can be useful to quickly disengage. 

• The armor and magic resistance bonus from  Twilight Shroud may not be significant but can be enough to save you from abilities like  Requiem, so keep this is mind as well.
•  Crescent Slash is great for farming gold by last hitting minions and pushing lanes as it deals AoE damage.
  •  Crescent Slash can be used to proc her  Mark of the Assassin if an enemy is just out of range for an autoattack or when you are blinded.
  • Be careful of the high energy cost at low ranks to avoid being caught without enough energy for  Twilight Shroud.
• Akali's strength greatly increases once she gains access to  Shadow Dance. Before level six, you will oftentimes not be able to get close enough to enemies to proc her main damaging ability,  Mark of the Assassin.
  • Once you hit your first 3 stacks of  Shadow Dance, look around the map for an easy gank. Akali is an excellent roamer due to her burst damage and chasing power.
• If an enemy is out of range, you can use  Shadow Dance on an enemy minion to close the distance, allowing you to catch up with Flash or another  Shadow Dance.

Build usage Edit

• Hextech Gunblade is an essential item for Akali and should probably be purchased as a second or third item. The additional attack damage and ability power is useful for  Twin Disciplines as well as built-in life steal and spell vamp.
  • Getting an early Hextech Revolver is beneficial for early game sustain, along with  Twin Disciplines.
• Akali can deal a massive amount of burst damage with Lich Bane combined with her passive by auto-attacking an enemy marked with  Mark of the Assassin.
• Since Akali is an assassin capable of dealing heavy burst damage to a single target, she is heavily countered by the target's magic resist. Therefore, purchasing a Void Staff and/or an Abyssal Scepter will ensure she can take out targets and keep her damage relevant throughout the game. Either item probably should be purchased after boots and Hextech Gunblade.
• Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a great item to get because the slow is applied with her  Mark of the Assassin and  Shadow Dance, allowing her to stick to targets better and reducing the chance that they get away. The additional health also helps keep her alive longer during teamfights or small skirmishes.
• Liandry's Torment may be an excellent choice especially when paired with Rylai's Crystal Scepter or Akali's  Twilight Shroud. The percent health damage is doubled for any target that is slowed. With her low cooldowns, Akali can maintain the debuff on an enemy constantly.
• Because the base damage and ability power ratios of Akali's abilities are fairly poor, Rabadon's Deathcap is highly beneficial, granting her more ability power and further complimenting her damage with  Twin Disciplines.
• Purchasing Mejai's Soulstealer early can make you very powerful late game if you are able to earn a decent number of kills without dying. Although this is extremely beneficial, it is situational, relying on your early game performance and continued success.
• Getting Guinsoo's Rageblade allows you to make full use of Akali's  Twin Disciplines; its passives also allow you to do more damage and stay in prolonged fights longer. Choosing this instead of Hextech Gunblade is based on if you want the attack speed/damage passive of Guinsoo's Rageblade or the spell vamp of Hextech Gunblade.

Recommended builds Edit

Summoner's Rift recommended items
Starting
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Howling Abyss recommended items
Starting			3
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Crystal Scar recommended items
Starting			2
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

The Twisted Treeline recommended items
Starting
Essential
Offensive
Defensive
Consumables

Jungling Edit

Items	Runes	Spells
Doran's Blade	Greater Mark of Magic Penetration Greater Seal of Armor Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed	Smite Ghost

Skill Order	Route Order	Notes
Mark of the Assassin  Crescent Slash  Mark of the Assassin	Blue golem Wolves Wraiths Red Lizard Small Golems Wraiths	•Use  Twilight Shroud to slow during a gank.

Countering Edit

• Akali is most effective when making quick kills. The longer she has to stick around in a fight the more susceptible she is of taking a heavy amount of damage.
• She isn't as effective against durable opponents because of her low base health and that she is a champion that has to burst a target down quickly.
• When Akali uses  Twilight Shroud, she is very vulnerable because she will use  Twilight Shroud to hide and wait for her abilities to come off cooldown. Having a Oracle's Elixir or Vision Ward will make her vulnerable and easier to take down.
  • Morgana can damage  Akali with  Soul Shackles, despite being invisible due to her  Twilight Shroud. This can be an effective way to damage her in her  Twilight Shroud, potentially forcing her to run from her cover.
• After Akali's burst, she has to wait for her cooldowns in order to deal her burst damage again, which takes a while, even with cooldown runes and masteries. If fighting against her, use this time to take her down.
• When you are chasing her, make sure you are aware of the amount of HP you have, due to the fact that she can nuke quite easily and score another kill on you.
• Against an Akali, play more offensively until she reaches level 6; try to deny her early game, as she usually has the advantage once she gets her  Shadow Dance.
  • Akali has very few offensive items early game. Zone her out so she can not farm, which will further delay her from getting her  Shadow Dance. Once she does hit 6 try to bait her into using her ability on you if you can take it, as she is less effective the less charges she has.
•  Twilight Shroud will stealth her only if she remains in the AoE, Meaning that she will be out of stealth when she is out of the AoE or attacking. Try to move out of the AoE as fast as possible to prevent her from bursting you while in stealth, or pick up an Oracle's Elixir or a Vision Ward if she seems to be over using it.
• Take great care when chasing Akali, as her  Shadow Dance and her  Twilight Shroud will make her a very effective juker and escape artist. Stun or silence her if she is being over-aggressive.
• Champions with AoE abilities or reveals (such as Lee Sin) can be an extremely effective counter.
• Building The Lightbringer allows ADCs to put more damage onto Akali, as well as countering her  Twilight Shroud.
• Hitting Akali with hard CC makes her exremely vulnerable.
• Good Akali players can use  Shadow Dance to jump out of a fight if there are nearby minions or neutral monsters

Champion Spotlight Edit