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Akali Build Guide by iwontdominatelol

Middle [13.1] The Ultimate Guide to Akali the Rogue Assassin FR/EN

Middle [13.1] The Ultimate Guide to Akali the Rogue Assassin FR/EN

Updated on January 13, 2023
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League of Legends Build Guide Author iwontdominatelol Build Guide By iwontdominatelol 1200 48 1,490,399 Views 81 Comments
1200 48 1,490,399 Views 81 Comments
League of Legends Build Guide Author iwontdominatelol Akali Build Guide By iwontdominatelol Updated on January 13, 2023
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Runes: ELECTROCUTE (vs squishies)

1 2 3
Domination
Electrocute
Taste of Blood
Eyeball Collection
Treasure Hunter

Precision
Presence of Mind
Coup de Grace
Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10% Tenacity/Slow Resist

Spells:

1 2
Standard spells
LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Ignite

Ignite

IMPORTANT NOTE : Make sure to load the whole guide using the Page Down key (PgDn) before browsing it to avoid any glitches !

FRENCH TRANSLATION : Le guide est disponible en français ! Traduction faite par moi :). N'hésitez pas à me dire en MP si vous trouvez des erreurs de traduction à rectifier! The Ultimate Guide to Akali the Rogue Assassin : FR
Hi everyone ! My name is iwontdominatelol, and I'm an Akali OTP. I've been one-tricking her since I first started playing league back in june 2019. Thousands of games and 1 million mastery points later, I've finally reached plat 2 (EUW) earlier mid season 10 with only Akali. If I did it, then so can you !! I've always wanted to share my League of Legends journey and teach the basics but also all the little details about my favorite champion, so this guide is the perfect opportunity for me! I've compiled all the knowledge I've gathered in the past years to write this guide, in hopes of helping you reach your desired rank and learn more about midlane fundamentals and the best assassin in the game : Akali ~~
So, let’s start from scratch. Akali is a mid/top AP assassin. She is pretty weak pre-six, as her ult is her primary source of damage. However, coming into the mid game is where she shines best.
As an assassin, Akali can easily one-shot squishies, thanks to her burst damage. She also excels at snowballing leads: one kill leads to another, which translates into gold and therefore more stats to take over the map and destroy the Nexus. However, one bad fight can lead to her downfall.
Her playstyle is generally very aggressive, especially when she reaches her powerspikes at level 6 and later at 1 item. That’s when you want to look to fight for objectives and dominate your lane opponent (if you haven’t already).
Though it all goes downhill once late game starts. Even when fed, Akali has struggle to keep up with late game hypercarries.
Akali is quite an interesting champion. Given her high skill cap and, to some, overwhelming kit, most people tend to give her a try once then never touch her again. The truth is, the more you will play her and get better at her, the more you will have fun and enjoy her.

Her high mobility and insane burst damage make her extremely thrilling and exciting. Akali is very rewarding and fun once you actually learn how to play her. But, don't get too cocky ! One failed flashy combo or dive resulting in your death in the earlier stages could easily put you far behind your lane opponent and make the game unnecessarily harder to play.

Her role in teamfights is to shred the enemy backline into pieces, which could prove to be a challenge, as a lot of champions have hard CC in their kit. One mistake of engaging at a bad time could cause you to get CC-locked leading to an unavoidable death.
Being the assassin she is, Akali thrives off one-shotting squishy champions, which explains why she is at her strongest in the mid game : most champions have not built MR yet, making them very vulnerable to Akali's strong burst.
On top of that, it's extremely easy for Akali to abuse melee champions early on (pre-3), allowing her to get the upper hand on her opponent for the rest of the laning phase by having lane priority and, often, kill pressure.
~My team lacks AP damage
~Enemy team has a lot of squishies
~Against melee champs
As mentioned earlier, Akali's greatest asset is her ability to 100 to 0 champions, which, of course, you cannot achieve against tanks, especially if they have stacked MR. If you're an OTP, and your team comp doesn't match well with your playstyle (little to no engage/ no peel..), while the enemy team's comp is absolutely godlike, then don't hesitate to dodge !
One thing to keep in mind is that Akali's W can be revealed by some champions abilities. Here's the complete list of those abilities. ⬇️⬇️⬇️
Abilities that can reveal you while invisible
~My team has 3 or more AP champs
~Enemy team is very tanky
~Enemy team has tons of hard CC
FLASH: This spell is heavily relied on by the majority of champions, and Akali is no exception. Whether it be to engage onto the enemy backline in teamfights with ult+ flash combo, or to dodge a skillshot and escape from a guaranteed death, you will ALWAYS need this summoner spell.
IGNITE: I personally take ignite every game, as a bit of extra true damage is always useful to secure kills. Plus most champions have some sort of health regenerating tool, so the 40% healing reduction ignite gives often comes in handy.
TELEPORT: Usually taken by toplaners, but also good in mid. Teleport is basically a free out-of-jail card when you're getting constantly harassed by a lane bully. It also makes split-pushing a more viable option, as it enables you to flank and join in fights from the other side of the map.
NOTE : You can alternate between secondary rune pages, depending on your needs. For example, you can take Conqueror or even Electrocute with Resolve tree secondary, if you need more sustain in lane. Or you can also go Fleet Footwork with Domination second, if you don't feel like you need that much sustain, and want to be slightly more aggressive.

DOMINATION




Electrocute is my go-to keystone against a squishy team. Very useful in early game trades, as you will come out on top 90% of the time against melee opponents. Electrocute paired with ignite offers insane burst damage that your enemies often won't see coming. It gives you kill pressure on your opponent, allowing you to have complete control of the lane. I strongly recommend this rune in lower elos.
The healing Taste of Blood gives you is really good for trading in the laning phase and provides decent sustain.
Sudden impact could be a good option, as you can easily proc it and it has low cooldown.
Best option out of the three. Good snowballing potential and damage. Scales well with Electrocute. As an assassin, you are more than likely to pick up a lot of kills/assists here and there, so you'll have no difficulty stacking this rune and using it to its full potential.
Treasure Hunter is a great tool to help you snowball even faster, even moreso with this Electrocute setup. Ingenious Hunter is a great option as well if you're looking to maximize use of your items (ex: Zhonya's stasis or Rocketbelt's dash.)

PRECISION


Triumph feels really good on Electrocute. However, since Riot decided to gut Akali again by increasing the Q energy cost, Presence of mind is now much more valuable.
Both Coup de Grâce and Tenacity are good options. Take Coup de Grâce for more damage to finish off enemies quicker, or Tenacity to avoid getting CC'd for too long (a must against heavy CC).

PRECISION


Conqueror is such a good keystone on Akali. Not only does it grant insane amounts of sustain and healing in teamfights, but it also highers your damage output by a ton. You would generally take Conqueror in lanes where extended trades will happen more often, allowing you to stack it comfortably. It's great against bruisers and tanky teams aswell, but it's viable in literally any situation.
The extra energy you get from Presence of Mind works extremely well with Conqueror. More energy = more abilities you can use = more stacks = more damage = more healing. In short, don't think twice before taking this rune.
Tenacity is really good against heavy CC. Scales pretty well and gives great stats.
Last stand synergizes REALLY well with Conqueror. I personally think it's better than Coup de Grâce in this case, but it all just comes down to preference.

DOMINATION




You can take Sudden impact here aswell for more magic penetration. But, I personally find Taste of Blood to be far more effective.
Who would say no to some more extra gold ?

PRECISION




I would only recommend Fleet Footwork in very tough lane matchups, against really heavy poke mages like Syndra or Orianna. This is not the type of rune you want to take to carry. But it's okay if your goal is to get through the laning phase and survive till its end without losing too much.
Presence of Mind is the safest option here. Gives you a little more energy to work with at all stages of the game.
Still the best option out of the three. However, you could potentially run Alacrity if enemies lack CC, so you can proc your Passive faster.
Poke mages are usually VERY squishy, so you'd wanna take Coup de Grâce over Last stand. Since your ult is an execute, it works really well with Coup de Grâce.

RESOLVE



Second Wind paired with Doran's shield will make your opponents lose their mind due to the amount of health regen. Take Bone Plating against burst, Second Wind against poke.
Unflinching is insanely good and matches well with Tenacity. Take Overgrowth if you don't need the CC and slow resistance.
Take either Magic Resist or Armor depending on lane matchup.
NAME: Doran's Shield
COST: 450 gold
TYPE: Defensive
Perfect for sustain in the laning phase. I usually take this against poke mages (ex: Vel'Koz / Azir) and burst champions (ex: Fizz / LeBlanc).
NAME: Doran's Ring
COST: 400 gold
TYPE: Offensive
A more aggressive option. Take this in confident matchups, so basically most melee champs (ex: Sylas or Yasuo).
NAME: Amplifying Tome
COST: 435 gold
TYPE: Ability Power
Usually on your first back, you'd want to buy at least one Amplifying Tome, as it builds into literally every AP item.
NAME: Needlessly Large Rod
COST: 1250 gold
TYPE: Ability Power
This is a great item to rush if you're planning on getting Shadowflame first. If you don't have enough gold, just stick to the rest of items on this list.
NAME: Refillable Potion
COST: 150 gold
TYPE: Sustain
If you've used all your potions, and know you're going to need a bit of extra health for the rest of the laning phase, buy Refillables.
NAME: Dark Seal
COST: 350 gold
TYPE: Snowball
You're stomping the enemy midlaner, and you know you can hard carry this game? Start snowballing even more and take Dark Seal !
NAME: Boots
COST: 300 gold
TYPE: Mobility
I generally wouldn't recommend buying boots on your first back, as you want to reach your 1st item powerspike as soon as possible. But you can still buy boots if the enemy midlaner relies a lot on landing their skillshots to win trades.
NAME: Control Ward
COST: 75 gold
TYPE: Vision
If you have 75 extra gold in your pocket, don't forget to grab a control ward ! Vision is a crucial part of midlane, something a lot of people tend to overlook.
NAME: Hextech Rocketbelt
COST: 3200gold
TYPE: Mobility
Hextech Rocketbelt is going to be your main mythic item. It provides insane damage, even more so with the added magic penetration. In addition, the granted movement speed towards enemies and dash are excellent for an assassin like Akali whose main goal is to rip apart the enemy backline, as they can more easily get access to high-priority targets.
NAME: Hextech Alternator
COST: 1050 gold
TYPE: Offensive
You always want to rush Hextech Alternator, preferably on your first base. It gives a really good mini powerspike, as the bonus damage helps a lot when trading in lane, and in early game skirmishes.
NAME: Night Harvester
COST: 3200gold
TYPE: Multi-kill
Great alternative if you're looking for extremely high burst damage with Electrocute against squishies. Allows for good stats and deals tremendous amounts of damage as soon as you get it. You can literally 1v5 with Night Harvester. Even though this item is not as meta as it used to be, it still holds a very special place in my heart :(.
NAME: Hextech Alternator
COST: 1050 gold
TYPE: Offensive
Same thing applies here.
NAME: Riftmaker
COST: 3200gold
TYPE: Omnivamp
If you have Conqueror, Riftmaker is the best choice, especially against tankier teams, as the more you're in a fight, the more damage you will deal. Offers a ton of sustain, thanks to omnivamp, and good defensive stats.
NAME: Leeching Leer
COST: 1300 gold
TYPE: Omnivamp
Just like Hextech Alternator, you want to rush this item as a mini early game powerspike for the omnivamp mainly.
Note : You can go any build path with Fleet Footwork, depending on the enemy's team comp.
NAME: Sorcerer's Shoes
COST: 1100 gold
TYPE: Magic Pen
I always complete boots right after buying a Mythic Item. You can't go wrong with Sorcerer's Shoes. I personally take it pretty much every game. The flat magic penetration is really good against squishy teams.
NAME: Mercury's Treads
COST: 1100 gold
TYPE: Magic Resist
Great when against full AP team and/or a team with very heavy CC (ex: Ashe + Morgana, Sejuani+ Neeko).
NAME: Plated Steelcaps
COST: 1100 gold
TYPE: Armor
Great against full AD team, or enemy team has a lot of champions who rely on auto-attacks to deal damage.
NAME: Demonic Embrace
COST: 3000 gold
TYPE: Sustained Damage
Riftmaker and Demonic Embrace is an incredibly good combination for tankiness and survivability in teamfights. You could still buy this item with the Night Harvester or Rocketbelt builds, though you're gonna sacrifice a lot of damage, so it's not optimal and I would probably not recommend.
NAME: Zhonya's Hourglass
COST: 3000 gold
TYPE: Survive Burst
Very useful stasis in teamfights as it allows you to gain some time when you get collapsed on by the enemy. Plus it's a great counter to some champions' abilities like Zed's ult or Morgana's ult. I usually build Zhonya's Hourglass as 2nd or sometimes 3rd item.
NAME: Stopwatch
COST: 750 gold
TYPE: Survive Burst
Basically a mini Zhonya's. I'd normally build this after i've completed my 1st item and when a fight is very likely to occur soon(ex: a fight for dragon or rift herald).
NAME: Seeker's Armguard
COST: 1000 gold
TYPE: Armor
If you're up against an AD midlaner (ex: Talon, Yone) and an AD jungler (ex: Kha'Zix, Lee Sin) , rush Seeker's Armguard!! This item is VERY cost-efficient and provides really good stats.
NAME: Shadowflame
COST: 3000 gold
TYPE: Magic Penetration
Shadowflame is basically all you need. It's ideal for more damage and burst, serving as a great enhancement to Hextech Rocketbelt's magic penetration. On top of that, it works really well against shielders such as Karma and Lulu. I'd even recommend rushing this item.
NAME: Rabadon's Deathcap
COST: 3600 gold
TYPE: Magic Amp
The perfect Akali item doesn't exi- Oh well. Rabadon's Deathcap has always been AP assassin's most emblematic item. However it's quite pricey, and gives no defensive stats whatsoever. I would generally build this as a 4th or 5th item.
NAME: Mejai's Soulstealer
COST: 1600 gold
TYPE: Snowball
When ahead, you should always consider buying Mejai's Soulstealer. However, this item can very quickly go from giving you 125 bonus AP at 25 stacks to becoming a waste of gold at 0. Be careful !
NAME: Morellonomicon
COST: 2500 gold
TYPE: Anti-heal
ALWAYS build Morellonomicon if enemy team has 2 or more heavy healing champions (ex: Warwick, Dr. Mundo), or champions who build healing items (ex: Ravenous Hydra, Immortal Shieldbow)or have healing runes ( Conqueror)
NAME: Oblivion Orb
COST: 800 gold
TYPE: Anti-Heal
Build Oblivion Orb if you're laning against a healing champion (ex: Sylas, Vladimir) or enemy team has healers (ex: Soraka, Yuumi).
NAME: Void Staff
COST: 2800 gold
TYPE: Magic Pen
Usually a late game item. By this point, enemy team surely has bought a good amount of magic resist to negate your damage, especially hypercarries, so Void Staff becomes necessary.
NAME: Hexdrinker
COST: 1300 gold
TYPE: Magic Resist
Just like Seeker's armguard, you'd want to rush Hexdrinker early against burst AP midlaners (ex: Fizz, Zoe) and AP junglers (ex: Evelynn, Ekko)
NAME: Verdant Barrier
COST: 1000 gold
TYPE: Magic Resist
This item serves the same purpose as Hexdrinker as a defensive early game item against AP midlaner + AP jungler. It's a good idea if you're planning to build Banshee's Veil instead of Maw of Malmortius.
NAME: Quicksilver Sash
COST: 1300 gold
TYPE: Removes Disables
Quicksilver Sash is the only item in the game that can disable suppression (ex: Malzahar's ult, Skarner's ult). I only recommend building it when you're fed, and you know you're a high-priority target for the enemy team.
NAME: Maw of Malmortius
COST: 2900 gold
TYPE: Survive Magic
The natural follow-up to Hexdrinker. This is exactly what you need against a full AP team, not only for the magic damage shield, but also for the additional Ability Haste to complete the Night Harvester build. It is viable with Riftmaker and Rocketbelt as well.
NAME: Banshee's Veil
COST: 2600 gold
TYPE: Spellshield
Great against heavy AP, especially if enemy team has a fed mage or AP assassin for example. If there's a specific ability you'd like to block (ex: Ahri's E, Fiddlesticks's ult), Banshee's is the right choice.
NAME: Guardian Angel
COST: 3000 gold
TYPE: Revive
I personally almost never build this item, but it could be a good option against a full AD team, simply for the bonus 40 armor, though you would sacrifice a significant amount of damage. The revive passive is also a very useful feature that's important to note.
IMPORTANT NOTE : All of these stats I have gathered from Crixaliz's cheatsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NrhB6aNDLuAZv8BYQzAIPZYgXLlmXOHsoCqPxm0mfWw/). All credits to him for his incredible work on this algorithm ! I would strongly recommend toying around with it yourself if you're interested in comparing other builds (on any champion) for a deeper dive and better understanding. All of the builds down below have been ran through Crixaliz's damage calculator with fully stacked runes on a level 18 Akali with Ignite (that counts for 410 extra damage in 'All-in's).
.
AD : 118
Lifesteal/sec : 0
Health : 2735
Armor : 128
Tenacity : 0%
AP : 659
AH : 25
Spellvamp : 0%
MR : 66
MS : 390
Q : 602
W : 0
E : 1341
R : 955
Passive : 544
Magic PEN : 64
Magic PEN% : 45%
ATQ DPS: 114
Item DMG : 224
All-in : 4763
enemy team comp example
.
AD : 118
Lifesteal/sec : 0
Health : 2785
Armor : 128
Tenacity : 0%
AP : 632
AH : 45
Spellvamp : 0%
MR : 66
MS : 390
Q : 602
W : 0
E : 1341
R : 955
Passive : 544
Magic PEN : 38
Magic PEN% : 45%
ATQ DPS: 114
Item DMG : 224
All-in : 4763
enemy team comp example
.
AD : 118
Lifesteal/sec : 7
Health : 2885
Armor : 128
Tenacity :
AP : 598
AH : 45
Spellvamp : 6%
MR : 66
MS : 390
Q : 566
W : 0
E : 1268
R : 919
Passive : 511
Magic PEN : 38
Magic PEN% : 0%
ATQ DPS: 114
Item DMG : 215
All-in : 4560
AD : 118
Lifesteal/sec : 7
Health : 2885
Armor : 128
Tenacity : 0%
AP : 767
AH : 45
Spellvamp : 6%
MR : 66
MS : 426
Q : 667
W : 0
E : 1471
R : 1020
Passive : 604
Magic PEN : 38
Magic PEN% : 0%
ATQ DPS: 114
Item DMG : 240
All-in : 5125
enemy team comp example
The number of stacks refers to Mejai's Soulstealer*
.
AD : 118
Lifesteal/sec : 20
Health : 3035
Armor : 128
Tenacity : 30%
AP : 614
AH : 25
Spellvamp : 16%
MR : 66
MS : 390
Q : 627
W : 0
E : 1403
R : 1012
Passive : 567
Magic PEN : 18
Magic PEN% : 45%
ATQ DPS: 124
Item DMG : 0
All-in : 4392
AD : 118
Lifesteal/sec : 31
Health : 3035
Armor : 128
Tenacity : 30%
AP : 687
AH : 25
Spellvamp : 25%
MR : 66
MS : 390
Q : 675
W : 0
E : 1499
R : 1060
Passive : 610
Magic PEN : 18
Magic PEN% : 45%
ATQ DPS: 124
Item DMG : 0
All-in : 4626
enemy team comp example
The number of stacks refers to Conqueror*
.
AD : 118
Lifesteal/sec : 20
Health : 2785
Armor : 128
Tenacity : 30%
AP : 648
AH : 25
Spellvamp : 16%
MR : 66
MS : 390
Q : 649
W : 0
E : 1448
R : 1034
Passive : 587
Magic PEN : 38
Magic PEN% : 45%
ATQ DPS: 124
Item DMG : 0
All-in : 4500
AD : 118
Lifesteal/sec : 31
Health : 2785
Armor : 128
Tenacity : 30%
AP : 721
AH : 25
Spellvamp : 25%
MR : 66
MS : 390
Q : 697
W : 0
E : 1543
R : 1082
Passive : 631
Magic PEN : 38
Magic PEN% : 45%
ATQ DPS: 124
Item DMG : 0
All-in : 4735
enemy team comp example
The number of stacks refers to Conqueror*
.
AD : 118
Lifesteal/sec : 20
Health : 3285
Armor : 83
Tenacity : 30%
AP : 641
AH : 15
Spellvamp : 16%
MR : 66
MS : 390
Q : 660
W : 0
E : 1454
R : 1045
Passive : 583
Magic PEN : 18
Magic PEN% : 45%
ATQ DPS: 124
Item DMG : 0
All-in : 4479
AD : 118
Lifesteal/sec : 31
Health : 3285
Armor : 83
Tenacity : 30%
AP : 714
AH : 15
Spellvamp : 25%
MR : 66
MS : 390
Q : 708
W : 0
E : 1549
R : 1093
Passive : 627
Magic PEN : 18
Magic PEN% : 45%
ATQ DPS: 124
Item DMG : 0
All-in : 4713
enemy team comp example
The number of stacks refers to Conqueror*
.
AD : 168
Lifesteal/sec : 0
Health : 2735
Armor : 83
Tenacity : 51%
AP : 591
AH : 40
Spellvamp : 0%
MR : 186
MS : 390
Q : 594
W : 0
E : 1302
R : 940
Passive : 537
Magic PEN : 46
Magic PEN% : 0%
ATQ DPS: 162
Item DMG : 214
All-in : 4832
enemy team comp example
.
AD : 158
Lifesteal/sec : 0
Health : 2735
Armor : 194
Tenacity : 0%
AP : 571
AH : 25
Spellvamp : 0%
MR : 58
MS : 390
Q : 575
W : 0
E : 1270
R : 923
Passive : 520
Magic PEN : 46
Magic PEN% : 0%
ATQ DPS: 153
Item DMG : 211
All-in : 4705
enemy team comp example
Detailed Passive
Every damaging ability can proc Akali’s passive which comprises : Q, E1,E2, R1 ,R2.

This passive is very useful when trading in lane and deals tons of damage.

When your lane opponent is going for cs, look to proc Assassin's Mark (usually with Q) to put pressure and to try and deny them the minion.
Description: Assassin's Mark basically gives an empowered auto-attack that provides bonus movement speed towards enemy champions and has longer range. Plus it restores a bit of energy, which will significantly increase your damage output, as you will be able to spam your Q more often.

If you are running Fleet, you can proc Assassin's Mark faster by autoattacking the enemy champion. This is especially useful when they are running away from you.
Faster Passive proc with Fleet
Detailed Q
Hitting Five Point Strike at the tip slows the enemy, making it easier to land your E and the rest of your combo.

During the laning phase, you want to look to harass your opponent with this ability, ESPECIALLY if they are melee. Do not let them cs for free without losing anything.

This is your main waveclear ability, though it's not the most efficient in the game. But if you position yourself correctly, you can hit both caster and melee minions with your Q.
Description: Five Point Strike is Akali’s main ability and trading tool in the laning phase. It's also her primary source of damage pre-6 and the base to a large number of combos. It has very low cooldown, allowing you to use it pretty often, though it costs half your energy at ranks 1 -> 3.
Casting Q at max range instantly gives you a Passive proc.
Instant Passive proc with Q

Casting Q diagonally will extend its range.
Casting Q Diagonally
Detailed W
Your shroud is one of your two main tools to escaping ganks, along with Shuriken Flip, plus it got a relatively long cooldown. Care not to waste it in lane. Play safe and don't go for extended trades if it's not up, as you won't be able to do much without the extra energy and invisibility.

You can hide in your W to cancel and dodge abilities, or when you're rooted to negate any incoming damage and gain time.
Description: Akali’s W is extremely important to her kit. Not only does it give her invisibility and movement speed, but also restores energy (enough for another Q+AA combo).

Throwing your shroud in a teamfight in the middle of 4 or 5 people creates immense pressure, and allows you to reposition yourself correctly and choose your target (usually the adc).

You can Teleport while in your shroud.
Old (and bugged) clip of me using TP while in shroud

Your W will always adapt to the terrain's shape. So using it in the jungle will give you a huge advantage as your shroud will expand and therefore, offer you more room.
Examples of Akali's shroud expanding
Detailed E
YourE2 will follow anyone, anywhere, no matter the distance. This means that you can follow a TP, a Twisted Fate Ult or even a Ryze Ult with the second part of this ability.

Stuns and roots can interrupt yoursecond dash.

Hitting E is often crucial to landing a clean combo. Only throw it when you're 99% sure you're not going to miss it.

Just like Lee Sin with his Q, you can hit jungle camps or minions with E to run away.
Description: Since the physical damage on Shuriken Flip has been converted to magic damage, this ability does INSANE amounts of damage since you benefit from all the AP items. This is your only skillshot, and missing it could be fatal. It's also a great escape tool.

Shuriken Flip is great when it comes to dodging projectiles with lower range, or escaping the area of effect of certain abilities in time.
Ingame example


Always E backwards and W as you're coming out of the fountain to get back faster to lane. Another trick you can do when missing some gold to build a certain item and/or waiting to heal up, is throw your W outside of fountain, then marking it with E.
Saving time when leaving the fountain

You can E first then instantly W and your shroud would still get marked.
E+W

Even when Twilight Shroud ends, the marked section with E will still linger for the marks duration. You can also take advantage of the fact that you can mark your shroud with E to steal an objective/get kills and get away with it. This is a very important mechanic that every Akali player should know.
Drake steal
Dive

Shuriken flip's hitbox begins right behind your character. So even if someone dashes behind you (like a Katarina for example), you can still hit them with E.
E hitbox

E'ing then Flashing will change Shuriken Flip's projectile direction, but it will not change the original landing spot.
E+Flash

You can cast Twilight shroud and Perfect Exection during E1 andE2, but not Five Point Strike since patch 11.14 !

With E1, mark champions who can go invisible (ex: Shaco, LeBlanc ) before they disappear, especially if they have a clone so you can identify which one is which once the invisibilty wears off.

There are a lot of walls you can cross with E that you probably didn't know about. This could be very useful when you're stuck in a sticky situation and have no other way out, or if you want to join a fight faster. However the angle you throw your E in is very important when going through certain walls. *Note that you can hit the Baron, but not the Herald with E1*.
Map showcasing all the thick walls you can go through with E
Clips showing the most important ones to know
Detailed R
SinceR2 is an execute, you'd only want to use it at the end of you combo, or just before the timer ends.

Wait for the enemy to use their dashes and mobility beforeR2'ing them.

If you position yourself correctly, you can go through walls with R1 and escape from an unwanted fight. To achieve that, you have to stand in a
Description: Perfect execution is composed of 2 dashes : The first one being targeted and dealing physical damage. The second one is an execute, dealing magic damage. This means that the lower health your enemy is, the more damage you will inflict them.
linear line between yourself, the enemy and a close thin wall. Direct Perfect Execution towards the other side of the wall, then cast it onto the enemy. You can use this same pattern to engage on an enemy who's on the other side of the wall, as long as it's within your R range.
R1 through walls

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To guarantee hitting your E, you can throw it right as you cast your first point and click dash. This will used a lot in the combos section.
InGame example

The hitbox onR2 actually starts behind your character, just like Shuriken Flip. This means that you canR2 before reaching your target and still deal damage on your way out.

If timed correctly, you can dodge some abilities like Malphite's Ult with R1.

You can extend both of your dashes with Flash, by casting it near their end.
R1+FLASH / R2+FLASH

You can cancelE2 with both of your dashes. This is especially useful with R1 during teamfights, when you've marked a frontliner with Shuriken Flip, and want to redirect the attack onto the squishy carry.
E2 CANCEL WITH R1
E2 CANCEL WITH R2
Ingame example
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>> >> >>
This is the ability you will use the most, as it's your main damage and waveclear tool. Always level up and max Five Point Strike first.
Some people would level up Twilight Shroud second, but I personally recommend against it. You get so much more value out of leveling up Shuriken Flip instead. It gives you more pressure as you get to do much more damage earlier on and it can also help with farming from a distance in tough matchups. You always max it second.
As literally any other champion, you want to put a point on your ultimate whenever you can. You get more damage, more range, but above all, you get to use it more often due to lower cooldowns. You always max it third.
Even though your smoke is an important part of your kit, you don't gain much by maxing it, apart from an increase in the movement speed burst and in shroud duration. It's not worth maxing over the other abilities, which is why you always max it fourth.
>> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>
The easiest and most basic Akali combo you can do. You have no skillshots to land, just Q then passive proc. Keep your W to when you run out of energy, or to dodge a certain skillshot, utilizing the burst of movement speed. The more points you have in your Q, the less energy it will cost and therefore you'll be able to spam it more.
>> >> >> >> >>
If the enemy is freezing the wave and you don't wanna miss the cannon minion, then you can use this combo to quickly last hit it and at the same time trade with your lane opponent. However this combo is very inefficient as you're wasting and not utilizing your E and your W.
>> >> >> >>>> >> >> >> >> >>
This is the best and most common all-in combo before level 6. You want to E right after Q to give your opponent no time to react. Generally they would be running away from you, allowing you to hit a max range Q and slow them.
>> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>>> >>>> >> >>
After you E1, you need to wait for your cooldowns before flying back in. Keep in mind that there's a 2.5 seconds interval between R1 andR2. (Note: if you have low FPS just like in this clip, R1+ E1 combo will look a bit iffy and won't be as smooth as it is in the other clips)
>> >> >>>> >> >>>>
To do this combo, all you need to do is cancel R1 animation with E, and throw your Q as soon as you can. This a great combo for a quick and clean assassination. If the target still hasn't died, you can come back for a quick Passive proc to finish them off.
>> >> >>>> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >>>>
The reason you Q first then Flash is to give your opponnent less reaction time. This is the all-in combo you'd want to use against a tankier champion, as it requires a lot to actually take him down. Of course you don't need to flash if you're already in range lol.
>> >> >> >>>> >> >>>>
When the enemy adc is clearly out of position, do not hesitate to instantly use this combo on him. R+ Flash is such an insanely good gap closer, I use it often to catch my opponents off guard and take their health bar away while giving them no chance to fight back or escape.
>> >>>> >> >>
Once you've gotten your enemy low enough, you can look to dive them with this combo. This is the easiest one to do. However, keep in mind that you will take two to three turret shots, so be careful !
>> >>>> >> >>
Remember to Q right before Ult'ing away for more dps. Ignite is optional, but you will probably need it most of the time. As the ignite clock is ticking, leading your opponent to an inevitable death, the emote/Mastery 7 spam is very important.
>> >>>> >> >> >>
Now this is a very hard to pull off combo. You could use it in case you're diving the enemy but you need to reposition yourself to avoid receiving a fatal turret shot or dodging a skillshot. But honestly you could stick to Standard Dive and Quick Dive, this is just for the highlight clips :D
TL;DR :
• Don't let your opponent CS freely. Q them whenever possible and not risky.
• Look for mistakes (use of key abilities, overextending with no summoner spells) and punish them.
• Pay attention to your opponent ressources and backup before fighting them ( difference in damage output, sustain, jungler's position, ressources, wave state).
Trading Stance
• What is the "Trading Stance" about?"
Trading Stance is a way to get the upper hand on your lane opponent, by harassing them whenever they go for last-hits. Essentially, it's about creating pressure, securing CS while denying it to your enemy. This is a quite simple yet extremely hard to master concept.

• How do you use the Trading Stance to your advantage in a melee matchup?
As Akali, you often have a range advantage over your opponent, thanks to Five Point Strike. Always keep an eye on your minion’s health bar. As soon as they’re about to die, just know that the enemy will try to go for it, which of course, you cannot let them do freely. Your main harassing tool will always be your Q+ AA combo. Ideally, you'd want to secure cs AND at the same time deny last-hits. You should retreat right after you’ve finished trading successfully, to prevent them from harassing you back. But if you know you can go for more than just a simple Q+ AA combo, due to the enemy jungler being on the other side of the map, and knowing that you outdamage your opponent for example, then you can look
for an all-in and potentially get a kill if you’ve gotten your target low enough from earlier trades.
• What if I’m against a ranged champion?
Now this is more complicated. You won’t always be able to utilize this concept, just like in this case, where your opponent is the one to have a range advantage. However, depending on the matchup, what you can do is create a freeze (go to Wave Management section). The enemy will be forced into a bad position and will often try to break the freeze. You can then zone them out of the minion wave and threaten an all-in if they go for cs. Akali excels at dueling and punishing mistakes, especially post-6, which gives her insane kill pressure and lane dominance, if played correctly. One particular mistake you're looking for, is when your opponent wastes their main escape/CC ability. (ex: Lucian's Relentless Pursuit or Ahri's Charm)
Retaliation Trading
Retaliation trading is technically the opposite of trading stance, as you’re not the one to initiate the skirmish, but the one to fight back. The point of it is to prevent your opponent from getting a lead, to have equal if not more pressure than your enemy. But you need to remember that there are a few things to take into consideration before choosing to fight back, instead of simply retreating.

• Who deals more damage?
This is all about knowing the matchup, your damage potential but also your opponent’s. At level 6, Akali should be able to take down most squishy champions. But keep in mind that a lot of variables come into play, not just damage output.

• Who has more sustain?
Let’s say you’re up against a Vladimir. Chances are, even if you choose to fight back and end up winning the trade, he’s just going to heal everything back up with
Transfusion. Same thing will occur when your opponent has a potions or even a TP advantage.
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• Where is their jungler? Where is mine? Is the 1v2 winnable ?
This all comes down to map awareness and vision control. Knowing where the enemy jungler is at all times is impossible, but you always need to at least have an idea of where they could be. Depending on your jungler’s champion and theirs, you should be able to tell who comes out on top in a 2v2 situation. However, you should always be mindful of Akali’s strengths, especially post-6. Sometimes, the enemy midlaner might try to bait you into what seems to be a free fight while their jungler is patiently waiting in the bush. What they don’t realize is how good your 1v2 potential actually is, and how easy it is for you to one-shot champions and escape, especially in lower elos.

• What cooldowns do they have? Do I have any? How much mana/energy do they have?
It’s extremely important to know what tools your enemy can fight you with, to determine whether a trade is worth taking or not. Let’s say both your Flash and Ignite are on cooldown, while the enemy Zed has both his summoner spells and has hit level 6 before you, then it’s always safer to just E out and hide under turret, rather than taking a clearly unwinnable fight.

• Who has a minion advantage?
One thing to watch out for is minion aggro, especially in very early levels. One trade might look good on paper but once you execute it, you realize that you’ve taken more damage from the wave than from the enemy themselves. As a rule of thumb, never fight when the enemy has a big minion wave advantage for two main reasons :
  • They will be able to hide behind their minions and protect themselves from your E.
  • You will take a lot of damage from the wave and most likely lose the trade.
TL;DR :
• Recall only on cannon waves as they're spawning and still in base.
• Recall when the wave is : pushing towards you, frozen in your favor, fully crashed under the enemy's turret.
• Don't recall when the wave is : under your turret, pushing towards the enemy, frozen in the enemy's favor,
• Favor recalling at certain gold values to buy desired items.
• Recall before Objectives spawns to make efficient use of your gold.
• Don't recall where the enemy can see you.
The Importance of Recalling at the right time
Recalling seems like such an innocent mechanic when in reality a lot more thought should go into it, which not many people realize. Recalling efficiently is all about gaining time and minimizing gold and xp loss. From wave management to proper objective control, here is all you need to know about recalling as a midlaner!

Recall Timers
• Wave state
Always recall on a cannon wave. You have probably heard it before, but it really is an important key to mastering recalling. Why is it so important, you ask ? Well, simply put, cannon waves take a lot more effort than regular waves to be cleared, either by turrets or champions. This then gives you a lot more time to recall, buy items and come back to lane. Before recalling, make sure the wave just spawning in your base is a cannon one, but also look at the current wave state and envision what it will look like after your recall.
  • Is it slow pushing towards the enemy ? Hard shove the lane. Otherwise, the enemy laner will be able to freeze on you.
  • Is it slow pushing towards you ? Now's your turn to look to set up a freeze by clearing the wave but leaving 3 caster minions alive near your turret. Once you come back to lane, the wave will remain be frozen ! Unless someone came in and cleared it to break the freeze, which will likely not happen the lower the elo.
  • Is the wave even ? Shove it ! Unless it is a cannon wave, (in which case you shouldn't be recalling) you can easily hard push the wave into the enemy turret and back !
• Gold value
Ideally, you want to back as soon as you hit a gold milestone that will enable you to purchase an item (or part of one). How many times has it happened to you that you recall at 1220g carelessly, then realize once in fountain that you are misssing just 75g for Leeching Leer ? Or any other gold deficit for any other item ? Don't let that happen again ! Learn from your mistakes and, little mental math exercice, only recall when you have enough gold for x or y items.

• Objective Timers
Right before an objective, you want to maximize your input damage and efficiency to higher your chances to win the upcoming fight. You don't want to be sitting on 1k+ gold while fighting. If you're not spending the gold you're getting, then what's the point ? 45 sec or so before an objective spawns, recall and purchase whatever items you can and don't forget control wards (to set up vision control) ! However, if you don't have much time before Drake spawns, don't risk it. You don't want to let your team get into a 4v5 while you're in base at the shop.

Recalling Tips
• Don't recall in the open ! Don't just press B in the middle of the lane praying no one comes by. No point in risking getting interrupted or even caught. Just back off to your turret if healthy enough..
• Don't recall under your T1 turret if very low on health and in risk of getting dove ! The closer you are to your base, the safe you are. If I'm against a level 6+ Rengar, I might even recall at my T3 turret.
• If in the jungle or river, always recall in bushes ! Plus ALWAYS make sure they are not warded and the enemy is not aware of you being there.
None of those rules apply if the whole enemy team is dead :D
TL;DR :
• Look at your minimap as frequently as possible.
• Information to pick up from the minimap : (enemy's/ally's) junglers' positions, missing ennemies, unfolding fights nearby, upcoming waves (expecially cannon ones).
• Open the scoreboard frequently.
• Information to pick up from the scoreboard : what your lane opponent is building, objective timers.
The Importance of Map Awareness
Checking the minimap/scoreboard frequently is essential to having good macro. There's so much information you can draw that allows you to take more appropriate decisions. Having bad map awareness is failing to understand the state of the game. But taking a quick glance is not enough! There are a few things you should be focusing on to improve your map awareness and win more games.
What to look for
• Your jungler/The enemy jungler
During the laning phase, it's extremely important to keep track of the enemy jungler pathing, especially when playing a champion as aggressive as Akali. It will help you determine whether to play safe or not, and prevent you from playing overly offensive and getting punished for it. Likewise, you'd want to pay attention to your jungler's pathing, and what their next move is. Are they looking to invade ? Can you help with the invade ? Is the scuttle crab fight winnable or should you ping them back ? Are they in a position where they can help you, or is it wiser to just not force a gank and wait for better opportunities ? This is what should be going through your mind when evaluating the situation.

• Unfolding fights
More often than not, your teammates will not bother pinging you to alert you of fights breaking down in river, or enemies roaming. Whatever the cause, a skirmish may be randomly taking place in the river. Even if her early game isn't the best, Akali is an excellent skirmisher post-6, due to her countless escape tools and high damage output. Another reason for you to keep a close eye on the map, otherwise you might miss out on some kills, or cause the death of a teammate when you could've easily saved them.

• Missing Enemies
The jungler isn't the only person you should be careful of. Any one could be looking to gank your lane, whether it'd the support, sometimes accompanied by their adc, or even the toplaner. This is EXTREMELY important at all stages of the game, not just during the laning phase. Look at the map, and always ask yourself : Which enemies are missing ? How many are they ? Can my allies help or should I simply retreat ?

• Your opponents' items
It's incredibly important to press tab and check what the enemy is building.
Firstly, to be able to itemize accordingly. Is the enemy team stacking MR ? Start building Void Staff.
Secondly, to know what to expect. Your lane opponent has bought Stopwatch or Hexdrinker ? Don't get baited and go for risky plays where you dive them and expect to one-shot them, but end up dying instead.

• Upcoming wave
Knowing that the next minion wave is a cannon one enables you to suitingly make decisions. At this point, if the enemy laner is missing, you should look to quickly shove the current wave and choose to either roam, get vision, get picks in the jungle (if ahead and area is warded), create pressure or simply just recall if you have nothing else to do.
Stealth Wards
•Blue side
•Red side
The yellow wards are the most useful and common safe wards. Whenever you can, you'd want to place one of these. It's preferable to never sit on 2 trinkets.

The purple ones are deep wards that you'd set in the jungle. These give crucial vision but are more risky and require more time to put down. Look to place these wards when your lane opponent is stuck under his turret clearing the wave. If you run into the enemy jungler, you can try to fight him, especially if no one can help him, or if you can simply one-shot him. I wouldn't recommend doing that if you're not familiar/experienced enough with Akali.

The green ward is a ward you'd mostly want to place against junglers who can counter the normal lane brush ward. This includes fast champions like Rammus, Hecarim or Nunu & Willump, and other champions like Zac (who'd E from the other side of the wall) or Shaco (who'd Q over the wall). Note that the raptors ward is also specifically good against Fiddlesticks and Zac, but careful not to get caught as you're placing it!

You could also put a ward in the middle of the lane, just outside of turret range against champions who love to roam like Talon or Katarina, so you can determine which way they went.

If you're roaming a lot, your opponent might use the same trick and put a ward in the middle of the lane. Don't hesitate to remove it with either Oracle Lens or a Control Ward ! Vision denial is super important.
Control Wards
•Blue side
•Red side
The blue wards are neutral wards. When placing a control ward in the lane brush, you always want to put it the closest to you, so you can better defend it.

The red wards are offensive wards. Only put these when you are ahead and able to protect them.

The pink wards are defensive wards. If your whole team is behind, or the enemy jungler keeps invading yours, then warding defensively become necessary. Oherwise your control wards are just going to get destroyed over and over again.

Always look to ward the side the next objective in on. As an example, if the drake is spawning soon, then you'd want to put your control ward in the bot side, and your stealth wards the deepest you can in their jungle. I will go more into detail about this subject later on (go to Establishing vision/map control section).

If someone is removing your control ward, you can instantly put another one down to deny them the xp and gold.
TL;DR :
• Ganking Junglers : strong early game, gank as early as level 2 for some. Be mindful of their early skirmishes and ganks.
• Powerfarming Junglers : hyperscalers, can only gank effectively past certain powerspikes (levels, items). Abuse them while you can (invade them / ward their jungle).
• Control Junglers : fast clear + mobility, counter-jungle and ward. Keep your jungle warded and help your jungler when they get invaded.
• See whether the enemy bot or top leashed to determine the enemy jungler's starting point (Blue or Red).
• 1 camp = 4 cs. Scuttle crab spawn (potential fight) = 3:30 mins. Possible gank (before camp respawn) 4:30-5:00 mins. 1st buff respawn ≅ 7:00 mins.
Types of Junglers
• Ganking junglers
It's important to know what jungler you're up against to adjust your playstyle accordingly. Champions like Xin Zhao, Lee Sin, Rek'Sai, Elise etc.. have very strong early game power and will most likely be looking to gank more than farm.
These junglers' gameplan is generally to get their level 3 powerspike first then gank. However, you should always watch out for level 2 cheese ganks with red buff, especially against champions like Shaco or Jarvan IV. In this case, even if you're laning against someone you can abuse early on, do not play aggressive. If harassing with Five Point Strike will make you push the wave, then don't do it. It's far from worth it.

• Powerfarming junglers
Now these champions will look to farm and get their level/item powerspikes as soon as possible to start making an impact on the game. This includes hyperscalers like Master Yi and Karthus, but also champions that can only gank effectively once they get level 6: Evelynn, Nocturne, Fiddlesticks, Shyvana etc.. You can look to ward their jungle, and
invade them by yourself (or preferably with your jungler) to delay their powerspikes. However, make sure you're not just going into a straight 1v3 against the enemy jungle and bot. Always watch your minimap and read the game state.
• Control junglers
These champions will try to make your jungler's life a living hell. Their main goal is counter jungling and maintaining map control, by constantly invading the side your jungler is not on, and stealing their camps all while establishing vision control. We'd generally put in this category fast farming champions with high mobility like Graves, Nunu & Willump, Nidalee, Kindred, Udyr etc.. Against these junglers, what you want to do as a midlaner is help your jungler as much as possible, by keeping your jungle warded and punishing whenever the enemy invades at a bad time.
Jungle Pathing
• Red/Blue start
In most cases, you should be able to tell where the enemy jungler started. Having this info will help you better anticipate when they might gank you and from where. As an example, if their toplaner came late to lane and/or with missing hp/mana, then you can safely assume that the jungler started topside. This often entails that if you get ganked next, it's most likely going to come from botside. In that case, ward and hug the topside of the map to give yourself more reaction time to escape and make it near impossible for the enemy jungler to successfully gank your lane. Keep in mind that sometimes, junglers like Kayn would start raptors or wolves, meaning that they won't need a leash, and therefore making it harder to predict their pathing.

• Jungle clear
You can determine what clear a jungler did by looking at their CS. Every camp gives 4 CS, this means that if they show up on the map and have 24 cs, then they did 6 camps, so a fulll clear. Knowing what clear they did will enable you to more accurately predict what their next move is, and be prepared to counter it. Usually, junglers would recall at 4:00 to match their camps respawn, which is 2 minutes for normal camps. This sometimes means that their next gank might come between the 4:30 to 5:00 minute window.

The 1st Buff respawn should be at the 7:00 minute mark. If the enemy jungler is behind while you're fairly ahead, you can look to
cheese him at his camp. Set up vision with control wards and Oracle Lens first, then you can surprise him at his own buff and put him even further behind.
Make sure your laners have priority, or that his allies cannot rotate quickly enough to help.
• Bot/Top Scuttle Crab
At the 3:30 minute mark, the Scuttle Crab will spawn. If your jungler is doing the top scuttle, then you know for a fact that the enemy jungler is on bot scuttle. As this objective is coming up, you should be pinging your jungler if you cannot help them contest it. If a fight does occur and you end up winning the 2v2, then again, you can be 100% sure that the enemy jungler is heading to bot crab next.
Fiddlesticks - Hecarim - Amumu
Elise - Graves - Ivern - Jarvan IV - KhaZix - Nocturne - Nunu & Willumps - Rammus - Rek Kayn - RekSai - Sejuani - Shaco - Skarner - Trundle - Vi - Volibear - Warwick - Zac
Diana - Ekko - Evelynn - Gragas - Kayn - Blue Kayn - Kindred - Lee sin - Lillia - Malphite - Olaf - Udyr - Viego - Wukong - Xin Zhao
Karthus - Master Yi - Nidalee - Rengar - Shyvana
TL;DR :
• Always push the wave before roaming. Preferably crash a cannon wave for more time to roam.
• Roam to : ward, deward, gank a lane, counter-gank the enemy jungler or help your own.
• Only gank winning or even lanes. If very ahead, you can look to help losing lanes.
• Before deciding to roam, check for : allies/enemies' ressources (mana, cooldowns, health) and strengths, junglers' positions.
Why should you roam ?
• Have an impact on the map
Roaming is an excellent way to get ahead and help your allies. Even though Akali's has little to no CC in her kit, she's still really good at ganking other lanes and create leads for herself and her team. In fact, there are often high chances of you scoring a kill or two when roaming, which would greatly enhance and speed up your snowballing process.

• Secure objectives
Getting a double kill botlane just as the dragon is spawning would be completely detrimental to the enemy team. Additionally, you get to establish vision control and set a strong foundation for the rest of the laning phase and the game entirely.

• Apply pressure
If you're dominating your lane opponent, then suddenly disappear off the enemy team's minimap, you become a threat to them. They will be forced to respect you and play safe, until they know more about your whereabouts. Even if you're not planning to fully commit to a roam, you can just go ward/remove wards, or simply hide in a bush in case someone has the misfortune to cross paths with you.
When to roam ?
Committing to a roam that ends up failing for a reason or another could be a disaster for both you and your teammates. To avoid that, there are a few things you need to be careful of before deciding to roam.

• Lane state
First things first, ALWAYS push the minion wave before roaming, to minimize the loss of gold and experience. Plus, it gives you a head start on your lane opponent who will be stuck under his turret clearing waves. However, if an ally is fighting in the river/jungle very close to you, stop everything you're doing and go help them, unless you're outnumbered and the fight is clearly unwinnable.

The biggest green flag that an enemy is gankable is when they are constantly hard pushing the wave. This is your best opportunity to punish them for overextending by paying them a visit or two. Try to scout for vision first, you don't want to waste time ganking a well-warded area. But keep in mind that the lower the elo, the less the enemy will ward and watch the map, the easier it is to succesfully roam.

• Allies/Enemies' strengths
You always need to check you team's resources before ganking a lane. Do your laners/enemy laners have their ultimates/summoner spells ? Do you have yours ? How much mana do your laners have ? If the answers to these questions are favorable for your team, then you know what to do. Note that it's also better to gank lanes with good engage and especially strong CC, since you don't have any yourself.
• Your jungler/The enemy jungler's positions
More often than not, it's preferable to gank the side your jungler is on, for better back up and higher chances of success. You should always keep track of where the enemy jungler could be, to avoid unpleasant surprises.

However, as stated earlier in this guide, starting from level 6 Akali is an excellent skirmisher, that can take down multiple targets by herself. Let's say the enemy jungler was top not too long ago and your botlane is hard pushing, then there are high chances of him ganking bot next. In this case, you can look to roam to counter-gank, and potentially get a HUGE lead for your team, especially if you're already ahead. In a 3v3 situation bot(or even 3v4 if the enemy midlaner follows your roam) where both teams are even, you can undoubtedly carry the fight alone. But if you think that there's a slight chance of this roam failing, then don't commit and wait for better opportunities to present themselves.
Roaming Routes
• Roaming from lane
•Blue side
•Red side
The blue and red lines on each side are the normal paths you would take when roaming from lane.

The purple lines represent dangerous paths that you can only take when ahead and able to fight the enemy jungler and/or escape, or if you know for a fact their jungler cannot be there. Make sure your E is up to hop over any nearby wall in case you get caught.

The yellow lines are walls you can cross with E to either get there faster, or to avoid warded areas. However if you think you might need your E to win the fight, then don't use it to go through walls when you're approaching your destination.

• Roaming from base
These shouldn't be your default roaming routes. However, you can take them if you have just respawned and :
  • There's a fight happening in river, so you want to take shortcuts to get there faster.
  • You're unsure if the lane you want to go to is actually gankable. So even if half way there you realize you can't make a play happen, you can just head back to midlane.
  • The enemy is overextending and won't see your gank coming. Usually, if your lane opponent has seen you recall, they don't expect you to go straight to bot / top right as you respawn. Therefore, they won't be pinging their teammates to back off, since they think they know your whereabouts, when in reality they don't !
Now this is the most complex part of the game. I couldn't make a midlane guide without talking about ✨The Wondrous World of Wave Management✨. However, I will not be covering every single aspect of it. Instead, I will list the 3 main wave control techniques and explain them in order to lay a solid basis for anyone who wishes to improve their laning phase. If you would like to know more about Wave Management, I'd recommend watching this Youtube video from Blitz Esports LoL, and if you got a little more time, here's a more detailed video with in game examples, made by Coach Curtis. Full credits to them ! No TL;DR for this section because it's already very simplified :D
Freezing
• What's Freezing ?
What's Freezing
• How to Freeze ?
How to freeze
• When to Freeze ?
when to freeze
• When NOT to Freeze ?
When not to freeze
Fast Pushing
• What's Fast Pushing ?
what's fast pushing
• How to Fast Push ?
how to fast push
• When to Fast Push ?
When to FAST PUSH
• When NOT to Fast Push ?
when not to fast push
Slow Pushing
• What's Slow Pushing ?
what's slow pushing
• How to Slow Push ?
how to slow pushing
• When to Slow Push ?
when to slow push
• When NOT to Slow Push ?
When not to slow push
TL;DR :
• Sidelane to not share gold and XP with allies and maximize income, to catch up when behind.
• Don't sidelane if ahead and your presence is required to win fights, unless your team is hard-losing anyway.
• Always collect waves on the sidelanes when no ally is already there. Push them the farthest you can without risks.
• Never match tanks in the sidelanes.
• Sidelaning turns into splitpushing once you go past the Collection Zone (check the image below).
• Splitpush if you team composition allows it (good waveclear).
• Don't splitpush if your team is not active on the map.
The importance of Sidelaning
• What's sidelaning ?
The word is pretty self-explanatory. It's about leaving the midlane and rotating either bot or top to catch and push waves. The point of sidelaning is to pressure turrets while taking gold and xp by yourself, instead of sharing resources with your teammates while minion waves are pointlessly dying on the other side of the map.

• Why should you sidelane ?
The two main reasons you should be sidelaning as an assassin is to maximize your income, but also to create pressure, forcing someone to respond and at the same time risk their lives, given how great of a duelist Akali is.
When Sidelaning is a good idea
• When behind or even
You should begin sidelaning once the first turret falls. Generally, your ADC and support would rotate mid while you take over bot. It's the default play when mid is already occupied by someone else and there are no objectives up (therefore no reason to be grouped with your team), especially when you are behind and unable to provide valuable help in teamfights. In that case, you'd want to sidelane to catch up the best you can, and only build damage items. Don't try to go tank to "peel for your adc". Your role as an assassin is to deal as much damage as you can, especially when you are behind and the enemy team won't be focusing you in teamfights.

• When ahead
When you are ahead, sidelaning becomes a bit more situational. If the enemy has far better engage potential, and your presence is required to win fights, then you should be grouped with your team to prevent them from dying 4v5, especially in lower elo. If you are running Teleport, then this shouldn't be as big of an issue as you could even be splitpushing and still able to join fights from anywhere.

However, if your team is getting absolutely decimated and any fight they'll take, regardless if you are there or not, is without a doubt going to result in an ace in favor of the enemy, then you should stay in the sidelanes and farm up. When ahead, you can look to pressure the map even more by splitpushing.
How to Sidelane efficiently
• Catching waves
The Collection Zone is where you're going to be catching waves. You should constantly be paying attention to the minimap and look closely at where the minions are in each lane. If there's an upcoming wave slow pushing top or bot, and no one from your team is already there, then you should go pick it up, before it goes to waste and crashes under your turret.

• Getting kills
Sometimes, if the enemy's T1 turret (outer turret) is still up, their ADC might not rotate mid and stay farming bot, thinking they're safe.
What really ends up happening is, they either overextend and become very easy targets for you, or they simply just get dove. To increase your chances of getting picks in the sidelane, you should never match a tanky champion who can easily survive your burst and prevent you from getting/snowballing leads. As an assassin, always look for kill opportunities, and grab them whenever you can.
• Splitpushing
Splitpushing relies heavily on your team composition. If they're not able to waveclear and defend against strong pushes, then it's probably not the best idea. You also don't want to be splitpushing if your team is not active on the map. As an example, if they are playing passive in the jungle, or have just recalled, it's always safer to simply back off.
Splitpushing is when you go past the Neutral zone and enter the Pressure Zone. Akali isn't by any means an excellent splitpusher like Tryndamere or Camille. But when she's ahead, she can afford to use this strategy and force the enemy to send multiples members to stop her, therefore creating a numbers advantage for her team. Given your mobility, you have enough escape tools to safely farm in the Pressure Zone. When running Ignite, or your Teleport is on cooldown, you should push the side the next upcoming objective is on, so you can be there in time in case a fight breaks down. Another
strategy you can utilize is creating a slow push bottom for example, a minute or so before Baron spawns. This way, a big wave will build up on the opposite side and threaten the enemy's turret(s) while your team takes Baron. Either the enemy team will send someone to respond to the push , and therefore give you a numbers advantage, or they will have to sacrifice a lot in order to contest the objective. Either way, it's a win-win situation for your team.

When splitpushing, always keep an eye the minimap to know when to back off. Try to push as far as you can until you feel like you're in danger. You should retreat if :
  • You don't see the enemy on the map anymore, especially the main threat (fed member on the enemy team).
  • The area isn't well warded.
  • The enemy is threatning to end.
Note that if it's impossible for the enemy to end, and they are actually just going for an inhibitor for example, you can maintain the splitpush and look to trade objectives (turrets or even inhibitor).
TL;DR :
• ~1 minute before an objective, ward and deward the area around it. Look to get picks in warded areas.
• While doing the objective, zone the enemy when ahead. If the enemy has a way to engage on you, make sure your team has good counter-engage to help you.
• Look for a flanking angle if possible.
Neutral Objectives
(TIP: CLICK ON THE NAMES!!)
Preparing for an Objective
• Establishing vision/map control
Sweeper is absolutely essential to an assassin's playstyle. This is going to be your main way of clearing out wards. You can keep Stealth Ward during the laning phase, but as the game goes, the more vision denial will gain importance. You will always need to scout for vision before going for plays, and make sure the enemy doesn't know where you are.
Repeat after me : ALWAYS. GRAB. A. CONTROL. WARD. These are literally permanent vision that can last for a while, as long as the enemy doesn't destroy them. They allow you to deny vision, but also reveal camouflaged enemies like Evelynn, or stealthed units like Teemo's Noxious Trap. You should constantly be carrying at least one control ward at all stages of the game.
Vision is one of the most, if not the most important part of League Of Legends, and I cannot stress this enough. Vision is information that helps you read the state of the game, in order to make decisions accordingly. Having vision control over your enemy is crucial to prevent cheesy plays (such as the enemy setting an ambush) and unexpected engages in order to increase your chances of winning the upcoming teamfight. 1 minute or so before an objective spawns, put down wards and deny the enemy as much vision as possible, but also push lanes !! Before taking an objective, you should always have mid priority, and the sidelanes slow pushing towards the enemy's base.
Credits:Mobalytics
That's how you create pressure and establish map control, which is essentially about restricting the enemy's movement and having the upper hand. Note that the more turrets you've taken, the more open the map will be in favor of your team, making it easier to establish map control.
• Getting picks
Now this is a very assassin-oriented playstyle. It's a pretty simple concept on paper, all you have to do is hide in bushes, wait for enemies to pass by and assassinate them. However, getting picks is not as easy as that. When trying to cheese the enemy before an objective spawns, you need to be VERY careful and make sure your teammates are in a position to help in case things go wrong. As an example, dying right before an objective as important as Baron spawns would be extremely damaging to your team and possibly cost you the game. To succefully get picks without dying, you should always hide in well warded areas, grab sweeper to check if enemies have vision of you, and most importantly have an escape plan in mind. This again all comes down to map awareness and vision control.
Fighting for an Objective
• Zoning
Akali is pretty bad at actually doing objectives and deals very negligible damage. Hence why it's far more efficient and valuable for her to be zoning the enemy team. "What's zoning ?" you may ask. Well, it's a very easily appicable concept that revolves around keeping the enemy team out of a certain area. Simply put, your goal is to block the enemy from approaching your teammates while they are doing an objective.

Especially when you are fed, you can easily abuse this concept and make it impossible for your opponent to contest an objective without having to deal with you first. Given your insane mobility and numerous escape tools, you wouldn't be running too much of a risk when zoning. However, it could be very dangerous, depending on the enemy's team comp, . If your opponents have one or multiple extremely valuable engage tools that can allow them to collapse onto you, then zoning might not be the play (unless your team has good counter-engage and is in a position to immediately come to help). Abilities like that include Malphite's Unstoppable Force, Warwick's Infinite Duress, Kled's Chaaaaaaaarge!!!, Nunu & Willump's Biggest Snowball Ever!, Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow or even Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab.

• Flanking
Flanking is about hiding in the enemy's blindspots to expose them to other angles of attack, different than your team's. As an assassin, it's a way to bypass the frontline and dive straight into the backline. When you are fed, it's extremely frustruating for the enemy team to not know your whereabouts. Use that to your advantage.

Oracle Lens and vision are mandotary to flank without getting caught. Make sure the opponent doesn't have vision of you, and preferably hasn't for a while in order to increase the chances of the flank working.

Typically, you'd want to look to flank when the enemy is grouped for a certain objective, but keep in mind that this concept is applicable to any skirmish / teamfight, and should usually be your default fighting strategy as an assassin.
Imagine this situation. The team compositions are as follows :
•Blue side : Camille, Warwick, Akali, Caitlyn, Pyke.
•Red side : Riven, Nidalee, Irelia, Aphelios, Leona.
To have a better understanding of our gameplan, we need to establish win conditions for both of these teams. The blue team wants to burst down the Drake as quickly as possible, while looking for an opening to engage on the enemy with Warwick's Infinite Duress, Pyke's Bone Skewer and Camille's Hookshot. On the other hand, the red team is looking to do the exact same thing with its own engage tools, with Aphelios and Nidalee on the backline. Meanwhile, Akali has taken another path to the enemy backline, through their own jungle, hiding in a bush ready to strike at any moment.
What you need to realize here is that the enemy team doesn't really have any good way to prevent Akali's infiltration. No one can stop her from ult'ing onto Aphelios and throwing her W in the middle of everyone, creating chaos and allowing her team to fulfill their duties (Make sure to ping your engage multiple times before going in !!). Leona would need to have really good reaction time with aim-bot enabled to lock Akali in time. This type of flank would never be possible if the enemy team had warded their own jungle before-hand.
However, envision this exact same situation but with Malzahar instead of Irelia, standing in the backline along with the other carries. Well then, that's a whole other story. His point-and-click suppress kills all of your flanking plans. In that case, don't go for such big flanks and instead stand way closer to your team, and wait for him to be out of the fight or use his ult on someone else.
TL;DR :
• Focus carries in teamfights, or their support(healers/shielders) first .
• Engage (from a flanking position) or follow your teammates engage when : the enemy is mispositionned, has used their main cooldowns (CC, ults, dashes..), is CC'd.
• Use your AoE abilities (Q and R2) on the most targets possible.
• Drop your W in the middle of most people possible. Use it to reposition.
• You can use your E to engage or disengage.
• You can use your R1 as a gap-closer towards your main target by casting it onto a frontliner.
Choosing your fights
• When to Teamfight
>> You have a better teamfighting comp
>> Your team has a numbers advantage
>> Your team has a resources advatange
>> Your team has hit Item/level powerspikes
>> You have a massive lead over your opponent
>> The enemy's carry has no way of joining the fight.
• When NOT to Teamfight
>> You're missing your main carry
>> There are no objectives to fight for
>> Your team is not in a good position
>> Your team is still sitting on a lot of gold
>> You don't have a good teamfighting comp
>> You don't have vision of every single enemy
Initiating/following an engage
• Target Selection
Before initiating an engage in a fight, you should always have a target in mind. Who does the enemy most rely on to deal damage ? Is it the ADC ? Or their fed mage ? Who can you one-shot? Asking yourself these questions will help you figure out who's the highest priority target in the enemy team, and set a win condition. Keep in mind that if the enemy has a healer like Soraka or shielder like Lulu, then it's better to take them down first, otherwise these supports will make it a lot harder for you to assassinate their carries.

You should never focus a tank in a teamfight. Don't waste your time dealing with the frontline. Instead, you must be putting pressure on the enemy backline, as they are a lot squishier and easier to kill. As stated earlier, you should be flanking from behind to catch the enemy off guard. Hide in a bush, and keep a close eye on your target. Look for opportunities to engage : Keep track of your enemy's important CC cooldowns, wait for your target to use their key ability (their main escape tool : dash, invisibility, abilities that make them untargettable..), punish mispositionning etc..

• Following an engage
Now, most of the time, you won't be able to initiate an engage as it's usually far too risky. One of the most optimal way for an assassin to teamfight is to wait for their teammate to engage first and tank all the damage and CC, then look to follow up when you see an opening.

If you're not in a flanking position, and therefore unable to engage onto the enemy carries, stay behind your allies until opportunities to dive into their backline present themselves. As mentionned earlier, you need to be playing around your enemy's mistakes. All you have to do before deciding to go in is stay back and wait for your opponents to waste crucial abilities (especially CC abilities), or for your target to come in range for a Flash+ Perfect Execution combo for example.
Proper ability usage
One important part of teamfighting is dealing as much damage to as many targets as you can. As Akali, your Q and R2 are your only AoE abilities. Try to use them in such a way to hit multiple enemies. The more damage you deal, the more impact you will have on the teamfight. You constantly want to be utilizing your abilities in the best way possible, to be as efficient as you can.

Twilight Shroud is your best friend when diving into the enemy backline. Knowing
how to use your shroud will be crucial to properly executing an engage. What you'd usually want to do when going in is ult'ing in, then instantly dropping your smoke in the middle of multiple members (you don't have to cast the first part of your ultimate directly on your target, instead you can use a frontliner as a stepping stone to get into the enemy backline). That's how you put insane pressure onto the enemy, who will usually not know how to play around your shroud. Doing that allows you to zone them out of the fight, while the rest of your team takes care of the frontline. Additionally, you will be able to optimally reposition yourself, and find the right angle to jump on the highest priority target.
Clip Break Down

Shuriken Flip could also be a great engage tool. If your target is clearly mispositioned and is in range of your E, don't hesitate to throw your shuriken at them. If you're planning to commit and fly in with E2, make sure your team can follow up. One trick you can do is use Zhonya's Hourglass in the middle of E2 to gain time, then instantly W right as you come out of stasis. You can also hold onto your E to dodge certain abilities or to disengage after you've successfully taken down your target (or at least taken a huge chunk of their health).
In this clip, you can see me swinging back and forth, waiting for the enemy to engage. Since this is a 1v2, I have to be careful until my teammates join the fight. As soon as Swain uses his E Nevermove, I instantly R1 Perfect Execution onto Shen to appear behind Swain's character and dodge the wave, therefore not get rooted.

Likewise, I use Shuriken Flip immediately as Shen dashes onto me with his taunt Shadow Dash. Now that I've dodged Shen's and Swain's most important abilities, finishing them off both is a piece of cake.
This is where things get serious. Any simple mistake resulting in your death could potentially cost you the game. Once the late game begins, you need to be EXTRA careful to not get caught, especially if you're the carry. Be more selective about what picks and fights can be safely taken, and which ones represent too great of a risk. Even though everything mentioned in the Mid Game section is still applicable here, you cannot allow yourself to go for plays as aggressive anymore. Akali often gets outscaled, and can become very useless as the game progresses if she didn't aquire leads in the earlier stages.

Don't go into fog of war, always keep track of where the enemy team is, look to splitpush whenever you can, but most importantly, DON'T DIE! Keep in mind that the longer a game goes, the longer the death timers are. Plus, objectives like Baron Nashoror Elder Dragon should always be your top priority, and contesting these objectives is crucial. Play around vision, look for the perfect opportunities to engage, and disengage with E or R2 before it's too late whenever a teamfight doesn't seem to go your way.
DISCLAIMER : These are just my personal opinions on how to play different matchups, based on experience. More often than not, these will vary depending on your playstyle, but also your elo, as the lower it is, the more you can play off of your opponent's (numerous) mistakes. Meaning that even if a matchup is listed here as 'Hard', it can not always be the case, and vice versa.
AHRI
Difficulty: Medium
Do not come close to her levels 1 and 2. She has more range than you and will come out on top of every single trade. Stay behind your minions, so she has no chance of hitting her Charm.

You can also stay in range of her Q and dodge it if she throws it, to bait her into pushing the wave. This will put the minions in an ideal spot near your tower, allowing you to last hit safer with your Q.

Level 4 is when you can start to trade. Watch out for her Charm. You can dodge it by running in zigzags, using your W (with the movement speed burst), or baiting it then throwing your E at max range.

Post-6, you can easily all-in and kill her if she overextends.
ANIVIA
Difficulty: Medium
Your only win condition in this matchup is to dodge her Q. It's fairly slow which makes it easier to sidestep. Punish her whenever she misses it.

Her Passive is pretty annoying to play against as an assassin. Chances are, you won't be able to kill her if she plays the lane correctly. Look to push and roam, try to get leads elsewhere before she hits level 6. Once she gets a point in Glacial Storm, she will constantly be pushing the wave and prevent you from roaming.

Spacing is very important in this matchup. Take advantage of her Q's very slow travel speed. Don't get too close to her to make it easier to dodge.

You can E her wall.
ANNIE
Difficulty: Medium
Annie has a surprisingly long auto-attack range of 625 (second highest in the game after Caitlyn). Beware of that in the early levels. However, her abilities are very short-ranged.

Only trade when her stun is down, but keep in mind she can stack it fast, since her cooldowns are pretty low.

Play safe when her Passive is up, especially post-6 when she has her R and Flash. If you're below ~70% health, she can easily one-shot you. You can build Banshee's to protect yourself from her stun and burst.

Her lack of mobility makes her very vulnerable to ganks. If she falls down early game, it's close to impossible for her to comeback.
AURELION SOL
Difficulty: Easy
You can abuse him at all stages of the game. He doesn't have the damage nor the tools to fight back, especially early on. Keep trading until you get him low enough to kill.

Aurelion Sol's greatest strength is his ability to shove and roam to bot or top very fast. Make sure to ping your teammates if he's missing.

You can E his Q, even if you get stunned, it's only for a short duration and it deals very minimal damage. You can then follow up with E2 and finish him off with your full combo.

You can E his ult aswell. Just fly back in after he knocks you back.
AZIR
Difficulty: Hard
Pre-6, this matchup is a nightmare. You can never get close to trade, as his soldiers will get a huge chunk of your health everytime.

Stand at the opposite side of where he spawns his soldiers. Try to get as many minions as you can with your Q and E.

Matchup gets much easier after level 6. Azir's very squishy and vulnerable to your burst. E him as he uses his ult to dodge it, then E2 onto him.

Careful not to waste your ult on him if his E > Q combo is up.
BRAND
Difficulty: Easy
Stay away from minions affected by Brand's Passive, so he cannot deal damage to you by using his E on your minions.

If you are yourself affected by his Passive, stay behind your minions so he cannot stun you with Q.

If you get hit by his ult, stay away from your teammates. It deals huge AoE damage and can instantly send all of your team to the fountain in a matter of seconds.

When his Q is down, that's your window to all-in him and potentially kill him if you have your ult. He has no real way of escaping apart from Flash, and even then, he's doomed.
CASSIOPEIA
Difficulty: Medium
Spacing is the most crucial part to master to win this matchup. Stay out of range of her Q, or try baiting and dodging it. Do not go in for a trade if you do get hit by Q. However, if she misses it, take that opportunity to punish her. Without Noxious Blast's poison, her E will only tickle you. Plus she won't have the movement speed to run away, making her very easy to kill.

Try predicting her ult and turning around before she casts it. Better get slowed than stunned.

Beware of her W ! If you get caught in it, you can no longer use your E nor R. Your only escape is your W in this case.

CORKI
Difficulty: Easy
A matchup you can easily abuse throughout the whole laning phase. As any other ranged midlaner, you want to let him push first 2 levels, as he has more range and poke. Starting from level 3, he won't be able to play the game anymore.

Even if you get hit by his basic lane trading combo( Q+AA) as you're lasthitting minions, do not hesitate to trade back. You want to play very aggressive in this matchup.

Post-6, Corki is extremely squishy and therefore very easy to one-shot.

Good Corkis would look to freeze the wave against you. In this case, try roaming and getting kills elsewhere.

HEIMERDINGER
Difficulty: Hard
VERY annoying matchup. Stay far back away from him and his cancerous turrets. Don't even think about fighting him while he has 3 turrets by his side. Try farming up with Q the best you can.

He can protect himself from your E by standing behind his turrets. However, if you do somehow hit your E on him, you should be able to kill him or at least take a good percentage of his health.

Watch out for his stun. If he misses it, then is your window to all-in him.

Ask your jungler for help. Heimerdinger has very limited mobility and is super vulnerable to ganks as he's constantly pushing the wave.
KARMA
Difficulty: EXTREME
Her poke isn't the main obstacle to overcome in this matchup. The real issue is her ability to reveal you with Focused Resolve. Don't waste your shroud until her W's effect wears off.

She can be very annoying with her E, as it's way harder to hit Shuriken flip with that movement speed. Additionally, her shields negate a good amount of your damage, making it near impossible to kill her if she plays well around her cooldowns.

Instead of running away when she W's you, try getting as good of a trade as you can. If she casts it at max range, try using your E to get out of range from it, and at the same time hitting her.
LEBLANC
Difficulty: Hard
LeBlanc's E reveals you, which is why this matchup is so tricky. Even if you manage to dodge it, you will still have a hard time dealing with her burst, though it does become much easier to trade back.

Play outside of her W's range, as it's her primary source of damage, especially if she has marked you with Q. You can negate Distortion's damage by throwing your E onto her as the animation kicks off.

Mark her with your E before she goes invisible with Mirror Image. This will help you figure out which one is the real LeBlanc and which one is the clone.

Unless she throws it at maximum range, you cannot E out of her chain.
LISSANDRA
Difficulty: Medium
Lissandra is very good against melee assassins as she can prevent them from snowballing, due to the amount of CC she has and her mobility. You won't have many chances to kill her, unless she overextends without her E.

Don't let her push the wave AND hit you at the same time with Q. To achieve that, stand to the side of your minion wave, not in the middle of it. On top of that, you want to be constantly thinning the wave as she pushes it with Q to prevent her from building a gigantic wave and harassing you under turret.

She can use W to reveal your outline when you're hiding in your shroud.

Even if she is low on health, NEVER dive a Lissandra post-6. You're just gonna get CC-locked with Ring of Frost and Frozen Tomb and gift her a kill.
LUCIAN
Difficulty: Medium
Just stay far back away from him pre-6. Don't let him poke you with Piercing light: either stay out of range, or avoid lining yourself up with him and your minions.

Don't throw Shuriken Flip at him if his E is up. However if he goes in with an aggressive dash and you do hit him with E, you can look to trade and follow up with the rest of your combo.

You generally don't want to play aggressive in this lane. Freeze the wave and force Lucian to overextend.

Post-6, Lucian is basically just a minion that's worth 300g to you. He has no chance of landing a good R on you, given your mobility. And you'd probably one-shot him before he'd even pop it.
LUX
Difficulty: Easy
Don't let her poke you with Lucent Singularity. Practice spacing in this matchup. Her Q is easier to dodge, as you can stay behind your caster minions and melee minions to block it.

Don't let her shove you in and harass you under turret. Thin the wave to avoid that.

As soon as Lux misses her binding, you can all-in her and she won't be able to stop you. However, keep in mind that a lot of Lux players will run Barrier in this lane, so care not to overcommit and get baited!

This should be an overall easy matchup if you play safe first few levels, then punish her whenever she misses her skillshots.
MALZAHAR
Difficulty: Medium
Stay away from your low health minions, so you don't get afflicted by Malefic Visions, nor directly targeted by Malzahar's Voidlings.

Stay healthy for a level 3/4 engage (once the wave resets). Until then, you want to farm safely with your abilities.

Hitting your E on him while he has his shield will only cancel the first part's damage. This means that he will still get marked, enabling you to follow up with E2.

Post-6, always keep track of his Ult's cooldown. He can easily lock you down in a skirmish, and let his team kill you. Consider buying QSS.
MORGANA
Difficulty: Easy
Should be a free lane. This is probably one of the few ranged matchups you don't want to play safe in. Morgana's W does VERY little damage, and won't be a threat. You want to play as aggressive as you can from level 1.

By trying to poke you with Tormented Shadow, she will naturally hard push the wave towards you. Don't let her gain the upper hand and keep shoving big minion waves and harass you as you're farming under your turret. Try to keep up with the push and thin the wave.

Your win condition in this matchup is to simply dodge her Q. She should be an easy kill post-6.

Remember that her Ult reveals you. You can just dodge it with Shuriken Flip.
NEEKO
Difficulty: Hard
Don't get fooled by Inherent Glamour. No, you're not up against Rakan mid, it's just a disguised Neeko. C'mon.

Avoid at all cost getting hit by her E+ Q combo. Stay as far away as you can. Farm up for till level 6.

You can dodge her Ult with your E. Wait for her shield to wear off, then fly back in.

Just like LeBlanc's Passive, you can distinguish between the real Neeko and her clone with Shuriken Flip's mark.
ORIANNA
Difficulty: Medium
Stay at opposite sides from where her ball is. Don't let her poke you for free, especially if she's running Phase Rush.

Farm up until level 6 and minimize the damage you get from her. Whenever she pushes the wave, try to match it the best you can so she can't shove you in.

Level 6 it becomes much easier to trade. Her shield often won't be enough to protect her from your burst.

If you time it right, you can dodge Shockwave with your E.
RYZE
Difficulty: Medium
Stay away from your minions, so his E doesn't bounce to you and Overload doesn't hit you along with the wave.

Most Ryze players will be perma-pushing the wave and therefore, overextend, making them very vulnerable to ganks.

If you hit your E, don't hesitate to E again and get a chunk of his health off, especially if you're running Electrocute. He's still a very squishy champion and is pretty weak early on.

Don't overextend when he's missing. He can cheese you by Ult'ing behind you and bringing his whole team with him.
SWAIN
Difficulty: Easy
There are two parts to Nevermove: the first one is when he launches it, then the 2nd part is when it flies back to him and roots the first enemy hit. This makes it easier to dodge the CC, as you can use your shroud's or your passive's bonus movement speed to your advantage to side-step it and prevent him from pulling you towards him.

Swain does very minimal damage with his poke, especially ealier on. You should be able to successfully trade with him beginning from level 3.

Ignite him when he's in his ult to benefit from the healing reduction. You can use E to go out of its radius and nullify his damage and healing.
SYNDRA
Difficulty: Hard
Bait her Q by pretending to go for a minion then backing off just before your reach it. If she misses it level 1, you can look for a quick Q trade unless she's hiding far behind her caster minions.

If you hit your E on her, don't recast it unless she doesn't have E or if she can't use a ball to stun you.

Level 6 is when you can look to all-in her. If you play smart, you can outplay her stun and one-shot her before she one-shots you.

Never Ult when she has her stun, or she will literally take away a good portion of your damage with just that one ability.
TWISTED FATE
Difficulty: Medium
All you have to do in this matchup is to watch out for his W, specifically the gold card, which is a stun. Trade when it's on cooldown. Avoid standing near your minions when he has his red card up, as it deals AoE damage and slows.

Twisted Fate has a huge waveclear advantage over you. You don't want to let him push the wave and harass you under the turret. Try to match his push the best you can early on.

If you're confident you can kill him, you can let him stun you as you throw (and land) your E, then simply follow up with the rest of you combo and finish him.

Post-6, it becomes way harder to skirmish against him. His Ult reveals you for extended periods of time and can really ruin all of your plans in just one click.
VEIGAR
Difficulty: Easy
Try to always dodge his Qs. Most Veigar players will look to shove you in and stack their passive. You don't want to let them hit the wave and at the same time get stacks off you.

Your E mark lasts for 3 seconds, and so does his E. If timed correctly, you can hit him with Shuriken flip just as he E's, wait it out then fly back in right before the mark ends.

Let him shove you in all he wants until level 6. Past that point, you absolutely decimate him and he won't be able to do anything about it. He's a very squishy champion with little to no escape and can certainly not beat an Akali level 6.
VEL'KOZ
Difficulty: Medium
Can be a very tricky matchup if against a Vel'Koz main. The most hard part about is dodging his skillshots. You can rush boots if you're really struggling. Plus, when you're in shroud, he can reveal your outline with Ult. Keep that in mind.

Don't let him stack his passive on you, or he will start dealing a TON of damage.

You can bait out E then dodge it with Shuriken flip.

It becomes way easier to dodge his skillshots post-6, given your mobility. Should be an easy kill from now on.
VIKTOR
Difficulty: Medium
He will try to shove you in and poke you to death the first few levels. If you try to jump him you're just going to get stunned and lose half your health so um, don't do that.

Past level 4 this matchup should be yours. Don't let him proc Phase Rush, otherwise it will be very difiicult to hit your E.

Post-6, he's pretty much dead whenever you see him. It's going to be near impossible for him to stun you, given how many dashes you have.

If he's smart, he's going to play the lane safe after level 6 and will powerfarm for lategame. Look to roam and get leads elsewhere.
VLADIMIR
Difficulty: Medium
Always keep looking at the second bar under his health. It turns red after he has stacked Transfusion twice. This means that the next time he will use this ability, it will heal him and deal a lot more damage. Wait until the bar goes down before playing aggressive again.

When his Pool is up, don't throw your E. Wait until he wastes it, then go for an all-in.

Later in the laning phase, it becomes pretty much useless to trade with a Vladimir, as he will just heal everything back up. Only fight him to all-in him (or bait him into wasting his W first to increase your chances of success)

You can block his E with your minions, or Shuriken Flip.
XERATH
Difficulty: Easy
Stay away from the minion wave to force him to make a choice between hitting you or hitting the minions with Q, and not do both at the same time.

His W deals more damage at the center. Even though it doesn't deal a lot of damage early on, the slow will make it easier for him to hit his E. You cannot E his stun, as it has more range

Don't let him get the wave to crash under turret. At that point, he will your make your life a living nightmare and will harass whenever you try to last-hit. Thin the wave as much as you can to prevent that from happening.

Throwing your E at him when he ults is a guaranteed hit since he's unable to move. If you're not in range or just really low to fight, then Twilight Shroud is your friend.
ZIGGS
Difficulty: Easy
Stay out of range of his Q as long as you're not planning to all-in him, to make it easier to dodge his poke.

Most Ziggs players will look to hard shove the wave and harass you under turret. Thin the wave whenever you can.

If you hit a Shuriken Flip onto him, he's literally going to lose half of his hp, will be forced to back off. He could avoid your burst by using Satchel Charge at the right timing, but that will make him very vulnerable while it's on cooldown.

Ziggs is extremely squishy, and won't be able to do as he pleases anymore once you hit level 6.
ZILEAN
Difficulty: Medium
The reason this matchup can be somewhat hard is because he can poke you out with bombs throughout the whole laning phase. Once he gets level 6, it's pretty much impossible for you to kill him if he plays well around his cooldowns.

It's very hard to hit your E when Time Warp is up, given the insane movement speed bonuses it gives to him or his allies. Punish him when it's on cooldown.

He isn't completely invincible. You will have windows to kill him, for example when he misses his stun and you successfully land Shuriken Flip onto him.

When he has ult'd himself or an ally, don't kill them until its effect wears off, to prevent them from healing.
ZOE
Difficulty: Medium
Her Q deals AoE damage. Hide behind your minions but don't stand too close to them to prevent her from hitting both you and the wave.

Try not to use summoner spells when Zoe is in reach to grab them with her W.

Her E's range doubles when it goes through walls, so be careful whenever Zoe "randomly" goes into fog of war. The key to winning this matchup is dodging her sleep. If you do get hit by it, E away and pray she's not in range to Q you.

When she ult's, it's easy to predict her movement. You can throw your at her arrival point and all-in her.
AATROX
Difficulty: Easy
Akali has a lot of mobility, making it easy for her to dodge all of Aatrox's damage, so you can comfortably win this matchup with little to no effort.

You can abuse him from level 1. Go for a Q+AA combo whenever he goes for cs. With Assassin's Mark's movement speed, it's easier to dodge his Q's.

Keep Shuriken Flip to dodge his W. But if you do get hit, use your shroud to safely escape and continue trading.

Ignite him as he ults in order to reduce the incoming healing.
DIANA
Difficulty: Medium
You can abuse her all you want level 1. Punish her whenever she walks up for cs. Don't take unecessary damage from her passive or her W.

Her Q+ E combo does very minimal damage in the earlier stages of the game. Bait her into E'ing onto you when you get hit by her Q, then follow up with E then the rest of your basic lane trading combo.

Pale cascade negates a good amount of your burst, so you'd preferably want to trade when it's on cooldown.

Her Ult has a slight cast time before the airborne kicks off, which is precisely your window to dodge it with either Perfect Execution or Shuriken flip.
EKKO
Difficulty: Easy
Bait him into Q'ing the minions level 1. This will push the wave and you will literally win the the lane from that point.

E onto him whenever he's about to dash towards you with Phase dive. You should be able to dodge his Q at the same time, or at least the second part.

His W is pretty easy to dodge, as you have enough time to walk out of its range. You could even use your E.

Post-6, he will always have a shadow that indicates when he has ult, and where it will land if he uses it. Stay out of the AoE's damage range, and you should be good. You can Ignite him before he ults to reduce the healing.
FIZZ
Difficulty: Medium
Harass him with Q whenever he goes for cs level 1. Your Qs have the same range, so he might look to trade back with Urchin Strike.

As Urchin Strike's animation kicks off, you can E to dodge it. If he follows up with E, use your shroud to side step it.

You can also keep your E to dodge the second part of his jump.

Past level 6, keep in mind that he can one-shot you if he hits a long range Ult. Plus it grants True Sight for the whole duration of it, so your shroud is going to be useless.
GALIO
Difficulty: Medium
Throw your shuriken flips as he's dashing towards you with Justice Punch. If he misses his taunt or if it's on cooldown, only then you can fly back in.

The longer he holds down his W key, the longer the taunt will last. If you're caught in it, leave it as soon as possible to minimize the CC. He can also use it when you're in your smoke, forcing you to leave it and therefore revealing you. Be careful !

You should take advantage of him when his magic shield is down, otherwise it will negate a fair amount of your damage.

Always beware of his Ult. If a fight is breaking down and you see him pathing towards it, make sure to immediately ping your teammates to back off.
GRAGAS
Difficulty: Medium
Could be an annoying matchup if against a Gragas main. Careful about his level 2 cheese engage. Remember that 1 wave + 1 melee minion is what it takes to get level 2.

Try to dodge his full combo with Shuriken flip. Right as Body Slam's animation goes off, you wanna throw your E.

It's better to stay back and just farm for level 6. Gragas can deal a lot of damage to you even if you're in your shroud since 3/4 of his abilities are AoE.

You can look for a kill after level 6.
IRELIA
Difficulty: Easy
Her movement is often very predictable. Pay close attention to your minion's health bar. If it's low, you can expect her to Q onto it.

Do not let her get her full Passive stacks. If she does get them, don't fight her. Wait until the effect wears off, then you can look to trade.

You can try to dodge her stun with your E.

You can pretty much nullify her engage just by pressing W. Don't let her Q reset on you, and lane should be easy.
KASSADIN
Difficulty: Medium
Let him Q you, wait for the shield to end, then go for a trade onto him. It's better than letting him absorb your damage with his magic shield.

You want to abuse him the best you can. Don't let him play the game. Ever. He might ask his jungler for help but that won't be too much of an issue as long as you have at least one of your escape abilities up ( / ).

When he ults, you can E onto him if timed correctly. Remember that the more stacks he has on his ult, the more damage he'll do.

Win the game before level 16.
KAYLE
Difficulty: Easy
Punish her whenever she walks up for cs. Try to dodge Radiant Blast, mostly for the slow as it might prevent you from getting close to her, especially paired with W.

Kayle is very vulnerable pre-6. Abuse her while you can. Don't let her get any sort of lead.

Once she hits level 6, she becomes a ranged champion, at level 11 she gains even more range and attack speed, at level 16 she is unkillable. Win the game before that point !!

You can dodge her Ult damage with your E or Ult.
KATARINA
Difficulty: Medium
This is more of a skill matchup than anything. Although slightly Katarina favored. She can ult you when you're hiding in your shroud. For that reason, you should always hold on to Shuriken Flip to dodge it.

She is very easy to harass the first few levels. But don't let her get level 2 first. As soon as she gets Shunpo, she will very likely jump onto you if you're within range and still level 1.

She's very easily countered by a simple trick : don't stand on her daggers. But if you know you outdamage her, what you can do is bait her into taking a dagger, then instantly throw your E at her.

Her E is her only reliable escape tool. Punish her when it's on cooldown.
MALPHITE
Difficulty: Medium
You should always be able to outrade a Malphite. His Q poke deals very little damage and will make him run out of mana very fast if he uses it too often.

Whenever you walk up for a Q+ AA trade, he will most likely E you. Throw Shuriken Flip at him to dodge it, and hit him at the same time.

With good timing, you can dodge Unstoppable force with Perfect Execution. The trick is to cast it as he's dashing, right before he knocks you up.

If he's building tank, or is just playing too safe, making it impossible to kill him, look to shove and roam.
PANTHEON
Difficulty: Hard
A very tough matchup for you. His fully stacked Q deals way too much damage. Always be mindful of it and dodge it.

Don't let him W onto you and get 3 free stacks on his passive with auto attacks. Use your E as he's dashing in to prevent him from stacking Mortal Will.

You can never really trade with him with Q because the range on his W is longer, unless it's on cooldown.

You can R1 his shield to get behind him and deal damage. However it will block your R2 damage if you use it from behind him and end up in front of him.
QIYANA
Difficulty: Easy
Abuse her from level 1. She literally cannot do anything against you. Whenever she goes for minions, punish her for it. Never let her cs for free.

Whenever she dashes onto you, you want to E to dodge her damage / root. This is the key to this matchup.

Always pay attention to her circle thingy's color. Red is for more damage against lower health enemies, blue is a root, green is for stealth. Her invisibility is nothing compared to yours, since it will fade whenever she deals damage.

Post-6, just don't stand next to walls and you're good.
RENEKTON
Difficulty: Extreme
You can go for a Quick Trade Combo level 1 before he stacks his Fury but that's it. From that point you won't be able to fight him at all.

Don't let him hit both you and the minions with Q, or he will heal a LOT. He can generally just heal a lot, especially with he has fully stacked Fury or when he Ults.

Be very careful when he's about to hit level 2. He can literally one-shot you from 70% health if he ignites and uses his Flash+W+AA+Q combo. From that point, the game is already over. He will repeatedly dive you and you won't be able to do anything .

E and W immediately when he dashes towards you.
RUMBLE
Difficulty: Easy
Don't trade with him the first 3 levels. Stay behind minions to avoid his E poke and poke with Q if possible.

When he's overheated, he can't use abilities anymore. That's exactly when you want to fight him.

When his shield is down, you can look to trade with him and punish him. However keep in mind that it has very low cooldown, so it will be back up pretty soon.

Post-6, you should be able to easily kill him. His mobility is very limited and he doesn't deal enough damage to fight back.
SYLAS
Difficulty: Easy
Punish him whenever he walks up for CS starting from level 1. Literally do not let him play the game.

Keep Shuriken Flip to dodge the second part of his E. Throw it as the animation kicks off.

Never let him W onto you, especially if he's below 40% health, as he will heal everything back up, making your early trades pointless. Ignite him before he W's when you're all-in'ing him for the healing reduction.

His E2 can cancel your R2 damage and dash.
TALON
Difficulty: Medium
Try not to get hit by the 2nd part of his W. Especially as he's about to hit level 2. He will immediately jump onto you with Q and trigger his passive, which will take a huge chunk of your health.

Once get a point in each of your abilities, throw your E as he's dashing onto you, focus on dodging the second part of his W first, then fly back in and carry on with the trade. Personally I'd almost always go Electrocute against him, so I can match his burst.

If he didn't damage you, and opens up his combo with ult, you can easily dodge it by just hiding in your smoke for a couple of seconds. However, if you did get hit prior to casting it, then you are gonna get hit no matter what.

Talon players love to roam, thanks to Assassin's Path. Don't forget to ping your teammates if you are unable to match his roams.
YASUO
Difficulty: Easy
Don't let him hit level 2 first, or at least stay away from him when he's about to. Matchup is pretty easy until Yasuo gets a point on his E first, instantly dashes towards you and takes half of your health. You should always keep in mind that 1 minion wave + 1 melee minion is what it takes to reach level 2.

Don't make your Q's too obvious, as he can just Wind Wall it and negate your damage. However, you can look to punsh him when it's on cooldown.

You can predict his movement, and E onto him as he dashes. If you hit your E, it's a free kill.

He cannot ult you if he doesn't have vision of you. If you know you won't be able to sidestep his airborne, use your smoke just before you get hit.
YONE
Difficulty: Medium
You have to play aggressive as early as level 1 in this lane. Walk up to Q him, then as soon as you get in range of his Q, quickly sidestep it. Unless you're laning against Faker, your opponent will very likely miss it, while you get some damage off.

Once his 3rd Q stacked, Yone will either look to trade with you, or last hit minions, preferably at the same time. Don't let him do both, pretend to stand behind a low health minion, then instantly sidestep when he goes for it. You should be able to easily predict his movements.

You can also E out of the airborne range when he dashes with Q and dodge his CC, then fly back in. However post-6, if you E too close and get hit by his airborne, then your chances of winning the fight are much lower. He will follow up with ult and will not give you time to fight back.
ZED
Difficulty: Medium
Dodging his Q level 1 is fairly easy. Pay attention to your minion's health bar. Since he cannot just walk up to the minions and autoattack them, he will try to farm with his shurikens. Don't stand in the way and you should be good. You could also look to go for a quick Q trade while he's focusing on the minions.

Throw your E preferably at maximum range, when he's clearly going for a W+E+Q+W combo. This is how you basically dodge all of his abilities, while dealing a lot of damage without him being able to fight back.

When he ults you, all you have to do is E behind you, and use shroud to dodge his shurikens
I started playing League of Legends in April 2019. The first ever champion I fell in love with was...*drum rolls*..Yep you guessed it, Akali :D My diamond brother, who is also one of the best Katarina players in the world (Kappa), introduced me to LoL and taught me a lot about the game and how to play the midlane. I played only normals with just Akali till level 60. I had already 150k mastery points with Akali at that point, but I was still fundamentaly bad at the game and had no idea what I was doing. I started playing ranked in July 2019 and hit Gold IV in August of the same year in just 60 games, *PURELY* from mechanics. Heck, I didn't even know what half the champions' abilities did! But what really helped me climb the ranked ladder was one-tricking just 1 champion. That has to be my number one advice to people who are hardstuck Iron/Bronze/Silver. But keep in mind that mechanics are not enough. It's impossible to climb with 0 game knowledge. You can have 10 million points on a champion and still hardstuck if you don't focus on your macro. Review your games, watch youtube videos or high elo players and try to understand the thought process behind their decisions, read guides (😉)... This is how you actually improve your gameplay and become better at the game.
Season9

Once season 10 started, that's when I actually began tryharding to Platinum. No more normal games, only ranked. Thats the another advice I would give: If your goal is reach x or y rank, the only way you will ever improve is by playing ranked. As I played day after day, I learned a lot about the more complex side of the game, which is most commonly referred to as 'macro' : wave management, vision control, map awareness, roam timers, teamfighting as an assassin, playing from behind, sidelaning etc.. Of course, i'm still VERY far from being the best at any of the things I just mentioned, as I still have so much to learn and progress to make. In June 2020, I reached Platinum IV, with just Akali. Here are some of my most recent Akali winstreaks in Plat elo.
Season10

Placement Games s11 (7-3)

Unfortunately, I have not been able to play much since the beginning of this season (S12), having a lot going on on the side, plus VERY mediocre internet connection (3rd world country gang 😃), though I'm still very much active in the LoL community.
Thank you so much for getting this far!! This is now the end of my first ever guide ! I have spent a lot of time writing (and coding >.>) it, and have done my best at explaining everything you need to know to master Akali. I'm sorry if there are any grammar mistakes or misused vocabulary, English isn't my first language. Feel free to comment or pm me directly for any questions or feedback you'd like to give me ! I'd be more than happy to hear what things I can improve on and how I can make this a better guide.
HUGE THANKS TO
  • jhoijhoi for her guide on Making a Guide !! Very useful information and base templates !
  • Katasandra for her Table Coding Guide and her advice on writing a guide!! These two guides helped me a ton with organizing mine and taught me a lot about the art of table coding.
  • the Mobafire discord team for being so active in the server and helping whenever possible, whether it be with coding guides or just general stuff !
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League of Legends Build Guide Author iwontdominatelol
iwontdominatelol Akali Guide
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[13.1] The Ultimate Guide to Akali the Rogue Assassin FR/EN

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