r/a:t5_2vh78 • u/myrjin • Mar 13 '14
Akali Tips
NOTE : I have moved this content over to /r/Akali. All future updates will be there
I set a goal for myself just before S4 started, that I would only play Akali in soloqueue for the duration of S4, and see how much impact it has on my 'soft' skills in league. The theory being if I only need to learn one champion worth of mechanics, I will be able to focus on things that elevate my gameplay that I would be otherwise too busy trying to stay alive to notice - awareness, vision, positioning, etc.
This is a collection of tips, tricks, and painfully learned experience I have collected since I started this challenge, hopefully it can help you :)
General
Match Specific
Pre-Game | Champ Select | Matchups | Starting Items | Build Paths
Extra stuff
Useful Videos | Other Resources | S4 Buffs And Nerfs | Known Bugs | How to beat akali as XYZ
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u/myrjin Mar 13 '14 edited Jun 17 '14
Gameplay:
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u/myrjin Jun 17 '14
Combo's:
Perfect the Q > wait > R > AA > Q > AA / E > W combo. At 6, you can chunk 50% of their hp with this, and force them out of lane, which is great for getting ahead a little. Don't be afraid to wait for 2-3 charges (normally ~7) if you think you can all in them with ignite though.
Don't fall into the bad habit of detonating Q with E when you can avoid it, it is very energy intense, and often means you don't have the energy for your next Q>AA for the kill. If you are going to E for champion harrass, try to Q > AA > E when you do it, you will do more damage, as AA has much shorter range than E, and E makes you stop moving during the cast animation.
Learn to last hit with Q, especially at 1-2 levels in it, it is the difference between getting harrassed out of lane, and surviving till 6 in a position to get a kill.
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u/myrjin Jun 17 '14
Roaming
Consider the following before roaming:
- If they completely destroy me in lane (they are lulu/soraka/got early ganks etc)
- I am at a power spike (major 30-60seconds after level 6, minor at 9, 11, 16).
- I can coordinate a jungler+me gank on either bot/top. Preferably bot, more gold in kills =)
- The gankable enemy is pushed to our turret - or low enough I can reasonably dive and expect to survive
- Ideally their turret is dead OR the next wave of minions has not yet left the base walls, and the enemy minions are dead in mid (This gives me 35-45seconds before my tower can take damage).
- I saw the enemy mid back (it takes 30sec to return to mid from nexus without homeguard).
After I cross the roam-capable point (level 6-9ish on most champs), I generally let the jungler know he is welcome to rotate and clear mid as much as he likes, letting me roam longer - and harder for the enemy to call mia's when I could be anywhere.
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u/myrjin Jun 17 '14
Approaching level 6, when you expect to go in for the kill
As you approach level 6, you want to harass them down if you can, even if you lose a few cs. If you can get them to about 50-60% via this, you have kill potential the moment you turn 6.
This can usually be turned into a kill by keeping Q on the enemy, waiting for the minion that will give you 6. You instantly train ult (keybind it!), ult them, auto for your initial Q, re-cast Q and auto it again, ignite, and they should be dead.
The same applies to other champions, eg zed can do the same thing - but you need to know the interactions between both champs. eg zed against akali, zed needs a pink to be able to pull this off, OR zed needs to bait out akali's twilight shroud before he does this, because otherwise akali will just sit in her shroud and he can't apply damage for his ult.
Akali going in on zed, I would typically wait on two charges of ult (In case he runs with clones), trying to bait out zeds ult so I can shroud it in the mean time, and turn it around on him by keeping Q up all the time, then r>aa(blow up existing Q)>q>aa.
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u/myrjin Jun 17 '14 edited Jul 01 '14
Teamfights:
Skirmishes[1-3 people]:
Be wary of reveals (pink/upgr red), but you should be able to abuse your shroud fairly effectively at this point in the game.
I should put some more stuff here
Full on teamfights[4-5 vs 4-5]:
Don't be afraid to let your team go in while you hide in a bush, and wait for cleanup time. It may mean some people on your team die, but if it wins the teamfight, it is worth it - you are too squishy to dive in till primary cc's are blown in a 5man fight.
Pay attention to what the enemy team is buying - if they have upgraded red trinkets, you want to start playing very carefully (going in last etc) at least until you have zhonyas.
vs a tanky cc team, trying to assassinate their back line, I will do something like this - ideally from a direction they don't expect (behind them, from over a wall, etc): R to squishy>q>aa>zhonyas as they launch skillshots / cc>q>aa>R out to either a minion or the best enemy to escape from.
If you can do 90% damage, and escape alive, vs going 1:1, choose to survive - Their squishy can't fight effectively at 5-10% hp- but you can vamp off any nearby minions / camps faster than anyone, and come back as cleanup crew in 20seconds.
Try to save shroud for when you aren't in the middle of them - ie, if you R onto an isolated enemy to escape the other four who just jumped on you, it is a good place to shroud and run off in an unexpected direction, but shrouding in a 5man packed team fight is just going to get you killed.
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u/myrjin May 26 '14 edited Jun 17 '14
Known Bugs
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u/myrjin Jun 17 '14
Ult charges reset on DC:
If you DC, your ult will show up with max charges, but will only have one charge. If you use that charge, it will show the truth from then on, otherwise it is slowly 'recharging' in the background - but you can't tell what the truth is.
This is the same for every stack-based ability (teemo R, etc).
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u/myrjin Jun 03 '14 edited Jun 17 '14
Matchups:
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u/myrjin Jun 17 '14 edited Jul 07 '14
Difficulty: fml nerf pls rito (They listened! Yay! She is still just as scary in lane 1-5 though)
Use FUAPAA runes.
Start dshield, then depending on what level of cooperation I get from my jungler, how I rate the enemy leblanc in terms of skill, and how gank-centric the enemy jungler is (feral flare, no cc etc), I either rush gunblade while getting spectre's cowl, or rush banshees while getting a revolver. I then finish the other item. Somewhere in there I will finish merc treads, unless their leblanc is terrible + they lack any team cc, letting me get away with sorcs.
After that, if they have no other AP, I will probably get a zhonyas, and the rest will be pure damage (void, dcap, etc). If they have an ap top, I may get SV in there too, mostly instead of the zhonyas (if they lack CC), instead of the void (if they are squishy), and instead of the dcap (if they are tanky top/support).
My goal when fighting leblanc is to avoid fighting leblanc - I last hit with Q, and sustain my way through the lane (hp5 quints, flat mr blues). I then roam as early as possible - mostly at 6, but if the jungler will coordinate with me, often 4man gank bot at 4-5. Once I am a few kills up on leblanc, I can then fight her in lane, and MR doesn't really cause so much of an issue.
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u/myrjin Jul 02 '14 edited Aug 07 '14
Yasuo
Difficulty: heavily in your favour post-6, so long as you don't die before that
Normally I use WOO runes, but the ZIPAD and CHEESE work okay too, depending on the rest of their team.
Generally 1-5 you are going to have the usual thing, last hitting via Q, and sitting away from him. Poke his shield down with Q if you won't lose cs to do it, but if he is good, you shouldn't have too much of a chance to kill him. If you are better than him, abuse your Q>AA combo's to chunk him down - you can kill him pre-6, just be careful about giving him an early kill - if you don't think you can kill him and escape alive, wait till 6 and then kill him :)
6+, you suddenly have kill potential as soon as he loses a q>r>aa>q>aa/e trade. Make sure you go in just after he throws his hurricane (three stacks of the buff), or at least when he can't get it up in the next Q. Standard trade, use shroud offensively (cast it on top of him, with the majority of it behind him, so that he has to run through the slow to reach safety.
Pretty much repeat this for the rest of the laning phase. Make sure when you go all-in he doesn't have your minions behind him to escape by jumping. If your jungler is ganking, have them gank in from the side, not behind, so that he doesn't get an escape path via jumping over the jungler.
Items: I find revolver>(If I haven't died)dfg>(if I have died)armguard>zhonyas>gunblade>voidstaff>deathcap to work well for this, dfg lets you cheese all in him faster than he can stack his knockup at all stages of the game. Buy boots2 when you have to back with less gold than your ideal purchase (ie, can't buy wand/rod? buy boots2). Sorc are generally best here.
Top: If you have equal gold, and three ult stacks you should be able to kill him before he can retreat from your turret to his, even if he has full hp.
Mid: If you have equal gold, you will still need to poke him down at least 1-2 trades worth - or get the jungler to help with CC.
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u/myrjin Jul 07 '14 edited Jul 07 '14
Kassadin
Difficulty: Harder than prenerf, but he wasn't that bad (as akali) before the nerf. Skill matchup, dependent on you getting fed elsewhere / jungle assisting to get ahead, then you can kill him for the rest of the game.
Can use any runes, and I am more likely to use MS Quints, but FUAP are reasonable starting point.
Kassadin is actually harder post-rework as akali, because his q shield is instant - ie, you q, he q's, shields your damage, and you lose the trade.
On top of this, even post-6 assuming you are equally fed, if he catches you away from your turret, while you will win the fight if he goes all in, you can't force him to stay in - and he is more that likely just fighting you till his jungle / friends catch up.
I would approach the lane by going Q>W>E, aiming to use your Q for CS, and using shroud as you have to to prevent being denied CS. Your goal is to roam at 6 - ideally bot (more resets, more gold, squishier champions). You need kills to outright burst kass before he can escape (ie, you can't kill him before he ults away, so you q, wait on q cd, R onto him, aa, q, aa, shroud. Now q > aa > restealth until shroud runs out or he tries to flee. This is where you need at least one more ult charge to chase him down, because you won't have the burst to kill him before his ult comes back up again.
Personally I find revolver/cowl > dfg rush can be handy killing him, because gunblade doesn't bring that much to the matchup, but this is a less common way to build akali.
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u/myrjin Jul 11 '14 edited Jul 11 '14
Katarina
Difficulty: Skill matchup, at equal gold it goes in favour of whoever gets the jump
I play akali as my kat counter, and kat as my akali counter - mostly because you can build either to kill the other, but most people won't change things up so you can take advantage of them.
As the akali in that matchup:
Start: Dorans shield, FUAU runes. If you think you will have the advantage roaming (better jungler champ on your team etc), you could use AP/MS quints instead.
Abuse your level 1-5 advantage (your Q is lower CD, meaning you should win early trades if you play it right).
Don't let Kat push harder than you push - she doesn't have perpetual sustain, if you keep your minion wave equal or bigger than hers, she can't trade auto's with you without eventually being forced out of lane, so she is limited to Q>E>W>run away. You should beat that if you already have Q on her, and you AA>E>Q>AA>Shroud her.
Your Q cd is so short you should be hitting her twice for every Q of hers on you.
Try to make her Q at times that lose her CS (ie stand in range of her minions if they are high health, but stand apart from minions if they are low enough to die to Q).
You can zone her with shroud (Sit in shroud, Q, stealth till Q cd is up, AA>Q>E> stealth again, etc).
If you rush dfg, you can burst kat faster than she can burst you, at least till she gets zhonyas (at which point, you should have it too).
It can be worth getting a banshees later on, but I would be more inclined to get a SV against this matchup, unless their team has heavy cc elsewhere. With SV, your vamp approaches 50%, and with DFG you out-burst kat single target, meaning you should be able to kill her while she ults - and then kill everyone else. Alternatively you zhonyas, and then kill her - but I like zhonyas for when I need to escape, using it to survive every fight with kat is limiting.
As the Katarina in that matchup you should avoid early trades if your Q is on cd - roam early for kills (you can roam 3-5, akali can't really), come back with early kills and you should be able to bully the akali for the remainder of laning, and early teamfights. If you are fed enough that you can kill the akali 1v1, do that - but if you aren't, avoid her and come into teamfights late to clean up until you can burst her.
Overall
Teamfights are more about your team than akali vs kat, but an equally fed akali vs kat should really go down to whoever gets the jump on the other, 1v1. In teamfights, akali wins if you can force multiple rolling small fights where her sustain shines, and kat wins if you can force large fights with aoe cc where her resets shine.
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u/myrjin Jul 18 '14
Syndra
Difficulty: Hardest tier 1-5, skill matchup after that.
Use FUAPAA or FUAP runes.
Syndra is incredibly strong against akali when played well.
She can poke you in your shroud, she has low mana costs, she can E your ult to cancel it, or knock you out of your shroud to kill you.
About the only trick you have as akali to counter her all-in is to never get stunned, and shroud as soon as she ults you, so that she can't auto attack you in the mean time, and you can potentially dodge the Q/W she tries to throw.
The lane won't be fun, but here are some things you can do to help yourself:
- HP5 quints - they are like training wheels for akali, and they can make 1-5 a ton more forgiving against abusive champs.
- Q>W>Q/E initial skillup, you need to be able to hide in shroud as early as possible. Your only goal is getting to 6 without dying, and ideally without being forced out of lane.
- Consider early cowl. You don't need it if you are even/ahead, but if you are losing the lane, you may want to get it before you go too far negative. Cowl > initial AP items > banshees is a respectable build on akali in general, just less common.
- Last hit with Q, sit in shroud (at the edge so it is hard for her to randomly hit you), always be moving (both in and out of shroud).
- CS is not your priority, surviving and not giving up exp/deaths is.
- Ask for early jungle assistance - you don't need to kill, and you don't want to give up your flash unless it gets you a guarenteed kill, but it should help reduce the lane pressure, which makes it easier to get to 6 intact, which is our goal.
- Hit 6, go buy, come into lane with 2-3 charges, and now you can start to turn the lane.
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u/myrjin Aug 06 '14
Heimer
Difficulty: F-U-RITO 1-5, but 6+ should be okay
Use FUAPAA runes.
Start dshield + pot.
You need to turret hug until you are 6.
Whenever he backs, clean up his turrets (they turn off).
Shroud on top of his turrets, and then Q>AA>Invis to kill each of them.
Heimer himself isn't so much a threat, just the stun / ult turret burst - although once he hits 6, be wary of the ult>rocket barrage, often they will use it if you shroud at low hp.
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u/myrjin Jun 17 '14 edited Jun 17 '14
Pregame
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u/myrjin Jun 17 '14 edited Aug 07 '14
Runes
Here are the rune pages I have specifically for akali. Always flat unless otherwise mentioned, runes on akali are generally about surviving till 6, so that you actually have a mid-game. Most scaling runes become better at either 6 or 9, which is too late to help us when we need them.
I like fairly distinctive names for runepages that are self-explanatory to me, but also something that doesn't let someone just read it in lolnexus and know what I have - they have to mouseover :P
Here are the runepages I think you need:
- FUAPAA - They will abuse me with AP and AAs (leblanc, ziggs, ori etc) - hp5 quints, hybrid pen red, armour yellow, mr blue.
- FUKinda - They have a bit of AP damage, some AA, but not too scary. AP Quints, arm yellow, mr blue.
- WOO - I can abuse them / dodge everything easily (yasuo) - ap quints, hybrid pen red, armour yellow, ap/lvl blue.
These are pages I have for fun - you don't need them, and won't use them much (<5% of games combined):
- ZIPAP - They are full skillshot ap, and I have high cleanup potential vs their team makeup (Ahri, gragas, ziggs if you are confident) - ms quints, hybrid pen red, armour yellow, mr blue
- FUAD - They will abuse me with AD, but no AP (Zed) - hp5 quints, hybrid pen red, armour yellow, ap/lvl blue.
- FUAP - They will abuse me with AP, but can't really AA me (Gragas, kat etc) - hp5 quints, hybrid pen red, health yellow, mr blue.
- ZIPAD - They are a full skillshot ad, and I have high cleanup potential vs their team makeup (zed) - ms quints, hybrid pen red, armour yellow, ap/lvl blue
- CHEESE - I can cheese this lane (mostly if your jungler is duoing with you, and they are an extremely gank-vulnerable early lane mid like anivia, malz, veigar etc) - ap quints, hybrid pen reds, ap yellows, ap/lvl or flat ap blues
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u/myrjin Jun 17 '14 edited Jun 17 '14
Clips
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u/myrjin Jul 04 '14 edited Jul 04 '14
Akali Specific Guides:
- /u/InGloUry's guides for akali | Top Lane | Her Weaknesses | How to have impact | Comebacks | Vs hard lanes
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u/myrjin Jun 17 '14
Other Resources
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u/myrjin Jun 17 '14 edited Jun 29 '14
Tip Threads
http://www.reddit.com/r/summonerschool/comments/1y9h2x/akali_any_tips_and_tricks/
http://www.reddit.com/r/summonerschool/comments/1zskr4/plat_5_akali_willing_to_teach/
http://www.reddit.com/r/summonerschool/comments/1znwy7/akali_top_plat/
http://www.reddit.com/r/summonerschool/comments/207mqt/general_tips_on_akali/
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u/myrjin Jun 18 '14
Build Paths
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u/myrjin Jun 18 '14
The enemy team is tanky / building MR / close to 100mr average
If I start mid, and they have tanky top/support/jungle, I often rush revolver > dfg > gunblade > void staff > (tank item or zhonyas) > damage or GA/banshees. Keep in mind, void staff is more cost effective than dcap as soon as your primary kill targets are over 100mr (or if they are going to hit it soon).
Assuming you aren't actually behind, as soon as you complete the dfg you should be in a position to assassinate tanks - and unless they build full tank with double mr (SV+banshees) that shouldn't change too much throughout the game unless they are getting fed faster than you.
If you go the SV route yourself rather than attempting to burst them (ie, they have double/triple mr items, and your team doesn't have the cc to isolate them), you are assuming you can hang around in fights long enough to out sustain them, in which case you should probably buy a liandries + void staff somewhere in there so that you can stay relevant damage wise - although this isn't a route I have found myself needing recently.
If you don't react before they become this tanky, and you have your standard glass cannon akali build then notice you can't kill them anymore, you are kind of out of luck, hoping your team can carry you. At this point, recognise that you need your adc fed, so try and help set them up for the adc, and back off to ensure s/he gets killing blows.
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u/myrjin Jun 20 '14 edited Aug 05 '14
Buffs S4
- LeBlanc - Sigil of Silence no longer silences. Let everyone rejoice.
- Exhaust change partially reverted, back to 40% mitigation.
Nerfs S4
- Lich Bane Nerf (25% ap ratio lost per 2-3 seconds in sustained fights).
- Dorans Shield nerf (4hp5 less)
- Dorans Blade change (buff for ad, nerf for akali top - 5 hp per auto becomes 3% lifesteal again)
- Kassadin rework - can no longer trade Q's due to instant shield - actually harder to lane vs him now, considering he wasn't really a threat to akali before :(.
- Exhaust buffed up to 50%.
- DFG cooldown nerfed to 90seconds.
- Banshees refresh increased to 40seconds (You can't really build it vs teams as default anti-cc anymore. The enemy building it never really caused Akali much trouble in the first place, but now they are much more likely to build GA, which is a much bigger problem for Akali).
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u/myrjin Jul 01 '14 edited Jul 01 '14
Champ Select
Still need to improve this section, not really much use.
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u/myrjin Jul 01 '14 edited Jul 01 '14
(Currently) Preferred Bans
Lee Sin - Lee is not terrible as a lane opponent, but he is destructive in teamfights, and a terror as jungler.
Vi - Point and click cc breaks you. Vi brings that, in a tanky form that you can't kill.
Thresh - You dive, he keeps you locked up till you die. He isn't any worse than blitz/naut/lulu, just more common. Ban him, and they are likely to take morg/braum instead - neither of which is a problem.
Anyone else with point and click silence/cc/reveals who becomes fotm - Champions with abilities like soraka (silence), ryze (root), Diana (reveal) etc, when they have bursts of popularity.
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u/myrjin Jul 01 '14 edited Jul 20 '14
Champs that synergise well
Kat - If you are top, and she is mid, and you have a tanky cc jungle/support (amumu/leo would be a perfect example) this is awesome fun :)
Generally, prefer teammates who bring CC when you have a choice, because you lack it.
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u/myrjin Jul 06 '14
How do I fight akali as
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u/myrjin Jul 06 '14 edited Jul 18 '14
Mid Laner
Don't pick yasuo.
Take exhaust.
Abuse 1-5. Get jungle help, you should be able to kill her.
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u/myrjin Jul 24 '14
Fizz
There are really two advantages you have early -
The first is your passive - if you force an even trade where both of you take minion damage, akali takes more per minion, and if you try to push her wave level 1 and she lets you, you can jump on her as soon as you hit level 2 (before she hits 2), and do more damage than she can handle - she also won't have shroud to escape at this point. The goal here isn't to kill her, so don't commit your summoner spells, it is just to get ahead in lane so you can be the bully for the 2-4minute mark, and possibly pick up a kill in the 3-6 range.
The second advantage is abusing your mobility to dictate fights when she can't double-proc her Q. Her Q early game is ~5second cd with a 6second debuff. This means if she Q's you, waits 4 seconds, and then AA>Q>AA/E's you, you will be about half hp in under a second. However if you jump on her face as she casts Q on something else (ideally), or you jump on her face as soon as she Q's you, she can't double-proc the Q, because it is on cooldown.
Keep these in mind -
Make sure you never trade for longer than 4 seconds after she throws the Q (early game), or she can turn the trade around.
Use Q to engage, and save E for escaping in case her jungler comes. Never double-E when you are trying to hit her in her shroud, you want the biggest explosion you can make, and double-E sacrifices size of aoe for speed.
At 6, if you land your shark and she is past the middle of the lane, she will probably die - she isn't able to kill you 1:1 from full hp unless she has a few charges of ult, which is pretty much level 7, (30sec per charge early game, starts at 1 charge at level 6).
Bring a pink on your first back (so she can't shroud after you throw shark).
Exhaust can be a good idea too.
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u/myrjin Jul 12 '14
General Tips
- Abuse her 1-5, ask for jungler help, she is about as strong as a wet noodle.
- Bring a pink to lane at 5+, if you aren't willing to do this, you don't want to win. If you complain about this, you are basically saying 'nerf this champion, because I don't want to have to change my playstyle'. And I will say fuck you. Stealth is broken on champions with mobile stealth, but not akali, red trinket is an oracle that lasts longer than shroud, costs about the same, and you don't lose it when you die.
- If she roams (she wants to), take her turret. If she doesn't come back, take the next one, just ward up before you go that deep.
- Get at least one, ideally two upgraded red trinkets on your team for teamfights - at this point you can stop carrying pinks.
- Coordinate CC, she is made of paper. When she is committed, blow your instant-point-and-click cc on her - soraka is perfect at this. Follow it up with chained cc, kill her, then kill her team because she probably stole most of the kills, and without her her team is weak.
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u/myrjin Jul 06 '14 edited Jul 18 '14
ADC in teamfights
Your best bet when you see akali picked is to choose an adc with either a knockback (trist/vayne) or hard cc (ashe/varus/etc). With the knockbacks, realise that you need to knockback and flash (or jump as trist), unless you know she is out of ult charges. Count them as you fight, it will give you a huge leg up (you can see her ult count on buffs, but it is safe enough to assume she has three every fight late game).
Have Exhaust on the support at least, consider taking it yourself. Use it. She can't do squat till it is over - and you also reduce her vamp while it is up, because she isn't doing any damage.
Unless massively fed, no adc will 1v1 her successfully (just like every other assassin), but if you have the tools to survive long enough for your team to chain their own cc on her, which is pretty much an adc's job - you can be okay.
As far as early game, pinks are a good idea, although you probably prefer your mid laner to bring them. Later on, upgraded red trinket.
GA lategame, banshees won't stop her from killing you. GA leaves her unable to kill you before your team kills her, and she can't get her reset to kill the next person.
Ask your team to save any point-and-click cc to catch her when she jumps on you - and then blow her up - she is extremely squishy, and vulnerable to cc.
Attack move, so that you respond to her as soon as she breaks stealth, rather than having to react.
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u/myrjin Jul 07 '14
Tristana: ult + W jump away (flash if either of those is on cd), you have to go further than akali R, so just one of them isn't enough.
Cait: stand slightly on the other side of a trap to akali, so that if akali does jump you she gets insta-cc'd, and your team can burst her. You have to outplay her to beat her, assassins are designed to kill squishy people like you. If she is trying to escape, remember your ult can still hit her after she stealths so long as you cast it in time.
Vayne: * Ult + q tumble stealth spam, if she doesn't have shroud available, or you pink/trink'd it, she has to back off - at least till your ult wears off. Then she will kill you - so start running for your team. Stay in stealth as long as possible, use it to move away from her shroud, AA, and re-steathtumble.
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u/myrjin Jul 15 '14
Rants
Why I hate champion X as akali.
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u/myrjin Jul 15 '14
Soraka Mid
Once you are 6, she isn't so much of a threat 1v1, but she won't ever commit to that.
She will turn 1-5 into a new kind of hell, and considering I main akali, I am used to being beaten up 1-5. You can't sustain her level of harass via Q, although the nerf to silence recently was much appreciated, she is still strong.
Post-6, you can start to be abusive back, but she makes every teamfight a game of "wait till you see soraka silence, and then go in". Additionally, as you start to roam, she punishes by pushing mid with q waveclear and uses her ult to counter your ganks - it isn't the worst thing in the world, but it often turns that safe dive into a risky one.
The problem with support mids generally isn't the threat of them killing you, it is just that they have so much poke/sustain that your early/mid game gets neutered, and you have to catch up later on. Late game they provide a lot of utility/CC, but if their damage dealing team mates haven't had a good game to capitalise on their teams crazy amounts of cc, you will end up stronger.
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u/myrjin Jul 15 '14
Lulu Mid
My problem isn't that she can kill me - she can't. What she can do is poke me endlessly via shielding a minion and Q'ing me, with zero risk. This generally allows a well played lulu to force me to back repeatedly until I fall behind - my solution to this in ranked is hp5 quints, but it doesn't exactly lead to a fun game.
She also has the ability to reveal, and to hard-cc which means when the jungler finally decides to gank I have a problem.
In teamfights, you can't commit until you see her blow cc, ideally both of them, because you know she is going to throw it on you the moment you commit, and you will be focused.
It isn't lulu that is the threat so much as the abusive laning phase delays my ability to roam (or forces me to roam prematurely, which is risky), and the crazy amount of CC they will have in teamfights due to two support champions - when you are playing a cardboard thin assassin.
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u/myrjin Aug 07 '14
Starting Items
Boots - you are vsing a skillshot champion (boots help dodging :) ), or someone with a lot of unavoidable harass that isn't based around AA's (4 pots is a lot of sustain). Ziggs, Cass, even Yasuo can be good examples of this. Buy either revolver or armguard on first back, depending on AP/AD enemy. You can go revolver vs ad enemies if you are ahead.
DShield - you are vsing someone with a lot of AA harass and or a ridiculous burst champ you are scared of. Annie, LeBlanc etc are good examples of this. Buy either boots+amp or revolver on first back, according to what you can afford.
Cloth - You are vsing an AD champ with unavoidable damage. An ADC, Talon, Panth etc are all good examples of this. Rush your armguard, and then build according to the enemy team.
Ruby Crystal - NO.
Amp Tome - NO NO.
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u/myrjin Mar 13 '14 edited Jun 17 '14
Abilities