Our Season 11 Mid Lane Akali guide features recommendations on rune choices, itemisation, tips and tricks, and more. Be advised that these guidelines are not rigid, and that nothing is set in stone as in-game circumstances (i.e. lane matchup, enemy team composition, enemy team advantages or lack thereof) may lead you to adapt and tweak your approach, particularly after your core build is complete.
Runes
Summoner Spells
Core items
3200 gold
The Night Harvester is tailored for AP carries and assassins that dive into the fray, rather than champions whose sole focus is hit-and-run tactics to kill a specific target and flee.
3000 gold
Lich Bane's main asset is the damage boost it provides through the Spellblade Unique ability.
Starting Items and Boots
Skill Sequence
Depending on the situation, you may opt to level your skills with a different sequence to adapt to your circumstances. But, as a rule of thumb, Akali players in the mid lane are advised to level their skills following this priority order:
R > Q > E > W
Gameplay
Akali is a relatively weak champion in the early levels during the laning phase, particularly as she faces Ranged matchups in the mid lane. To compensate for this weakness, you will have to play around your movement speed modifiers on Q - Five Point Strike and E - Shuriken Flip, as well as the combination of a E - Shuriken Flip into a patch of W - Twilight Shroud.
- Level 1: Use your mobility and conserve your health bar as much as possible, even if it means sacrificing minion kills. Use Q - Five Point Strike on your opponent whenever your energy bar allows it.
- Level 2: Pressure on your opponent using W - Twilight Shroud near minions. When doing so, you are untargetable by point-and-click spells and can farm or attack your opponent relatively safely. You have to use this advantage to prevent your opponent from damaging your health bar too much, and to kill minions to get to level 3 as easily as possible.
- Level 3: Now that you have E - Shuriken Flip, you can get a little aggressive. Use W - Twilight Shroud in the middle of a group of minions. If your opponent overextends or mispositions, feel free to auto-attack them and quickly follow it up with E - Shuriken Flip. Reactivate it as soon as possible to dash back to your opponent, follow up with another auto-attack then use Q - Five Point Strike for good measure.
Tips & Tricks
- E - Shuriken Flip allows you to move far enough from a champion to allow you to activate your Passive — Assassin's Mark. In addition, the flip projects you within maximum range for your Q - Five Point Strike to connect. With that in mind, you can wait for Q to come off cooldown, cast it as soon as possible, then use E - Shuriken Flip once again to attack your opponent.
- The second activation of E - Shuriken Flip has no range limit, and it allows you to jump on an opponent regardless of distance. The mark lasts 3 seconds, and you can use this duration to your advantage.
- R - Perfect Execution has two activations: the first cast inflicts physical damage, whereas the second one deals magic damage that scales based on your opponent's missing health, allowing you to kill your enemy with ease.
