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Akali needs help.

Shrîke·1/6/2016, 10:03:29 AM·7 votes·1,061 views

Akali is one of my favourite Assassins and it feels like such a chore to play her. For those that don't know the history, Akali got nerfed into oblivion with no 'real' compensation buffs afterwards. But wait! How come Zed got meaningful buffs? Riot playing favourites is my guess. I vaguely remember riot said the reason why they gutted her was because she was A) too oppressive in lane Zed Zed Zed or B) it was too easy for her to get to the back line and Assassinate Zed Zed Zed EVEN THO PINK WARDS COUNTER THE FUCK OUT OF HER.

Lets look at the changes:

(Q) Mark of the Assassin. Initial damage reduced to 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 from 45 / 70 / 95 / 120 / 145. Mark detonation damage ability power ratio increased to (+ 50% AP) from (+ 40% AP).

This change hurt her ability to harass effectively, if you're against a ranged mage like lux and she's poking your asshole with light there's really not much you can do to proc the mark, just take it like a bitch.

(W) Twilight Shroud. No longer grants an armor and magic resistance buff while inside the shroud. Now grants 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100% bonus movement speed that rapidly decays over 1 second each time Akali stealths.

What I don't understand about this is, Kennen still has his free stats on his E and demolishes entire teams, it did not need to be removed and it helped with akali's surviability in lane. After the change where leaving W would reveal you immediately, I'd take the stats over the shitty MS boost any day.

(E) Crescent Slash. No longer activates Mark of the Assassin's secondary damage.

This pissed me off the most. REALLY RIOT? Not only are you not giving us a chance to fight back against ranged opponents in lane, but you're making it a lot harder to Assassinate someone. This (IMO) killed her burst pattern dramatically. Oh and goodbye to your energy if you spam it.

The changes to (R) Shadow Dash I was fine with, it needed tweaks even though it feels awkward as fuck to get into range with Q > R > auto etc. The range definitely needed nerfs.

Not saying she didn't need nerfs, she didn't deserve to be gutted though either. Yes when she's fed she's scary, but how can you do that when you're bent over in lane? And even though Thunderlords is good on her it doesn't fix her issues. Still the question is, why is Zed allowed to be so safe, have good poke + wave clear, have a kill switch that will guarantee a kill on an immobile mage and overall be so strong at all points in the game after level 4. Seriously though this is the reason Akali was gutted but golden child Zed is allowed to be a better Assassin while also being, as riot puts it "The most healthy + balanced Assassin in the game." I call bullshit.

EDIT: Sorry I've just realised this turned into a Zed hate thread but I just couldn't help myself :]

9 Comments

HaiLnKill1/6/2016, 10:25:41 AM1 votes

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Fanny Forecast1/6/2016, 10:51:07 AM1 votes

Farm under tower, akali is excellent at that due to her crescent slash, mostly for caster minions, and her Q-Auto combo for melees (or just auto). Freeze the lane, farm up, roam and get kills. or take her top like a lot of people are doing lately, me included.

In terms of her combo, its slower but does more damage (because it requires autos now, meaning its slower, but her autos HUUUUUUURT so its more dmg. Plus those 3/4 HP Q procs are super satisfying).

I'd compare her to Irelia or Katarina in terms of gameplay style rather than Zed. Zed is "assassinate the carry, get out." Akali is more of "Assassinate the carry, stay for the resets". Irelia is "Assassinate the carry, tank for the rest while assassinating the support" and Katarina is "Cleanup on isle 3?" (but the spill is an entire enemy team).

Akali is EXTREMELY viable right now ESPECIALLY with thunderlords (a single Q-Auto combo procs it. Soo much dmg.) and when you play her properly, she's extremely good and reliable.

Hexten1/7/2016, 12:47:20 AM1 votes

Akali is still workable right now for mains. Riot nerfed Akali the best they could without making her completely irrelevant until her rework. Also, you are forgetting to mention that Akali takes very little mechanical skill to play compared to Zed, so that's a bad comparison.

CocoCookieDough1/7/2016, 7:28:54 AM1 votes

Personally... As a person who played Akali... Ever since being a newbie... (started in Season 4, I know what you mean by those patches)... I really don't think she needs help. (WOW, AN AKALI PLAYER SAYING THAT SHE'S FINE AFTER ALL THOSE STUPID NERFS??? WUT???)

She's my favorite assassin to play as well, but I don't play her as much because I kinda learned that hard CC wins games for some reason. (My playstyle is relatively the same. I just dive for the ADC as a Leona instead. :/)

She's not a chore in Season 6. Rather, she's annoying in a different way. :3 If it helps, this is my perspective of Akali as of now...

  • I don't remember any changes to her passive actually. Honestly, her passive is really the reason why I fell in love with her. Very nice sustain with some AD (you didn't need that much, and Hextech Gunblade helped with giving some AD), and getting AP just leads to a better auto attack.
  • In my opinion, I believe that Mark of the Assassin (Q) should always be proc'd with auto (well, if you can proc it anyway. See first point.). If you don't auto, you're pretty much wasting damage from passive (like Riven, Lux). Using Q ONLY to harass with no proc is such a waste of energy. Using Crescent Slash (E) directly after a Q back then used to refund energy, is not bad idea, but if you're close enough to E, you might as well auto.
  • The movement speed in Shroud (W) helps her get away from a sticky situation better, or helps her to catch up to another person to get another kill. Also remember that W has a slow. :P
  • I only use Crescent Slash (E) to 1.) spell vamp, 2.) wave clear, and 3.) harrass. The only time I probably used it offensively was when a champion walked outside of my auto range, and I did not have a stack of Shadow Dash (R). :/

Your standpoint (from my point of view, I apologize ahead of time):

  • Q = Omg, my laner is harrassing me, I must poke back! -throws Q-
  • W = Omg, my laner is harrassing me, I must hide with extra armor and mr! -throws W-
  • E = Omg, my laner is harrassing me, I must poke back! -throws QE combo-

Well, in a way, you DO have sustain from your passive, you know. :/ Sustain is what helps you stay in lane. :/

Lastly, pink wards do not counter anyone, in my opinion. If you're fed, you'll probably kill someone (or everyone), and then the pink ward. A pink ward placed in an Akali Shroud in my eyes is 75 gold spent on true vision JUST FOR ME on invisibility that won't last even a few seconds because I'll probably ult on something else. The vision itself doesn't hurt you, it's the champions that are trying to kill you. (I kinda smile when I see a pink ward. Probably just me. I go, "HAHA, YOU WASTED A PINK.")

Other things that bothered me:

  • If I remember correctly, most ranged champions have skill shots. If you're eating them, then learn to dodge. Lux/ANY RANGED CHAMP should be an easy lane for Akali, due to the fact that the champion shoots skill shots forward? (Ex, if Lux is going to ult you, just ult her. You'll land behind her and her laser will awkwardly miss. :/) They're also squishy! :)
  • I don't play Zed, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't get resets/low cooldowns.
  • Remember Akali's passive with sustain? Imagine punching a tank that actually has burst. Yeah, that's Akali in a shroud that gave armor and mr with Hextech Gunblade and passive. That's kinda nasty if you think about it. Oh, by the way, the shroud slows and gives stealth, so if you legit spammed everything, you could have ran around in circles until cooldowns were done TO REPEAT THE PROCESS. (Maybe not the shroud, but a second QRAutoE combo would hurt.)

But whatever, I'm just a Bronzie that's spewing an opinion. If anything, I want Crescent Slash (E) to proc Mark of the Assassin (Q) again, mostly because it's not fair that Katarina/LeBlanc gets to proc all their stuff with spells/abilities. Like, what happened to everyone being proc-buddies? :(

But yeah, my mini-rant is over. XD

Hàkunà Matata1/8/2016, 2:50:35 PM1 votes

She needs some help ATM. As an akali main, I wish akali gets buffed. She gets outclassed by most recent buffs to several mages. She feels very different now :(