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Something a lot of people aren't considering about new Akali in regards to her shroud...

yay nibbers·7/18/2018, 6:31:03 PM·60 votes·17,770 views

Is that she's overall way less bursty and noticably less mobile than other assassins and even her old self.

A lot of her damage is in her passive which requires her to keep moving in and out of range to make use of it. When everything is taken into account, she DOES do a lot of damage but over a much longer period than other assassins who just blow you up in one second before you can even react.

So how does this relate to her new shroud? Well she needs it to be able to do her thing in the first place. She wouldn't work without it unless they gave her insane burst and I don't think anyone wants that.

As for her tower diving, when you think about it she isn't any more safe in a tower dive than any other assassin, I'd almost argue she's less safe. Having less burst than other assassins means she has to spend more time under tower to dive someone. This is where her new shroud comes in, but unlike some other assassins like Fizz she cannot dodge tower damage once it's actually coming at her. Her shroud doesn't stop the shots from hitting her and towers are actually really quick to attack her if she reveals herself in their range. Put all this together and it ends up that she's actually likely to take more damage from towers than other assassins, not less.

Anyway these are my thoughts on the matter. I have a PBE account and have played with her a bit so I have some experience with her already. I actually died to a beginner bot trying to dive her with the new shroud, it was rather embarassing. I hope this all makes you think a little about her new shroud and maybe even clear up some of the rage surrounding it. It really isn't as bad as everyone thinks.

104 Comments

Modl Ryden l7/18/2018, 9:59:17 PM28 votes

Boards poster (is also an immobile mage main):

sees champion dash 1 unit

"RIOT WTF!? MOBILITY CREEP!!! REEEE"

SugeMinPikk7/18/2018, 10:03:18 PM20 votes

The fact that popping into the shroud doesn't drop tower shots also bumps the skill cap pretty high. A good Akali player will be able to time her spells right after each tower shot (at minions) to avoid damage.

Larriet7/18/2018, 10:07:39 PM9 votes

I agree that she feels like she has a significant time to kill. I'm seriously excited to see where she lands when she launches, because the fact she has that while feeling so fluid feels like solid design to me.

nm10107/18/2018, 7:36:25 PM8 votes

Uhhh she has a fairly fast burst combo, q r gunblade auto e e q r auto. You can cut it up a little bit to be faster, but this is more than enough to destroy squishies in ~3 seconds. The fast combo being some variation of r q gunblade e e auto r which can kill a squishy pretty easily as well.

3 Tears7/18/2018, 9:48:45 PM6 votes

I think it's more the idea of "True Stealth" that truly scares people.

THE RlVER KlNG7/18/2018, 11:25:21 PM6 votes

? less damage?

new akali oneshots you with q-e-passive alone with a gunblade

the scaling on her passive is nuts, plus she has an aoe execute?

garbage post

Sayomi Tsukiko7/18/2018, 7:04:57 PM5 votes

The new shroud would be OP if it was on the OLD AKALI. Honestly I felt like the only one was better anyway. the extra blink was nice and it lasted longer by default. Going invis under towers cool and all, but doesnt mean much.

Bob the Toastr7/19/2018, 6:17:31 AM4 votes

Did you just say she's... less... mobile????

invisiblecat17/19/2018, 2:17:10 AM4 votes

I think when people saw how she could evade towers with her shroud they jumped to conclusions too quickly and thought she was going to be way too over powered But people don't realize that she almost always NEEDS to leave her shroud is apply her passive, allowing for people to have several opportunities to attack her My only complaint so far is that late game her damage gets so high that landing and e on a squishy will guarantee a death

Illabethe7/19/2018, 10:43:23 AM4 votes

I'm generally in agreement that in combat, her shroud is not broken. it's not even broken for turret dives.

But...... I'm going to foresee the future and point out something Riot probably hasn't thought of yet:

Akali doesn't need her Shroud for Turret dives. What she can do is the following:

Literally kill the turret.

Keep in mind, on auto attacks, 50% of AP is converted auto attack damage on turrets, and Akali is a item 3100 Champ. If timed right, Akali's new Q is a perfect tool to proc Lich bane 4 times per shroud.

In other words, you can completely ignore "Skill Expression" and go straight for the turrets, while you wait on Minions to arrive.

You can also get a item 3512 on her and have a temporary supply of minions to mitigate the damage reduction without minions.

In other words, she's a potentially perma safe turret pusher now. And once her Lich bane procs are hitting 800-900, She can face tank and solo a turret with limited repercussions, unless the turret's team somehow stops her.

But since she can E over walls by going to monster camps, that's going to be hard to stop her if there's anything to tag with E around.

I think we're going to see a variant build where Akali players go back to tank/lich builds, and for those who fail at skill expression, it's going to become a meta.

The only hold back from this strategy will be her Energy recovery.

VoraciousX7/19/2018, 9:15:38 PM2 votes

Honestly I'd argue that you're more safe with her new W than her old one considering with her old kit she could tower dive you from a mile away and kill you, then W dash back out in less than a second. New Akali is a lot more skill oriented than old Akali and her waveclear now sucks ass unless she uses her W in which case she's giving up safety. She also has to land skillshots to do her thing now which is great. Except her ultimate. The second part of her ultimate may be a little too strong because I've killed people from behind with it with practically no counterplay when they had half health.

Noor Sakata7/19/2018, 12:30:56 AM2 votes

Being less bursty is the same thing for Eve btw , believe me if Eve wasn't reworked , she would have been meta in season 8 because of electrocute and stuff , so yeah they are doing the same to Akali , less burst but some cc and more safety

Vlada Cut7/19/2018, 1:21:37 PM2 votes

I wouldn't say less mobile, she has a lot of dashes and bonus aa range/damage. She has fair amount of cooldowns though.

BlackEyesBlue7/19/2018, 2:04:36 PM2 votes

The game is in a hyper snowball state right now. (Of which I can't lie, I'm not a fan.)

Akali in her new form will be the best, safest tower diver in the game and if she gets ahead in lane she becomes grossly devoid of counter play.

I've already seen footage of her doing 50% hp to an Ekko at LVL 1!!! Q + auto + Q + electrocute. This isn't some tricky advanced combo. It's something anyone could do!

The notion of an extremely mobile, bursty character that can't even be stopped by towers and safely dive you pre lvl 6 is frankly, a very scary thought!

People are free to think what they will about this new mechanic. I feel it's a terrible decision, and most of the people in favor of it are the ones who are looking forward to abusing it...

LatetotheRace7/19/2018, 8:17:17 PM2 votes

Just want to point out that her E has no maximum range, and is technically global.