Akali pending rework.
Ran into a discussion with fellow forumer and I actually ended up in conclusion that akali does not need a rework, but quite a few tweaks. So without chatter, I will be quoting the entire post.
To be honest I think they don't need to actually rework her but redistribute her power. Too much power is in q and ult(as assasin) or e and ult(as toplaner). Here is what i'd do:
I'd keep the movespeed buff on w, but give it back the resistance buffs. (at max rank 50 resistance max. More is overbuff.). I'd keep her damages on q and e intact, however, i would give her e a cooldown of 5 seconds instead of current 0.1 seconds. I would also bring back procing the q mark with e, with a bit of twist.
So here is what the changes would look like.
Twin Disciplines
Discipline of Force: Akali's basic attacks deal an additional 6% bonus Magic Damage, increasing by 1% for every 6 Ability Power.
Discipline of Might: Akali gains 6% Spell Vamp, increasing by 1% for every 6 Bonus Attack Damage.
Q) Mark of the Assassin
Cost:~~ 60~~ 65 Energy Range:~~ 600~~ 650
Akali spins her kama at a target enemy to deal Magic Damage and mark the target for
65 seconds. Akali's melee attacks against a marked target will trigger and consume the mark to cause additional damage and restore Energy.Akali throws her kama at a target enemy to deal 35/55/75/95/115 (+40% Ability Power) Magic Damage and mark the target for
65 seconds.Akali's melee attacks against a marked target will consume the mark to cause ~~45/70/95/120/145 (+50% Ability Power) ~~ 35/40/65/85/100 (+70% Ability Power) Magic Damage and restore20/25/30/35/40 Energy.30/35/40/50/55 Energy.W) Twilight Shroud
Cost: 80/75/70/65/60 Energy Range: 800
Akali throws down a cover of smoke. While inside the area, Akali becomes invisible and gains a short burst of Movement Speed and Resistances. Attacking or using abilities will briefly reveal her and disable the movement speed buff. Enemies inside the smoke have their Movement Speed reduced.
Akali throws down a cover of smoke that lasts for 8 seconds. While inside the area, Akali becomes invisible and gains a 20/40/60/80/100% burst of Movement Speed which decays over 1 second. Additionally staying in shroud for more than 4/3/2 seconds will grant her 5/10/20/25/35 Armor and 5/10/15/20/25 Magic Resist. Attacking or using abilities will briefly reveal her.Enemies inside the smoke are slowed by 14/18/22/26/30%.
Crescent Slash
Cost: 60/55/50/45/40 Energy Range: 350 Cooldown:
0.1s**5 seconds at all levels. **Akali flourishes her kamas, dealing damage based on her Attack Damage and Ability Power.
Akali flourishes her kamas, slicing nearby enemy units for ~~30/55/80/105/130 (+60% Attack Damage) (+40% Ability Power) ~~ 30/55/80/105/120 (+40% Total Attack Damage) (+60% Ability Power) physical damage. Consuming the mark with this ability doubles akalis resistances or 0.5/1/1.5/2/2.5 seconds, but does not deal any extra damage. Additionally, consuming the mark this way does not restore energy
Shadow Dance
Cost: 1 Essence of Shadow Range: 725
Akali moves through shadows to quickly strike through her target, dealing damage and consuming an Essence of Shadow charge. Akali recharges Essence of Shadow charges both periodically and upon kills and assists, max 3 stacks.
Akali moves through shadows to quickly strike through her target,
dealing 100/175/250 (+50% Ability Power)dealing 100/175/250 (+40% Ability Power) Magic Damage. Akali stores an Essence of Shadow on kills and assists as well as every 30/22.5/16 seconds up to 3 total.
Basically it would bring back toplane akali, while making sure that assasin akali does not get too beefy and too hard to shut down early. The numbers may need a bit more tweak but general idea is to bring back akalis survivability, while keeping her damage down till lategame and even there she has to rely more on ap than base damage. most likely energy costs may need a tweak.
Also, I do not feel any similarities between akali and Diana. Since diana is unique in a way many people don't realize. She is one of the few, who can go full tank, sacrificing damage, but still being useful as engager, she can go full burst and she can go dps. While akali only has one gameplay and thats AP, and even then, her laning phase is rubbish without runes and with runes quite weak.
As such, I do not think akali needs a rework, just a proper numbers tweak. I must say, akali has always been hard to balance, since she is quite item dependent. So, instead of removing akalis idendity as weak early, uber strong lategame assasin or powerful toplane engager, I would suggest actually making her early game bit more reliant on items, while also increasing his lane survivability, IF PLAYED CORRECTLY, while making her a real lategame threat, especially when she goes full damage build.
link to the original discussion(Shen rework and shen vs akali matchup)