Akali assassin update recommendation

I know that a lot of people really like Akali, but she desperately needs changes. I think the following changes would help to improve Akali in a manner consistent with Riot's stated objectives for the assassin update.

Problems with the old kit

Akali has been nerfed into oblivion because she has a problematic kit. A lot of this is due to the binary nature of her shroud. Early game, before enemies have pink wards, the shroud is quite strong. Late game, the shroud is pretty much worthless because any decent team will plop a pink ward on top of it. In addition, her 'e' is an energy sink that does not synergize with the rest of her kit (after it no longer proc'd her mark of the assassin). This means that she is basically just damage on a point-and-click q, a point-and-click dash, and damage on her dash. This is incredibly difficult to balance, and if she is viable at high elo's then she will be a pub-stomper at low elos.

Her entire kit needs to be reworked. In particular, her shroud cannot be hard countered by pinks and she needs to be forced to utilize her shroud late game.

Riot has stated some objectives for the upcoming assassin update:

(1) Assassin damage needs to not happen literally in the blink of an eye. Providing opponents with a short window (even if it is fairly brief) allows for reactions to even be possible. Currently, some Assassins deal most (if not all) of their damage in the literal instant they arrive at their target which can lead to moments that are extremely unclear and one-sided.*

(2) Assassin damage needs some level of variance.

(3) Ensure each Assassin brings something unique to the table. So beyond just the ability to kill targets efficiently, we want to arm each Assassin with unique tools that make them interesting to play and offer special ways to overcome the opposition.

(4) Allow Assassins to meaningfully contribute toward their team winning the game. We are exploring systematic ways for Assassins to play with their team - opening up opportunities for each other, rather than them just being solo lonewolfs for the majority of the game.

How would this translate into an Akali rework? She needs to remain squishy (no more tank Akali), needs to be able to 100-0 squishies (to be an assassin), must prep her assassination (to satisfy 1 and 2 for the assassin update), should provide some sort of utility to her team (to satisfy 3 and 4) without allowing for a tanky style of play (so no stuns, slows, roots, etc). She needs to gain an advantage when she gets ahead but she cannot pub-stomp snowball. At the same time, she needs to be relevant even when behind. Sounds challenging, doesn't it?

Given these constraints, we must make twilight shroud a central part of her gameplay in all stages of the game (no pink ward hard counter). Twilight shroud should provide her entire team with some sort of advantage to play around (it can't merely provide Akali with invisibility). And her damage needs to be further backloaded, requiring her to set up her kills.

The changes I am suggesting accomplish this.

New Kit

Passive: not sure how to change it

Mark of the assassin (q): RANGE: 800 COST: 85 energy. Stacking marks does not cost additional energy. COOLDOWN: 6 / 5 / 4.5 / 4 / 3.5

Akali throws her kama at the target unit, dealing damage and marking them for 9 seconds. Throwing the mark deals 35 / 55 / 75 / 115 / 185 damage (does not scale with ap or ad). Marks can stack for increased damage. Mark of the assassin deals physical damage if bonus ad exceeds ap and magic damage if ap exceeds bonus ad.

The damage from procing the mark depends upon upon the number of marks stacked:

1 mark: 25 / 60 / 100 / 170 / 250 (does not scale with ap or ad)

2 marks: 25 / 60 / 100 / 170 / 250 + 80% ap + 100% bonus ad

3 marks: 25 / 60 / 100 / 170 / 250 + 300% ap + 300% bonus ad

4 marks: 450% ap + 450% bonus ad

Basic attacks proc the mark(s), restoring 35 * number of mark stacks in energy.

Twilight shroud (w): RANGE: 700 / 400 COST: 80 / 75 / 70 / 65 / 60 energy. Twilight shroud costs no energy if it is cast on a marked target. COOLDOWN: 20

Akali throws down a smoke cover which lasts for 12 seconds, granting sight of the target area. Enemies outside the shroud cannot see Akali when she is inside the shroud. Enemies inside the shroud cannot see outside the shroud. True vision does not affect twilight shroud. Enemies entering the shroud gain vision of Akali if she is inside the shroud after a .25 second delay. Akali does NOT reveal herself by using her abilities.

Possibly the shroud would work in the same way for allies, providing an advantage for the entire team.

Twilight shroud does not slow targets or boost Akali's speed.

crescent slash (e): not sure how to change, but it definitely needs to change. Probably buff its damage to minions because the energy cost and refund changes to q reduce Akali's ability to farm with q. Also, because we have removed the movespeed buffs from twilight shroud, we might shift that utility to crescent slash -- hitting an enemy with crescent slash increases movespeed for several seconds. This would give Akali more tools to duck in-and-out of her shroud while also promoting interaction.

shadow dash (r): increased range and speed, reduced damage. Can dash to shroud even if no enemies are inside it. Only 2 dashes can be kept in stock, but a kill or assist completely refills her stock of dashes.

Note

Note that energy costs, durations, and cooldowns have also been changed to force a different play style.

Big Picture Explanation

The numbers certainly will need tuning, but the idea is a sound one. Generally, the changes to twilight shroud and the q-stacking are meant to work together. The nerf to shadow dash damage forces akali to use her q-stacking. The buff to the range and speed of shadow dash, combined with the buff to the range on her mark of the assassin, increase her threat around her shroud. The increased duration of shroud and her ability to dash to her shroud gives her an escape after a successful assassination or after a failed assassination. However, if she fails her assassination, using 1 dash to get onto the target and 1 dash to get back to her shroud, she will be out of dashes and will have effectively neutralized herself until she recharges a dash or gets a kill or assist some other way.

Explanation of Changes to Twilight Shroud (w)

Twilight shroud: the changes to twilight shroud constitute a large buff. While these changes give counterplay to enemies who lack a pink ward (such as early during laning), these changes also remove the pink ward hard-counter. Before, the shroud was useless late game. Now, it remains powerful late game and we can change the rest of her kit to force her to utilize the shroud in late-game teamfights. This allows us to make her a more skillful champion and remove the 'stat-check', where a fed akali does insane damage and has insane sustain if she is snowballing but useless if she is behind. Because Akali is not revealed when using abilities, she can stack her q's from inside the shroud. Enemies must either use AOE abilities, enter the shroud to attack Akali, or stay away from the shroud to avoid her from stacking catastrophic damage from her q's.

Given the cost increases of Akali's mark of the assassin (q), the shroud can be used two ways. It can be used offensively, so that Akali marks a target, dashes to the target, and drops the shroud without using energy. Akali would then avoid procing the mark until she can stack it, moving in and out of the shroud to avoid taking damage. The shroud can also be used defensively, but the energy cost will prevent her from having enough energy to throw out her mark for several seconds. Finally, the shroud can be used as an escape, because she can dash to it over walls. Again, this will deplete much of her energy, greatly reducing her offensive threat.

Explanation of Changes to Mark of the Assassin (q)

The changes to q force her to utilize mark-stacking if she is to take advantage of her snowball. That is, a single mark does not scale with ap or ad. The base damage numbers are buffed for rank-4 and rank-5 so Akali can provide some damage in the early midgame even while behind. But her numbers are not buffed up through rank 3 to prevent her from being a lane bully pre-6. The moderately high base damage for rank 4 and rank 5 single-stack marks gives her a power-spike early midgame. But proc'ing single-stack marks does not scale into late midgame or lategame because single-stack marks do not scale with ap or ad. So she must use double, triple, or quadruple-stack marks to make use of her ap and ad. Double-stacked marks provide good bonus scaling and triple-mark stacks provide catastrophic scaling (when proc'd). Akali must build ad and ap to utilize this extra damage, which discourages tank akali builds. However, even if Akali is behind and does not have very many damage items, she can still deal decent damage by stacking more marks

The energy cost of q is increased. This means that if she throws q onto a target and the target gets out of range to prevent subsequent stacking, she will be very low on energy and will need to wait for energy to regen if she is to throw out another mark onto a different target. This reduces her zoning power in lane. It also means that a champion who pulls back from the fight reduces akali's power, so that Akali's zoning in a teamfight comes at significant cost. Likewise, if Akali marks a tank in a teamfight, she will have effectively prevented herself from marking another target until either she procs the mark on the tank or regens energy. This forces her to judiciously choose who she targets.

The extremely high damage on 4 marks captures a key part of the new akali playstyle: if akali built significant damage and managed to land 4 marks on a target without being killed herself, and the target has not gotten out of range of Akali's dash, Akali deserves to kill the target even if the target is a fairly beefy bruiser. Note that 4 stacks have zero base damage, so Akali must build damage to effectively utilize 4 marks and therefore must be squishy. Also, the fact that she has very little damage without stacking her marks means that she is extremely vulnerable once she dashes out of her shroud onto a target. If she cannot assassinate a target after procing her marks, she will either die or have to dash back to safety, expending her two dashes and effectively neutralizing herself until she is able to recharge or reset her stock of dashes. This also means that Akali will not be able to quickly 1v5, as she does when she pub-stomps low elos. She needs to set up her kills, which takes time.

Summary

This kit does several things that Riot says they want from an assassin update:

1. allows counterplay and skillful use of abilities, avoiding the "your squishy was in range without a nearby support, so I get to 100-0 you instantly"
2. still allows Akali to assassinate a target instantly IF she has set up the assassination by stacking marks
3. prevents pub-stomping snowballs while still rewarding gold leads
4. Allows Akali to be relevant even when behind, both through her damage (by stacking more marks) and through the vision utility of her shroud
5. Forces meaningful decision-making, where Akali must judiciously choose and prep targets, and must either sacrifice the threat of damage to maintain her safety or must sacrifice her safety to threaten a target

Note that these changes should increase the skill-cap of Akali without requiring lots of mechanics. Everything is still point-and-click. But effectively utilizing Akali will now require much better decision making. In this sense I have modeled my Akali rework suggestions after shaco, who is a high skill-cap champion who nevertheless requires minimal mechanical skill.

Thoughts?