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Akali is still an unhealthy champion, are there plans to actually fix her?

Icedteaisgood·1/27/2015, 9:52:52 PM·39 votes·4,739 views

Are there any plans to actually improve Akali? The nerfs were justified, I'm not here to argue against that. What I want to know is, is there any actual point in sticking with the champion? The last handful of years have had no moves in the right direction, no real improvements... hell, no skins even!

She's old and dated. Her visuals are old and dated, and her gameplay is old and dated. And it's only getting worse as more new champions are added, and more old ones are remade. So it is very frustrating to see Akali sitting in the same place, clearly in need of changes and yet not receiving any.

Well, it would be. Except she's not even sitting in the same place! She's actively being moved backwards! Her 'E' nerf makes her less fun to play and more clunky. It removes what little synergy her kit has with itself, leaving me with even less ability to actually try and make a play or do something interesting. I mean, you can't tell me that her new 'E' is an interesting or well designed ability. What am I supposed to do with it? What gameplay opportunities does it provide or open up? Her kit does not need to be simplified or dumbed down any more (the opposite, I'd argue). Between that and her texture re-balance, she's actually worse off right now compared to last year, both on a gameplay and visual front!

When it feels like so much of the game is moving forward and improving and growing more awesome, it really sucks seeing Akali moving in the opposite direction.

She frequently gets nerfed, but she's not a priority when it comes to gameplay reworks. For a long time now, Riot's mentality when it comes to balancing her has seemed to be "oh, Akali's a popular pick? Better nerf that bitch!". And, fair enough, because she's so toxic and all that, except none of these changes make her less toxic at all. She's not improved, or made more healthy, just nerfed and then ignored until the problems flare up again.

So, is there any reason to stick with her? Or is she just going to be ignored until it's time to nerf her again when meta shifts and nerfs to all other midlaners bring her back into the spotlight? Is there a chance she's going to actually be improved in some way, or is she going to remain not a priority? 2015 isn't exactly off to a great start, and I don't want to waste it waiting for improvements that aren't coming.

65 Comments

Lichblade1/28/2015, 4:44:07 AM9 votes

In RIots context on Akali nerfs it says "Let's be blunt Akali is a prime example of no counterplay"

Yet how come she isn't on the list for a rework? Riot just admitted it and these changes do nothing to introduce NEW ways to fight against her.

Akali's kit has been nerfed repeatably over and over that it will get to the point that it will feel so clunky/unfun to play.

IMO, if Riot didn't made a mistake in adding E detonating Q, Akali would have not received any nerfs to her other abilities post Jayce patch.

FistOfSharkiesha1/28/2015, 4:57:19 AM7 votes

*A champion has unhealthy burst potential, sustain, and escape capabilities. AKA high reward no risk.

Riot: Better reduce range by an insignificant amount and lower AS by .00001%. There we go! A healthy champion.

Monotachi1/28/2015, 1:41:07 AM7 votes

Riot should not be putting out fires. But rather actively fix problems before hand. Akali has only received nerfs, so eventually she is going to feel really bad to play.

All the nerfs don't introduce new ways to play as Akali and against Akali. She will eventually reach a really worn-out kit, that gameplay update needs to come in asap.

Akali's gameplay pattern is still the same after this patch. Same as last time they nerfed her, and the nerf before that one. Stop doing that, actually change her style so it doesn't makes her binary.

the14baller1/28/2015, 1:19:15 AM5 votes

I believe that if Akali can't get ahead enough in time, then there is a very specific borderline that can decide how she will do late game.

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I agree with you also, her E now just looks like a small damage nuke with no utility, whereas Katarina's W provides some movement speed AND triggers her q mark, all on top of a longer range. Riot isn't really doing anything to make her less toxic, but rather just dulling out her frontal strengths.

HomSupLo1/28/2015, 3:28:11 PM5 votes

I'm rather offended that riot would use her quote "balance in all things" for this nerf. I would go as far as accuse then of not testing her after proposing this nerf and if they did, took no data to justify implementing it.

I'll agree the alkali nerf was needed. her mid to late game is a little bit to strong deleting champions instantly without even seeing her. Which is sort of the point of the ninja if you ask me.

Removing e's ability to consume her q only makes her clunky. Honestly without that e is literally a useless skill. It does very little damage even at max build. A single hit on ranged minions may take half of its health which is nothing compared to other champion skills. Not to mention the skill makes little sense in her kit.

if any devs actually played alkali they would know how clunky she feels without her e. Her attack speed is extremely slow and her movement speed doesn't synergize with her abilities. Twilight shroud would help mitigate that but only for 8 seconds with a 22 second cool down within a small area (compared to the map size) and at a significant cost of energy. Not to mention her attack speed still wouldn't allow her to proc a follow up 2nd mark.

If devs really had balance in mind then yes remove e's ability to consume the mark. But buff attack speed or make it so q will reset her auto attack animation. and make her auto attacks more responsive. Then rework her e into something that compliments her kit. Now her entire kit revolves around her auto attacks. Infact One could say auto attacks are her only form of damage. So obviously that needs improvement.

Alkali would already have trouble chasing the enemy especially if she ran out of r charges. So I would argue that the range nerf was a little unnecessary as it is her only real means of gap close / escape. And fyi depending on her positioning twilight shroud is not an escape Our reliable gap closer.. hell even r isn't a good escape lots of times.

Alkali was a little on the strong end but no stronger that a katerina which I would consider both to be equal in strength. The issue here is people don't know how to play against her. Idk how many times I might be slightly fed but certainly not snowballed. However not a single person On their team upgraded their trinket to pink or Oracle's lens. Most akali's get shut down hard from that alone.

at the beginning of patch 4.5.1 they specifically mentioned wanting to focus on bringing weaker champions up to par with stronger ones and focus less on nerfing others. Then you get this disastrous nerf and Don't get me started with ahri's

MotherChurch1/28/2015, 12:03:02 AM5 votes

I don't play Akali but it seems like the 5.2 changes to her E are just going to make her super clunky to play.

junglerboy161/28/2015, 12:01:28 AM4 votes

Her passive is where she has problems. Nerfing crescent slash to not proc mark of the assassin is a bad change since it removes one of her core gameplay patterns, while they leave her broken, "free damage+infinite sustain" passive.

Holgranth1/27/2015, 10:23:21 PM3 votes

I agree with you, but Riot appears to think that other champions need the rework more. That being said any Akali rework that would bring her up to Riots current design standards would likely change her beyond recognition ala Eve or Twitch.

soliznoel1/28/2015, 4:12:05 AM2 votes

i feel she is pretty balanced imo, her passive probably just needs a change, keep her E the same though

ForgiveColour1/28/2015, 7:27:05 PM1 votes

akali mains be like but muh i need to autoattack now