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Some Thoughts on Akali "the Fist of Shadow"

ArchAbyss·1/18/2015, 9:28:49 PM·3 votes·1,199 views
MEDDLER, one of these days you'll come to my thread, My Kingdom, My Sanctuary

Akali has been on riots mind as of late and with a super high win rate and ban rate its no wonder people are getting annoyed that she's still around hopping and killing everyone she R's to. There is much discussion in the link I've posted. I'd like to respond to what riot said about nerfing her R's range so that you can counter play her more effectively. Her R is problematic because its a gap closer that does a significant amount of damage and its simply point and click. I think making her ult a shorter range would be a good idea but it also reduces her mobility significantly. The ult range is at 800 currently I don't know how much riot is thinking about reducing it but lets say it is a huge loss of range- worse case scenario how about 600 or even 550?! or maybe even 500!!!??? lets just think about this, how would Akali get into range to do her damage? Her ult is so quick and is on a low cooldown that it makes getting into range very easy-there is no counter play other than staying out of range. which in my opinion is kind of a bogus counter-play. I also think she should have her static cool down increased to 2 seconds at all ranks. BUT there would have to be a buff for her W or her twilight shroud. When riot first made Akali they thought it would be so cool to have a ninja that jumps around all over the place killing everyone. Well that is what she does now but we don't want that-at least the op part. Why don't we buff her W so that she gets 100% movement speed and on top of that give her a movement speed steal from all champions affected by her slow. This makes her even faster in teamfights. When ranking up her W the radius of the twilight shroud should be increased until it is a viable terrain piece to fight in for Akali. This would help her to be the speedy moving around assassin without being broken. Obviously this has some easy counter play with her pink ward-that is if they buy a pink ward. How about it takes Akali only two hits to remove a pink ward inside of her shroud? or maybe her Q can remove a pink ward? This would also make her laning a little easier with having somewhat of a solid escape and dueling tool- also give her the utility of getting rid of pinks in mid brushes. The posted link has some other options in it. Many people were saying that her sustain is a problem and I would have to agree but some people like it because it helps Akali out being squishy and all. Maybe they should just change her spell vamp to a solid flat number, or maybe just get rid of it all together? Well Gun-Blade isn't the most used item and its cool to use it on her since it scales very well with it so I say KEEP IT THE SAME! maybe reduce her natural 6% spell vamp or something? Maybe the nerfs riot is talking about will be enough? Her E was also mentioned a few times in the link. Its rather sup-par. I don't have any idea what to suggest about it. An AOE that procs her Q. WOOT. I guess it could be a movement speed buffer too and maybe the shroud doesn't steal movement speed? Beats me. Her Q was mentioned also that maybe it could be a skill shot. Which would be a whole discussion on its own. What are you guys thoughts on Akali?

EDIT: With the nerfs to Akali in the recent patch, showing that her range was reduced on her ult and went through, hindered her somewhat. I am not sure what to think about her. I've never had a hard time dealing with her myself in lane actually, although everyone else seems to have hard times and snowball her. Thanks for the comments guys :D. -About the complete rework, I really think she needs a rework too that would make for a healthy yet strong dps mobile stealth champion. removing her ability to proc her q with her e also makes for a slightly sluggish rotation of spells and requires her to auto attack rather than that quick e. I'm Sure Akali mains will still use her but this champion shouldn't snowball as hard in lower elo;s or teams that don't synergize well. The buff to Hextech Gunblade should still make Akali do slightly more burst damage which in turn might keep her rotation shorter. Maybe I will post another edit after playing her a few times.

8 Comments

Salidfingers1/18/2015, 10:42:01 PM3 votes

Akali win rate has been dropping, but ban rates are still high.

People need to understand akali has alot of counter play.

Main one is Vision. 1: Cannot stress this enough. If you are bot lane and you cannot see akali coming you are screwed 2: Pinks are used to keep her from resetting her CD's in a duel so it is easier for you to take her on or secure a kill.

CC is a major counter to her. 1: Nothing like a good stun or snare to keep her from racing around so your team can focus her during a fight.

Problem is people don't take these advise. They prefer to take someone like Ziggs mid and are shocked they die in lane and while akali is racing around in team fights because no one has CC.

There is a shit load of counter play.

Are1/18/2015, 11:05:14 PM2 votes

I have posted this before, I will post it again. (There may be some points that are not in topic with discussion)

It's not that she's OP. It's the nature of her champion (or assassins in general) that make her frustrating. Remember, Annoying =/= OP

She's a single target, squishy, mobile melee assassin with negligible CC. Her only strengths are her damage, her mobility, and her spell vamp. The only thing she can offer to her team is damage

She has amazing dueling capabilities, but does not fare well in team fights. It's really risky for her to enter team fights, mainly because she's VERY liable to blow up. The reason why Akali tears teams apart (if she does) is because no one focuses her. It's essentially the same as letting a well built Graves attack your team throughout the entire team fight. Focusing her will keep her out of team fights. Pink wards and upgraded scanner will reveal her. It is essential that you buy these so she doesn't have the stealth grace period.

Most assassins have reliable escapes. Akali doesn't. This is the reason why her ult resets.

She has spell vamp because she needs it to be able to live when she dives the carry. Nobody considers this: her full combo takes a minimum of 12 seconds to complete. Every other mage/assassin will instagibb you in 1.5 seconds. Akali doesn't do this. Her spell vamp is there so that she can soak up some damage while she dishes out hers.

And of course, her damage is high because she's single target, and it's the only thing she has.

For those complaining about her low cooldown, it's because her burst takes 12 seconds to complete. If all her damage was upfront like Lux or Syndra, her cooldowns would be longer.

The counter to assassins is Armor/MR, Health, and teamwork. It's the same reason why Kat, Talon, etc etc do so well in solo queue. As you'll find it, Akali gets harder to play as you climb the ladder because teamwork gets better. Think of it like Master Yi, great in lower ELO, a bit iffy in higher elo.

It's also good to remember, that assassins are made to assassinate. Their role is get in, kill the squishy, and get out. Unless you build resistances or health, you're going to die.

If you make her ult too short ranged, it's going to hurt her because her combo requires 12 seconds of execution.

If her ult range is to be reduced, then it'll need to have it's CD lowered, or the range of her Q to increase, OR have her W's speed boost last a few upon exit to compensate.

EDIT: If you want me to write out an entire post about how to counter play her, let me know.

Lt Cuddles1/18/2015, 10:09:36 PM1 votes

Once you reach the page, just start reading the Trivia...

BITE ZA DUSTO1/19/2015, 1:52:02 AM1 votes

She needs a complete rework. That "point-and-click-flash-range-damaging-resetting-dash" shouldn't exist in this game, along with her full point and click kit and her spellvamp.

Killer of Poros1/19/2015, 6:15:10 AM1 votes

I just hate that during there is no way to stop her from completely annihilating you if you give her any kind of lead. Snowballing itself isn't a problem, but when akali snowballs there is literally no way to stop her damage at all because of her mobility and point and click abilities.

Linkttp2/25/2015, 7:31:03 PM1 votes

The current nerfs were too much..... Honestly if they had lowered gunblades spell vamp or something I would have been fine. but the last nerfs crippled her. I've been in games were people report for playing akali.