Since I don't think anyone is happy with Akali as-is...

Could we get a couple small changes?

I'm not talking a nerf or a buff. A change. Make her less reliant on her ultimate, without making her stronger once she has it.

How? Well, I have a few ideas. Stick with me until the end, please. Some parts would be buffed overall, others nerfed overall. First, making her Q, her only ranged ability, actually useful for something besides popping Banshee's and doing a lot of backloaded damage.

As it is, the initial impact does 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 (+ 40% AP) magic damage. The AA-proc of it does 45 / 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 (+ 50% AP) magic damage. My idea would shift 5 damage at all ranks from the proc to the impact, for 40/60/80/100/120 (+40%AP), and 40/65/90/115/140 (+50%AP), then increase the initial impact by 10 at all ranks, for 50/70/90/110/130 (+40%AP), while decreasing the growth of her proc by 5 at all ranks, for 40/60/85/110/135 (+50%AP). Why? Because Akali has laughable poke. So laughable, that Doran's shield+natural MR negates it completely at rank 1. Every champion in League has better poke than she does, even Janna. Every assassin's poke is better as well. This would let her actually harass her target before level 6, and would also enable her to farm a bit more safely. However, it would shift some damage out of the proc, so she's not quite as strong when she hits 6.

Next, her passive. As it is, it heals her for 5 - 60 (based on level) (+ 60% bonus AD) (+ 45% AP) health on the first hit, and deals 10 - 100 (based on level) (+ 50% bonus AD) (+ 75% AP) on-hit magic damage on the second hit. I'd shift some power from the early damage to the early healing, or from late healing to early healing. Not sure on numbers, but this would allow her to survive poke a bit better. Why? It's not much, but it would help her out a bit early on, while still taking away from that level 6 instanuke, which is our end goal here. Either that, or we shift a bit of power away from late game, when most assassins are naturally supposed to fall off.

Third thing I'd hit is her W. Revert it to 6 seconds early on, let it scale up, to either 6/7/8/9/10, or 6/6.5/7/7.5/8. Or have it scale with level. At the same time, reduce the MS boosted and drained, but let the MS boost remain for a second or two after Akali leaves it. Finally, let her jump around to anywhere in it, not just about half its radius. Why? Well. This is an overall nerf to early, and a buff to late, numbers-wise. But bear with me. Her big issue, compared to other assassins, is she has no kill pressure pre-6, unless you happen to dive her. Talon has effective kill pressure starting at level 2, when he has both his Q and W. Most other assassins have kill pressure at level 3. Akali has none. The MS not going away instantly would let her actually get close to her opponent before it wore off. Now, another big problem she has is actually in late game. Granted, most assassins are supposed to struggle here, but they don't struggle for the same reason Akali does. Most assassins struggle because of CC. Akali struggles because she has no real escape. Increasing the final duration of her W, and letting her keep the MS boost for a moment, would be useful for this. It wouldn't be the best fix (best would be either her W being a Graves Smokescreen, as opposed to invisibility, or it being some sort of ally-targeted dash), but it would be alright. But we're also listening to some complaints about its duration being too long for some toplane champions, by reducing it back to 6s at first rank.

Her E could probably also use some work use some work, but I honestly have no idea what you'd do with it. Her ult could use having some real damage in late-game, too, but that's not relevant for this discussion.

Just my thoughts. Would appreciate any input!