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Slightly confused about people who still think Akali is still OP (My opinion, don't kill me.)

CocoCookieDough·4/29/2015, 4:52:42 AM·1 votes·966 views

Akali's my favorite champion because she's the first champion I've ever started with and somewhat did well on when I first started in Season 4. I'd be that Akali that didn't know how to combo anything, but would still manage to kill something. (I'm talking about the W, E, and R pre-nerfs, and how I'd still manage to lose and feed. :P)

I obviously have more experience with Akali now, knowing how to combo nicely, even after the nerfs. Probably you: "Akali got hit by a nerf train? When was this?"

Today, well, let's see:

  • W doesn't give Armor and MR anymore, it gives movement speed that fades over time = No more tanky Akali, just an annoying one.
  • E doesn't proc Q's mark anymore = Slightly harder laning phase as you cannot QE to harass quickly, but not impossible. (I don't really care about auto'ing for Q, you should already do that anyway. It's the little range of E that's nice if they're too far to auto.)
  • R has less range = (1) Akali has to walk a bit closer to kill your adcs, meaning that she may have to dive in between three other tanks POSSIBLY WITH CC if necessary than usual, (2) Less range, less chase (unless you use the new W), and (3) Similar to 2, less range, less distance covered to escape (again, unless you use W). Also, W uses a lot of energy = Akali has to actually plan ahead of time of when to use it.

The thing is, I've played Akali a week ago, (and I kinda don't want to use her ever again because of mean people, "You won because you're Akali, the rest of your team's sh*t"when I was also queuing with friends, leading to us being slightly sad that day) and it still bothers me that people still think she's OP.

Can someone please explain how she's still OP? I mean, if it's anything that resets on kill, why not call out Master Yi, Katarina, Kha'zix, etc for cleaning up everything and still doing damage? If it's her stealth from W, why not call out Teemo, Twitch, Vayne, etc for disappearing in a teamfight temporarily? Is it her ult's range that also resets that's OP? By the time you're done a teamfight, win or lose, you'll probably have your ult come back up in another teamfight anyway if you plan it right. Her ult is simply a gap closer that allows her to use her Q mark damage. Her main damage is her Q's mark. If she can't pull it off, she's screwed.

She can be shut down rather easily by CC, and she really can't do much damage as Season 5 is more of a tanky meta and CC. Heck, a fed Annie is scarier than a fed Akali because of her potential to aoe stun. Heck, a fed Annie can even burst faster than Akali. (Sorry, I started maining Annie after the many Akali bans. I'd honestly ban tanks over Akali. Akali haters. >.>)

And if you could explain how she's still OP, how would YOU fix her kit to balance her? Because I really don't see how Akali's OP. When I see her, I think it's fun to kill them because I know her weaknesses.

Thanks! ^^ -Sincerely, an Akali main

9 Comments

arcinex4/29/2015, 4:58:13 AM1 votes

It's because nobody ever buys pink wards.

LilxPaprika4/29/2015, 4:58:28 AM1 votes

Im between these two I can deal with them, pref not No, she's easy to kill.

I would vote for: does not/no longer phases me.

She was so op for such a long time mostly because of her W giving so much resistance for 8 seconds. It'll take a while for the dust/stereotype sort to speak to settle. There's still some trauma left over.

IcyPepper4/29/2015, 5:07:56 AM1 votes

I haven't seen her in awhile... :/

Last time was a couple months ago, and I was playing a bruiser jungler... she did not do well.

Dreadlocks4/29/2015, 5:12:36 AM1 votes

shes clunky to play imo

FantasySniper4/29/2015, 5:36:22 AM1 votes

When you have to use 33% of the gold you get from a kill on a pink just to try and kill her, that's forcing you to waste gold that could go to actually buying damage or survivability. Leading you to kill her less than you could've, and the feedback loop continues until she's ahead again. If you actually do manage to kill her. Because just having vision on someone is absolutely no guarantee that they will die, especially when they can still lifesteal+spell vamp back health and kill you.

Her damage is very high, making her sustain very high. So you need to be able to 1-shot her, which won't happen for most of the laning phase, and by then she already has enough capability to out-sustain you and can roam to her hearts content if she can't get her kills from you. Her stealth cannot be compared to any other champ in the game. Twitch takes forever to start up his, Vayne and Kha require their ultimates, Teemo actually has to sit there for a whole 2 seconds. Akali is one of the rare champs that has a stealth on command, and doesn't use it to ambush, she uses it to hide, something no other champion is capable of outside of skilled juking maneuvers that Shaco often uses for starting fights anyways, and LeBlanc uses as her whole gimmick. If the team is coordinated, yes, it is somewhat easy to take down even a fed Akali, but having to focus her down is a chore in and of itself (it's like trying to focus down a WW with BotRK, you got to have bait that will survive, a guaranteed CC, and something that can kill them before they use their immense damage to sustain-tank their way out of it - except Akali usually also has a Zhonya's), so you gotta have a plan for what you do in the short time she'll be dead and also deal with everyone else on her team, or it doesn't even matter that you spent all that effort to kill her.

When an assassin is that safe while still in the process of their all-in, it never feels fun to fight them.

Overall, I want her spell vamp to be something else. She can keep the smoke screen, the resets, the everything else. But for the same reason spell vamp isn't ever going to be a viable mechanic for burst mages, Akali shouldn't have her massive sustain as an assassin. It could be turned into bonus Mag.Pen. at maybe a rate of 1 per every 5 bonus AD, instead. It would encourage actually getting more AD on her than you would just get from a Gunblade.

Maximum Zilean4/29/2015, 5:39:44 AM1 votes

I personally have no trouble dealing with Akali, but in solo que silver / bronze range, she is a nightmare because nobody knows how to not feed her, and i'm the only one buying a pink ward. And sometimes I need to use it for some other area before a fight.

So, I can deal with her, but in solo que I'd rather not because I know my team will usually feed her.

LilxPaprika4/29/2015, 6:19:30 AM1 votes

I for one like her sustain, it helps give her identity. Game would be bland if champions that stood out in one respect were no sooner watered down. If you nerf her sustain you have to buff her elsewhere (likely damage) at which point you'll have another Leblanc on your hands. Since giving her more tankyness would change her more lean towards fighter than assasin, IMO. Early game would be difficult without it too as she can hardly trade with anyone prior to hitting 6.

Irelia Bot4/29/2015, 6:43:36 AM1 votes

If anything she needs a buff to make her a better pick.

Give back the E procing Q

Or a faster return to being stealthed in her shroud.

As it stands it is really hard to get ahead in a trade while playing akali. You can't really apply pressure to an enemy in lane without having the likely case of getting harshly damage in return.