Akali Still Needs Some Adjustments
So Akali's receiving some changes on the PBE, and the overall feedback has been fairly negative. I playtested her on the PBE, and she does deal a bit less damage, but that much can be fixed through number adjustments. I think the focus here should be on the gameplay adjustments she received, several of which didn't quite hit the mark:
#Issues:
- Her W is still clunky because of its blink: I get that it might take some getting used to, and that it can allow for jukes, but the implementation does not feel good at all. Often, blinking towards the cast location makes Akali accidentally leave her Shroud immediately after, which feels anti-synergistic. While reducing the cast time back to the standard 0.25 seconds was an improvement, the presence of a cast time doesn't work well with what the ability is meant to achieve or her overall flow.
- Crescent Slash's cooldown reduction on-kill isn't that great without an energy refund: One of the issues with Akali's previous one-second CD E is that Akali doesn't really work well with an "Energy dump" mechanic: she runs out of Energy pretty quickly and, unlike most other Energy champions, cannot recover much of it over combat, despite having a fairly prolonged fighting pattern, one that will be extended even more after this update. Making her spend 60 energy a pop even faster without addressing her Energy problems will leave her running out of steam in the middle of combat.
There are several more issues with the changes that I won't go into too much detail (Grievous Wounds isn't a great mechanic, her passive feels underwhelming, AD has almost no real purpose on her, her E still has no real gameplay, etc.), but those are the main two that I think need to be addressed, because they're gameplay changes that go in the wrong direction. Here are the adjustments I think need to be made to answer those problems:
#Solutions:
- Remove Twilight Shroud's cast time and blink, and make it not interrupt movement or previous actions: The idea of Akali's W is that it's a smoke bomb you drop instantly to give yourself cover, allowing for protection in combat or jukes. Making it instant would allow Akali to evade attacks through its existing movement speed boost, rather than a janky blink, and would let her react faster.
- Either make Crescent Slash refund Energy on kill, along with part of its cooldown, or move Akali's Energy restoration to her innate: Refunding some Energy with Crescent Slash would make its on-kill bonus accelerate Akali's waveclear and kill threat without simply burning through her resource. Alternatively, moving her Energy refund from her Q to her innate would largely preserve the same gameplay (she'd restore Energy with basic attacks from time to time), make her passive feel stronger, and allow her to recover Energy more consistently.
This is all coming from a non-Akali main, by the way, so input from more experienced players is welcome. I'm not as passionate about Akali's changes as many here, but I do feel she needs a bit more love.
