A Master Tier Akali Player Has Given His Thoughts On The Assassin Update, Pertaining To Akali

Jesus Is My King·Oct 24, 2016·20 votes·2,885 views

Hi Riot,

An Akali master tier has given his opinions on the upcoming changes on Akali. As a one tick myself, I haven't realized how significant the changes were, until I watched the full length of this video.

Yes, he's somewhat moody. But the message is quite clear in what he is pointing out with the upcoming changes to Akali. I HIGHLY recommend watching from start to end. Start of the video is introducing himself and then progresses to the opinions of the update.

-Thank you

69 Comments

LankPantsOct 24, 201611 votes

Yes, he's somewhat moody. But the message is quite clear in what he is pointing out with the upcoming changes to Akali.

I think he's being pretty rational considering Riot's literally straight nerfing 4 of Akali's abilities. What he's saying is more or less factually correct, I wouldn't really use moody to describe what he's saying.

I'm pretty sure that if Riot pulled this same shit on Sejuani or Irelia I'd be more pissed off than he is, hell I'm probably already as pissed about Akali as he is and she's not even really my main champ.

HateDaddyOct 24, 20166 votes

Do you understand how many of these people end up being wrong? Lol

She might not be good right now but let things around her change and buffs take place and she could easily be OP at some point. The purpose of a rework isn't to insta release a broken champion, it's to remove unhealthy gameplay and make it so you can properly tune the champion.

Akali is horse shit right now and I don't care what these one trick high level morons say. Of course you're good with the only champion you play, that doesn't mean that champion is good. Akali is garbage because her numbers have been nerfed into the ground and riot was in no hurry to buff her in any significant way. That's why they get reworked. Quit crying.

Akali is SO HOTOct 24, 201610 votes

I think most people are just upset about the shroud changes. After a lot of testing the ult cooldown change feels really bad as well. The damage nerf on her ult is whatever, but the cooldown change is pretty annoying. It's not a matter of her being nerfed or buffed just a matter of her being changed in the wrong direction.

HateDaddyOct 24, 20163 votes

[{quoted}](name=Akali is SO HOT,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=gAJANpa5,comment-id=00060000,timestamp=2016-10-24T04:08:30.847+0000)

I think most people are just upset about the shroud changes. After a lot of testing the ult cooldown change feels really bad as well. The damage nerf on her ult is whatever, but the cooldown change is pretty annoying. It's not a matter of her being nerfed or buffed just a matter of her being changed in the wrong direction.

You're only viewing things as "wrong" direction for a few reasons:

A) it likely is undertuned B) it's introducing a new play style on a champion you have tons of games on so things don't work the same anymore

Let's assume she is undertuned. It's PBE and even if it makes it to live, Riot keeps their eyes on reworked champions like a hawk. They will buff her the fuck up the moment to determined she's vastly underperforming. Reworking a champion allows you to do that. Do you think they'd honestly buff akali right now? She's a garbage champion and weak, yet she's yet to receive buffs. It's because Riot is never going to buff a champion like akali to be strong without massive changes.

You have to be objective with reworks because what you get on PBE, 1st patch release, 2nd patch release and sometimes even longer isn't a final product. It's a balancing act and the goal is ultimately to make a champion healthier while giving them the ability to be strong without feeling unreasonable. And let's both be honest bro, current Akali is not a healthy champion.

Akali is SO HOTOct 24, 20165 votes

{quoted}

You're only viewing things as "wrong" direction for a few reasons:

A) it likely is undertuned B) it's introducing a new play style on a champion you have tons of games on so things don't work the same anymore

Let's assume she is undertuned. It's PBE and even if it makes it to live, Riot keeps their eyes on reworked champions like a hawk. They will buff her the fuck up the moment to determined she's vastly underperforming. Reworking a champion allows you to do that. Do you think they'd honestly buff akali right now? She's a garbage champion and weak, yet she's yet to receive buffs. It's because Riot is never going to buff a champion like akali to be strong without massive changes.

You have to be objective with reworks because what you get on PBE, 1st patch release, 2nd patch release and sometimes even longer isn't a final product. It's a balancing act and the goal is ultimately to make a champion healthier while giving them the ability to be strong without feeling unreasonable. And let's both be honest bro, current Akali is not a healthy champion.

I am being objective. The only problem I really have with the rework tbh is her shroud changes. Her ult nerfs kinda suck, but I can live with them. I've already played her a ton on PBE and I definitely do not like the shroud changes one bit. Here's the thread I made regarding the subject: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/vxq9B2lj-i-very-much-dislike-the-changes-to-akalis-shroud-and-think-they-should-be-reverted-heres-why

I can play hundreds of games with her new rework and I won't ever be satisfied with how her new shroud works. They are giving her a new gimmick that she doesn't need and I feel like they are just changing it for the sake of changing things. I don't really care if she's overtuned or undertuned I just want her to be fun to play for me and the new shroud is objectively not fun for me regardless of whether it is overpowered or not and many other Akali players seem to agree.

Sure Akali could use changes, but I believe the current changes to her shroud are not the way to go :/

King of MongooseOct 24, 20163 votes

she's been made easier now u only have to mash ur rotations twice instead of three times

Akali is SO HOTOct 24, 20165 votes

Ur lame

King of MongooseOct 24, 20165 votes

Holy fuck we get it you have a beard

Dominick DestineOct 24, 20162 votes

[{quoted}](name=King of Mongoose,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=gAJANpa5,comment-id=00060000000100000000,timestamp=2016-10-24T14:11:03.148+0000)

Holy fuck we get it you have a beard

WTF? I have no idea where that came from but it made me Lol.

Akali is SO HOTOct 25, 20163 votes

Inside joke

The 14th AngelOct 25, 20164 votes

Yet, this Akali change is not a joke. It's pretty serious for all of us.

Jeanne fan clubOct 24, 20163 votes

TBH I think she was just way to effective with just one item, hextech gunblade. The thing with Akali is that she is the best champion in the game to stick with someone. The fact that she can get her full combo off 2-3 times in any given engagement without much counterplay other than stuns is probably the reason she is getting these nerfs. IDK, her ability to just stick with people is the reason her kit is so difficult to balance. The fact that she can dash with her W now just adds to it.

she is probably going to be much better when ahead because of the extra dash in her kit with W, and the extra scaling on E, however getting kills early will be much more difficult.

LankPantsOct 24, 20162 votes

Akali is that she is the best champion in the game to stick with someone.

Ekko

ReshaosOct 25, 20161 votes

Gnar Cassiopeia MasterYi TahmKench

MrBuffingtonOct 24, 20164 votes

I'm no Akali player, but I played around with her a bit on PBE, she felt a little awkward. I didn't mind the shroud change, probably because I'm not really used to how it was before, but I thought it was pretty cool as a short range dash; I can understand how it has less functionality now, though. I second the complaint with the ult cooldown; she felt really slow, like I felt really encouraged to build her bruiser/tank because she felt really vulnerable during her ult cooldowns.

Vistha KaiOct 24, 20163 votes

Akali is garbage because her numbers have been nerfed into the ground and riot was in no hurry to buff her in any significant way. That's why they get reworked. Quit crying.

You are completely wrong in every aspect here.

She never had any significant changes to her number at any point after her release. Even more the last two times her numbers were changed, she was buffed.

The most important change was removing Crescent Slash's ability to proc Mark of the Assassin.

That's it.

Don't bullshit people that she's garbage, because it simply isn't true.

She is getting reworked, because of her utterly cancerous gameplay pattern of a drain-tank assassin with resets.

RalanrOct 24, 20163 votes

Plus this is more of a bandage until her full VGU.

ReshaosOct 25, 20164 votes

And that makes it worse.

"Let's force Akali mains to completely relearn their champion, not once, but TWICE!" - Riot

The 14th AngelOct 25, 20163 votes

Agreed. So unsatisfied with Riot right now on this major change. :/ actually makes me die a little inside thinking about pre 6 laning, late game as well. mid .... ALL of it honestly. just sucks....

NarvuntienOct 24, 20164 votes

It seems like the rework is too focused on making her thematically more ninja like but doesn't seem to have taken into account enough of her actual game play.

"Akali is for assasinating high mobile targets" I think this is the what they missed with the rework, even if they get the numbers right if she doesn't have her niche then she doesn't work at all does she. High burst hasn't been part of akali, I agree she doesen't seem like the right target for the reworks trying to give reaction time against assassins. There is already plenty of counterplay and time to peel when playing against Akali.

There are things they can do to reimprove the laning phase with in the current deisgns but you are right "riot hasn't considered her laning phase" at all with these changes.

I think they should just revert the changes and revisit them later, compared to the other changes these seem more rushed.

I don't appreciate the comments about dumb akali players and the like, champions should be balancable at diffferent levels of skill, if she is bad for bad players and too good for good players there is still a balance issue there. Especially when bad assassins only have to assassinate bad carries and as such should still be good enough to do it.

Akali is SO HOTOct 24, 20166 votes

Riot actually stated a while ago that this rework would be geared more towards Akali mains and not casual players. They are basically doing the opposite with this rework.

Knight DevoutOct 24, 20163 votes

He's so biased he won't even admit to buffs saying "oh, this is a change that I could love, but they are nerfing other parts of her kit, so this is trash, too".

Ulquiorra995Oct 24, 20162 votes

Only thing that could be called a buff in this rework is a dash on W, but the weight of that buff fades in comparison to a massive duration loss. All other changes are straight nerfs, and pretty heavy ones at that.

ReshaosOct 25, 20167 votes

The dash isn't even a buff either. It literally does NOTHING for Akali. NOTHING.

She can already dash over walls just as easy with W --> R.

Her shroud is casted 90% of the time AWAY from your character, not directly on it.

Ulquiorra995Oct 25, 20161 votes

By all means and definitions it is a buff. Being able to dash brings another option she didn't have earlier. You can still not dash, but now you have the option to.

That being said, it just feels like something they added to justify removing power from other parts of her kit. It does not even manage to compensate for W duration loss, let alone ult and passive nerfs.

And I really don't understand why I've been down voted. Just stated the facts: ult loses half scaling, large part of base damage and gets a higher cool down, E gets slightly higher damage at the cost of triple the cooldown and new passive just can not compare to the old one. Those are heavy nerfs, no argument. And while I might agree on passive nerfs seeing as she'll probably no longer be reseting high-sustain tank assassin, that coupled with other nerfs and only a W "buff" will kill any Akali build except tank unless something drastically changes.

ReshaosOct 26, 20162 votes

I still disagree that the W is an overall "buff". If you're saying the dash itself is a buff then that is true, however the OVERALL changes on the W itself tips the scale from buff --> neutral --> to nerfed.

To clarify what I mean: Pros: 1) It has a dash now that is ONLY useful to hop over walls. Con: 1) 4 second shroud and will remain 4 seconds for 75% of the game since that is the LAST skill you max, which is not enough time for its primary uses (escapes, slows, csing, etc). 2) One of the biggest uses for shroud was to be able to safely CS. In order to do that you need to be able to cast the shroud away from you, not dead center on top of you. 3) You can no longer help save allies or yourself because you cannot cast shroud on enemies to slow them down. This also means you cannot chase them as well as you used to. 4) You cannot cast shroud to grant vision in bushes and over walls since you cannot cast it away from you. 5) You cannot cast shroud to scare the enemy into thinking you're actually in it. 6) Cast time increased by .1 seconds.

If you still think the W is an OVERALL buff then you have not played enough Akali lol.

The W, along with all of the other changes, are straight nerfs and guttings for Akali.

RIP Akali 2016.

Ulquiorra995Oct 29, 20161 votes

Exactly what I was saying. Dash itself is a buff. And only one she's getting - and it's not even meaningful enough to compensate for the other nerfs on the skill it's getting built into.

The 14th AngelOct 26, 20162 votes

honestly man, go fuck yourself. NOTHING on AKALI is a FUCKING BUFF!

You legit say " Just stated the facts: ult loses half scaling, large part of base damage and gets a higher cool down, E gets slightly higher damage at the cost of triple the cooldown and new passive just can not compare to the old one. Those are heavy nerfs, no argument."

but at the start you say "By all means and definitions it is a buff. "

Seriously man, GO FUCK YOUSELF. thank you.

Ulquiorra995Oct 29, 20161 votes

I didn't say Akali got buffed. I said her W got a small buff in the form of a dash - as it has. One buff in the sea of nerfs. That "buff by all definitions" is on W and her W alone - and even there it fails to be meaningful. And I love how you just concluded that I said she's buffed. I guess "All other changes are straight nerfs, and pretty heavy ones at that." slipped your mind.

Reshaos below understands what I wanted to say. Readthat if you failed to conclude it yourself.

Pierce The VealOct 25, 20163 votes

[{quoted}](name=Knight Devout,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=gAJANpa5,comment-id=000b,timestamp=2016-10-24T13:45:02.239+0000)

He's so biased he won't even admit to buffs saying "oh, this is a change that I could love, but they are nerfing other parts of her kit, so this is trash, too".

Show me one actual buff in the new Akali.

The 14th AngelOct 25, 20163 votes

Knight Devout will probably say her E is buffed, Clearly its nerfed due to the fact its a 3 second CD now instead of 1. Yes the ratio percentage is 10% more. but what is that when i could hit E 3 times and produce more damage then a 1x 3 second E?

do you follow what im saying? Not one thing on akali is a buff.

Pierce The VealOct 25, 20164 votes

Exactly.

ChalizardOct 24, 20162 votes

How is that possible that since changes appeared on pbe 1/2 part of boards community started to main Akali or Karthus? If you are OTP doesn't mean you are right, what is more it makes your judge unfair. People who are one trick pony with her are compering everything to her, how she is now. If you main champion you mainly see it as weaker and harder than it is in reality. I don't trust their judgement and imo we should wait for those changes and give them a chance and see what will happen. I am sure they they didn't take the idea out of nowhere.

ReshaosOct 25, 20167 votes

So instead of relying on opinions of people who have mained Akali since she was released. Know her weaknesses and strengths. You would rather agree with the opinions of people who have never played a single game of Akali, but instead pretty much don't care about her since it won't affect them?

The point is these are supposed to be MINOR changes. MINOR! These changes are HUGE. And you would ONLY know that if you mained her. We were also told by Riot that these changes would be favored by higher elo Akali mains, however it is the exact opposite.

That's the issue.

The 14th AngelOct 25, 20163 votes

Agreed, You hit the nail on the head Reshaos. These changes are quite drastic. Not in a good way either.

ChalizardOct 25, 20161 votes

Well I don't need to main anyone to see if this changes are huge or not. I See this but think also about items changes, meta changes, other champions changes which May affect her power in meta after patch aswell. I don't trust any OTP as they are playing only one champion and they always think their main is super hard, super easy to counter and underpowered but they are so great that they can win eventually.

After new patch appears we will see how will be akali then.

Akali is SO HOTOct 25, 20166 votes

I think I would put my trust into someone who has played a champion for multiple seasons nonstop over someone who has never touched the champion in their life.

The 14th AngelOct 25, 20163 votes

Yes. Agreed.

ChalizardOct 25, 20161 votes

You like akali and if you agree with her mains it will mean that you want her stronger which is not surprising. I don't trust OTP anyway and still want to wait for this patch appears before I will complain about something.

The 14th AngelOct 25, 20163 votes

No, No one is asking for her to be stronger, She IS balanced as is, If she was buffed she would be too overpowered. if she was nerfed, like this. its unplayable in high elo.

Look, It is clear that you do not play akali enough to understand the changes Riot is doing to akali for you to be angry. But for those that play her non stop understand how difficult it will be to play her now. that is just that.

ChalizardOct 25, 20161 votes

Im not asking about nerfs nor buffs, just to wait for patch and see if that's bullshit or not.

King of MongooseOct 24, 2016

master tier akali main LUL

literally trash, all you do on akali is spam qre and be suprised as you get an instant penta while regaining all your life

Best Kser FLOct 24, 20166 votes

I guess you didn't like my diamond 5 comment I made at the beginning of the video xd

Shen is SO HOTOct 24, 20163 votes

LOL

Ulquiorra995Oct 24, 20161 votes

You still have some two weeks before the season ends, you know. More than enough time to rise to master playing Akali yourself if what you say is true.

King of MongooseOct 24, 20161 votes

even if i played nonstop there's no way i would be able to play enough games to get to master in 2 weeks

ReshaosOct 25, 20162 votes

Sure there is, if people are able to go from unranked to Diamond in ~50 games then you can get from Diamond V to Master tier in half that, especially on a champion that all you do is press qre to get pentakills.

King of MongooseOct 25, 20161 votes

im pretty sure you get way less lp at those higher elos so there wouldn't be enough time to play all the games

The 14th AngelOct 25, 20162 votes

LP all relies on how many games you win vs losses. Best Akali Fl has a challenger account on Lan, 90 won games 40 losses and gains 27lp per win (those wins losses are estimates but +-10) You can check him out on twitch :)

The 14th AngelOct 25, 20162 votes

Unsure on Akali though. were talking about normal players accomplishing that feat. not master tier/D3+

Yes she can get you out of bronze/silver. but after that you need to understand how to play this champion mechanically. If not then you will not go past Gold.

With this update thats about to be released with akali, It will make it extremely difficult to climb elo.