I am pretty new to league... I think Akali is cool and I like her kit but I don't really know how to play her at all. Even when I use my smoke bomb, I still end up taking a good amount of damage a lot of the time. I'm just not trading efficiently. Could anyone help me out and give me some pointers on how to play her?
Fleet footwork, pay attention to your empowered autos. Use Q's to poke them down. Make sure you're taking Presence of Mind
The only thing I can tell you about trading is to learn to get her Q sweet spot for her passive. If you manage to hit it at max range, you both slow your opponent and you have to back only a millisecond from your opponent to get your passive ready. After you master her Q range, then you have to learn to position in order to be able to do it multiple times on your opponents (especially useful in top lane).
About her W, it basically involves specific match-up interactions and mind games. If your opponent has targeted abilities, use it to make yourself impossible to target and only do very short trades if your opponent sticks to it. If your opponent has skillshots/AoE, you have to position yourself in a manner that both your opponent can't predict and you can engage/escape them. Otherwise, it would barely bring any benefits. Also, don't forget that it gives you Energy and a boost of Movement Speed when cast, so it's very useful when you chase opponents.
About her E, the only thing mentionable is that sometimes it's better to just use her backflip as a dash. It is a more reliable gap closer this way. Also try to throw it in unpredictable moments. Hitting it will result in possibly very easy kills.
learn matchups and when you're able to trade. usually she can fight at levels 1,2,3,6, and 11 very well
make sure you use W after you're low on energy so that you don't waste part of it
go into practice tool and practice doing her Q auto combos over and over
E is a very underrated damage spell, it stacks conqueror twice and can also proc her passive twice
learn positioning and zoning its especially important toplane because you fight with enemies who can easily stick onto you and kill you
itemization is very important after gunblade is very important. learning which magic pen items to build really really makes her deal more damage
wave management can allow you to gain level advantages and secure a kill. if you have level 6 and the enemy is level 5 it's very easy to kill them.
