Thoughts on Akali's Upcoming Rework
What's up fellow league players. Now that we've gotten the announcement of Akali's rework coming out in the future, I thought I might as well make a thread about it. I'm going to discuss her Aesthetics, Lore, and Gameplay and what should stay, needs to be changed, etc.
#Aesthetics
Splashes I'm going to go over her splashes pretty quickly. Honestly, even though Akali is a pretty old champion, I have to say that her older splashes have aged really well. I wouldn't object to Riot just keeping all of her splashes the same when she gets her VGU, but that probably won't happen. Either way, I hope Riot does Akali justice when they redo her splashes and keeps them all Aesthetically pleasing. Just don't hurt my nurse pls. Also, on a quick note, green eyes are much sexier than brown eyes so I would greatly appreciate it if her splashes all had green eyes ty. Akali mains would also be grateful if her sideboobs stayed intact pls.
In Game Model One thing that hasn't aged particularly well is her model. Riot's more recent champs have been pretty spot on with their models and the same should happen for Akali. A big update to her model would be much appreciated because she can kinda look like a block sometimes in game which is kinda annoying. Not really much else to say about this other than an update would be appreciated
Particles Akali is "The Fist of Shadow" but her in game particles don't particularly reflect this all that well. There is a lot of missed opportunity here that Riot has a chance to incorporate in the rework. Green and black is definitely a pretty cool color combo in my opinion and putting more black particles into her abilities could definitely mesh well with the theme. For example, when Akali uses her shroud she could throw out a black smoke bomb which then explodes into a shadowy looking area and black smoke poofs out every time she goes invisible. Her E is going to be completely changed no doubt so there is infinite freedom here to incorporate some shadowy particles into that ability. Basically, the point is that with the rework comes a ton of opportunity to incorporate Akali's Shadow theme into her kit which is definitely something important to consider. Lots of opportunity that hopefully isn't missed.
#Lore
Someone posted a thread about Akali a while back and her lore and I thought it was spot on so I’m just gonna copy and paste what the person said about it (credits underneath):
Akali exists in a time frame where Riot didn't really write lore and instead had the fans write the lore for themselves. Sorta like star wars, Riot would suggest an idea and allow the fans to go absolutely NUTTS with fan theories. Riot would feed the fans by giving abilities suspicious names, or hinting at comments like "Akali is the only one of the 3 who believes zed can no longer redeem himself" With an ability name "twin disciplines" it hints she has had two masters with very oppisite abilities, a ying and a yang, which led us to believe zed was her dark side, and shen was her redeemer. All of her lore has basically been written by the fans, but 5 years after her creation I think it's time for Riot to pick the pen back up and decide which story they want to go with. Fan theories are fun and all, but after half a decade some of those theories should be confirmed or denied. When Riot reworks Akali I hope they really go into her lore and confirm some of the questions we have about her while leaving even more room for fan theory. Basically Answer some of the questions
-Who is Zed to Akali -What was her child hood like -Why is she so angry compared to her brotheren
but you can answer those questions while creating new ones, and this is something the cast of star wars, in both the good and the bad movies does an amazing job in doing. They revealed to us who darth vader was, and even showed us his life as anakin but left us asking questions like what resulted in anakins creation, why did the force chose his mother? Are anakin and darth vader the same person or two souls in the same body? You can answer old theory questions while safely introducing new ones. If Riot fears spoiling Akali's mysterious aura, they don't need to fear that, if they know the art of subtly answering.
#Gameplay
This is definitely one of the most important parts of the update. There aren't very many of us Akali mains out there, but the people that do main Akali really love playing her and are dedicated to always playing her regardless of her strength (even during 6.22). Akali's current kit can definitely get some changes, but keeping the core aspect to what makes her Akali is important in this rework. Riot has promised in the past that they want to make changes to Akali that is in the best interest of Akali mains, but they have always had trouble following up on this. This big rework would be a great opportunity to show us that they can deliver. The core audience they should keep in mind with this rework is definitely the Akali mains as we are the ones that love playing her and it would be a shame if she ended up as something completely different from current Akali.
General There are some important points I wanted to go over before getting into her abilities. First, I think it is important that she is pushed out of top lane and be given a kit that is geared towards mid. Back in the old days Akali was exclusively played mid, but as time has passed she has gotten worse and worse at surviving the endless poke from ranged laners and has resorted to going top most of the time. Sometimes I feel that I'm the only Akali player that still likes taking her mid. Assassins are supposed to go mid and I think it is important that Akali is shoved back into mid lane again. Playing against Top lane Akali has historically not been too fun so having her back in mid is just fine.
The second point I wanted to address is her laning phase and late game. Right now, her early game is super weak against most matchups. She has better matchups top lane, but against most matchups mid lane her pre-6 is almost nonexistent. It would be great if she had some tools to maybe have kill pressure early on against opponents or some balanced means to survive the endless poke she'll be receiving. At the same time, making sure that Akali has a slightly harder time snowballing against opponents is important as well if she is to have a stronger early game. Currently, if the Akali player is good and she gets an early lead she can take it and completely dominate the game if she gets far enough ahead. Making it harder to achieve this would make her less frustrating to play against. The current Akali definitely struggles during the late game (most Assassins do and she should be no exception of course) so it would be nice to give her some tools to survive better. She doesn't need to be a God that can't be killed like old Ekko, but having an easier time surviving without being overbearing is definitely something that can be done.
Next, keep her similar to the AP Master Yi. I like making this comparison a lot when talking about Akali so I will explain. One thing that Akali and Master Yi have in common is that later on in the game they have a hard time team fighting, but, if they play it well, they can completely clean house. If Akali or Master Yi get chain CCed in a fight, then they are usually done for, but if they can use Shroud/Shadow Dance or Alpha Strike/Meditate well, then they can really pop off. This is something that is unique to Akali that separates her from other Assassins. You could argue that Kat can pop off as well and clean house, but she does it with AoE and not in the slower and more elegant way that Akali does it which isn't really the same. Allowing her to be the AP version of Yi for good players is something I would like to be kept with her new kit. Akali has always been the "Hypercarry" of all of the Assassins and I think it should definitely be kept in mind when reworking her. Give her a harder time during late game teamfights like most other Assassins, but she should definitely be the Assassin that becomes a hypercarry that can dominate fights given the right person is playing her well.
This last point is a quick note about Gunblade. I really like this item and would like it to stay core on Akali with her new kit. Its build path is pretty good for Akali and gives her stats that she likes and complements her kit really well. I think a new Akali that likes building Gunblade is something that a lot of players would appreciate. I'm sure most people would prefer it if Gunblade wasn't mandatory on Akali (currently not rushing Gunblade is basically trolling), but still kept as an item that is always good to get for her.
Twin Disciplines Currently, her passive doesn't really offer all that much and could do a lot more for her theme. One thing that I definitely would like to stay is having a two-part passive. Twin Disciplines is pretty iconic when it comes to her character so keeping it split up like how the current one is would be cool. It doesn't have to be the same as the current one I would definitely welcome big changes to it, but as long as it is split into two parts I would definitely be down for it. There is room to do a lot more than just giving her two auto attack enhancements and make it much cooler and more interactive. I think it would definitely be cool if sustain was incorporated into the passive somehow, but her sustain isn't really an iconic part of her kit and I'm sure most Akali players wouldn't mind if it was moved to another part of her kit or even just removed as a whole. It's cool to have, but definitely not necessary. I would definitely love for it to be a part of her new kit, but if it isn't, then it won't be a deal breaker or anything.
Mark of the Assassin This ability is definitely going to get lots of changes or be reworked entirely. A lot of characters have been getting point and click removed from their kits so I would assume this would be the same for Akali. This ability is her bread and butter ability for most of her damage and I would be happy if it stayed that way or at least an important part of her combos. One thing that I particularly like about this ability is the pop mechanic. Right now, the ability does almost no damage with the first portion of it. The proc really does all the heavy lifting for the ability which is super cool. This makes it so Akali can't just sit back and poke her opponent to death and forces her to interact with her opponent to maximize her damage. The ability can get a ton of changes and be reworked, but I believe that keeping the procing part of the ability is important. There is also a ton of room to allow Akali to have access to other ways of procing the mark instead of just auto attacks and I think that would be a nice addition to her kit.
Twilight Shroud This ability is easily one of the most unique abilities in the entire game. When Akali is mentioned anywhere the first thing that most people think about is either her ultimate or her shroud. This ability is so cool and is the most unique form of stealth in the game. When you think of all of the other stealth users in the game, really all they have is a blink, ms buff, etc. and then stay stealthed for a while before coming out of stealth. Of course, they have other mechanics tacked onto their abilities, but Akali's is very unique in the fact that it is confined to one small area. Twitch, Shaco, or Rengar could be absolutely anywhere when they use their stealth, but you know exactly where Akali is when she uses hers. For the 8 seconds she can go in and out of the stealth unlike most other stealth users which is super cool. She has 8 seconds to take advantage of this zone which can go either very poorly or super well depending on the skill of the Akali player.
Akali's shroud is also known for being a zone of death. One of the first rules of League of Legends is to not fight Akali in her shroud and, if you do, you will face a lot of pain. I think the aspect of having Akali's stealth confined to one small area and making it a scary zone of death for enemies to have to play around makes for very good gameplay and gives both people involved important decision making when she uses the shroud. One thing that I would like to see come back is being able to put the shroud where you want. No longer being able to place it where you want and being limited to dropping it right on top of yourself has always felt kinda off since 6.22. Being able to place it wherever you wanted gave Akali so much more options to use it for instead of a generic blink. The blink is definitely nice, but the ability to place it where you want to gives Akali a lot more options than a blink ever could.
I feel that the changes to this ability could really make or break the rework for Akali. The ability is one of the most iconic parts of her kit and it definitely deserves to be a lot cooler than it currently is. However, keeping the core aspects mentioned above that really makes Twilight Shroud what it is will be important with the update and should be kept in mind when working on her. This is super important because if Twilight Shroud doesn't feel like Twilight Shroud anymore, then it will be a big blow to long time Akali players.
Crescent Slash Easily one of the most boring and bland abilities in the game. It was at least kinda cool when you could proc Q with it, but, after that was removed, it is an ability that has kinda just been there. Can't really think of any ideas for what a replacement ability for this could be, but her E should definitely be completely different than from what it currently is. It would be cool if the AoE could still be incorporated into her kit somehow, but I'm sure most players wouldn't be mad at all of this ability was nowhere to be found in her new kit. Not really much else to say here. Just make sure to make the ability match her Shadow theme and make it cool to use in her new kit.
Shadow Dance This is definitely another iconic part of Akali's kit right behind Twilight Shroud. If I got to choose an ability to stay almost exactly the same it would definitely be Shadow Dance. This ability is what really makes Akali feel like a sexy Ninja that can jump all over the place and is incredibly fun to use. A lot of people don't like the fact that she can have 3 charges at once, but I would argue that this is important for the ability. If Akali only had one charge, then all of her damage would have to be completely loaded into her other damaging abilities. If she can't get her whole combo off with just one charge, then she is useless to her team. If she wants to be of any use to her team with one charge, then she would need massive damage in her combo which would just let her one shot people with on rotation all the time.
What is unique about giving Akali 3 dashes that have resets is that this means her burst can be separated into smaller amounts and doesn't need to be dumped into a single combo. For example, Talon will go in, blow his whole load on you, and then hopefully kill you. If you flash away or he ends up not killing you, then he's screwed. What ends up happening is he either kills you or doesn't kill you once he unleashes his combo and that's it. You either die or don't die. Akali, however, is on the opposite side of the spectrum. Unless Akali is super far ahead or it is really late in the game, she will never be able to one shot a squishy with her combo. This gives enemies a ton of time to react to her engage as opposed to having her jumping on you once and then seeing a grey screen. This removes the problem of having to make it so she either kills you or doesn't.
The way the game is currently set up, Akali needs a reliable way to stick to her target and have 3 dashes for her ultimate both allows her to be sticky and makes it so her burst can be spread out to give her opponents a chance to react to her assassination. Some people don't like the 3 dashes and I can understand why, but having her burst spread out because of this is important to keeping her less feast or famine and provides more counterplay. Her multiple dashes is also what allows her to be that AP Master Yi that I mentioned earlier which is important to her gameplay.
This ability could honestly be left complete the same as it currently is and I'm sure most Akali players would be fine with it. Of course, there can be changes to it that make it cooler, but the basic concept should be the same. Three dashes that get resets on takedowns. A cool idea I had was maybe make it so she gets increased range against targets that are marked. Something to add to the ult to make it less of a generic dash and be cohesive with her kit is definitely something to look out for.
#Laura Bailey
Please, please, PLEASE keep Laura Bailey as her voice actress. Laura has the best voice of all time. Don't do us dirty and replace her. Get Laura Bailey back here and have her do more lines for Akali. More interactions with Zed, Kennen, and Shen and line interactions with items and just more lines in general would be cool af. Other champions that have been reworked definitely needed new voice actors/actresses, but Akali is not one of those champions. Us Akali mains cannot stress enough how important it is to keep Akali's voice the same. If you can't get Laura, then don't change her voice. Pls Riot.
Alright, well that's basically it. Can't think of anything else I want to say right now. Hopefully the wants of Akali mains are taken into consideration with this rework because of how important she is to us. HOPEFULLY THIS THREAD IS COHERENT. Don't forget the sideboobs pls btw. Thanks for reading.
bae
