Combining the Old and New Akali Kits to Fix Her Toxicity and Gameplay Problems (Analysis)

Akali has been a nightmare to balance - it seems like every other patch she's dipping in and out of viability. Her kit is either extremely powerful when you hit everything or useless when you miss your E. Plus, nobody likes playing against her, even if they know her counterplay. She's generally regarded by the community as an extremely toxic champion. But I believe that by combining her old kit with her current ult, she will actually be better off. Here I will dissect the reasons why everyone hates old and new Akali, and how the good parts of her kit could be combined to form a healthier champion overall. Let me also say that I am completely neutral when it comes to Akali in game, but I do think her 'all or nothing' kit is a poor mentality in general. Lets take a look at her old abilities:

Previous Abilities

• Twin Disciplines (P) STATIC COOLDOWN: 8 / 7 / 6 / 5 / 4 (BASED ON LEVEL)

Akali's first two basic attacks are empowered. DISCIPLINE OF MIGHT: Akali's first basic attack Heal power heals her for 5 − 60 (based on level) (+ 60% bonus AD) (+ 45% AP) health. DISCIPLINE OF FORCE: Akali's second basic attack within 4 seconds deals an additional 10 − 100 (based on level) (+ 50% bonus AD) (+ 75% AP) on-hit magic damage.

• Mark of the Assassin (Q) TARGET RANGE: 600 COST: 60 ENERGY COOLDOWN: 6 / 5.5 / 5 / 4.5 / 4

ACTIVE: Akali throws her kama at the target enemy, dealing magic damage and marking them for 6 seconds. MAGIC DAMAGE: 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 (+ 40% AP) Basic attacks detonate the mark, dealing bonus magic damage and restoring Energy icon 40 energy. BONUS MAGIC DAMAGE:» 45 / 70 / 95 / 120 / 145 (+ 50% AP)

• Twilight Shroud (W) TARGET RANGE: 270 EFFECT RADIUS: 475 COST: 60 / 55 / 50 / 45 / 40 ENERGY COOLDOWN: 18

ACTIVE: Akali channels for 0.25 seconds during which she can not be displaced, and blinks to the target location, leaving a smoke cover for 8 seconds at her previous location and incurring a global cooldown of 0.5 seconds to all her other abilities. The smoke cover grants sight of the area and slows all enemies within. SLOW: 14 / 18 / 22 / 26 / 30% While inside the smoke cover, Akali immediately gains invisibility and movement speed. MOVEMENT SPEED: 20 / 40 / 60 / 80 / 100% If Akali uses a basic attack or ability inside her smoke cover, she will reveal herself for 0.65 seconds.

• Crescent Slash (E) EFFECT RADIUS: 300 COST: 60 / 55 / 50 / 45 / 40 ENERGY COOLDOWN: 5 / 4.5 / 4 / 3.5 / 3

ACTIVE: Akali flourishes her kamas, dealing physical damage to all enemies around her. PHYSICAL DAMAGE: 70 / 100 / 130 / 160 / 190 (+ 80% bonus AD) (+ 60% AP) Crescent Slash cooldown is reduced by 60% whenever it kills at least one enemy.

• Shadow Dance (R) TARGET RANGE: 700 SPEED: 2000 COST: 1 ESSENCE COOLDOWN: 2 RECHARGE: 30 / 22.5 / 15 PASSIVE: Akali periodically stores up to 3 charges of Essence of Shadow. Champion Damage rating takedowns grant one charge.

Akali immediately gains 3 Essences of Shadow upon learning the ability. Shadow Dance ACTIVE: Akali dashes to the target enemy, dealing magic damage. Akali will land between 100 and 200 units on the far side of her target based on how close they were, halved versus Marked targets. MAGIC DAMAGE: 50 / 100 / 150 (+ 35% AP)

The things that mainly made this kit so toxic were:

1. The healing, but mostly
2. The 3 separate point-and-click reset-able dashes that each had more range than Caitlyn's AA range on her ult which was always up.

Her "weak point" to exploit was that before level 6, she simply couldn't reach you. That was mainly it. But once she hit 6, she just won. She could quite literally go from 0/7/0 at level 5 to 16/8/13 at level 18 by playing while half asleep.

On the contrary, new Akali has more manageable weaknesses, albeit still quite annoying ones:

1. Dodging her E can ruin her chances of killing you (get good kid)
2. Ult dependent and can't kill you easily while it's down; long cooldown early game
3. Weaker early game, although not as big of an issue compared to old Akali

Obviously things like crowd control, buying tanky items, etc. will all work. They work against most champions.

Weak points #2 and #3 are easily survivable by good Akali players with proper game/matchup knowledge. The only reliable counterplay option left is to dodge her E. Your entire survival against an Akali player depends on it. And if they do land it? You're done. It's an all or nothing scenario where most if not all of her counterplay is focused, and it makes her so frustrating to play against.

Essentially, any good Akali player can completely negate her only reliable counterplay (past the first ten minutes of the game) by being a god at landing her E. This makes balancing her impossible because her assassination potential scales so unbelievably broadly based on each player's ability to land it. For example, if they buff her damage to compensate for the 80% of players (Gold and lower) that can't hit all of her skill shots, she will be incredibly lethal for those in high level play that can. But if they nerf her damage based on pro play, then only the hardcore Akali mains will stick around, because the bottom 80% will have an even harder time playing her.

So, What Should Change? Obviously, her E has to go. It is a nightmare in more ways than one. But removing it is more complex than you might think. Not only would Akali have to sacrifice the damage from the first charge of her ult in order to close the gap, but her E damage, which was a hefty 80 / 140 / 200 / 260 / 320 (+ 70% AD) (+ 100% AP), would be gone too.

In this scenario, her old Passive, Q, W, and E compliment her very well, and even provide more counterplay options. The raw single target damage from her old passive's AA enhancer and her old Q's mark far surpass the damage lost from her E. Plus, placing more emphasis on her auto attack would give victims a chance to fight or flee instead of taking the damage initially at the start of her combo. With her current Q gone, she's in desperate need of waveclear, which is where her old E comes in. Her old E isn't as reliable as her old Q, but it seriously shouldn't be. With so much new kill potential between her passive, Q, and R damage, she needs a weak point. And let's be quite honest: reworked Akali's early game is actually fine. She has a dash/invisibility to survive ganks plus heals and no mana to outlast laners. She's not a fragile laner, she just struggles to be a bully early on. Anyways, her old W will provide her with a less toxic, more manageable gap closer. Its shorter range will be more frustrating to use, but it will give opponents more opportunities to catch her out when she doesn't have her ult up. It also creates the new decision of closing the gap with your R first and then dropping your shroud/dash or vice versa. Let's take a look at this new hybrid Akali's weak points:

1. She is actually weak early game and can be punished
2. She has to get closer to you now in order to start her combo
3. She is much more punishable without her ult
4. A good chunk of damage comes from an AA (instead of a gap closer)

I think that with different aspects of her new kit mixing with her old one, this could be fine tuned and balanced to create a realistic healthy version of Akali. It eliminates the toxic nature from both her old and new kits while supporting a unique playstyle that fits the assassin role. I didn't mention this here, but small parts of Akali's old kit could be implemented for quality of life changes, too. For example, maybe we take the extra AA range from her current passive and apply it here, or maybe we keep the donut shape from her current shroud. If this hybrid proved to be too weak, you could also toy with adding another dash to her ult, but that seems really unnecessary. Akali is a champion that is deceptively weak on paper and a powerhouse on the rift.

TLDR; Akali's problems of being tough to balance and having a toxic playstyle could be solved by restoring her old Passive, Q, W, and E, but keeping her current ult. It gives her better, more tangible weaknesses that are based on her kit and not on a player's individual skill with her.