Akali

Akali is a character you’ll see everywhere. She is the most ninja-like ninja, and involves using some fast paced combos that will send you flying ninja style into the enemy team. Her role as an assassin is well defined, jump on carries, combo their faces off, and sneak away. Playing her reminds me far more of traditional fighting games than most, her cool downs are low and her animations are quick, lending her play to some lightning fast combos. She uses a different resource exclusive to ninjas known as energy which is one of the components that differentiates her in her use.

One of my favorite aspects of her design is the range of her moves and the choices you’re forced to make. Her Q throws a kama which will leave a mark she can detonate with a normal attack to deal more damage and almost more importantly restore energy. Her R works on an ammo system similar to Teemo’s mushrooms and Heimerdinger’s turrets, it essentially builds up over time, but with an assassin flair, you can gain a stack(one use) upon a kill or assist. The move itself allows her to jump at an enemy minion or champion at a slightly larger range than she can throw her kama with her Q. This is where the choice occurs, to use her R first will net less energy, meaning you’ll run out sooner, whereas hitting with the Q first will allow her to combo more but requires her to be closer, and at potentially more risk of the opponent escaping. This decision in the midst of combat occasionally left me at a loss at what was optimal for the situation, and occasionally out of energy running from the fight.

Her E allows her to damage all nearby enemies by flourishing her kamas, this move requires no target, allowing you to use it anywhere. Amidst the chaos of the fights I’d occasionally find I’d pressed it too early as I was chasing an enemy I was attempting to R to. This self awareness I found a tad more difficult with Akali, as she herself is hard to keep track of in a fight, and I’m sure is one of her more difficult points of play.

Akali’s most tactical move, her W, creates a small area in which she will remain invisible while not attacking, and grants her armor while she remains within it. This allows her to create a zone to fight defensively, or a route of escape if she requires it. In only 5 games I pulled off some amazing escapes by laying my shroud near some brush with insane juking potential. I even once lost a Malphite and Lux at nearly no health, escaping while they were literally upon me, just by running a direction they wouldn’t expect. It has a slow, but don't expect to be pulling any last second saves for a teammate, it simply does not do enough.

On the whole she is an incredibly well designed character, her ability to snowball into late game should be envied, and the sheer number of possible builds is particularly intriguing. Some prefer builds to nuke , while others will focus on lifesteal/spellvamp to remain in the fight for longer.

In terms of balance, she carries better than most assassins, and if she does not snowball past the enemies in kills she will remain a character that walks a fine line, between totally being destroyed and completely wrecking her opponents. This to me is exhilarating, and once she is fed this feeling disappears, as in 1v1 situations she attains near absolute control. Which is fun in its own right, but not quite the same.

Summary:

A fast paced character for people who don't mind nearly dying for kills, incredibly popular for good reason, high tactical skill cap, requires awareness of enemies potential damage and crowd control to gauge situations.