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Akshan has only been out for a little while, so at the moment I do not know every matchup well. I will update this whenever I feel there is extra info to give about any given champion.
Anivia
A good Anivia can be a pain in the ass, her wall completely stops your E when used properly and her abilities do massive damage when landed. She'll most likely level her Stun + Damage first, so try to kill her then. If wall is down, abuse her for it.
Pantheon
You really don't have much kill potential on him after level 2, but if he doesn't have W then a good swing around behind him should win trades. Do take into consideration if you're going against PtA Pantheon or Conqueror Pantheon, PtA will abuse you early but Conqueror Pantheon will match your extended trades early, He can also quickly match your roams with his ult.
Azir
I only played against one Azir before, and while he did screw me over I was playing like a idiot at the moment. He can poke you down pretty hard, but abuse him early if you can and play around his cooldowns. If he can't dash to a soldier, and he can't send them to you to murder him he should be pretty squawked. Also his wall make tower dives no fun, so beware. I'm starting to notice a lot of mages are basically "Fuck them before 6 or get fucked"
Annie
Point n Click CC, not much else to say about it. She's annoying to fight in lane, and I'd say almost impossible post 6 without ganks. Abuse her before then and after perma-roam to piss her team off.
Twisted Fate
More Point n Click CC, ain't that funny? Bait out his yellow card, preferably on a minion. Q him then E, rinse and repeat. He is still more of a problem due to his ability to react to your roams, but long as you don't make it too obvious you should come out ahead.
Diana
She can dash straight to you, and her R can pull you out of your grapple. I don't like that, not one bit. Use your range to abuse her, and DO NOT get hit by her Q. If you let her hit you with that, she gets two dashes. If she dashes without hitting you with her Q, you can AA + cancel and use your Q to get a shield and some movement speed to get a safe distance away, and maybe even swing around her since she'll probably be in the goldilocks zone.
Galio
He is a pain in the ass. Tank. Two stuns. Can ruin your roams, and overall is hard to kill. Let him push towards your tower and ask for ganks, if your Jungle or Support tanks his knock up it should be a free kill.
Qiyana
I haven't played against a good Qiyana yet, but I can imagine she can be a nightmare. Will update if I have any good advice besides abusing her early, and playing to her W cooldown.
Katarina
Katarina is also in the abusable melee list, but because her Q lets her play safe for the first waves she's not as abusable. Still, if she engages on you try and use your AA cancel to get MS and put some clearence between eachother, then swing towards her and her minions. If all goes well you'll continue shooting her when she blinks back (and since most take TP + Ignite now a days), it should be an easy kill. Also they're all very, very cocky.
Yone
He's a pain in the ass, two dashes, a cleanse, a shield, two stuns, etc etc. His engage pattern is very predictable, so use that to your advantage to aid in dodging the brunt of his trade. After that simply Q + E while dancing around the edge of his range as to not give him shields.
Irelia
A good one can make your life hell, but her fatal flaw is that she almost always pushes towards your tower. If she doesn't have E, abuse her. Q, E, and then AA but cancel the second half for movement speed so you don't get E'd (If you engage with her E on cooldown, presuming she plays it not like an idiot.)
Zed
Does an absolute ton of damage to you in short bursts, thankfully if he doesn't have his clone he's completely free. Bait out clone, Q to mark, E to destroy. He'll always appear behind you when ulting, so if you can't swing into your tower (or he will kill you due to you being low) time your swing so you're moving towards where he ulted you from. If done perfectly he shouldn't really be able to hit much if anything on you, but really the best counter is just to absolutely abuse him in early laning phase.
Akali
Do take this with a grain of salt, but Akali falls into the same category as Zed. Once she has used her smoke screen she's extremely vulnerable, and it has a longer cooldown then your swing with 2 points into it. Abuse her when she doesn't have it, be careful of her 6.
Ahri
If she lands her charm, she wins the trade. If she misses her charm, you slap those fox cheeks. If she's smart at level 6 she can use her R to cancel your swing so be careful about that, but even then long as she doesn't have E you should win.
Lucian
He has a good amount of sustained and burst with his spell slinging, but you out trade him with good swings. His mobility isn't enough to escape them outright, long as he isn't playing too far back. Most aren't because they want to be agressive.
LeBlanc
I haven't played against her yet, but I presume it's a very skill dependent lane. Pre 6 is your best chance, as she'll have far less mobility. Once she Q + W's (her standard trade), Q + E her. Even if she lands the chain you'll out damage her more then likely, as it takes a moment to root.
Ekko
Healing, a chonker AoE stun and a dash. His three hit passive does a lot more damage then yours, but he doesn't look nearly as cool as you so abuse the style points. For the most part long as you don't let him hit his Q's for free you should be alright, as with how much movement you have his stun takes too long for him to predict it right.
Viego
You really shouldn't run into him often now, but just poke him out of lane. You do not win within close range, so if you're going to all-in make sure he's around half or be a god at kiting.
Syndra
Boring, but not particularly hard. Harass her whenever she's on cooldown, and beware her 6. Even if you can't get her to use her stun, long as she doesn't have her damage abilities you'll win trades with her. I've never lost to her, but every time I play against her I wish I wasn't.
Lux
Very traditional mage, doesn't do much early but a late game threat. Dodge her Q's and you win, if you get hit you lose. If she's bad you can Q + Long Swing and hope she misses her Q, however it is a gamble.
Aurelion Sol
My favourite space dragon! Much like the rest of the champions here he's very abusable when he doesn't have his Q. However do be wary of his roams, try and follow sneakily (if you have vision) and then swing to cancel his Comet of Legend (also ping what he's doing in case you're too far away to stop him.)
Malzahar
NOT THE BEES! NOT THE BEES!!! AHHHHHHH
Is it just me or does every Malzahar use the bee skin? Anyway weak before six, after six he's a problem. Standard stuff really.
Neeko
Avoid standing behind minions, only quickly move behind them to use your Q. If her stun is on cooldown, abuse her for it. Past 6 if you don't have an significant lead (or Galeforce) you might want to hold your E to escape her ult instead.
Sylas
Melee matchup, dodge his E and you win. Ignite is huge for early fights, past 3 you should use it once he gets around 50% HP to prevent his healing. Once you get the ball rolling against this guy, it shouldn't be hard to keep it going.
Viktor
High damage, but his CC isn't that strong against you and basically useless against your swing. His 6 can be annoying however, so be careful about that.
Veigar
The ultimate king of abusing cooldowns, without his cage he is just a small man with an annoying voice. Don't tower dive when he has his R (or cage), unless you're very confident.
Vladimir
Standard vlad stuff. Don't let him give you a big suck, his pool is on a huge cooldown and you need to punish him for abusing vlad. Oh and I imagine his pool cancels your ult, though I haven't used it on him for that reason.
Fizz
Does he have E? Yes > Wait for him to use it. Does he have E? No > Q + E and run him down. He can cancel your ultimate with his E, so he should never be the enemy you focus with it unless he barely escaped by using his E. You can swing freely while the shark is under you, so don't use your E unless you're confident you can kill him past 6 as it's your best friend at escaping his one shot.
Talon
Talons seem to come in waves, I haven't seen one in a hot minute but it's the same old strategy of abusing the range. Once he's used his fan of blades (and missed it), you win trade.
Cassiopeia
I haven't played against her more then once, and I imagine a better one could be an actual issue but I had little to no issues with her. Pre 6 she has no strong CC, and her mobility is lack luster to say the least. Crush her early, and don't let her slither back up.
Corki
Only has one movement ability, and it has a long cooldown. Abuse him when he ain't got it, really the same old tedium. It has a very long cooldown early, so you really shouldn't have a problem grounding him.
Xerath
He can be very annoying if you're bad at dodging, but he only has one form of CC and no mobility. Since he is 100% skill shots if you get good at AA cancels, you'll make him regret playing League.
Ziggs
Haven't played em yet, no CC just poor mobility. Don't swing through his mines, abuse your MS.
Lissandra
She's pretty hard to kill long as she doesn't underestimate you, but the same goes for yourself. She can't really win engages without her Jungle, and you (shouldn't) win engages without your own. Try and slowly bring her health down, until she either backs or is greedy and can be quickly combo'd. Q + E into AA cancels is also very nice, presuming that she didn't get far enough away from you after he mobility.
Ryze
Low mobility, but he does have a Point n Click CC. Phase Rush can make it harder to return trades, but over all I've never struggled against him. His 6 doesn't bring any value to his kit in fights, and his mobility is lackluster.
Akshan
Generally speaking Akshan has a pretty simple goal in lane, bait out the main mobility / stun ability and all in. You can apply this to most champions.
Yasuo
Makes your ultimate more useless then it is, but pre 6 has nothing on you. He has to be in your wave to use his mobility, so marking him for your swing should be very easy. Don't engage if he has wind, or when he has boots + 1 stack towards it since he can get it pretty quick. Though that doesn't matter if you dodge it, ofc.
Zoe
Hide in your minions, it'll make getting Q's easier and just general harassment. Move away from whichever direction she Q's, and her stun is pretty hard to hit so being bold with your Q + E combo can easily payoff.
Kassadin
I haven't seen this character in ages, but he's a melee scaling champ. I can't imagine he's that bad, if I get any more info I'll add it here.
Orianna
Zero CC or mobility pre 6, force her to stay near your tower and teach her the meaning of pain.
Pyke
Sneaky bois, really OP for picks. Too bad he isn't very jungle viable now, but still a welcome champ.
Evelynn
Same thing with Pyke, very good for roaming with due to the double stealth. But better because the whole Jungler + Mid situation.
Zilean
Zilean is never not good, his MS makes you basically the flash and having a revive for your heroic plays without needing GA is great.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Pyke
Sneaky bois, really OP for picks. Too bad he isn't very jungle viable now, but still a welcome champ.
Evelynn
Same thing with Pyke, very good for roaming with due to the double stealth. But better because the whole Jungler + Mid situation.
Zilean
Zilean is never not good, his MS makes you basically the flash and having a revive for your heroic plays without needing GA is great.
Who am I to decide how you should play Akshan? Huh. Just a guy. I don't have a flashy title or anything like that. I know I ain't selling myself well, but what I lack in prestige I make up for in being addicted to Akshan, I got mastery 5 and then 6 on Akshan not even 5 days into his release (I started playing a ton of splitgate recently though, need to get back on that grind). I want to share my experience with you all, and hopefully you can share your experience with myself. And eventually, you and I can get Akshan perma-banned like every other new champion.. Wait a minute-
Press the Attack Akshan can easily proc PtA with his doubled AA and his E, HoB isn't really that good since for the most part, you get those first three shots off very quick regardless.
Presence of Mind is just the better rune, Akshan isn't super mana hungry but Triumph will rarely save you with your ADC healthbar.
Legend: Bloodline is vital for crit Akshan since you won't be getting lifesteal from BotRK, but if you are going on-hit (or forsee a game where Immortal Shieldbow is necessary to survive) then going Legend: Alacrity is okay.
Coup de Grace is great on Akshan since it helps him assassinate better, for those sweet revives. However it is suboptimal into some team comps, mostly tank in which case you'd want to go Cut Down
Shield Bash is my current rune of choice, while it isn't much damage it's more then enough for me to value it on my runepage. I am going to be testing other runes however, so stay tuned.
Revitalize is a great rune, unlike Taste of Blood and Ravenous Hunter that only give you healing from your own damage, Revitalize will amplify all incoming healing AND shielding when below 40% health. In my tests Taste of Blood offers the exact same amount of mitigation, but do to League being a team game Revitalize is my choice.
First things first, On-hit or Crit? There's actually a lot of pros and cons to each, and you'll have to decide which is right for you in the moment.
On-hit
If you build On-hit you attack a lot faster, which is pretty obvious but it means a lot more for Akshan. If you get good at cancelling your autos you can basically out kite anybody, making you a monster for bruisers and tanks. On-hit also has a lot more raw damage, where Crit relies on you hitting good E's and R's. This means you are a true menace to Bruisers, Tanks, even some Skirmishers. But it doesn't really help you much with Akshan's true enemy, mages.
In my oppinion if you're new to Akshan, you should 100% go On-hit. It's an amazing build if you don't know how to use your E as well, and it'll help train you to kite lick a god.
Crit
If you build crit, you do an absolute **** ton of damage with your abilities. Your E alone can melt any squishy target in moments, and your R can almost one-shot ADCs when you're fed (though, who doesn't one-shot ADCs when fed..) This makes Crit builds feel far more assassin like, although both can blow someone up nobody does it quite as good as Cri Akshan. I'd reccomend it into any team that's lacking on the healthy champs, but it does quite fine even when they have 1-2 bigger champs.
Hey! Thank you for checking out my guide. I know it isn't much, but I hope to do a comprehensive guide once I learn how to use the site. For now I wish you good luck on the rift, and hope I see you out there. I'll pick Pantheon. :^)
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