Hi Everyone! My name is Adam. You can refer to me by that or by my in-game name, NinjaDog. As you can tell by my in-game name, I was already a fan of ninjas before I ever started my LoL career. It was only fitting that I would find myself falling in love with the play style of Akali.

You can find me on my Twitch stream at Twitch.tv/Lirb.



I am a Platinum player, and Akali is my go-to champion for almost every ranked game I play. By maining her, I climbed from the ranks of Silver V all the way to Platinum. By using this guide, practicing Akali, and mastering her gameplay mechanics, you should be able to do the same.

Akali is a great champion that is useful in many team compositions and can very easily carry both Solo Queue and Team Ranked games. She is most viable Mid and Top. However, if you really fall in love with her, you can try her in the Jungle as well. I rarely play Akali Jungle because her pre-level-6 game is so weak, but you are welcome to try. I have provided the guide for that as well.



I have played as many games with Akali as almost all other champions combined. It is safe to say that she is my best champion and that I have a great amount of experience with her. I hope you enjoy my guide. I look forward to frequent updates and hearing your feedback. I am always up for constructive criticism and questions. Best of luck to you on the Fields of Justice. Thanks, and enjoy!

7/10/2014

I updated the starting items section for Jungle Akali since you can now only start with 4 Health Potions. I also made some quality-of-life improvements to the guide.

6/5/2014

I have updated several parts of the guide to make it fully up-to-date. I recommend Greater Seal of Armor as your starting choice for seals. The item builds have been updated to include Void Staff in both the lane and jungle builds. Masteries have been updated for changes I feel are appropriate.

5/10/2014

With the ever shifting meta, bruisers are still taking control of many games. Since many of them build defensive and often get Mercury's Treads and at least one other Magic Resistance item, I find myself buying Void Staff more than ever. I am considering it almost essential for every Akali game these days. I will probably be adding it to my Core Items list. Unless the enemy team builds no Magic Resistance, get this and become a beast.

5/7/2014

Akali is struggling in the current meta. Many of her hardest counters are very powerful right now. Warwick is a very popular pick. If he is on the enemy team, pick up a Quicksilver Sash as soon as you can, probably immediately after Seeker's Armguard. This will help you survive his ultimate, Infinite Duress. LeBlanc is very powerful right now too. Assuming you are laning against each other and you are of equal skill, LeBlanc will almost certainly win the matchup. This is the only current mid champion I suggest completely avoiding. Soraka is also very popular right now as a mid champion. Her Q, Starcall, will hit you even when you are in your Twilight Shroud. Thankfully, Soraka has very little escaping power. If you see a chance to kill her, take it, but make sure you fully commit or you will probably lose. I have added Soraka to the Counters section of the guide.

1/22/2014

Riot nerfed the cooldown reduction on Spirit Visage. For those of you who like to use this item on Akali, just keep in mind that it only gives 10% cooldown reduction now.

Annie's stun has also been nerfed at lower levels. This will help you in mid lane matchups against her, at least early in the game. She's still not someone you want to face though, if you can avoid it.

1/17/2014

Season 4 ranked play began today (1/17/2014). Akali is ready to bring havoc back to the Fields of Justice. If you want proof that she's a viable champion, here is my first game played in Season 4. Unfortunately, it was a normal because I was warming up for my placement matches. But another Penta Kill to add to the resume never hurts.

Pros + Burst damage + Hybrid damage + Mobility + Energy instead of mana + Amazing ganks + Good sustain + Performs well in multiple positions + Great for chasing escaping enemies + Can see in brush and over walls with Twilight Shroud

Cons - Squishy - Weak early game - No crowd control - Vulnerable to Vision Ward and Oracle's Lens - Has many hard counters - Difficult to learn her full potential

Primary Runes

These quints are a must. They are the best quints you can get for any AP champion. They give you the biggest damage increase.

Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration

Akali is a hybrid champion. As such, you will be dealing both magic and physical damage. Hybrid Pen marks give you the most bang for your buck for cutting through both magic resistance and armor.

I used to feel like Greater Seal of Scaling Health was a better start in most situations. While it is still very viable, I feel like I have a much stronger lane presence with Greater Seal of Armor. Even heavy AP champions will try everything they can do to poke you out of lane. This includes auto-attacks. Also, most junglers are AD champions, so these seals can help you survive their damage as well. Always use Greater Seal of Armor when facing AD champions in lane.

Just like your quints, these are a must. They provide the most AP damage. Even though you are hybrid, you are mostly dependent on AP. These out-scale Greater Glyph of Ability Power at level 7.

Alternative Runes

Quintessences

Greater Quintessence of Hybrid Penetration and Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration are the 2 best options if you wish to use different quints. Anything else is too much of a sacrifice. Your quints give you some of your most important base stats.

Marks

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration is the next best option for marks if you don't have the IP for Greater Mark of Hybrid Penetration yet or don't have enough rune pages for a hybrid page. These are still effective and will provide a slight boost to your AP damage output but at the sacrifice of some AD effectiveness.

Seals

If you are facing a heavy AP champion in lane, and the enemy jungler is not a heavy AD threat, you can use Greater Seal of Scaling Health since you won't have as much need for armor. You will get your extra armor through Zhonya's Hourglass and possibly Guardian Angel later on. You can use flat health seals as well, but scaling is better simply because staying alive will be most difficult late game when you are focused every team fight. Definitely use Greater Seal of Armor when jungling.

Glyphs

Here is where you have some pretty viable options. You can choose Greater Glyph of Ability Power if you would like to sacrifice the late game AP for more at the start. You can also chose to go the route of magic resist with Greater Glyph of Magic Resist or Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist. The choice is yours: damage or survivability.

Offense

Double-Edged Sword You are melee. This provides you with an additional 2% damage at the cost of only 1% extra received. There isn't much else in the first tier that you will want anyway. Take this. Sorcery Put 4 points here. Your CDR doesn't affect energy regeneration, so you don't benefit much from this stat because you are still energy-dependent. This does slightly help with the CD on Shadow Dance, but it isn't a game changer. Expose Weakness will increase your entire team's damage against a champion you hit with a spell by 1%, including your own. While it may not seem like much, it could be the difference between a kill and the enemy ADC escaping with 10 health. Mental Force gives you a boost to AP and lets you put a point into Arcane Mastery for even more. Arcane Mastery is an obvious choice. Executioner is a must. You are an assassin. You come in, kill, and get away. Dealing 5% increased damage to dying champs is too good to pass up. Archmage will give you an incredible boost AP later on since you will be stacking it as your primary stat. Devastating Strikes What's not to like about 6% more armor pen and magic pen? Arcane Blade Dealing extra damage with basic attacks based off of your AP is great. You will use basic attacks quite often, especially when hitting the second strike of your Q. Havoc 3% increased damage from everything. This one is an obvious pick-up.

Defense

Block and Unyielding will greatly reduce the amount of damage you take, especially early in the game. Recovery provides you with a small amount of health regeneration that will be very valuable until you reach level 6 and have your Hextech Revolver. Veteran's Scars and Juggernaut will give you bonus health. Juggernaut also scales very well with Doran's Shield and Greater Seal of Scaling Health if you choose to use them like I recommend.

Alternatives

If you choose to take a more glass canon approach, you can remove several points from the Defense tree and put them into the AD masteries in the Offense Tree. You'll be sacrificing a lot of health for the extra damage, so be careful.
Good options for AD masteries include:

Brute Force , Martial Mastery , and Warlord for more pure AD. These also give you more spell vamp thanks to your pasive, Twin Disciplines.
Blade Weaving increases your auto attack damage after landing spells.
Hardiness offers a slight boost to armor when jungling, especially since I recommend armor runes over health runes if you choose to jungle

Primary Summoner Spells

Ignite provides true damage over time to help you melt opponents even faster than normal. It also reduces healing effects, which is great for killing champions that rely heavily on life steal or spell vamp.
Flash will get you closer to or farther away from combat. It can also put you in range of a champion or creature for a much needed Shadow Dance. You can also use it to quickly get over walls. It is so valuable because it has both offensive and defensive uses.

Alternative Summoner Spells

Teleport can quickly get you back to lane after a recall or to another area of the map which your team has minions, turrets, or wards. You will typically only consider using this when you are playing Top lane. It can be particularly useful against champions like Shen or an enemy that commonly takes Teleport. This can set up some nasty counter-ganks. If you take this, it is better to give up Ignite than Flash.
Ghost will last much longer than Flash and can get you further, but it won't allow you to quickly get over walls or dodge important skill shots.
Exhaust can slow your enemy and allow you to Shadow Dance to them much more easily. It also reduces their damage dealt, which can save your life.
Heal and Barrier are most useful against champs with hard-hitting finishing moves. This could be Nidalee's Javelin Toss, Lux's Final Spark, Caitlyn's Ace in the Hole, etc...
Cleanse is the last viable option. You may feel the need to run with it if the enemy team has champions with extremely long and deadly crowd control effects. The alternative to running with Cleanse is to just buy a Quicksilver Sash.

These are Akali's best core items. If you wish to sacrifice some burst, you can replace Lich Bane with Rylai's Crystal Scepter. It will give you a slowing ability and extra health for survivability.

Starting Items

With the current state of Season 4, Doran's Shield proves to be the best starting item for Akali. It gives her a boost to health that stacks with the Juggernaut mastery, necessary health regeneration for the early sustain, and reduces auto-attack damage. Even though you will be facing many AP champions when you play her mid, they will still frequently harass you with auto-attacks. Doran's Shield simply outclasses every other starting option at this point.

Stealth Ward is your best starting trinket. You can use it to ward the brush on the sides of your lane. Sweeping Lens can be useful if you plan to roam and need to disable enemy wards, but that isn't likely for your early game. You need to survive until level 6 at all costs. Vision will save your life. You can always trade it for Sweeping Lens later if you feel the need.

First Recall

You always want to rush Hextech Revolver as soon as you can. It provides you with spell vamp for sustain and surviving trades in lane. The AP it gives you will also allow you to deal some serious damage to your opponents. It also allows you to clear the wraith camp when needed To ensure you have get this item on your first recall, stay alive until you have at least 1200 gold. If you time this correctly and don't miss too many creeps, you should have 1200 gold just before you reach level 6. Hit level 6, level your Shadow Dance, and recall. Your Shadow Dance only has 1 charge when you level it for the first time. The 2nd and 3rd charges will start building up while you are back at your base. Once you get back to lane, you will have 2 charges. Your 3rd will available shortly. Occasionally, you will be up against a very tough AD champion, especially in the Top lane. Rushing Seeker's Armguard instead of Hextech Revolver as your first item can be very helpful with the 45 Armor it gives, plus the extra Ability Power.

Boots

As for boots, Sorcerer's Shoes is almost always the best option. Your job is to deal damage. The magic penetration will eat through the enemy's magic resistance. Unless you are in desperate need of CC reduction or magic resistance, don't build Mercury's Treads. They will keep you alive but will also reduce the damage you deal due to the sacrifice of magic penetration.

Core Items

Your core items are Hextech Gunblade and Zhonya's Hourglass. Always buy these. I can't stress the importance of these 2 items enough.

Hextech Gunblade is your most important item. Its active slows your opponent by 40% for 2 seconds and applies damage based on your AP. Every auto-attack and single-target spell you use reduces the CD on its active by 3 seconds. Both Mark of the Assassin and Shadow Dance count toward this. This item will help you secure more kills than anything. It can also save you if you need to run away.

Even if you are ahead, the active on Zhonya's Hourglass is useful for making risky dive plays, surviving burst damage, or lasting 2.5 extra seconds while you wait for another charge of Shadow Dance to come up.

Offensive Items

You want to build offensively when you are winning your lane. More offense will give you more AP, which gives you more damage, which gives you more kills. Keep the snowball rolling, and you can build offensively all game.

Void Staff is a great option for Akali. It will allow you to pierce through enemy magic resistance. The enemy carries will always be your first targets in team fights, and they won't have much (if any) magic resistance. But once they are dead, Void Staff will give you that extra damage you need to kill their bruisers and tanks.

Rabadon's Deathcap is the largest pure AP increasing item you can get. It gives you 120 base AP and then increases your AP by 30% of your total. You will already have the AP from your masteries, runes, Hextech Gunblade, and Zhonya's Hourglass. This will give you a huge AP boost and greatly increase your damage.

Lich Bane will provide you with the most burst damage of any item you can get. You can ignore the mana it gives. That is not important to you because you don't use mana. But don't let that be a reason not to get this item. It is amazing on Akali. The way Lich Bane works is after every time you use any ability, your next basic attack deals bonus damage based on 75% of your AP! You are already stacking tons of AP, and you are a melee champion. With the short cooldowns Akali has and how much AP you will be stacking, this item is too good to pass up. Just simply using your Mark of the Assassin and striking your opponent for its secondary damage will proc Lich Bane's passive. The damage bonus is on a 2 second CD. Abuse this item like it's your job.

Defensive Items

If you start to fall behind, or your team is getting crushed, you need to start building defensively. There are several good defensive options for Akali.

My personal favorite is Rylai's Crystal Scepter. It provides 80 AP and 500 health. Its passive is great for killing enemies because it slows their movement speed by 35% every time you strike them with Mark of the Assassin or Shadow Dance and 15% every time you hit them with Crescent Slash. The slow lasts 1.5 seconds and has no cooldown. As short as Akali's cooldowns are, you can basically keep someone perma-slowed while you and your team kill them. The problem is that you will have to sacrifice some offense to get this item. There are so many viable items on Akali that you will have to give up something to make room for Rylai's Crystal Scepter in your build. If you choose to do so, I would recommend giving up Lich Bane before anything else.

Abyssal Mask is a pretty unique item. It gives you both AP and magic resistance. However, its passive also reduces the magic resistance of your nearby enemies. This is a very useful item for facing teams that are heavy on fed AP characters. It also allows you to negate some of the magic resistance if they built any for that little bit of extra magic damage you and your team can dish out.

Guardian Angel is pretty self-explanatory. If you feel like you will be focused first every team fight and have a high risk of dying, get a Guardian Angel. After all, you can't do damage if you're dead. It will give you some armor and magic resistance as well. NEVER build Guardian Angel instead of Zhonya's Hourglass on Akali. Zhonya's Hourglass has better stats, and is way more useful. It is also on a 90 second cooldown, compared to the 5 minute cooldown on Guardian Angel. Don't think of these items as interchangeable. Think of them as complementing each other. Always get Zhonya's Hourglass first.

Warmog's Armor is an item you will rarely build on Akali. All it gives you is health and health regeneration. Your job is to deal damage. You get your health back from spell vamp. Only build this item if you absolutely need health for some reason. Rylai's Crystal Scepter may only provide you with half the health Warmog's Armor gives you, but the AP and slow it provides are way better than just stacking health.

Spirit Visage is an amazing item. I love it, and I use it on many champions in season 4. However, I don't see it as a very useful item for Akali. The 10% cooldown reduction will only help you reduce the cooldown on your Shadow Dance. Chances are, you are going to be getting kills and assists very quickly in team fights. Your stacks will already be refreshing very fast. All of your other abilities still depend on energy. Just because they come off CD faster does not mean you can spam them. You will be energy starved.

Situational Items

Most of the time, you won't be using any of these items. There are certain situations where you may find them useful, so here are some reasons why.

Liandry's Torment will give you some extra Magic Penetration and true damage over time. I don't find this item to be very useful because your goal is to burst down your opponents. The damage over time effect won't do much for you.

Mejai's Soulstealer is a luxury item. Chances are if you are fed enough to make use of it, you're probably already in good shape and don't need it.

Quicksilver Sash can be especially useful against champions that have long-duration CC. Malzahar, Rammus, and Fiddlesticks might be champions worth building Quicksilver Sash against. It is essential a Cleanse with magic resistance built in. However, it will cost you gold and take up an item slot.

Randuin's Omen will provide you with the same amount of health as Rylai's Crystal Scepter and some additional armor, but no AP. Its slow is stronger, but you can only use it once every 60 seconds. I prefer Rylai's Crystal Scepter over this item. You may find it useful against auto-attack champions simply for the attack speed reduction it will provide. Hopefully, someone on your team already has one of these.

Thornmail is not very useful on Akali. The only situation where this may be useful is when the team has several auto-attacking champions.

Banshee's Veil is a very useful item, but once it is popped, you need to spend 25 seconds without taking any damage from an enemy champion before it refreshes. It can be useful if you are forced to be your team's initiator and need to survive an early crowd control effect.

Order of Importance

Explanation

Passive - Akali's passive is amazing. Since you will already be stacking AP, the bonus damage to your auto attacks is a great complement to your ability combo. You will also be building Hextech Gunblade every game, which will give you an additional 7.5% spell vamp. This combination is your source of survival in fights.

Q - This is your most important ability, other than your ultimate of course. It is a ranged attack that requires you to melee your opponent for full effect. You can use this to last hit minions and mildly harass opponents. Your goal is to be able to melee your opponent after marking them. When you do this, you apply extra damage based on your AP and restore a huge chunk of energy. If you don't complete the melee attack, you will become energy starved quickly.

W - This is the ability that truly makes Akali the monster that she is. There are so many tricks you can pull off using Twilight Shroud that I have dedicated an entire section of this guide to it. This is your stealth ability. Please refer to the Twilight Shroud Mechanics & Tricks section for more information.

E - This is your only AoE damage ability. It is less important and does less damage than Mark of the Assassin, which is why it takes 3rd place on the priority list. Striking an opponent with Crescent Slash will also activate the secondary damage of Mark of the Assassin, which will be a big part of your combo. Take this ability at level 2 when jungling and Twilight Shroud at level 3.

R - This is the ability that makes Akali a snowballing menace. It is a decently-ranged dash that can be used to chase opponents, escape trouble by dashing to visible minions/creeps, or deal devastating damage with her combo. It has a very reasonable refresh time per charge. Up to 3 charges can be stored at once. Unlike Ahri's Spirit Rush, you don't have to use all 3 charges in a certain amount of time. You can store the ones you don't need for later. The best part of this ability is that you get a free charge (still max 3) every time you get a kill or assist.

Akali's combo is simple. You want to first cast Mark of the Assassin on your target. If you are not right next to them, you will need to use Shadow Dance to get to them, then complete your combo by using Crescent Slash to proc the secondary damage of Mark of the Assassin. For easy reference, the combo is Q, R, E, repeat. Sometimes, you will even be able to Q, R, Q, E. You will want to cast Mark of the Assassin as much as possible.


When you want to secure a kill, don't forget to use Hextech Gunblade's active on them. It will deal damage based on your AP and slow them by 40% for 2 seconds. Your basic attacks, Mark of the Assassin, and Shadow Dance all reduce the CD of Hextech Gunblade's active by 3 seconds, so keep an eye on it to use it again. You will get to use it more than once per team fight if you can survive.

Using Twilight Shroud will make you invisible to all enemies as long as the enemy team doesn't have some sort of stealth-detecting vision on you. You can use it to drop aggro on creeps and monsters and hide from opponents. It also grants vision in brush, so use it instead of face checking. As long as you don't attack anything while in your shroud, you remain invisible.


Use Twilight Shroud to see over walls and Shadow Dance to get to the monsters on the other side quickly. As long as you aren't preparing for a gank in the near future, you can use your charges of Shadow Dance pretty liberally while jungling. You can also use this trick to juke enemies in the jungle. It's also very nifty for escaping into the jungle while in top lane by using it to quickly dash to the new Wright jungle camp between the first and second turrets on the Blue team's side.



You can also use Twilight Shroud to glitch out the monsters you aren't focusing. It is a simple trick. Just drop Twilight Shroud on top of all of the monsters in a camp, attack the monster you want to kill, and the others will not attack you. Be sure to spam right click on the monster you are attacking because Akali will stop attacking by default while in the shroud. You can use this nifty trick early in the game to take less damage.

When you are jungling, you will start with Hunter's Machete and Health Potions. These will give you the early sustain you need. Be sure to get a good leash at whatever jungle camp you choose to start at. It doesn't matter much with Akali. I personally prefer blue, but it's up to you.

The most effective way to kill jungle camps is to target the big monster in the camp and use your Mark of the Assassin to kill it as fast as possible. The AoE damage from Crescent Slash will kill the small minions pretty quickly. They may need one last hit or 2 to finish them off after the big monster dies.

Use Greater Seal of Armor. The little bit of increased armor helps you take less damage from monsters.

Take Crescent Slash at level 2 instead of Twilight Shroud. You'll get Twilight Shroud at level 3.

Refer to the Twilight Shroud Mechanics & Tricks section for tips on using Twilight Shroud to make your jungling experience much easier and your clearing much faster.

I will be adding more to this section of the guide in the near future including pictures and jungle clearing routes.

Akali is very vulnerable to anything that brings her out of stealth and all crowd control effects, especially snares and stuns. As such, she has many champions who counter her. Most of these champions can be easily beaten with some simple strategy. I have discussed these strategies below.

Items

Vision Ward - A smart team will drop one of these in the middle of every team fight. Once they do, your stealth is basically useless. Do your best to be cautious when you see one, but don't abandon your team because of it. You are still deadly without stealth, just very vulnerable.

Oracle's Lens - Just like a Vision Ward, this will reveal you for several seconds even if you are stealthed.

Champions

Anivia - Her passive Rebirth is annoying. Even if you kill her, you have to kill her again. Don't dive unless her passive is down or you know you can escape after popping it. She can also stun you with Flash Frost and cut you off with Crystallize. Don't get trapped on the far side of a wall with 0 charges of Shadow Dance.

Annie - Her passive Pyromania is your biggest concern. She will stun you and burst you faster than you can do anything to escape. Building a Quicksilver Sash against her can save your life.

Ahri - Just avoid her Charm, and you should be alright. If she lands it though, you are in trouble. Her ultimate is much like yours, and she will chase you down even if you try to escape.

Caitlyn - Don't step on her Yordle Snap Trap. It will reveal you.

Cassiopeia - She can easily bully you out of lane. Her abilities are AoE-focused, which allows her to damage you even when you are in your Twilight Shroud. Her ultimate Petrifying Gaze is also extremely deadly to you.

Cho'Gath - His abilities are AoE-focused, so he can hit you while you are in your Twilight Shroud. He is also extremely tanky and can sustain your burst while also dealing tons of damage to you. By all means, avoid his Rupture, or you are in for a not-so-plesant om-nomming combo.

Corki - His Phosphorus Bomb will reveal you. Try to avoid it.

Diana - Her Crescent Strike reveals you and allows her to dash to you with her ultimate Lunar Rush. She is tankier than you, especially early in the game. Try not to fight her 1v1 until you are confident enough that you can kill her.

Garen - He can silence you with his Decisive Strike and use his Judgment in the middle of your Twilight Shroud. His passive is also super annoying because he can easily outsustain you with his health regeneration.

Fiddlesticks - Dat fear and dat ult. If fiddlesticks gets close to you, it isn't going to end well. In my opinions, he is one of your top 5 hardest counters. A good Fiddle will make your life miserable in every fight.

Galio - He is tanky, builds magic resist by default thanks to his passive Runic Skin, and can taunt you with Idol of Durand. He is not someone you want to lane against. He isn't going to kill you easily either, but that isn't his job.

Heimerdinger - His turrets will keep you pressured the entire lane phase. You may be better off farming only when it is safe to do so and roaming when your lane is pushed too far out.

Karma - Slows, stuns, shields, and speed boosts... Whether she's playing support or AP carry, you aren't going to have an easy time with her. Most importantly, if she is trying to stun you with Focused Resolve, use Shadow Dance immediately to break the tether.

Kog'Maw - His Living Artillery will reveal you, but he is very squishy. Burst him down before he harasses you to death. He has no escape.

LeBlanc - She is quite possibly the best early game champion in League of Legends. Her early burst is insane. Also, if she locks Ethereal Chains on you, use Shadow Dance immediately to escape the chain or you will be stunned and probably bursted to death.

Lee Sin - He is your biggest counter in the game. Your Twilight Shroud is basically useless against him. If he walks into it and activates his Tempest, you are revealed. He can also launch his Sonic Wave into your shroud and reveal you. He is the most popular jungler in the game. Your best bet is to play extremely passive when this guy is on the enemy team. Definitely don't push your lane.

Leona - Stuns are your biggest nightmare. She has 3. Avoid her ultimate Solar Flare by dodging it, and try to avoid her other stuns in team fights.

Lissandra - She is an assassin killer. Be sure not to use your Twilight Shroud when she has Glacial Path available. As soon as your shroud ends, she will come racing in and combo you to death.

Lulu - Her Help, Pix! will reveal you. She can also polymorph you with Whimsy, so ganking bottom lane while she is supporting is probably not the best option unless you are certain you can get the kills and survive.

Lux - Dodge her Light Binding. Even if you are in your Twilight Shroud, she can hit you with her entire combo and most likely kill you.

Malzahar - Build a Quicksilver Sash against him. You will need it. His AoE abilities, silence, and ultimate Nether Grasp make him a deadly matchup for you. Whatever you do, don't dive him under his turret. Try to play passive, and roam if you have the chance. Be careful though, he can push your lane very hard while you are gone.

Mordekaiser - You can't trade with him. Assuming you aren't extremely fed, he will kill you faster than you can kill him. If you have to fight him, be sure your Ignite is ready because you need to cut down on his spell vamp as much as possible.

Morgana - She will stun and snare you like crazy and put her Tormented Shadow right under you. A good Morgana will wait for you to engage on her, then pop Soul Shackles to stun you before bursting you down.

Nidalee - Her Bushwhack will reveal you. Don't step on it.

Pantheon - He is a lane bully with much better harass than you. Don't fight him until you at least have Hextech Revolver. Even after that, be careful.

Rammus - Dat taunt will really screw you over in lane phase. After lane phase is over, you should be alright since a good Rammus will taunt your ADC, not you.

Renekton - He is just too beefy, has too much harass, and deals too much damage to handle. You don't want to lane against this guy. He punishes you too hard before you can reach level 6.

Rengar - His ultimate Thrill of the Hunt will reveal you. He can burst you down pretty hard too. Be careful when you don't know where he is.

Riven - She is resilient, has a ton of harass, and deals a considerable amount of AoE damage. Try not to lane against her. She is going to punnish you too hard before you can reach level 6.

Ryze - Once he snares you with Rune Prison, he can unleash his devastating combo on you. With his ultimate Desperate Power going, he can survive your burst. Don't underestimate his tankiness.

Shen - His Shadow Dash can hurt you a lot. Don't turret dive him when he has it available. He also has the ability to use his ultimate Stand United to save someone you are trying to pick off. Once he shows up for the 2v1, you are likely in trouble. Don't get caught out.

Sion - AP Sion will stun you and follow up with a Death's Caress explosion that will hurt you very badly. The shield it provides will prevent you from bursting him easily. Luckily, he isn't picked often.

Soraka - She is also very popular right now as a mid champion. Her Q, Starcall will hit you even when you are in your Twilight Shroud. Thankfully, she has very little escaping power. If you see a chance to kill her, take it, but make sure you fully commit or you will probably lose.

Swain - He is tanky and can snare you with Nevermove. Dodge this ability at all costs or you will probaby die shortly after it. Don't underestimate his tankiness either.

Syndra - A full combo from her will devastate you. Dodge Force of Will's stun at all costs or you will probably get taken from 100-0 in a couple seconds or less.

Taric - Anyone with a point-and-click stun ability can really hurt you. You can't dodge it or juke it.

Teemo - His ultimate Noxious Trap will reveal you and slow you. It also does tons of damage. The good news is, he usualy puts them in bushes, not in lane. If you fight him, do it in the open. He is super squishy. Just don't chase him into the jungle, or you are probably being baited into shroom city.

Veigar - He isn't much of a counter other than his stun Event Horizon can catch you. If he lands it, he will combo you. Don't forget that his ultimate Primordial Burst scales off of your AP. Since that is what you stack primarily, it hurts a lot.

Vi - There is basically no way to escape her ultimate Cease and Desist. When she casts it on you, try to use Twilight Shroud right on top of yourself. That way she can't see you after the knock-up.

Viktor - He is squishy. Avoid his stun Gravity Field by either running out of it or using Shadow Dance quickly. A good Viktor will wait play passively and wait for you to engage on him. Once you do, he will stun you with Gravity Field. Play smart, and only engage if you know you can avoid getting stunned, otherwise you are in for a full combo. His ultimate Arcane Storm hurts a lot, and he can chase you with it.

Xerath - You can easily win this fight as long as you engage him before he pokes you to death. Avoid the stun from Mage Chains and burst him as fast as you can.

Yorick - He just has too much harass and sustain to beat in lane. He is also very tanky and has built-in healing from Omen of Famine. You don't want to lane against him.

Zed - He can harass you out of lane very early. He has insane burst damage, just like you do. He can also easily outfarm you. This is one of the toughest matchups you will have to deal with.

Ziggs - He has great poke with his Bouncing Bomb and Hexplosive Minefield. His ultimate Mega Inferno Bomb will also hurt you very badly. He is one of your strongest counters.

Zyra - Her roots and ultimate Stranglethorns can cripple your movement if she lands them on you. Her turrets also deal lots of damage. Play passively until you have enough items to beat her in a trade. Don't turret dive her.

Do

Wait for someone on your team to initiate team fights so you can come in and assassinate the enemy carries.
Focus squishy champions in team fights.
Play passive before level 6 and you have Hextech Revolver.
Use Shadow Dance to dash to an enemy minion after you tower dive for a kill.

Don't

Initiate team fights. You are not the initiator.
Focus tanks in team fights, especially if you don't have a Void Staff.
Use so much energy that you don't have enough for Twilight Shroud when you need it most.
Let your amazing chasing ability take you too far from your team.
Get snared or stunned if you can avoid it.
Build too tanky, or you won't deal enough damage.

I hope you have enjoyed reading my guide. If it was helpful to you, I would really appreciate a positive rating. If you feel that my guide is lacking, feel free to express your opinion on that as well. Either way, I would love to hear any comments and/or constructive criticism in the Discussion section. I will be happy to respond to all posts and take suggestions to improve my guide.


Best of luck on the Fields of Justice! May your Akali skills be forever better!