Hallo there!I am Elwal from EUNE server and i am 2k elo experienced player.This is my first guide for Akali.(Sorry if i make lots of mistakes cause my English are not that good)

Akali is an energy user melee assasin.In my opinion she is one of the gods in top lane for the reason that she has so much damage vs a melee bruiser.From the other hand she is kinda difficult in her early laning because she lucks the mobility from Shadow Dance and the vulnerability in cc.Akali is a champion that if you play carefull and focus the right targets its impossible to lose.

The standar runes that you need are :
9x Mark of hybrid penetration because playing on top you will usually face tanky champions that gonna grind early resistances.With these runes you will see them getting shred by your Mark of the Assassin.

3x Quint of ability power just to empower your early damage from passive.
Now for the seals and glyphs that you will use depends on your opponent since you can face either AD or AP champions.

Vs AD champions I recommend 9x Seal of Armor and 9x Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist since you will not need early magic resistance so you wil benefit more mid-late game.

Vs AP champions I recommend either 9x Seal of Armor or 9x Seal of Health and 9x Glyph of Magic Resist

Akali on her own got really high values of damage and this is the reason that i recommend you to play her on top with deffensive masteries.Those masteries are also much more usefull at start than offensive tree for the reason that you take less damage from high early damage bruisers like Garen/Darius/Rumble etc.Also the Reinforced Armor makes you even stronger against late game AD carries that gonna be your primary target.Also Tenacious that provides you 15% tenacity will help you through a hard cc situation.

As with the new meta, Spirit of the Elder Lizard considered as one of the most powerfull item at the moment that can be used by many champions.The good thing is that synergizes really well with Akali cause of the high sustain that gonna provide her through her passive Twin Disciplines and the regeneration from the item.Also the true damage on spells and hits on champions is really good since you are gonna face most likely tanky champions.

After your Gunblade you will have to start building tanky and Warmongs Armor is one of the best choices since it will give you tons of hp/regeneration that you need and that means lots of sustain in teamfights.

After Warmongs Armor i usually go for Rylais Crystal Scepter for the extra health and the slow that provides but there are some other options like Zhonyas Hourglass or Guardian Angel or even Spirit Visage(gonna make you a healing monster).These items are not standar and depending the opponent team.

As far as the skill sequence I was usually using the Q-W-Q-E-Q-R but when they changed how to trigger the Mark of the Assassin(now you can also trigger it with Crescent Slash) I recommend the Q-W-E-Q-Q-R
so you can have a safe distance when harassing the opponent and also you can have an extra skil skill for farming.The skill order after 6 level is the usual one that you max Q first and you go for E skills.

WARDING
Playing as Akali in ranked you are really squishy and easy to ganked early game.So you will always need to track down opponent junglers.I will tell you the two basic spots for your warding.
Playing as Blue team you have to always ward opponents tri-bush since the jungler will come through it because is the shortest way to come on top lane even if you are getting pushed.
Playing as Purple team you have to ward the entrance to the opponent blue since the jungler will come through there.If your lane is pushed the ward should be placed on your tri-bush so you can track the jungler in your jungle for a possilbe dive.

FOCUS
As an assassin you have to focus the squishy targets such as the AD carry!Akali can burst down the AD carry only with her combo and the gives a great advantage to your team even if it costs your life.Theres the exception that you have to focus the AP carry if is more fed than the AD,but the burst gonna be the same and maybe more for the reason usually mages have no many ways to escape from your jumps than a regular flash which is no problem for Akali.As far as the initiation,you are NOT the initiator,except if you are the only "tanky" champion in your team.The reason you build tank is because you are propably gonna be a primary target and you have to be durable in teamfights.

POSITIONING
As an assassin you must not getting focused fast and avoid as many cc as you can.That can be achieved by hidding near the teamfight so you can position yourself to jump on the AD carry.The key to success is that you have to understand not to getting relied on your stealth from Twilight Shroud,because in the teamfights they will track you for sure.That means you must not get caught in the middle of teamfight.

TOOLS & MECHANICS
Akali is very mobile assassin after reaching level 6.On lane you can harrass really easy when you hit level 6 by using your Mark of the Assassin and instantly Shadow Dance on your target and then back again to your side.
While chasing opponents you can ult to a coming minion so you can close easier the gaps and then ult to an opponent(at this point Gunsblade synergizes really well cause of the active slow).
And now my favorite part is the changes on Twilight Shroud,that you can now have vision in the range of the shroud.That means you can make the PLAYS xD .You can take advantage of it by using it to track bushes/enemy jungle buffs,BUT the great thing is that gives you more paths to escape through the jungle.So from now on dont waste its cooldown(which is really long) just to go stealth or to slow them.

Pros:
High mobility when hit 6 level
New buffed w
High values of damage

Cons:
Squishy at start
Vunlerable to cc
Difficult early laning
Can be focused down easy with oracle/pink wards

Synergies:
Top 3 Synergies : Shen - Lulu - Kayle

Top 3 Counters : Lee Sin - Garen -Darius