Hope everyone is having a great day.

So I recently picked up akali and I am loving this champion. She is really fun to play and snowballs like a mofo. I was curious however how she is to be played/built in season 3.
I feel she doesn't fit the mold for a current top lane bruiser matchup, but with the increase in popularity of the AD bruiser mid lane, I have some questions.

Firstly, Ad or Ap runes? At the moment I'm running flat armor/mr seals and glyphs, with ap quints and ad marks. I have a 30/0/0 mastery as well.

Secondly, what items do you start? I start with boots and 3 pots. I've heard Scarra say on his stream that people who start boots and 3 pots in Season 3 are sub-par. But I feel grabbing 9 potions and a ward is over kill. The mobility early REALLY helps. Any thoughts?

Lastly...what items do you build? I rush revolver into gunblade, and then pick up an abyssal. After these two items I don't really know what to go for. I'm thinking Liandry's, DFG and GA. I'm not sure how solid that is, but it offers massive burst damage with great sustain damage and just enough durability to make it out alive (note the GA lol).


I'd really like any feedback as to how anyone on these forums builds/plays her in season 3. Thanks guys!

Heya. I play akali at mid 1400s and do fairly well. (40 games with her. 70%win and 10-4kd)

I also run 30/0/0 masteries and have flat ap/ad runes.

However my build start ia different. I start longsword and 2 pots. You get a bit more damage and a tiny bit more sustain. Like you said, 9 pots is overkill on her when you already have a fair bit of sustain in lane. And I don't get boots for the sole reason that I don't need the mobility that early on. I stay in lane and farm til 6 for the most part.

When I first go b, I try to pick up hextech and boots. After that, I'll rush gunblade, then deathcap for more damage if I'm snowballing (which I usually do :p). Next I try to get a ga because people tend to smarten up and focus me. Eventually to finish the build i'll get sorce boots or mercs. Other good items to get are rylais, warmogs, abyssal, zhonyas, lich, dfg... It just depends on the situation and how you like to build her.

Also during lane phase, you want to be ganking other lanes as much as possible. You'll snowball off them more than getting kills in your own lane, and also put your team mates ahead.

Good luck and have fun with her!

Funny, I get down voted for helping somebody and nobody replies why my akali is 'wrong.'

My akali play is good and my stats prove it.

This is almost as bad as when I got down voted for telling somebody to rush qss vs malz, when they asked how to counter him. (Any knowledgeable player will agree with me on that, but apparently not many go through the forums)

To be blunt, your Akali build isn't that great and you provided no proof as to what works and why. I appreciate you posting (I am seriously just trying to be honest and not offend here) but I gain nothing from it.

And for the record, yes QSS is a must-have when laning vs. Malzahar. Whoever downvoted that probably did because of the word 'rush' (implying that you buy it first before anything else)

First of all, you aren't even ranked. And you JUST bought akali. How can you say my build isn't great? I have STATS over 40 games with her that prove that it works. 70% win and a 10-4kd.

If you want a more in depth "guide" on exactly how to play her, ask specific questions and I'll tell you exactly what to do.

As for the runepage, you prioritize offense/AP, generally AP/level glyph, AP quints, either HP/level or armor seals, and then I think it was 7 AD marks and 2 magic pen marks, as with the mastery page, it allows you to have both passives active at level 1.

I'm not sure about itemization in S3, in S2 it was generally gunblade -> GA, but with the nerfs to GA, it's not as strong. Abyssal seems fine. Liandry's is pretty bad since you have no CC to proc the double damage, nor damage over time. If you are getting Guise, get it before gunblade.

I play 21/9, since I feel like the rune page gives you really low resists, and an extra 30 HP can come in very handy, more than taking most things on the left side of the mastery tree.

The DoT proc occurs whenever you inflict spell damage. Akali does that often and fast. This item also gives HP which helps for diving into groups of enemies. Akali's W is a slow (not sure if this counts to the double damage proc) and of course +15 magic pen is awesome.

BTW: I am a very experienced player and have owned Akali for probably a year. "Picked up" meaning I actually started to give a s**t about this champion and tried some games. Basically, because Season 3 hasn't begun yet a lot of stuff is up in the air. I am unable to find up to date professional help via streams, tournaments or videos of any kind. I don't expect a 2600 ELO player to be browsing the forums, but I figure it'd be worth seeing some replies. Maybe not! (haha)

I run:

3x AP Quints
7x AD Red
2x Magic Pen. Red
9x Health Yellow (Flat not scaling)
9x AP Blue (Flat not scaling)

As for masteries I go 21/9/0

For starting items, it depends on who the lane enemy is. Sometimes Ill start tome + 1 health pot. Sometimes boot + 3. But usually I do tome because on first back I can usually afford revolver + pots + ward.

Depending on the game Ill slowly build into lichbane but if the enemy team is a little more tanky I grab giants belt first for the health bonus since later on it will build into Rylais.

Usually its Revolver > Rylais > Lichbane by mid game. (W/ Boots in there somewhere)

Late game I grab Rabadon and either GA or Zhonyas. I prefer Zhonyas though since it contributes to damage and comes off CD alot quicker.

I would disagree about getting Liandrys. Its more of a dps item. Akali is more bursty, it doesnt leave much room or time for Liandrys to really get the full effect.

The only time you build revolver now is if you need the extra sustain.
Rush Haunting Guise.

I run:

3x MS Quints (You can run AP Quints here; MS Quints is a personal choice of mine that I run on everyone)
9x AD Red (Most people go 7 AD/2 MPen but I find that the differences are negiligible either way... 1.9 MPen or 1.9 damage + some spell vamp? Up to you)
9x Armor Yellow (still shopping)
9x AP Blue (Scaling since the moment you hit 6, these are equal to flat and then better and Akali REALLY shouldn't be doing anything pre6)

Masteries are 21/9/0 (Essentially, all AP masteries other than Mental Force, which I swap out for Brute Force and Summoner's Wrath; Also, defensive masteries are Durability 4/4, Veterans Scar 1/1, And then Hardiness/Resistance 3/3, Resistance/Hardiness 1/3 depending on expected lineups)

With these masteries, you can trigger her passive early game, allowing spell vamp sustain. Also, since the rest is AP, your mid-late game will be stronger in general.


Itemwise:
I typically rush Hextech Revolver and then Rylai's.
The sustain of Hextech and the health of Rylai's means that Akali can't get bursted down; also, the increased AP is always good and the slow from Rylai's is a great chase mechanism in case your R is down for whatever reason.

I can go Zhonya's or Abyssal Scepter is I'm getting wrecked by a specific type of damage though.

Then, Sorc Shoes.

Then, depending on the game, I change my build. If the game is going really well, I grab a death cap (and then Lich Bane typically). If I need more sustain and/or more chase power, I grab Hextech Gunblade. If I need a little more chase and more damage, I go lich Bane.

Eventually, my ideal 6 inventory item assuming no survival issues would be Sorc Shoes, Hextech GunBlade, Deathcap, Lich Bane, Void Staff, Rylai's.