Counter Tips to Beat Akali

Akali

Played as a mid and top laner.

Abilities

Counter Champions

Counter Items

Navigation

Abilities

Our Top Counter Tips

Champions That Counter Akali

Itemization

Abilities

Passive - Twin Disciplines

Akali gains permanent spell vamp and on-hit magic damage based on her attack damage and AP.

Q - Mark of the Assassin

Akali throws a blade at an enemy, marking them. Basic attacks will activate the mark, dealing extra damage and restoring 40 energy.

W - Twilight Shroud

Aatrox either heals himself for way too much, or hurts himself and you way too much.

E - Crescent Slash

Akali deals physical damage in an area around her.

R - Shadow Dance

Akali slowly gains charges (up to 3), and may expend them for a long range dash attack on an enemy. Upon arriving, she will immediately attempt to auto attack her target.

Our Top Counter Tips

The single biggest tip against Akali is to carry a pink ward. This prevents her from using her shroud and gaining stealth, which makes her infinitely harder to deal with.

At level 6, her damage output is insane. If she manages her combo (Q, attack, Q, R) if could mean death. Be very wary of her early game damage (post 6, pre is not that bad).

Akali will likely try to mark you very often in lane. She’s an energy based champion, which makes it essentially free for her, and the mark is fairly threatening. Keep in mind it can only be triggered by auto attacks, and before level 5 it doesn’t do much damage.

To reiterate: buy pink wards. This needed to be said twice.

Champions That Counter Akali

Annie

I love this matchup. If Akali tries to kill you at any point, you drop a stun on her and do way more damage. At level 6, you outright kill her. You also have the added benefit of being able to flash/Tibbers on top of the enemy team later in the game, which is far more than Akali can offer. The one thing you’ll need to take care with in this matchup is Akali’s roaming potential. If she heads down bottom and picks up a couple of kills, you’re going to be a sitting duck. So ward up, play aggressively, and you’ll be perfectly fine.

Renekton

If she’s chosen as a top laner, pick Renekton (or Swain, if available). More damage, higher health, and scales into a total frontline monster. You also have the added advantage of your most powerful skill (Q) affecting her while she’s in her shroud, which is bad news for her. Play this lane ultra aggressive, just be sure not to get ganked. This is honestly a bit of a faceroll lane, no real planning is necessary.

Swain

Swain is incredibly good against Akali. She’s a melee assassin, and Swain is a tanky monster with great sustain. She wants to stand in your face and fight you, meanwhile that’s Swain’s comfort zone. Swain also scales much better into the late game, and is all around a better pick. Even Swain’s laning before level 6 is stronger than Akali, so you should face little to no problem in this matchup.

Mordekaiser

Not a name that pops up often. However, because of his low cooldown on his E, he’s quite strong against her. Every time she goes to try to farm, hit her with an E. Try not to push too hard, as Morde is weak to ganks and Akali farms under turret just fine. You likely hit 6 first as you’ve forced her out of lane, and even if you hit 6 at the same time all you have to do is spam all your abilities on her until she dies - she can’t kill you until much later.

Itemization

Rod of Ages

Void Staff

Hexdrinker

Be sure to pick up pink wards. Like any other AP assassin - health (Rod of Ages) or magic resist (Void staff) are good early. If you happen to be playing an AD character, a Hexdrinker is always a nice pickup as well. In addition, try to pick up a pink ward as often as needed. Apart from that, remember your pink wards. Pink wards.