For once, we’re not starting with the passive, but with Akalis Q. It is a short-range skillshot that deals magic damage in one area. This ability has a very short cooldown and is only limited by your energy. With every single point, the damage increases significantly, while the energy costs decrease. Therefore, we should maximize Q as quickly as possible. I recommend you have two points in Q at level 3 and not skill the E until level 4, unless you can go for a solo kill at that exact moment.

Your W creates a donut-shaped cloud of smoke for a few seconds, which slowly spreads out. Akali is inside this cloud of smoke and gains some additional movement speed when you use your W. You also gain 100 energy, which allows you to use many more Qs. Make sure that you are not invisible in the middle of the smoke cloud. If you attack an enemy while you are in the cloud of smoke, you will be revealed briefly before you become invisible again.

Akali’s E works very similarly to Caitlyn’s E. She throws herself back and throws a shuriken. If she hits this shuriken, she can reactivate the E and dash to the target, no matter how far away she is from it. For example, if you hit a target just before it teleports away, you can fly after it across the entire map. Reactivating the E causes a lot of damage.

Akalis Ult also has two parts. The first part is a dash that requires a target. This does little magic damage and is only used to get close to the opponent. The second part of the ult can only be used after 2.5 seconds. Akali dashes in any direction and deals a large amount of damage to all opponents she hits, depending on the amount of life she is missing.

Akali’s passive is not that easy to describe, but I’ll try anyway. I recommend you play a normal game or go to the Practice Tool to get a little more familiar with it. When Akali hits a champion with any ability, she creates a ring around herself. If she moves towards this ring, she gains a lot of movement speed. Once she reaches the ring, she gains a lot of movement speed again as long as she moves towards enemy champions, and her next autoattack has a long range and deals a lot of bonus damage. Akalis E and Ult are designed to always trigger the passive since you can see far enough. If you hit Akalis Q at maximum range – which is not easy – you will also trigger the passive directly.

Akali’s damage is limited by her energy cost, so you need to consider how much damage you need to take out the targets. The tankier the targets are, the greater the focus should be on the passive, and you should try to trigger it after every ability. If the target is squishy, you want to get Ult, E and Qs out as quickly as possible without putting much emphasis on multiple passive procs. When bursting, you usually only trigger the passive 1 or 2 times.

In trades in lane, you want to work with the passive much more often. A typical trade looks like this: W or back-E to get in range, then Q → collect passive at ring → run to opponent and trigger passive → Q → passive → trigger passive → etc.