2XKO Akali Guide - Moves and Overview

Akali is a high-speed rushdown assassin built around mobility and mix-ups. She's a bit of glass cannon as her health pool is one of the lowest in the game, but her offensive pressure is one of the highest. Baits, fakeouts, crossups, high/low, a command grab, and projectiles are all at her disposal.

Players who enjoy fast paced mix-up champions such as Ekko and Ahri, or who have been looking for a change after the nerfs to Yasuo, should give Akali an honest try! Her kit is versatile, full of counterplay options, and she has some flashy combos.

Gameplay Reveal

Movelist

Double Jump and Wall Jump

Tap Forward / Back towards the wall and Akali will perform a Wall Jump. Double-tapping can help with consistency if you are having issues, but she should always jump off the wall after you press and release the directional input.

This can be used to escape the corner, although the most common use you will see is during combos, or to manipulate fall timing for wakeup pressure.

Twilight Shroud

The black smoke that empowers all grounded specials performed. Players will have to keep in mind when Twilight Shroud is deployed, and if they will be within its AoE when deciding on attack and combo patterns. This adds an extra bit of mental stack to her kit, similar to Warwick's Bloodlust state.

There are three ways you can deploy Twilight Shroud:

1. Twilights' Call S2 SpecialHold (Can be performed in neutral)
2. Midnight Breaker (S2 Special Combo ender)
3. Twilight Bringer Shuriken (S1 Special Super)

On top of all her specials receiving increased damage and hits, her S2 SpecialHold becomes a command grab when empowered.

When the black smoke is up, the opponents have to be even more cautious and prepared with lighting fast reactions as Akali can chain together DownS2 Special Dusk Step teleports to further mixup her movement and attack angles, similar to Ekko with his Clones.

Pass Through

While covered by the black smoke, Akali gains the ability to pass through projectiles. She needs time to dash, then start sprinting before this activates, meaning you'll need to be early or guess ahead of time against the faster-moving projectiles.

Her DownS2 Special teleports, which can be used to cross up the opponent or bypass projectiles, and AirS2 SpecialHold teleports Akali forward in the air and will crossup at close range.

Angled Projectiles

Akali has multiple versions of her Kunai Strike that she can perform. DownS1 Special is the base version where she performs a small hop-back before throwing out 3 Kunai, or she can Hold to jump higher. Each has a Rekka follow-up for additional hits. Both of these are empowered by Twilight Shroud, which fires more kunai and grants greater jump height.

ForwardTag is the remaining Kunai throw version. We've already seen how powerful disjointed hurtbox assists are in 2XKO, and it appears Akali's will be no exception.

BackTag has Air hit invulnerability same as the universal DownH Attack anti-air attack. This makes her back assist especially good for covering your Point character's approach against aerial opponents.

Mastering Akali’s neutral is essentially mastering her movement. She doesn't have any single buttons or moves that are incredible mixups on their own, but she can manipulate her position and movement quicker than any other champion, and this is precisely what makes her so lethal when she's on the offensive.

She has good run speed, an excellent Back Dash, a double jump, wall jump, multiple ways to teleport , and can use kunai to alter her movement as well. Abusing her superior mobility and demonstrating to your opponent you know how to pilot her neutral will force opponents to second-guess punishes, anti-air timings, and their defensive decisions.

Don't focus too much on traditional footsies, and instead focus on air movement and teleports combined with your Assist champ to create mixups and sandwiches which are much more difficult for your opponents to successfully defend against.

Treat her Kunai as a spacing and positional manipulation tool rather than a traditional zoning projectile like Jinx or Teemo. Kunai can stall momentum, bait anti-air attempts, and high-profile low attacks in neutral.

Jump-back kunai is especially useful when covered by an Assist because it lets Akali space away from enemy attacks while still threatening a combo conversion off the Assist.

Her S1 Special Perfect Execution can be used as a neutral skip, but the risk of getting countered is pretty high for the low damage payout when used as a combo starter. The best play is generally going to be converting with an Assist, then Tag launching back into Akali.

Freestyle

Freestyle is the go-to Fuse for Akali. Aside from it being the strongest and most flexible Fuse, Akali benefits enormously from the increased offensive pressure and freedom Freestyle provides. Her offense revolves around setting up mixups and she has multiple crossup options to put the opponent into a sandwich with her Assist champion.

Having the extra HandshakeTag enables Akali to cover her unsafe block strings, and convert virtually any block pressure into a mixup with her teammate. She also has decent Freestyle combos when the opportunity presents itself for extended damage.

S1 Super Ender

S2 Super Ender

Ultimate Ender

Akali works best with teammates whose Assists either help her bypass neutral or give her enough lockdown to set up her mix-ups. Since Akali's own movement is excellent but her long-range presence is limited, projectile and high-blockstun Assists are particularly valuable.

Additionally, because she's a strong point champion and excels with mixups, she's also a great partner for champions who are more lacking in the mixup department.

Ahri

Ahri is arguably Akali's strongest teammate, and has also proven to be a popular pairing at high rank and tournament play. Her Assists complement Akali's gameplan extremely well by providing the coverage and blockstun needed to safely get in and begin her mix through her projectiles, puppeting rekkas, and lingering Super. They are equally lethal on point and assist, and once either gains the advantage, the other can help snowball Oki setups or extend block pressure to break through their opponent's defense

Thresh

Thresh is a strong all-around partner because his Assists can contribute in several areas where Akali needs support. Most notably, his BackTag can convert stray Kunai hits, and combos that knock back the opponent outside of the range where Akali can convert the combo on her own. His combination of long-range coverage, lockdown, OTG utility, and combo extensions can help Akali both win Neutral and capitalize once she gets a hit.

General Mindset

The most important thing to focus on when fighting Akali is being calm and patient with your defense. She has multiple tools to bait and punish counter attempts, so do not immediately press a button at every opening or you will get hit with a punish counter.

Her offense is specifically designed to overwhelm her opponents through movement and mixups, so pay close attention to your opponents' habits and patterns to improve your odds of successful blocking and counterattacking.

Also, keep in mind that if you play too passively, it's gonna be impossible to correctly defend against all her movement, or she can just command grab within Twilight Shroud to punish you for blocking. Of course you can jump to punish her command grab attempt if you are baiting it out, but the mental stack of keeping all her tricks in mind is her greatest tool.

Corner Setups

One of Akali's win conditions is to use midscreen combos to carry you to the corner, then break through your getup defense with her arsenal of mixup options.

A common set up after a corner limit strike is to wall jump into an ultimate mixup of high/low strike/throw and left/right. Akali can attack in the air for an overhead, or wait a moment to land and attack low or grab. She can double jump after the wall jump to crossup your anti-air attempt, or use AirS2 SpecialHold to teleport behind you.

To successfully defend, you'll need a combination of reactions, reads, and preparation. If she used Assist and doesn't have one available, you can take your turn back after correctly blocking. Often, you can get away with fuzzy blocking to counter her high/low because the timing of a high attack in this setup is slightly sooner than a low attack. Hold high block for a couple frames, then quickly block low to match the timing of her landing.

If you've shown you can block the basic high/low set up, expect a throw or crossup mix next. Another good option is to forward roll out of the corner. If the Akali player reacts in time, she can still put you in the high/low mixup as you wake up from the tech rolls, which catches most players off guard the first time. Be careful, and vary your defense options.

Movement Mixups

For example, she can bait out a DownH Attack anti-air by using double jump or kunai to air stall, then punish your recovery, or double teleport when Twilight Shroud is out to bait out any action, then punish. Delaying anti-airs slightly and being more reactive than predictive will help you protect yourself from getting baited.

Because of her tricky movement, it's often best to slow down a bit while defending, and wait for your opponent to make a mistake or show their hand as far as their preferred patterns go. Retreating guard can help create space against Akali, but it must be used carefully. Experienced players will start using low chases to punish predictable Retreating Guards.