League of Legends lead designer reveals future update plans for Akali

Lead designer at League of Legends champion Akali are in the works.

Akali is one of the most popular League of Legends champions, and is known for her unique ability kit which can make her very hard to pin down during certain situations in-game.

The fan favorite champion has fallen off during the recent meta with about a 40% win rate on average, which has lead to Riot Repertoir releasing his latest batch of proposed changes to the champion.

The proposed changes to Akali were revealed as part of Riot Games’ “Life of a patch” initiative, where they show fans of the game the updates which are currently being developed for active play.

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Repertoir released the first draft of the planned revamp which included a heavy focus on nerfing the champion’s maneuverability and also increasing her power slightly to compensate. “The changes are aimed at […] limiting her slipperiness and then hopefully putting power into her spells.”

The changes will have an effect on each of Akali’s current abilities in-game, including her ultimate, although her passive movement speed and damage are likely to be the most noticeable when playing the reworked champion.

Assassin’s Mark (P):

• [NEW] : Triggering any of the events of Akali’s passive (damage a champion with a spell, leave the circle, spend the attack) grants Akali movement speed (in all directions) for 3 seconds)
• Circle Direction: 4 -> 3
• Attack buff: 4 -> 3
• Damage: 39-180 (+60% BONUS AD)(+50%AP) -> 0 (+60% TOTAL AD)(+50%AP)
• Movement Speed: (40/50/60/70%) at levels (1/6/11/16) -> 40% at all levels

Five Point Strike (Q)

• Cooldown: 1.5 at all ranks -> 4 at all ranks

Twilight Shroud (W)

• Cooldown: 25/22/19/16/13 -> 20 at all ranks
• Energy Restore: 40/50/60/70/80 -> 60 at all ranks

Shuriken Flip (E)

• Missile Damage: 70/105/140/175/210 (+70% BONUS AD) -> 50/75/100/125/150 (+70% TOTAL AD)(+40%AP)
• Dash Damage: 50/80/110/140/170 (+140% BONUS AD) -> 50/75/100/125/150 (+70% TOTAL AD)(+40%AP)
• Cooldown: 16/14.5/13/11.5/10 -> 18/16/14/12/10

Perfect Execution (R)

• First Dash Damage: 85/150/215 (+50% BONUS AD) -> 80/120/160 (+50% BONUS AD)
• Second Dash Damage: (85/150/215) +(30%AP) -> 80/120/160 (+50%AP) Note: still has the scaling with missing health
• First cast targeting paradigm: free target, aoe -> targeted, single target
• Recast timer: 2.5 seconds -> 1 second.

The potential adjustments have been unveiled not long after Invictus Gaming star, “TheShy,” demonstrated just how difficult Akali could be to lock down when utilized at the highest level, against the MSI 2019 champions, G2 Esports.

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Repertoir’s proposed rework of the champion will probably make it more difficult for pro players to pull off incredible plays like this in future, however, it seems as if the goal of the future balancing update is to make the champion more consistent overall. 

There is no confirmed date for when the Assassin will receive her latest rework as the changes are still in testing phase and it is likely that Repertoir’s initial draft will undergo some balance changes before being made playable for the public.

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The changes should come as good news to fans of Akali, despite the fact her kit may receive some major changes, it is likely that the champion will become one of the more viable picks in ranked play once again.