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Akali Counters: Who Beats Akali

Updated for patch 26.21. Ability details come from Riot’s official game data for this patch.

Akali counters are mid laners who don’t need to select her to hurt her. She’s a 125-range assassin whose shroud makes her invisible and unselectable by spells and attacks, whose kit has three dashes across two abilities, and whose ultimate executes, so area damage, ground effects that stop dashes, and a way to survive the last hit beat her.

Five picks from her patch 26.21 ability text set beside theirs. Statistics stayed out of it.

Akali counters: Akali, the Rogue Assassin, splash art

Why is Akali hard to counter?

  • Assassin’s Mark (passive): spell damage on a champion draws a ring of energy around them; leaving the ring empowers her next attack with bonus range and damage.
  • Five Point Strike (Q): five kunai that deal damage based on her bonus Attack Damage and Ability Power, and slow. Cooldown 1.5 seconds.
  • Twilight Shroud (W): a cover of smoke with a brief Move Speed boost. Inside it she’s invisible and can’t be selected by enemy spells or attacks; attacking or casting briefly reveals her. Cooldown 20/19/18/17/16.
  • Shuriken Flip (E): she flips backward and fires a shuriken forward; the first enemy or smoke cloud hit is marked, and the recast dashes to the mark for more damage. Cooldown 16/14.5/13/11.5/10.
  • Perfect Execution (R): a leap that damages what it strikes, then a recast dash that executes everything it strikes. Cooldown 120/90/60.

Akali fights in a cloud. Twilight Shroud makes her unselectable, so targeted spells have nothing to click and attacks have nothing to hit, and from inside it she throws kunai on a 1.5 second cooldown, steps out of the ring Assassin’s Mark drew to land an empowered attack, and steps back in. Shuriken Flip gives her a backward hop and a forward dash, Perfect Execution gives her two more, and the last one executes. What can’t the shroud do? Stop an area. A spell that hits a patch of ground hits whoever is standing on it, invisible or not, and a ground effect that forbids dashes forbids hers, which is honestly the whole thesis of the five picks below.

Which champions are the best Akali counters?

Galio

Shield of Durand (W) is a charged taunt that hits nearby enemies on release, and a taunt is an area, not a selection, so the shroud doesn’t save her from it. A taunted Akali walks toward Galio and attacks him, which is the one thing she never wants to do to a tank. Justice Punch (E) charges and knocks up the first champion it meets, Winds of War (Q) converges into a tornado that deals damage over time on the ground she’s hiding in, and Colossal Smash (passive) adds area magic damage to his attacks. Hero’s Entrance (R) shields allies in an area and knocks up on landing, which is the answer to her diving a carry. 150 range against 125 is a fair fight, and Galio has the Health for it (he usually does).

Cassiopeia

Miasma (W) releases clouds of poison that slow, lightly damage and ground enemies who pass through, and grounded enemies cannot use movement abilities. Shuriken Flip’s dash is a movement ability. So are both halves of Perfect Execution. An Akali standing in Miasma is an Akali with a kunai and nothing else (a short list), and Noxious Blast (Q) poisons the area she’s in whether or not she’s selectable. Twin Fang (E) deals increased damage to poisoned targets and heals Cassiopeia, and Petrifying Gaze (R) stuns anyone facing her, which an assassin dashing toward her always is. Thing is, Cassiopeia has 550 range and no dash of her own, so a Miasma that misses is a Cassiopeia in melee with an assassin.

Lissandra

Ring of Frost (W) roots nearby enemies, no selection needed, so the shroud is just a place where a rooted Akali is standing. Frozen Tomb (R) on herself makes Lissandra untargetable and invulnerable while she heals, which is the cleanest answer in the game to a Perfect Execution recast that was supposed to execute her. Cast on Akali instead, it stuns her solid. Ice Shard (Q) slows and passes through its target, and Glacial Path (E) is a claw she can teleport to, which keeps 550 range between her and a 125-range assassin for most of the lane. Dead champions near her become slowing Frozen Thralls through Iceborn Subjugation (passive). The catch is that Ring of Frost only reaches nearby enemies, so she has to let the assassin come close.

Diana

Moonfall (R) reveals and draws in all nearby enemies and slows them, and “all nearby enemies” includes the one in the smoke. Pulled, slowed, lit up. The shroud has stopped doing anything useful, and the moonlight crashes down after. Pale Cascade (W) gives her a shield that grows if the third sphere detonates, which is a buffer against the kunai. Lunar Rush (E) dashes to an enemy and has no cooldown against targets with Moonlight, and Crescent Strike (Q) applies Moonlight and reveals targets who aren’t stealthed. In practice the matchup is two assassins who both want to all-in, and Diana’s all-in comes with a shield and a pull.

Vex

Vex’s Doom ‘n Gloom (passive) empowers her every so often: the next basic ability fears and interrupts dashes, and any enemy who dashes nearby picks up a mark she can cash in for bonus damage. Akali dashes with Shuriken Flip and twice with Perfect Execution, so every engage feeds Vex a mark and risks a fear mid-dash. Looming Darkness (E) is a damaging, slowing zone that applies Gloom, Personal Space (W) is a shield plus damage to nearby enemies, and Mistral Bolt (Q) is a missile that accelerates mid-flight. Shadow Surge (R) marks a champion and recasts into a dash onto them. Funny enough, the champion whose whole design is “punishes dashes” is a problem for the champion whose whole design is three of them (three and a flip).

How do you play the lane against Akali?

  • Use areas on the shroud, not targeted spells. Inside Twilight Shroud she can’t be selected, but anything that hits the ground still hits her.
  • Step away from the ring. Assassin’s Mark empowers her next attack when she exits the ring around you, so walking out of it yourself removes the setup.
  • Hold a stun for the Shuriken Flip recast. The dash is where she commits, and the cooldown is 16 seconds at rank 1.
  • Don’t be low when Perfect Execution is up. The recast executes, and it’s on a 120 second cooldown at rank 1 that drops to 60, so count it.
  • Trade when the shroud is down. Twilight Shroud is on a 20 second cooldown at rank 1, and an Akali without it is a 125-range champion with no shield.

Which items counter Akali?

Her damage leans magic, so Magic Resist with Health, and above all items whose effects trigger on the burst she opens with. Kaenic Rookern gives 400 Health and 80 Magic Resist, and Magebane returns a magic shield after 15 seconds without magic damage, which is roughly the time an Akali spends resetting between all-ins. Spirit Visage pairs 50 Magic Resist with 400 Health, and Boundless Vitality makes heals and shields on you 25% stronger. Force of Nature wants 8 instances of magic damage from champions before Steadfast hands over 70 Magic Resist and 6% bonus Move Speed, and five kunai are five instances. For mages, Zhonya’s Hourglass is the item that answers Perfect Execution: 105 Ability Power, 50 Armor and 2.5 seconds of Stasis, which is long enough to make her choose between waiting and leaving. Banshee’s Veil carries a Spell Shield that blocks the next enemy ability, and the shuriken that sets up her dash is an ability. Our item database has the build paths; the Rabadon’s Deathcap page is for the plan where you kill her first.

When is Akali at her weakest?

With Twilight Shroud on cooldown. For 20 seconds at rank 1 she has no invisibility and no unselectability, which means targeted spells work, attacks land and the Assassin’s Mark game is played in plain sight. That’s the window to trade. It’s a long one, since the shroud is the first thing she presses when a fight starts.

And after a missed Perfect Execution. The leap and the recast are her only way into a back line and her only execute, on a 120 second cooldown at rank 1 (two full minutes), so an Akali who used it and killed nothing is an assassin with a 1.5 second kunai and a flip. Did she just blow it on your support? Then the mid lane belongs to you for the next two minutes, and the shroud alone won’t change that.

New to mid? Our guide to LoL roles covers the position. Cosmetics live on the Akali skins page; the Akali ARAM guide is the Howling Abyss version, where her modifiers favour her. To be fair, out-duelling her isn’t what the best Akali counters do. They stand somewhere she can’t dash to and hit the ground she’s hiding on.

FAQ

Who counters Akali the most?

Mid laners with area crowd control or anti-dash tools: Galio, Cassiopeia, Lissandra, Diana and Vex.

Can you hit Akali inside Twilight Shroud?

Yes, with areas. The shroud makes her invisible and unselectable by enemy spells and attacks, but a spell that affects an area still affects her if she’s standing in it.

Does Cassiopeia counter Akali?

Yes. Miasma grounds enemies who pass through it, and grounded enemies cannot use movement abilities, which shuts off Shuriken Flip’s dash and both parts of Perfect Execution.

Does Zhonya’s Hourglass stop Perfect Execution?

Time Stop puts you in Stasis for 2.5 seconds, during which the recast can’t execute you. It doesn’t remove the ultimate; it forces her to wait or leave.

Is this list based on win rates?

No. Each interaction above comes straight from Akali’s patch 26.21 ability text and the kits of the five champions; no statistics.