[5.0] Akshan Guide - The Rogue Sentinel - Akshan
The Rogue Sentinel - Akshan
Pros
- Extremely valuable in late game
- Hypermobile
- Deals hybrid damage
- Can revive teammates
Cons
- Difficult to maneuver because the map is smaller
- Has very low attack speed for an ADC
- Very squishy
- Very low overall stats
Akshan Build
Best Build Guide for Akshan
Item Build Description
Additional information on the items
Starting Items:
- Long Sword will be your first item. This item will give you more AD which allows for your attacks and abilities to deal more damage.
- Dagger is the second item you'll buy. It gives attack speed which allows you to attack faster and last hit minions easier. Attack speed is very important for Akshan since his base attack speed is very low.
POWERSPIKE:
- Vampiric Scepter . This is a component of Blade of the Ruined King . Gives AD and physical vamp. This will help Akshan sustain more in lane.
- Recurve Bow . This item just gives you more attack speed which is good since Akshan needs this.
CORE ITEMS:
- Blade of the Ruined King . This item gives attack speed, AD and physical vamp. This item is good as it can shred tanks and help you chase down enemies. The %hp damage is not to laugh at, even for ranged champions.
- Manamune . This item is also good for Akshan since his mana cost is really high. Manamune will also increase your damage a bit, although the tear stacks will take a long time to complete. This item gives you AD, mana and ability haste which is good for Akshan as it allows him to spam his abilities more often.
- Wit's End . You should buy this as a third item if you're not against an AP heavy team-comp. Otherwise, build this after Blade of the Ruined King . This item gives you an incredible amount of attack speed and MR. This helps Akshan 's survivability and surstain. The bonus magic damage makes it hard for tanks to itemize against you.
FLEXIBLE ITEMS:
- Guardian Angel . This item gives armor and AD. Only build this as a third item on Akshan if you find yourself dying a lot.
- Maw of Malmortius . You should buy this as an alternative for Wit's End if you're up against AP heavy matchups. The lifeline passive + shield will ensure your survivability against AP burst.
- Serylda's Grudge . Buy this if the enemy team has a lot of tanks, but don't need the grievous wounds effect. This item gives %armor penetration, AD and ability haste. This item adds an extra slow to your abilities.
- Mortal Reminder . Gives %armor penetration and AD. Build this against tanks and when the enemy team has lots of healing.
- Phantom Dancer . This is a situational item. This is basically Sterak's Gage but for ADCs. It gives attack speed and crit chance. Only buy this if you're being focused down a lot, but don't need the passive from Runaan's Hurricane .
- Runaan's Hurricane . Gives crit chance and attack speed. This item allows you to shoot extra shots on nearby enemies. This is good for teamfights since it also procs his passive.
BOOTS:
- Build Gluttonous Greaves if you want more sustain.
- If you want to deal more damage, buy Ionian Boots of Lucidity since it allows you to spam your abilities more.
ENCHANTS:
- Build [stasis enchant] if you're playing against assassins/burst-heavy team comps.
- Build Quicksilver Enchant if the enemy team has a lot of CC.
- Build Protobelt Enchant if you need more mobility besides Flash and [akshan:3].
Akshan Runes
Best Runes for Akshan
After countless testing, these runes are by far the best runes for Akshan . Sadly though, we don't have Lethal Tempo to solve Akshan 's terrible attack speed, or Press the Attack for that matter, so we will be using Conqueror instead. You can get its 5 stacks easily by doing [akshan:passive] - AA (double attacks) - Avengerang - AA. This will increase your damage output in teamfights. Gathering Storm is really underrated, especially for late game champions like Akshan . After the first 6 minutes or so, it's instantly better than Brutal . Bone Plating is good since Akshan is very squishy and can easily be bursted down. If you think Bone Plating is not necessary, you can replace it with Conditioning , Hunter Titan , Second Wind or Adaptive Carapace . Lastly, Hunter Genius is important since Akshan 's abilities have long cooldown.
These rune are the best for Akshan if you're against an assassin or burst heavy team comp. Phase Rush is good for Akshan because you can proc this easily by hitting a champion 3 times. The movement speed and slow resist it gives is good when they have a lot of slows in their kit. Phase Rush also stacks with [akshan:passive] because of the movement speed it gives after you cancel a double attack. Brutal is good for extra early game damage and Bone Plating will make sure you don't get bursted down easily. Sweet Tooth will allow you to sustain in your lane for much longer.
Alternatively, you can also go for Hunter Vampirism since it gives you physical vamp and AD after every kill. It's better than Brutal in most cases.
Skill Order
How to distribute skill points
Summoner Spells
When to take which summoners
Combos
Learn how to maximize the champions potential
This is your basic combo as Akshan when laning. This will ensure that you are poking the enemy laner and the minions as well. AA, then use Avengerang then utilize your passive with your AA.
Standard combo for Akshan when he is going to dive/gank. Use Heroic Swing as it will attack the nearest enemy nearby. Then AA, use Avengerang and utilize the double attack passive from Dirty Fighting with your AA.
This is your hook + ult combo with Akshan . Lock on your target with Comeuppance and after a few seconds, use Heroic Swing to a wall and reposition. This is useful when you're using your ult at a dangerous situation or when the enemy is trying to hide behind a tower.
This is your combo for Akshan if you are chasing. Use Avengerang before using Flash. This will surprise your enemy and catch them off-guard especially if they have Barrier or Heal. You can AA after this as well.
Use this combo as Akshan if you want to target a specific champion and want to avoid getting hit. Mark your enemy by hitting them with Avengerang , then swing around with Heroic Swing . Keep in mind that Akshan will hit the target that is marked by his passive first.
Going Rogue is your escape and ganking tool. Use it wisely.
Akshan Matchups & Counters
Detailed information on how to play matchups and counters
Lucian is an easy matchup for you. Both of you have double attack passives, but yours is much better. However, this doesn't mean Lucian can't pose a threat to you. Remember that as Akshan , you do better in late game while Lucian does better in early-mid game. Akshan also has very low stats early on, so play passively unless you see an opportunity to get a kill.
Synergies
Braum
. This guy is one of the best synergies for
Akshan
. Your passive works well with
Concussive Blows
. After 4 hits, the target is stunned. This will give
Akshan
to hit the target and proc his passive.
Alistar
or
Leona
. Pretty much any tank that has hard CC is a good synergy for
Akshan
since it allows him to the enemies freely.
Camille
. This champ will keep a champion in the same spot with her
The Hextech Ultimatum
, which is what
Akshan
likes.
Lulu
or
Nami
. Any enchanter support that heals, gives shields, and empowers basic attacks is a good synergy for
Akshan
.
Akshan
with his passive already deals hybrid damage, with these supports, it will make his basic attacks deal more damage and harder to itemize against. The shield and the heals are also important since
Akshan
is very squishy.
Laning Phase
Laning phase with
Akshan
isn't complicated to follow in terms of what your goals are, how to play the lane out, and what you should know coming into the lane. When
Akshan
was released in LOL PC, Riot advertised him as a hypermobile roaming ADC/assassin, but only half of it is true. He is both an ADC and an assassin if he hits his powerspike, but he is not as good as
Katarina
or
Akali
when it comes to roaming. If he roams once or twice, it's game over for him since he will fall behind as a champion and he still shares the weakness of an ADC.
Katarina
and
Akali
can get away with roaming a lot since they are melee assassins and their damage is already so they don't need to farm a lot compared to
Akshan
.
With that being said, when you play the lane you're going to be wanting to look for short quick trades and avoid long trades because you have very low attack speed and you want to go in and out with your AA +
Dirty Fighting
+
Avengerang
combo. It is important to remember that if you Auto once and move before the
Dirty Fighting
Auto comes in then you will get an extra movement speed for 1 second which can help close the gap if the enemy is trying to stay out of range from your autos. You can Auto => Move => Auto =>
Dirty Fighting
Auto or Auto => Move =>
Avengerang
=> Auto =>
Dirty Fighting
Auto. Double Autos with the
Dirty Fighting
take longer than the short 1 auto and doesn't give you the movement speed, but it does more damage so figure out if you want the MS or the extra damage when going into these trades.
Roaming
From all the games I've played with him, I learned that trying to hyper roam like Katarina or Akali is actually really bad for you because if you don't get anything after 1-2 roaming attempts then you're massively behind for the rest of the laning phase. Like I mentioned earlier, champions like Katarina or Akali have so much base damage that they don't care if they lose a lot of gold or some experience early. Eventually, one of their ganks will work and it'll pay off. This doesn't apply to Akshan . What Akshan does excel at is lane priority to assist your jungler in securing crabs, camps, or perhaps talking early fights in the river with the enemy jungler or both their jungler and mid laner. You'll be strong and mobile in these fights and should win them most of the time if you kite and play it properly.
Mid Game/Teamfighting
When the mid game comes over, then you'll want to leave the midlane and allow your botlaner to farm it because botlaners will be the easiest people to kill and they need the shortness of midlane to farm safely. You'll be farming one of the sidewaves on Baron or Dragon lane until you're needed for objectives, grouping, invading, etc.. Be ready on a standby for anything that might happen, but farm while you wait so you're constantly getting stronger. If you can get a free solo kill, then you can go for that too if you're confident.
Teamfighting will come down to you either making a quick assassination to start it off, or kiting out like a normal ADC until they get lower or you get a number advantage (when your team outnumbers the enemy) in which case you can start to pick them off one by one and use your
Heroic Swing
to get resets and keep chasing them.
On-Hit vs Crit
So when do you build on-hit or crit? I've been testing this out for a while now and it's interesting.
If you build on-hit, you attack faster and your autos deal way more damage than the crit build. However, if you do go for the on-hit build, your abilities deal less damage (building
Manamune
/
Muramana
can increase the damage a bit, but it will take a while for you to stack tear. I wouldn't recommend it since it reduces your auto damage a bit.). Also the on-hit build requires for items to be finished (
Blade of the Ruined King
,
Wit's End
, etc.) for you to start doing consistent damage compared to the crit build.
If you do build crit, your abilities will do more damage (especially
Comeuppance
). However, with this day and age where everyone can just jump on you, channeling your
Comeuppance
can be tough and is really inconsistent.
In conclusion, what you build depends on the enemy composition and game situation. If you're fed and ahead (or if you feel like there's absolutely zero chance that the game is going to 30min+), you can build crit to snowball your lead. However, I like building on-hit for it's sustain and it's damage once you have 3+ items. For late game, on-hit build will be the best option for consistent damage and burst survivability.