Editor’s Note: Riot Games reverted Akali’s health changes after this article was published.
Over the past few days, Riot Games has updated the list of buffs to everyone’s favorite Rogue Assassin on the Public Beta Environment. While many League of Legends fans may be having flashbacks of Akali post-rework,
Akali first received major nerfs to her kit with the release of Patch 9.3, which removed both the champion’s stealth under turrets with Twilight Shroud (W) and her ability to heal with Five Point Strike (Q). The assassin’s win rate quickly dropped to 38 percent and has since lingered around the 40 to 43 percent mark for both top and mid lane even after the dust has had time to settle.
Prior to Patch 9.3, Akali relied heavily on her Q’s heal for sustain in lane, and removing that aspect of the ability played a large role in the champion’s decrease in win rate. Likewise, Akali suffered the removal of her stealth under turrets, which prevents the assassin from going all-out on lane opponents unscathed.
In the patch’s aftermath, Riot foreshadowed incoming buffs without revealing any detail about what these changes would be. Now with the updates to the PBE over the last few days, we have received context as to what changes the League of Legends developer plans to implement with the release of Patch 9.5.
The Rogue Assassin is set to see several small buffs across the board, including an increase in her base health and movement speed on her passive among changes to each of her abilities. Her minion multiplier on her Q has increased, and her initial damage on her E has received a buff as well.
For the buffs to her Twilight Shroud, Akali is now revealed by towers within attack range instead of the turret’s sight range. Likewise, she only needs to re-enter the shroud once to extend its duration.
Compared to the hit she took in Patch 9.3, the buffs on the PBE won’t have too big of an influence on the champion’s overall strength. The most beneficial change from the PBE update is her increase in base health, which will see a slight impact in her sustain for the laning phase. Akali will still be unable to recklessly tower dive, but the changes to her W will counteract the ability’s cooldown nerfs from Patch 9.3.
Overall, it doesn’t look like these quality-of-life changes will return Akali to the powerhouse she once was. She will continue to struggle during laning phase against ranged match-ups and will continue to lack the tower-diving identity she once had.
Riot mentioned there will likely be no further additions to Akali’s list of buffs, although with a week before Patch 9.5 hits, there’s still enough time for things to change.
