Akshan Guide

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Stefan Stevanovic

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If you’re just starting to play League of Legends, Akshan would be one of the best choices to start with. This low difficulty marksman is pretty vulnerable to stuns, but you can always utilize his high mobility and camouflage to escape a sticky situation.

What separates Akshan from other champions is his ability to revive allies by killing the champion that offed them. This is an interesting mechanic that is especially potent during the late game, where every kill or death can decide the game. In that regard, it is always better for Akshan to be a centerpiece of your strategy and to get the most farm on the map.

In this Akshan guide, I will talk about his lore, abilities, and optimal builds.

Key Info Up Front

• Price: 6,300 Blue Essence, 3,780 Blue Essence, and Champion Shard, 975 RP
• Roles: Marksman
• Difficulty: Easy

Lore and Story

Akshan “Rogue Sentinel”

Aksan is a person who felt injustice on his own skin. Unlike many other citizens of Marwi, who tried to stay out of trouble by disregarding the crimes of local warlords, Akshan could let allow injustice to go unpunished. Whenever he saw someone being wronged, Akshan would jump to their defense.

Although this way of life made him renowned among the local populace, it also created numerous enemies among criminal elements of the city. On one particular occasion, the young boy was even close to dying after being ruthlessly beaten by a gang of thugs.

Luckily for Akshan, he was found by a passing elderly woman called Shadya. Not fearing retributing, she brought the boy into her home, ultimately saving his life. When Akshan finally woke, he realized that Shadya was, in fact, a Sentinel of Light, the order whose main goal is to annihilate agents of the Black Mist.

Although two constantly bickered among small things, Shadya finally grew fond of him. Unlike many other citizens, he actually had the courage and pure heart. At that moment, the old lady struck a deal with young Akshan: he could stay in her house for as long as he wanted, but he had to dedicate himself to the order.

Teaching him everything she knew, Askhan matured both in mental strength and skill. Unfortunately, as time passed, Shadya became worried about her young pupil. She finally explained that the Harrowing is coming bringing forth dead creatures from the Shadow Isles. The only way to stop these apparitions is by collecting the ancient weapons from Shurima’s tombs.

Shadya was shocked to realize that the weapons had already been plundered. Now in the hands of local warlords, they refused to comply with Shadya’s pleas urging them to relinquish the weapons so that the order could fight the upcoming Harrowing. Instead, they wanted to utilize the artifact’s mystic powers for their own gain.

Having to scrape for weaponry, Akshan found an ancient gun in the order’s base. Fearful of its power, Shadya forbade him from using it. According to her, this weapon called Absolver could restore fallen allies to life, which was a power beyond the order’s comprehension.

Stubborn as ever, Akshan disregarded his mentor. For the longest time, he has seen good men die without any repercussions against wrongdoers. It was time to put fate into his own hands.

Akshan continued inquiring Shadya about the weapon only to discover that the woman used Absolver to dispose of Akshan’s killer, thus returning him to life all those years ago. This prompted many questions in his head; the young man believed there were many people more worth the gun’s blessing than the Akshan.

Despite their initial reluctance, Shadya continued pressuring the local warlords to forfeit the ancient weaponry. One day, walking back home, Akshan saw his mentor lying dead on the street, in the same spot she found him once upon a time.

Akshan made a hasty decision. Although he didn’t know which one of the warlords killed his mentor, he would hunt them down, one by one, until he finds the culprit, thus restoring Shadya to life.

Key Relationships and Quotes

• Viego: Both Akshan and Viego are related to the order of the Sentinels. However, unlike Akshan, who fights for justice, Viego is destructive and selfish, putting his interests ahead of everyone else’s.
• Vayne, Irelia, Senna, Riven, Lucian, and Graves: Like Akshan, these two characters are related to Sentinels of the Light, protecting the world from dark entities.
• Akshan’s quote, referring to the power of Absolver:

“The bad part about having friends? Always having to avenge them.”

Key Features

Like many other ADCs, Akshan’s main priority during the laning phase is to get as many minion kills as possible. The great thing about the champion is that he doesn’t require a lot of mana for poking. His passive is a great zoning tool, and it can also proc with his Avengerang.

Heroic Swing is a great escape tool that allows the champion to latch to any type of terrain and escape from the fray. That way, you can avoid ganks and potential lane deaths. Furthermore, this allows you to utilize Flash for offensive purposes while still having an escape mechanism for a potential counter-strike.

Going Rogue is the thing that gives this champion his charm. Avenging and reviving allies is really wholesome, often saving losing fights. Keep in mind that champion is especially great against low health targets and benefits a lot from items that can proc.

Here are some of the main reasons to play Akshan:

• Akshan is a pretty straightforward champion. His skills are not hard to use or land, making him one of the best choices for beginners.
• Although squishy and susceptible to crowd control, he has several abilities that can help him out when in a pinch. He excels when moving through the jungle.
• Going Rogue has a unique mechanic that can turn fights around. Furthermore, it makes it really enjoyable when you save teammates. Executing Scoundrels can provide extra gold to the champion, allowing him to scale even faster.
• This champion is very flexible. Not only can you go to practically any lane, but you can also experiment with builds. This makes for a very fun gaming experience, but it also allows players to adapt to any enemy composition and the current situation on the battlefield.

Akshan is a fairly successful champion with a win rate well above 50%. However, there are still certain matchups where he struggles. Here are some of the champion’s worst traits and potential issues you might encounter during a match:

• Unlike some other characters, the Rogue Sentinel doesn’t have a strong lane clear. Later on, it gets better with points in Avengerang and extra attack damage, but initially, low-skilled players might struggle to get last hits.
• The champion’s Heroic Swing ability is fun, but you need to learn how to use it. This ability has nice offensive potential if you manage to score takedowns, as it refreshes cooldown. However, if you use it to initiate and don’t manage to kill anyone, you are at risk of not having an escape mechanism for a quick retreat.
• For the champion to be effective and to gain extra gold, you need to have dead allies on the field. As absurd as it sounds, without Going Rogue buff, Akshan often feels much weaker (this is especially noticeable prior to engagement). So, this ability is often counter indicative.
• While the Rogue Sentinel is considered as an easy-to-master, his ultimate can be tricky. Like all channel abilities, you need to find the right moment to wind it up. Unfortunately, there are so many things that can block it, which makes it relatively bad compared to similar marksmen abilities.

Like many other marksmen, the Rogue Sentinel struggles with champions who can close the distance and focus on enemies with crowd control and high damage.

Anivia

Anivia is one of the best counters to Akshan, winning 53% to 54% of the time.

Due to his ability to resurrect allies, Akshan is really good in teamfights. However, Anivia is even better. The Cryophoenix can create an ice wall to isolate Akshan, or stifle his progress forward. She has a strong AOE slow in her Glacial Storm ultimate, which can also reduce his speed.

When Anivia kills Akshan’s ally, the Rogue Sentinel has to kill her twice to resurrect an ally. This would force him to utilize all his spells, and sometimes, he won’t have enough damage to kill her twice. In other words, Anivia might reduce a lot of his teamfight potential.

The combination of Flash Frost and Crystalize is especially good against Heroic Swing. Lastly, if the two of them are paired in a lane, Anivia can easily push the minion and turret, forcing the Rogue Sentinel to stay put.

Cassiopeia

Here is another champion that does reasonably well against Akshan.

Basically, Akshan is unable to use Heroic Swing aggressively against this champion. If he comes close to Cassiopeia, with his escape mechanism on cooldown, she can slow him down and nuke him. As if that wasn’t enough, her second ability, Miasma, can stop Akshan from swinging.

During early laning, the only thing Cassiopeia has to worry about is Akshan’s occasionally poking with Avengerang. If she manages to avoid this damage, he shouldn’t represent too much of a threat. As Cassiopeia, you need to stay close to him and continuously poke him so he can’t regenerate.

When you start fighting 5v5, Cassiopeia will provide much more utility to her team with slows and strong ultimate. The champion has a lot of ways of stifling enemies’ mobility, without which, Akshan often feels lackluster. Also, make sure to stay in the middle of the lane so he cannot utilize his Heroic Swing the way he would like to.

Lux

Like many other champions, Lux should feel relatively safe against Akshan during the laning phase. This is especially true if she stays in the middle and doesn’t approach the ledges. On the other hand, Lux has enough damage to nuke him down if he makes a misplay.

The champion can continuously poke the Rogue Sentinel with Lucent Singularity and keep him at a distance. However, Lux players should be very careful with procing the passive. If you come too close, Akshan can jump you with Heroic Swing.

Due to the fact she is rather squishy, Lux should never engage Akshan near the brushes. Otherwise, she has a major advantage in terms of damage.

Related Perks and Special Abilities

Dirty Fighting (Passive)

Whenever the champion uses his auto-attack, he can launch another basic strike against the target at 50% attack damage (100% for minions). Alternatively, you can cancel the strike and gain a movement speed buff that increases with your level and attack speed.

It is worth noting that Dirty Fighting activates all on-hit effects, critical strikes, and procs. This gives the champion a preference for certain builds but also allows some experimentation.

The passive also has a secondary component. You can stack it up to three times, and on the third hit, the ability will deal from 10 to 165 extra magic damage (depending on character level). If you hit an enemy champion, you will also gain a shield for two seconds.

Dirty Fighting is a great passive that allows the champion to trade with enemies. It gives you both offensive and defensive perks, but you’re limited in terms of how many times you can proc it. The effect is especially great with Heroic Swing (E), as this ability prioritizes champions and helps faster stacking.

Avengerang (Q)

Avengerang is the main poking ability, and you will use it a lot in the laning phase. Unfortunately, it often feels lackluster to similar abilities. Furthermore, it doesn’t deal that much damage against minions, which prevents quick farming during the early portions of the game (until you get more attack damage).

The Rogue Sentinel throws a boomerang that travels farther with each enemy unit it hits. The ability also reveals invisible opponents, provides sight along the path, and grants Akshan a 40% movement speed buff that quickly decays over a 1-second period.

Going Rogue (W)

Going Rogue is the champion’s main ability. Depending on the situation, it can be really nasty, especially in the mid to late game. Then again, it might not do anything for you.

When an enemy kills one of your allies, this champion will be marked as Scoundrel for one minute. The debuff duration is refreshed with each subsequent takedown that a Scoundrel makes. Upon killing this debuffed target, the Rogue Sentinel will gain an extra 100 while also reviving all the allied champions previously killed by Scoundrel.

Upon killing one of the Scoundrels, Akshan will remove the marks from all other opponents (there can be several Scoundrels at once). He will receive 100 gold per mark. Although all marks are removed, and you can get up to 400 gold if 4 allies were dead, you will only revive champions killed by the primary target. For Going Rogue to take effect, Akshan needs to be alive himself.

You can also activate the ability to camouflage the champion. This effect will remain active for as long as you’re close to brushes or terrain. Otherwise, if you’re in the open, it will only last for 2 seconds. Additionally, the champion is now able to see where Scoundrels moved and will gain an extra 80/90/100/110/120 movement speed when in a 5,000-unit vicinity. On top of that, he received 12% mana regeneration based on missing mana.

The ability recasts itself every second, and the effect will perish if you attack or use an ability.

Heroic Swing (E)

The Rogue Sentinel casts a grappling hook towards a nearby terrain feature. He will be attacked to it for 2.125, allowing him to quickly attack the targets in the vicinity. Naturally, you need to hit the terrain for the hook to have an impact. Utilizing blinks or dashes, or becoming disabled, will unhook Akshan from the wall.

When you cast the ability for the second time, the champion will swing in a semi-circular motion for 3 seconds. Upon colliding with terrain or a champion, the movement will stop. During this time, he will attack the nearest visible target, prioritizing champions. Each strike will dish Akshan’s physical damage while also applying all the effects at 25% of their respective effectiveness.

When you use the ability for the third consecutive time, the Rogue Sentinel will jump on a specific spot hitting the target one last time. The ability cooldown can be reduced with every takedown by 0.5 seconds. These strikes can apply critical strikes against the enemies for extra 57.5% damage. All lifestealing and omnistealing effects are applied at 100% effectiveness.

Lastly, you can utilize Heroic Swing in conjunction with the champion’s other abilities. This ability can be really tricky, but if you learn how to use it properly, it can be an enormous asset. Among others, you should be careful as when to use it, because in some cases, you want to have it available to escape from the enemies.

Comeuppance (R)

Comeuppance is a channeling ability (2.5 seconds) that reveals both Akshan and his target. During this time, the champion will store bullets in Absolver, which will be fired after the channel. If you cancel the ability for whatever reason, it will be placed on a 5-second cooldown. You can store up to 5/6/7 bullets.

An interesting feature of Comeuppance is that every bullet will provide sights as it travels. Bullets will deal damage to the first unit struck, which might also include the structures. Furthermore, if they connect with minions, they will be instantly executed.

Comeuppance is significantly stronger against targets with missing health, gaining from 0 to 300% extra damage. Each bullet will restore health according to 100% lifesteal. While you’re channeling the ability, Akshan can move freely. This provides some tactical advantages allowing the enemy to go back, waiting to store bullets, and then come forward when the ability is ready.

Due to the fact that Comeuppance does extra damage to enemies with low health, it can be very useful against tanks and other targets that you would otherwise struggle with.

Combos

Akshan has several very potent combos. Perhaps the best one Avengerang (Q) into auto-attack, followed by Heroic Swing (E) and another double attack. This combination would allow you to utilize passive three times in a row. It is especially potent when you have a good lane.

Although Comeuppance (R) is not as good as some other similar ultimates, it has one great feature. You can use this ability in advance, after which you can use Heroic Swing (E) to grapple to a wall. While swinging, the bullets will fly towards your enemies, and it will be much harder to interrupt the cast. Furthermore, this will provide some extra mobility if you get focused.

Champion Playstyle: Runes and Summoner Spells

Akshan’s utility depends on his offense. You should be capable of eliminating enemies while they have Scoundrel debuff. Furthermore, landing as many attacks in succession will allow the Rogue Sentinel to proc his passive several times over. During the ultimate, you can devastate enemies who have already lost a part of their health.

Here are the optimal runes and shards for the champion:

Runes

Press the attack

Press the Attack is simply the best rune on the champion. Given his abilities, you can proc in numerous different ways dishing enormous damage to opponents. You will notice its impact from the get-go, as it will allow you to exchange effectively against lane-dominant opponents.

Press the Attack allows you to stack the attack up to three times and procing the effect will make the opponent exposed, allowing you to dish even more damage.

Presence of Mind

This particular rune is also handy from the laning phase. It will allow you to exchange blows with enemies without thinking about mana. Among others, it is especially great for Avengerang poke. This ability is very mana-heavy, which is why Presence of Mind allows you to circumvent the champion’s obvious flaw.

Later on, it will provide 15% max mana restoration upon takedown, allowing the champion to switch from one opponent to the next.

Legend: Bloodline

Legend: Bloodline is another sustain ability. In this current meta, lifesteal is crucial for all marksmen as they are often exposed to mobile enemies. Given that the champion doesn’t benefit as much from tenacity or attack speed, this is definitely the best choice.

When you scale it to the maximum, the rune can give you a 9% extra lifesteal. That way, you won’t have to get any other sustain items and can focus on offense and pure defense.

Coup de Grace

Coup de Grace synergizes really well with Comeuppance. The rune increases your overall damage by 8% (excluding true damage) to all opponents who are below 40% health. As such, it allows the champion to quickly dispose of Scoundrels or targets who have already engaged the team and are now at low health.

Relentless Hunter

As for the last two runes, Akshan has several options at his disposal. It is my firm belief that Relentless Hunter is one of the better ones. Like many other runes on the list, it synergizes well with abilities. When one of the enemies gets a Scoundrel debuff, it is easier to track them down (especially with Going Rogue on top of that).

Relentless Hunter is really great on mid Akshan, as it allows you to quickly intervene in other lanes or perform ganks.

Sudden Impact

Lastly, we have to consider Sudden Impact. The ability is activated with either W or E, and unlike Relentless Hunter, which gives you movement speed when out of combat, this one will affect your mobility during engagements. Sudden Impact buff provides from 4.3 to 7 lethality, which is especially great against squishier opponents.

Shards

Offense

Having 10% more attack speed is always a nice addition. Among others, it will help out with Dirty Fighting and Press the Attack stacks.

Flex

Given that champion benefits much more from offense than defense, you should get adaptive damage for Flex shard.

Defense

Additional 8 magic resist is often a better choice, but you might also prefer armor depending on the enemy composition.

Summoner Spells

Most people go with Flash as the primary summoner spell. It is good in almost any situation, especially on squishier champions who are more likely to be targeted. While Akshan has some escape potential, it is also good to have Flash in your back pocket.

As for the second one, players usually go with Ignite. The spell is nice for eliminating Scoundrels. However, Teleport can also be a nice option. This is especially true if you wish to have a more active role and counterattack enemies in other lanes after they kill an ally.

Recommended Build

The Rogue Sentinel should go with offensive items with minor defensive stats. Your ability to stay alive will depend on Summoner Spells and the utilization of Heroic Swing, but you can also benefit from some extra health and magic resistance. When purchasing items, it is always much better to focus on those that have procing passives, as this will scale well with your ability kit.

Berserker’s Greaves

This doesn’t need much explanation. Simply put, they are the best boots for any ADC providing extra attack speed.

Wit’s End

Wit’s End is probably the best weapon the champion. It gives you 40 attack speed, 40 damage, and 40 magic resist. But what is even more important is that it gives you access to a powerful passive that applies extra magic damage on basic strikes and gives you 20 movement speed for 2 seconds after every auto-attack.

Immortal Shieldbow

As for the optimal mythic, you should go with Immortal Shieldbow. It gives you 50 damage, 10% lifesteal, 20% critical strike, and 20% attack speed. Its mythic passive increases health by 50, and it gives you 5 attack damage with every legendary. Furthermore, if an enemy drops you below 30% health, you will gain a shield and bonus damage.

Infinity Edge

When it comes to your fourth item, it is best to go with something that would increase your nuking power. Although Guinsoo’s Rageblade is great on Akshan, I prefer Infinity Edge. The item gives you a massive 70 damage increase while also providing an extra 20% critical strike. Furthermore, all your criticals will deal extra 35% damage if you have at least a 60% critical strike chance.

Lord Dominik’s Regards

If you already went with the Infinity Edge route, it would be best to get another critical item that will boost your critical strike chance to 60%. So, a lot of players will get Lord Dominik’s Regards next. Besides critical, it also gives you 35 armor penetration and 30 attack damage. If an enemy has more health than you, Akshan will deal extra 15% overall damage.

Guardian Angel

If you wish to have some extra protection, you can go with Guardian Angel. Besides 40 armor and attack damage, it will also put a wearer into stasis after suffering lethal damage. After 4 seconds of stasis, you will come out with 50% health and 30% mana. The item gets better during the late game when it’s easier for enemies to engage upon the Rogue Sentinel and nuke him down.

Laning and Teamfighting Tips

• Despite having some poking tools, Akshan players struggle during the early portions of the game due to lack of damage. To stay on the safe side, you need to be very careful with positioning and the use of Heroic Swing. Unless someone is ganking your lane or if you get a clean kill, avoid using the ability.
• When utilizing Avengerang, it is much better to hit both champion and minions, thus extending its reach. If you do it correctly, Dirty Fighting will be ready, and you can proc it with the next attack.
• Avengerang is a great source of mobility during mid and late-game. While you might not have enough mana during the early portions of the match, you can spam this ability at a whim later on.
• Although Akshan builds a few items with defense, he is far from tanky. So, it is much better to stay in the back and wait for someone else to initiate. Keep in mind that this ADC is specific in a way that you can allow yourself to lose an ally or two, as long as you can follow up with as Scoundrel kill.
• When ganking other lanes, make sure to stay close to walls and brushes. This type of terrain will keep you camouflaged.
• Generally speaking, you need to be very careful with Heroic Swing and always have it ready for a potential escape. One of the few situations when you should use it offensively is when an enemy is at low health, and you can be certain that you’ll land a takedown (this would reduce the ability’s cooldown).
• If an enemy starts hiding behind minions as you charge Comeuppance, you can use Heroic Swing to move to the side, giving you a better look at the enemy.

FAQs

Akshan Guide: Conclusion

Like many other champions in League of Legends, Akshan has something that makes him completely unique. His ability to track down Scoundrels and review allies is a very fulfilling and strong mechanic. Although they will be resurrected in the fountain, they can always teleport to turret to continue the fight.

Akshan feels somewhat weak during the laning phase. Even worse, if you utilize his escape mechanism, Heroic Swing, offensively, you will expose yourself to enemy attacks. Although the Rogue Sentinel is categorized as easy to play, you will need some experience to maximize his potential.