Talk:Akali/@comment-26203093-20190226035020/@comment-26808509-20190305160522

Well, follwoing this skirmisher idea she is/was supposed to be a hybrid of assassin and skirmisher. With lower burst than most other assassins and more time needed to deliver it, but with more DPS and tools to stay in the fight for longer (shroud and heal).

It has upsides and downsides, because on the one hand, most assassins can kill their target a lot quicker than her and still have a safe way of getting out of the fight. On the other hand, if most other assassins fail to kill their target in rotation due to tankyness, dodges, shields, heals, they still have to retreat, because they would die otherwise. Akali has much more delayed damage, but since she has/had tools to stay in the fight for longer and can deliver more DPS than burst, she can take down targets even if they have some protection.

At least that was the idea. On paper that obviously sounds nice but in the game it doesn't work out that way. At least not in a healthy way. This kind of playstyle also made her a pure 1v1 champ. Unbearable in lane and split push scenarios, but almost useless in teamfights. Now that they nerfed/removed her tools that allowed for longer fights, they will most likely increase her burst (E damage buff and R cd allready on PBE). But if they do, they also need to be consequent and lower her DPS.

The skirmisher meets assassin playstyle doesn't work out to my mind, because you either have an assassin who has still DPS left if you survived his burst or you have a bruiser kind of champ who still has considerable burst. I never understood why they tried to perserve - no, even enhance this trait of old Akali.