ARAM Build Guide
Akali ARAM Build — Shroud Outplays and Burst Combos
Akali in ARAM is a high-mobility assassin with built-in stealth. Her W shroud lets her outplay entire teams. Here's how to build her for maximum burst damage on the Howling Abyss.
Akali in ARAM is one of the most frustrating champions to play against. Her W (Twilight Shroud) gives her stealth and energy regen, letting her outplay entire teams in the middle of teamfights. Her Q (Five Point Strike) pokes from range, her E dashes twice, and her R executes low HP targets. She's a burst assassin with built-in safety.
Her win rate in ARAM sits around 48%, which sounds bad, but that's because she's high skill cap and most people int on her. A good Akali player can easily maintain 52%+ win rates. The key is knowing when to go in and when to sit in shroud and wait for cooldowns.
Best Akali ARAM Runes
Primary: Domination
Dark Harvest — Akali stacks this fast because she's constantly getting kills and assists. By 15 minutes you'll have 20+ stacks and your Q + E + R combo will one-shot squishies.
Sudden Impact — Your E dash procs Sudden Impact for bonus lethality and magic penetration. Free damage on every engage.
Eyeball Collection — Free AP from takedowns. You'll max this out fast.
Treasure Hunter — Extra gold on unique kills. ARAM games are shorter, so the early gold spike helps you hit your 2-item power spike faster.
Secondary: Precision
Presence of Mind — Akali is energy-hungry. Presence of Mind restores energy on takedowns, letting you chain combos.
Coup de Grace — More damage to low HP targets. Synergizes with your R2 execute.
Why not Electrocute? Electrocute is fine for burst, but Dark Harvest scales way harder in ARAM. You're not laning, you're teamfighting from minute one. Dark Harvest gives you kill pressure that Electrocute can't match once you have 20+ stacks.
Best Akali ARAM Items
Core Build (in order)
Hextech Rocketbelt — Akali's core mythic. The dash gives you extra mobility for engages, and the magic penetration helps your burst damage.
Sorcerer's Shoes — Magic penetration boots. More damage on every ability.
Shadowflame — Flat magic penetration. Your Q + E + R combo will one-shot squishies.
Rabadon's Deathcap — Massive AP boost. Your R2 will execute enemies at 50% HP.
Situational 5th & 6th Items
Void Staff — If they have 2+ tanks building magic resist. 40% magic penetration makes your damage relevant again.
Zhonya's Hourglass — If you're getting focused in teamfights. W shroud, Zhonya's, watch your team collapse.
Lich Bane — If you want more burst. Your passive auto attack procs Lich Bane for bonus damage.
Morellonomicon — If they have heavy healing. Your Q applies Grievous Wounds.
Don't build AD Akali in ARAM. AD Akali is a meme build. AP Akali gives you way more consistent damage and better scaling. Stick to the AP build.
Ability Order
Max Q first (Five Point Strike), then E (Shuriken Flip), then W (Twilight Shroud). Take R at 6, 11, 16.
Q is your primary poke and damage. Lower cooldown means more poke. In ARAM, you're spamming Q on cooldown from max range.
E second for the dash cooldown reduction and damage. In ARAM, you're constantly E'ing in and out of fights.
W is one point wonder until last. The shroud duration doesn't scale with rank — only the cooldown does. Max it last.
ARAM-Specific Tips
Your W shroud gives you stealth and energy regen. Akali's W (Twilight Shroud) gives her stealth for 5 seconds and restores energy over time. In ARAM teamfights, use W to outplay enemies, dodge skillshots, and wait for cooldowns. You're invisible inside the shroud — enemies can't target you.
Your E dashes twice. Akali's E (Shuriken Flip) throws a shuriken, then you can recast E to dash to the shuriken. In ARAM, use E to engage on the enemy backline, then E2 to dash to them. This is your primary engage tool.
Q poke: Akali's Q has 500 range and costs energy. In ARAM, use Q on cooldown to poke before fights start. The energy cost is low, so you can spam it.
Passive auto attack: Akali's passive makes her next auto attack deal bonus magic damage and give her movement speed. In ARAM, weave passive auto attacks between abilities for extra damage.
R combo: Akali's R1 dashes forward and deals damage. R2 executes low HP targets. In ARAM, use R1 to engage, Q + E + auto attack, then R2 to execute. Don't R2 at full HP — you'll waste the execute damage.
When Akali is Strong vs Weak in ARAM
Akali dominates against squishy, low-CC comps. If the enemy team is 3+ mages or ADCs with no hard CC, your W shroud will outplay them constantly. She's also great against skillshot-heavy comps — your W makes you untargetable.
She struggles against point-and-click CC comps. If they have Malzahar, Lissandra, and Nautilus, you're going to get CC'd every time you engage. She's also weak against AOE comps who can hit you inside your shroud (Rumble R, Morgana W, Anivia R).
She's weakest in the first 10 minutes before Rocketbelt and Shadowflame. Once you have both items, you're a monster. Once you have Rabadon's, you're one-shotting squishies.
FAQ
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Looking for more ARAM builds? Check out our Katarina ARAM build, Zed ARAM build, or Yone ARAM build.
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Check out our full Akali champion guide for ranked builds and strategies.
