The best way to build Akshan, the new League of Legends champion

Players are now able to pick up Akshan to climb the ranked ladder or even just play normals with friends. The new mid-lane marksman is special in many ways and his build is also different from that of many traditional marksmen. 

After the release of Akshan, his win rates haven’t exactly been great compared to other new champions. This likely has to do with a kit that contains completely new mechanics for players to learn. It’s also likely that Riot needs some extra time to balance the Rogue Sentinel before players start to see a healthier win rate. Because of this, it’s more important than ever to have the right build in mind when playing Akshan. As his overall stats are in weak spot, it’s important to weigh that up with his best potential items. 

Here’s a look at some of the best build paths for Akshan so far. 

How to build Akshan in LoL

As a marksman, Akshan wants attack damage and lots of it. Unlike other marksmen, Akshan isn’t a champion that wants a lot of attack speed but instead wants raw damage to empower his abilities. Like many other attack-damage champions, Akshan wants to start with a Doran’s Blade and a single potion for sustainability in the first few levels. 

When returning to base for the first time, Akshan wants to build towards his Mythic item. In most cases the best option will be Kraken Slayer, but players are also opting in to Galeforce based on the situation. Kraken Slayer will be the item that deals the most damage, but playing Akshan against a lot of mobile champions could potentially spell danger without the dash from Galeforce. With Kraken Slayer, Akshan will get attack speed from the Mythic passive and in doing so will keep his attack speed from being too slow. 

After the Mythic item is acquired, Akshan also wants to have his boots completed. The best option is Berserker’s Greaves which will essentially be the only attack-speed item in his build. 

Core items: 

• Berserker’s Greaves
• Kraken Slayer / Galeforce

For the third item, there are a few different options for Akshan. The most common one for climbing solo queue will likely be Infinity Edge, which gives Akshan the raw damage and crit to nuke opponents with his abilities. In other cases, Akshan can go for Bloodthirster to help him sustain and get more survivability. The third option is Essence Reaver, which will help Akshan with mana sustain. Akshan is very reliant on his abilities and can quickly run through his mana. 

Depending on what the third item is, Akshan wants to build his fourth with one of the remaining options. In general, there’s nothing wrong with having both Bloodthirster and Infinity Edge. Another great option as the fourth item is Lord Dominik’s Regards, which will help Akshan defeat tanks or bruisers. If the opponents are mainly squishy champions, then there’s more value in the three BF Sword items mentioned before. 

In cases where Akshan gets a lead early game and wants to snowball, then there’s also the option to go for The Collector as the third item. This will be cheaper compared to the rest and let Akshan hit his power spikes earlier than usual. 

Mid to late-game items:

• Infinity Edge
• Essence Reaver
• Bloodthirster
• The Collector

To round out the build, there will also be situations where Guardian Angel is a solid option for Akshan. This will only be a situational item if the opponents have a lot of tools to target Akshan in fights. If this is the case, then Guardian Angel can be the difference-maker in late-game team fights. 

Final items: 

• Guardian Angel
• Lord Dominik’s Regards 

Runes for Akshan

When it comes to runes, it’s also important to have the strongest on Akshan. Some specific runes go very well together with his kit, so don’t miss out on these advantages. 

The main rune tree that Akshan wants to focus on is the Precision tree. Akshan always wants to Press the Attack as the keystone because it goes well together with his Dirty Fighting passive and its double attacks. With this, Akshan has a easier time proccing the Press the Attack bonus damage. 

Because of the high mana cost on his abilities, Akshan wants some sort of mana sustain. To get this, Presence of Mind is a great choice and will likely have more value than Triumph and Overheal.  

For the third rune, it’s up to personal preference. The most effective will likely be either Legend: Alacrity to get more attack speed or Legend: Bloodline for life steal. It really comes down to play style and which stat the individual player values the most. The worst option of the three will be Legend: Tenacity as Akshan usually can’t be saved when hit by hard crowd control. 

The last choice in the primary rune tree is Coup de Grace, which will really help Akshan finish low-health targets and get off those cooldown resets on his Heroic Swing (E). 

In the secondary tree, the most common pick will likely be the Inspiration tree. With this, Akshan can get free boots and cookies to sustain in the laning phase. Akshan can also go for the Perfect Timing rune to get a free Stopwatch which can be combined with Heroic Swing to make fun plays. 

The build path and runes for Akshan will likely continue to develop as he gets more time on the live server. It’s also likely that things will start to change when the professional players are able to pick him up in the different regions around the world.