If you have never played Akshan before, It can be a bit confusing trying to figure out what type of damage he does–especially in the new Season 13 of League. Although, since he has a gun, and most gun-wielding champions are automatically considered AD, this is the case with Akshan as well. Consequently, every item recommended against him is either some form of armor or a healing reduction item.
You should know this about Akshan as a champion in League of Legends Season 13.
Akshan is primarily an AD champion in League of Legends. He exclusively builds Attack Damage items and steers clear of any sort of ability power ratios on his abilities. AP builds don’t work on Akshan as he simply cannot utilize them.
All of Akshan’s abilities scale with AD, and all of his abilities, excluding part of his passive, deal physical damage. His passive applies magic damage on-hit, but it does not scale with AP, but rather with levels. This was probably added for early game pressure when the lane state is often decided.
Regardless, Akshan is a marksman champion. His abilities vary from typical marksmen because of his ability to revive people by killing the enemy champion who killed his allies. He is also one of the few champions in the game who can potentially permanently stay camouflaged. This does not make him overpowered, though, at least not in the ways one would imagine when thinking of his kit.
His unique kit is a consequence of his intended lanes – Mid and Top – Which require more than just damage to lane in. He is very special because there are not many marksmen designed to be played outside of the Botlane, so it has been proven a bit of a challenge to properly balance him for Riot.
Is Full AD Akshan worth it in LoL S13?
Playing Akshan with AD marksmen items is usually the only way to play him and win. There is not really an alternate build path that is better for winning or having fun. As mentioned before, you cannot build AP on him anyways, and building a tank on him is akin to using a $1000 Gucci bag as a toothbrush holder; it just does not make sense.
Akshan’s typical build offers loads of damage and fun alike. He has the capability of one-shotting most squishy champions while also going toe to toe with bruisers and mages.
Assassins, however, make it harder for him to survive outside of the lane. Although he is not affected to an extent comparable to marksmen from bot lane, he is still very susceptible to being one-shot by most assassins.
This does not mean by any stretch of the imagination that Akshan is weak. Especially since season 13, he has had a 50+% winrate consistently and feels amazing to play if you put the time into learning him properly.
This is what you need to know to play Akshan with his AD build in LoL:
How Do You Play Full AD Akshan in LoL S13?
If you are looking for a build for Akshan that will dominate while working well in the current meta, We have it.
Best Runes for Full AD Akshan in LoL S13:
- Press the attack – Does extra damage every 3rd auto-attack and applies especially well with your double auto passive.
- Triumph / Presence of Mind – Overall good to survive a close fight with ignite / Gives you mana regen upon hitting enemies.
- Legend: Bloodline – Gives you a total of 6% lifesteal to survive longer fights.
- Coup de grace / Cut down – Gives you more damage when hitting lower health enemies to finish enemies off quicker / Gives you more damage against higher health bruisers or tanks.
- Shield Bash – Gives you more damage on top of your shield passive.
- Bone plating – General requirement for most toplaners, blocks flat damage from attacks and abilities in a timeframe.(Above are the secondary recommendations for toplane, and below are for the midlane)
- Celerity – More movement speed to catch enemies faster or to run away
- Gathering Storm – Gives more AD to you at 10, 20, 30 minutes…. Timers
For bonuses, go AS, AD, and armor or MR, depending on the matchup.
Best AD Akshan Item builds in Season 13 (in order):
- Shieldbow / Kraken Slayer – Gives you extra health and a big shield to protect against burst mages or assassins / Gives you raw damage in the form of true damage, and greatly increases 1v1 capability.
- Berserker’s Greaves – Gives you extra attack speed to help in killing enemies faster and to kite better.
- Blade of The Ruined King – Gives you on-hit current health damage to burst down enemies very easily.
- Guinsoo’s Rageblade – Enhances every on-hit effect and gives you a lot of attack speed. It also converts all your critical strikes into on-hit physical damage.
- Wits End – Gives MR versus mages as well as more on-hit damage for Guinsoo’s to amplify.
- Lord Dominik’s Regards – Gives armor penetration to amplify your damage along with the damage you get from Blade of The Ruined King.
Along with these items, Akshan can go a wide variety of others depending on the situation. Items like Mercurial Scimitar, Infinity edge, Mortal Reminder, Rapidfire Cannon, Stormrazor, Bloodthirster, Guardian Angel, Death’s Dance, and Maw of Malmortius.
What Lane is Akshan?
As mentioned before, Akshan was designed primarily for Midlane, and secondarily for Toplane. It is for this reason that playing him Botlane is sub-optimal as he does not function like a regular ADC and thrives off of higher levels and abusing your laner with your range. Some people have also tried playing him jungle, but his clear is lacking to say the least, and his gank potential is almost nonexistent since he has no cc in his kit.
If you want to try our build-out, you should play it Toplane for the most fun or Midlane if you want to win. Toplaners usually do not know how to deal with the pressure of a ranged champion, so they will likely tilt harder and make stupid decisions that will make it easier to abuse, but at the end of the day, toplane does not really matter in the game, and an Akshan mid can have a lot more impact than an Akshan top can.
When To Pick Akshan this Season?
Akshan is best played into shorter ranged champions who lack burst damage. In the midlane, something like Ziggs or Kassadin or Le blanc (yes, she is an assassin, but her state in the meta is at its worst). In the toplane, anything from Gwen to Gnar to Garen is a very favorable matchup for Akshan.
Since Akshan is fully AD; a champion that does not have any ap scaling whatsoever, it is best to pick him when your team already has some form of AP champion hovered or picked, otherwise it will be very hard for both you and your team to do any realistic amount of damage as the enemy team can easily stack armor beyond control.
Akshan is also not very good at high cc champions and especially targeted cc champions. Something like a Vi jungle on the enemy team or a Pantheon laner against you is a big red flag in terms of Akshan’s viability in that game.
Also read: 5 Best Supports for Akshan in League of Legends
Final Thoughts
Although Akshan is not the most popular champion in the game even though he is one of the recent ones, it’s important to know what to build when you are playing him and what to build when you are laning into him. Something you heard from someone about what he does can be very damaging to play or to play into and can ruin your game and cost you your precious LP.
We hope this article has proven to be of use and has informed you of the best way to utilize Akshan and his amazing kit during League of Legends Season 13. As always, leave your suggestions and thoughts down in the comments section below. Until next time!
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