I've completed a new jungle Akali video, but due to technical difficulties I wasn't able to upload it last night. The video showcases a new rune setup made possible by the changes in the Hecarim patch. I'll save the discussion of said setup until tomorrow. For now I'd like to talk less about the specifics of jungle Akali and more about the jungler herself.
Jungle Akali has been viable for a long, long time, yet is rarely played even by enthusiasts such as myself. Despite becoming stronger with the recent patch changes I doubt this state of affairs will change. For all her strengths and uniqueness, jungle Akali faces a number of problems which have held her back as a competitive pick.
The most crippling of these issues is her rune setup. Jungling as Akali requires a specifically tailored rune page just for her. While this rune page can be used by a handful of other junglers they are equally happy using any number of alternative rune pages. Moreover, the Spell Vamp Quintessences and Flat Ability Power Glyphs are not common runes, meaning jungle Akali requires a hefty investment of at least 16140 IP. For someone like me who has played the game forever and thus has had plenty of time to amass IP and rune pages that isn't a problem, but for the average player these costs are extremely prohibitive.
The second key factor is that of team composition; jungle Akali is hard to fit on a team. As the only AP assassin who can effectively jungle you might think she'd have a niche, but there simply isn't much demand for assassin junglers in general let alone a specialization within that category. The vast majority of junglers are bruiser/tanky types, so picking anything else defies expectations and requires your team adapt.
There are other, less critical factors, such as community awareness/preconceptions or Akali's window of effectiveness. However, these are relatively minor and many junglers have similar shortcomings without being left in obscurity.
In a vacuum jungle Akali is very strong. She clears and sustains well, can donate blue buff like all manaless junglers, has multiple routes, is a slippery duelist, and of all the junglers she even makes the best use of Smite because it acts as a self-heal once you've reached sufficient levels of Spell Vamp. She's also very fun, which is a critical component of any champion. However, we do not jungle in a vacuum, and so Akali isn't used because you can not separate her from her costs and composition troubles.
Someday Akali will be recognized as a good jungler. Until then she'll remain true to her ninja way, hidden in the shadows.
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