Thought: What Happens to Jungle Akali?

Over two years ago I started jungling Akali, and after a few months was confident enough to post my first guide. It was laughable, viable only in games with players as bad as I was, but as I grew and improved at the game my guide grew with me. Its current iteration is, in my conceited opinion, the definitive work on jungle Akali. The gravity of the situation should therefore be self-evident when I state that Diana, in all probability, makes jungle Akali obsolete.

I've long held that, given a different meta, jungle Akali would be a competitive option. For the past year the meta for junglers has changed several times, from early-gankers to fast-clearing farmers to tanky-cc. Akali, while an adept jungler, has never matched any of those paradigms and thus has remained in obscurity. Despite this it was still possible that arranged teams might break from the standard meta and use her. That possibility largely vanished with the introduction of Diana.

The problem is that Diana is essentially jungle Akali, only better. The draw of jungle Akali was largely her uniqueness as an AP jungler and assassin, in particular the power of her post-level-six ganks due to her extremely long range, gap-closing ultimate. While their ultimates are practically identical for the purposes of ganking Diana also can pull enemies to her and slow them, a form of crowd control many times more powerful than the slow on Akali's Twilight Shroud. Diana's ganks both before and after level six are significantly stronger.

In addition many of Akali's minor flaws are not shared with Diana. Akali is largely single target damage and her AoE ability is awkward when chasing down opponents. Diana is almost entirely AoE damage, ideal for jungling, and her AoE abilities have an integral role in how she chases. Diana also can reveal foes during ganks, making the brush in side lanes less of a safe haven. For all her viability as a jungler, Akali's skills are designed around laning more than jungling.

Akali does have a few notable advantages over Diana. Akali has built-in sustain, allowing her to enter the jungle and leave with significantly more health than she entered with, while Diana only has a shield. Akali also has a stealth ability, and despite being countered by Oracle's it has its advantages. Finally, Akali is mana-independent, meaning she doesn't have to itemize around mana or suffer when passing blue buff to an ally. These benefits don't make Akali better at jungling than Diana overall, but they are places where Akali is superior to her.

Those small advantages are possibly the saving grace for jungle Akali. Because many players will be trying out Diana in the jungle, some will possibly note the similarities between Diana and Akali and begin to consider Akali's viability. Perhaps jungle Akali can ride on Diana's coattails and break into the community mindscape. Someone cleverer than I might even demonstrate a niche for her that makes her more desirable than Diana. It might be wishful thinking, but it's not impossible.

For now Diana is, barring some critical flaw yet to be discovered, superior to jungle Akali. This won't stop me from keeping my guide updated or my skills sharp, but it's unlikely that my team will field my favorite ninja as a jungler anytime soon.