Why is Akali supposed to be overpowered in Dominion?

Question

I've been playing some draft mode dominion games, and it turns out that almost always the same champions get banned. I know that Rammus gets banned because of his tank abilities and high speed.

Now I know why Akali gets banned: in the few games I've seen her been played, she was much better than the other champions. The thing I was wondering is: Why? In normal games she is pretty balanced and easy to counter.

I just don't know what makes her so good in dominion. Is it because of the dominion items? Or was it just luck that I fought against or with really good Akalis?

Answer

Akali has huge advantages in her skill set that allow her to excel in Dominion.

1. Dominion involves a lot of 1v1 fights

   Akali is one of the best 1v1 champions in the game. Her mark of the assassin just gives her enormous burst, even at early levels.

2. She has an amazing escape mechanism using Twilight shroud

   This is perfect for juking in the middle of the map, and perfect for protecting her when she is defending a turret.

3. Her mobility using via Shadow Dance

   You are never going to escape from her, especially if she has a slow. She can also use it to bink to escape by targeting minions. This, along with her Twilight shroud make her a very tricky champion to kill and a champion almost impossible to escape from.

4. Her damage is hybrid

   Is is pretty hard to counter Akali because of her different damage types. Getting the balance of defense, mobility and offensive items is hard enough.

5. She has innate spell vamp through her passive Twin Disciplines

   Her spell vamp combined with the high burst makes her very hard to kill quickly. This also gives her a lot of sustainability through leeching health from minions. Without the ability to nuke her down easily, she can try to escape using her shroud/ult/summoner spells.

6. More champions play 'glass cannon' builds than on Summoners Rift

   Glass cannon champions tend to be easy prey for Akali. A lot of builds are base around kiting and mobility. Kiting just doesn't work on her because of her ultimate and she has HUGE burst which will bring down any squishy champions pretty rapidly.

7. The Dominion is map is designed to be played offensively

   Akali can gank pretty freely as there aren't really any 'safe zones' you can run to, i.e. behind your tower line on normal matches. This leads up to her snowballing pretty quickly as she is just fantastic at picking off roaming enemies.

8. She snowballs rapidly

   Her burst gets insane if she is fed, combine this with the inability to escape from her and your team are in for some big trouble.

9. Akali is based on energy

   She is not the only manaless champ, however manaless champs have always had the advantage of being able to spam skills at no cost. This means Akali can constantly push lanes and leech health through her passive, without having to worry too much about going back to base to heal up.

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