When Riot Games brought their beloved League of Legends universe into 2XKO, they didn’t just include familiar faces from their franchise, they reinvented them to be enjoyable in a fighting game genre. Akali, who once thrived in stealth, now dazzles as a high-speed, high-risk fighter. She’s incredibly fast, a mix-up queen, but you have to be precise. Her low damage means every move matters.
Visually, Akali looks the part a ninja should: Kunai in hand, graceful and deadly animations, a double jump, clinging to walls, pulling opponents in, and of course, that iconic smoke bomb. She captures the ninja fantasy perfectly. When I hit the combo trials, though, I had a slight issue inputting button commands until I realized I needed to speed up. She requires very fast inputs. Not even using the pulse system, she has some cool one button combos that require serious timing. Her bread and butter is the use of heavy attack button used in various directions, diagonal and aerial routes made her feel free, but demanding.
When I took her into real matches. I tried Juggernaut and Sidekick fuses just to get more use of the newly released character. She was fun, but I immediately saw her strengths and weaknesses. On hit, she has a faster recovery, which is why she requires faster inputs. On block, the opposite occurs: some of her moves (especially her specials) have longer recovery frames, meaning she can get punished hard. Additionally, her low health makes her tricky to pair with those Fuses; she’s better with a sturdier teammate, not solo Fuses.
Her move set is really cool, she can jump in the air and use down S1 for Kunai strikes, similar to Ibuki from Street fighter. She S1 is a dash strike, similar to Chip from Guilty Gear. Her S2 is long ranged double kama strike, that throws a smoke bomb on the ground upon impact. Once that smoke bomb is out, a section of the screen fills with smoke, and now her moves shift, revealing new combo routes with her S1 and S2 that make her even more unpredictable. Her Level 3 super is the best-looking Level 3 super in the game, and to me potentially top 10 of all time in my book. She tosses a smoke bomb, beats you up in a raging demon style using all her ninja tools, slams you back to the ground and the smoke fills the sky. She is so much fun and I sincerely applaud Riot for that unique concept.
I wouldn’t call her S-tier, but she’s absolutely one of the most enjoyable. I wouldn’t use her in a tournament as of now, but maybe my opinion will change since she was just released. She brings a lot of fun to 2XKO, and I can’t wait to see what new characters and new twists Riot dreams up next.
