Gwen vs Akali Counter Pick

Both champions build their defence out of an area on the ground, and only one of them wins that comparison. Hallowed Mist shields Gwen from anything outside it but stays where it was placed; Twilight Shroud makes Akali invisible and unable to be selected by enemy spells while briefly granting move speed, and she chooses when to leave it. Gwen ends the lane at 42.8% across 306 games on patch 16.13.1.

The statline says Gwen should be ahead, and in a straight fight she is. She has 620 health to 600 at level one, 39 base armor to 23, and A Thousand Cuts adds magic damage scaled to the target’s health with healing attached. Akali’s reply is that the fight is never straight. Assassin’s Mark creates a ring around any champion she has hit with a spell, and leaving that ring empowers her next attack with bonus range and damage, so the timing is hers. Perfect Execution leaps, then executes on the recast. Two facts reshape itemization. Akali’s damage is magic, making magic resist worth more than the armor Gwen would otherwise stack toward 122.3 at level 18, and she runs on Energy, so she cannot be starved the way a mana champion can. She also finishes at 2,623 health to Gwen’s 2,575. Kit comparison: Gwen, Akali.