Akai is the Kung Fu Panda of Mobile Legends: Bang Bang. He was a chubby fisherman in the panda community who dreamed of becoming one of the famous oriental fighters. Whenever he gets the opportunity, he tries to help his community to practice becoming a hero. One day, while training on his own, he heard a voice criticizing his method and calling it sloppy. It was actually an old frog who claimed to be a former disciple of the Great Dragon.
Akai requested to be trained by him and get his baits as payment. They trained hard for three years but it was paused when the four legendary oriental fighters came to their village to train. He decided to skip his training and make all kinds of excuses just to watch his idols train. He was later allowed to join their training and Zilong promised to introduce him to the Great Dragon.
Unexpectedly, they were suddenly called to help fight Yu Zhong who was about to attack the Dragon Altar. At the same time, Sun was also about to attack their village. He decided to stay and help his community to fight Sun. His frog master bravely fought Sun but got badly beaten so he joined forces with him. Sun was impressed with his fighting power and ability so he settled to clarify their misunderstanding. When everything was at peace again, Akai continued his training and started diving his baits where some are for catching fish and some are for his master.
Akai Overview
Akai is a tank/support hero who is known for scattering his enemies with his powerful spin. His skills are composed of Area of Effect, Blink, Crowd Control and Buff. His ultimate skill is effective in breaking up the strong battle formation of the enemies to give his team an advantage. With the right strategy, combo and timing, Akai could perform great as a tank.
The current Global Top 1 Akai player AHHA4D will be the main reference of this guide. We’ll have a closer look at his best Akai build and then explore his choice of spell, emblem and items to learn how these factors were able to help him reach the top spot for this hero.
Skills
Passive: Tai Chi
Every time Akai casts a skill, he gains 25 + 4% Total HP Shield for 4 seconds. All enemies hit will receive a mark as well. Marked enemies will get 25 + 4% extra Physical Attack Damage when hit by his Basic Attacks.
First Skill: Headbutt
Akai dashes to a selected area to deal 300 + 50% Total Physical Attack Damage to all enemies hit. An enemy hero hit by this attack will be knocked-up airborne for 0.5 seconds while giving Akai the ability to roll when doing a move action.
Second Skill: Body Slam
Akai uses his body to slam the ground and deal 270 + 6% Total HP Physical Damage to all enemies around him. They will also be slowed by 30% for 2 seconds.
Ultimate Skill: Heavy Spin
Akai spins for 4 seconds while gaining slow immunity and removing negative buffs from his body. His spinning action will deal 180 + 100% Extra Physical Attack Damage to all enemies hit while knocking them back. Knock-backed enemies will also knock back their allies near them.
Akai’s Movement Speed will be boosted up to 70% in the duration of this skill. Suppression and Morph effects can interrupt this skill.
Best Akai Build
Items
Magic Shoes. Cooldown reduction and Movement Speed boost are what this affordable item is about. A lower cooldown will allow Akai to cast his skills more and gain a shield from them.
Cursed Helmet. This second item will significantly increase his HP while giving him Magic Defense. It also has an offensive power through its burn damage. The longer the fight, the better for Akai since his enemies will gradually lose their HP in his presence.
Guardian Helmet. The HP regen feature of this next helmet will save Akai time because he won’t need to go to the base to heal anymore. Killing an enemy or assisting an ally will further boost his healing. Akai will be much harder to eliminate once he gets this because it will also give him a great amount of HP.
Blade Armor. This fourth item is his first Physical Defense item. Aside from its exceptionally high Physical Defense it also has an offensive capability because it can reflect a good amount of damage to its attacker.
Late Game Items
Radiant Armor. This late-game item will further boost his HP, HP regen and Magic Defense. Its passive feature will keep reducing the Magic Damage he is getting when barraged with consecutive attacks.
Immortality. This final item touches Physical Defense again while increasing his HP further. Its resurrect feature will allow Akai to tank better because after absorbing all of the attacks and CC from a large group of enemies—his allies can focus on killing his attackers. By the time he’s resurrected, his enemies are most likely gone as well. If the team played their part poorly, the shield after the resurrection will keep him protected as he escapes.
Akai Emblem Set
Since Akai’s function is heavier on the tank side, our Global Top 1 player is using the Custom Tank Emblem set for him. The native features of this emblem will make him more durable and help him last longer in battles. Let’s find out what configuration would work best for Akai based on his trial and error with this hero.
He started by maxing out Shield to increase Akai’s Magic Defense and then he also maxed out Fortress to increase his Physical Defense. He’s clearly focused on a balanced defense for both kinds of attacks. You can be more confident to jump into team fights knowing you’re protected from all kinds of attacks.
For the final feature, he picked Concussive Blast to deal an AoE Magic Damage to all enemies around him 1 second after a Basic Attack. Since most of Akai’s items are heavy on defense, adding this offensive ability will put more balance to his attributes.
Battle Spell
Petrify. The featured Global Top 1 Akai player is currently using this battle spell for this hero. Activating this skill will help him cancel channeling attacks or prevent his target from escaping. It also deals minor damage and a slow effect on the target hit.
Sprint. This is another battle spell that you can use for Akai. Its Movement Speed boost is useful for escaping and especially chasing because he can barrage his target with Basic Attacks while chasing it. Also, add the fact that he has “burn” damage after getting the cursed helmet.
Akai Gameplay
Skill Upgrade Priority
Body Slam. Prioritize upgrading this second skill because of its high damage and slow effect but low cooldown.
Heavy Spin. Upgrade this ultimate skill as soon as it’s ready since it’s his most damaging skill.
Headbutt. There’s no need to prioritize upgrading this dash and knock-up skill.
Akai Combo
First Combo:
First Skill + Second Skill + Basic Attacks
This is the recommended combo before unlocking your ultimate skill. Simply surprise your target with a dash attack and its knock-up feature won’t allow your enemy to avoid your second skill attack. Since your target is slowed already, you can barrage it with your Basic Attacks.
Second Combo:
First Skill + Second Skill + Basic Attacks + Ultimate Skill
This combo starts similarly to the one above because you need to test if the enemy will blink away before casting your ultimate skill. If the enemy’s blink ability is on cooldown, that’s the time you can cast the ultimate skill since it won’t be able to escape it.
These are just two example combos that you can use for Akai. There are more that you can use for him but always consider the scenario when deciding what skill you need to cast first.
Fighting Strategy
Poke. Hide inside the bush and then surprise your enemy with your first and second skills. Move back away quickly and wait for your skills to refresh before repeating the same surprise attack.
Defend. Take note that you have high defense but low attack damage. As a tank, your primary role is to protect the marksman and help it level up. The sooner it gets all of its strong items the better for both of you. You can stun and slow your target as the marksman barrages it with painful attacks.
Gank. When doing a group hunt, search the bushes to clear the paths for your allies because you’re bulkiest hero in the group. Immediately dash, stun and slow a target as soon as you see one and let your allies help you finish the job.
Team Fight. Be the one to start a clash since you’re capable of absorbing a huge amount of damage. To give your team the best advantage, make sure that your timing and execution are done properly. Always check if your allies are prepared to help you when you initiate a team fight. You might end up fighting a large group alone. Use the quick chat feature to let your allies know that they need to gather around you before surprising the enemies with an attack.