Akshan
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Excellent (8.5/10)
Epic Relics
Akshan is widely considered a top-tier Shuriman champion with immense scaling and board control. Players disagree about his playstyle. Some consider his spell-spamming mechanics to be incredibly fun and powerful. While others find it repetitive and compare him to a less engaging version of Nasus. His base deck is notoriously weak, making him highly reliant on drawing the champion himself.
Optimal Scaling
Creates a free spell each round that targets an ally to advance Akshan's landmark, applies the stat buffs from fated and augment, and can give important keywords like lifesteal if you are able to stall long enough.
Scales up Akshan each time he is targeted or a created card is played, and grants Overwhelm so he can finish the enemy nexus once he is sufficiently big.
Enables Akshan to be drawn consistently and provides cheap copies of his champion spell for board control and to loop his landmark generation effects.
Strategy
This build focuses on drawing Akshan consistently and casting his champion spell at a reduced cost. Perfect Hex Core provides free targeting to advance his landmarks while granting keywords, and Chosen by the Stars ensures massive stat scaling.
Echoing Spirit is essential for consistency, ensuring Akshan is drawn early and providing cheap copies of his champion spell for continuous board control.
Chemtech Infinite Combo
- Grants consistent access to copies of Akshan and reduces the cost of Grappling Hook.
With duplicated spells, this can go essentially infinite with his landmarks.
Akshan's landmarks are triggered twice, allowing you to have up to three Akshans on the board, each one with a copy of Chemtech Duplicator.
Strategy
This build focuses on hitting 6 mana with 3 Akshan on the board. At this point, you can play Akshan's spells with massive duplication effects continously retriggering Sentinel's Hoard, allowing you to draw more cards and discount their costs. This loop can end the game immediately, but it can be challenging to stall the game long enough to reach this point.
Zoe Adventure Sustain
Zoe Specialized
- Game Start: Create 7 copies of me in deck. Champion Spells cost 1 less.
- Power: Round Start: Create a Hex Core Upgrade in hand. Your Hex Core Upgrades have Stopwatch and can upgrade any ally.
Evolve. When ANY unit dies, grant me its keywords.
Strategy
Specifically tailored for the 10-star Zoe adventure, this build prioritizes survivability against intense early aggression.
Voidborne Carapace is mandatory for acquiring Lifesteal, while Echoing Spirit and Perfect Hex Core ensure consistent board control and scaling.
Champion Flood
Play: Shuffle 5 level 2 champions into your deck and double their stats, then draw one of them.
Allied champions have +1|+1 and cost 2 less.- Allied champions have +1|+1 and cost 2 less.
Strategy
A highly effective strategy focused on flooding the board with discounted, highly-statted champions.
This bypasses Akshan's weak base deck entirely and provides a consistent win condition.
Accessible Control [Rare Relics Only]
When I'm summoned, I strike the weakest enemy.
When I level up, Rally.
Round Start: Refill your spell mana.
Strategy
A setup utilizing only rare relics that mimics his optimal playstyle. Stalker's Blade ensures an immediate strike upon summon to advance the Warlord's Palace.
Crownguard Inheritance provides a Rally effect upon leveling up for powerful follow-up attacks. Archangel's Staff ensures steady spell mana for his combat tricks.
Constellation
Akshan's constellation upgrades significantly enhance his board control and scaling. The most critical upgrade is the minor node that grants his champion spell Burst speed, which fundamentally transforms his playstyle and is essential for his optimal performance. His base deck is notoriously weak, making these upgrades vital for consistency. He also possesses a highly valuable regional node that grants +1 Revive to all Shurima champions.
Going Rogue
When an allied landmark counts down, gives allies +1|+0 this round.
Sentinel Business
+1 Starting Mana. Game Start: Summon a Warlord's Palace.
Going Rogue II
Your Countdown completion effects activate twice. When an allied landmark counts down, give allies +1|+0 this round.Review
Doubling countdown effects is exceptionally powerful, allowing Akshan to rapidly cycle through his Warlord's Hoard and generate immense value.
The Craftsman's Favor
Round Start: Create a Fleeting Time and Dedication in hand.Review
Provides a 1-cost forge spell. While the 1-mana cost is controversial compared to 0-cost alternatives on other champions, it remains a significant power spike that provides essential targeting for his kit.
Manaflow
Game Start: Get a mana gem.Review
Grants an extra mana gem on Turn 1, which is crucial for accelerating his curve and enabling early combos.
Absolution
When an allied Warlord's Palace is destroyed, steal a mana gem. When an allied Warlord's Hoard is destroyed, revive the strongest dead non-Ephemeral ally.Review
Steals a mana gem when Warlord's Palace is destroyed and revives an ally when Warlord's Hoard is destroyed. This is considered one of the strongest 6-star powers, enabling rapid mana acceleration and consistent Turn 3 wins, especially when paired with Chemtech Duplicator.
Gameplay Tips
- Positioning Matters
Always place Akshan on the far left of your attacking line. This ensures that his strike effect resolves first, granting buffs to the rest of your attacking units before they strike.
- Manage Aggressive Openings
Against aggressive encounters, it is often optimal to pass priority on turn 1 rather than playing a unit that will be immediately removed. Allow the opponent to commit their mana first so you can respond efficiently.
- Defensive Spell Usage
Utilize Quicksand strategically to neutralize enemy units with Overwhelm or Elusive keywords. This provides crucial survivability while Akshan scales his stats and advances his landmarks.
- Avoid Created Card Penalties
Akshan relies heavily on generated cards and spells. Avoid adventure mutators that increase the cost of created cards, as they will severely hinder his core gameplay loop.
- Board Space Awareness
Be mindful of your board space. Akshan cannot spawn his essential landmarks if the board is already full, which will completely stall his level-up progression and value generation.
- Removing Spellshields
Akshan's ability to make all enemies Vulnerable effectively removes Spellshields from enemy units, allowing for easier targeted removal on subsequent actions.
- Grappling Hook Interaction
Be aware that casting a Burst-speed Grappling Hook on a landmark with 1 countdown remaining wastes a tick and fails to summon a new landmark on an empty board.