Overview
A champion that takes the famous Thanos quote “Fine, I’ll do it myself” to heart, Illaoi has one of the best 1v5 potentials in the game thanks to the devastating power and healing provided by her ultimate. The tentacle-controlling top laner is a nightmare to deal with if you aren’t familiar with what she’s capable of when the tentacles are slamming down on you. She’s a big bully and can draw a ton of attention to herself. Click here for the latest data on her best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Keys to Remember About Illaoi
You should only pick this champion if you love fighting. If your instinct is to turn and run, then you are in the wrong place. Illaoi excels at turning tough looking fights in her favor thanks to the power of her Leap of Faith [R] -- the more people who come at you, the better!
She can pressure the game at lot easier by split pushing and pulling people to her instead of trying to group up with her team. She's lacking in engage options and will find it hard to get good value on her ultimate in the chaotic spread of a team fight unless the opponent has to engage onto her.
Strengths
Illaoi is a monster if the enemy team is full of short-ranged or outright melee champions, as her ultimate essentially creates a death zone for the enemy team if they walk into it. Leap of Faith [R] can instantly turn a bad situation around if she’s able to hit multiple enemies, as each strike will heal her back up a little bit and allow her to continue slamming enemies into the ground. This makes her an extremely difficult champion to gank early in the game, as she can easily turn around a 1v2 fight in her favor, even from a losing position. This kind of pressure can extend throughout the entire game, as enemy champions will find it difficult to approach her when she’s pushed up in side lanes. A misstep can mean that she is able to trade or win the ambush while her team gets something done on the other side of the map.
Weaknesses
Enemy teams with multiple long range threats are going to be able to circumvent her threat and force her into bad spots with her ultimate. This means you’ll need to be cautious about picking her early in the draft. Champions with high mobility will also easily escape her Test of Spirit [E], which will greatly negate the impact it can provide. And because so much of her tankiness is reliant on being able to land tentacles to heal up, grievous wounds can go a long way towards stopping her. Her ultimate is also more of a counter tool than an engage tool, so if she’s forced to join her team for fights, it can be difficult to find good value on it.
Game Plan
Early Game: She’s extremely strong in lane phase and should be playing to pull enemies as much as possible between her Test of Spirit [E] and Tentacle Smash [Q].
Mid Game: You’ll continue to be very strong at this phase as enemies won’t have the damage to burst you down. Don’t be afraid to turn on ganks if you have Leap of Faith [R] up.
Late Game: At this point, your best bet is to continue split pushing, as your team fight presence is often relatively weak compared to other top laners who have better engage options. You can draw pressure to you or push to take enemy structures.
