If I stand and fight, I'm just walking into a massive burst of tentacle damage because she'll know right where I'm going to be.
If I run away, she gets to deal free damage on me while I run around avoiding tentacle spawns.
This shit is frustrating, why does it exist like this?
Khristophoros5 votesShe gets rewarded for hitting a skillshot? Wow so broken!
Strawberrycocoa1 votesI mean if it were a direct damage skillshot lie every other one I would see your point, but her E is supposed to be counterplayed against the effect if it lands. It just doesnt have a counterplay to the effect that isn't beneficial to Illaoi.
Khristophoros1 votesI think you've just misinterpreted the design intention of the skill. Why would you assume you're supposed to get additional counterplay after getting hit by it if it doesn't even do anything besides create the ghost? All it does is create opportunities for Illaoi to damage you. Most skillshots just directly damage or CC you.
It's supposed to put you in a catch 22 instead of doing direct damage.
No matter what option you pick after getting hit, it's not going to be very pleasant. The end result is you_ will take some damage_ and your only counterplay after being hit is to figure out how best to reduce that damage, but you will never fully nullify it.
The design might seem to suggest that you should be able to get out of it completely unharmed but that would be a terrible ability for any champion to have on their kit.
So it's the same as any other skillshot. Don't like the effect? Don't get hit. That's actually all there is to it.
FoX in a b0x5 votesI have some experience playing as 
(currently my only level 7), and I can tell you that the most widespread misconception about her "E - Test of Spirit" is that you have to run around like a crazy person to avoid all those tentacles that keep spawning around you.
Here's the explanation of Vessel from the tooltip for the skill:
The tether is severed if the Spirit is killed or when the target moves too far away, slowing them by 80% for 1.5 seconds, marking them as a Vessel for 12 seconds, and revealing the area around them for a few seconds. Each Tentacle will autonomously attack the closest Vessel / Spirit once every 10 seconds
If you run out of the range of your spirit and Illaoi won't be able to get to your champ, you only need to avoid the first tentacle that spawns by you! The Vessel debuff doesn't last long enough for the same tentacle to automatically "Slam" at you more than once, and each tentacle has a certain area around it that prevents new ones from spawning. By running around or killing the tentacles, you're actually allowing new tentacles to spawn that will react to you and try to "Slam" at you.
The best thing to do if you have to run is to avoid the "Slam" from the tentacle that spawns by you, then just stand near that tentacle until the Vessel debuff wears off. Just remember that this only works if Illaoi won't be able to reach you with her W - Harsh Lesson since that will command all nearby tentacles to "Slam" at the target again. She's a hardcore lane bully, but her overall power is reduced significantly if she doesn't have at least one tentacle nearby.
Hope this helps!
[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]
Strawberrycocoa1 votesThis is very helpful, thank you! Followup question: I thought you had to actively kill tentacles to reduce the debuff timer? Also, how am I supposed to keep up in farm if I'm hovering near one tentacle for 12 seconds waiting out the debuff? Seems like Illaoi just gets free farming time while I'm waiting it out.
FoX in a b0x1 votesTo reduce the debuff timer you attack Illaoi herself, each instance of damage reducing the duration by one second.
Illaoi is a lane bully by design. Her abilities are meant to prevent you from farming. However, Illaoi becomes less useful after the laning phase.
The best way to win games against her is to pressure other areas of the map (roaming, taking Herald/Dragon/Baron, pressuring other towers). Because she depends on having tentacles near her to significantly zone out the enemy, she's not very likely to roam or teleport anywhere. During teamfights if you either dodge her E or let your tank be hit by it, you have a window to jump her.
In my experience playing Illaoi, I almost always "win lane" but the longer the game goes on the less likely I am to win the game. The passive timer (which is how she summons her tentacles near herself) only gets as low as 12 seconds at level 18, and teammates seem to forget this, starting fights before I can stack up some tentacles around where we plan to fight.
When Illaoi uses her R - Leap of Faith, she summons extra tentacles for each enemy hit, including any spirits currently lingering. Avoid clumping together so she can't R-Flash into your team, and if she does land a strong R, just back away. Every enemy she hits per Slam, she heals herself for 5% of her missing health. She might seem like she's an easy target at low HP, but she's actually stronger.
Overall, Illaoi's main weaknesses are CC (prevents her from using her W to command tentacles), minion blocks (prevents her E from landing), Grievous Wounds (lowers the amount of HP she regains for each tentacle slam), and just killing her tentacles.
I'm sure I'll be kicking myself down the line for exposing my strongest champ like this, but no one knows how to beat a champion better than someone who plays them a lot.
Feel free to add me if you have any more questions about Illaoi or any other champ!
[sg-miss-fortune]
OmnipotentChurro1 votes[{quoted}](name=FoX in a b0x,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=2lZyEk7p,comment-id=0002,timestamp=2018-06-18T09:15:49.941+0000)
I have some experience playing as
Here's the explanation of Vessel from the tooltip for the skill:
If you run out of the range of your spirit and Illaoi won't be able to get to your champ, you only need to avoid the first tentacle that spawns by you! The Vessel debuff doesn't last long enough for the same tentacle to automatically "Slam" at you more than once, and each tentacle has a certain area around it that prevents new ones from spawning. By running around or killing the tentacles, you're actually allowing new tentacles to spawn that will react to you and try to "Slam" at you.
The best thing to do if you have to run is to avoid the "Slam" from the tentacle that spawns by you, then just stand near that tentacle until the Vessel debuff wears off. Just remember that this only works if Illaoi won't be able to reach you with her W - Harsh Lesson since that will command all nearby tentacles to "Slam" at the target again. She's a hardcore lane bully, but her overall power is reduced significantly if she doesn't have at least one tentacle nearby.
Hope this helps!
[slayer-pantheon-thumbs]
I mean yeah, you can avoid the birth of new tentacles, but not the damage, unless you walk out of the range before she deals the absurd damage which still applies a massive slow comparable to wither on nasus. You can windwall and full on the dodge the complete beginning of it but if you don't there is hell to pay for a simple E.
5050BS3 votesIts mind boggling how so many dont know how her E works and how EZ it is to deal with it.
SEKAI2 votesIf you run away, you should be only dealing with 1 single tentacle that spawn.
You should run to somewhere safe and wait until the tentacle spawns, dodge its on-spawn attack, and then you do NOT kill it but stand near it. The tentacle will only attack a single time as it spawns and then would stand on standby and be inactive, and standing near it without killing it means no other tentacles will spawn as well (as the nearest spawning spot is "taken" so to speak); so you effectively stand and wait the debuff off, which you will hear Illaoi speaking to you as the debuff is ending, and THEN you kill off the tentacle and proceed to go back to lane.
To prevent getting touched by the tentacles again, hide behind minions. Illaoi's E can not go through minions. And start dodging maneuvers whenever Illaoi is trying to find a clear line between you and her, but then the dodging skills are only truly needed if you're pushed under your turret as she constantly tries to poke or even dive; but otherwise as long as you're around ally minions, Illaoi shouldn't really be landing E onto you.
Strawberrycocoa1 votesI didn't know minions would block it, thought it was either dodge it or eat it (like how some skills only detect collision with champions). good to know, thanks.
goodiesohhi1 votesIf I stand and fight, I'm just walking into a massive burst of tentacle damage because she'll know right where I'm going to be.
If I run away, she gets to deal free damage on me while I run around avoiding tentacle spawns.
This shit is frustrating, why does it exist like this?
The illaoi e works like this. People are scared of it. Most of the time if you fight for ur spirit, you should win. It fits her thematic, she punishes you for not believing in yourself. It's a "test" for a reason. If you despawn the spirit before she kills it, It means your spirit is strong and you pass. If you run you fail. If your spirit wins, you pass. If you fail, nagakaborous gets mad and starts slapping you.
The Ecdysiast1 votesExcept the fact you shouldn't and don't win when you remain to fight, unless you somehow put Illaoi between you and the spirit so she can't hit you both-- which in turn puts you in a bad position anyway while she heals off one or the other.
goodiesohhi1 votes[{quoted}](name=Uber Deer,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=2lZyEk7p,comment-id=00030000,timestamp=2018-06-29T01:31:20.428+0000)
Except the fact you shouldn't and don't win when you remain to fight, unless you somehow put Illaoi between you and the spirit so she can't hit you both-- which in turn puts you in a bad position anyway while she heals off one or the other.
No. At levels 1-4y if you fight her, You'll be able to clear the debuff. If you just eat it run out of range and then run around dodging tentacles, you'll lose lane priority and a lot of cs. By the time it wears off, the e is up again. It's also got a low mana cost. If you do that you're just forfeiting your lane. The "Illaoi hit me must run away" is not always the best thing to do. Sure, there are matchups where you cant contest it but everyone just pretends that every champ loses to illaoi. When illaoi hits an e, immediately start sidestepping as 90% of illaoi's will immedately try to w for the double slam. You can't dodge the w (obs your spirit can't either)but you can dodge the slams easy (the spirit. Meh. As long as both don't get hit.). Then there's 3 scenarios, one: She'll try to q you and the spirit. Punish her. You shouldn't get hit. If it's a 1v1, there's no reason you can't dodge the q unless you're slowed by the e proc. Illaoi's q is designed to be able to just be walked out of if you start moving sideways when you see it. She has no method in her kit to fix that outside losing your spirit. She'll hit your spirit tho. If you rinse repeat the sidestepping it's actually possible to fend her off on most champions. Please don't just forfeit your lane. This is all pre 6, post 6 its a diff story. There's no reason why she'll hit both. The slams arent fast enough to hit an un cc'd target if they're not bad. At most she'll only hit the spirit. two: she'll just auto the spirit (This is better because your autos actually usually decrease the spirit then your q. Most illaoi's max e first) if she does this. Just back off. three: She'll get pokes off and disengage.
Its mind boggling how so many dont know how her E works and how EZ it is to deal with it.
IKR. She's not broken or anything. They haven't nerfed that for a reason. (Outside the tentacle visibility change. That needed to happen for many reasons.) People just don;t know how matchups play out and just label it broken. They forfeit they cd windows and then eat it again. Until the forfeit the lane.