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Illaoi and Twisted Treeline - Can a member of Riot give this a once over?

maxwellewxam··3 votes·1,895 views

As an exclusively Twisted Treeline player, I have serious concerns about Illaoi and how much testing was done on the map.

Let me preface this with: I understand-

  1. Playtesting is not an exact art and the community feedback post release is essential.
  2. Twisted Treeline is not as popular as Summoners Rift.
  3. All new characters come out the gates overpowered - until their first nerfing.

That being said, I would like to address the serious state Illaoi has thrown the Twisted Treeline into. TT has always had its juggernauts, Garen Garen, Darius Darius , Tahm KenchTahmKench, Master YiMasterYi , ect. ect. however, NEVER have I experienced games so continually one-sided until the release of IllaoiIllaoi. Her ability to 1v3 seems (to me) to be a vast error in design. Continually Illaoi has dominated the map. While I personally think the Kraken Priestess is very innovative and a fun idea- there are some oversights that are too vast. I do not play Summoners Rift, so I don't have any knowledge on how she is playing there. I imagine it is much different though, given the wider lanes and large jungle. Twisted Treeline is much more narrow and there is a huge amount of impassable terrair for her tentacles to spawn on. Repeatedly myself, my teammates and my enemies are being slapped dead by tentacles when Illaoi is nowhere to be seen. Was this an intentional decision? Was Illaoi supposed to apply pressure to players who have escaped the combat and are retreating? Constantly being interrupted while trying to recall is frustrating by itself. Being killed under tower, after being interrupted by a tentacle mid recall, is even more frustrating. Illaoi's tanking potential has made early game diving a constant in Twisted Treeline. This is subsidized by her 5% heal a t all ranks. This, to me, is the first immediate red flag. 5% of missing health when laning is a big deal and it has given her almost unparalleled sustain. Part of the problem is the size and reach of the tentacles. In TT I and other players are finding that is is actually NOWHERE to hide. Just about every spot on the map can spawn a tentacle that can reach you. That's a lot of pressure from just one character. Even more to the point, her tentacles spawn all the way to the Base Platform. Multiple times, I've barely escaped death, just to be killed one step from safety.

I don't want to complain without offering solutions so here are some changes that I feel would add balance without having to change her kit. Much like the update to Teemo'sTeemo mushrooms for Twisted Treeline.

  1. The size and length of her tentacles could be downsized to make for a less overbearing need to constantly be dodging NPC damage.
  2. Her heal from the tentacle damage should either be reduced (2%-3% maybe) or scale 1%-2%-3%-4%-5% so she doesn't have such a cruhing alne presence.
  3. The tentacle spawn curse should DEFINITELY have a range. There is no reason a player should die while Illaoi is at her base and they are at their own. (It's ridiculous to burn a flashsummoner 4 just to not die to a skill passive 30 seconds after a fight).
  4. ANYTHING TO STOP THE 1v3s!!!!

I would very much appreciate it if I could just get a "Heard" from riot- so I know they're listening.

3 Comments

Varnoc3 votes

The time between spawns while you're a Vessel is 10 seconds, and they don't spawn in the fountain, assuming you run sideways from the most recent spawn, it's entirely possible to dodge them to recall, you just need to be aware of the timing. If you're not a Vessel, they don't swing at you.

The heal on her Q is fairly reasonable in my opinion, as it only procs once per tentacle, regardless of how many targets are hit with it, and it's heal is relatively minor in the early game (5% of missing health is somewhere in the 10-50 range, depending on how low she is in the early game, though she should be picking up potions in my opinion, so I can see the frustration), though it can become an issue late game.

The spawn range does exist, Tentacles cannot spawn within a certain distance of others, and they shouldn't be able to spawn on the platform it's self. (A core aspect of playing Illaoi well is knowing this range and how to place them effectively). Though if you are near an exsisting Tentacle it will swing at you while you're a vessel.

Not to nit pick, but it's not really a "passive" of her E (Test of Spirit), its the entire point of it. The damage amp is nice, and the slow can be useful, but the primary purpose of the spell is to make people into Vessels so that they spawn Tentacles for you before a fight later in the game, and keep you on your toes early (ideally you would pull someones spirit before a fight, zone them off of it with your team and destroy it/make them run out of range to avoid damage, then they spawn Tentacles for you to play around with in teamfights). Combined with the fact that her E is avoidable (if you attack Illaoi while your spirit is pulled the duration it remains out is reduced, it's a skillshot, AND you can kill 3 Tentacles to get rid of it after the fact), I feel that it's entirely reasonable, it just requires a little knowledge of the skill to play against.

As an aside, I havn't played her in TT at all, even during PBE testing, though I can imagine it would be irritating due to her presence keeping Tentacles alive in the other lane, that would be a reasonable nerf considering the map size

Addressing your last point however, any Illaoi worth their salt will try to start a fight with her ultimate when near at least one active Tentacle, her damage is simply lackluster otherwise, destroy them when you can (the time between spawns is rather long until very late in the game, and they give you gold anyway), and avoid fights around them if you can't. She's like any other hypercarry, in their given situation they're gods of the game, in pretty much every other situation they suck compared to other options. Like any champion of this nature, hard CC is going to screw her up pretty badly if you time it well, but that's a given, displacements are also very good against her after she ults, so try those (Janna ult, Xin Ult, Lee Sin Ult, Alistar Headbutt, etc.)

Overall I feel like Illaoi is going to require more knowledge of the champion than others to play against, but it is entirely possible to do so. Generally, if she pulls your spirit, you need to make the decision to all in her, or to retreat out of range of the spirit and be ready to remove the Vessel debuff. Later in the game when she can fight two or more of you alone, try to kite her instead of standing still. I hope you have better luck against her in the future!

tripote la moi1 votes

y she's way overpowered in this map, but riot doesn't mind, they could at very least release the draft mode twisted tree-line. but they won't cause they don't mind ... LOL became a single map's game, so tard...

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