She kinda suffers the same way as Pre Rework Darius, build lots of damage and blow up the enemy before they kill you or go tanky and be easily ignoreable due to your pitiful damage.
She doesnt feel like a sustained fighter right now and so much of her kit is loaded into her E+R combo bursting that if she doesnt kill you quickly enough she will probably die.
Her E and ult need changes the most.
Big Lincoln3 votesbecause she isn't a sustained fighter.
Arakadia1 votesWell a burst or be bursted play style isn't a good thing.
FooDang1 votesIts not a burst or be bursted playstyle. Its a "Dont get near me or ill fuck you up" playstyle.
Arakadia1 votesA): Yes it is. If she can't E/E+R followed up by multiple W's to burst the enemy, misses ult, or doesn't hit enough targets she will die very fast without much else happening.
B): Don't get near me or ill fuck you up aint a great playstyle in a vacuum. A champion shouldn't have an aura range of "DEATH". Juggernauts are a real cool idea, but they haven't been implemented very well in the past. Like udyr. Illaoi isn't nearly as bad, but she has problems.
FooDang1 votesA) positioning
B) She's a zone control champion...
Arakadia1 votesA): Im not saying she has no counterposy, she has tons of it. But if you don't follow her counterplay rules, you get bursted. If you do, she gets bursted.
B): Yes but it's insane how territorial and reliant on her zones she is. Her zones hold so much of her power, she is shit without them.
FooDang1 votesB): Yes but it's insane how territorial and reliant on her zones she is. Her zones hold so much of her power, she is shit without them.
Thats the difference between a shit 
player and a great player.
A shit player will abandon her strengths and force her Ult and die.
A great player will control her zones and take objectives and Ult to punish those that try and step up for the Test of Nagakabouros.
Big Lincoln1 votessays who? you can play around Illaoi's threat zone 100% of the time
she's not a teamfight juggernaut, she sets up a nest while pushing and blows you up if you make a bad engage
Arakadia1 votessays who?
I do!
you can play around Illaoi's threat zone 100% of the time
Yes and this is the only deciding factor in whether she is bursted or bursts you.
she's not a teamfight juggernaut, she sets up a nest while pushing and blows you up if you make a bad engage
Yes, but she is a burst or be bursted champion, primarily in skirmishes or team fights.
Big Lincoln2 votesillaoi would not work as a DPS champ, her entire kit is oriented to hitting you in bursts. making her not bursty would require enough changes that you might as well make a new champion with the end result.
she's fine as is. 'burst or be bursted' applies to any assassin and a good chunk of the combo mages.
Yes, but she is a burst or be bursted champion, primarily in skirmishes or team fights.
she is not a teamfighter. what aren't you getting here? Illaoi's specialty is drawing pressure away from her team and getting multikills if she plays well. she only groups if she's so fed that she can just end with her team or if the enemy team is a comp that she can get free ults on (2 or more champions that have to dive her back line or a minimum of long-range/disengage champs)
Rainfall2 votesthe problem with illaoi is that she doesnt feel like a judgernaut at all,yeah she is immobile but where is the sustain and the tankyness in her kit? 5% of missing health for every tentacle hit is barely noticable. She gets completely garbaged by ranged champions in lane,not only does she not have a good engage on them,she also doesnt have any sustain like i said earlier Her kit does not give her any extra defensive stats or shields either. Her tentacles in the late game are not as usefull since the enemy ranged champions destroy them(unless she ults) She is too much of a risk as a lanebully,since you dont have shit to survive in teamfights but your items,so the moment you get stunned youre dead. And even as a lanebully half the toplane champion pool garbage her because they are ranged and the only way she can apply damage is if they are directly on top of her. I dont get why she is still in the juggernaut category at this point,shes just an ad caster that builds defensive items.
UnboundHades1 votestanky ill can still murder everyone if you land a 6 man ulti
Shadow Hazard1 votesSo wait it is a problem that if a champ is building damage they do lots of damage and if they don't build damage then they do little damage? Honestly I think that she is the healthiest, best designed juggernaut in the game. If she could offload so much damage while building fully tanky then it is a balance or design issue like some of the other juggernauts.
KVbqbFsC8e1 votesIllaoi should have never been released in the first place. Silly tentacle dodging minigames aren't fun.
subhuman team XD1 votesMay i remind u that her tentacle's Slam allow her to heal for 5% missing health , which means the lower she is the higher she heals just like darius but lesser and for each tentacle that hits each consecutive slam's heal effectiveness gets reduced by half , not saying she underpowered but shes definitly balanced and rewarding if playing correctly , which makes this champion in a very decent spot atm so i personally dont think she needs a buff or a nerf shes just fine where shes at right now , maybe if they increase the % missing health Up to 10 that would help alot since darius gets 11% that goes up to 33% i think right off the bat which makes him better than illaoi in both laning and fighting
Sexy Jack Rabbit1 votesI dunno, I think she's limited enough by her RNG.
She's in a pretty healthy place right now. It's just that similarly to Kled she has lanes she auto-wins and lanes she auto-loses.
Which is one of the reasons why you don't see her in competitive. On top of that, the only time I would ever consider her a sustained fighter is when she ults, otherwise she's pretty opportunistic.
FooDang1 votesMastery level 7 Illaoi here.
You're probably playing her incorrectly.
Annnnnnd im out.
Tobias Brackner1 votesShe has a fuckton of dmg even if you build only 2 dmg items.
Illaoi is fine.
Krys Star1 votesI think she suffers from clunky, delayed animations personally.
AlienPrimate1 votesI bet 
could do a little work on her. [slayer-jinx-wink]
