Can we talk about Illaoi?
Illaoi is an awesome champion, seriously. The design is great, interesting, and coherent. What's lacking however is viability and a bit of healthiness.
Let's face it, Illaoi lacks sustained dps - literally her autos (apart from enhanced with W) do NOTHING for her - despite being an AD based caster/tank. Yes you can vessel someone and make them spawn tentacles but really that's not enough sustained dps. Regarding her burst, yes, it's there , but only in the early game. As soon as everyone starts hitting levle 16-18 and gets some armor, the damage reallllllllllllllly falls off.
Illaoi was designed to be a juggernaut - a slow moving hulk that packed a punch the later the game got. Now although Garen, Darius, and Morde fulfill this to a certain extent, Illaoi just doesn't. She feels like a reverse juggernaut, the later the game goes, the less she actually does. Her damage completely falls off lategame, even if you do get 5 man ults, and the static nature of her passive just makes it so hard to set stuff up instantly - which is very much necessary in a fast-paced game like League.
**Some issues with her kit (call this counterplay if you will, but this really needs to be addressed): **
-If you dont have tentacles near your skirmishing area or your opponent moves and your ult is down. You are as good as useless - especially if the opponent just straight up out damages out. -What makes juggernauts juggernauts include their ability to do something significant with their auto attacks, Morde Q, Darius passive, Skarner Q passive and E stun, Garen passive and Q. Illaoi just doesnt have that, Harsh Lesson just seems so weak, and the tentacles take a super long time to slam making most top laners like Fiora/Poppy easily move out of the hitbox. Turns out Harsh Lesson isn't really that harsh afterall. -Her first item just doesn't fit her that well, although she loves the stats from the Black Cleaver, it's difficult to apply the armor shred passive as her because she doesnt have many quick instances of physical dmg. I feel like she'd do well with the Brutalizer Last Whisper combo - utilizing penetration to really bring out some damage. It isn't available anymore, and the new AD+Shred items such as cleaver and new whispers dont have a place. Illaoi doesn't benefit much from serrated dirk upgrades - Youmuus doesnt do much for her and Maw is situational. -All of Illaoi's abilities apart from R seem like abilities you'd keep at 1 point - really, you're only maxing a certain skill for lower cooldown. If you want her to be a juggernaut, make her scale. -Tentacles take a ton of time to spawn passively, and with the E it seems like it's the right amount - perhaps allow CDR to affect Illlaoi's passive? -Give her passive more. Spawning a tentacle just isn't enough. Darius gets his increased AD and 5 stack application for utilizing it well. Garen gets the villain passive. Morde gets his dragon spirit and can share exp.
I feel like right now Skarner and Illaoi share similar issues, they both have to play around certain physical features of the map to be used the most effectively but the difference is that Skarner can still do stuff if he isn't in his spires. Skarner can still ulti someone and go to town with his stuns and Qs. Illaoi can't. She NEEDS her passive - especially if E is down. R sometimes just isn't enough instant reward, especially in the late game.
Why pick Illaoi over Darius? Sure Illaoi can win 1v1 against Darius, but Darius will almost always do more in a teamfight with constant threat from his passive, 5 stack application, and multiple executes.
Interesting concept, but with a bit more work, I think she can be viable.
