Every single time I pick Illaoi, even in normals, I get told repeatedly that she's a terrible champion who brings nothing of value to the game. I enjoy playing her, but it seems people hate having her on their team, and quite frankly it does usually feel like I'm dead weight. What about her makes her so bad? What would it take to make her a decent pick?
DeloricVI4 votesAt this point, it's pretty much numbers. When she had the numbers to be able to build full tank, then dive into a teamfight and just smash everyone into oblivion, she was pretty OP. Once her numbers stabilized into normal ranges for a champion of her type, she fell behind rapidly.
One of the jobs of a tank is to either A) Dive the back line, or B) defend your allies and help to peel/chase/lock people down. Illaoi doesn't really have tools for that.
Illoai's kit is kind of dive-based, but mostly not. It feels like a case of the theme limiting the kit. The theme is all about the tentacles, and possibly setting up a good team fight with them, but other than that, she doesn't really do much. She has some sustain, some damage, but she lacks hard cc or a huge gap closer. Harsh lesson does give her a little bit of mobility, but it doesn't seem to be enough to dive the back line. Her numbers getting balanced means she's not going to be going all Darius on us, and she has no hard cc. Her test of spirit is interesting, but it doesn't prove to be a good lock-down tool.
The point is that Illaoi doesn't do anything that another champion doesn't do better.
If you want a dive tank, Garen does the job better If you want a fighter/tank, Darius works better If you want a cc tank... well every actual cc tank works better than Illaoi.
I feel like Riot can make her work, but these are the main problems with Illaoi right now.
AlwaysByMySide2 votesAt this point, it's pretty much numbers. When she had the numbers to be able to build full tank, then dive into a teamfight and just smash everyone into oblivion, she was pretty OP. Once her numbers stabilized into normal ranges for a champion of her type, she fell behind rapidly.
Illaoi hasn't been nerfed once, and she could never build full tank. The only damage nerf she's gotten is the AD nerf to Titanic Hydra, which she sometimes built.
She's been bad since release, and she will probably continue to be bad unless she is buffed to the point where her numbers are insane or is reworked into a champion that can actually be balanced by number changes.
DeloricVI1 votesHuh. Well, I guess the cries of "Illaoi is too OP" were just part of the "new champion syndrome." You know, OP on launch until the community gradually realizes what the new champion does, and then they start to actually settle to a point that Riot can actually balance them.
I just assumed that, since people stopped complaining, Illaoi got nerfed. My mistake.
Frnak1 votesShe's pretty niche---she's pretty much anti all-in builds. When I see heavy melee in teams I'll pick her. They go in, ult, whammo.
But otherwise, eargh.
Kinda like Malz being the-anti-assassin-dive. Love me some Malz. Edit: He can be played a lot more due to also being able to punish mistakes.
I'd prefer her to have a lot more slows, not necessarily stuns or hard CC of the kind, and some very good team-orientated skill passives... ie; when your soul is out of the body they lose a percent of their... armor? magic resist? both? Or maybe AD? AP?
Basically a mini-exhaust if they get tagged. It's hard to land as is.
SHRUG MANG, SHRUG.
DeloricVI1 votesLike I said; she doesn't really do "standard tank things" well, which makes her niche.
EcchiOtakuTM2 votesIf illaoi's Q interrupted enemies like Kassadin's Q
Illaoi's W and passive are fine
The incoming illaoi E change will buff her
and if during her ulti her Q could silence+disarm enemies hit for 0.2.0.4/0.56 seconds since that's not a movement-impairing CC it would synergize well with illaoi's design.
And boom viability and still countered by simple repositioning.
Indirectly rito really should let frozen mallet slow by 20% when physical abilities hit.... that would bring frozen mallet back on more then just 3 champs and illaoi could synergize with that.
EpicMusic1 votesWould love that frozen mallet change
Zane Zephyr1 votesShe has no CC. She brings no real utility or CC. Only damage.
Jbels1 votesIllaoi is just like Morde. A champion who only does damage and nothing else, and is outclassed by everything and anything else. This is what happens when Riot fucks up a champion concept (Juggernauts) and then just leaves it to rot instead of fixing it
SolidPooh1 votesShe needs a tentacle bank and a way to expel them at once
Bhagswag1 votesIdk man, she rekt me last time I played vs her.
EpicMusic1 votesHer tentacles are too slow, make it faster, that's all she needs. IMHO
KVbqbFsC8e1 votesA rework. She shouldn't allowed to be viable with that total cancer kit she has.
