Illaoi Tips

SteelMankind·Jun 18, 2016·3 votes·940 views

So I've recently started playing Illaoi again, and in the seven games I've played her in this month, my bot lane does terribly. This is not standard "I always win lane but my team feeds" whining - it happens WITHOUT FAIL on Illaoi, and only on Illaoi. It's also always my bot lane - mid does as per usual. It also doesn't matter how fed me, my jungler, or my midlaner are - bot loses so hard that there's always a 20 minute surrender vote. Once again, this has been the case for seven games out of seven.

Am I having tremendously bad luck, or is there something I'm not doing that I should be?

8 Comments

DreadlocksJun 18, 20162 votes

Hardly seems like a call for Illaoi Tips but rather top lane tips lol.

SteelMankindJun 18, 20161 votes

I have a much higher winrate with other top laners than I do with Illaoi though. It is either bad luck or Illaoi-specific.

Lazypeon100Jun 18, 20161 votes

I'd say this is bad luck for the most part. You vould try to work out TP ganks bot lane to help them out, though Illaoi isn't exactly the best at that due to no CC and needs prior set up time to do optimally.

Do you want any tips for playing as illaoi in lane or anything?

SteelMankindJun 18, 20161 votes

What I'm good at with Illaoi is killing people in 1v1 or killing them and the jungler 1v2. What I'm bad at is transitioning that to a win, rather than a surrender vote.

Lazypeon100Jun 18, 20161 votes

Basically, you need to take advantage of the gold lead you get. Illaoi is amazing by herself in lower elos (I'd say about anything under plat 3 and she typically will work fine). You need to split push, and do so hard. Take towers, make them have to fight you 1v2 or more. This gives your team the advantage everywhere else on the map since they have less enemies to deal with.

Make your intentions clear to your team. If you kill their laner and your jungler is near top side, get them to do herald with you. This makes fighting illaoi hell for nearly twenty minutes.

Make use of wards. Don't be afraid of ganks, but do be prepared for them. You want ganks to happen, and you want the upper hand with your E + R. Take advantage of this, and the enemy will hate trying to fight you as most people do not actually react to her combo fast enough and will die.

If you can't take inhibitor turrets, you have one of two options. Either split push bot lane and take over those towers, or it's time to group. If you ARE forced to group, do not be the one to try to engage if at all possible. You can whittle them down by landing your E (and they will either back off or go in on your team which is good for you) but don't be the one to engage. If you absolutely must engage, only do so when your flash, e, and R, are all ready. Hit R key, and mid ult flash ontop of them. This will catch most players off guard as you follow up with an E and W spam. Target anyone you can who you think will be more likely to eat tentacle hits. Gunning down the fed ADC ia going to be nearly impossible for you in most cases.

Anyway, she really is about objectives and forcing the game to be an advantage for your other lanes by pure dominance. Hope this helps.

SteelMankindJun 19, 20161 votes

I tried two games using this strategy. Both games my bot lane got double killed in the first 5 minutes of the game, and then they would just send their fed ADC to gun me down every time I tried to split.

I'm really starting to think that picking Illaoi psychologically tilts my bot lane. Something about the promise of no CC tp ganks, maybe?

Lazypeon100Jun 19, 20161 votes

I'm not sure what to tell you. My win rate with her is higher than average for the champion (56.3% win rate in ranked) but that is also with only 64 games as her in ranked. It's an okay sample size. Typically I just don't care if my other lanes are feeding or not, I play with the knowledge that I'll get fed and then I focus on getting objectives.

If you cannot win as her, do not blane your bot lane. Look to things you could have done differently or more efficiently. Many times it is still possible to bring a team back from the brink of defeat so long as you get fed and take advantage of it. Anyway, sorry I don't have anything more helpful to say.

Swiftstrike4Jun 19, 20161 votes

If the bot lane loses when you play Illaoi that is either a reflection of your bottom lane or your lack of map as a top laner. In this case though, I would most likely chalk it up to coincidence.

I don't think Illaoi is a great champion to begin with, but the buffs have at least made her viable again.

The problem with Illaoi is that she needs her tentacles to inflict damage. The more tentacles in the lane the greater the likelihood of inflicting damage. By leaving lane, Illaoi is temporarily weakened since it takes time to put her tentacles in places. Her TPing to the bottom lane doesn't accomplish too much because she can't inflict much damage even if she is fed.

Illaoi wants to stay in lane, split-push, or seige a tower. Her teamfight is largely "counter-engage", making her a relatively immobile champion that takes a bit of time to set up, but can inflict massive damage when she does.

Laning against a good Illaoi can be very frustrating, but if you out sustain/scale her, kill the tentacles, and do not fight her in her ultimate, she is a pretty predictable champion. She reminds me a bit like a similar version of Tryndamere with his telegraphed and predictable abilities, a good split-pusher and the ability to harass early and win trades pretty easily.

I almost never try to fight an Illaoi in her ultimate unless I am very ahead. I do feel a lot of lower Elo players think they can "out damage" and kill her while she is doing her ultimate and that is how Illaoi's get fed: they don't respect the damage and the lifesteal.