What do you max first one Illaoi

UltraGigaNiga·Jul 12, 2016·4 votes·6,388 views

I have read about 5 different guides on her and they all tell me to max different things. Some tell me to max e others to max q and others tell me to alternate between them. I'm confused af

16 Comments

BeuhlakorJul 12, 20164 votes

I max E most of the time.

E is your main harass tool. It starts off with an incredibly long CD (20 sec) but the CD is lowered by 2 seconds for every level.
It costs 5 mana less than maxing Q.
Your tentacles naturally scale with your level and they already have a huge total AD ratio. In lane, where your ennemy is the most squishy, I never found that I needed more damages on them to kill my opponent UNLESS THEY ARE TANKS.
The ennemy's spirit counts as a Champion for your ultimate. With less downtime on your E, you can more easily set-up a good ultimate to spawn 2 tentacles (instead of one) and as a result, smash your opponent into the ground.
It increases the percentage of the damages dealt to your ennemy. By grabing your opponent's spirit near a tentacle and by positioning yourself well, you can hit your opponent with a tentacle AND the spirit resulting in some incredible damages. Also, the damages will be massive during a ultimate if all your tentacles hit the spirit and your opponent.

Why you should NEVER max W first or even second :

Scaling is non existent. Every level increases its damages on it by a ridiculous 0.5%.
It has always a CD of 4 seconds, regardless of levels.

Why I don't like maxing Q most of the time :

Costs 5 more mana than E.
No scaling on healing (it is always 5%, whatever the level of your Q).

Why I still max Q sometimes :

Against tank champions. Tank champions like or or will quickly rush armor against you and you won't be able to harass them effectively by maxing E. Instead, I prefer to have super-violent all-in with my ultimate by maxing Q in order to smash them into the ground.

TL;DR :

Never max W. Scaling with level is non existent.
Max E against ranged opponent and against an ennemy that will not purely build tank items (most bruisers and squishies).
Always max Q against tanks.
Max W last. Always.

Have a Nice GameJul 13, 20161 votes

Thanks for the lesson. I was trying to pick up Illaoi recently :)

MarshbouyJul 12, 20162 votes

always max Q.

CheekynorthJul 12, 20162 votes

Max W first

It makes a lower cooldown and deals more damage

Max Q second

makes the passive tentacles do more damage

Max E last

You got all you need from first getting it

Blue Collar BearJul 12, 20162 votes

You may have read my guide on mobafire, but it's not been updated for the rework.

You want to max Q first, because it increases the damage of Slam by a flat percentage. Slam is also used by your tentacles when you use your W, and when a vessel is pulled with E. It's, overall, the best increase in damage output. The reason why you don't want to max E first is because it's difficult to land during the laning phase, and it's not as much of an overall damage increase. The cooldown on it is also incredibly long. W shouldn't be leveled, because in almost every situation, maxing E second will give you more damage. To recap, max Q over everything for: better waveclear, more damages on every ability, lower cooldown, more harass.

My guide is not current, so if you have any questions, reply to me here and I'll be happy to respond.

AstôlfoJul 12, 20162 votes

If it's someone I can bully easily with E, then E. If not, then Q.

Sincerely, a level 6 (almost 7) Illaoi main

DefendedJul 12, 20161 votes

Some people max E for the utimate harass, some people max Q to get more healing and overall standard damage. Dont ever max W because your R puts it on a 2 second cooldown anyway..

warpenguin555Jul 12, 20161 votes

I like q better for poke. im a mage player so it just makes sense for me

4th Chiming LambJul 12, 20161 votes

Max Q for more healing and damage. It scales wonderfully with AD as well.

King of MongooseJul 12, 20161 votes

max d so you have a lower cd on flash to make plays

if you have flash on f then don't even play league smh

ltmetalJul 12, 20161 votes

Max the ability that you land the most. Although, if you are against stealth champions, your E is super valuable since it grants true sight of them for the duration.

Serpents EmbraceJul 12, 20161 votes

I prefer to max my Q ability for the additional damage on both her Q and W. A lot of your lane trades will revolve around controlling an area with Tentacles either by smacking your opponent or clearing waves.

But, maxing E has its own merits. You're not wrong if you prefer to max E over Q or vice versa. The only "wrong" choice you could make is ranking W first, imo, since it does the job it needs to do at rank 1.

I think the simplest way to put the choice is pick Q if you want better wave clear and poke and E if you want better bullying potential.

ReZisT LustJul 12, 20161 votes

if you can hit your skillshots then max e and try to get the spirit under tower if not q

Illâoi Evê SiônJul 12, 20161 votes

Max E. Max Q against champions who can counter your E (e.g. Rumble, Volibear).

Angry MonsterJul 13, 20161 votes

the answer is Q first for max, anyone telling you other wise is completely clue less and probably believes AP Lucian is viable and off builds are legit.

http://champion.gg/champion/Illaoi

As you can see from the link Q max is the first thing you do. The disagreement is only for secound max (which i prefer E). anyone who is telling you E first missed the changes a couple of patches ago.