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ILLAOI'S LARGEST FLAW: And how to fix it. (Would appreciate a Riot response!)

Squidblimp·3/11/2016, 9:09:34 AM·228 votes·25,444 views

I'll keep posting this until someone from Riot says something about this.

EDIT 3: RIOT RESPONDED!

RiotScruffy (NA) I don't know if this is the absolute biggest problem for the character, but it does seem like something that's screwing Illaoi and not really giving anyone else in the game a noticeably better experience.

I'll see if we can look into hiding more of the tentacle info while she's in fog.

Illaoi has the largest weakness in the game. No, it isn't her kiteability, even though she is kiteable. No, it isn't her lack of CC, even though she lacks CC. These are both intended parts of her kit, and she would probably be broken without these weakness.

No, her weakness is this: You know EXACTLY where Illaoi is located at all times in the Fog of War, as well as where she ISN'T located.

"What do you mean? I can't see her in the Fog of War!"

Not literally, no. But her tentacles. If she is near her tentacles, they have 2 HP, and they are "active" and stand tall. If she is away from her tentacles, they have 1HP, and they are "dormant" and shrivel up.

Both of these forms are visible in the Fog of War, so you know exactly where Illaoi is. Big tentacles means she's near, small tentacles means she is not in that area. The only exception is big tentacles that swing at vessels and spirits.

ADDITIONALLY, you can see when Illaoi spawns tentacles with her passive in the Fog of War. Her passive is, well, 100% passive, so she can't control this if she wants to move around the map. She can't hide in a bush either, because a tentacle will spawn and her EXACT location will be known.

How do you fix this? Well,** you make all tentacles look "dormant" (AKA small with 1 HP) when you don't have vision on Illaoi.** And then you make it so new tentacles spawned cannot be seen until you actually gain vision on them. Think Rek'Sai tunnels: you can't see them until you get vision on them, but then they remain visible afterwards.

There are some rules to this:

  1. When Illaoi herself, the actual champion, becomes visible to the enemy team in any way, all tentacle states should be updated. When you lose vision on Illaoi, tentacles go back to looking "dormant." This prevents you from knowing her location unless you ACTUALLY see her. Illaoi's team wouldn't see this change in state so they wouldn't know what vision you had, so only the enemy team would benefit from this.

  2. When Illaoi spawns a tentacle, the tentacle should not be visible until actual vision is gained on it. This allows Illaoi to actually hide in a brush and bait someone in without having her location revealed.

  3. When a tentacle even BEGINS to swing, it instantly is visible, as is its hitbox marker. This includes invisible tentacles, which would now become visible. This includes "dormant" tentacles, which would now be updated to look active (but would revert to appearing dormant again if Illaoi is not visible after).

  4. When you auto attack a tentacle, its true form is revealed. If you were to attack a tentacle that appeared "dormant," but it was actually an active tentacle, it would appear "active" after you had attacked it, and have one more HP to finish it off.

Thoughts?

EDIT: This is really blowing up on Reddit! https://www.reddit.com/r/leagueoflegends/comments/49y3ge/illaois_fog_of_war_weakness/

EDIT 2: Wow, this really blew up here on the Boards! I hope Riot reads this and responds! Fingers crossed!

175 Comments

RiotRiot Scruffy3/11/2016, 9:23:50 PM65 votes

I don't know if this is the absolute biggest problem for the character, but it does seem like something that's screwing Illaoi and not really giving anyone else in the game a noticeably better experience.

I'll see if we can look into hiding more of the tentacle info while she's in fog.

Edit: we're looking into it, I'll update you all if we make positive progress.

Dessem3/11/2016, 11:22:46 AM35 votes

TFW you wonder where the enemy team is and then see a tentacle spawn in Baron's pit...

I'm convinced Illaoi'd more viable if she didn't betray her presence so easily.

morris13/11/2016, 1:24:58 PM23 votes

Don't forget the completely irrelevant global recall.

CatboyAsbel3/11/2016, 9:12:02 AM14 votes

Sounds like the perfect plan to make my toaster explode

theArtifacts3/11/2016, 2:37:07 PM7 votes

This fix would be a nightmare. Constantly updating and changing the tentacles, as well an unfair advantage to Illaoi by baiting players with a 1HP tentacle when shes really in the bush ready to hit the delete button.

Give all tentacles 2 HP and remain active.

Fixed.

kindermoumoute3/11/2016, 10:50:38 AM4 votes

Can we talk about thresh souls making him spotted from far away ?

shteeeb3/11/2016, 7:58:39 PM4 votes

Yeah it is a flaw, but it isn't anywhere near her largest.

Her largest flaw is being dicked by ranged enemies with no way to stop herself from being kited to hell.

Slamurai Jack3/12/2016, 2:01:21 AM3 votes

This is definitely not Illaoi's biggest flaw, although it's a big one. Her biggest flaw is and has always been her complete lack of playmaking ability. Yeah, Illaoi is absurdly strong if you fight her 1v1. Too bad she has no good way to force you to fight her ever. Garen has his Q and Darius has his W and E. Illaoi has basically nothing.

Férnerud3/11/2016, 11:52:59 AM3 votes

[zombie-brand-clap] well done m8 this one was gr8

TBakes3/11/2016, 3:22:40 PM2 votes

This might be stupid of me to say (no programming experience), but I imagine the difficulty would be with your first point. Do you think it would difficult to have the tentacles physically appear two different ways to Illaoi's team and her enemies? From what I see, the Rek' Sai tunnels don't actually have two different states, like Illaoi's active and dormant tentacles--they physically look the same to both teams whether they have vision or not.

I am imagining a scenario in which Illaoi is in the jungle taking a camp. There are two spawned tentacles that are actively attacking the camp, but the enemy team does not have vision of her. How difficult would it be to have the tentacles appear dormant to the enemy team, but active to the ally team at the same time in the same place on the map?

I think it would make more sense to just not have the tentacles on the map or mini-map at all unless you have vision of them at that time. I feel like her tentacles are a lot less important to see in Fog of War than Rek' Sai tunnels, because Rek' Sai can ult to any of them, whereas Illaoi's tentacles are only really a threat if she is in proximity of them (and if you have vision of her you probably have vision of her tentacles).

VivaLaKitten3/11/2016, 9:21:00 PM2 votes

nice job

PapaGreg213/11/2016, 8:53:29 PM1 votes

One of her strengths is that her ultimate destroys everybody even if she is an underfed support for some reason.

Xela Syab3/11/2016, 3:21:28 PM1 votes

I really never see Illaoi leave lane unless there's a projected teamfight mid lane. She's such a strong lane bully why does she need to roam and pressure other lanes?

Levyathyn3/11/2016, 9:33:28 AM1 votes

Actually, I play Illaoi a good bit and was hoping people wouldn't notice. =\