Riot, what is Illaoi's 'Strategic Niche'

Penta Penguin·Feb 29, 2016·5 votes·4,025 views

I love Illaoi and love playing as her, but I can't figure this out

31 Comments

RiotMeddlerFeb 29, 20164 votes

Illaoi's intended to be a juggernaut (high sustained damage, mainly short range, low mobility, high tankiness, low CC) who:

Helps her team, other low mobility champs especially, get extended dps time on a target (E)
Brings some zone control if she can set up before a fight (tentacle spawning)
Goes well with wombo combo comps (R in particular)

HellioningFeb 29, 20162 votes

Is she up for any balance changes?

JaghataiFeb 29, 20164 votes

I personally feel like she isn't quite tanky enough - even in a tentacle nest she squishes pretty easy. But she's a ton of fun to play.

MelledoneusFeb 29, 20161 votes

Welcome to Season 6. That's a little taste of what non-armor titan tanks feel like right now.

Sire HippingtonMar 1, 20162 votes

sad thing is that she's certainly on the tankier side of things...

EcchiOtakuTMMar 1, 20162 votes

She has tankiness the problem is her flaws, she's the weakest champ only cause her strength and tankiness are locked behind major exploitable flaws.

At least minimally they fixed CC interrupts illaoi's ulti putting it on full cd and not working.

Duke AnaxMar 1, 20161 votes

I'd like to disagree here, just played against an Illaoi that was nearly impossible to kill, with less than three of us andn she usually killed at least one. She build item 3748 item 3071

Livin like RivenMar 1, 20161 votes

I wouldn't really consider Darius low CC. He has a ranged displacement with a massive slow, on top of another massive slow, which, on a squishy, is basically death, which is the best CC in the game.

SkiasMar 1, 20161 votes

{quoted}

Illaoi's intended to be a juggernaut (high sustained damage, mainly short range, low mobility, high tankiness, low CC) who:

Helps her team, other low mobility champs especially, get extended dps time on a target (E)

Brings some zone control if she can set up before a fight (tentacle spawning)

Goes well with wombo combo comps (R in particular)

She doesn't seem to struggle with range much.

GrimztaaMar 1, 20161 votes

I use to love her when she first came out, made it mastery 5 in a day... ppl didn't knew how to play against her so it made it easy.... now, people literally just walk away when you try to fight them... Even if you got a good 3+ man ult out, people just simply dash out, flash out, walk out... now your useless until you can ult again. The sad part is, you suppose to go top, with tp, and when bot or mid needs you, you tp... leaving all your tentacles up top... when you arrive at your destination you have NO damage because you left all your tentacles at top.(this part i dont understand.. because nagakabouros should follow Illaoi ... It's her god ffs) (more tentacles = more damage) .... now your just smacking people down until a tentacle is spawn... which they simply just walk out...

a nice solution for her would be:

once you ult.. how ever much tentacles you spawn will spawn in a radius around you, which move with you until the duration of the ult.

that's just my few cents

shteeebMar 1, 20161 votes

I feel like her passive should have some sort of "tentacle count" that goes up to like 5 or something, and as you move around the map they change position to follow you.

I don't know she just needs a way to bring her tentacles with her because as it is she is worthless when not near her tentacles, and she has no way to keep people near them.

GrimztaaMar 4, 20161 votes

So true. You can't keep em unless you have a 3+ man ult Amumu or Galio or JarvanIV ... the dream... those players come so far in between. [zombie-nunu-tears]

IICrowIIFeb 29, 20163 votes

In practice, Illaoi is a duelist whose ability to win duels depends on her opponents making mistakes, rather than herself making outplays. She's weak in a teamfight, as a split pusher, in securing objectives, and just in general.

Only Play DariusFeb 29, 20161 votes

So like old Darius

Karma DeifiedMar 1, 20161 votes

I'd compare her more to Old Heimer/Yorick in terms of feel.

SeenanMar 1, 20162 votes

[{quoted}](name=Jelly Mac,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=uUUnmJeO,comment-id=00020000,timestamp=2016-02-29T22:25:06.436+0000)

So like old Darius

Eh. Old Darius was fun though. And honestly, I liked him more.

Karma DeifiedFeb 29, 20163 votes

She strategically pacifies tumblr hate mobs from forming. Half-Jokes aside, I don't know what they were thinking with her.

Everything about her screams pacifying those types of people and her kit is just bland with some uninteractive unit generation. Like they just wanted to push her out cause it was the current year. She looks terrible, her lore is shoehorned in to the overall story, her kit can't be strong without being toxic, and her voiceover is oppressive.

ltmetalFeb 29, 20162 votes

She's a pick oriented juggernaut. She lacks CC and is countered by kiting, but has a high priority single target grab that enables you to fight while an enemy is severely hindered or removed from the fight.

Fanny ForecastFeb 29, 20162 votes

She also excels in team fights in her zone, like Heimer (but better). If she can set a zone up before a fight, she's golden.

RalanrFeb 29, 20162 votes

Her and Galio ulting is probably a scary Wombo.

Fanny ForecastFeb 29, 20161 votes

Illaoi top, Galio support, MF adc, Kennen mid, WuKong jungle.

RalanrFeb 29, 20162 votes

Ven diagram of Death.

BlitzidiousFeb 29, 20161 votes

Mate, have you seen the Galio mid?

Fanny ForecastFeb 29, 20161 votes

Seen it? I've played it numerous times. Got rank 5 on him, mostly mid with some supp. I personally prefer Galio as a mid, but in the case of Kennen vs Galio mid, Galio goes supp.

QuephaFeb 29, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Fanny Forecast,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=uUUnmJeO,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2016-02-29T18:47:52.142+0000)

She also excels in team fights in her zone, like Heimer (but better). If she can set a zone up before a fight, she's golden.

I think this is supposed to be her strength. She's really weak to kiting and general disengages, so just make sure the area the enemy needs to disengage from is a tower or a dragon so your team gets a lead.

That might actually be a pretty extraneous strength in the meta right now since pretty much every comp already does this to the top and bot outer turrets

shteeebMar 1, 20161 votes

Problem is setting up a "tentacle zone" takes upwards of 30 seconds, and any ranged champion can easily clear them from safety.

I think they should make it so you clear the tentacles by standing on them like a Rek'Sai tunnel that way ranged champions can't just clear her tentacles out and make her worthless.

FaRmErXMar 1, 20162 votes

her strategic niche is aram

Only Play DariusFeb 29, 20161 votes

Juggernaut with massive AOE damage but no CC and no initiation. Able to curse opponents and delay recalls or force awkward movements due to threat of being whacked by a tentacle even when away from battle.

However she is a bit too much like Darius before his rework. Very oppressive in lane but completely useless in teamfights against anyone smart enough to simply walk away from her. She is also too dependent on her opponents not knowing how her kit works, like how basic attacks on her reduce the spirit duration or to kill the tentacles whenever possible.

I really want to like her as she is the type of champion I love to play, but her lack of utility and unreliable damage just makes her too much of a gamble