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What role does Illaoi play in the current meta?

Lux HD·12/6/2016, 3:16:06 PM·2 votes·4,304 views

I really like playing Illaoi when I am forced to go top, and I do decent enough with her (at least compared to my next-level botching of other champs up there), but I'm a little confused as to what role she is supposed to fill on today's team.

In lane, she's just a massive bully. Her pre-6 is weak unless she can pull a soul or 2 (and destroy them somehow), but once she gets 6 and has her first back, she can pretty much dictate the lane against most opponents it seems. Of course some slippery champs do well at going even like Fiora and Irelia, but neither of them really counter her per se, they just have kits that allow them to hold their own. Some people say that Jayce and Teemo counter Illaoi, but from my low-ELO experience against those champs, they are just annoying lane opponents. That's to be expected, but if you can manage to get on them at all, they will blow up before they can get away.

Outside of lane, though, I feel like her identity is a little less clear. She can't really "bully" her way into engages and teamfights, so she's sort of just left there pacing back and forth in the front line, waiting for a tentacle to spawn every 12 seconds, just to watch it get insta-killed by their ranged champs. It feels like she can only do 2 things at this point... either take a bunch of poke and hope to land Q on someone in the front to heal back 5% of the damage she just took, or look for a soul pull, probably on a tank. She can't engage, even if it's a flash engage, because if she forces her ult to start a fight, one peel spell will completely nullify you.

This leads to her feeling like she should be a split pusher. Teleporting into a teamfight is probably the best way for Illaoi to disrupt as many of their backliners as possible, but she's not a super fast pusher compared to others like Trundle, Rumble, etc.

I guess I'm just confused as to what my objectives should be with Illaoi. If I win lane, do I just keep splitting and use my lead to draw attention? Do I group and try to turtle down mid, creating as many vessels as possible and hope that they manage to poke their squishies? Do I become a roamer and look for gank plays in other lanes and in the jungle, since her kit is so good in closed corridors?

Thanks.

18 Comments

Revali12/6/2016, 4:14:47 PM2 votes

Illaoi come closer, Akali MasterYi Rengar Fizz Katarina Yasuo Zed Riven

you'll understand the power of nagakaborous, up close and _personal _

Segius12/6/2016, 3:18:54 PM2 votes

You Continue to split push until they come after you, then you ult and kill them all

Randomonium12/6/2016, 3:46:14 PM1 votes

Illaoi's greatest strength is the amount of map pressure she can create in a side lane. Sure she can't take a tower extremely fast but her pushing power is very good and there are few champions who can 1v2 as well as her. This insane map pressure forces the enemy team to send multiple people to stop you which opens up the rest of the map and allows your team to take other objective.

Illaoi is only good for team fighting in prolonged sieges when she has time to set up her tentacles. Then her play style is completely dependent on landing her E on the enemy team's primary wave clear champion, forcing them to back off and deal with tentacles spawning. This allows your team to seige more effectively and deal more damage to the tower before the wave is cleared.

Astôlfo12/6/2016, 5:47:01 PM1 votes

Dumb player curbstomper and early lane bully.

Okayish split pusher.

Escheton12/6/2016, 5:58:11 PM1 votes

Her role is: buggy and unplayable beyond gold, fun lanebully/splitpusher in low elo(where her clunkyness doesn't get punished)

Big Lincoln12/6/2016, 6:08:44 PM1 votes

She basically turns into a split pusher later on. She can't take towers as fast as the likes of Tryndamere or Nasus, but tentacles make it very risky to take her on without most of your team if not all 5 of them once she has a nest.

personally I think she needs changes to her E to make her better in 5v5s. An Illaoi that falls behind is incredibly, horribly useless.

DeathBurst12/6/2016, 6:22:18 PM1 votes

You can split-push pretty decently, you have AoE wave-clear with the tentacle slap and an aa-reset on short CD to kill towers fast. If you split, you also have time to prep your tentacles, so you should win pretty much any 1v1, and if 2 or more come, you've already done your hob. If you can plan in advance and aim for this strat, try to include a Triforce and/or a Titanic in your build, more than a Cleaver.

If you want to stay with your team and aim for team-fights, though. Well, you're right that you cannot engage. But on the other hand, if THEY choose to engage onto YOU, you can pretty much wreck them all. Try to grab a spirit, no matter who. It's just to have a vessel spawning tentacles, not to actually kill THIS guy. Be patient, set-up pushes on side-lanes properly, let your ADC siege their towers, and get ready to couter-attack if they try to force a fight and dive your team. Aim for Cleaver/Iceborn/Sterak to survive the initial burst of damage and provide team-utility. Other good items include the classic Jugg/Tank items such as Sunfire/Spirit/Titanic/Randuin. Remember that Spirit increases your healing from tentacles, so it's a must-have if they have any significant amount of magic damage.

Tychusfindlay91912/6/2016, 3:34:08 PM1 votes

She absolutely is a split pusher, and although she may not down turrets as fast as other split pushers shes a hell of a lot better at dueling once she establishes a trail of tentacles. One spirit pull late game is chunking bitches for half their HP.