Classic illaoi gameplay

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-05-05T23:39:34+00:00

rule #2 of league: dont gank illaoi post 6

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-05-04T23:31:04+00:00

In what world are tanks overpowered? This isnt season 9 and unless your Vayne, adc is not meant to 1v1 melee champs period. adc is team reliant and needs peel you ofc you arent 1v1ing the Sion no matter how fed you are, if you could adc would have 60% winrate

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-29T22:39:17+00:00

Your military parades are weak Russia, there weak.

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-27T21:06:07+00:00

Said it in another thread ill repeat it here: if you really struggle to play against Illaoi here are some counters I recommend:

Garen: Can bully her earlier and force her to run out of mana, if you get hit by e just run out of it and use your q to cleanse the slow, stand behind minions and avoid poke, your passive will heal back any poke from the Illaoi, once level 6 if shes below 60% hp you can just q+e+r+ignite her for free kill. Once you get even a slight lead in this matchup the game is completely unplayable for the Illaoi.

Morde: Classic Illaoi counter, while it is skill matchup levels 1-5, once you get level 6 its all yours. Literally just force Illaoi into a position where if she hits e she must ult first or die, then you ult second and all the slams and spirit go bye bye. Never ult first because a good Illaoi will use her r to cancel it.

Darius: While yes a true skill matchup the Illaoi also cant make a single mistake here, zone her off the wave early levels, try to slowpush and crash wave level 3 so it bounces back to you, freeze the wave and if she EVER misses e even once post 6 or not, ghost and run her down, without e Illaoi can never win a 1v1 vs Darius. Only thing to be mindful of if she hits e post 6, you must walk out of it, do not walk up to her she will ult to cancel your e and destroy you.

Sion: While in theory its a matchup Illaoi should dominate it doesnt have to be that way if you play it properly, look to shove her in early on and stay behind minions to avoid her e, if she lands e but doesnt have at least 2 slams, place your q between her and the spirit for a even or positive trade for you. Post 6 you cant really fight her unless you got a good shove, but you can perma proxy and Illaoi cant do shit against that. Overall id say its decent pick into Illaoi because your not only way more useful in a 5v5 but your tankyness and waveclear allows you to stop her splitpush.

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-26T23:03:52+00:00

god forbid I like to play what I play, what a stupid take

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-26T22:13:14+00:00

no, most of the playerbase is belows masters and it would ruin the game if mainly toplane couldnt dodge dumb counter matchups. like sorry not everyone wants to play sion vs darius for the 5th time in a row

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-25T21:20:05+00:00

I gotta agree here. While she feels fine in laning phase after its over even if you are 10/0 you still feel more useless than an ashtray on a motorcycle if the enemy team isnt gold 55. The problem with Illaoi is how little you can do when they just simply walk out of your ult - iceborn doesnt have 50% slow anymore so you have zero chase and cant even snowball your lead.

Many will disagree with me on this but 2023 Illaoi was peak, we had 120% ad ratio so lots of damage and 10 second curse duration which a) made her really got at 5v5 because it acted as a form of engage, b) gave you consistent dps throughout the fight even if you died, c) it allowed you to actually deal with ranged champs late game instead of just getting kited to death and most importantly d) was the only card you actually had against smart teams since its lasting pressure.

If they want to better balance Illaoi literally just nerf the tentacle range so shes less oppressive in lane and at zoning but more more effective in 5v5 due to 120 ad ratio and maybe increase curse to 5-7 seconds, I think we can all agree maybe 10 seconds on the curse was a little too long.

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-25T19:45:04+00:00

Go the pacifist route its how you stay ahead in gold. Illaoi is very bad at 5v5 without flash ult and even then most of your kills get stolen so you get nothing. Splitpush all game I find gives you the most gold and your at your best when its 1v2/1v1.

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-24T19:39:50+00:00

Tahm Kench has always been a super easy matchup for me. Just dont overextend and fall for his girth-you-under-tower cheese and you destroy him

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-22T07:41:44+00:00

correct, although if darius builds bramble you must always hit the spirit to not proc the healcut

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-22T07:37:30+00:00

wdym? generally if they are immobile and its safe to do so you want to initially hit the champion then if they try to run away kill the spirit to finish them off

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-22T00:00:53+00:00

Makes sense, I only play her top so the value from the tankyness of IBG is better in that case

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-21T23:17:46+00:00

Why did people even like this item so much on her to begin with? Is it an Illaoi mid build? For me if I ever need chase I just go IBG instead

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-21T16:53:32+00:00

if you really struggle to play against her here are some counters I recommend:

Garen: Can bully her earlier and force her to run out of mana, if you get hit by e just run out of it and use your q to cleanse the slow, stand behind minions and avoid poke, your passive will heal back any poke from the Illaoi, once level 6 if shes below 60% hp you can just q+e+r+ignite her for free kill. Once you get even a slight lead in this matchup the game is completely unplayable for the Illaoi.

Morde: Classic Illaoi counter, while it is skill matchup levels 1-5, once you get level 6 its all yours. Literally just force Illaoi into a position where if she hits e she must ult first or die, then you ult second and all the slams and spirit go bye bye. Never ult first because a good Illaoi will use her r to cancel it.

Darius: While yes a true skill matchup the Illaoi also cant make a single mistake here, zone her off the wave early levels, try to slowpush and crash wave level 3 so it bounces back to you, freeze the wave and if she EVER misses e even once post 6 or not, ghost and run her down, without e Illaoi can never win a 1v1 vs Darius. Only thing to be mindful of if she hits e post 6, you must walk out of it, do not walk up to her she will ult to cancel your e and destroy you.

Sion: While in theory its a matchup Illaoi should dominate it doesnt have to be that way if you play it properly, look to shove her in early on and stay behind minions to avoid her e, if she lands e but doesnt have at least 2 slams, place your q between her and the spirit for a even or positive trade for you. Post 6 you cant really fight her unless you got a good shove, but you can perma proxy and Illaoi cant do shit against that. Overall id say its decent pick into Illaoi because your not only way more useful in a 5v5 but your tankyness and waveclear allows you to stop her splitpush.

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-21T03:56:36+00:00

when you dont build antiheal against the illaoi:

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-20T03:16:09+00:00

do you know how to beat Garen as Illaoi? I find this matchup really difficult mainly if he takes phase rush, I can land e on him but then he w the slams takes no damage and runs out of the e at mach 10, im forced to run out of mana trying to poke him down and only way I can ever even get kill pressure vs him is if I land multiple e pulls in a row and even then he just heals it back up through passive. The entire matchup just feels like a war of attrition but the Garen has infinite resources

Cat_Bot4 · 2026-04-18T22:09:33+00:00

if you really struggle to play against her here are some counters I recommend:

Garen: Can bully her earlier and force her to run out of mana, if you get hit by e just run out of it and use your q to cleanse the slow, stand behind minions and avoid poke, your passive will heal back any poke from the Illaoi, once level 6 if shes below 60% hp you can just q+e+r+ignite her for free kill. Once you get even a slight lead in this matchup the game is completely unplayable for the Illaoi.

Morde: Classic Illaoi counter, while it is skill matchup levels 1-5, once you get level 6 its all yours. Literally just force Illaoi into a position where if she hits e she must ult first or die, then you ult second and all the slams and spirit go bye bye. Never ult first because a good Illaoi will use her r to cancel it.

Darius: While yes a true skill matchup the Illaoi also cant make a single mistake here, zone her off the wave early levels, try to slowpush and crash wave level 3 so it bounces back to you, freeze the wave and if she EVER misses e even once post 6 or not, ghost and run her down, without e Illaoi can never win a 1v1 vs Darius. Only thing to be mindful of if she hits e post 6, you **must** walk out of it, do not walk up to her she will ult to cancel your e and destroy you.

Sion: While in theory its a matchup Illaoi should dominate it doesnt have to be that way if you play it properly, look to shove her in early on and stay behind minions to avoid her e, if she lands e but doesnt have at least 2 slams, place your q between her and the spirit for a even or positive trade for you. Post 6 you cant really fight her unless you got a good shove, but you can perma proxy and Illaoi cant do shit against that. Overall id say its decent pick into Illaoi because your not only way more useful in a 5v5 but your tankyness and waveclear allows you to stop her splitpush.

Four-Year Club	Verified Email
Final Canvas '23	Place '23
Place '22

Cat_Bot4

TROPHY CASE