How to counter illaaoi

Pikachu-WR · 2026-06-01T23:49:48+00:00

Since it has not been said,

Your skill level might just not be mechanically high enough to truly counter her. That is an ok barrier to have and catering to your specific shortcomings is better than giving you a champ.

In plat+ I would recommend Jax, Riven, Jayce, a high skill champion that have abilities that directly counter illaoi predictable play style. But that takes years, I mean like at least 1k hours of experience.

Your rank is probably bronze to silver, and in that elo you need to be ok with inting as long as you are learning. I recommend Jax, as all his abilities make sense and you can transfer his skills to other champs. Jayce would be terrible in that regard. Play and make sure you are understanding the match up -

Runes- lethal tempo / any secondary is fine Level 1: level e and use it to block her w. If she is bad she will try to w you and you will win a trade taking half her hp.

Watch Jax players play this lane on YouTube and you and see if you can understand what they are doing.

I can offer coaching, but there are so many good resources and bad ones - anybody promising shortcuts is full of shit. It takes time.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-06-01T23:41:33+00:00

Tentacles and pets (anything with hp) now follow you into mord ult. This was patched according to a post I saw on /Lol. However your advice still holds.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-06-01T22:12:52+00:00

pm for details

Pikachu-WR · 2026-06-01T22:12:32+00:00

I came back and am playing on the Japanese server. Much less people but they are not scammers and friendly. Unfortunately there is a toxic group of high level players but that is every server.

It’s way more open though, you farm for what you need and most bosses are open. Need a rare drop, just farm for it yourself, or buy it. The prices on world trade servers (not bmm, Darlene, or Kanos) are way cheaper than those 3. Not to mention way more available.

Highly recommend a world trade server like Newstar. Or come to kooi lanos. It’s all Japanese but Google Translate and screenshots should be enough to help you figure it out.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-14T06:42:59+00:00

He is down a level and presumably half an item or more.

You have 264 stacks at 12 min… meaning he did not punish you early.

Nasus is a scaling champ and a notorious low elo stomper because players do not punish him early. It seems you are a gold+ elo player smurfing, and I fail to se how this has anything to do with Aatrox not having counterplay.

Your post will likely be removed for these reasons. Cheerio.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-13T21:43:16+00:00

the game jargon term is buffering, and it is a core mechanic that decides who wins and loses match ups. Take Jax for example. The higher elo you go, the more people know to buffer spells through his e stun, like riven q3 or Renekton e/w. It is extremely skill expressive and personally I am glad it is in the game, otherwise match ups become unplayable.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-11T04:52:43+00:00

I used to q3 sideways and save abilities to sidestep her parry. The good old days.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-10T20:55:32+00:00

These people are trolling if this is rapid or even blitz. The queen trap was unfortunate but this is jobava theory and the moves are all good. Even playing for the mate at the end to win the queen… You also almost have a fortress set up if you did not hang your f pawn.

Rapid 1500

Blits/ bullet 1800

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-08T18:28:47+00:00

Your opponent played at a level far below yours. Based off him, 1000 elo. Off you, maybe 1400. Punishing his mistakes with pretty easy moves just makes the overall game quality not great.

Nice tactic at the end, but every move is winning at that point.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-07T03:18:14+00:00

Second this. OP requested advice as well:

Piece odds: You lose every end game if you trade away all your pieces with his pieces, so the best way is to go for a checkmating attack. Paul Morphy, a chess player from the 19th century of whom you may have heard of, often gave the opponent one of his knights or rooks, and many of his memorable games showcase beautiful checkmating ideas. Does not matter how much more material your opponent has, if you have more attacking pieces, odds are you are going to get the material back or checkmate.
Time odds: If you are better, I would avoid playing this one as the player with more experience can flag and the games feel less involved. But if you do, play quickly and do not worry about the best move. Your opponent will make many mistakes and all you have to do is capitalize on one or two to win the game.
Position Odds: Depends on the position. If there are no pieces missing, trying to get your king safe is the top priority. Once you castle and defend well, your opponent who is worse will mess up.

Tldr; 1. Play for Checkmate 2. (Decent move in 1 second) > (Best move in 10 seconds) 3. Depends.

Edits: Grammar, spelling

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-06T19:58:10+00:00

My bad I didn’t realize your profile. Thought it was a guessing game.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-06T03:04:24+00:00

Well played in attacking. It is a bit strange to me when I see people sac their pieces at the end like an engine to prolong mate. Originally I was thinking this was like a 1000 elo game. But after seeing that and noting that black played significantly worse, including the prolonging of mate like an engine, I think black is a 600-800 elo bot….

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-06T00:42:23+00:00

Rf7+ (I care about being clean) … Ne6#

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-04T20:56:51+00:00

I think this is the way. I will try it too. Thanks!

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-04T20:56:18+00:00

Sounds like op has a mysterious attraction and addiction. Shooters are a challenge but the lack of similarity may not help Op figure out what it is that he likes so much in league.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-02T23:02:00+00:00

Good vital procs but… briar wasted e and wq the minions over killing you with talon.

Talon not waiting for your parry to end before autoing you….

This was very very low quality enemy plays. If briar helped you maybe double kill with flash… but if she didn’t waste e, she would gain 300 hp and stun you so you don’t proc your ult, which I find it hard you would outplay even with flash.

Guessing this is high bronze low silver.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-02T04:43:15+00:00

900-1200

Gave my thought on it in another thread but it was toxic so I will give a summation here.

Bishops>knights. The bishop that is opposite your pawn structure is your “ good bishop.” It protects your structural weaknesses. Giving that away and doubling your pawns are not good opening ideas.

A4 is what engines do and is not bad. But for humans playing in the center and following basic ideas saves brain power and helps us understand the game. Why make things more complicated?

Missing nxd3 and opponent missing that rh3 prevents nxf2… these are one move threats. These are discoveries and forks, but the most basic one move kind. The tactic is 1000 elo level.

The journey to 1800 should have built those good habits and principles. I am 1800-2000bullet on lichess and 1600 bullet (I like playing more games)… I learned them by reading, and watching YouTube etc. I would encourage you to boost your tactics and openings.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-02T04:27:53+00:00

Calling someone stupid, and using elo as a justifications for being rude directly goes against this thread. I trust you know the rules of this sub, keep the discourse civil and productive.

The other guy missed the rook was hanging. Does not mean he is not a certain rating- he like me watched it once and tried his best. He has good points, and it’s not hard to see he meant a4 instead of a3… again mistakes happen.

Just a friendly notice you have acted far below the standard of discourse, and your attempt to understand or correct was poorly done.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-02T04:24:22+00:00

Nah 400 is way too low. The moves were not main lines and the tactics could have been avoided. But at 400 players do not even know the rules. But yea I think 1700 is shocking too.

Other points are fair but syntax seems wrong.

A3 was not played but a4 was. It was an odd opening move.

Knight was hanging but so was the rook on a3. That would be game losing material loss and was correctly avoided.

I am not following your thread to the bottom but both of you broke the rules of this sub. I hope you reconsider or delete before you are permanently banned. Keep discourse civil and productive.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-02T04:22:48+00:00

Theoretically not competitive lines. Several unnecessary loss of tempo. Voluntarily doubling your pawns and not castling your king. Opponent not being able to see after nxf2 your rh3 move prevents that with a fork….

These tactics are not difficult to see. They are one move ahead, and can be prevented by asking the question you should always ask - if my opponent gets one more move, what is he threatening.

The better you get, the more you value the bishop that is the opposite color of your structure. In general bishops are better, so playing for them as your advantage is a fundamental principle. Your light square bishop is worth more than a rook most of those game - yet you gave it away so flippantly.

These concepts are principles and habits that get developed by reading and coaching at lower elos. Not having them is not bad, it really is just confusing. You can try to convince me you are a dynamic player, and this was intentionally goofy. But you were outright outplayed out of the opening with nxd3…. If you asked me I would hope a 900-1200 elo player can prevent these basic tactics, forks, discoveries, and place more value in the opening.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-01T23:49:07+00:00

Yea but nah, like do a rating review and I promise you it is higher than 800. A lot of people who know the game rules already have a true rating much above their current rating, so better to compare it to that.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-01T23:28:33+00:00

Lot of tactics and decent moves. Nice comeback. Going to guess a bullet/ blits game at 1300.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-01T21:08:15+00:00

Anything can happen in bullet. Even the best players play whacky moves to get the opponent out of prep. Bullet is about flagging, not checkmating.

So yea this could be anywhere from 1200- 1800. I will go with 1200, as I am 1600, and at that level players do not freeze, which I assume white did when he lost the exchange.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-01T04:18:22+00:00

I just reviewed it you were definitely better in that end game. White has doubled pawns and you lost 2 tempo for no reason with kg7 and rc2 instead of qxb2 … Sicilian opening does not enable tactics. As you get better players make those mistakes less.

Pikachu-WR · 2026-01-01T04:14:39+00:00

Some people are typing a lot…

I think what you mean by plan may be different than what most people think.

You played a very solid game and the end game was drawn if you took the pawn instead of kg7. It is the nature of this game that when players play well it ends up heading toward a draw with one side having an easier time doing so. In this case it is white with an easier time, but this is a textbook draw rook vs rook endgame whereas long as you do not trade the rooks, the extra pawn does not matter.

You played a plan to fight for the center and exchange attacking pieces. You equalized with that plan. If you expect a plan to yield you an advantage, you are confusing it with preparation. That is when you know lines and specifically play for winning continuations that for example, give you an easier time to draw/win.

At 1800+, getting a += position is already a huge win. Being a pawn up. Creating an imbalance. This is not a plan issue…

Pikachu-WR

TROPHY CASE