Hey guys My name is SoulKnight ive been a long time viewer of competitive league i am more of an analyst i enjoy the game as well but my expertise is looking at how to improve other people with better macro/micro than me. i came to the realization that i panic and do bad things in game but when i am looking at a game from the outside i can pinpoint what i did wrong instantly and others even more so. my guide is built around my own experiences and looking at other Illaoi players around gold-d5. this is not a high elo guide by any means so please do not judge it as one. if a high elo player would like to get into contact with me and request a section for P1-masters to be added into my guide i would love the opportunity to work with a higher elo Illaoi player with passion and would credit the player who would do so.

(old bio leaving it here)I Love Illaoi she got me to Silver 1 last season and i know yeah silver im garbage right, but no i think my opinion on this champion can help others find out how strong she really is i added allot of notes and points to why i think the things i do and i hope you guys will like what i have to say, everything i put in notes is my own words and what i think nothing is copied hence why the guide is so shoddy. But i hope it at least will help some of you to learn her and become a better Illaoi player.

The Vs Champion section is 100% my own opinion i did not look at any stats or anything these are purely my own experiences taken into effect and expressed in the places i think the fall into. Most of them are based around top lane but some are based around the champions in general like Vayne Lulu etc

Passive - Prophet of an Elder God: spawns tentacles on walls they do heal you for the same amount as your Q does, its a nice added bonus to win trades.

Q - Tentacle Smash: Your main source of damage/poke and sustain. this is a grate wave clear tool and pair it with Death's Dance and you have some serious lane sustain

W - Harsh Lesson: This is so so important in a fight it will slam all your wall tentacles within the radius down onto the target area, It is SO strong and will win you most of your fights if you position beside a tentacle.

E - Test of Spirit: This is your skill shot, this ability is so vital to why Illaoi is so good in a lane. It is a massive mini game to harass the enemy laner off farming, max this first to have an edge if someone trys to all in you.

During a fight, don't focus on the soul, focus the champion, if they start running away, go ahead and finish off their soul so your tentacles will do the rest of the work.

R - Leap of Faith: Your ult allows you to almost 1v1 anyone that unsuspecting of Illaois damage punish them for trying to fight you and remember the more enemy's that are around you the more tentacles that it will spawn.

New Rune Pages are really good on most champions but quite limited on Illaoi you can argue going Predator is viable but in my honest opinion the % hp damage on her W is enough, She works well with Kleptomancy and Grasp of the Undying most people are going Klepto because of the bonus gold advantage and the fact you can proc it on the Soul your E pulls out. its very situational and in my opinion riot ignored champions like Yorick Illaoi when they were deciding the new runes.

Main Runes and why i think they are best right now.

Kleptomancy is so good because it procs on your E spirit and the W consistently procs the klepto.

Biscuit Delivery is very nice to have as illaoi it allows you to be greedy and go Doran's Blade more often.

Magical Footwear very useful for illaoi she does not need boots early and getting her a discount on those Ninja Tabi is really great.

Cosmic Insight 45% cdr is just amazing to have on illaoi her kit is so cooldown reliant and having the extra bit is just wonderful to have late game.

Secondary Runes and why i have put up 4 options instead of 2.

Sudden Impact you gain it instantly after you use your W its just a sweet burst of dmg ontop of your already serious amount.

Ravenous Hunter this is self explanatory illaoi snowballs so hard with early kills and her kit is built around lifesteal, this rune gives you the best of both worlds and the intensive to trade early to snowball.

Bone Plating very strong right now into poke lanes and helps you in a lvl6 all in, nothing wrong with going resolve secondary.

Conditioning you cant stack resists early this helps you get some of those sweet stats at 10min pairs nicely with the Magical Footwear you should have.

Core

Black Cleaver is your core item every game, it is so vital to why illaoi is the tank killer it just makes her disgusting to trade with. you literally can not fight an illaoi as a tank who has her cleaver spike.

Death's Dance Im sorry for not stressing how important this item is. This item is on par with Sterak's Gage and Black Cleaver i would only say get this first if you feel confidant in snowballing without the Black Cleaver passive's.

Sterak's Gage is allot of the time second to Black cleaver if not more important, it gives you a massive shield and a butt load of extra damage on your Harsh Lesson during a team fight.

Good items and why

Thornmail Such a strong item in this meta i love it into any ad lane, starting with a bramble early is so worth it.

Guardian Angel is very luxury its not needed but if yo are ahead it can cause some serious issues for the enemy team, it should be gotten as a last item every game now.

Spirit Visage is such a important item for illaoi to get even if the enemy team has 1ap, it literally makes her Q one of the most potent skills in the game. you never have to worry about taking poke when you have this item you just heal everything back from one wave.

Executioner's Calling is so important early into picks like Swain Fiora Warwick Vladimir Upgrade into Mortal Reminder after you get your core Black Cleaver boots and Sterak's Gage or Death's Dance

PROS
Easy to learn
Decent Lane Phase
Strong Mid game
Great Vs Tanks
High Sustain
Great Wave Clear

CONS
Awful Vs ADC champs Caitlyn/ Vayne/ Quinn
Major Mana issues early
Hard counterd by allot of champs
Hard to master
Can be focused down by a good team
High E cooldown can be punished allot
Easy to avoid brunt of her Ult dmg
Falls off late game

Illaoi is a strong front line that excels at going into the mid/back line and picking off one person in a few seconds, she has amazing dueling and team fight potential around her ult just make sure your team is ready for it and ping them that you are going in.

She goes well with champs like Karma/ Lulu the most for obvious reasons i have stomped so many fights because of my Lulu shielding me i would have died if she dident, Karma Can speed you up so you can keep dunking fools and her shield helps so much with you getting back your much needed Hp from lifesteal.

Illaoi also goes well with Sejuani/ Nautilus/ Blitzcrank they make up for her lack of cc and hand her champions on a plate

My favorite junglers to be with are Elise/ Vi/ Amumu by far. do not pick Illaoi into a team comp without slows/hard cc or engage she is a follow up engage not a starting.

finally she does well with Brand/ Gangplank(Her wife GP ofc.)/ Fizz because they disrupt the enemy team into scattering into different directions and this is what Illaoi wants follow the easy target or the carry and ping to focus them if they stray away from the team.

In ranked Illaoi should play the role of a hard to kill front line re engage champ. She is great vs some early game champs like pantheon and rengar because her early game is just a bit better.

If someone does not respect your damage punish them and if you get a kill roam to bot lane every time if you are post lvl6, you have massive double kill potential if you get lucky take dragon and Teleport back top.

Laners you should not roam against are Tryndamere/ Nasus/ Jayce/ Jax never roam vs these as they can shred your turret and snowball with first turret gold so hard. Roam mid if they have an immobile champ and remember you CAN fight a jungler who is behind so keep wards deep in his jungle and abuse him if you see him low.

Illaoi works best with Teleport/ Flash BUT i have bee using Teleport Ghost allot its just so strong with catching back up with foes and to be honest in this situation you can actually justify going Phase Rush it complements your ghost well and sticking to the target never so easy.

Now back to Teleport its almost a must you really need it imho to save your lane if you are roaming or to go from splitting top to splitting bot instantly. Illaoi wants to 1v2 to split pushing is great and Teleport helps with this allot. If you are very new to illaoi i advise taking Teleport/ Flash and playing safe

Illaoi can afk farm in front of a melee champs turret with ease if you set up 2 Prophet of an Elder God tentacles just right you can Harsh Lesson the melee creeps and then Tentacle Smash the back creeps for a 1hit. this makes farming so hard for a Nasus for example he is borderline useless. but if you are doing the pushed up farm make sure your jungler keeps your top side of map warded. you can buy Farsight Alteration early and get a Vision Ward for this strat.

Now for a hard lane like Kayle/ Tryndamere/ Swain these are a little more complected what i like to do is go in to melee creeps and basic them if they start to agro on you use Harsh Lesson to last hit a minion and run away, you will get about 3 creeps a wave if you are luck vs a Kayle she is so hard in lane for you to deal with. so what i like to do aswell is get an early double damage items and i just start one hitting the waves with Tentacle Smash.

05/05/2017 - Added New broken build for 7.9
06/05/2017 - Tweaked some item priority and tweaked the Vs champions page around the new build.
08/07/2017 - tweaked vs champ section and moved around some items,
03/08/2017 - Updated Vs champ page and items,
06/09/2017 - Changed some Vs champ descriptions, Removed some filler builds
01/03/2018 - Updated the Vs match ups section the best i could seeing its popularity,
07/03/2018 - updated some more Vs match ups, and updated introduction please read <3