Hi guys! I am a high gold player on the OCE server(yes, the most trash server on this earth), and I have been playing league since season 3 but took a brief hiatus during season 5 or 6. I recently picked up Illaoi and fell in love with her, her lore is amazing, her animations are awesome, and most of all she is an absolute beast on the rift when you get rolling with her. Whilst I know that my rank is not the best, I feel like Illaoi is an underplayed champion and there aren't a lot of comprehensive AND updated guides for her, so I thought I would try my hand at making one so that Illaoi players, both new and experienced, can maybe learn, discuss and mostly celebrate the awesomeness that is Illaoi.

Hope you enjoy my guide!

Pros + Lane bully + Insane AOE damage + Great Wave Clear With Q + Good Splitpusher + Excellent Sustain + Strong Vs. Tanks Illaoi is one strong woman in lane with her Test of Spirit, able to bully almost all melee match-ups. She is a good splitpusher, not because of her turret smashing capabilities, but because she can face almost any 1v2 or 1v3 situation and come out on top, drawing pressure to her lane and freeing up the rest of the map. Late game she clears minions with one Tentacle Smash and easily pushes waves.

Cons - Immobile and Easily Kited - Long Cast/Wind-Up Times on Her Abilities - Doesn't Work Well as the Only Tank on a Team - Leap of Faith is Easy to Outplay - Mana Issues Early Game - Difficult to Play Vs. Ranged Champs - No Hard CC Illaoi is strong when she can get people where she wants, but lacks tools to keep them there. She gets kited HARD by ranged top laners and ADCs alike, and good positioning is key to being a good Illaoi. Early she can suffer from mana issues, and if she is the sole frontliner for a team she goes down pretty fast.

With the introduction of Season 8 and the new runes, Illaoi now gets to pick between 2 different primary rune trees, and .

Keystone: Kleptomancy Going with Kleptomancy as her keystone, Illaoi sacrifices some tankiness for more damage and gold generation/build acceleration. With the spirit that she creates from Test of Spirit, Illaoi is able to proc Kleptomancy on it and be granted gold and items. Minor Runes - provides you with much needed sustain, as well as giving you 40 maximum mana every time you pop a biscuit (also applies to biscuits gained off of kleptomancy) giving you at least an extra 160 mana per game. - is just the best choice in this row, as the other 2 options are subpar on Illaoi and having the extra 10 move speed on your boots is always handy for an immobile champion, not to mention saving 300 gold. - is an amazing rune that provides you with additional CDR, a stat that Illaoi loves, as well as reducing the CD of her Flash so she can Flash into the enemy team and massacre them more often.

Keystone: Grasp of the Undying Dipping into the resolve tree, Illaoi is certainly much tankier. Grasp isn't necessarily synergistic with Illaoi, although the Grasp procs are nice, but rather you go resolve for the tankiness that the minor runes as well as simply going into the resolve tree (+130 health) provides. Minor Runes - is amazing on Illaoi as it turns her from a great splitpusher into an amazing splitpusher, making her a threat to turrets in addition to the natural threat she poses to any gankers. - is a great rune as both the flat and % resistances it provides work great with Illaoi. However, in extremely difficult ranged AD or AP matchups, it is possible that or could serve you better, as you might not survive the 10 minutes needed for conditioning to activate. - is another fantastic minor rune for Illaoi, providing her with some additional health to assist her in staying alive longer and dishing out more damage.

In choosing her secondary rune tree there is a more clear favourite for Illaoi with the tree.

- is great for Illaoi as it procs every time she uses her [harsh lesson], giving her lethality and thus more damage.

- synergises extremely well with Illaoi's kit as it adds to the healing she already receives from all of her tentacles.

Overall, players can choose between which primary rune tree they prefer, whether it be Resolve or Inspiration, but should always be choosing Domination as their secondary.

Flash is THE BEST summoner spell in the game, and almost every champions runs it. The same can be said for Illaoi, providing her with a quick escape or combo potential in the form of Leap of Faith + Flash.

Teleport is also arguably one of the best summoners in the game for top laners, its versatility is unmatched. It acts as a get out of jail free card in hard matchups, allowing you to back and heal, then TP to lane and lose no exp. or farm, as well as enabling you to help your team out globally and potentially flank for huge ultimates.

Other summoner spells, such as Ignite or Exhaust, whilst good in their own right, always seem to fall short of Teleport either late game or when you encounter a rough lane, and thus I do not recommend either of these options over Teleport.

• Prophet of an Elder God: This passive is what Illaoi is all about, it spawns her tentacles on impassable terrain when she is near it. Spawned tentacles will attack vessels, spirits or a target targeted with Illaoi's Harsh Lesson. Tentacles also heal Illaoi and are pretty clutch when she gets low.
  
• Tentacle Smash (Q): This is Illaoi's bread and butter spam skill, throw it out at the enemy or use it to clear creeps, but beware of your mana as you can drain yourself quickly. The passive on it is also nice and ramps up your damage quite well.
  
• Harsh Lesson (W): This skill is just used to command your tentacles to attack. Not much else to see here. Also useful to close the distance between you and an enemy but the range is not too long. Can be spammed for easy Kleptomancy procs.
  
• Test of Spirit (E): This is Illaoi's main source of damage and poke, if you can consistently hit this ability in lane you will devastate the enemy laner and force them back often. Be weary of the long animation time, but when you do pull a spirit, try and make sure your other abilities hit both the enemy champion and the spirit for maximum damage. Spirits will act as a champion and spawn an additional tentacle when Illaoi ults.
  
• Leap of Faith (R): This is what Illaoi is known for, the scariest ultimate in the game to get stuck in. This will absolutely rip apart the enemies if they do stand around and don't flee. Do take note the lengthy cast time (which can often mean you die before it goes off) and the somewhat small radius. Make sure to hit as many champions as you can. It can be comboed with Flash (ult first, then Flash) for a surprise ult in the middle of the enemy team.

Black Cleaver gives us all the stats we need as Illaoi. The CDR is fantastic as it allows us to use our Test of Spirit and Tentacle Smash more often, and the movement speed helps in chasing and makes it harder for Illaoi to be kited. The health and AD are also great on Illaoi and that's why this is the #1 item to build on Illaoi.

Introduced in the juggernaut rework, Sterak's Gage and Illaoi are a match made in heaven. Sterak's provides a HUGE AD buff (~70AD at level 18), and the passive helps Illaoi get her ult off so she can dish out the damage. Without this item you will feel like you are getting popped way too quickly, and its a necessity on Illaoi.

This item is amazing on Illaoi, it gives her tankiness, but also another form of CC with the slow it provides, and massively improves her ability to run down champions with the passive move speed. Definitely purchase this item if the enemy team comp warrants it.

Along with Dead Man's Plate, Spirit Visage is one of the best tank items on Illaoi. It increases the healing she receives from her tentacles, gives her CDR, regen, and health. Overall it's a great stat package and with the passive its too good to pass up.

One of the most common items you will pick up if you are looking for more damage, it provides an additional layer of pseudo tankiness through both of its passives, as well as CDR and AD. can be bought as a third item when the enemy team isn't stacked with too much damage.

Against very tanky or heal reliant teams, this is a must buy. The armour shred in combination with your Black Cleaver is great, and the healing reduction helps combat lifesteal and champs like Vladimir and Swain.