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Illaoi Build Guide by ThatTaylorGuy

Top [10.9] Blessed is Motion - THE In Depth Illaoi Guide (updati

Top [10.9] Blessed is Motion - THE In Depth Illaoi Guide (updati

Updated on May 8, 2020
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League of Legends Build Guide Author ThatTaylorGuy Build Guide By ThatTaylorGuy 2351 81 3,437,998 Views 31 Comments
2351 81 3,437,998 Views 31 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author ThatTaylorGuy Illaoi Build Guide By ThatTaylorGuy Updated on May 8, 2020
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Runes:

Precision
Conqueror
Triumph
Legend: Tenacity
Last Stand

Domination
Taste of Blood
Ravenous Hunter
Bonus:

+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor

Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Teleport

Teleport

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
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None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Champion Build Guide

[10.9] Blessed is Motion - THE In Depth Illaoi Guide (updati

By ThatTaylorGuy



!!!Season 10 update!!!
As of 3/3 Runes and items are updated. Working on recording footage with and without commentary for a video version of the guide!

I've picked Illaoi back up, the guide will be updated shortly. For now, everything that's rune specific or some items (I'm looking at you Spear of Shojin) should be considered out of date. But I must emphasize that the vast majority of the guide is up to date. Just take Conqueror and don't build items that don't exist in the game and you'll be fine...I promise! Would I lie to you?





Hello there! I'm ThatTaylorGuy and welcome to my Illaoi guide! Whether you're new to Illaoi or experienced and curious as to what she's capable of, you're in the right place.

I stream regularly on Youtube and make videos for the YouTubes so be sure to check those out if you'd like more of what I do!

If you'd like to follow me check out the links below!



Pros: Cons:
Strong lane presence
Tanky
Good sustain
Good zoning
Consistently high damage
Ignore me, I'm just here
to space the table out...
No form of CC
Easily kited
Ult is outplayable
ADCs will shred you
Mana issues early-game


Generally speaking I feel that Illaois pros outweigh her cons pretty substantially. Most if not all cons can be minimized by playing smart and having your team help out. There will be times that you feel all the cons against bad match-ups, but usually they can be mitigated.







Conqueror
Conqueror is really the primary keystone not only for how it functions (which is a nice little boost in both extended trades and teamfights alike) but also because the other available keystones just aren't that great on her. Sure, you can go Grasp of the Undying if you're particularly worried about dying. But that's not my personal preference. With the removal of Kleptomancy we're really only left with Conqueror and Grasp of the Undying to choose from.

Triumph
Triumph gives an additional 12% of missing health as a heal when you net a takedown. This comes in useful when diving towers, in team fights and when turning ganks. The other options are very lackluster.
Legend: Tenacity
Legend: Tenacity gives a metric ton of tenacity and since Illaoi is very susceptible to cc, being a melee bruiser, this amount can go a long way. Legend: Bloodline isn't really necessary on Illaoi. We heal so much from other items and our innate kit itself that we don't need the extra healing. We can't deal any damage to heal ourselves through if we can't even get to our target in the first place!

Last Stand
Last Stand is a great option for Illaoi for a few reasons that, to be honest, require a lot more text to thoroughly explain than you'd think...so I'll do the quick version.
    Almost always active as
Illaoi is a bruiser and takes a lot of damage.
More consistent than Coup de Grace. Generally Illaoi hits once or twice but those hits HURT! Getting 8% more damage sounds great, but not if it isn't active. For me, Last Stand is more consistently useful. Call it personal preference.


Taste of Blood
Taste of Blood is generally what I'll go with if there's even a hint of poke or challenge in lane. The ability to get a little health back on top of our Corrupting Potion (if you started with it) and the heal from our Tentacle Smash is extremely potent in-lane.

Sudden Impact procs after using our W for a little chunk of free lethality and Magic Penetration. It's good into lanes that are good match-ups for us.
Eyeball Collection can be beneficial to take, but I'm not a huge fan. The same can be said for either Zombie Ward and Ghost Poro, but I find other choices a bit more appealing on the next tier.

Ravenous Hunter
Ravenous Hunter has great synergy with our kit since we build for life steal and have innate life steal from our kit.



There isn't a lot that's open to debate here. Flash is pretty much mandatory. Illaoi has no mobility skills whatsoever so Flash will be your only escape.

Teleport is my second go-to summoner spell. It has several benefits. It allows us to return to lane quickly should we need to. It also lets us to gank other lanes at a moments notice. Finally, it gives us split pushing potential.

If you really can't stand playing with Teleport then Exhaust is another good option. It gives a bit more utility in the form of an attack speed and movement slow.


Honorable Mentions: Ignite isn't awful and you could definitely run it if you're so inclined. It gives some early-game kill pressure but puts you in a not so great position when it comes to gank plays.




Skill Order
> > >

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
Q
W
E
Q
E
R
E
Q
W
E
R
Q
E
Q
W
R
W
W



P: Prophet of an Elder God


" Illaoi and the Vessels she creates spawn Tentacles on nearby impassible terrain. Tentacles swing at spirits, Vessels and victims of Illaoi's Harsh Lesson. Tentacles deal physical damage to enemies hit, and will heal Illaoi if they damage a champion."



Prophet of an Elder God periodically spawns tentacles on impassible terrain. Knowing how to fight around your tentacles is essential to playing Illaoi well. It starts with a 20 second cooldown in between tentacle spawns (reducing by 1 second every 2 levels) with a 12 second cooldown at level 17.

Tips, Tricks & Things to Remember




Q: Tentacle Smash


"Increases the damage dealt by Tentacles. When activated, Illaoi smashes down a Tentacle that deals physical damage."


Tentacle Smash is our main source of damage, poke and sustain. It has serious lane clear potential and substantial sustain potential when paired with a Death's Dance. By the time you get your first completed item you'll be able to nearly 1 shot the wave if you aim Tentacle Smash properly.

Tips, Tricks & Things to Remember




W: Harsh Lesson


" Illaoi leaps to her target, dealing physical damage and causing nearby Tentacles to also swing at the target."


Harsh Lesson is the lifeblood of Illaoi's damage. If you can't use it properly you'll deal considerably less damage than you should be capable of. It changes your next auto-attack to a short leap, makes your tentacles slam on the target area and is an auto-attack reset. It's important. Super important. Also it procs Kleptomancy. In 9.13 a minimum damage tag was added to the skill as well as making said bonus damage work against towers. If you're taking towers always make sure to cancel your autoattack animation with this, it increases your damage per second.

Tips, Tricks & Things to Remember




E: Test of Spirit


" Illaoi rips the spirit from a foe's body, forcing it to stand before her. Spirits echo a percentage of the damage they take to the original target. If killed, or if the target gets too far from the spirit, the target will become a Vessel and begin spawning Tentacles."


Test of Spirit is a neat little ability that really lets you annoy your opponent. It's a skill shot so it takes a bit of practice to hit consistently, but once you get the hang of it you'll have fantastic harass potential. You can also proc Kleptomancy by attacking the spirit.

Another nifty part of this skill is that if you kill the spirit or the player whose spirit was ripped out moves too far away from their spirit they're slowed and become a Vessel. Vessels spawn a tentacle near itself every 5 (4 at level 7, 3 at level 13) seconds that automatically attack the closest Vessel/spirit every 5 to 3 seconds (based on level). This means that if you land a Test of Spirit and kill the spirit or the enemy runs away they'll spawn multiple tentacles along their path that they have to either kill or dodge. It's just another thing for them to worry about so you can focus on CSing or harassing your opponent.

Another thing to note with Test of Spirit is that the spirit created counts as an additional champion present for Leap of Faith. Before going all-in on an opponent try to hit a Test of Spirit beforehand then ult with both the enemy champion and the spirit it creates in range as it will net you an additional tentacle.

Tips, Tricks & Things to Remember




R: Leap of Faith


" Illaoi smashes her idol into the ground, dealing physical damage to nearby enemies. A Tentacle spawns for each enemy champion hit."


Leap of Faith is an incredibly powerful ultimate. It allows us to punish anyone that doubts our damage output 1v1 as well as put out some insane damage in group fights if the enemy team doesn't deal with you. It also reduces the cooldown of Harsh Lesson from 4 seconds to 2 seconds and reduces the attack speed of spawned tentacles by 50%.

Tips, Tricks & Things to Remember






Corrupting Potion
Corrupting Potion is the best all around starting item on Illaoi, in my opinion. I run it nearly every match because of the amount of sustain it gives early on as well as a little extra damage if used before trading with an enemy champion.

If I'm laning against a heavy poke champ I consider starting with Doran's Shield and a Health Potion.

Black Cleaver
Black Cleaver gives us everything we need on Illaoi, making it a perfect item to get first. The stats are self explanatory but where this item shines is the passives.

When we deal physical damage to an enemy champion their armor is reduced by 4% for 6 seconds stacking a maximum of 6 times. This allows Illaoi to rip through tanks. The movement speed buff from dealing physical damage is a nice little bonus too.

Ninja Tabi
Honestly, there isn't a whole lot to say here. If your lane opponent deals damage primarily through auto attack damage (and non-magic damage as a whole) these will reduce the damage of their attacks and can give you a competitive edge to attempt to snowball.

In the grand scheme of things it's quite possible that you'll purchase these in the early game to deal with your lane opponent and swap them out later for Mercury's Treads if magic damage and/or crowd control becomes the primary threat.

Mercury's Treads
Mercs are great into any opponent that deals damage primarily through magic damage and to reduce the duration of crowd control. They provide magic resist but the passive can easily be the only reason for purchasing these as well.

30% reduced duration of stuns, slows, taunts, fears, silences, blinds and immobilizes is huge. HUGE. We've all been hit by a Morgana binding that seemed to last an eternity, these will turn that eternity into uhm...70% of eternity.

Death's Dance
The primary reason we pick up Death's Dance is for the life steal. With this one item we can leech through quite a bit of damage, as well as pick up some more cooldown reduction and attack damage.

It also staggers damage on us by turning 30% of incoming damage into a bleed that lasts 5 seconds. It helps reduce a big burst of damage and turn it into a dot that we can try to heal through.

Sterak's Gage
Sterak's Gage got a little bit of a change recently. It now grants 50% of base attack damage as bonus attack damage with the passive remaining the same. Health and bonus damage aren't the only reason we build this item though; The passive gives a shield (proccing based on damage taken within 5 seconds) equal to 75% of current bonus health. This will help us get in to a fight with Leap of Faith and not be bursted down immediately before getting our ult off. It's virtually mandatory to build into bursty comps.

Guardian Angel
Guardian Angel provides several useful stats, namely armor and attack damage, but the primary reason we buy it is more of an insurance policy. In addition to Sterak's Gage providing survivability when diving into the fray, Guardian Angel adds another level by reviving you with 50% of base health and 30% of maximum mana should you take lethal damage. This allows us to dive into a group, throw out Leap of Faith and get to chunking our opponents down with a little less fear of inting.

I generally buy this item into bursty team comps, but it should never be written off in any match.

Maw of Malmortius
Maw of Malmortius should generally only be built against AP heavy teams. The passive gives a 350 magic damage shield for 5 seconds on a 90 second cooldown after taking magic damage that drops us below 30% health. It's effectively a Sterak's Gage for magic damage. This means that should you be facing an AP heavy team you should opt for this item instead of Steraks.

During laning phase you can also purchase a Hexdrinker if you're facing an AP opponent. This will give you a slightly less powerful version of the same passive from Maw of Malmortius and can give you a significant edge in early trades, thus allowing you to get further ahead in lane.

Dead Man's Plate
Dead Man's Plate gives us health, armor and a form of soft CC with the passive. While moving you stack momentum which at 100 stacks gives more movement speed and causes our next autoattack to slow the target for 1 second.

Spirit Visage
Spirit Visage gives us everything we could possibly need out of a magic resist tank item. Health, health regen, cooldown reduction, magic resist and increases all healing effects on us by 30%. So all those tentacle slams from Harsh Lesson, Tentacle Smash and Death's Dance is even more buffed up.

Randuin's Omen
A bit more of a niche item, Randuin's Omen is amazing when the opposing ADC has been fed and is a crit based champion. The unique passive helps us survive the perpetual poke of crit based ADCs while the unique active makes it easier to stick to targets by slowing their movement spoeed by 55% for 2 seconds.

This isn't an item you should build every match and should really only be played into team comps that have either a crit based ADC or Tryndamere.




Early game on Illaoi is largely dictated by your opponent(s) but there's a few things that regardless of matchup you should be doing.


Last Hitting: This is probably the most obvious thing to do. If you don't last hit the minions you don't get gold, it's as simple as that. The more you play Illaoi the more you'll get used to her early game damage which will make it easier for you to gauge when to attack to finish off a minion.


Punishing: Illaoi has fantastic early game punish in the form of Tentacle Smash and Test of Spirit. If your lane opponent is running up to last hit a minion lay a Tentacle Smash over the minion. They'll have to either take damage to get the cs or back off and lose gold. Test of Spirit is a bit more tricky to land simply because it's a skillshot that is blocked off by enemy minions, so you'll need an open lane to land it.

Because of Illaois early game AoE clear you can also punish your opponent by clearing the wave quickly. This forces your opponent to back up toward their tower and wait for their next minion wave to tank damage for them. If your minions get shoved under the opposing tower your opponent may miss some last hits costing them gold. At that point you should consider backing and buying an item or two while the wave resets in the middle. Early game dominance is mostly wave management so I suggest you read some guides dedicated specifically to explaining the art.

The biggest issue with shoving into tower is that you open yourself up to a gank. If the jungler sees what you're doing and is in the area you'll likely be punished yourself. To combat this we have wards.


Warding: Early warding is a big deal, it can be the difference between seeing a gank coming from a mile away and getting first blood'ed.
Spots 1 and 2 will be your go-to warding spots. If you're in lane you should probably have a ward in one of if not both bushes whenever possible. More often than not ganks will come through one of those two paths so try to use your positioning to inform your decision of which gets priority. Are you on blue team and you're shoved in underneath the red tower? You should probably have a ward in spot 1 (and 2 to be ultra safe). Always try to think about where you're most vulnerable and where you can be cut off from and try to get vision there if possible.

Spots 3 and 4 are a bit more tricky. They can be used defensively to try to avoid a gank should your lane opponent or jungler be sitting in the bushes waiting for you or offensively as a Teleport location to get in behind someone pushing your tower.

There are more situational spots to ward but these are what I consider the most important during early game. The less you die the better off you'll be so avoid those ganks and get some vision down often!




Splitpushing: Illaoi is a fantastic splitpusher and unless your team is grouped up to fight or take/contest baron/dragon you'll likely be doing this. Splitpushing forces the enemy team to deal with the mass of minions descending upon their towers. If they leave them be they can take a tower on their own and push themselves all the way into their base.

Team Fights: In team fights you'll likely be fishing for hits with Test of Spirit and Tentacle Smash for the most part. Until your team actually engages (hopefully your team has a champion that can initiate well like Malphite) you should be cautious. The last thing you want to do is get caught by enemy CC and bursted down before the actual team fighting begins.

Once it's begun you'll want to try to hit someone with Test of Spirit, cast Leap of Faith on both the spirit and anyone else in range. The more people you hit with Leap of Faith the more tentacles you spawn and the more of a threat you are. From there you'll want to try to burst down any squishy targets that are close enough to hit with Tentacle Smash or Harsh Lesson, the latter will have a 2 second cooldown during the duration of Leap of Faith so that will be your spam skill. If all goes well squishies will be decimated in a split second and you and your team can clean up and go take objectives.




This section is a work in progress so check back and chances are you'll see new entries. It takes a bit of time!




All in all I love Illaoi. Her kit is incredibly intuitive and fun to make use of while still being challenging enough to get that good feeling when you land a slick combination on an unsuspecting opponent. I hope that you enjoyed my guide and that you learned a thing or two about Illaoi.

Be sure to follow me on Youtube Live, subscribe to my YouTube channel and even follow me on Twitter if you'd like. I'd sure appreciate it.





Change Log:
12/5/2018 - Wow, I've been slacking. Klepto buffs, core item changes, added some items, removed alternate builds as Klepto buff was too good to not play with
6/25/2018 - Holy **** you guys are all awesome thank you for the support :)
4/23/2018 - Lane Phase, Late Game, Conclusion written
4/21/2018 - Items section written
4/20/2018 - Pros/Cons, Runes, Summoner Spells, Abilities sections written
4/19/2018 - Guide Started, Introduction section written
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