Hello! My name is H3ntaicles and this is my comprehensive In-Depth guide to Illaoi, the Kraken Priestess.

I've been playing Illaoi since her release and I hit Platinum recently with her. no matter how hard I search, I can't find a Champion as satisfying to play as Illaoi. With the damage of a lategame Tryndamere with the lane control of a Pantheon, paired with the sustain of a Nasus, what's not to love?

Illaoi is an AD heavy Skillshot-based top laner that excels at controlling a zone. She can easily be a 1-5 Fighter if played well and can dominate the game with a little bit of practice. Throughout this guide I will be explaining how to use Illaoi to get what you want out of each game.

Pros: Insane damage, good splitpusher, good teamfight potential,1v5 Potential, lane bully, Scales well into mid/lategame, and has some of the craziest highlight reels of all the champions in league of legends... heh.

Cons: no mobility to speak of, is weak early, Has to snowball to stay relevant, skillshot reliant, and easily kited.

At level 1, you should be heading to lane as early as possible, to set up tentacles. depending on which side you spawn on, there are a couple variations of what your early game setup should look like.

During levels 1-3, you should be focused on farming, and playing safe. It's always okay to lose early game farm to be safe. Nothing puts an illaoi behind more than dying early.

Post level 3, you should be focused on farming, and trading with the enemy laner. During this time is when your most vulnerable to ganks, so WARD WARD WARD. Most enemy laners you can land an E on near a tentacle, and win the trade. Try and position yourself in such a way as to pull their spirit near one or two tentacles. This is important because it gives you more damage to kill the spirit with, as well as trading power in case they decide to fight you. Where you position yourself when grabbing spirits will be the difference between an easier time or a harder one.

After level 6+ you should be focusing on drawing as much attention to your lane as possible. Illaoi gets stronger the more opponents shes facing! Around this time, it's very important to much more conservative about using E If you don't know where the enemy Jungler/ Midlaner is. If someone comes to gank, and your E is down, you may not have the damage to survive/ get a kill.

During midgame I usually try to focus on pushing turrets. Splitpushing is Illaoi's specialty. Depending on how easily it is to bully out toplane, I usually try to keep pushing top until I get to their base. from there, i tackle the opposite side of the map and hit botlane for the same result. I continue this process for as long as i can, and i Don't stop unless there is a major objective that the team needs me for, or if my team is getting wiped left and right. By doing this, it draws quite a bit of attention to me and my pushing, alleviating some pressure from across the map, making it easier for my team to take objectives.

When it's time to start teamfighting I put as much effort into positioning as i can. Since Illaoi is immobile, many times you have one shot at a good position before the situation deteriorates. Try to land your E's on enemy carries, as it will cause them to have to dodge tentacles while fighting. (and of course because of the reflected damage you deal to the spirit.)

When to use your ult:
when to use Illaoi's ultimate can be a tricky decision to make. If you blow it to early, you may still get a kill, but your potential for other kills goes down. blow it too late you dont survive long enough to deal damage. I try to use my ulti when I'm either standing next to a spirit + 2 other people, or when im close enough to a squishy to hit them with the tentacles that Illaoi's ult spawns.

RULE OF THUMB: The more enemy Champions you can hit with your Ult, the better.

1. Push. Illaoi scales with the number of enemies shes fighting. Make them come to you.
2. Don't Miss E's.
3. Seige turrets as a team. Illaoi can seige turrets well with E, because it forces the entire enemy team to dodge the tentacles one person is spawning. Free poke. VID
4. Try and conserve mana. AKA be efficient with your abilities. I have come across many a teamfight where i have the perfect setup but no mana to execute.
5. AUTOATTACK. you may have quite a bit of range but by midgame you have at least 200 AD. I constantly forget to just simply auto and it has landed me many more kills, as opposed to kiting with my abilities.
6. Land E's on the enemy carries for best results in a teamfight.
7. You outrange almost all ADC's at any given point (except late game tristana) so dont be afraid to q or e one while theyre chasing you.