Illaoi LoL Guide: Best Build, Runes, Counters, Tips and Lore

Illaoi in League of Legends overwhelms opponents in fights by forcing enemies into fights on her terms, supported by her forest of tentacles. But if you don't understand her win conditions, what makes strong, and when you are strongest to take fights, Illaoi can very quickly find herself at a tough disadvantage. 

This guide explains Illaoi’s lore, abilities, ideal runes and builds, and how to dominate the game from early to late stages.

Illaoi: Backstory and Lore

Illaoi is a woman of powerful physique, wielding a golden idol with the brutality of the god she serves. All who meet her are struck by her intense presence. 

She serves as the prophet to Nagakabouros, depicted as an enormous serpent head with tentacles spiraling around it in endless motion. Known by many names — Mother Serpent, Great Kraken, Bearded Lady — Nagakabouros is the Serpent Isles' god of life, ocean storms, and motion. Its name itself roughly translates to 'the undending monster that drives the sea and sky.'

Unlike the lesser priestesses, tasked with maintaining temples, calling holy serpents, and teaching people the ways of Nagakabouros, Illaoi is the Truth Bearer. As a result, she serves Nagakabouros directly by unblocking the flow of the universe.

This is accomplished by her two sacred responsibilities: to be the spearhead in the war against undeath. Illaoi directly engages against the most powerful spirits borne from the Harrowing, driving the Black Mist back.

The second, is to seek out individuals of great potential and challenge them with the Test of Nagakabouros. With her massive, holy relic, The Eye of God, Illaoi can strip the subject's spirit from their body to prove their worth. Those unworthy are completely annihilated.

Destruction and defeat is not the goal though. The Test is to find the truly worthy; survivors of the ordeal are forever changed, now capable of finding the will to purse their true destiny.

Despite being recognized as the most powerful and respected Truth Bearer in a hundred generations, Illaoi is most well-recognized for breaking with tradition, choosing to protect the people of Bilgewater. Till now, she continues defending the Serpent Isles, serving as both a source of hope and fear, for while many seek her favor, those same fear being Tested.

Illaoi: Abilities Breakdown

Prophet of the Elder God (Passive)

Periodically, a tentacle spawns on the nearest terrain to Illaoi. When Illaoi strikes an enemy unit with Harsh Lesson, or creates a Vessel with Test of Spirit, the tentacles slam down on the unit as well, dealing damage and healing Illaoi for a portion of her missing health. The tentacles can be targeted and destroyed by enemy champions once fully spawned.

Tentacle Smash

Illaoi casts a tentacle from her idol, slamming it down in a target direction. Passively increases all tentacle damage. 

Harsh Lesson

Illaoi empowers her next basic attack to gain additional range and damage. If the target unit is beyond her normal basic attack range, Illaoi leaps to the target's location. When the Harsh Lesson empowered attack is consumed, all tentacles in range are commanded to also slam down on the target. 

Test of Spirit

Illaoi casts a tentacle in a target direction. The first enemy champion it comes into contact with has their Spirit pulled out in between Illaoi and the target. The enemy champion is tethered to their Spirit for a duration, revealing them and granting sight of the area around them while the tether remains. 

The Spirit spawns with the enemy champion's current health, armor and magic resist, Dealing damage to the Spirit redirects a portion of the pre-mitigated damage to the tethered champion. 

If the Spirit is killed or the target leaves the tether range, they become marked as a Vessel for a short duration, slowing them briefly when the tether breaks. Vessels also spawn hostile tentacles near themselves. Spirits and Vessels are automatically targetted by tentacles. 

Leap of Faith (Ultimate)

Illaoi leaps up and slams her idol down on the ground, dealing physical damage to all units within the area of effect. She gains displacement immunity while in the air. For each enemy champion hit with Leap of Faith, a tentacle is spawned. After that, for a duration, Harsh Lesson's cooldown is halved, all tentacles awakened by Illaoi are untargetable and attack faster. 

Gameplan: Piloting Illaoi Effectively

Early Game Strategy

Illaoi is an extemely strong stat checker in lane. Proper setup of tentacles in the lane is crucial for trades due to the additional damage you can gain when casting Harsh Lesson and Test of Spirit. Tentacle Slam is your main wave clear tool while Harsh Lesson serves as your mid-range gap closer/strong auto trade. Save Test of Spirit as a deterrent and go for higher percentage Spirit pulls when you see an opportunity. Illaoi without Test of the Spirit up in lane is a lot more vulnerable to all-ins as she loses a lot of the bonus healing from tentacle hits without the Spirit.

Mid Game Dominance

Once Illaoi has some items, she becomes a very powerful side lane presence. You don't want to chase after enemy champions for the most part. Rather, have them come to you by applying pressure, pushing waves, taking turrets, and generally being a nuisance. Be careful as while Illaoi is powerful, she is also immobile, so if you get dove on by multiple enemy champions, your only chance most of the time will be to fight it out.

Late Game Tactics

Illaoi's power in teamfights makes her a chaotic but powerful deterrent. Group up with your team for late-game objectives. Position yourself in key chokepoints where Test of Spirit and Leap of Faith can get maximum impact. When the fight breaks out, prioritize destroying the Spirit as quickly as possible to increase the number of tentacles spawned around. The more tentacles the enemy champions attempt to dodge, the easier targets they become. 

Illaoi: Items and Runes

Illaoi is a powerhouse pick against many melee champions in the solo lanes. For that reason, Grasp of the Undying is a strong choice, pairing with Harsh Lesson for a powerful beatdown. Bone Plating and Overgrowth give her additional survivability in all-ins. Presence of Mind and Last Stand are crucial as well, allowing her the option to hold her ground more often.

Illaoi's two-core item build is Iceborn Gauntlet and Black Cleaver. Pick whichever first depending on your needs. If you need more survivability, more power to stick onto targets, Iceborn Gauntlet. However, if you need damage and access to armor reduction (such as against tanky champions), Black Cleaver is an optimal first pick. Third and fourth also depend on needs, alternating between Spirit Visage as it increases all healing, and Sterak's Gage for the Lifeline shield, flat health, and bonus AD. 

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• One of the strongest champions at 1vXs. Her Leap of Faith power has the potential to turn many fights from hard losing to winning.
• Lane Bully. Illaoi clears waves fast with Tentacle Slam and Harsh Lesson. Her harrass power with Test of Spirit makes laning into her challenging.
• Powerful side lane presence. With proper tentacle setup and Leap of Faith up, enemies have to respond to her or risk losing turrets quickly to Harsh Lesson empowered hits. 

Weaknesses

• Her power is dependent on tentacles. If she has few to no tentacles nearby, her damage and healing drop significantly. 
• A lot of her power budget relies on Test of Spirit. If she misses the cast, her kill threat and Leap of Faith effectiveness drops drastically.
• Illaoi has close to zero mobility, meaning the most effective method of dealing with her is to bait out Leap of Faith and kite away from her. 
• No hard crowd control. Illaoi only has a conditional minor slow from Test of Spirit. This paired with her mobility issues means she has serious challenges catching up to fleeing targets.

Illaoi Counters

Final Thoughts

Illaoi rewards clean spacing and punishes hesitation. Her kit is simple to name but strict to play around, because tentacles follow rules that don’t forgive sloppy positioning. Focus on how tentacles spawn, how slams stack and reduce, how E redirects damage and creates a Vessel, and how R changes the tempo of tentacle attacks. That’s where most Illaoi fights are decided in League of Legends.

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Featured Image Credit: Riot Games