Welp, I end the long weekend 14-7 on Illaoi after starting predictably 0-2.
8-4 bot
6-2 top
38 / 59 / 84 (2.07 kda) - supp
37 / 22 / 37 (3.36 kda) - top
Conclusion: good champ anywhere you put her. My support KDA probably would have been higher but that was the experimental phase. By the time I was going top, I had knowledge and experience to apply. I think the only rough game I had in top lane
was a match I had against a Jax. Since he can leap over the tentacles and counter helix their damage when going all-in, I could never really get comfortable. After I got a couple of offensive items it didn't matter what he had; he was getting crushed. Cleaver damage is just...gross.
Considering her prey largely has to come to her, I was surprised at how many teams/players were willing to do just that. With Darius you have to chase into the enemy team or get a good pull to force the action. In my games...people were just wildly diving into Illaoi's team only to get crushed by tentacles like ants under boot. IDK. I didn't expect that. Then again, maybe they have yet to learn what she does as a champ to respect her presence and damage output potential.
Short list of champs I wouldn't want to face as Illaoi (laning phase): Jax, Riven, Xin, Lulu. Maybe Wu. Maybe Gnar. Divers and pokers that really hurt. Everyone else is food.