Talk:Illaoi/@comment-31543294-20180722091231/@comment-25579938-20180827095332

R is fantastic. :)  But you only get to press it once in awhile.

Speaking as an Illaoi semi-main, the real secret sauce is in her W. It is a four-second cooldown ability that scales with opponent percentage health on its own that *also* commands a multiplier of pet attacks  - sometimes 2 extra simultaneous attacks at level 1 if the Illaoi is good, and of course potentially 3-5 later if she is ulted or someone nearby is cursed.

Let's do just a Lv1 comparison on, say, Jax:

An unequipped Illaoi at level 1 does 68 base attack damage plus 3% of the target's health with her W alone - estimate 15-25 extra damage at level 1 - for a total of 83-93 damage on a 4 second cooldown, which is already insane on its own merits. Each tentacle however because it has a *120% AD base scaling* does *91.6* points of  *extra* damage at level 1 - 120% of 68 plus 10. So if you get two tentacles hits on a W against a champion with an Illaoi - not that hard if the Illaoi is very skilled versus a green opponent - you're doing 83+91.6x2 = 266.2 damage with a *single attack* that is spammable again in *four seconds*.

What does Jax have to counter that at level 1? Q and W that scale off only *bonus* AD, or AP, Jax doesn't have at level 1? He can get 80-100 damage off a Leap Strike on a *ten second* cooldown, 40-60 off an Empower on a *seven second* cooldown...both of which only scale with his skill investments later as well, whereas Illaoi's W scales up to meet Jax health naturally all game even at 1 skill point. Now of course the Counter Strike is the best play on champ vs champ merits alone...*but it doesn't block or prevent tentacle damage*. And if he takes it he has no ability to help on CS, whereas Illaoi spam W all day and get pet damage for CS help too. So the only scenario in which Jax even gets to think about beating Illaoi on damage at level 1 if she starts W is if he takes E first and she tries to fight him outside her tentacle spawn range - which a good Illaoi won't do - and if he does that he loses CS ability. Any other choice? Lose the damage matchup on *base W damage alone* because Illaoi W is a four second cooldown and Jax doesn't have any such thing at Level 1.

That's *just at level 1*. Most players have seen what her ultimate does in this same vein later, and generally more obscenely.

Thus, why she is a broken, broken stat check in a vast many matchups, particularly against older kits - I picked Jax for a reason, to kind of illustrate the power creep between his era of design and hers. But you do have to know what you're doing and realize *just how much power* is actually in her W.

She's also a lot better in normals and low ELO because she *does* have to hit her Q's and E's consistently in a close game in order to be truly effective, and higher ELO players will dodge them and keep their distance until they bait out some of your own cooldowns. Despite all her power, she does not transition to the highest levels of play well. Even there she is a broken stat check, but she's one that the opponents can and will dodge effectively...still, in Normals and low ELO, yes, she is notorious for feels-bad stomps of unprepared opponents.