Illaoi
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Good (6/10)
Low Investment
Rare Relics OK
Illaoi is a specialized champion whose effectiveness depends heavily on maintaining a single, tall unit. While she possesses high offensive potential and can consistently achieve one-turn kills in mid-tier adventures, her strategic depth is limited by a linear playstyle. She requires moderate investment to function reliably in high-difficulty content, where she often struggles against defensive mechanics like stuns, silences, or frostbites.
Standard OTK Offense
Provides an immediate Rally upon level up, allowing for a second decisive attack on the same turn Illaoi enters the board.
Significantly increases the stats gained from Spawn spells like Tentacle Smash or Answered Prayers, doubling the effectiveness of the deck's core scaling mechanic.
Grants the entire board Overwhelm, ensuring that high-stat Tentacles can bypass blockers to deal lethal damage to the enemy Nexus.
Strategy
This build focuses on a single-turn victory. By leveraging scaling spells to grow a Tentacle, Illaoi can drop on the board, level up immediately to trigger a Rally, and strike twice with massive stats and Overwhelm.
Nightmare Survival
Protects Illaoi from damage and death while attacking, which is essential in adventures where enemy stats significantly outscale her base health.
Provides a layer of protection against targeted removal, stuns, or silences that would otherwise neutralize Illaoi or her Tentacle.- Maintains the win condition of multiple attacks to close out games before the enemy can recover or apply too much pressure.
Strategy
In high-tier content like Nightmares, Illaoi is highly vulnerable to disruption. This build prioritizes defensive keywords to ensure she survives her first attack and reaches her level-up threshold.
Other Relic Options
Allows Illaoi to absorb the stats and keywords of her Tentacle, consolidating her power into a single protected unit.
Grants 1-cost units (Tentacles) Quick Attack and Fury, which helps maintain the board state in the early game.
Allows for an earlier summon of Illaoi when paired with early-game chip damage.
Clears the path for an Overwhelm strike by stunning the entire enemy board upon level up.
Rare relics like Crownguard Inheritance and Shadeleaf are highly effective for budget-conscious builds, while Secret Technique is the primary Epic upgrade for maximizing Tentacle growth.
Constellation
Illaoi is currently limited to a 3-star maximum, which restricts her mana and scaling compared to champions with expanded constellations. Her performance relies heavily on her 3-star power to generate enough board presence to threaten early lethality.
Prophet of an Elder God
When allies attack, Spawn 1.
Test of Spirit
+1 Starting Mana. Round Start: Grant the weakest enemy Vulnerable.
Prophet of an Elder God II
When allies attack, Spawn 3.Review
This upgrade provides a significant increase to early-game tempo, ensuring the Tentacle grows to a threatening size by the time Illaoi is played. It is considered an essential breakpoint for her to compete in higher-difficulty adventures.
Gameplay Tips
Baiting Removal
High-difficulty AI opponents often prioritize removing the Tentacle. Use low-cost Spawn spells to force out enemy spells before committing Illaoi to the board, as her level-up and win condition rely on the Tentacle's presence.
Managing the Single-Unit Risk
Because Illaoi concentrates all value into one unit, she is uniquely susceptible to stuns and recalls. Prioritizing Spellshield via relics or drafting is critical to preventing a total loss of tempo.
Leveraging Vulnerable
Illaoi's star powers grant the ability to pull specific threats. Use this to remove high-value enemy backliners or to ensure your Overwhelm damage hits the weakest possible blocker for maximum Nexus impact.
Synergy with Stat Spells
When using Secret Technique, prioritize drafting spells that grant permanent stat increases. Spawning mechanics are treated as stat-gain events, leading to exponential growth that the AI cannot easily match without hard removal.