OVERVIEW
Illaoi is a mid-range bruiser who plays a setup game. Almost everything she does summons a spirit tentacle, and once one is on the screen her ordinary buttons start doing extraordinary things — extending, dragging, frame trapping and converting grabs into full combos.
She takes work. Before the tentacles are out she is a fairly plain character with big normals. After they are out, she and her partner can hold an opponent in blockstun for a very long time. Most players run her on anchor for exactly that reason: she wants the room to set up.
Tip
Ask one question every time you press a button with Illaoi: does this leave a tentacle on screen? Her whole gameplan is stacking that answer in your favour before you commit to offence.
TENTACLES & PRAYERS
Tentacles are summoned by her S2 specials and by her assists, and they strike alongside her.
- S2 (Guiding Hand) — fast forward-advancing attack, summons on hit. In the air it becomes Faith in Motion, a two-hit that can cross up
- Forward S2 (Harsh Lesson) — an overhead. Charging it makes it travel further
- Down S2 (From the Depths) — a low that hits next to her and slightly away. Hold it and the tentacle spawns at the opponent’s position instead, which is how you place one where you want it
Once one is out, the S1 family becomes the payoff:
- S1 (Tentacle Smash) — the nearest tentacle smacks them too. Cancels into either prayer
- Back S1 (Prayer of Motion) — the closest tentacle attacks. Hold it and the tentacle drags them to its position
- Down-back S1 (Prayer of Stagnation) — the closest tentacle grabs and restrains them. This is your command grab
- Down S1 (Tidal Swing) — a big diagonal anti-air. With a tentacle out, it appears under them and drags them down for a ground bounce
- Forward S1 (Riptide) — forward-advancing and projectile immune. It goes straight through anything, including super assists. Cancels into Cross on hit or block
Tip
Her normal throw is secretly one of the scariest in the game. If a tentacle is anywhere on screen — even far away — grabbing teleports it to you and gives a full combo. She gets grappler reward without a grappler’s command grab.
NEUTRAL GAME
Her main neutral tool is the down S2 game. It tracks the opponent wherever they are and it hits low. It can be parried on reaction, so mix the timing: throw the uncharged version to bait the parry out and make them waste a bar, then charge it once they stop.
A strong repeatable sequence when your assist is up: call assist, charged down S2, then tag. If they block it you get free pressure; if it hits you get a free combo.
Her S1 reaches roughly 90% of the screen but travels very low to the ground, so it is poor at catching jump-ins. What it is excellent at is catching people off guard and clearing projectiles — Teemo mushrooms especially. If they get clipped near the end of the move it ground bounces, which turns a stray hit into a combo with assist help.
At round start, forward S1 works as a fast burst option, particularly with an assist behind it into a handshake tag. Once they learn to back dash away from it, the charged down S2 tracks them — just be aware their burst beats that follow-up.
CORE COMBOS
Button Legend
The frame trap is her best pressure tool and it is not hard to execute. You can true string into S1 off heavy. With a tentacle underneath them, that S1 activates the tentacle and creates a frame trap — a small gap where they can press buttons but nothing comes out. Because you can also cancel into down-back S1, which replaces the strike with a throw, they are left genuinely guessing between being hit and being grabbed.
For pressure generally: true string into down S2 for the low, or use forward S2 for the overhead. Be aware the overhead has a gap — down heavy or a parry beats it — so charge it when you read a parry coming.
Prioritise corner carry. The harder midscreen route is worth learning because it carries most of the way to the corner, does more damage, and saves your ground bounce for an assist or fuse interaction later.
ADVANCED TECH
Her oki is weak midscreen and excellent in the corner. That single fact should shape how you route every combo.
Midscreen, the best you have is S1 super and then hold S1 — a trick a lot of Illaoi players miss. Holding repositions an available tentacle underneath them. On their wake-up you then choose between back S1 for the strike or down-back S1 for the grab.
In the corner you get S2 super oki, which is a different level. Throw it out, back up to bait a get-up attack or catch the roll in, and go from there. One detail that tightens it considerably: after the S2 super, hit them with down light. That times the tentacles to meaty them on wake-up.
Know what her supers are for. S1 super is the one to end midscreen combos with, because it teleports your available tentacle to them. S2 super is almost exclusively an oki tool — used midscreen they can simply back away and wait it out. It summons two tentacles and empowers everything on the field, but the effect ends early if your point character takes any damage. Her ultimate is a straightforward mid-range strike; despite the animation it is not a grab.
TEAM COMPOSITION
Illaoi wants partners who either keep the opponent pinned or buy her the space to set up. Because she can summon tentacles with her assists, leaving her in the back while your point character runs pressure is a completely valid plan.
Her assists are genuinely strong, and worth picking deliberately:
- Forward assist — an advancing lariat, very fast, one of the better forward-advancing assists in the game. Crucially, when it makes contact and you handshake tag, the tentacle pop still happens, which buys enough time to run up for a full combo. On block, that same pop leaves you more plus than a normal handshake tag, though further away
- Back assist — reaches nearly full screen, clears projectiles and mushrooms, and keeps the ground bounce property. That makes it superb combo material for characters who otherwise run out of route: it gives Yasuo a full combo off a round-start S1, and it rescues Darius midscreen when his S2 would normally end the combo
One honest limitation: she is poor with Double Down. Many supers simply do not combo out of her S1 super, and the ones that do often only work off the first hit. If your team plan depends on chaining supers, she is not the partner for it.
VIDEO RESOURCES
No Illaoi video breakdown on the channel yet — when one goes up it will be embedded right here. In the meantime: