Right now, I have around 500 or so games on Illaoi, and I’ve tested out a bunch of builds. I hold one specific build path very close to my heart, and I recommend for everyone to try it out. I’ll write it down and then explain why it is the way it is.
The Build Path
First back, buy Tunneler and build that into Sundered Sky. Following that, go Black Cleaver and then Sterak's Gage, Death's Dance, and Spirit Visage (the order of these last two is up to you). For boots, you will go Mercury's Treads almost damn near every game, except if they have a very low amount of CC and/or no AP.
Why Iceborn Gauntlet is Bait
Now you might have noticed a very popular item missing from this build, and that would be Iceborn Gauntlet. I have very strong feelings about how dogshit (excuse my language) Iceborn is on Illaoi. Illaoi’s damage scales incredibly well with straight AD, not Sheen items, and in general, I really see no point in ever building Iceborn as a first item, or at all, for that matter.
Iceborn gives you armor, health, ability haste, and a Sheen-enhanced attack with a slow. Let’s break down why those are really not all that good:
- 300 Health: Illaoi likes health, but being only 200 gold cheaper than Sundered while giving 100 less health is just not good.
- 50 Armor: I personally find that building resistances on Illaoi outside of very specific matchups isn't worth the tradeoff. If you have a rough AD matchup like Vayne, you want to rush Plated Steelcaps anyways instead of committing a full item to being an armor stat-stick.
- 15 Ability Haste: This is fine; Illaoi likes ability haste, especially in lane. Outside of lane, you should only really fight with your ult up, so it helps with that.
- Sheen and Slow: The slow isn’t big enough to actually confirm the slam hit, and around Diamond, people really just dodge the slam afterwards 90% of the time anyways. Maybe if you are new to Illaoi you can use it to hit your E easier, but I don’t find it useful. And finally, Sheen, I genuinely never got why everyone loved Sheen on Illaoi so much. The only thing you get from Sheen is that your W-spam poke is a bit stronger. It doesn't increase your tentacle damage, which is the biggest part of Illaoi's damage, making it an item that really doesn't interact with her kit well at all.
The "CHAD" Sundered Sky Rush
Now let’s compare that to the Sundered Sky rush. You have a great build path: first back Tunneler, which gives you Health and AD (both stats that are incredibly good on Illaoi). Second back, you get your Caulfield's Warhammer and a Health Crystal, which gives you a bunch of AD and ability haste, and then you complete THE EXODIA.
In my humble opinion, Sundered Sky is by far the biggest spike one can get on Illaoi. Outside of matchups like K'Sante and Ornn, you rush this item EVERY GAME.
Why? You become UNGANKABLE. With your ult and Sundered Sky, if you are above half health, you can consistently 1v2 most jungle and top-laner combos. You can just perma-push your waves into the enemy tower and get insanely fed off of platings and diving the enemy top-laner when they get low.
The main reason Illaoi and Sundered are so good is that you can proc Sundered Sky off of your E (Spirit). The amount of straight-up damage and sustain this unlocks is genuinely insane. Not only can you fully kill the Spirit much easier now, but you also heal much more. I could keep going on about Sundered Sky for a long time, but I feel like this describes it well enough.
- Black Cleaver: Generally a very nice item with great stats. The armor shred helps ALOT, especially against armor stackers, but even against squishies, your damage damn near doubles. Since this also works with your E, it synergizes perfectly.
- Sterak's Gage: Gives an insane amount of survivability. If you are a bit ahead and get your three-item core, you will be able to 1v4 against a melee-heavy team easily, simply because of the tenacity and the 1k+ shield this item gives you. Truly a staple.
- Death's Dance: The key to Illaoi is staying alive and keeping the slams coming. If an Illaoi dies, it’s because she got one-tapped or kited. To avoid the one-tap, we go Death's Dance. It gives nice stats and the passive makes us survive just that little bit longer to get our E -> R -> W combo out.
- Spirit Visage: A good MR item. The passive provides more healing, which synergizes well with Sundered Sky and Illaoi’s kit overall.
NEVER BUILD THORNMAIL, IT SUCKS. If you are going to go anti-heal, buy Chempunk Chainsword, but fuck anti-heal, it’s cosmetic anyways. Genuinely, make your supports build it or whatever; avoid it like the plague.
Other items that are good:
- Randuin's Omen
- Kaenic Rookern
- Old Cyclosword (RIP)