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Locke vs Illaoi

Locke
You
VS
Illaoi

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Who Wins

  • Pre-6, you lose a straight extended trade against Illaoi at all early levels because her tentacles deal damage independently of her actions and her W empowers them further while you have no way to remove tentacles or avoid their hits during your W channel.
  • Post-6, your R's 99% slow and execution threshold give you a realistic kill window if you can land the totem, stack Q nails, and all-in with E-W before Illaoi's R tentacles overwhelm you — but you must end the fight quickly or the tentacle damage will outpace your healing.
Confused by a term? Check the Glossary

How to Trade

  • Your best trading pattern is to stack Q nails at max range before engaging, then use E to blink in, immediately activate W to absorb Illaoi's counterattack while healing back, and consume nail stacks with your empowered attack and E follow-up dash to burst her down before tentacles accumulate hits.
  • Never trade without pre-stacked Q nails because your damage without stacks is insufficient to justify taking tentacle hits, and the combo must be executed fast enough that W's healing covers the tentacle damage taken.

Wave Control

  • Play for a freeze near your tower to deny Illaoi the open space she needs to place tentacles and land E comfortably, since tentacles cannot be placed under your tower and Illaoi's kill threat drops significantly without tentacle support.
  • Use Q to poke from range and build stacks without committing to trades, forcing Illaoi to either take poke damage or push the wave and lose positioning advantage.

Mistakes to Avoid

  • Do not activate W while standing inside a cluster of tentacles — W's true damage ticks are fixed and the heal is only valuable if you survive long enough to recast it, but multiple tentacles hitting you simultaneously during the channel will kill you before you can benefit from the heal.
  • Always blink out of tentacle range with E before or immediately after activating W, since the ability is a recovery tool for controlled trades, not a way to tank Illaoi's full tentacle zone.
Created on 07/11/2026
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