Illaoi Scaling: Grade F
No. Illaoi needs the game to end before full build. Grade F, End early, please, in The Scaling Codex.
Reviewed for League of Legends Season 16 (2026).
Verdict. Bottom of the old D tier. Kited easily and enemies can move out of her ultimate fairly quickly.
Her zone needs willing participants
She does not fight champions so much as fight a patch of ground and dare people to stand on it. The tentacles, the zone, and the ultimate that plants more of them only produce damage against enemies who agree to stay inside her space. Late-game players do not agree. They step out, kite the edge, and let the tentacles slam empty ground.
She has no tool that forces the agreement. No lockdown to hold a target in the zone, and no mobility to move the zone onto them.
The one place the ultimate still converts
Cramped terrain. A pit or a jungle choke where leaving the zone means hugging a wall through her team is the one place the ultimate still converts.
Your zone only threatens people with nowhere to go. Fight where nowhere-to-go exists, or do not fight.
Common questions about Illaoi scaling
Does Illaoi scale well into the late game?
No. Illaoi needs the game to end before full build. Grade F, End early, please, in The Scaling Codex.
Why does Illaoi fall off late?
Cramped terrain. A pit or a jungle choke where leaving the zone means hugging a wall through her team is the one place the ultimate still converts.
What is the late-game rule for Illaoi?
Your zone only threatens people with nowhere to go. Fight where nowhere-to-go exists, or do not fight.
How this grade was judged
The grade weighs range, target access, sustained and burst damage, crowd control, mobility, durability, healing and shielding, resets, cooldown structure, objective and formation control, split pressure, and how well the champion survives a long fight. Builds and forms that scale differently are graded separately. This is Vambient's gameplay evaluation of coordinated late-game fights, not a win-rate calculation. Full methodology.
Related champions
The grade measures one thing: how much a champion can influence a coordinated late-game objective fight once both teams reach full builds. It does not measure early strength, snowballing, or win rate. A weak late-game champion still wins by ending the game first, which is what the rest of the library teaches. How the grades are decided.