Over half a year since they revealed her in-development concept art, Riot finally dropped a 2XKO gameplay trailer for Illaoi.
The original concept article for Illaoi from August last year stated that the team at Riot was looking to do something unique with the tentacle’s Illaoi summons. In the trailer below gameplay designer Caroline Montano explains that the team was debating whether to have the tentacles simply be an extension of Illaoi, or have them be independent of her. (Read: Project L, Riot’s tag-team fighter, finally has a name)
In the end, Montano states, the team decided to go for a balanced approach instead. Illaoi can summon the tentacles without directly engaging with her opponent in a manner that’s designed to allow for counterplay to them.
The result of this is a character who may struggle in the neutral game, but that can create amazing pressure and setups when she does get in. Of course, this plays into 2XKO‘s tag-team nature, with Montano suggesting that player pair Illaoi with a character like Ahri who can dominate the neutral game with her projectiles and mobility.
As for whether or not this is how the game will play out, we’ll find out soon as 2XKO is set to be playable at EVO Japan this weekend, with Illaoi joining previously playable characters Darius, Ekko, Ahri and Yasuo.
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