In 2XKO, Illaoi remains true to her heavy-hitting, tentacle-summoning ways

2XKO, the League of Legends fighting game, has shown off the newest champion making their debut on the game’s roster of fighters, Illaoi, and just like she is in League, Illaoi is set up to be a monstrous, unrelenting force with her golden idol and trademark tentacles.

In a gameplay update shared by the devs, all of Illaoi’s abilities were shown off, including her two back-breaking supers, as well as her ultimate, To the Depths, in which she uses her spectral tentacles to drag enemies deep underwater, where they’ll come face-to-face with the visage of Illaoi’s kraken god, Nagakaborous. 

“In 2XKO, Illaoi is a heavy-hitting juggernaut who overwhelms enemies with pressure as unyielding as her faith.,” 2XKO game designer Caroline Montano said in a dev update. “She’s all about landing big hits and dealing big damage, then using tentacles to lock her opponent down and combo out of control.” 

Just like she does in League, Illaoi’s abilities in 2XKO revolve around tentacles. All of her abilities will summon a tentacle from the ground, and Illaoi can use those tentacles to extend combos and open up even more doors for strings. While Illaoi’s tentacles are definitely annoying to play against in League, they look straight up unrelenting in 2XKO, as she’s almost always going to have at least one tentacle active, and if they’re not close to her opponent, Illaoi can teleport her tentacles to her opponent’s position. 

Still, Riot wants to ensure that Illaoi is not going to be a “puppet character” who only relies on her tentacles to deal out damage. While the tentacles are going to be a big part of her kit, Illaoi is still going to deal a ton of damage on her own through her heavy swings and close-quarters combat style. Illaoi’s tentacles are easily counterable by opponents, who can quickly kill them with one attack. 

One of Illaoi’s supers—Wrath of Nagakabourous—is very similar to her ultimate from League, Leap of Faith, in that it summons tentacles from the ground after a leaping strike and causes Illaoi to temporarily enter an onslaught.  

“We love the idea of Illaoi smacking the spirit out of her opponent and beating it up as an homage to her kit in League,” Montano said. 

Illaoi will debut as part of a playtest at EVO Japan, which begins next week on April 27.