After bubbling away in Buhru for almost two years, Riot Games has finally revealed 2XKO Illaoi in her full tentacle-trouncing glory. And from Saturday, April 27 until Monday, April 29, players attending EVO Japan will get the chance to pilot the Kraken Priestess for the first time in a pre-release build of 2XKO.
“[Illaoi’s] all about landing big hits and dealing big damage,” designer Caroline ‘Riot Shyvana’ Montano says during the new fighter’s reveal trailer. A fearsome bruiser, Illaoi’s kit is built around summonable spirit tentacles that can be used to devastating effect in the upcoming fighting game. Tentacles can be spawned with her S2 Specials, while her S1 Specials can trigger a tentacle follow-up attack.
However, as Riot Shyvana stresses, Illaoi isn’t a puppet character. “We didn’t want it to feel like her tentacles were doing all the fighting for her. Instead, they’re like rewards that Illaoi can earn by playing well. It means always staying in motion and taking smart risks to take control of the game. Illaoi can also lose tentacles if her opponent hits them. In which case, Illaoi can still do big damage, but she does lose access to some of her strongest neutral options.”
Illaoi is undoubtedly going to be a smash hit with players who love to slug it out – her tag assists are looking like a krak-ing addition to the multiplayer game, too. Managing her tentacles properly will separate the good Illaoi’s from the great Illaoi’s, so you may want to steer clear of her when the 2XKO release date finally arrives if on-field resource management isn’t your forte.
As mentioned, Illaoi will debut at this year’s EVO Japan event, alongside existing fighters Ahri, Darius, Ekko, and Yasuo. She was originally revealed back in August 2022, when Riot first announced the new PS5 game and new Xbox game would be launching as a free-to-play title. Back then, the design team wanted to build around the notion of her being “a powerful and charismatic spiritual leader who inspires others to be their own unstoppable force.” From what we’ve seen so far, they’ve knocked it out of the park.
If you’re a fighting game enthusiast who isn’t making the EVO pilgrimage, don’t worry, as there’s plenty of other news from the best PS5 games and best Xbox games in that arena to tide you over until 2XKO arrives. For example, check out the new Twitch drops coming to Mortal Kombat 1. While you’re here, don’t forget to drop us a follow on Google News so you’ll never miss a beat(down) again.