Vladimir vs Illaoi — Top Lane Matchup Guide

How to win lane as Vladimir against Illaoi · 54.61% win rate over 304 Emerald+ games · Updated 2026-07-27

Verdict: A genuine skill matchup — the favour swings window to window (2 apiece of the 7 stages). Vladimir wins 54.61% of games vs Illaoi in top lane (304 Emerald+ games analysed).

Favour timeline — who owns each window

StageFavouredWhy
Level 1Even / skillLevel 1 is an even skill trade before her passive comes online.
Level 2IllaoiAt 2 her tentacle slaps and Harsh Lesson punish your approaches.
Level 3Even / skillLevel 3 is even as long as you dodge her Test of Spirit.
Levels 4-5Even / skillThrough 4-5 it stays skill-based around her E landing.
Level 6IllaoiAt 6 Leap of Faith's tentacle field is her hard power peak.
First itemVladimirFirst-item sustain and pool let you punish her long cooldowns.
Two+ itemsVladimirYou out-scale her single-target sidelane kit in teamfights.

Early game (levels 1–5)

Level 1 is even, but at 2 Illaoi tilts it — her Tentacle (P) passive slaps and Harsh Lesson (W) punish you if you step up, and a landed Test of Spirit (E) turns any trade heavily in her favor.

Read the rest of this matchup

The full Vladimir vs Illaoi report continues with the mid-game plan, the late-game and teamfight plan, every power spike to play around, and the win conditions for both sides — plus cooldown tracking and the live enemy-jungle tracker inside the app.

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Playing the other side? Illaoi vs Vladimir guide →
All Vladimir top lane matchups →