Gnar vs Illaoi Counter Pick

Illaoi has the shorter reach at 125 units against 175, and still takes the exchange, holding Gnar to 44.3% across 474 games on patch 16.13.1. Tentacles are why range stops mattering.

• Prophet of an Elder God spawns tentacles on nearby impassable terrain, so the damage she threatens depends on where the fight happens rather than how far she can reach.
• Test of Spirit rips a copy of Gnar out and echoes part of the damage it takes back onto him, punishing exactly the extended trades that filling the Rage bar requires.
• The durability gap is wide: 2,611 health and 120 armor at level 18 against 1,883 and 94.9, on top of 656 starting health to 540.

Illaoi also moves at 350 to Gnar’s 335 and rates 4 for execution against his 8, so the matchup asks far more of one side than the other. His counterplay is refusing the terrain she wants: Boomerang Throw pokes from beyond the leap on Harsh Lesson, and Mega Gnar’s Wallop and GNAR! exist to punish her once Leap of Faith has been spent. Gnar’s damage is mixed, so her 35 base armor blunts only part of it, and her mana pool caps how often the tentacle pressure resets. Her own output is entirely physical, which leaves Gnar’s 30 base magic resist idle for most of the fight.