Tips I've learned on laning against Illaoi (from a silver illaoi player)

Everyone knows Illaoi as an extremely annoying lane bully with insane tankiness, burst, and healing. So did I, so I decided to start playing Illaoi in order to understand what the heck she does. So here are some things I've learned from playing against and as Illaoi.

1. Illaoi is actually very weak levels 1-2. A lot of Illaoi's damage comes from hitting people with multiple tentacles, and champions that can prevent her from hitting her W (Harsh Lesson) can really outtrade her in early levels. For example, Teemo can just blind Illaoi and freely auto her and if Illaoi misses a tentacle smash (Q) he can easily chunk her.

2. Just because she's pulled your soul, doesn't mean you can't fight for it. The spirit she pulls from you lasts for 10 seconds, and its lifespan is reduced by 1 second each time she takes damage from you (I'm not sure how DoT abilities interact with this mechanic). Also note that Illaoi has very little damage if she can't get her W off, so anything that prevent her from using it (Poppy W, Riven stun, Teemo blind) greatly reduces her damage output even if she pulls your soul.

3. Her Q's damage can't be interrupted with CC. If Illaoi is stunned/charmed/knocked airborne, the Q damage goes off. An easy way to test this is to have Singed fling her; the Q's hitbox will still hit based on Illaoi's original position. So save your CC for when she all-ins after a soul pull

If I come up with anything else or a good idea is brought up in the comments, I'll add it here too.