[S8 Build] Iza big deal!

Izanami is not a very highly ranked character in the tier lists you can find online - typically sitting around A tier. However, with the right build and understanding of her kit, Izanami can completely dominate any game that she's in. Play her aggressively and you will be rewarded because of her passive and some of the items in the build such as Berserker's Shield.

She is not a character to be played conservatively. Good luck, and have fun!

These are two builds that I have used and messed around with in many games as well as in jungle practice. In most games, I recommend following the Tank Shredder build, as it is not just for shredding tanks and still deals a crazy amount of damage to squishy characters.

Most builds I've seen tend to build Devo's Gauntlet early on, but I find that mobility and attack speed serve Izanami much better early game. Then, late game, you can substitute in Asi for some life steal if necessary.

In some cases, you can completely remove the crits (Wind Demon & Rage for example) and substitute for attack speed items like Silverbranch Bow or Odysseus' Bow. Due to her passive you can't really go wrong doing this. But in my experience with her I tend to notice that criticals allow for quicker destruction of squishies.

Death Draws Nigh

Izanami's passive, Death Draws Nigh, is quite possibly one of her strongest assets. As she begins to lose health, she actually becomes more powerful. This means that instead of retreating as soon as you get down to half health, you can often benefit by sticking around and continuing to brawl with your enemy.

Sickle Storm

Izanami's normal basic attacks are perfect for buff clearing, team fights, and clearing minion waves. This is due to their boomerang-like nature, which causes them to go through enemies without stopping on-hit and then return to you to deal more damage. However, when Sickle Storm really becomes useful is when you are fighting a target one-on-one. The increased attack speed and bonus damage along with the fact that you do not need to wait for the sickles to recall makes it excellent for a quick shred of a single enemy or structure.

Spectral Projection

This is personally my favorite of Izanami's abilities. The slow + the overall damage potential of this ability makes it highly useful. It is perfect for team fights (dealing loads of damage to multiple enemies), clearing minion waves, or for slowing down a fleeing target. Use this ability as often as you can, as the cooldown is fairly low.

Fade Away

Fade Away is pretty straight forward. This is one of my favorite escape moves as a hunter, as you can teleport anywhere while also immediately becoming invisible. This makes for an easy gank or a quick escape from an otherwise hairy situation.

Dark Portal

In my personal opinion, Dark Portal has two big uses. One, being a finishing move. If you have an enemy who is typically very slippery or who has evaded you but is still fairly close in range, Dark Portal is an easy to activate move to knock out their remaining health before they escape further. Second, is as an aggressive push ability. In other situations, Dark Portal can be used to start an aggressive push one-on-one or in a group situation. This is largely due to its pretty impressive amount of damage, but primarily due to the silencing aspect of it which allows you to get in quickly and get an easy kill.

Pros

High mobility/easy escape
High single target damage
High area damage

Cons

Low health
My builds have little life-steal
Easy to run out of mana with wrong starter

Izanami does work best in situations where the pressure is drawn off of her or enemies are CC'd. Because of this, I highly recommend either sticking to one-on-ones or have a teammate nearby to help draw off some heat while you melt the enemy!

Her second ability & ultimate, Spectral Projection and Dark Portal respectively, can also be used to help save your teammates! If someone is in trouble, use Dark Portal to silence enemies, or hit them with the slow effect/damage from Spectral Projection. Then, you can save yourself by dipping out using Fade Away.