Introduction
Hello and thanks for viewing. I made this guide because I feel that all the top rated builds are too focused on the tank side of Irelia. I made this guide in hopes that it would be helpful and fun. My build focuses on early game domination and gaining some much needed attack damage while reserving off-tank qualities. I apologize for not explaining my build for Shen, but feel free to try it, and tinker with it if you feel that something else fits your style better than what I have. Good luck and please rate this and comment on how I can improve my guide, or guide-making.
Runes
The Quints for movement speed are quite important. Irelia is incredibly slow and will lose a couple of kills and even be killed herself, these quints will insure you some edge over your opponent. The marks will get the edge against your enemy and add some comfortable early damage. The Seals will start you off with 12 additional defense, in addition to the 18 from cloth armor and Irelia's base defense. Lastly the Glyphs are for some extra attack speed which just adds a little boost over your opponent in the beginning.
Items
Irelia is many things. She is a tank, a bruiser, and in some cases, a hybrid. Now in the beginning you're no doubt facing an obnoxious solo top champion with obnoxious solo top abilities. Take Yorik for example, spamming minions at you and is your #1 fan. And by fan I mean counter. In these situations, you might take the
Vampiric Scepter before
Stinger to achieve some sustainability if you need to fight, or you'd rather heal off of the minions than run away from them. Remember you already have some attack speed from your runes so you should be fine.
Summoner Spells
I like
Exhaust on most of my champions. When you're battling someone and it seems that you're losing, try exhausting them to take away some damage and give you the upper hand. It's also great for escaping ganks, securing kills, and saving teammates.
Farming
There is no special technique for farming with Irelia, I just want to stress how you shouldn't spam
Bladesurge for every CS you take, not all of that mana comes back and it goes very quickly. And a note about
Hiten Style; you shouldn't use it to get back health when being harassed unless you are low-health, otherwise runes and masteries should add some sustain for you. Like I mentioned earlier, if you're being harassed buy the
Vampiric Scepter whenever you can afford it.