Version 1.5, totally revamped the guide for shorter, better descriptions

Version 1.4, i added "Gameplay with this build" chapter and resized the icons of the main items and of the skills.

Version 1.3, i changed the order of the chapters for a better readthrough for the people who want to try out the build.
Placed the more optional chapters (runes, masteries which are only usefull for level 30's who like the character as a main) lower.

Version 1.2, i fixed some old text which still contained clarity as a main spell, also added new laning partners.

Version 1.1, i added trinity force to optional, aswell as last whisper which was an required item before *it is only usefull for armored opponents* and changed my skilling order, added the skilling order as a chapter to explain why i get those skills in that order.

Version 1.0, i guess i'll keep track what i have changed for those that are interested.

Hey guys, this will be my first build / guide, i really would like some well commented feedback on this.
I made this build / guide to see if it will be considdered a good way to play irelia or not.

This is a minion farming build, why?
Fairly simple reason actually, Irelia is one of the quickest last-hitter champions ingame on minions, the reason i claim this is because of her passive on her Bladesurge ability.
The cooldown is refreshed and you get back some mana every time anything is killed with the skill thus allowing certain spam, ofcourse with the nessecary micro/timing skills.
This is very usefull to farm money for quickly outgearing the opponents(unless your team is feeding).

NOTE* Irelia might be a very good nuker but she is not a 1 man army like Jax or Tryndamere on this build, she is rather squishy how i build her.

Just an note for you guys 'n girls.
This is an optional way to build him if you are interested in having fun with something refreshingly new and don't want to stick to the common builds.
This is probably not THE build for an rated game but it can definatly let you have fun in unranked matches :).

Besides all that this guide is more or less how you should play with irelia (the items are just my way to have fun with him, the way you should play with him means the skill sequence etc).

Pros:- This build can last rather long in a lane without having to bring alot of potions along or moving back to the base to heal hp/mana all very often.
- You get alot more cash than your opponents/allies so you can get your gear quicker which helps with earlygame nuking.
- Very quick on both skills and normal hits and hard to run away from.
- It's different from the "i focus player and end up outgeared by jungleboy Warwick".
- Ionian Fervor is perfect for group fights
- 1 of the most troublesome harassers due to her sudden burst damage she can do with Hiten Style active.

Cons:- This build is rather squishy.
- You require an AP partner(s) or the opponents tank(s) will stack armor which means you are not worth much even with the armor penetration you might get from certain items.
- Even if you get out of Crowd Control quicker this build is squishy so you have to be extremely carefull, especially in 1v1 and 2v2 as the cc reduction % is still low in those fights.

Your focus should be on killing minions, not killing players(yet).
Should you follow this build and gameplay you should really read the "How to use your skills effectively" chapter and the "Items" chapter.

Where you should be:
To use this build most effectively try to solo lane, either through getting someone who goes jungling in your game or taking the solo lane.
During group fights always hug your tank's (or less squishy character's) back and never go first into those group fights, you are a nuker that is melee.

When facing players alone:
For 1 vs 1, unless you are fed by careless squishy's or already have much better gear, you should stick to minion farming to outgear your opponents and some harassment in between.
Do not take risks on situations where you are uncertain you can get the kill or uncertain of where your opponents are because even if you outgear the opponents with minion farming, if you feed them they will gain in on you obviously.

Who you should play with:
- Try to get at least 1 tank and 1 ability power champion in the team.
- Try not to go with a full atack damage group as it will effectively murder you when facing tanklike champions such as Mordekaiser.
- Try not to go with a full ability power group, same thing as the one mentioned before.
- Try not to go with nukers only, this is like the previous examples.

Exhaust: this is to harass even further and very usefull in midgame for some ganking when you have your gear.

Flash: this has so many uses, positioning, fleeing, surprise atacks, quick chasing method to avoid any slowing walls like from karthus and it allows you to get in range to immediatly use bladesurge to get to your opponent in a flash, nice word joke, anyways it has alot of uses and i like it.

Ghost: irelia is kind of squishy so getting Ghost is not as usefull as Flash in my honest opinion when you are facing ranged champions such as Caitlyn or when you are fleeing from crowd controllers in 1 vs 1/2 vs 2 fights.
You can however decide to get that instead of flash if you think it to be more usefull.
Should you get ghost, spend the Blink of an Eye in the accompanying mastery.

Clarity: getting this is also possible, but you should spend the free point from Greed in the accompanying mastery to maximize the usefullness for the entire team.
Clarity is something you should only take when you have a team of mana greedy champions like Zilean.

Ignite: last but not least ^_^, this could work depending on you skill of keeping an opponent from fleeing and skill in chasing down the opponents.
The accompanying mastery is not required as it does not do much but if you want the ap go right ahead, Greed is just an free point that is left.

1 This is for farming purposes aswell as for minor harassment on opponents.

2 To make sure you can stay inlane some longer you need this for its life steal, also gettting it will enable you to make first bloods against squishy characters such as Soraka should they be careless enough to stray to far from their tower.

3 This can be a very usefull skill in both chasing or fleeing as it can slow // stun depending on your % of hp compared to the opponent read the* How to use your skill effectively* section.

4 Since you are mainly harass and not a ganker as you are a minion farmer you get bladesurge a bit earlier than equilibrium strike as it will deal more damage to both mobs and players and you dont use equilibrium strike on mobs.

5 The life steal and true damage is very important on irelia so that has second priority.

6 Like with any ultimate getting it when you can is always priority number 1.

After that it gets self explanatory, you are an AD build so you need bladesurge finished earlier then equilibrium strike and you need hiten style maxed before bladesurge for the true damage and life steal.

I strongly suggest you keep the effects/passives in mind carefully.
Ionian Fervor
The more opponent champions are nearby the quicker you get out of Crowed Control.

Bladesurge
Dashes to a nearby enemy target, does not work on allied targets or on the ground, resets cooldown and replenishes some mana when this skill scores a kill, the damage is increased by atack damage.

Hiten Style
Steals life on every hit and when activated gives you true damage for a short time.

Equilibrium Strike
This skill is melee range so don't expect some medium ranged skill like her Q or R.
When you are a lower % of hp than the opponent you will stun upon hit, else you will slow that opponent, this skill deals damage on ability power which you will not get in this build unless you want to try and make some hybrid.

Transcendent Blades
Can shoot 4 blades at opponents with a decent range, requires a good aim as it shoots where your mouse is aimed at.
It leeches life on each shot, its damage is increased by attack damage or ability power but it takes the higher value between the 2.
You have to press R for every shot, do shoot quickly or you you will lose 1-4 shots which is just bad, there is a timer on it when you press the first R to ready the blades.

When minioning:
Wait for just a few dots hp left and use Bladesurge, dont waste the other skills on minions, Bladesurge is enough.
Especially dont use your ultimate unless you need hp or want to harass because it is such a waste.
If you feel uncertain to your skill/timing to kill minions without Bladesurge than you have the option to spam it, however i suggest you keep enough mana to still effectively harass your opponent(s).

When harassing a player:
I suggest to keep for stunning purposes.
Stunning is much more usefull in situations like " Fiddlesticks:i will rape you with my ultimate which has a long cast time and ooh **** i got stunned..." then a slow when fighting 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2 while the opponent is not even trying to run away *yet*.
>retreat> >retreat and so on.

When going for the kill:
If you think you can kill him but you have more hp do >( if needed else just )>(if he runs use else just hit normally)> > > > rinse and repeat.

When helping an ally:
> > > (and if you need hp or just want scare them off).
Either use equilibrium strike on someone with a higher % of hp to stun allowing you to 2v1 for a short time to scare them off, if they both are a lower % of health than you slow the one who will most likely kill off your ally if he is not slowed.

When running:
If you have done as i said and you kept Equilibrium Strike for the stun use it here, it will give you a bit of extra time that you might need to get away or let allies get close enough to get the kills (even if you would die 1 death vs 3-5 kills is always good).
Should you be chased by multiple opponents, and you can either stun or slow than pick your target on who will most likely kill you off or stop your retreat.

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Be watchfull of what the opponents use/have used to decide who is more/less of a threat e.g:

- Rammus has used Powerball and Puncturing TauntPuncturing Taunt just a few seconds ago, no point in stunning/slowing him.
- Master Yi has activated Highlander which means he is a perfect target to stun but impossible to slow so don't try it if you have a higher % of health.
- Shen has used Shadow Dash to get right next to you in order to beat you up, GREAT "if you are still alive ofcourse" stun/slow that bastard.

---

Flash works wonders, use the walls around you, i will try to find/make a map with good flash locations.

*NOTE: Remember always use first when going for the kill on opponent champions or you will do less damage on the opening atack " Bladesurge + normal hits" as there is a short delay and that is just not usefull, you need to burst down the opponent as quickly as possible.

This build requires solo laning, it is possible to lane with others but you will only piss of your allies.
It is also possible to jungle but i dont suggest it early game because you can make so much more money with minion farming.

Good laning partners when solo laning is not possible:

This means you will have to focus a bit more on player killing as to not hinder your allies cash flow.

- Blitzcrank, he is very usefull in general, his Rocket Grab can pull back runners, pull them out of brush and when standing in brush or from behind a wall grab opponents and pull them to him (given that he can aim) and he has a stun called Power Fist which prevents them from immediatly running away again.
Also he has a aoe silence utlimate called Static Field which deals decent damage, if you have to pick an laning partner TAKE HIM.

- Sion, his shield/stun combo can help you nuke an opponent player in no time.

- Rammus, his Puncturing TauntPuncturing Taunt and Powerball skill can totally stop an opponent dead in his tracks while you nuke the opponent player.

- Morgana, her Dark Binding can truly hinder opponents from fleeing or chasing, in addition to her Black Shield you are relatively safe to harass or even gank.

- Lux, her Light Binding and Prismatic Barrier are pretty much the same as with morgana, very usefull and keeps you relatively safe to harass or even gank.

- Karma, she is very usefull in laning because of her Spirit Bond's effect of speeding allies and slowing enemy's that get hit by the lane.
USE THIS EFFECT, her lane can slow opponents and deal damage, should you be Spirit Bonded go and try to make the lane constantly hit the opponent for the slow.

- Dr. Mundo, playing with mundo in your lane can be very helpfull, his health regeneration is just lovely and his slow which is castable very often can really help you harass the opponents out of their lane very often while you can stay in the lane for long periods of time.

- Udyr, this guy is a very mean character for his shield and his stun, should you lane with him you will be able to chase down opponents much easier because udyr stuns any opponent that he hits with Bear Stance.

*if you think you know any other champions good to lane with then i would like to know, if you are willing to tell me who are good to lane with and why i would be very thankfull ;)*

You start with Boots of Speed as you have to be quick on the move for harassment against opponents and 3x Health Potion for longer laning, you can stay inlane for a long time as the mana is not really an issue with the mana regeneration masteries.
The Health Potion's keep you alive longer in addition to the life steal from Hiten Style at level 2.
You can always take 1x Mana Potion and 2x Health Potion if you feel like it won't be enough mana regeneration for you.

> are up next, you need the cooldown to effectively chase off or chase down opponents.

> is what you will need to not rely to much on Bladesurge which drains your mana and to prevent unnessecary mana items, it gives a nice boost to speed and crit so if you are empty on mana just fight until your mana is back with your regen from your masteries (and maybe a Mana Potion or 2), no need to leave your lane.

> is very important, you need the speed and crit it gives you.

> is for the life steal which works in combination with your W passive, this is to keep you in your lane much longer and easier

> is also important for it's atack + the life steal
*you get an atack + life steal bonus with kills which has a cap ofcourse and as you kill alot of minions this will be filled in no time thus giving you extra damage / life steal*.

After that you will have to get optional items, i usually get the items listed above in most games but if you truly want to rule, keep anything beyond Bloodthirster situational.

You will likely get one of these 2 items for your squishyness (this does not make you non-squishy, it just helps survive in group fights more easily): * * or * *.
The 1st you get if the enemy is a mix of atack/ability damage opponents and the 2nd if the majority are casters.

Besides that possibility if you:

- Need more speed and don't have enough crit? Could add another Phantom Dancer.
- Have a high health opponent team? Madred's Bloodrazor might be a good idea.
- Have a high speed opponent team? Frozen Mallet will do the job.
- Have a high armor team? Last Whisper is going to be a sight for sore eyes.
- Still are having trouble with tanks even with Last Whisper? The Black Cleaver is very usefull for its attack speed and armor reduction aswell as for the damage boost.
- Have a dodgy opponent team and you want more atack speed? Sword of The Divine will end their reign.

To rule the battlefield you can NOT stick to 1 full build, i gave 3 items which are a must but the rest is totally optional.
Suggest some items that you think are missing in the optional if you want.

I don't however suggest any ability power items unless you want to try and hybrid this thing.
NOTE* i might try and make an hybrid soon.

Offensive:

Took Deadlieness as it is a melee build, didnt go cooldown here as it only gives 3%.

The atack speed is part of this build which is why i took Alacrity.

Took 1 in Greed as i wanted more money.
Though that 1 point is optional, for your personal prefference i guess.

Defense:

None but that was obvious from the masteries tree.

Utility:

Since this build focuses on minion killing she needs good mana/hp recovery thus Meditation and Perseverence.

I had to put 1 in Good Hands as the other 2 were not going to be of use in this build.

Awareness: this is something i took because leveling quicker is always handy, needed the points to reach Intelligence, the Expanded Mind did not seem worth it as it gives 5% of your maximum mana (not with items but your flat maximum mana).

Blink of an eye: this is to be able to use flash more often.

Intelligence: this is much better than the offense as it gives 6% so yeah not much to say on this.

Prescence of the Master: this is to have shorter cooldowns on all your summoner spells, very usefull for quick flash and exhaust.

Quickness: this is merely for chasing purposes, 3% is not much but since you are getting Phantom Dancer it does help.

Greater Mark of Attack Speed, well do i need to go there? decent normal damage + very usefull true damage, the quicker the better right ;), irelia does high damage to begin with and i prefer speed over atack damage.

Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration, to be able to lane even longer i took the mana regen seals.
As her life steal can keep her health up reasonably the regen is of high importance to be able to spam your skills more often or you will still have to regenerate mana to often to kill fast enough/harass enough which is required to make this build work.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction, ok some newcommers might get confused here, she is not an ability power build so why go cooldown?
Her Bladesurge ability is atack damage relying, so you will do much damage with this and the quicker your cooldown means the quicker you can chase down annoying people that usually outrun you such as Teemo, Evelynn etc.
Also the Transcendent Blades skill is ability power OR!! atack damage relying which makes this skill usefull on any build, so the quicker it is from cooldown the more you can stay on your lane and harass like the madman you are ;) .

Greater Quintessence of Desolation, this is to have some armor penetration to deal more damage to armored champions.

Using this build might be tricky at first but if you get used to it you will generally 90% of the time outgear your opponents unless there is feeding going on and you will be a VERY anoying harasser.

Never dive at someone when you don't know where all opponent champions are and always check the summoner spells of opponent champions because if you dive with him having heal you are basicly as good as dead (unless you are fed / level 18 and you are very well geared).

Focus minion killing, harass comes when you have your Zeal.
Don't waste your gold on any mana items because i really think it is not worth it.

Keep the effects of your skills in mind when doing something, e.g: always have Hiten Style active when you are going for the kill of an opponent champion for the extra true damage it gives on the opening.
In group fights you have the advantage with Ionian Fervor against Crowd Controllers but don't hug the front, you are squishy, even with the lifesteal from Hiten Style and The Bloodthirster.

Keep your Equilibrium Strike safe for nasty or good situations as this skill can be a real tide turner.

Enjoy the build i guess, and again, i want good commented feedback on this way to play irelia.