Hi, I'm Luminus, and this is my guide to playing top-lane Irelia.

Irelia is by far one of the most strongest champions if played right. By following my instructions/guide, you can easily snowball any game.

I play her often in ranked because she has high sustain, damage, and utility. I admit that the first time I bought Irelia, I thought she was the hardest champion I have ever played (before I hit 30 and played many champs). However, by learning how to farm, trade damage, and play well, she has become my favorite champion.

I hope this guide will help you and convince you to play Irelia more often. Also, I'd gladly appreciate the feedback. Thanks.

Pros Strong top lane champion Easiest champion to farm with High sustain and burst Easily win teamfights/fights

Cons Item Dependent Requires high farm Requires solotop 1v1 Squishy without tanky masteries

Runes differ from person to person. We all have a preference in how we play/how we fight/how we farm, so there are numerous combinations. However, I'll list the most viable runes on Irelia.

• I choose these runes since it gives decent damage from AD Marks, decent armor from Flat Armor Seals, late game magic resist from Scaling Magic Resist Glyphs, and Armor penetration from Armor Pen Quints. Overall, this is my preferred ideal runes when playing Irelia.

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M A R K S

I choose Greater Mark of Attack Damage because it helps early game trade offs when Hiten Style is still at low levels. I choose Greater Mark of Attack Speed because it allows you to use Hiten Style more increasing damage output. I rarely take greater mark of armor penetration since it only increases the amount of AD you do. Have Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage if running armor pen marks.

M A R K S

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S E A L S

I choose Greater Seal of Armor because it helps laning early game since you have relatively low health and increased armor reduces damage from minions/champion poke. These are the most common/best choice of seals for Irelia.

S E A L S

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G L Y P H S

I choose Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist because I preferably like having magic resist that scales since most enemy champions will not do that much magic damage early game. I preferably do not like Greater Glyph of Magic Resist since having flat mag resist is strong early game but loses value mid/late game when compared to Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist.

G L Y P H S

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Q U I N T S

I choose Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage because it allows you to come out on top when doing early trade offs. I choose Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed since it allows you to get more damage off from Hiten Style and allows you to farm alot faster under turret or in lane. I also choose greater quintessence of armor penetration because it allows you to dish out more AD damage.

Q U I N T S

The reasoning behind Flash is because it is a perfect spell for escaping, and gap closing. Flash allows you to set up for an easy Bladesurge to the enemy carry to eliminate him/her. It allows you to engage the enemy if they are low and win the teamfight and grab an objective. Not only is it used for engaging on low enemies, but it can help escape.
If you are pushed to enemy turret and the enemy jungler approaches, you can Bladesurge to an enemy minion and Flash over a wall, or just Flash over a wall.
Ignite is one of the number one spells on league for a reason. It allows you to secure those enemy champions who barely escape with 10 hp. Since it applies true damage and healing reduction, it helps against enemy champions who have healing spells like Soraka using Wish or Nidalee using Primal Surge, or enemies who have the spell Heal.
Ghost is another viable option considering it helps increase your movement speed allowing you to catch up to the enemy champion and apply more damage from Hiten Style. It allows you to easily engage on champions during teamfights due to your high tenacity from your passive Ionian Fervor or escape from a gank.

Not Viable Spells
Cleanse is just a huge waste considering you have so much tenacity already.
Smite is not even needed considering you are not jungling and you clear waves easily.
Clairvoyance is just a waste of a slot considering all the other good spells.
Surge has too high of a cd to be worth a spell on irelia.
Clarity another waste of a spell since you should not encounter problems with mana as long as you can farm easily without spamming Bladesurge.

I max Transcendent Blades, then Hiten Style, then Equilibrium Strike and finally Bladesurge.

I focus on getting Transcendent Blades at levels 6, 11, and 16 since it is considered to be your best move (your ultimate) and it also helps with sustain/clearing waves. At lvl 16, it has a cd of 50 seconds letting you clear an entire wave.

I max Hiten Style next since its' active/passive is just broken. Hiten Style at level 9 gives you 13 health restored per hit and if activated gives 26 health restored per hit and adds 75 extra true damage. This is ridiculously over powered. Maxing Hiten Style gives u infinite sustain and lets you win nearly any trade off if played well.

I focus on either Equilibrium Strike or Bladesurge depending on what champion I'm facing at top. If the champion at top has no form of removing your stun/slow then I recommend maxing Equilibrium Strike since it allows you to auto attack them for 2 free seconds when stunned. However, if facing a champion that has high tenacity, or a skill that removes cc like Master Yi using Highlander, or Olaf using Ragnarok, then I'd recommend maxing Bladesurge for the additional damage and cooldown.

Finally, if I maxed out Equilibrium Strike then I'd max Bladesurge next or vice versa.

So to recap, the order goes from:

I'll cover some quick tips/explanations of irelia's skills.

• Depending on the number of enemy champions nearby (max of 3), your tenacity can reach from 10%, to 25%, to a max of 40% just from your passive alone.
• If your not paying attention to your map/your surroundings, but see your passive rise from 10% to 25%, then you can assume that an enemy jungler is within your lane, prepping to gank.
  
  

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  Bladesurge
  • Bladesurge allows Irelia to farm every minion possible since the cooldown refreshes if it kills the target.
  • It also refunds mana if you kill a creep or a champion with this spell, so it is not too costly. However, do not use this to kill every creep or you will lose mana fast.
  • Tip 1) You can jump from a low minion using Bladesurge and then onto the enemy champion again using Bladesurge since the cooldown refreshes if it kills a creep/champion.
  • Tip 2) Initiate with Bladesurge on the enemy carries if a teamfight breaks out since it will let you close the gap between their carry and you allowing your team to possibly win the fight.
  • Tip 3) If you see an enemy champion using a skill shot at you, you can try dodging/juking it by using Bladesurge onto an enemy creep in order to avoid the shot.
  • Tip 4} Early game, when a tower hits a caster minion, you can use Bladesurge to get the CS if you are still too low in AD to auto attack and get the cs.
  • Tip 5) If you want to have a little bit of fun, then whenever you are pushing a lane with someone, use Bladesurge to steal the creep right before they get it to troll them.

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  Hiten Style
  

  • Hiten Style boosts the amount of damage you deal by dealing true damage along with your regular damage. It also passively grants health restoration per hit and double that amount when active.
  • Always activate Hiten Style if you want to trade with someone since you will restore health and deal damage to them.
  • Tip 1) Do not be afraid to harass the enemy champion when you have Hiten Style since 90% of the times, you will come out on top. But don't harass if you are missing cs.
  • Tip 2) If low on health, then let them push your wave to your turret and activate Hiten Style to regain health.
  • Tip 3) You have high sustain from the passive/active so do not be afraid of being low health.

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  Equilibrium Strike

  • Equilibrium strike has 2 forms of cc; either a slow or a stun depending on you and your enemy's hp bars. If you have hp lower than him, you will stun them. But, if you have higher hp than him, you will only slow him.
  • Tip 1) Do not be hasty in activating this the second you start fighting a champion. Time it so that when you have less health than the enemy champion, you will stun them rather than slow them.
  • Tip 2)This allows you to easily kite anyone who towerdives you since you can slow/stun them while they are under your turret.
  • Tip 3)During teamfights, use your equilibrium stirke to cancel out channeled ults from Fiddlesticks or Nunu & Willump pr Katarina.

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  Transcendent Blades

  • Transcendent Blades summons 4 blades which can be activated at any interval within the alloted time.
  • Tip 1)Before going back to buy items, use your ultimate to push the next incoming wave to avoid losing cs from turret.
  • Tip 2)If low on hp, do not hesitate to activate ult to clear a wave to regain health. It has a short cooldown so use it if necessary.
  • Tip 3)Remembering how Bladesurge refreshes its cd when it kills a minion, you can ult a wave and Bladesurge from minion to champion to close the gap between you two.

When deciding upon whether to go boots and 4 pots or cloth armor and 5 pots, look at the enemy champion you are facing. 1st, is that champion ad or ap? If they are ad, then I'd recommeend Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion. If they aer ap, then I'd recommend going Boots and 4 Health Potion. One exception to the usual start would be going 7 Health Potion and 1 sight ward and 1 Vision Ward. These starting items are usually for an impossible to kill lane where the goal is to just outfarm the other person. This can also be used for against Akali top since the sight ward helps see her when she is shrouded.

After your first back, you usually want to get a Vampiric Scepter and if possible either a Ruby Crystal or Null-Magic Mantle. The Vampiric Scepter synergizes well with your Hiten Style further increasing your sustain and trade off abilities.

Your next item would be a Blade of the Ruined King because it gives everything that is wanted by Irelia. Blade of the Ruined King offers us life steal, attack speed, attack damage, and it's passive works wonders with Hiten Style. When fighting champions, you deal true damage from Hiten Style and 5% of the targets current health in physical damage from Blade of the Ruined King. I'll go further in depth in the trinity force vs Blade of the ruined king section.

Your mid game core build should consist of Warmog's Armor, Blade of the Ruined King, and either Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi depending on wether they are ap or ad heavy. This core build gives u immense sustain along with immense damage allowing you to easily kill enemy champions.

AD HEAVY TEAM When facing an ad heavy team, you want to focus on getting a Chain Vest for the increased tankiness, then focus on a Zephyr since you only have the tenacity from your passive w/ or w/o the tenacity from your masteries. Zephyr provides enough tenacity with your passive and grants attack speed, movement speed, attack damage, and tenacity which all are beneficial to Irelia. You should hvae enough armor for mid game by now.

AP HEAVY TEAM When facing an ap heavy team, you want to focus on getting a Wit's End for the passive and for the resistance. The passive synergizes well with your Hiten Style along with your Blade of the Ruined King causing you to dish out immense damage. Wit's end allows you to easily survive bursts from AP champions and you can heal it back with your Hiten Style. Furthermore, Wit's End allows you to have 3 forms of damage: true damage, magic damage, and attack damage.The magic resistance from Wit's End and Mercury's Treads are enough for mid game.

When comapring the two items, Blade of the Ruined King may have worser stats than Trinity Force, HOWEVER, Blade of the Ruined King active and passive cause BORK to be more efficient than Trinity Force. Blade of the Ruined King allows you to do a high burst and offensive damage, and allows you to catch up to fleeing champinos using it's active. Trinity Force on the other hand, is more of a defensive route, where damage is dealt gradually over time.

Another factor for me choosing Blade of the Ruined King is because after diving their carries and killing them. You will probably be extremely low. Bork allows you to regain your health through the lifesteal/attack speed along with the health restoration from Hiten Style.

Overall, Blade of the Ruined King is a better choice since it offers Irelia more of an offensive item which is required rather than a defensive item like Trinity Force.

I'll go into a brief guide on how to play Irelia in Twisted Treeline. In Twisted Treeline, you can go bot lane or top lane. I have yet to find which lane she is best at however, I find that right now I'm leaning more to top lane since you are best at dueling champions 1 on 1.

Items

- In twisted treeline, you want to use a smilar build as the one from Summoner Rift but with slight changes here and there.

I'll divide the game into 3 phases: Early game, Mid Game, and Late game.

Early game

- This point of the game is all about farming. Do not even bother if your enemy pokes here and there since you can easily heal it back using Hiten Style. When you hit 4 or 6, you can poke back at the enemy, but keep on farming. Irelia is item dependent and if you can farm well, she will shine well. If you think you farmed enough, you probably have not farmed enough.

Also, considering you are mainly farming at top, care for jungler ganks. I stress the fact of buying wards, Vision Ward, and sight ward since those will save you from dying and prevent you from losing cs. It is an investment to buy wards so that you can get more money from not being dead but rather being alive in your lane.

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Mid game

- Teamfights are starting to break out and people are dying at bot, mid, or at dragon. Your goal is to continue farming and pushing your lane. If you pushed your lane to a point where it is near the 2nd line of turrets, back off, and farm enemy golems or wolfs or wraiths. Then, when the lane is back to normal again, continue farming.

The only time when you should be leaving your lane is when you spot an easy teamfight at mid lane and your lane is not pushed to your turret. As long as your team is not dying/losing extensively, you can continue farming. However, if your team is in a bad spot and are losing, go help the team and secure kills/assists. It will be profitable since the team gets gold, and you get gold, and possibly more gold from a turret or dragon/drake.

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Late game

- Everyone is now pushing a lane 5 vs 5. Your job, as Irelia, the overpowered offtank, is to wreck their ad carries or ap carries. Whichever one is closer or is doing more damage, he/she is your target. You want the enemy team to focus you rather than your carries. Your main job is to disrupt the enemy team and make them focus you. However, when saying this, you should not be diving 1 vs 5 since you will die without your team following up.

I'll upload ranked gameplay of Irelia in Gold Divison 4 ranked games as soon as possible.

I'll focus on lane matchups against most common top champions. I'll continue editing this filling it with more information/tips

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Akali difficulty is about a 4/10 and can possibly go to a 5/10 after level 6. The reasoning behind this low ratings are akali is only able to deal damage if she can burst down squishy champs. Irelia has enough hp and sustain to not get bursted by akali. At 6, she gains more burst due to the fact that she can kite using ult or deal more damage with ult. However, as long as you have a vision ward in lane it should not be hard.

The most favorable starting items when facing an Akali would be boots and 4 pots. Early game from 1-4 you want to farm and just let her poke wtih her Mark of the Assassin. If she comes too close to you and procs the mark, then immediately follow up with Equilibrium Strike and Hiten Style. You will regain most of your health lost and she will use her Health Potion. After your first back, BUY A Vision Ward. I do not stress how important a Vision Ward is in killing Akali at top. When Akali uses Twilight Shroud, immediately place a Vision Ward and continue harassing her. Continue this every time she is in lane to win.

Counter mechanisms: Vision Ward, and early Null-Magic Mantle.

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Olaf difficulty is about a 5/10. Prior to season 3, Olaf would have easily won against Irelia. However, trading with Olaf is easy once you hit 4. Whenever Olaf uses Reckless Swing, follow up with equilibrium strke, and Hiten Style. Continue this until you hit 6. When you hit 6, go for the kill. Save your Bladesurge until he tries to run away using Ragnarok. As long as you do not feed Olaf pre-6, you can win top-lane easily.

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Nasus difficulty is 4.5/10. To win against Nasus, is to not let him stack Siphoning Strike. However, this is pretty difficult considering it is Nasus. By not letting him stack Siphoning Strike, he is completely useless. Late game he will not be able to deal damage, he will not have alot of items. However, the one thing you hvae to be careful is when an enemy jungler ganks. Nasus can easily slow you down with Wither and they can easily kill you if overextended. So, I stress the fact of having a ward in river and/or tri bush. Also, if he applies Wither on you, do not fight. The reduced attack speed makes trades non-beneficial. Wait for Wither to finish and then continue fighting him.

Basically for this lane, you want to farm alot. It is a 100% farm lane until you get damage from Blade of the Ruined King, some armor, health etc. Do not miss cs for poking. If your jungler pings that they are going to gank, then prepare your lane by poking him alot.

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Singed difficult is 3/10. The main difficult about Singed is his Poison Trail. Do your best to avoid getting caught in his poision, and DO NOT, DO NOT follow his Poison Trail. You will want to rush a Wit's End after buying Bilgewater Cutlass and get Mercury's Treads. When you have a Wit's End, or Recurve Bow, poke at him when he tries to farm using Hiten Style. He will take too much damage so he will avoid taking damage from you. At this point, keep poking at him and aquire more farm than him.

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Rumble difficulty is about 7/10. The main difficulty about Rumble is his early harass. He can easily damage you and win trades until you reach level 4 or 6. When reaching 4, your Hiten Style will be level 2 granting you enough health restore/sustain to win trades. However, needless to say, you do not want to fight him pre6. Only trade if he extends past his minions so that he takes damage from you and from minion aggro. Be wary of his ultimate The Equalizer and never stand in that during a fight. Do your best to fight behind a minion or kite during the fight to not take too much damage from Electro-Harpoon. Once hitting mid game, as long as you did not die too often to Rumble, then you should win fights from then on.

Tips: You want to get a Ruby Crystal, and Mercury's Treads right after getting Bilgewater Cutlass, so that you are not squishy (health and resistance) and that you have enough mobility to escape if necessary.

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Jax difficult is 8/10 to 9/10. You almost can never win against Jax since he is too strong at trades. Due to his Counter Strike, he can dodge your Hiten Style active causing it to be useless during the fight. The best way to beat Jax is to snowball pre-6. Having an advantage against him is crucial if you do not want to lose lane. Ask for ganks from your jungler to ensure that you have the upper hand.

Tips: Early armor, ganks from jungler, and win pre-6

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Vladimir difficult is 3/10. Laning against Vladimir is really easy. When you reach level 4, poke at him using Hiten Style, and when he uses Sanguine Pool, wait until he resurfaces and Bladesurge to him. Keep repeating this. Also, if he tries to heal by using Transfusion on minions, then Bladesurge to him, and poke at him. In this lane, you have more sustain/damage then Vladimir and you have a gap closer, so you can easily win.

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Jayce difficulty is 4/10. Jayce is not a difficult laning opponent since you have enough sustain to withstand his early game. Upon reaching 6, you can poke at Jayce easily. You never want to Bladesurge right onto Jayce since he will use Thundering Blow and knock you away. You instead want to Bladesurge to a low minion and follow up harassing him. Repeat this step many times, and you will easily win the lane. Also, just avoid his accelerated Shock Blast and you should have no trouble against him.

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Gangplank difficulty is 5/10. Early game, you will lose to Gangplank from his Parrrley. However, once your Hiten Style is maxed out, the lane is easily won. I advise to just get Cloth Armor early game and just continue farming until you reach level 9. Then, turn the tides, and poke at Gangplank to win.

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Volibear difficulty is 3/10. You can easily stomp on volibear since he rushes health items. By getting a Blade of the Ruined King you deal huge damage to Volibear. Along with Hiten Style he can never win any trades early, mid, or late game. Focus on farming and when the time is right, go for the kill. You can easily make him pop passive or make him pop flash. If lucky, you can kill him during his health regen from passive.

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If you want me to post your stats from a ranked game using my build, then please message me or inform me so that I can upload your stats onto the stats page with your name.

My stats -

Thank you all for taking the time to viewing my guide. I'm hoping that by reading this, you can get a better understanding of how to play Irelia, how to build her, etc. This is my very first guide so I'm hoping you would comment it, give me your feedback so that I could make this a better guide. Thank you.

~Luminus~