Hello readers and welcome to another guide for my new favorite champion Irelia. I have been playing Irelia a ton lately and I have been able to win almost every ranked game I play with her while carrying my team to victory. I always end with a far up positive score, end legendary half the time and I've gotten 2 penta kills up to date with Irelia in normal games and a quad in ranked. Irelia is just an amazing champion and if built right you can reach her full potential and be your teams hero. I hope you enjoy the guide and remember to vote and comment!

Pros

+Amazing DPS and survivability once you get core items
+Long range gap closer with blade surge
+Stun and slow
+Very fast movespeed
+Self healing with W and R
+Great farmer with Q and R
+She has one of the coolest 520 skins out there
+Good for solo lanes
+CC barely effects her once she gets mercury treads
+Can practically solo an enemy team with full build
+ Irelia> Xin Zhao
+She doesn't even need to touch her weapons to make them move! Cool!

Cons

-Very squishy without items
-Melee
-Can be kited once uses Bladesurge
- Transcendent Blades can be dodged by fast enemies
-Gets focused
-Good enemies will deny your exp and gold early on
-Her stun only works if enemy is above her health

- This passive is one of the best in the game, while there's 3+ enemies around CC barely effects you especially when you have Mercury's Treads.

- Bladesurge is a truly amazing gap closer, the speed is super fast and it's range is very nice, and deals the most damage of any other gap closer, once you get Trinity Force it will increase its damage by 150%! This move also has a great AD scaling on it unlike Xin Zhao Audacious Charge. Lastly it is an awesome minion farmer because the cooldown refreshes on a kill. This effect is also great in team fights for moving on from target to target if you kill with this.

- This skill works amazing on heavy armor tanks like Alistar and Malphite the true damage also penetrates right through Unbreakable Will. This is what lets you build tank items and still put out great damage. The heal on attacks can also be nice for staying in lane and killing things in the jungle.

- Irelia bread and butter skill. This works great in solo lanes as you will generally be lower health than opponents if you go 1v2. It also makes tower diving almost impossible for enemies as you will stun them if they attack you and they will take a few tower shots to the face. This is also one of the best abilities for 1v1 situations as a long stun can really put you back ahead. Even the slow for lower HP opponents is pure amazing. It is one of the best slows in the game and makes running away almost impossible.

- This ultimate is great for staying in lane, and it's devastating late game in team fights. The damage it deals is insane against squishies and it will heal you for so much allowing you to continue acing the team. Aiming can be hard at first but with practice you'll get used to it.

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I max my skills this way because Equilibrium Strike is needed early on for the extra damage it gives, once it's level 3 the damage from it is amazing and you can definitely start out harassing your opponent. Next I max Bladesurge because the last hitting power is just invaluable and the extra damage you get from this exceeds that of Hiten Style. Of course max your ultimate Transcendent Blades whenever possible. There are however some exceptions, if you are facing a very tanky opponent in your lane such as Cho'Gath and Garen then max your W for the true damage and sustain.

Greater Mark of Desolation- I get Greater Mark of Desolation because it's really the only beneficial runes for Irelia, you could get magic penetration but the bulk of your damage is AD so these are optimal pick.

- I get Greater Seal of Armor because flat armor is just so nice early game for many reasons. It helps against AD harassment, makes minions do almost no damage to you, and gives some extra defense against turrets. Some other alternatives are Greater Seal of Vitality and Greater Seal of Regeneration. If you prefer either of these that's fine, the health regen is great if you plan on going solo top as a 1v2 because they will harass you a lot and extra regen is nice. The health you can get but armor and resist is always superior to health in my opinion.

- I get Greater Glyph of Magic Resist because they preform amazing against AP harassers and cut down close to 15 of there damage on spells. It's great for staying in lane. You can get Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist instead if you want but I like flat runes better because once you get to late game you're already going to have items so you don't really need the boost.

- I get Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed because the extra movespeed really helps out and adds to Irelia's already amazing speed. It helps with getting quick last hits, and chasing running opponents. With these runes you won't feel the need to buy boots until you have your Heart of Gold and Philosopher's Stone. You can get straight to the gold items without worrying about how slow you are like you need to on champs like Anivia and Ashe.

For my masteries I do a 0-9-21 set up. This gives me everything I need to survive in lane and have great defenses.

Going in Depth

Utility Tree

Perseverance 3/3- I get all 3 points in this because it greatly benefits Irelia's mana and health regen. Normally this wouldn't be that great of a mastery but when you have the Regrowth Pendant and Force of Nature. It will increase your regen by so much.

Haste 1/1- This mastery really improves your Ghost and it's good for chasing and running.

Awareness 4/4- Because your going solo lane so much this mastery really improves the experience you get. It will get you really strong and intimidating especially when your level 11 and the rest of the enemies are level 8.

Greed 1/1- With this build you get 2 gold stacking items so with this mastery you will accumulate even more gold to get you really farmed up.

Meditation 3/3- This mastery provides some great mana regen for early game when your using Blade Surge to last hit.

Utility Mastery 2/2- As one of the main carries for your team you will always want to have buffs, so this makes them last even longer!

Quickness 3/3- With this mastery, Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed, and your already good base movespeed you will be traveling along quite fast and this lets you delay your boots even more if you feel like getting Sheen first.

Intelligence 3/3- Free cooldown reduction is always nice to keep your spamming your skills, there's no reason why you wouldn't take this.

Presence of the Master 1/1- This nice mastery is one of the main reasons going down utility is great, it reduces the cooldown of your Ignite and Ghost by a good amount allowing them to be up in times of need.

Defense

Resistance 3/3- How can you deny 6 magic resist? With this and your runes you will have close to 20 additional magic resist!

Hardiness 3/3- More armor? I'll be taking that! Once again with your runes you'll have around 20 bonus armor. Keep in mind this is even more than Cloth Armor gives you!

Strength of Spirit 3/3- Once you get Sheen this will really kick in, it gives you extra regen to stay in lane the more mana you have.

- With this summoner spell you can easily run away, chase, tower-dive, and get easy first bloods. I take this over flash because you already have an initiation spell Blade Surge so this fits you best.

- I almost never go without this on Irelia, it makes first bloods a piece of cake and counters Swain Dr. Mundo and Vladimir. You should be able to 1v1 anyone with this.

- This item is crucial for taking solo lanes, it gives you increased regen to help against heavy aggressors, and can keep you in the lane until you have enough to buy your Heart of Gold and Philosopher's Stone.

Philosopher's Stone- This is one of those items that just gives Irelia the early game flow that she needs. It gives you amazing regen so you never have to leave your lane, and extra gold per second so you can finish your build faster than anyone.

- Same as Philosopher's Stone it gives good survivability and even more gold, with these 2 items you will have amazing gold flow despite how well you farm.

- This is about the time where I generally want to buy my boots, you can wait if you want but by this point most people will have their level 2 boots and might be starting to out do your speed.

- This item is needed on Irelia, it makes your Bladesurge very deadly and adds extra mana and ability power to help your abilities. Keep in mind that this also helps your health regen because of strength of spirit.

- After you get your Sheen you should get these boots, they give magic resist and more CC reduction to stack with your passive Ionian Fervor. By now you should definitely be outrunning all of your opponents and have an easy time surviving.

- This has everything Irelia could ever need, more movement speed, attack speed, damage, crit, ability power, health, mana, you name it. It also gives you a chance to slow and it bumps the Sheen bonus to 150%. You will start to be unstoppable once you get this. Also the expensive cost might intimidate you at first but remember we have the gold per second mastery and the 2 gold items, not to mention Irelia is one of the best farmers in the game. You'll have no problem.

- No comes to the point where you have to adjust to enemy team and get your items accordingly. If they have a have a lot of attack damage (3+/5 are AD) then you should get Randuin's Omen first. However if they have 2-3 casters than Force of Nature is a great item to get. It provides movespeed, health regen, and the largest magic resist in the game. Also you get to accumulate more gold from your gold stacking items because you didn't change them yet.

- This is one of the best items to get to counter AD champs. It gives cooldown reduction, health, and much more. It also has an active that slows everyone and reduces attack speeds. You can just Bladesurge into a team fight and activate this for mass hysteria.

- Shurelya's Battlesong is a very underestimated item but it is actually really great. It has cooldown reduction, health regen, and health. It also builds right off your Philosopher's Stone for an easy 1400 gold buy.

- For your last item you can either get Guardian Angel or Atma's Impaler. I normally go with the Guardian Angel because I'm almost always legendary and the enemies are out to get me, the extra live is nice, plus all around stat boosts.

Main Core

Philosopher's Stone

In early game you should go solo top. If you have no jungler then go Mid Lane because Irelia needs farm and a duo-lane is NOT an option. Assuming you get solo top start off with your Regrowth Pendant and Health Potion. When you get to your lane just sit at your turret, when minions spawn start by last hitting with your auto-attacks and Bladesurge try not to over use Bladesurge early on though because you will run out of mana. Through levels one to five just keep focusing on mostly last hitting and harassing when you can with Bladesurge] plus [[Equilibrium Strike. If you are level 6 and your in a 1v1 situation you can go for your first kill if the enemy is low enough. When killing just initiate with Bladesurge then Ignite while popping your Transcendent Blades and Hiten Style followed by Equilibrium Strike. If they live then pop Ghost and chase them down. If you don't feel like getting aggresive stay in your lane until around 1600 gold and purchase Philosopher's Stone Heart of Gold and Boots.

For mid game pretty much keep farming and getting kills when you can. You should have your Trinity Force and Mercury's Treads maybe some parts of Force of Nature. Always be killing minions and try to keep at least one neutral buff on at all times. Gank other lanes if they are in trouble. Just make sure the gold keeps flowing in.

For late game you should have finished your Force of Nature, Randuin's Omen, and Shurelya's Battlesong. For your last item you can get Guardian Angel. With this full build you will be insanely tanky and still deal tons of damage.

For late game team fights you are one of the main initiators. Basically you want to go straight for the squishies, so Bladesurge into someone like Teemo and zone them out of the fight while taking them down. Hopefully the enemies will focus you a little so you can get stuns off from your E. Make sure to pop Transcendent Blades in the beginning of the fight too to deal massive damage to the whole team. However make sure not to waste your ultimate just on one enemy, make sure it hits at least 2 enemies, you want the most out of the healing. Much like using Xin Zhao's ult, don't waste it. After you kill the squishies them you can go straight for the tanks, with your Hiten Style you will deal crazy damage to them and hopefully you will ACE the enemies and carry your team to victory. (Remember, don't be a wuss, put the balls to the wall and charge right into all fights and deal all the damage you can. Your allies will keep you alive!)

This is my current stats in ranked with Irelia, I am undefeated not including a 4v5 where everyone did terrible and gave an easy win to the enemy team. As you can see I go plenty positive in all my games and have gotten many doubles, triples, and a quad. I hope you can do as well as me with this build!

This is the end of my guide, I hope you liked it. Remember to comment down below and vote!

Peace