Irelia Build Guide by bitpik

Changelog

SEASON 3. Please keep in mind that this build hasn't been heavily tested yet.


I changed into 2 different builds, one vs AD and one vs AP. There are several reasons to this:

• Wit's End used to be broken which is why i got it as first item against anyone(after phage). Wit's End got nerfed, it's cost got increased by around 600 gold so its not a great first item vs most AD champions anymore.
• I realised i can use attack speed glyphs instead of magic resist glyphs vs AD toplane and jungle. So smart.
• To make the mastery pages more clear. So that you dont need to check the mastery section to see the page i use vs AP.

I hope this change is ok, overall i think this made the cheat sheets far more viable.

Introduction

Let me introduce myself

Hi, I'm Bitpik and I've been playing this game fore around two years now. Irelia means a lot to me which is why I'm creating this guide. I have played over 850 games with Irelia and I'm pretty sure I am one of the better Irelia players on EU-west. In this guide i will show you the way i play her and what i build. I will go into as much detail as possible throughout the guide, and it will for the most part be about soloqueue.

Bragging rights:

1643

1678

1694

I'm not like Ego Ignaxio. I don't only play Irelia since I'm on a team and need to master a few other champions. Other than Irelia my mains are Lee Sin, Vladimir and Warwick. I personally think that Warwick is the best toplaner in the game.

Anyway, have fun reading my guide and i hope i can teach you as much as possible with it. I hope you find Irelia fun to play but always keep in mind that to play a champion really well, you can't just use the knowledge from guides. You need personal experience aswell and you will have to for example not only build the items i give you, but build things that synergise with your team and against your opponents. Try out different things and see what fits your playstyle the most, good luck.

What to expect from this guide

Irelia is a very unique champion but is relatively easy to pick up. Her kit is quite straightforward for newer players and i don't think you will have a very hard time stomping people with her in lower ELO's and pre-30.

She is however, just like every other champion a lot harder to play the better your opponents get. If you suddenly jumped from 800 ELO games to 1600 ELO games you would probably get dominated because the way you play has to be entirely different to succeed at 1600 compared to 800. I remember the old days of DPS Irelia where all i did in lane was to last hit creeps and Bladesurge+ Equilibrium Strike my lane opponent and they would always jump away in fear. If i did this now i would most certainly get camped and killed over and over and even without ganks my opponent would just trade back as soon as i combo'd him.

This will be a guide for 2k ELO ranked games and 2k ELO normal games. Keep in mind that there are probably a few Irelia builds who work better than this for low level play, this guide is designed for 1.4k+ players. If i ever get a good enough computer to record replay's without my fps being 1 i will start making video tutorials showing how the top 5% of level 30's play top, and how you should play against them.

Although Irelia is easy to learn, i believe that all champions are close to impossible to master. You will be able to pull off far more things once you get to know your champion better which makes it even more fun to be a one-trick pony. Last Darius i played against at 2000 ELO i killed level 1, simply with mastered mechanics and champion knowledge.

If you want a build more suited for lower level you can try this: Low ELO Irelia(build only)

In what compositions does Irelia do well?

Irelia counters a lot of champions mainly because of her passive, but also because of her mixed damage and sustain.

Irelia should rather attack their carries instead of defending her own carries in a teamfight. This means she's in the middle of their team causing her to get the full effect of Ionian Fervor. You will have an a lot harder time trying to protect carries since her entire skill set is based around diving onto THEIR carries. This is why Irelia isnt a very nice pick together with Ashe or Kog'Maw.

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This build is focused on being a tanky assassin, not a tank. Irelia is pretty bad at initiating overall, and you can do far more in a teamfight if you have someone else who initiates it for you. This is why its better for Irelia to have a tank with AoE CC than a tank with damage. If someone like Amumu manages to stun their AD carry you will be able to lay all of your damage on him. Malphite, Nocturne, Amumu and Nautilus are four examples of champions with initiates.




Since the initiating role is for the most part filled by your jungler, you will need some carries that can actually defend themselves. You are an assassin and would much rather attack their team rather than defending your team. Ofcourse this is highly dependant on what team composition they have, but some carries that can protect theirselves very well are Cassiopeia, Graves, Ezreal, Tristana and Ahri for example. Some supports that greatly protect their carries are Alistar, Janna and Taric.

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Some examples for what Irelia counters team-wise:
Top: Gangplank
No sustain, lower mobility than you early- midgame and someone Irelia counters. You should have better teamfight presence than him midgame.


Mid: Annie
Low range. You can zone her from the fights since if she actually gets Summon: Tibbers on your carries, she will instantly die from you. She REALLY doesnt want to use it on yourself alone.


Bot: Miss Fortune  Taric
Miss Fortune is so incredibly easy to kill as Irelia. No escape and low range. You will either zone her or kill her in an even fight.

Taric has low mobility, doesnt protect Miss Fortune as well as for example Janna would. His stun is also relatively weak with your Mercury's Treads, Ionian Fervor and Juggernaut .


Jungle: Amumu
Bad early ganks, lets you be aggressive in lane which Irelia excells at. Lategame you are almost immune to his stun if you place yourself close to their team.




Overall Irelia works in a lot of compositions since she pretty much has everything, I'm not saying she's overpowered. She has everything, but she doesn't specialize in anything.

Pros/Cons

Pros

• All forms of damage.
• Good mobility.
• Strong throughout the entire game.
• Good sustain and easy to farm with.
• Good mana pool.
• Insanely fun to play.
• Cant really be hard countered, and is countered by a very few amount of champions

Cons

• Pretty weak the first levels 1-4
• Not the strongest lategame.
• Obviously needs a lot of tankyness to function well in teamfights.
• "Better nerf Irelia" joke wasn't funny to start with, now its gotten far worse.
• Needs quite a bit of farm.

Irelia won't be nerfed again, she's in a really good spot now, so don't worry about that if you haven't started playing her yet.

Masteries

There are a lot of different masteries Irelia can take. I always go 9 21 0 but you can go different pages if you wish to.

The reason i go these masteries is because putting more than 9 points into either Offense or Utility is often rather pointless. The Utility tree is bad on most toplaners outside of Runic Affinity and Mastermind . I dont like going for more than 9 points in offense, but if you go for AD/Armor penetration marks and quintessences it can pay off and you will become more of a burst assassin. If you plan on going into Offense be sure to pick up Frenzy and some critical chance from items like Trinity Force. Every game you will need atleast 9 points in defense for Veteran's Scars and some resistance. Now we will go over the mastery points in more detail:

• Summoner's Wrath  and Fury  both give you attack damage which makes your early game power even stronger. Summoner's Wrath should always be taken if you have Ignite, 5 attack damage from one mastery point is insanely good. I pretty much use Ignite as early as possible if i see any opportunity to get a kill top because of Summoner's Wrath , It also means that the earlier you use Ignite in a fight the more damage you will do. Even though i might not kill my opponent and waste a summoner spell in my first kill attempt, i take a lot of his health(hopefully force him to go back) and get 5 extra attack damage until Ignite is up again. Don't use this tactic if the enemy is stacking potions.
  
  
• Deadliness  and Weapon Expertise are both strong masteries that dont need much explanation. They arent very important for Irelia since they only benefit you lategame. If you want you can go for 8 extra points in defense instead and only pick up Summoner's Wrath .
  
  
  
• I only use Perseverance when im playing a champion with no sustain. It works pretty well on Irelia if you're against a heavy harasser.
  
  
• Resistance and Hardiness should both be optimized depending on who your toplane opponent is. I like getting atleast one point in each since the first point gives +2 instead of +1.5.
  
  
• Unyielding and Block are very strong masteries and should always be taken against ranged champions. There honestly isnt many points that can replace these, so they can be taken every game.
  
  
• Relentless and Tenacious should both be optimized depending on the team you are against. If you can use any of them effectively you should put some extra points into Hardiness , Resistance and Juggernaut instead. I dont take Tenacious if im going for either Mercury's Treads or Zephyr due to how Tenactiy stacks. Check the end of Item section 1 for more information.
  
  
• Reinforced Armor is huge lategame unless they dont have any AD carries. Good Hands is very effective when death timers are 70 seconds long. This mastery can save you. I put one point into Legendary Armor since it gives more the first point you put into it. If i dont need Reinforced Armor i put one more point into this. I always take Defender .
  
  
• Honor Guard has gotten a lot of critisism. People say that its useless because it only blocks 30 damage per 1000 damage dealt to you. However, it also improves the health you gain from healing, meaning you get 3 extra health per 100 health you regenerate.

The standard page for going Ignite+ Flash/ Ghost. This is what most people use.




An optional page for going Ignite+ Flash/ Ghost. This page is better for laning phase, keep in mind that Tenacious and Relentless are both situational. Dont you dare take Summoner's Insight if you dont have Flash. Put some points into Perseverance if you have spare. This page is recommended for solobot.




Teleport+ Ghost. Mastermind greatly helps your teleporting ability and the more you can gank the better. Remember to get distortion or homeguard boots relatively early if you teleport gank a lot.




Aggressive mastery page for when you are building some critical chance+ Trinity Force.

Runes

Greater Mark of Attack Speed and Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed both benefit Irelia hugely because of her high base damages and Hiten Style. Greater Mark of Attack Speed are almost core on Irelia simply because they give A LOT of stats per rune. Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed aren't nearly as important but i like having them against most melee champions. Lanes where attack speed quintessences dont work are for example Jax, Nidalee and Jayce. Greater Mark of Attack Speed is the most cost effective mark while Greater Quintessence of Attack Speed is the most cost effective quintessence.

Greater Seal of Armor reduces the damage you take from minions, all auto attacks and physical abilities from enemy champions. I go atleast 5 of these seals in all of my games.

Greater Glyph of Magic Resist protects you against a lot of magic damage early game. I use these if its blind pick, or if i know they have a Magic Dealer toplane. You might wonder why i wouldn't go Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist instead, since its so much better lategame? Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist catches up to Greater Glyph of Magic Resist at level 9, this is far to late against someone like Rumble and you will likely get zoned/killed by him if your at an equal skill level with Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist.



This is the rune page i use against heavy AD champions such as; Garen, Riven or Renekton. We have replaced Greater Glyph of Magic Resist with Greater Glyph of Armor . Heavy AD champions will play very aggressively early on but you will be stronger than all of them mid- to lategame. Some of these heavy AD champions you can still beat without Greater Glyph of Armor. But the armor helps a lot in your first levels, which are your weakest, and i don't think you should have a problem against them if you don't get ganked. Keep in mind that even though you have 19 bonus armor from runes, they still do a **** ton of damage to you early on.



If the enemy team has AP top and AP jungler i go this page. An example to this is Amumu jungle, Rumble top and Cassiopeia mid. They all deal magic damage and i feel like Greater Seal of Magic Resist helps you more than Greater Seal of Armor in this case. Even though armor helps against mobs, minions and auto attacks.

I use these runes if im against someone with almost entirely sustained damage and no defensive steroids like for example Singed. They give you some extra health gain with Hiten Style and more damage than Greater Mark of Attack Damage lategame. The reason to why i dont use them against champions with defensive steroids like for example Jax and his Counter Strike is because you need to time your damage in fast bursts against them. If you only have sustained damage you cant take advantage when his Counter Strike is down.




I use these runes if im against both AD jungler and toplane. These runes provide more stats than Greater Glyph of Attack Damage, but i guess you could use Greater Glyph of Attack Damage aswell. These are definetaly not recommended against AP toplane or against an AP gank jungler like for example Diana.




Are descent on Irelia. I don't pick them because Irelia already has sustain from both her Hiten Style and Transcendent Blades. But they can help you against a champion you can't really kill, and he can out-harass you. Like for example Yorick and maybe Shen. Irelia actually does well against Yorick but if the Yorick is at a higher skill level than you are, then you will make good use of them.


These kind of fill the same role as Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage since they give a lot of earlygame power. Together they give 78 health at level 1, thats 51 more health than 3x Greater quintessence of Endurance. I rarely use them since Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage are more powerful on Irelia. These runes make you very strong at surviving early ganks.


A lot of people prefer this over attack damage which is very understandable. They are incredibly strong against some top laners who are very position reliant. An example is Jax, if you manage to run from his Counter Strike's stun you will beat him in lane. I always go these if im against a toplaner who is position reliant and Udyr as jungle. If Udyr cant catch up to you he wont be able to do anything in a gank.

Summoner Spells

There are only a few summoner spells that work great on Irelia. Which summoner spells you should take depends more on your playstyle rather than compositions and match-ups.

• It works against most characters and gives you a lot of kill potential during laning phase.
• Weak lategame when not countering Swain or Dr. Mundo.
•   Summoner's Wrath OP. 5 Attack damage for only one point is insane.
• Slightly counters lifesteal and regeneration lategame. Exhaust is better for shutting down AD carries though.

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• Flash is the most powerful summoner spell in the game for most champions and situations.
• Best summoner spell for earlygame when it comes to avoiding ganks.
• Descent for chasing, Superb for escaping.
• To Flash> Equilibrium Strike rather than Bladesurge> Equilibrium Strike if you're both at full health. For more information about this combo check the ability section.
• Bladesurge+ Flash = Doubleflash, just incase their carry has an escape.

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• Ghost is more effective than Flash when it comes to longer chases and team fighting.
• Weak laning phase unless against heavy pushers. Counters things like Sanguine Pool because of its long duration.

Another thing to keep in mind is the duration of Ghost. Ghost lasts 10 seconds; If you build less tanky than usual you will have a harder time using Ghost's full duration since you will get killed or be forced out of the fight sooner.

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• Very strong 1600+ soloqueue because of botlane ganks. Botlane wins games.
• Recommended in farm lanes.
• Great lategame.

Teleport is generally known as one of the best spells for toplane but people below 1600 always seem to use it badly. One thing to understand is that using Teleport to stay in lane is far worse than using it to secure an objective or Teleport gank a lane. Only use it to stay in lane if your 100% sure that you have to.


This method only works if the opponent doesn't have Teleport, or he will get minion farm before you arrive at Dragon, and then Teleport as you start doing it. This method is a lot more effective and easier to use if your lane opponent is bad at clearing creep waves quickly (for example Warwick).

• 1.Make sure the lane is pushed towards the enemy. This means he won't be able to take your turret, and you won't loose a huge amount of minions if he starts pushing (he probably will).
• 2.Recall to base and then go towards Dragon, this means you can heal up or buy before going there. Or you just go straight for Dragon, this means you arrive there more quickly.
• 3.Take dragon, if they initiate on you you will win (if not very outplayed) because the enemy's toplaner is still top, trying to either clear the creeps or punish you for roaming.
• 4.Recall back to base and then Teleport back to toplane.

The reason to why their toplaner can't come down and help his team is because you pushed the lane, he will loose a lot of gold and experience if he leaves his lane since the minions you pushed will get killed by his tower.

This is a very easy use of Teleport and it probably won't work against great players, but for those of you who are unsure on how to use it, this is an easy way to experiment with Teleport.

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• Pretty meh against some champions during laning phase. Very weak against the rest.
• Stronger lategame than Ignite.
• Not a bad spell, but only use it if your countering someone with it. I prefer having my jungler or AD carry take this.

Exhaust counters certain AD champions who rely on positioning and attack speed for example: Vayne, Jax, Poppy, Graves and Tryndamere. It also counters some AP champions who are easy to shut down with a single Exhaust like for example Galio's Idol of Durand.

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• The counter to Ignite. Just like Ignite, Barrier works the best earlygame.
•  I sometimes use this against Darius to have a very defensive laning spell so that i just wont die.

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• Always take either Flash or Ghost. Never take both.
• Crowd control counters Ghost, especially things like Cataclysm. Tenacity counters crowd control.

Items part 1

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Definetaly a must-have for Irelia. Amazing slow effect combined with some damage and health. Irelia has almost no CC and needs this to chase people. Used to be upgraded to two different things, Trinity Force and Frozen Mallet but since the Atma's Impaler nerf Frozen Mallet has been less effective than Trinity Force in most cases. Especially in soloqueue, which is what this guide is about.


A great item for burst, it proccs on Bladesurge which makes it a very strong item for Irelia. Its a part of Trinity Force which is why we are getting it, and you will have to choose whether you should have this or Phage first. Sheen is better for more burst while Phage is better for more sustained damage and stats overall. Most of the time you will want to start with a Phage.


Descent item and gives a few great stats to Trinity Force, but not that strong on its own. You will want to get this after both your Phage and your Sheen because i say so. The other two items are just stronger.

My own was banished long ago, it took the death of hope to let you go
The strongest item in the game for Irelia. All of the stats it provides help her in some way, and some stats are just surreal on her. Since the Frozen Mallet nerf i have taken it in all of my games.


Very good item for almost any bruiser. You would take this for the increased tankyness and the 100% slow, otherwise Trinity Force is a lot better at the moment. There are situations where this item really shines over Trinity Force, but they are quite few and hard to explain. Its a bit cheaper, but a lot weaker than Trinity Force especially in soloqueue. If they buff back Atma's Impaler a bit it may catch up to Trinity Force in viability for Irelia.

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The best boots for all AD bruisers in most games. The tenacity it gives helps a lot in teamfights and the extra magic resist is nice to have against an AP toplane. You dont need them early on but if they have a reasonable amount of CC they are the best buy for lategame.


These are for the most part the best boots for laning. They reduce the damage of creeps, mobs and autoattacks by a huge amount. With Tough Skin and Indomitable , you will take 0 damage from melee creeps if you have these early. They are a great tool for laning but not as strong as Mercury's Treads lategame. Only keep them if they have a team that relies heavily on auto-attack damage.


Pretty bad and should only be taken if you seriously dont need the other two. They give you health because of Hiten Style and quite a bit of damage but for Irelia the other boots are better choices.

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Yes, this is also a damage item that should be more than enough for Irelia. The suggestions below should rarely be taken because we already have a damage item that costs 4000 gold.


A great item if your composition is based around earlygame while the enemies are based around lategame. Build a The Brutalizer early for some insane damage output and upgrade it later on into this item. This item really scales off towards lategame though, if you have a complete build you can sell this for either Last Whisper or a tanky item.


Definetaly the best item for Irelia in this damage section. A fully stacked bloodthirster gives 100 extra damage for both your Bladesurge and Transcendent Blades. You can try this item out since it might fit your playstyle, but other than that i would still only get it if i was really far ahead.


This is a descent item on Irelia but kind of "meh" because your damage is pretty hybrid. You wont need armor penetration for damage because of your Hiten Style. Only get this if their carries are stacking a lot of armor lategame.

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One of the best items in the game, mainly because of its low price. All of the stats it gives Irelia benefits greatly from. Even the on-hit effect is very strong since your Attack speed is very high once you have some items, and it proccs on Bladesurge.


Stronger than Wit's End in a few aspects. It gives you a stronger Transcendent Blades and a pretty nice shield that blocks magic damage. I take this instead of Wit's End if im either very fed, or the only source of damage on my team.


Still an "ok" hybrid item even though the many nerfs it had. Critical hit chance is rather weak, and the armor could be a lot higher than it is but the bonus attack damage is still very helpful. Only get this if you really need damage and nothing else. This item gets a lot more viable combined with a Frozen Mallet or Warmog's Armor, if your getting one of these two items then i suggest taking Atma's Impaler.

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This item is borderline op. Its absolutely incredible on Irelia and 65% of the games you take this item you win(according to lolking.net). Always take this quite early if your fed(after Trinity Force), since you will reach "unkillable status" with it.


99 armor, 500 mana, 20% cooldown reduction and the best unique passive in the game for only 2775 gold? Jesus christ this item is overpowered. Not that great on Irelia though but you should take it if your against a very auto-attack reliant team and if noone on your team already has it. Imagine an enemy AD Kog'Maw who ONLY uses his autoattacks for damage. Riot pls.


This is like Irelia's Frozen Heart. It has always been one of the best armor giving items in the game, and builds from Heart of Gold. If your getting a Randuin's Omen you may get Heart of Gold early on for the gold per 10 bonus. Dont forget to use your active!


An ok item but why take it in front of the other choices here? It gives some magic damage, but the magic damage gets raped by magic resistance since you wont have any magic penetration on Irelia.

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Pretty underused item in my opinion. This provides the most magic resistance in the game as well as giving you great Health regeneration and Movement speed. Since Irelia already has a good amount of lifesteal because of Hiten Style and Transcendent Blades this item makes you incredibly hard to kill combined with Guardian Angel.


Good item that gives both health, magic resistance and a great shield. You can take this item if you keep getting grabbed by Blitzcrank since it makes you survive burst easier(both health AND magic resist) and the shield can save your life many times.

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A pretty mediocre item on Irelia since Atma's Impaler got nerfed. It gives you a lot of health but nothing else, in comparison to other tanky items on this list. Get Frozen Mallet if your looking for loads of health since its just a much better item in my opinion.

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An incredible item if noone on your team has it. It gives great stats to your team in all teamfights, and gives you some natural tankyness. Dont get this if your team is so bad they cant use the aura.


Another great item that provides a lot of utility for your team. If your going for a Phiolosopher's stone you may pick this up. It doesnt give you any tankyness except for a bunch of health though. I feel like this is an overused item for this champion.


To boost your AD carry by a big amount. Not that great of an item and has a higher cost than Aegis of the Legion but it works.






Irelia has a lot of health gaining abilities. Therefore resistances work far better than health on her. Lets say you have a spell that gives you 100 health back.

• The 100 health you just got will be very strong if you have a billion armor and magic resist.
• But it will be pretty useless if you only have 20 armor and magic resist.

Even though resistances are for the most part better its important to have a fair amount of maximum health at the end of the game.


Tenacity doesn't add, it stacks. If you have for example 20% tenacity there will only be 80% of crowd control left. Then if you get 50% tenacity from one effect you will have 40% of crowd control left. In other words, the 50% tenacity bonus removed 50% of the already reduced crowd control effect(80%).

Tenacious 15% Tenacity + Mercury's Treads35% Tenacity + Ionian Fervor40% Tenacity

Tenacious 15% > Tenacious + Mercury's Treads 15%+35% = 45% > Tenacious + Mercury's Treads+ Ionian Fervor 15%+35%+40% = 61% Tenacity. In other words Tenacious is only an optional mastery(it only gives around 5% for 3 points).

Items part 2

Irelia is quite a versatile bruiser when it comes to items. In my opinion there are no must-have's when playing her and you can go for what entirely fits your playstyle. The most discussed part of Irelia's item builds is probably Trinity Force vs Frozen Mallet, where Frozen Mallet should be taken if you need health and Trinity Force if you need damage. I feel like Frozen Mallet is more viable at the moment in combination with Zephyr. Zephyr+ Trinity Force is pretty weak because of the low amount of health they together provide.

This is the best start in the game because of the cost effectiveness of Crystalline Flask which pays itself back after two recall 's. Use Crystalline Flask as priority over health potions since you get new ones on each back. Toplane is now league of Health Potion's and if you dont have a lot of early sustain from consumables you will get outlaned.



Strong against some heavy AD champions like Wukong, Garen and Riven. If you wait in base for 5 extra gold you can get a Sight Ward instead of 2 Health Potion's. I take this against all AD bruisers if im not taking Doran's Blade or Doran's Shield.



Is the manliest out of all the starting items. Should only be taken if you have a lot of inate attack speed. On the standard runepage at the top you will have almost 1 attacks per second level 1 which results in 5 health per second. With these you will beat anyone level 2(unless they have it themselves). You need to be very careful though since this item gives 0 Health Potion's



I take this if im against an auto-attack ***** like for example Nidalee. You should never start with this against AD casters who rely more on spells like Garen or Riven since it doesn't give any Health Potion's. Play defensively early on if you have this item.








The items in this section arent in order. For example in the standard build you shouldnt start a Phage before you have Boots of Speed, its just a list of the items you should aim to have before laning-phase ends. Since season 3 there are a lot less build paths for Irelia to go earlygame(mostly because Trinity Force nerf).


Check the list in the first item section "Items part 1" to see more indepth imformation about every item here. You will want to have a Trinity Force or Frozen Mallet, a pair of boots and then a combination of the armor/magic resist/health and hybrid items. The damage items are very situational. The descriptions for items are in part 1 if you havent checked them already. Here we will go through different item builds.


This build provides a lot of health, attack speed and armor. It gives some magic resist but not nearly as much as some other builds. I dont recommend taking this page if they have triple AP(toplane, jungle and midlane).


This is what i take against triple AD(top, jungle and botlane) if they dont have an AD carry.


This is what i take if their team is very AD oriented. Only ever take this if they have an AD carry. Thornmail combined with the big amount of health from this build will kill an AD carry any day. This build heavily counters things like AD Master Yi.


This is a very squishy build but has a lot of burst. It is heavily countered by Guardian Angel but should be taken over the previous build if you dont need a lot of tankyness and if the enemy team is squishy themselves.


Against triple AP(top, jungle and mid). Take Spirit Visage or Warmog's Armor if you already have a Runic Bulwark on your team.

Ability use and Skill Sequence

Irelia is a champion that needs all of her abilities to trade well. All of the abilities help Hiten Style which is your "main ability" that you always max first. You will be severely crippled if you cant cast a Bladesurge for example as it will make your other abilities weaker aswell. This doesnt include her ultimate ofcourse as her ultimate is just a strong bonus in my eyes.

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Ionian Fervor is known as one of the best passives in the game. It lets her do crazy stuff without getting much punishment, and makes her a great Assassin mid- to lategame since CC wont stop her as much as it would on other champions. This passive combined with tankyness from items makes her a good meatshield to soak up important ultimates like for example Enchanted Crystal Arrow

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Bladesurge is a very strong ability that only needs 1 point to fill its main purpous. It does some damage, refreshes autoattacks, is a very fast gapcloser, helps a lot with last-hitting and proccs on-hit effect like for example Hiten Style, Wit's End's passive and Sheen. We take it at level 2 to help with last-hitting especially under tower. Most lanes will benefit you early on if you let the minions push to your tower level 1-4.

This spell is very easy to lasthit with but you should try and use it as little as possible, or you will run out of mana quickly. You should always stay at a fair amount of mana if you plan on staying in lane, since you will need it for a trade, gank, kill or escape. If you're at 0% mana you will be zoned against most enemies(if they have mana). If you cant really leave lane without loosing loads of minions and have no mana, wait until you can use your Transcendent Blades and then push out before recalling.

Bladesurge's cooldown resets when you kill something with it. This includes both minions and monsters which means you can more easily make epic escapes and chases with jumps an. You can also abuse this by Bladesurge'ing onto a minion, use Equilibrium Strike on the full health champion for a stun. This means you still have your Bladesurge up to finish the fight with a triple-autoattack resetting-on-hit proccing combo of death.

Most of the time i max Equilibrium Strike after Hiten Style for the long stun but if you run attack damage or Armor penetration runes its more beneficial to max Bladesurge second. Dont Bladesurge someone who is stunned unless its the killing blow, use it once the enemy has gained a small gap between you instead, using it that early just doesnt make any sense unless its maxed (4 second cooldown).

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Hiten Style is Irelia's strongest spell mostly because her other spells synergyse so well with it. Bladesurge makes you stay close to a target longer to make the full use of Hiten Style and proccs on-hit effects. Equilibrium Strike is a stun that allows you to get more true damage off. and Transcendent Blades has the same kind of purpous(sustained damage and sustain). This is one of the two reasons to why we max Hiten Style first. The other reason being that its our sustain spell and even though the nerf it had (Which cut the healing into half) its still a form of sustain which not many toplaners have.

After Equilibrium Strike'ing your enemy you should always cast this since its free autoattacks. Then you should use your Bladesurge before Hiten Style wears off (theres a timer above your spellbar), and straight after an attack. Just to procc true damage twice more ( Bladesurge and autoattack reset). If you dont have any mana after casting Equilibrium Strike then you shouldnt have cast it in the first place. Like i said earlier, Irelia needs all of her abilities to trade well.

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Equilibrium Strike is a very powerful ability for laning. Most of the time you will like to start trades with this. Its incredibly important to know that this will stun if you have the same % of hp, so it will always stun if you're both at 100%. If you want to trade with your opponent you should always start with this spell, and if your chasing or catching someone you should always try and Equilibrium Strike, keep chasing and then Bladesurge after a few auto-attacks. This will make it A LOT harder for the enemy to escape especially if they have flash.

Against many ranged opponents you wont be able to start a trade with Equilibrium Strike unless they make a mistake and walk too close. Here you can use the brush to your advantage so that they cant really cs well without you raping them, just dont get ganked while your sitting in this bush. Against many ranged opponents you should let them push to your tower, if they harass you the first levels your minions will attack him and it will push automatically. Especially champions with long cooldown or short-ranged attacks like Kayle or Vladimir will be at a disadvantage if you're at your own tower.

90% of the time i max this 2nd just for extra burst and stun duration. It actually scales better than Bladesurge with levels damage-wise and the stun is very important.

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Transcendent Blades is a very useful laning tool and you can beat anyone 1v1(except for Rumble) if you use this on a few minions, aswell as the champion in the fight. However, it is not so useful in lategame teamfights since the damage doesnt scale that well into lategame and the healing is very low when only used on ~3 champions.

A lot of people think that Transcendent Blades is only a pushing tool to push the lane and get sustain, this isnt true. Only use it to push the lane if you get a big advantage from it like for example when your enemy laner is going to loose loads of creeps to his turret. It can also be used to push out toplane to prepare for for example Dragon. Most of the time though this ultimate should be used to dominate trades since its cooldown is relatively very low.


The picture above shows an ultimate hit on both minions and Nasus. After this fight my health was around 90% cause even though the minions damaged me i gained loads of health from them with Transcendent Blades's healing effect.

Build Summary IMPORTANT

Some things you will want to learn

Orbwalking is when you move between autoattacks. You can cancel autoattacks animations by simply moving to cancel it and then autoattacking again. This results in being able to position a lot better in a fight(for example when your chasing someone). Since you skip your autoattack animations, it also results in you attacking faster since the delay between autoattacks is more short.

Orbwalking takes time to learn and is easiest explained when used on AD carries. AD carries need to position almost perfectly in teamfights to unlock their full potential and to do so they must orbwalk. This video is a great example of orbwalking:



Last hitting takes a bit of practice for newer players but its quite simple. All you need to do is make sure you do the killing blow with them which is especially easy with Irelia because she has her Bladesurge that resets on killing blows. The video below is a short guide about last-hitting and different ways of last-hitting, you can check out his whole channel here



Cooldown knowledge is one of the most important things in this game because of the advantage you get in lane from it. An example of cooldown knowledge is that if Vladimir has his Sanguine Pool on cooldown you can kill him very quickly. If Riven just used her Broken Wings to clear a creep wave you will always beat her since a huge amount of her damage is gone. Some champions you need to know cooldown knowledge to beat, for example Akali. If Akali uses her Mark of the Assassin on you every time its up you will definetaly loose lane against her, but you will beat her (if its not level 6-8) if its down once you start fighting.

Early game

Try and farm as much as possible while still being in safety against most toplaners. Remember that 12 last hits = 1 kill in gold. The way you should be playing is explained in the toplane matchups section.


If a level 1 fight is going to break our you should always take Equilibrium Strike because of the chance of stun. Stuns are what wins level 1 fights since every champion has an atleast mediocre autoattack and ignite is huge. You will either want to go first or close to first when you're invading because of this. Be careful for flash- Equilibrium Strike since the range of Flash is deceiving and be sure your team can follow up on it or its just a wasted Flash from you.


Build items that work well in your matchup by following the "Items part 2" section. Dont build upgraded boots too early since it delays your damage and survivability.


Irelia sadly isnt that great at contesting buffs early on because of her weak first levels. She can jump onto someone and do a good amount of damage but there is nothing that stops the enemies from just jumping away from you. Once you get a few items like Phage you get a lot stronger though so you will have time to contest the enemy Blue/Red that spawns at around 7:15 depending on where they started.

Dragon can be taken this early if you dominate the enemy team in a fight and almost ace them, but dont walk down before around 8:00 even if their toplane cant help since even a 5v4 is very hard when dragon is focusing you. Even though you might get a kill its not worth the risk since your loosing a lot of guaranteed farm toplane.



Its very important to know what your jungler and their jungler is going to do. If they will gank you level 1, if they will gank you level 4 and this is very dependant on both their picks and which side you are on. Since if your on blue side your closest to their red, and if your on purple side your closest to their blue. You can say that if you always know where their jungler is you will never loose lane.

Red start is very common in soloqueue and if your on blue side you should always watch out for this. However, mana hungry champions probably wont do this like for example Nautilus and Amumu. Champions who will do this are Lee Sin, Dr. Mundo, Twitch and Shyvana since they are either very good gankers or not mana dependant at all. However if your on purple side they will probably gank either midlane or botlane instead except if they took your red buff or go for a gank toplane after blue (which they very rarely do). If their jungler goes from red to top you will get ganked at around 2:25.

Blue start is not as common as red start in soloqueue since it gives a lot less gank potential. A lot of junglers need to start blue though because of being mana starved. Other champions like Shyvana, Dr. Mundo or Lee Sin can still start at blue buff if they want to gank you at level 4 instead. If their enemy jungler starts blue he will very unlikely go toplane afterwards (with the exception of Jarvan IV). If your purple side you will even less likely get ganked by a blue starter, but on blue side you will almost always get ganked by them at around level 4.



Having good map awareness is often the key to carrying in soloqueue. The more map awareness you have the higher chance you will have to help your teammates or get yourself fed. Map awareness sort-of has to do with the last section ("Junglers") since its used to track down enemies over the entire map. Wards help with map awareness and we buy them to more easily track down the enemy team. Some examples of wards in the laning phase are:

Toplane Matchups

When you first enter lane you will have to think, What do i want in this lane? You will question on how you should play against their enemy toplaner.

Lets say your against Garen, Garen is undenyably better than Irelia the first levels. But Irelia is a lot stronger later on. So how will you lane against this Garen? Thing is, if you both go even on cs (creep score) you have won the lane since you will be stronger than him later on anyway. So just focus on farming for now, if you both get the same farm you have beaten him.

Another example thats quite the opposite is Nasus. You will want to play very agressively against Nasus since if you both get the same farm he will dominate you lategame. You should ALWAYS try and harass/zone/kill Nasus because of his Siphoning Strike being weak the first 10 levels (for even longer if he doesn't get farm) and you will want to take away as much farm from him as possible. While you would want to play very agressively against Nasus, you will want to play very defensively against Garen.

The most important thing about toplane is adapting to situations with either plays or picks. There is no way that you will make it to a top ELO team if the only toplaner you can play is Irelia. To be honest, 90% of all the champions in the game work top (with the exception of most supports). You can go AP Ezreal or AD Kog'Maw toplane and still do decently or even dominate the majority of champions if you adapt.

A good Caitlyn can dominate a few toplaners but not Irelia. Start Cloth Armor and 5x Health Potion's or just Boots of Speed as usuall. Play defensive and dont take too much harass the first levels since Caitlyn is a lot stronger than you at this stage, especially with 90 Caliber Net. Start playing very agressively when you hit level 5-6, here you will kill her almost instantly.

Go Wriggle's Lantern if you want to dominate her at extreme levels, she wont be able to do ANYTHING if you have this item. You can just go a fast Trinity Force, this wont dominate her in lane as much but its a lot stronger mid- lategame. Ninja Tabi is a great pick against Caitlyn, you can sell it lategame for Mercury's Treads if its needed.

Also countered by: Yorick, Akali, Darius, Fiora, Jax, Kayle, Malphite, Lee Sin, Nidalee and Rumble

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Irelia is my go-to pick against Yorick. Yorick is great against defensive laners, Irelia however is an offensive laner who often tries to kill her opponent. You procc on-hit effects on ghouls, such as Hiten Style's healing effect, so try and autoattack them and orbwalk while they are chasing you. Ghoul's will also stop focusing you if they loose sight of you, and push the lane instead, you can stay close to a bush and run in whenever a ghoul is following, this will result in the Ghoul being forced to attack minions instead, which means the lane pushes towards you. After a few levels, you rape Yorick in a 1v1 because of your Transcendent Blades and Hiten Style. You can also gank him early on since he has no escape other than Omen of Pestilence.

Dont ever start Cloth Armor against Yorick since his main damage output and harass is Omen of Famine which deals magic damage. I think even a Regrowth Pendant would be far better in this situation, for an early Philosopher's Stone into Shurelya's Reverie later on. Boots of Speed is always the superior choice since it lets you position a lot better and escape Ghoul's.

Also countered by Riven, Cho'Gath and Kennen

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Akali is a very squishy toplaner and needs her spells to function well, so the first levels she is very weak and her only spell would be Mark of the Assassin. Start Boots of Speed as usual to handle her zoning better but you can also start with a Null-Magic Mantle or a Regrowth Pendant to regen back her harass.

Akali is very weak pre-6. But she can still outtrade you if she gets the second effect twice on Mark of the Assassin. Dont fight her if she has a mark on you(shiny spinny thingy above you) except when her Mark of the Assassin is on cooldown. At level 6, play very defensively cause she will beat you at this level, then start trading again at level ~9 with a maxed out Hiten Style. Go for her when she uses Mark of the Assassin on a minion, if you dont capitalize on these things you will probably loose lane against her.

Other counters: Garen, Cho'Gath, Galio, Warwick, Udyr, Lee Sin, Darius and Yorick.

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Irelia counters gangplank because he has no sustain. Be a bit careful though since Gangplank is one of the strongest duelists in the game at level 1 because of Parrrley and the highest base health in the game. Put a point in Hiten Style level 1 to heal from his harassing or a point in Bladesurge to avoid getting attacked. Level 3 you can outtrade him with your combo if you have minions to back you up if he fights back. The more you level Hiten Style the easier you should win this lane.

Start with Cloth Armor or Boots of Speed. Get Phage the first trip back if your already beating him hard, a Ninja Tabi if your getting out-harassed. Always go Ninja Tabi since it also reduced his Parrrley damage since it counts as an auto-attack. You can get Wriggle's Lantern against Gangplank if you want to dominate him, but i suggest you skip it because of how easily you can beat him without it anyway.

Other counters: Jarvan IV, Darius, Fiora, Malphite, Mordekaiser, Nidalee, Udyr, Volibear, Yorick and Kayle.

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This is a farm lane that Irelia is in favour of. The first levels Cho'Gath is actually a lot stronger than you, but as you get levels in Hiten Style you should beat him more and more. Get Philosopher's Stone if your going Shurelya's Reverie, and go Heart of Gold if your getting Randuin's Omen(which you will do most games) since if its a competent Cho'Gath this will turn out into a farm lane.

Always start Boots of Speed to dodge his Rupture's and to run away from his Vorpal Spikes. Get a Wit's End to greatly negate his damage preferably after your Heart of Gold since this is a farm lane. There isnt much Cho'Gath can do late- laning phase against Irelia, you can kill him but he cant kill you. He might pick Teleport, so get it yourself if you dont plan on killing him in lane.

Other counters: Brand, Ahri, Anivia, Ashe, Caitlyn, Cassiopeia, Corki, Warwick, Draven, Ezreal, Fizz, Graves, Vayne, Jax, Kennen, Kayle, Malzahar, Nidalee, Olaf, Orianna, Rumble, Ryze, Sivir, Swain, Teemo, Tristana, Urgot, Vladimir, Viktor, Volibear and Ziggs. In other words, 90% of all the ranged champions in the game and a few others.

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This lane should be ridiculously easy to win since you have the ability to cancel her Death Lotus. Good Katarina's will play very defensively against you in the beginning but if she walks too close to you you can lay an Equilibrium Strike into a combo and take a huge amount of her health. She is also bad at farming under turret so push out as much as possible in the early stages without getting killed or shut down by ganks. Once you hit level 6 your able to turret-dive her with your jungler if you open up with a stun.

Start Boots of Speed and then get a few damage items like Phage and Wit's End. If you fight her and she is at a higher % health than you save Equilibrium Strike to cancel her Death Lotus.

Other counters: Rumble, Nidalee, Kayle, Malphite, Darius, Yorick and Riven

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Fiora will beat you in a fight if she lands all of her skills including Riposte. But you have the advantage since all of your skills are guaranteed to hit her. Use Cooldown Knowledge to your advantage. If she has used her Riposte you will always beat her in a fight and your Transcendent Blades has a lower cooldown than her Blade Waltz. Remember to not attack her when she uses her Riposte, and try and bait it since if its down you will win fights against her.

Start either Cloth Armor or Boots of Speed. Go Ninja Tabi very early if you need it more than damage since it reduces her damage by a lot. You can go Wriggle's Lantern against her, and if you do you should never loose lane except camped.

Counters: Jax, Malphite, Darius and Olaf.

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I always use the runepage with +20 armor against Wukong because of him being a heavy AD. You can start Cloth Armor and you will dominate, or just Boots of Speed as usuall. Go the Wriggle's build if you want to dominate him in lane, standard build(with a less early Wit's End) if your going for lategame. You can win trades against him once you hit level 3, but before that he has a small advantage on lane. Alternatively you can take a point in both Bladesurge and Hiten Style at level 2 and go hyper aggressive (A lot harder if not Cloth Armor).

If im honest i dont know much about Wukong since i have only played against him once or twice in ranked. If someone knows a lot about him then please inform me using the comment section.

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Nasus used to be one of the biggest counters to Irelia back when her earlygame damage was pretty weak since he could just freefarm against her. Since her latest buff however(around march 2012) she got extra base AD from level 1. Go Boots of Speed against Nasus and play hyperaggressively the first levels. Start with a point in Bladesurge and then a point in Hiten Style and combo him if he goes for a creep. If you get killed once against Nasus(must be from a gank) you can still pull back especially if your jungler helps you out. Be aware of his Fury of the Sands. Always stay as aggressive as possible against Nasus from level 2 since he can sustain himself with Soul Eater. Be aware of minion damage the first levels to stay at relatively high health.

Other counters: Most ranged champions in the game. Champions that can heavily harass him or kill him the first 9 levels.

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Jarvan IV is a lane bully. Level 1 you should try and harass him when he goes for minions but always be careful from his Martial Cadence which does a ton of damage to you early lane. Level 2-4 he will have his Demacian Standard+ Dragon Strike and a big advantage on you in lane. If you take far too much damage from his harass at this point you will loose the lane. Level 5+ though you can easily punish him for using the combo on you especially if he misses it since he has 0 sustained damage. Level 6 he can deal a ton of damage to you with his Cataclysm but you should keep playing aggressive since you have the sustained damage and sustain that he misses.

I start Boots of Speed against Jarvan IV to more easily dodge his Martial Cadence harass and his combo. Overall this lane is easy because if it goes even you will stomp him lategame. If its a gp10 Jarvan IV you just gained free elo.

Other counters: Yorick, Pantheon, Jax and Volibear.

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Swain can be a pain the first levels because of his harass and your lack of damage, but later laning-phase you should be able to just jump on him and kill him. Push him to tower if your not getting ganked early lane because he has almost NO way of farming under tower besides his autoattacks. Beware of his Decrepify, which he will always try to use as escape if you jump on him. Equilibrium Strike if he walks too close, and kill him level 5+ with everything you have, that is if he is low+slowed or stunned. You should kill him EXTREMELY quickly before he has his Ravenous Flock. Try and dodge Nevermove, he will probably max this spell first if you keep pushing to his turret.

Start Boots of Speed as usuall. Get Mercury's Treads early if your having problems against him, or you should wait a bit for boots to get more damage. You can run an early Sheen against AP casters like Swain to have even more burst and mana.

If he stacks loads of mana then stop pushing him to turret, and kill him since he wont have many other items.

If he has blue buff and doesnt stack a lot of mana, only fight with him if your sure you will either severely wound him or kill him. If you both end up at 50%, or even you at 70% and him at 50% he will regen it all up again.

Other counters: Fizz, Yorick, Wukong, Riven and Galio

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I will add all matchups soonish. For now check out the Gameplay Video's section!

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Shen is very easy to lane against as Irelia and you should beat him in farm. The reason to why he is on 5 is because its very hard to do more mid- lategame than him. His Stand United makes it almost impossible to outplay a good Shen overall since his team presence is a lot higher. Anyway, the first levels Shen can almost freely harass you with Vorpal Blade and Ki Strike. Take a point in Equilibrium Strike at level 1 and stun him when he comes up to harass you. Ki Strike is melee, so you can land the stun before he reaches you.

Start Boots of Speed. Build Heart of Gold and Philosopher's Stone relatively early if you plan on building their upgrades( Randuin's Omen and Shurelya's Reverie). Get Wit's End to more easily regenerate his harass with more Hiten Style proccs and Magic resist. You can get Berserker's Greaves in this lane, since the other options for boots are both pretty mediocre against Shen.

Other counters: Yorick, Warwick, Vladimir, Olaf and Nidalee.

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Darius is honestly a pretty stupid champion the first levels, dont try and fight him until you have your Transcendent Blades. Darius is however quite easy to gank depending on how clever he is. A clever Darius wont push lane, a not very clever one will use his Decimate on you the first levels and push the wave automatically. Darius has no escapes, so he cant escape you easily if you get the upper hand in a fight or if you gank him. Play very defensively the first levels, dont try and trade with him before level 6 since Darius's kit excells at keeping you close to him, and you WILL loose a straight-up fight at these levels. Irelia scales better than Darius so dont be too worried.

Darius has hybrid damage. Magic from Hemorrhage, Physical from his other attacks and true damage from Noxian Guillotine. So if you dont need the two "best" boots you can go Berserker's Greaves. Start with Boots of Speed, get a Heart of Gold if your going Randuin's Omen later on, otherwise just a Phage. At level 6+ with a great ultimate you WILL beat him in a fight, so try and fight him as much as possible when theres an opportunity for a good Transcendent Blades since he has no sustain and will have to leave lane once he gets low on health.

Counters: Nidalee, Kayle, Vladimir, Kennen and Orianna

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Teemo is a ****.

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Olaf is by far one of the hardest lanes for Irelia and probably the most known counter to her. Start Boots of Speed against Olaf to more easily dodge his Reckless Swing and Undertow, positioning is key here. Olaf is far stronger than you level 1 so be ready to Equilibrium Strike when he walks up to harass you, it has longer range than Reckless Swing and will stun him before he can land it. Try not to walk close to him and hope for your jungler to come help you out. Level 5 however is where Irelia gets advantage over Olaf, i like to trade with him at this point to get him low. Olaf's biggest weakness is that his Ragnarok is very weak in lane, you can win fights against him with a well placed Transcendent Blades. If you get one kill on him you start wrecking.

You can go Heart of Gold since it will help against his flat true damage. Take Phage into Trinity Force like usual, a Vampiric Scepter if you feel like you need the sustain.

Counters: Jayce, Volibear, Kayle, Kennen, Nidalee and Yorick

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Ok, I never pick Irelia against this champion, and this is the reason to why i never firstpick her anymore. Since his recent rise in popularity, and because of 1900 ELO people knowing how to play Rumble against her. It might just be me but i absolutely hate playing against this champion. Start either Boots of Speed + 4x Health Potion's or Null-Magic Mantle +2x Health Potion's against Rumble. Get Mercury's Treads and Wit's End early. Heart of Gold if you need health.

Rumble has a few weaknesses you can take advantage of though. He is even weaker than Irelia the first two levels. So go Hiten Style at level 1, Bladesurge at level 2. This will equal in huge level 2 damage combined with Attack Damage runes. Care for their jungler though. Dont even try fighting Rumble at level 4+ if you dont have a lead on him. Get your jungler to gank him ASAP(as soon as possible) since he probably wont have any escape before level 4. Rumble is the only one you wont beat with a perfectly placed Transcendent Blades. However, if you manage to make a big lead on him you can dominate.

UPDATE: After playing Rumble a few games i have realised something. Rumble needs to use spells to get his heat bar up, this sounds very obvious but Rumble used to be my kryptonite. I have now moved him down to difficulty 7. If he uses his Electro-Harpoon simply to get heat you should engage on him with your entire combo. Same goes for Scrap Shield, even though its just a shield and speedboost. If you engage on him after he uses Flamespitter to gain heat you should still be careful since its cooldown is very low. If you engage on him be sure to force him back from a fight or run away fast so that he doesnt just jump back on you when his cooldowns come back.

Counters: Riven, Fizz and Olaf

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Jax used to be even harder to beat before his nerf but now he is quite manageable. Problem is that its impossible to beat him 1v1, even if you land your ult on both him and a few minions he will start beating you again when his Counter Strike comes back up. He also has better lategame than you, so its a tricky lane. Go Boots of Speed so that you can kite his Counter Strike more easily, not that you would go anything else anyway. Use "Cooldown knowledge" to your advantage, check "Things you will want to learn" section.

Dont ever attack him when he has Counter Strike up (except for E and ignite) since it decreases both your AoE spells damage( Transcendent Blades) and dodges all autoattacks. You can get Heart of Gold since this will likely turn into a farm lane.

UPDATE: So after both 4PL and go4lol where i played Irelia vs Jax and only Irelia vs Jax i have learnt some things about this matchup. Get the armor page if they have an AD jungler. You will beat him hard level 1 and 2 if you have creep advantage. At these first levels, focus on wasting his Counter Strike. If he doesnt have it up you have a great chance of killing him, you can even use Ignite to force him out of lane. Always be aggressive and harass him with auto-attacks when he goes for creeps, back off if he uses Counter Strike and kill him when he's close to you without it. Always be aware of a gank, if he kills you the lane is lost.

To the left: Jax's ultimate Grandmaster's Might. If he uses it too early then try not to fight him since its duration is low. Your Transcendent Blades is stronger if you hit it on a few minions+jax.

To the right: Jax's Counter Strike. Never autoattack him when he uses this since the only thing that would do is make it deal more damage. Yes, it DOES block your Hiten Style's true damage aswell.

Counters: Malphite, Swain, Olaf, Yorick, Volibear and Mordekaiser.

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AP Nidalee is very easy to beat as Irelia. Her earlygame harass is pretty weak and her Takedown still scales with the amount of health you have lost, but both of these things dont scale with AP. The first few levels Nidalee should have an advantage on you but level 4+ you can simply just jump on her and either force her out of lane or kill her. Start Boots of Speed against AP Nidalee.

AD Nidalee however is a big counter to Irelia because of the constant harass and kill potential she has. She is like a twice as good Akali with a stronger heal, harass and all around more tankyness. Against an AD Nidalee you will want to start with either Cloth Armor or Boots of Speed. Play very defensively in the first few levels since there ia almost nothing you can do here, she will keep poking you once you go for cs. Remember to use brush to your advantage (to break line of sight). Level 5+, if she walks too close to you stun her with Equilibrium Strike

Mid game, levels ~9-16

Midgame is known as the most important phase for Irelia. You will do well here no matter farm you got. As long as you are not very underleveled, midgame will go very smoothly because of your maxed out Hiten Style and low cooldowns.

Roam as much as possible without loosing too much farm from toplane, get all of the drake's and win the game. If you dominate fights at this point you will almost surely win the game because of how well Irelia snowballs. Ask for red buff if your a huge threat to both their toplane and their team.

If you have Teleport, start splitpushing toplane more to force their toplaner to defend. You should ofcourse still move towards objectives like for example buffs. But if you manage to create a 5v4 situation for your team its gamebreaking. In soloqueue, be sure that your team doesnt go full ****** while your splitpushing top.

In teamfights you should always go for their carries unless they have a full-on assassin team. If they have a full-on assassin team, focus whoever is focusing your own carries. Since the assassins are quite squishy, you will clear them very quickly resulting in their AD carries being helpless afterwards. Try and prioritize champions that are fed over champions that are under-fed. Midgame you will pretty much be able to do anything, its lategame where it starts getting tricky for Irelia.


If your behind there are two different ways to go, either you will build gp5+tankyness to still provide a lot of use in fights and for the gold per 5(gp5) passive, or you go straight for lategame with the normal build, but your teamfight presence will be weak. You will never want to be in this place as Irelia. In behind i mean around 2000-4000 gold weaker than the carries and their toplane.

For the tanky way you should go things like Heart of Gold Randuin's Omen, Wit's End and Philosopher's Stone Shurelya's Reverie. With a Phage and hopefully a Trinity Force.
This build is focused on utility and tankyness. Meaning you wont do much damage but you will still be useful as a meatshield. The gold per 5 items are bought to provide some sort of gold income since farming is hard if your behind, especially if your building tanky. The other items are mostly just for tankyness and slows/speedbuffs. Dont forget to use the active of Randuin's Omen!


When going for lategame with the standard build you have to be very cautious in teamfights. As long as your carries are safe, dont go in while their cooldowns are up. You are extremely squishy at this point but if a teamfight goes heavily in your favour you are instantly back in the game.





Remember that if you win a fight there is no point in just going back to base. Take an objective instead like Dragon or a turret. You can port back after the objective is taken.

Lategame

Lategame is the phase i hate the most about Irelia. She scales very well that is true, but she cant really carry through lategame in the same way as midgame. Her teamfighting is rather weak compared to a lot of other toplaners and some compositions can just shut her down.

If both teams are equally good, lategame is all about champion select. The way you play here should be highly dependant on what team compositions you and your enemies have, and who is ahead or not. If you are ahead then Lategame is all about either getting baron freely, or winning a forced baron fight.

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A huge part of lategame is teamfights. By winning teamfights you not only get a gold lead but also have a great opportunity to take any objective's on the map such as Tower's, Inhibitor's and Monsters.

In this sub-section we will go through a row of different things. For example how Open and Closed areas affect teamfights.

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SPACEderp flerp this **** is

Closed areas

Open Areas: Single target damage, Burst and Mobility is what shines in open areas. This is where Irelia fight's best overall.

Open areas gives the team enough space to spread out making AoE combo's useless. Mobile champions can more easily dodge AoE, poke and could even counter engage if the enemy team's engage fails.

Closed Areas: Closed Areas make it incredibly hard to fight heavy AoE composition's because you can't spread out properly. Anivia, Malphite and Rumble are three examples of champion's who really excell at fighting closed area fights because of their Straight-forward AoE. Things like Anivia's wall can really win a game in closed areas.




Priorities in teamfight's heavily depend on both team's composition's and what kind of AD carry you have. There are AD carries who need heavy protection: Kog'Maw, Vayne, Draven, Varus, Miss Fortune and Ashe. While there are carries who can position very easily themselves without a lot of protection: Ezreal, Tristana and Corki. Here is just a simple list of what to focus for newer players:

• 1st priority: All-in Assassin's and badly positioned AD carries. Examples: Akali, Talon, Kassadin and melee dps Kog'Maw.
• 2nd priority: AD carries and high-threat AP carries. Examples: All AD carries + Cassiopeia, Karthus, Annie and Mordekaiser.
• 3rd priority: Low-threat AP carries and bruiser assassins. Examples: Swain, Vladimir, Sion, Jax and Irelia:(.
• 4th priority: The rest.

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Baron Nashor is a key point in this game to win or loose games. If you manage to take it you get 300 extra gold each, and an amazing buff that gives you Health regeneration, Mana regeneration, Attack damage and Ability power. If you've had an advantage and taken the buff you have almost surely won the game, meaning the enemy team needs to defend it with their lives.

Something a lot of people dont take into account is that the Baron buff actually gives you 3% of your maximum health as health regen every five seconds. Use this health regen wisely and dont just mindlessly dive them as soon as you've taken Baron.



Forcing Baron means two things: Either forcing them to give it to you freely, or forcing them to fight for it.

• Your support or jungler should start by buying an Oracle's Elixir, or anyone on your team if his item build is completed.
• Constantly roam the Baron pit and clear every single ward they place to keep track on you.
• Take Baron and fight if they initiate on you.

Defending Baron when your behind is very difficult. You need a lot of wards to be able to keep vision over Baron. Don't place wards all over the area if they have an advantage(meaning you cant engage if they aren't doing it anyway). Place a ward at Baron pit if your unsure if they're doing it or not.

Another way to keep them from doing Baron is pushing out mid- and toplane. Don't push bot because of how far it is from baron ofcourse. Push out lanes, clear camps and take the buffs that aren't heavily contested by the enemy team. If all of their lanes are pushing they will loose a big amount of farm if they attempt Baron.

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secret trick on how to win every game with Irelia below!

Mobafire, i am disappoint

• One of the most expensive items in the game.
• None of the items that builds into it actually provide a lot for Irelia.
• Wit's End > Madred's Bloodrazor because of cost difference.
  

• Fairly expensive item that boosts your damage by quite a bit, but not close to as much as Trinity Force and The Bloodthirster.
• No tankyness, no utility. This item only provides damage but not a lot of it.
• Trinity Force > Phantom Dancer

• Big amount of damage, but extremely expensive.
• Crit chance and Crit damage doesnt change much, so you'll have more damage AND additional sustain with The Bloodthirster
• Not worth the cost for Irelia. You can get it if your trolling with AD Irelia, otherwise not.

Gameplay Video's

THis section has been taken away due to the big changes in season 3 while all the videos were made in season 2. My computer is too bad to record but if anyone is intrested in perhaps using my gameplay for his/her channel you can just ask, for now though i wont be having any videos until i find one worthy of Studio Daily.

Questions and Answers

Can you add these stats to a Hall of Fame on your guide?

Blopisn I dont think a Hall of Fame provides anything for a guide. Everything depends on the enemy players and what happens in the game especially early on. Against a few players i think i could have beaten them even with AP irelia. Showing some nice stats doesnt mean the guide is good, atleast not if you dont add that it was a 1600+ ranked game.

I dont know about you, but from what i have seen Hall of fame only shows that a guide is mediocre and doesnt prove anything. I dont give a **** if some level 5 guy got 20-0 with the build against some players who havent played the game before.

The End

• This guide was first created late august 2012.

Things you need to check out:

• Phsueh's Deviantart page.
• What is an Alot? Well, i killed 54 of them while looking for grammar mistakes in my guide.