Awesome guide!
Thanks bae

Will be updating my guide over the next few weeks.

Glad you liked it~

well im a newbie player about irelia but this guide helped me a lot thanks for the guide dude i hope you will do another for S4 and lets see what happend about irelia cya

Yes, I have played with those items before. The standard build definitely doesn't deal as much DPS as the other build, but that's because it's more tank-orientated like you've said. I haven't played Irelia with so much DPS lately, but I guess I should. It should be very fun too.

Just curious, have you experimented with ravenous hydra and last whisper combo at all and if so did you have any thoughts on it?
I used to use the standard build with the tforce, wits and randuins etc but lately I switched to tforce, hydra, LW and ive found the damage output to be much higher. Ive become fond of 2 builds depending on my team and or who im facing. The tankier build I use tforce, frozen heart, spirit visage, bork and warmogs and for my dps carry build I prefer tforce, hydra, lw, GA and bork. Either way Irelia is just a plain unkillable monster :D

Glad you liked it~

goog build :)

Of course, everything is a personnal matter. I would have wrote down both options, though, as people reading the guide don't necessarily read it to carry in solo Q. Sometimes, they just want to have guidelines to learn it and I think a more "standard" view of the thing can be interesting. But there again, it's your guide, so do whatever you think is the best ;)

I wasn't doing much calculations about Wit's End and Zephyr, just telling they had... something more ^^ There's no need for expressing math in a guide anyway, people want to read what they should do but not the depth behind it. It was more of a message... for you ^^

I totally understand about the charts, it's a risky thing that I've never seen and I'm not sure it would be useful either. Just my old habit of sayin' : "The more, the better". Not always so true !

Thanks for your answers :) Again your guide is a great ressource, some of my friends found it pretty complete !

See you in another patch maybe :)

^Thanks for all your descriptions, but regardless I really think a lot of this is just a preference sort of thing. Sometimes, I'll take the path you've been proving mathematically to be better and sometimes I won't. It's really up to the person playing Irelia to see what is necessary.

As for items, I think what needs to be known about Wit's End and Zephyr is enough. I don't think it's necessary to go into calculations because each item serves its own purpose. Instead, what is important is for you to know when this item could be viable. For Thornmail, I still think it's an anti AD carry item. I don't actually see double AD compositions (ones with a melee top laner) very often either.

For the charts, I think that'll be too much extra for the guide. Personally, I don't think it's really that necessary for the guide so I won't be adding it. Thanks for the tip though.

Hmm... The reason why bruisers and then assassins have been more and more used, is that actually tanks have no utility in LoL excepted for Shen, Rammus and Galio that can taunt and force the focus. You can be beefy as hell, if they can ignore you, this isn't a viable solution and this is why tanks with no real engage (like Amumu's) have disappeared. As Irelia has neither a taunt nor an engage, I think it's a particularly bad idea to go so tanky - especially in premade teams. Even when behind, I'll always take at least a Wit's End, a Frozen Mallet, a Last Whisper, a Black Cleaver or a Statikk Shiv just to be annoying.



Yet again, math proves you wrong : let's say we are lvl 11 and finished our Trinity Force. Look at both build stats :

Health : 1792 (mine 1864)
Armor and Magic Resist : 74 / 62 (the same as me)
Effective Physical Health : 3117 (mine 3242)
Effective Magic Health : 2905 (mine 3022)
AD : 148 (mine 136)
Attack Speed : 1.104 (mine 1.199)

Now let's see for your build :

DPS from basic attacks : 148*1.104*1.1 (crits) = 179,73
DPS from the W : 75*1.104 = 82.8
Q : 20+AD = 168 + 75 true damage
R : 120 + 0.5*AP + 0.6*Bonus AD = 191

Let's go for 8 seconds again :
2*Q + 150 + W*6 + E + R*4 + DPS + Spellblade = 3721.84 + 295 + 646.8 = 4664 (rounded up)

For my build (well I go faster, I'm tired of writing everything xD I you want more details I'll edit later) :

2*Q + 150 + W*6 + E + R*4 + DPS + Spellblade = 3550.96 + 295 + 689.52 = 4535

You'd say, it's the same as the previous response. But there, what I'm trying to show is that, the snowball effect is actually on my side for 2 reasons :

- the discrepancy between your build and mine is, at lvl 11, 4.8% physical damage against 8.3% at full build lvl 18.

- the discrepancy between our attack speed, which influence Wit's End, Blade of the Ruined King and Hiten Style, is 8.6% in the mid game and 6.3% in the end game.

So, the moment Irelia can snowball, the difference between physical damage is minimal and she procs more on-hit effects, meaning that it's harder to deny her advantage (more true damage that can't be modified, more procs of the Blade of the Ruined King against health) and to itemize against her if she took mixed damage ( Wit's End).

In the late game, the difference in attack speed decreases while physical damage difference increases. That means the real difference is here : 33 damage is the maximum there can be on a target that has around 100 armor for the whole game, which is easy to obtain for an enemy top laner at lvl 11.

I can understand that going for more damage helps in solo Q, as you need to carry by yourself. However, this build clearly does not increase your potential dps before the late game (actually, without the Q and the R, at lvl 11, mine have more dps). In an all in, it'll have a mere 2.7% bonus damage your burst while in a simple trade it will decrease it.

This is not worth the extra tankyness that can also help in a 1v1 situation, especially against a Darius or an evenly bursty champion. Even more true when you don't necessarily want to carry or when you are in a 5 premade (5v5 ranked, let's say).



The difference between Guardian Angel and Warmog's Armor is that in the mid game, people will most of the time have a burst. Once it is gone, you can repop safely in the middle of the teamfight and this is what makes the Trinity Force + Guardian Angel rush so strong. I totally understands your point of vue.

However, keep in mind that champions such as Ahri, Caitlyn or Thresh that can trap or grab you right on top of your respawn place can ruin the effectiveness of it. The same way, a Cho'Gath or a Darius could eat/dunk you on the respawn with true damage, if their ultimates go beyond 30% of your maximum health.

I, most of the time, will opt for a Randuin's Omen and a Spirit Visage since I love to build 3 offensive items (which is great for snowballing btw). But if I need a tanky 6th item, I'll often adapt to whoever is the most dangerous and the composition of the enemy team. Most of the time I go Thornmail, Banshee's Veil, Frozen Heart or Frozen Mallet, now that the passive stacks with the Trinity Force's.


- Aatrox : Hmm, if he takes the sustain stance, usually you won't be able to finish him after the passive. You need to do it twice, but the problem is if he flashes in + Q + E, he can chase you pretty far.

- Jarvan IV : a sustain start should bury him. Honest. :)

- Kayle : tricky, that I totally agree. It's all about going in, actually, because she will win the slow poke but can't trade at all. I usually start with Bladesurge and go super aggressive. On a trade, the mana cost of her combo is a lot and will force her to play more passively while she gains health and mana back, giving you time to sustain all back. The fact is, she's scary, but when you know how to play her, you know how to play against her.

- Kennen : hmm, okay, your choice ^^. However, the fact that Irelia is a known counter to Kennen is old. => Top build for Kennen top in Mobafire, match-up section ; Champion Select, top lane counter. If you type "Kennen vs Irelia" on google, you'll probably find a lot of "How can I beat Irelia ?".

- Lee Sin : this is such a skill cap champion, I agree that a good one will destroy you early on. Like, even at lvl 1 :'( ... remembering some past painful trades


- Wit's End description doesn't say how much it actually increases the dps, since it's 42 damage on-hit + 25 magic penetration. It also increases the Equilibrium Strike's damage.

- Zephyr : your opinion seems quite low on this item ! 25 AD + 50% AS, it's more than the Blade of the Ruined King ! Sure, it doesn't have the passives and actives nor the lifesteal (which makes it less interesting) but those 10% movement speed and 10% CDR are really great. The more CDR you have, the more often you can be in Hiten Style stance. The more movement speed you have, the more you can chase or escape ! And the tenacity is great as you mentionned.

- Thornmail : I don't think it's really anti AD-carry. I think it's more for when you are facing champions like Tryndamere, Fiora, Master Yi, Jayce at 2 or more lanes.

Thanks for the fast reply, I did my best answering this one but I'm a lil' bit tired, so sorry for all mistakes (especially in English). There's shouldn't be anything wrong in my math, though. If there's something weird with my logic, please tell me.

Also, I don't remember if I asked you about this already, but what would you think of charts ? By this, I mean which targets are easier to stick to for an Irelia (like a Miss Fortune or a Mordekaiser), which are difficult to catch (like a Tristana or an Fizz), all listed in a section. It could also mean a chart for dueling, as Irelia is very 1v1 reliant : how to duel an Olaf, how to duel a Darius, how to duel a Vi, how to duel a Zed. Something maybe already mentionned, but more trade-oriented instead of a laning guide.

Now for the matchups:

Aatrox: I've never actually found his passive to be annoying. I need it's quite a greed issue sometimes. If you know if you can kill him even after the passive, then you'll probably stay around for him to revive for the kill as usually your cooldowns will be back up for your burst combo. If you don't judge correctly though, he can just turn around and faceroll you.

Garen: Early domination doesn't seem to be a problem, as you can just let Garen push the lane, and farm safely under turret. He has not harass or anything, so he can't bully you under tower or anything.

Pantheon: I agree that this is quite a tricky lane because of his strong harass capabilities. Let me think about how I should revise his matchup advise.

Rumble: He's definitely equal around the first couple levels, but you shouldn't be fighting him anyways early levels as Irelia just sucks in terms of damage early on. Once you get some Hiten Style points though, it's quite easy to stomp this guy regardless.

Trundle: I haven't played against him in a long, long time. I'm thinking of removing the matchup since I just don't have any fresh experience against him.

Zac: I agree with how sustained this champion is. I guess I didn't stress about it enough in my explanation though.

Akali: Agreed. Should make this easier.

Elise: I still think Elise holds her position. Her harass combo and ability to disengage you whenever you want to trade is just too strong. She also is a huge bully with her constant poke.

Jarvan IV: I find his early game potential to be stronger than Irelia's if you play him well. You can easily zone Irelia out with just your passive and Q combo. The lack of sustain is there, but I think it's about getting to the point where your sustain can keep up with his heavy attack.

Kayle: I find this matchup tricky. She is mana hungry, but the Kayle's I've played against are all quite good at controlling that issue.

Kennen: I disagree that Irelia has been known to counter Kennen. A good Kennen can really dominate you with the poke potential he has. He also has good disengage with his E and can destroy you when he pokes you down enough with his ultimate combo.

Lee Sin: He shouldn't be able to, but I find this to really be a skill matchup. A really good Lee Sin will know how to destroy you early game.

Riven: Armor does shut her down. I'll need to add this point.

Udyr: This explanation is just old. I'll edit it.

Vladimir: I'll add in the tip where his teamfight presence is much greater than yours.

Lissandra: Never played against one. Let me see if I'll meet one sometime.

Diana: Yeah, I can add her in.

Vayne: I've only played against Vayne one time and I destroyed her at top lane. But really, I have a lack of knowledge against this matchup.