It used to be my standard choice. I kinda dropped it because I like to play Irelia more as a splitpush champion which Ravenous Hydra is better for. Also, Blade of the Ruined King has been nerfed time and time again which is also why it has lost a lot of its potential.

I have to say, both work just fine - but for my personal playstyle (splitpushing) hydra works better.

Why no Bortk I know it is expensive but just it is just as much as hydra and you have I think you would have more DPS that way and stops people from stacking health I know I am silver but that is just my thought on things.

Thanks. Seems I forgot that ninja's were changed to block autoattacks instead of giving physical damage resistance. Yet I'm not sure if I wouldn't be zoned out even with armor. Hope I'll meet some more Pantheons top to test different tactics on them, lol.

Start cloth armor + pots and stick back + farm till 6. At level 6 you beat him cause his ultimate doesn't do much in a 1v1 while your does. Ninja tabi's aren't that good because he doesn't rely on autoattacks. I'd rather get a second cloth and flat health.

Hello, here I am again. Managed to play a game with my friend yesterday and felt my playstyle greatly improved, yet I failed hardly laning before 6 against pantheon: got hardly harassed catching a spear each time I tried to last hit which denied me a lot of farm. Tried to strike back, but got bad trades cause he was always behind his creeps and because of his block passive. Bought the flask as starting item, rushed ninja tabi and phage then and well, after 6 I smashed him every time we met.
Could you give some clues for a newbie on how to counter Pantheon early game or get farm at least?

Comment to vote doesn't apply after the first 20 votes ;-)

I have been too lazy to completley update matchups which is why I didn't have these two listed. Thanks for the comment :)

A great guide! This guide helped me a lot understanding different game phases with her, and match-ups.

Could you add Nidalee and Shen to the match-up chapter? I see those two regularly.

+1 (you should add comment to vote)

^ Trinity is a lot better overall because of the added movement speed on Phage combining with Bladesurge refreshes and the stronger Sheen procs. Iceborn also gives a lot of stats you don't really need like AP. The slow on its own is not enough to buy that item.

The reason you can't upvote probably is because the site is really slow right now, you might need to wait up to 30 seconds.

Thanks for the guide! Irelia was the champion I fell in love with when I started playing LoL, she was just released then, and I haven't really played her for a long time, now I'm trying to learn from scratch since my experience as a newbie in normals and before many nerfs seems outdated) And your guide gave me some good clues.
I have a question though, have you ever tried making a build for her around iceborn gauntlet instead of trinity? Though trinity seems clearly stronger for 1 vs 1, I feel like iceborn has some potential for teamfights since it makes your target easier to focus for other people and the slow has a great aoe for melee champs.
Tried to upvote but the counter won't move, may be because I just registered(

Honestly he is somewhat broken right now. Combine that with the fact that Irelia relies on autoattacks and jax' dodge and you have a hell of a matchup.

I love how many Irelia players put a lot of hate on Jax.
Imagine if he has a real weapon, like a basher which stun you at 25% chance.