✰ Introduction ✰ Mid or Top ✰ Skills ✰ General tips and Combos ✰ Wards ✰ Game plan Early Game (0-15 min) Mid Game (15-25min) Late game(30 min+) ✰ IMPORTANT NOTE #1 ✰ IMPORTANT NOTE #2

Hello! I’m just another EUNE LoL player, who really enjoys playing Mid and Jungle in my free time. I've been an OTP Irelia, so I decided to make a guide, as she’s an incredibly fun and rewarding champion to learn. The more you play her, the more crazy moves you can come up to and surprise your lane opponent. If you’re a beginner to league or Irelia as a champ and struggle to win the lane, I made a guide for you!
Disclaimer: I did this guide based on my experience and game style. Not all of the tips might fit you, but perhaps you'll find some useful general tips =)
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TOP:

I saw many people recommend playing Irelia top to understand champ mechanics better, so I started from top as well. It was really painful. Irelia top is not unplayable, but 90% of matchups won’t be your favorable.(like Jax, Sett, Illaoi, Tryndamere) You have to manage your waves properly, and not get dived eventually. Matchups on top are harder than on mid for this champion. However, after playing a while on top and then switching to mid, you will feel a significant boost of outplay potential. If you prefer toplane gamestyle, Irelia is OK, but there are much more suitable champs which are funnier to play on this role! Recent buffs made splitpushing much easier for you, so perhaps Irelia becomes better on top these patches.

MID:

Honestly, even though Irelia was designed as a toplaner, she’s much stronger on mid. Mid is also less punishing(imo), giving you opportunities to roam and farm easier. Playing mid is much rewarding and funnier, if you want just to enjoy champion's kit. Inspiration is a must, as you will play much aggressively with more trades, losing hp and mana, and Biscuit Delivery will save you. Glory to cookies!
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If you played Irelia you probably know her abilities. Still, I'd like to shortly explain her kit, so that tips and combos would be clearer.

Passive: Ionian Fervor
Most of your damage comes from this passive, as you get Attack Speed and bonus magic damage on hit. It has 4 stacks, you get 1 stack for each enemy champion hit by an ability.

This is the mark you need to use wisely. Enemy champions and large monsters hit by Flawless Duet and Vanguard's Edge initial barrage (Not marked when walking throught it, only when you hit the skillshot!) are marked as Unsteady for 5 seconds. The mark can be consumed by Bladesurge.

Q: Bladesurge
*Irelia spams Q everyone dies lol* no. It's not how it works. Your Q resets only if you kill a target OR if you hit a marked enemy. Use it wisely, I will explain it in tips. Your main farming and early passive-stacking tool.

W: Defiant Dance
Don't think of it as your damage tool, but a defensive one. Use it to survive an all-in, painful skillshot, tower shot, or to do some damage to several units in front of you. You can also farm with it, to prepare minions to Q all of them. When you hold it, you can see a bar below. Defiant Dance deals more damage after you relese the key after the bar fills on 50%.

E: Flawless Duet
Irelia sends a blade to the target location for 3.5 seconds, which can be recasted. Once the two blads are placed, they stun all champions in the line for 0.75 seconds and mark them.

R: Vanguard's Edge
Deals magic damage, also reveals enemies and slows them by 90% for 1.5 sec. Gives a mark to recast Bladesurge just as Flawless Duet.
~
As I already said, you probably played Irelia, or at least know how her abilities look like. I just mentioned some details that you could've missed, without precise timings, cooldowns, mana cost, range etc.
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yes, eggs
Warding path for a midlaner is quite simple in early game. During your laning phase (0-10min) on 2min put a Stealth Ward on a pink spot. Usually junglers start from bot camps, putting a Stealth Ward on pink bush would let you see enemy jungler if he plans to gank you from a bush after clearing bot jungle. You put it on min 2 because if you place the Stealth Ward earlier, it will expire before the jungler cleans his camps. As a midlaner, I usually place my wards to prevent unexpected ganks.
If you are sure that enemy jungler starts from top, then put a Stealth Ward on blue spot.
later in the game you can ward baron (and behind his layer) or drake(and behind his layer) if the support didn't. Warding behind the wall would reveal enemy champs who can steal your objective.
Don't forget to ward!
If you have an enemy Teemo or Jhin, swap Stealth Ward to Oracle Lens and use it while walking in jungle or approaching him. Optionally with Jhin, though
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Tips

That's my favorite chapter! As an Irelia, you always learn something new about playing this champion and outplaying your opponent.

1. Don't rush kills. If you feel like you can't fight your opponent then don't, and prioritize your income, even if he baits you. Farming and your cs is much more important than kills. Irelia has a great waveclear and is one of the best cs-ers. It's a part of her design and her kit, so don't ignore it. Your cs must be higher than 6, otherwise you won't be able to use Irelia potential. If you go 0/0/0 for 15 minutes but good cs, you'll still be very strong with items and the gold you gained. Plus, you will learn to kill a minion with Q faster, which can be useful in fights, and I'll tell it in next tip.

2. Minions are your mobility tool. When you get a Blade of the Ruined King you will be able to one shot caster minions. Bladesurge heals you if you kill a minion and stacks up your passive, so you can q onto caster minions between AA-ing your opponent to gain health and confuse your enemy.

3. You can use you W Defiant Dance to clear minion wave faster, or to prepare a wave to single-Q all the minions. When you have Blade of the Ruined King you one q shot caster minions and melee after a 50%+ hold W.

4. Defiant Dance also reduces damage from turrets.

5. You can land both of your E on an opponent, clicking them straight on the enemy champ. Works well if adc and support walk too close to each other, your E hides between them, letting you stun both.

6. Use Q on lvl 1-3 only to stack passive when you're about to engage. It's easy to run out of mana if you spam it too much, so try to finish minions with AA if you're not planning to engage soon.

7. DON'T HIT ONE MINION WITH AA. Hit each of the minions with 1 AA, don't stand in front of a single minion and auto attack him. That way you will manage their health evenly, making dashing between them with Q much easier. When you use a combo, you must understand that it's always better to do with minions nearby, so try to stack 1 or 2 stacks with your Q before full engage.

8. After marking a champ, never use both Q on him at once. Always save second Q to
a) escape
b) catch him if he flashes/dashes/runs away.

9. E and R mark a champion. Always try to use a mark with Bladesurge before placing a new mark with next ability. So that you can recast q 3 times instead of 2.

10. 200iq move: you can throw your R behind you while pretending to run away, hit a champ and do a combo. Trust me, it's fun.

Combos

(Honestly, I'd recommend watching a video on youtube with all Irelia combos, they are not hard, just need some mechanical pratice. I will try to comment each of them and when to use it. All these combos have variations, so it will depend on your situation. I will try to add short videos of using all those combos in my games later.)

Easy:

1. Bladesurge + AA + Bladesurge

Basic poking combo. You have two low hp minions, the one is further from you and second one is closer. Q on further, AA your opponent and immediately Q to the second minion.

2. landed Flawless Duet + Bladesurge + AA

You land your E and kick him kick him! Use first Q to get into your AA range, and save second Q to catch him up. Basic lvl 2 combo with a probable kill. Don't forget, if your E hits a champ, you receive 1 Ionian Fervor stack, next Q give second stack. By that time you must have all four stacks, so before engaging get 2 stacks from two minion killed with a Q.

Average:

1.1 Flawless Duet + Bladesurge (on a minion) + 2 Flawless Duet + Bladesurge + AA + Bladesurge

Let's break it down a bit. You have to land your first E in a bush or somewhere where your opponent won't see it, Q on a minion to get closer to an enemy, use 2 E to stun him, Q onto him to get into AA range. Never use two Q at once. Save your second Q if the enemy will dash, or run away to chase him.

2. 1 Flawless Duet + Vanguard's Edge + Bladesurge + AA + Flawless Duet + AA + Bladesurge

Basic all-in combo. Never use second Flawless Duet right after using R and without consuming the mark with Bladesurge.

3. Vanguard's Edge+ Flash+ Bladesurge + AA + land Flawless Duet + AA + Bladesurge + AA + Bladesurge

I never thought it would be that long lol
It's not that hard as it seems, and don't be scared of the Flash+ Vanguard's Edge, it's much easier to execute and almost impossible to miss the timing. This combo is used when you are outside of your midlane, as Flash+ Vanguard's Edge takes a lot of room, and your opponent would flee under the tower.

Useless Flex:
Hard:

Defiant Dance + Flash

it's hard to execute in practice mode, and even harder in real game. You will probably get the wrong timing and flash after using w. I learnt this combo from Irelking to never use it in an actual game. It probably needs a significant skill level to do it properly and get a kill.
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Early Game (0-15 min)

Don't poke too much without stacked passive. Try to get a kill on lvl 2-6 if you land your E Flawless Duet and stack your passive. You can get a kill later, but your opponent would probably be trickier to deal with.

Mid Game (15-25 min)

You're strongest in mid game. BASICALLY you will have Blade of the Ruined King and finish the second item by 20 min. Roam, get kills. If you destroy midlane tower, roam to bot and help in getting objectives. If you are behind and doing pretty bad, try to farm anywhere you can, except your jungler's camps lol. You deal quite a damage with Blade of the Ruined King only and the second item usually gives some sustain if it's not Kraken Slayer.

Late Game (25 min+)

You are strong, but there are champs that are stronger( Veigar, Nasus, Illaoi). By that moment the game turns into ARAM, so participate in teamfights and don't wander around alone if you don't want 1v5.
Try to walk with a teammate who has CC. Your team will prbably be pushing a lane 5v5, s you won't getn too much minions to stack on. You can mark 5 champs with your E and R, but it's not easy not to accidentally waste your Q on an unmarked champion when they are standing close. Misclicking Q is probablly the most painful thing on Irelia, but one of the basic skills to learn.
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Thank you for scrolling to this section, as I do think that these notes are probably the most important reminders for all LoL players,even though I was not planning to include them originally. Please, read them.

IMPORTANT NOTE #1

When you start playing League, you're always bad. You cannot be pro at anything, each skill requires time and patience. I've seen plenty of new players being flamed and reported for low skill or weird moves,even in quickplays. You can never hide from that, only by disabing chat, which is quite an option to be honest. If you enjoy the game and really want to learn playing a champion and TO HAVE FUN, then nobody must ever take that away from you. Games are created to HAVE FUN and not to compete (unless you're planning to be in T1 I guess?). If you feel like you're doing bad or getting tired from a certain champ, and I'm not talking about Irelia only, take a rest, don't play League or switch to another role or another champ, and return to your main some time later. It's okay if you start off well, and your next games become worse. Don't worry, just take a break and have cookies ^т^

IMPORTANT NOTE #2

I was not actually planning to cover it in the guide, but I think it’s a really important reminder to all of you. League is quite an addictive game with the climbing system, passes (BP) and so on. I’m not a Challenger or a Pro player and I don't want to,as I'm just enjoying playing league in my free time with friends. However, if you have the smallest doubt that you start to miss something in your real life, please, close the game and rest, without playing for a couple days. I know it might be hard, but I believe you’re strong enough to do it. People tend to underestimate this problem, however it can be quite serious and destructive, leading to irreversible consequences. Video games are made to have fun, and not become a drug you spend too much money and time on. I hope you will keep my words in mind, and stay strong in this tough world <3


Thank you for reading the guide, hope you enjoyed it. Please, in case you have any questions or remarks or you want me to add another matchup or add more toplane specifics, let me know in comment section ^т^
P.S Sorry for the long notes and lack of structured tables, I'm new to guidemaking, I will try to update this guide!
P.S.S. Apologies if you encounter grammar or spelling mistakes, I’m not a native speaker ><


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