Hello! My name is Ghodye, I'm a LAN Player. Gold Division in season 8. Irelia, has always been a character that is really powerful. After her rework, she gains a lot of more potential and it's reaally good and interactive to play. This is a small guide, where you can find some pro and counters that she have, and why is so powerfull.

I'm a gold player for season 8. And I've being playing since season 4. My experience with Irelia started in season 5, afterbeing crushed by a Irelia in a local tournament. My love for this champion began that day, and now i can't stop playing her. Also, greatfully my first Pentakill on the summoner's rift was in a ranked game with her. For this, and a lot of more reasons, this is my favorite champion.

You can always follow me in my Youtube Channel, Facebook or Twitter. I'm usually active in those places. So, let the guide begin!

High movility Good for taking objectives Strong Skill set. (Stun, Dashs, Anti-CC)

Not so good against high sustain champs. High Mana consume Weak Early Game

This is a pretty delicate topic. The best way to play Irelia, is with the Precision's Conqueror . It have a really good sinergy with Ionian's fervor , and if they both are up to a trade, youl inflict a lot of damage to your opponent.

Triumph : is a good rune for Irelia, it will restore a good amount of health, and that's really good when you can get a kill in a team fight.

Legend: Alacrity , is really good, making you rise your permanent attack speed will help you, because the only item you have to increase your AS is the Trinity Force.

Here is a parethesis. (Coup de Grace / Cut Down ): As i'm telling in various sections of the guide. ALWAYS, look what will face you. If is a tank, or there's more than one tank in the enemy team, you can use Cut Down . If you are playing againts an equal as (Riven, Fiora, etc), you will need to use Coup de Grace , to finish them. Remember, all the games are not equal, anazyle your game before acting.

Bone Plating: Will help you to reduce a good amount of damage. This will help you a lot for PvP early encounters.

Overgrowth: Will help you to get tankier, a bit of health is never bad.

The new Flat Runes, another parenthesis: You need to change this depending on what is facing you, here are like a "standard" ones, that makes a good sinergy with irelia. But you'll always need to analyze if the opponent is AP, then you can change the health points and the armor for magic resist. Remember, always see what you'll need.

This are a set of Runes that are getting a great WinRate%.

The Primary Runes are the Precision's Conqueror , as all the other sets. (Remember, this have a perfect singery with Irelia). Triumph has the other sets, but for the Legend, we will use the Legend: Tenacity , to reduce the incapacitations, boosting directly the "movility" of this set of Runes.
And we also change the last Rune to Last Stand . This is used because, we are not getting the defensive stats of the Resolve Runes. Then we are changing defense for movility.

We're using as secundary runes the Inspiration Runes: Magical Footwear and Time Warp Tonic . This will boost Irelia's movility, and also will make us get a better sustain in lane.

Early

The Corrupting Potion and the Warding Totem are the best option for Irelia. You can have sustain in your lane and also keep using your passive more activelly. User a Doran's Shield will add to your stats a bit of armor, but, if you use the new flat runes accordly to your opponent, there's no need to use this.

First Items

In the meta, Tiamat will help you to clear the waves more easily. Also, it will give you a fair amount of damage in the early game, and you can take advantage to this for early PvP situations.

Boots

Remember, what you use depends all to your opponent, if there's a lot of AD, you can go on with the Ninja Tabi , and if there's a lot of Cc and AP, go on with the Mercury's Treads .

Core

Trinity Force is THE Irelia core item, it's needed, so make it. The amount of attack speed and the Sheen's effects make it a super powerfull item to use.
Items as the Titanic Hydra and Sterak's Gage , are really good to use on her. But, as always, you can't just follow the guide and spect to get a wonderful result. You have to analyze the opponent and what you need.

Optional

If you are fighting against a full Ap team, remeber you can use the Adaptive Helm and the Maw of Malmortius . They are good items against Ap enemies. Also there's Items like the Spirit Visage and Blade of the ruined king that can be used if you think they are usefull for your game. (Always think what you really need on the game).

The Frozen Mallet and the Guardian Angel , are items that can be used if the game needs it. Remember, you have always to analyze what's strong and what's weak on the enemy side.

Ionian Fervor :This passive is very important, you have to have in mind that, starting a trade without getting the neccesary stacks, can turn the fight to your opponent side. You have to be very carefull with this, using Bladesurge on minions is always a good way to keep your stacks on.

First ability we're going to max, is Bladesurge , this is one of our strongest abilities, and it will help you last hit the minions easilly.

The second one will be Flawless Duet , this one will help us to clean waves and stun enemies. It's a very important skill for trades, and you better not miss it, can make your trade turn really bad to you.

PATCH 8.24(NERFED)

Defiant Dance , is more like an utility skill, it doen't make a lot of damage, so you can use it to avoid the Cc, and reducing the damage taken, as i said, a purely utility skill. (That doen't mean that it doesn't inflict damage) you can finish your enemies with it, it have a good range. After being nerfed on patch 8.24, this ability is need to be used wisely, the CD has being increased from 16 seconds to 20 seconds on it's first level, and the damage reduction has been decreased. So, you need to use this wisely if you want to make a good use of it. Also, this will not add stacks to your Ionian Fervor , so using this to engage is not a good option now.

Irelia's Ultimate is Vanguard's Edge , obviously, as soon as we get to lvl 6, we will add a point on this skill. Is a wonderful abilitiy to engage in a team fight. Also you can use it to slow your enemy, and remember, that every champion that touches the wall of blades, will get a mark, and you can take advantage in order to reach the carrys, or simply "being imposible to catch".