Hello ppl....this is my first time on building a guide, so I expect alot of things to be done...This guide is just to help those who want to build melee DPS. Might be wordy, but all that is how I explain on the way I lane Irelia.

Runes are armour pen, and atk speed, since this is a DPS build. One of the problems that make irelia easy to kill is because of her atkspeed that is not that fast at beginning levels. So I give her atk speed runes to speed up as well as the armour penetration to assist in the atk capability even more.

I go for defensive and utility. Defence is of course important, since through my experience with her I usually get underfarmed and have no lane control. This is because the opponents are both ranged, so no matter what defense is a must for Irelia, just to get her a bit defensive in case of anything. Utility is good for irelia, since the increase in experience, health and mana regen, the movement speed, all these little increases boost her capabilities....so yeah. You can get lane control in early game. The increase in duration of neutral buff give Irelia a better edge in her skill usage so that she can stay in lane more, since you can get ur hp back from your T-Blades and that your T-Blades need mana to do so.

This is a melee DPS build, so its a little bit low in defense and magic res, although the masteries of the lifesteal can compensate it, if you know when to attack and run...

The first I get is Dorans shield, although giving her boots and health potions are also a good choice. I tend to get the and then try to get the first blood, depending on how smart or stupid my opponents are. Not a bad item though, gives you lifesteal and hp AND defensse. The 3percent lifesteal can be further helped by choosing to put a point or two in your hiten style, since it gives health per atk.

Get berserkers when coming back to base, you need the atkspeed and movement, most of the time you cant kill the opponents because they run faster than you....so this will be a great addition to your chasing capability (chase + bladesurge + Equilibrium strike + auto-atk + ignite). Concentrate on getting sheen after that, since its effect give 100% increased damage on next hit. This way you can bladesurge (sheen activates skill), then activate hiten style(ur atk increased by 100%) and finally Equilibrium Strike(EQ for short). This will deal significant amount of damage.


Now go for Phage first and then zeal, either way up to you depending on the situation. If you really need atk and slow them since they are damn annoying, go for phage. If you are able to kill them but have a bit of problem running away, get zeal first, since it give you atk speed, crit and movement speed(a good boost to irelia's slow movement). Complate trinity force as fast as you can...


Next you need a atk, Ap and atkspeed in one package, Guinsoo's will do the job pretty well....give a boost in atk speed that stacks 8 times, meaning: 4% atkspeed * 8 stacks = + 32% atkspeed and the Ap that you get from this item is 45 + (6 AP * 8 stacks)=93 AP. 2335 gold for 35 Atk, 32% atkspeed and 93 AP during melee dps...isnt that useful? Just when they think your atk speed cannot match them...Pop in hiten style and see them die...of course you have to be careful of ganks.

This time you have atkspeed and overall boosts..but you need more damage output, so you go for lifesteal, spell vamp, atk damage and ability power. You get the hextech gunblade, Give you an edge and because of this item, anything you do, be it DPS or abilities, you will always get lifesteal. This saved my *** some times because being squishy is a problem, so DPS + lifesteal might do the trick. I once almost died with 45 hp while being chased my a tank with his minion wave. Transcendent blades on them made my hp go BACK TO FULL, and the tank got his hp lowered by around 4/5. This with only the ultimate. You still have your hiten Bladesurge and EQ. So who dies? Not me of course...

Get more what you need of your DPS: atk speed and atk...so you go get your madreds blodrazor...a very nice item: gives you atk, armour and atkspeed, perfect for DPS. This combined with the previous items will be a tank killer. Not 1v3, focus on them one by one, you can kill all of them 1v1, especially the high HP ones...

Last thing to add to your items would be nashor's tooth...give a nice addition to your EQ strike, and add in more damage with your transcendant blades.(the new patch take in BOTH AD AND AP COMBINED INTO THE ULTI)....With this...you can actually solo Baron, with all the damage and DPS + lifesteal....and you would be able to hide and move about like an assassin...swoop in, kill and hide. Turrets are all dead under you DPS and hiten style =)

I usually go for teleport and ignite. Teleport is mostly due to Irelia's slow movement speed. She is hopeless without boots at the beginning, so imagine the opponent ataking the turret and Irelia SLOWWWWLYYYYY "runs" to the turret. By the time she arrived, the turret would be probably around half health or destroyed. I use this in case my HP is low and I need to recall. That way I can instantly get back to the turret the moment my Hp and Mp are full. Best case is that the opponent is also at low hp and chooses to stay there. When they atk the turret and expect you to be late, there you are teleported back and ready to kill. I gt my kills like that sometimes, so its a useful skill. At mid game it can be useful for backdooring, when your minions reach there and start attaking, you are left and they are charging your base. Teleport to their side and destroy the turrets, run if they are not at you base(communicate with you team). Why solo when only you are left? You are called DPS for a reason. run everywhere in the bushes and destroy the turrets when they are not alert of you presence.

Ignite is simply a matter of first blood. It is the finisher for those absolutely annoying champions who survived by running with low health. being the SLOOWWWW champ Irelia is....burn them with this.Also an exceptionally useful skill against tryndamere. If he is low in HP and ultied while tying to run away...chase him for a few seconds and run away after putting ignite. You can hear that familiar voice over saying "You Have Slayed An Enemy"....A good choice for ganking in 3v3 too....aim a person, ignite and concentrate on another person. If the whole team has ignite, then do the same thing. Useful against thos with low hp but turret hug in early game.

If you look at Irelia, she actually has almost the same stats than nocturne, but what makes them different is of course the skills used. Nocturne doesnt need much of movement speed like Irelia, because of his first skill. Nocturne has his second skill to increase his atk speed. This is what makes nocturne capable of chasing and killing. No matter, Irelia can do the same, but in a different way...which is why I would put this up: how to fight wisely! This is NOT for those who are too used to Irelia, although if you want to its okay... Its more for those who do not know when to use what skill. Actually, given the right timing, she can kill quite easily. Here goes...


For early game, begin by last hitting minions, preferably blade surging low hp minions. Be aware that the first point in blade surge attack is quite low, so bladesurge only when the minion has a very little amount of hp. Don't worry you can get the last hit, since Bladesurge is a very fast attack. Get ur Equilibrium strike in level two and you can start harassing the opponent. Your harass is --> BLADESURGE + EQ STRIKE. The objective is not to defeat them, but make them low hp and force them to recall. that way you can farm more and have more lane control. But IF they're dumb enough to still stay at low heatlh, then Bladesurge first and continue with normal attacks. Use EQ Strike ONLY when they are starting to run away. This gives you more time to attack if your atk is not that high. This can secure a kill. If the enemy still manages to run away with low hp because of their "Ghost" summoner skill, that s the time you use your ignite. There you go, KS(Kill Secured).



For mid game, 1v1 is essential for Irelia to get fed. Try to aim the most suishy but not fed opponent. If there are those with high hp but not high in armor, that would be the best choice for assassination. You can do as same as the technique from the previous paragraph if you want to, although I have a different way of attacking. For squishies, activate hiten style first and then bladesurge them. Since they're squishy, continue auto attack and activate hiten style again once on cooldown. When you hp is lower then them, IMMEDIATELY USE EQ strike, it will stun them and your auto attack can continue, plus you hiten style passive will help you regain health, this is not yet included with the lifesteal from hextech gunblade or even you T-Blades. For tanks, do the same, although in this case tank will ALWAYS have higher hp than you, so you can instantly EQ strike them the moment you bladesurge them.


The common situation would be ganks when youre 1v1. This requires teamwork. Get them to assist you in caling out MIAs as 1v1 champs will usually get ganked. I usually get ganked but could safely run away due to their help.

So.
1.If from 1v1 it turns into 1v3, RUN!
2.If you can slow or better still, stun with your EQ, do so on the person closest to you, that way you have better chances of survival.
3. If there are opponent minions at the direction of where you are heading, Bladesurge to them, this will extend the distance between you and your opponents.
4. If you want to be prepared before this, get a mercury's threads instead of berserkers. It will sync well with Irelia's passive, Ionian fervor. A stun or slow will last only about 0.5 seconds or lesser, since the more champions there are, the faster she recovers from the CC!
5. A rare case, but there are champions who are at low hp and attempt to gank. (you)1v3(gankers). Simply run from them, but activate your ulti. Run away(click somewhere far so that you can aim your T-Blades) but aim you T-Blades at the opponents who are chasing you. When they are low on hp and attempt to run back, that is when you CHASE THEM. Bladsurge should be enough for a kill on champs low on hp. If you get a kill, you can do consecutive bladesurges , since a kill with bladesurge refreshes your bladesurge allowing another attack. If you're lucky all of them are low on hp, bladesurge all of them....you might get a triple kill.

At end game you should have gotten almost all of the items...so try to be MIA most of the time, so that anytime they are attempting to attack your base, you backdoor, get their turrets, and run away back to MIA. or if your way is blocked, use your teleport and teleport to you turret. Understand that more kills give more money to buy more items. But even fed champions lose the match due to teamwork. So prioritize nexus death instead of most kills, since a lot of deaths but a victory is better than more kills but a loss.