Hi, this is my first real mobafire guide that I am making. I originally bought irelia when she first came out, and I must admit I was not impressed. She was a bit UP at her release, and I discarded her after a few games. However, after her recent buffs, she is an extremely powerful champion, if placed in the right hands. I hope that by reading this guide, you will be able to master her as I have over the past few months.

As I learn how to more effectively utilize the mobafire buildmaking technology, I will update this guide with images and tooltips. But for now, just read and enjoy!

Fully read and comment before you vote!

Pros:
With this build, tanky
Lots of CC
Great DPS
Awesome 1v1er
Great in all stages of the game

Cons:
You might have some difficulty knocking out some real damage until you get your sheen, but besides that, she is pure awesome.

I chose these runes for a few different reasons. The armor penetration marks insanely boost the damage of the q+e combo (as Bladesurge deals physical damage), as well as general autoattack damage increase. The CD reduction glyphs are a big help, so you can bust out your moves as fast as possible, with little rest time for your lane enemies. The HP Quints are just nice for the early game hp boost, makes you tanky as a mofo. Finally, the seals are pretty much up to you. You can take armor or magic resist if you want to be a bit more tanky, mana regen if you feel that early game you are having mana issues. Otherwise, I tend to go with attack speed for their general utility.

As for the masteries, I take the 0/9/21 route. The defensive masteries are just for the early game survivability, but I believe that the utility masteries help Irelia more than offensive ones. With her skills, she already has good enough damage output, once you grab a trinity force. But the utility gives her the movespeed, experience, mana regen, and SS cd's she needs to stay in the lane.

Summoner spells, take ghost and ignite every time. Ghost gets you out of bad situations, and ignite helps you get those early kills. Exhaust CAN be substituted for ignite if you prefer.

I start off with bladesurge, but max Equilibrium strike first. Bladesurge is helpful early for snagging as many last hits as possible, and poking at your enemies. However, equilibrium strike, once it hits level 5, throws out a really decent nuke, and stuns for a decent amount of time. I only take 1 level in hilten, for the passive, but I spend my points elsewhere for better burst damage. At the end of the game, when you have epic attack speed, the 75 true damage per hit really does make a difference, but not as much early on.

R>E>Q>W

For items, I start with cloth armor and 5 hp pots. This gives you a huge amount of early lane survivability, and the pots allow you to stay in your lane for a very long time, only needing to b when you wanna buy. I also recommend purchasing a couple hp pots each return to base, to allow maximum laning time.

As soon as you have enough gold, go back and turn the cloth armor into a heart of gold, and buy basic boots. The heart of gold is one of the keystones of this build, as it gives great early game survivability and a large source of income throughout the entire game. It will not become a randuin's until the very end (hopefully you will get fed enough that you can max your items by the 40 minute mark). As for boots, go for merc treads every time, as they give you your needed magic resist and cc reduction, which, when combined with irelia's passive, makes you almost immune to ganks.

Sheen and triforce, do I really have to explain? Her Q procs sheen's passive, dealing epic damage. Combine this with the occasional slow, movespeed, crit chance, ad, and as granted by trinity, this makes the GOD item for irelia. Never play a game without it.

I choose Spirit's Visage next because it boosts your magic resist over 100, and the increased healing (from ultimate and lifesteal and w passive) makes you VERY difficult to kill. Tank status starts here.

Next up in the build is Stark's Fervor. If you prefer, you can take a Bloodthirster instead, however I feel the increased attack speed, armor pen, and team aura outweigh the damage gained from Bthirsters. This gives you very good attack speed, which means once you activate your true damage, you will be dealing crazy damage.

The final installment in this epic item build is either a Black Cleaver or Madred's Bloodrazer. If their team has more high armor tanks, grab the cleaver. If they are heavier on hp, grab madreds. To be honest, madred's is a very good choice in most situations, because your high attack speed combined with true damage and madred's passive will make you deal even CRAZIER damage, while still being tanky as a mofo.

Finally, if you finish everything else, finish up randuin's, and buy elixirs.

I know this is a rudimentary written guide, but I hope that you will focus on the items and runes and masteries, and not critique me on my writing style. I find this to be the best Irelia build I have ever used, and I am fed to godlike status every game. I have not yet lost a game with this build, up to about a 15 win streak in the last week.

Try it out, and if you like, +1 and comment. I want to hear how it works for you guys!