Hey everyone, and welcome to my Hybrid Irelia Guide. I'm new to Mobafire but I decided to put my build/guide out there to try and get some constructive feedback on it. I'm trying to get it as complete as possible, so I'd love some input. Let's get started!

Irelia is a character I decided to use after failing hard with Kayle, Sivir, and mostly everyone in general. I found her pretty difficult to learn (got a beautiful 14 game losing spree in the beginning), and I had no idea what to build. I checked some of the guides here, but they just weren't for me, so I set out to create my own. Here's what I have so far.

Playstyle

This is not a Jungle Irelia build, so that's out of the way. I play my Irelia as a full hybrid with an emphasis on AP in early game and AD in late game, with the extra AS thrown in there for the lulz win. You will have some good nuking damage, not Veigar-like, but you can also have a sustained damage output => 1v1 will be your friend.

You can last pretty long in lane, and harass very well once you get your Sheen. In later team fights however, DO NOT initiate and stay towards the back until you can go in and destroy a random carry/squishy, or stun someone to help a teammate.

Remember, "Ionia shall not fall".

2011-03-06: Guide Published
2011-02-08: Guide Started

Pros

Hybrid Irelia's selling points.

- True Damage is always nice to have
- Good Burst and DPS
- Relatively easy to harass with in early game
- Hiten Style's health gain will help you lane for a LONG time
- You have a situational stun, but a stun none the less.
- Ultimate can be used for many things
- A rare character, even rarer to see a Hybrid one, people will not know what to expect.

Cons

- Even with your passive, CC will kill you in a team fight.
- No real escape mechanism, so don't initiate like a kamikaze. (see above)
- You are squishy, it's easy to forget, but the opposing team WILL remind you if you get too cocky.
- Very difficult to learn.
- Need lots of mana early game to harass effectively
- Until late game, avoid tanks since you don't have much true damage yet.


Hybrid vs AD/AS or AP/AS

It's up to personal preference really. I will cover alternative versions of this build further down, but I find hybrid to be much more fun than straight DPS or nuke.

I've played full AP games where you go in a team fight and Equilibrium Strike the hero that's closest to dying then run like hell.
I've played full AD games where your Bladesurge hurts like hell and you hit like a truck for a few seconds.
I've even tried a full AS build with lots of added damage where fights 1v1 fights take longer but you completely destroy the opponent regardless of who he is, if he's alone.

The problem with those builds and their variations for me is that I was never really useful in a team. I would die too fast with AD, feel a bit useless with AP until someone got down low in a team fight. After lots of testing I decided to go hybrid, and I've been very happy since. Got my first quadra with this build, and got my first compliments as a player (which is very nice when you've gotten used to the "GTFO man, (your) Irelia sucks")

I use Ignite a lot. With the improved 10AP while it's on cooldown, playing agressive in the beginning will be deadly. It's also nice to finish off tryndamere, healers, tower huggers, and just to add a little extra damage so you don't rage when the opponent flees with 46HP left #_#



I love Flash. Irelia has no real escape mechanism, so Flash will be your friend to get out of ganks, teamfights gone wrong, or tower dives. It's also great if you have your ult on cooldown, and need to get the kill because Irelia cannot chase very well.



Of course, you can also use Ghost for chasing or escaping, and Exhaust to get kills on an enemy. All of this is personal preference, by all means, use your favorite spells.



For my masteries, I use a simple 21/9/0 tree, with improved Ignite, Magic Penetration, and attack speed. Nothing much to say there.

For my runes, I'm currently experimenting a few, but I'm going with armor pen marks and quints, cooldown reduction glyphs, and mp5 seals. I'm not really sure what to use here apart from the armor pen, so it's up in the air for now.

First, a little about Irelia's skills


This is Ionan Fervor, Irelia's passive ability. Nothing ground breaking, but interesting. This will probably save you from early game ganks. Don't imagine you can just go and slap people around without getting punished however. Late game, against 3 opponents, 40% reduction is nice, but you'll be dead before the CC is over anyway >_>.


Bladesurge is Irelia's first ability. I'll refer to it as BS from now on. This is Irelia's main farming tool. Kill a minion -> CD refreshes -> repeat. Of course, this can use up a lot of your mana, especially early game when you use this to harass your enemy, so use wisely. Since this is some sort of rush you may be tempted to use it to initiate a fight. Only do that if it's a 1v1, or a gank and you need to be at melee range instantly. BS will deal a fair amount of damage since you are a hybrid and it scales with AD. It also applies on hit effects like lizard, the slow from the hammer, Hiten Style's true damage and the black cleaver armor shred. Very good stuff.


Irelia's second ability, Hiten Style, has a passive and an active. Its passive life gain will help you a bit with survivability issues, and can heal you over time while playing defensive if you just auto attack anything. I try not to overextend though, because it's easy to hit everything in sight in hopes to heal the most, and then find yourself too far from the tower, easy prey for a little gank. When you activate it, it adds true damage to her attacks (but not on towers T_T). While I like having the true damage on my side, I do not like the fact that the CD is fixed, so it isn't really spammable. Still, it's relatively cheap, and any extra damage helps in fights.


Ah, Equilibrium Strike. This attack is a short range nuke with great AP scaling. It will either slow or stun the opponent if you have more or less life percentage wise. I've come to love this skill, and it is a good harassing too in the beginning. BS -> ES -> auto attack procs Sheen to give either a slow or a stun + a nice amount of damage, and back out. You can also use it defensively. It seems people tend to forget that Irelia has a stun, and you can kill greedy tower divers with it sometimes.


Irelia's ultimate ability is Transcendent Blades. It's not the greatest ultimate in the game, but it has many uses, and compliments Irelia nicely. It can actually do quite a bit of damage at the end. With the 280 AD you get after finishing Black Cleaver you ultimate will deal 190+170 damage, for EACH blade. That's 1440 base magic damage. One of the alternative item choices will help you get some magic pen to take advantage of that. With the core build, you will also heal for 40% of the damage you deal thanks to the Spell Vamp on the Gunblade. It is also a ranged attack that shoots towards you cursor on the screen. Tower diving just got a little easier!

Now for the skill sequence. The priority order for this build is

-> ->

Of course, level your ultimate whenever possible.

Equilibrium Strike is my main harassing damage tool in early game, so I level it as fast as I can, to get the 2 second slow/stun. It also procs Sheen for a nice little burst. I usually go in, sometimes without BS to save some of my mana. Hit ES then one or two auto attacks, then get out. Since you are not as squishy as most other chars early game, you should be able to harass pretty well, just watch for you mana.

Once Equilibrium Strike is maxed out, get your Bladesurge going. This will help even more with the burst, and it will also apply on hit effects, so make sure you get lizard. This means you can BS in, and hit a few times with the slow, and if he decides to leave, ES the sucker for another slow and a Sheen proc followed by more attacks. The more you level it, the lower the CD becomes, so if the fight lasts a little long, you can always BS back to him when he escapes.

I max out Hiten Style last. Even though you have Guinsoo's Rageblade, this build does not have enough attack speed until the end to make it worth maxing out early. The extra true damage will help a bit when getting buffs, and to proc Sheen once in a while against towers, or for that little bit of extra damage you want in a burst, but lowering the Bladesurge CD is my priority. By the end though, it becomes useful, you will gain lots of life back with the rising AS and the true damage will become significant, so it will be pretty useful.


Notes:

I usually get 3 points in each skill by level 3 because they are all useful. Now, if you find you're having trouble health wise, you should invest a point in Hiten Style at level 2 instead of Bladesurge. Go for Equilibrium Strike at level 1 though if you are sure to lane with a partner as it can help either save you, or get a very early first blood. If you go mid, you might want to take BS first, then ES, because ES won't be as useful in the first 2 levels. Watch out for mana depletion though, Irelia's mana pool is very shallow with a Doran's Shield.

If you mid, you can take a Sapphire Crystal and 2 health potions to rush Sheen and get more burst damage faster. However, only mid if noone else wants to, as there are more important characters who should mid. Irelia is a pretty strong mid character though, so you can get a nice first blood if you play well. I still prefer Doran's Shield though.

So, why these items you may ask? The items in this Hybrid Irelia build are pretty self explanatory, but here's my take on them.

Core Items


I start with a Doran's shield for the added survivability. It makes it easier to harass without getting punished too much. The health regen will also compliment nicely Hiten Style's passive once you hit level 3, so you can regain some of that health you lost while harassing the enemy. The shield will also save you life with the extra HP and armor if you play too aggressive because Irelia lacks an escape mechanism.


For my boots, I usually choose the Berserker's Greves. A boost of speed and extra attack speed is always nice to get in a few extra auto attacks. You can also take Sorcerer's Shoes if you want, for the extra magic pen.


The fun continues Guinsoo's Rageblade. Great for a Hybrid, you get AD, AP, and rising AS. When going for a gank, you can start by popping Hiten Style then Bladesurge onto the enemy. This will start your stacks, and add a bit more power faster to your Equilibrium Strike if you choose to wait for the 8 stacks before hitting with it for the extra damage. A great item.


And bam, unleash the Hextech Gunblade. At this point, you should already be dealing pretty good amounts of damage and having the squishies cower in fear. Now with the Gunblade you can actually take on bigger targets, and heal yourself very well with your ultimate. This item is a Hybrid build's dream and you'll hurt lots with it. Don't forget the active!

Extra Items
For the games I'm playing now, I rarely get further than the Gunblade, but here are the items I use when the game gets very long.


The Frozen Mallet will add some well needed HP to add with survivability. The slow will also help you to get kills for you and your team mates. You can always replace this with Rylai's Crystal Scepter if you want to be able to slow with your ultimate.


I usually get The Black Cleaver to add to the damage and give some armor shred and more attack speed which helps when you get Hiten Style maxed out in late game, but I replace it sometimes with Bloodthirster or a Void Staff.

The last item is pretty much situational, I sometimes opt for a Lich Bane, Spirit Visage, Guardian Angel, or a Banshee's Veil. I've rarely gotten there though.

Here are a few things to remember when playing Irelia. These are tips I've learned from playing over and over with her.

Each blade from Transcendent Blades procs Sheen. Time it right to get the max amount of damage against monster buffs, towers, or 1v1 fights. No real need to do that in a team fight, if you take that amount of time to attack, you will die.

I've already been through this, but you have no real escape mechanism. Don't count on bladesurging to a minion to save your life everytime you fight. You need to make you can kill your target or some worry free harassing if it's early game.

Hiten Style is not really a life steal, more like a life gain, so you will gain some life back when you hit turrets.

Bladesurge procs sheen instanly so if you want to get a max damage output, you can wait a bit before using your Equilibrium strike.

I'm sure there's more, if I forgot anything, just tell me ^^.

Well that's about it for this guide. I will try to update it with the feedback I get. I won't require a comment to vote, but if you do, I'd really appreciate any feedback, this is my first guide and I'd love to get better at writing them.

You can also add me IG if you want, I'm on the US server, my screen name is Miraisen

Thanks for reading!