Irelia Build Guide by JakofAllSpaydes

Introduction

Okay, so this is gonna be similar to my older build, because I made it when I first joined moba, i didnt have c2v and any knowledge of the site, so I got a bunch of troll votes. I hoped to get a better rating, so I'm here again to refine my old build and see if people would like it more :3

Alright, well, I've been playing LoL for quite a while now, and though I'm not a pro player, I think I know a thing or two about this game. I currently main Irelia, as she is my favorite character. She fits into many roles for the team and can really change the tides of a battle.
I included 3 different ways of playing Irelia here, if you don't like one of them, please dont downvote :P, it is my 1st build. (not anymore but whatever)

Pros / Cons

Pros:
-Great solo top or bot
-amazing damage all game
-deals massive amounts of damage while being extremely tanky (offtank build)
-often turns the tides in a teamfight
-awesome ganking abilities - Bladesurge + Equilibrium Strike

Cons:
-Her jungle isn't the fastest nor the greatest
-You need a decent amount of gold, so either farm really well or get lots of kills.
That's all I can think of. IMO, Irelia is great in general
if you can think of something, PLZ comment and let me know :D

Masteries

Why so much in defense? because its ****ing op for irelia.

Dat sustain.

And also, 10% reduced CC.

Dude.

Irelia
+
Mercs
+
That
=
85% CC in teamfights.

WHATS FIDDLES FEAR? NEVER HEARD OF IT.

Runes

Pretty normal.

Btw, Move quints opqqnerfnao.

Jungler's gotta jungle.

Pretty normal as well.

Summoner Spells

I want to say here that I am not strict on summoners, so use whatever you like or you feel like using. I know that she has great mobility, but I just really like ghost and flash. Can't really argue with that. Other spells are great too, use whatever you think you need and is the most comfortable with.


My favorite choices:

- This is a great spell on almost anyone. I take it on Irelia because it allows me to run away and also to chase people very quickly and effectively.

- Flash is great on every character, and combined with ghost, you can get out of almost every situation, not to mention Irelia's CC reduction passive and the Merc treads you will get.


Other Viable (They are still Great) Options:

- Also a great spell. If you're an exhaust fan, for all means, go for it :) I just prefere Ghost because Irelia can chase better with ghost.

- Nice early game damage, might get you that first blood you need. However, I prefere Ghost and Flash for more survivability and speed.

- I wouldn't call it a useless spell, but personally, I think there are better uses for a summoner slot. Again, if you're a fan of teleport, go for it.

- Only when you're jungling XD


Not-so-Great options:

- Irelia doesn't have major mana issues, so this is a waste.

- Not good enough to take it instead of the other spells I mentioned above. Useless late game and Irelia has great sustain. Not worth you're time.

- This is not a bad spell at all, in fact, this is a really good spell. However, really? Really? Clense on Irelia? Combined with her passive and Mercury's Treads, you have around 75% CC reduction. If you can't get away with that, Clense won't save you.

- Sure, you are an offtank, but there are better choices. Leave it for your tank or support.

- Leave it for your tank or support. I really don't think you need this as Irelia.

- Don't even.

- Nope. (Unless you're playing a troll game.)

Skills

(Innate): Reduces the duration of stuns, slows, taunts, fears, snares, and immobilizes for each nearby enemy champion.
1 Champion: 10%
2 Champions: 25%
3 Champions: 40%
Radius: 800 (estimate)

This is a great passive, as it makes you basically unaffected by CC along with Mercs. IMO, one of the best passives in the game. But be careful, because you need to be able to see the opponent to be able to activate the passive, so don't think that a bush is safe if your passive doesn't light up.


(Active): Irelia dashes forward to strike her target, dealing physical damage. This applies on-hit effects. If it kills the target, Bladesurge's cooldown refreshes and refunds 35 mana.
Range: 650
Cooldown: 14 / 12 / 10 / 8 / 6 seconds
Physical Damage: 20 / 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 (+1.0 per attack damage).

This is your burst/epic chase/farm/everything skill. You can chase, dash away from ganks, burst down people, and farm with it all at once :D To master Irelia, you need to be able to master when and how to use bladesurge first,


(Passive): Irelia's autoattacks restore health to her.

(Active): Irelia's autoattacks deal additional true damage for 6 seconds.
Cost: 40 mana
Cooldown: 15 seconds
Heal: 10 / 14 / 18 / 22 / 26 .
True Damage: 15 / 30 / 45 / 60 / 75.

It's a very good, maybe even OP skill, i quite failed to realise it before, this is the skill that let's irelia go almost full tank and still do crazy amounts of damage.

This skill is what makes you such a great fighter dispite being tanky, and also, the passive gives great lane sustainability. Don't you love true damage?


(Active): Irelia pierces her target, dealing magic damage and slowing the target by 60% for few seconds. If the target has a higher health % than Irelia, she stuns the target for the duration instead.
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Range: 425
Cost: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70 mana.
Magic Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+0.5 per ability power).
Duration: 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds.

This is a great utility skill, and because I do not choose to max it first, I do not burst as hard with this. I tend to burst with Bladesurge more. at level 5, a 2 second stun is pretty sweet.


(Active): Irelia summons 4 spirit blades which she can fire individually in a straight line to deal physical damage to enemies they pass through, and she heals for 25% of that damage vs champions and 10% vs minions.
Cost: 100 mana
Range: 1200
Cooldown: 60 / 50 / 40 seconds
Physical Damage: 85 / 135 / 185 (+0.5 per ability power and +0.6 per bonus attack damage)

This is a really useful ult, as it can help you sustain, farm, and do lots of damage late game because it also scales with AD. You can also have a decent heal from it, and it can save your *** more than a couple of times. It is a low cooldown ult, so dont be afraid to use it.

Skill Sequence

For Skills, I alternate between Bladesurge and Hiten Style, having level 4 on both skills by level 10, maxing Bladesurge by level 12, and finishing Hiten-Style at level 13. This allows me to do great burst but also become a great fighter with the amazing true-damage from hiten-style. I choose to max Equilibrium Strike last, but I get it as my first skill, because I want the utility just in case I get ganked or I am in a bad situation early on.
And obviously, get a point in you're ult whenever you can.


tl;dr:

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Core Items

Laneing:

start with a Regrowth Pendent and a Health Potion. This should give you great sustain early on. I usually farm until I have around 2 k gold, so when I go back, I can get philos, boots, and a sheen.

Philosopher's Stone - This is a great item for laning. This gives you great sustain by giving you both HP and Mana regen, and also, the GP10 will allow you to get gold a lot faster for items. Sell it later for tanky items.

- I love these boots. I really do. This gives her some much need Mres early on and the tenacity stacks with her passive! Imagine, in a teamfight, with 75% CC reduction, how unkillable and devastating you will be. I get these boots no matter what, because it's just too good to ignore.

- Sheen is an amazing item for Irelia. I would say that it is her core item early game. This also builds into Trinity Force, which is your core damage item. The passive works with bladesurge, making you burst a lot harder and the mana it gives you basically solves all your mana issues along with a philo stone.

- This gives very nice health, and combined with the GP10 from philo stone, you should have gold flooding in. It later builds into a Randouins, so it wont be wasted.

- This is an amazing item. /endofstory. There is no argument. Anyone who knows how to play Irelia will get this. An Irelia without Trinity is a bad Irelia.

- This is a great tank item. It gives you lots of Armor and Health Regen, and also the passive slow is great along with Trinity's slow. The active is great for teamfights and for chasing. Overall, it's a great item and you should definately get it.

- This item is great. It lets you be tanky, but gives you damage at the same time. I've heard complaints that its even "OP". Ever though you dont have a lot of HP after a phage, it is a very nice item to get. The armor is great and the crit chance is good with the crit you get from trinity later on.

Jungling:

start off with a Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion. This should let you jungle safely and have you above 50% health after you clear all the camps to go gank.
"But Jak, you don't even get wiggles for jungling!!!"
Yeah, well, its a good item, but I find that I just end up selling it. I keep the razors and build it into a bloodrazor, because late game it will definately help you a lot more. Personal preference. You can build it into a Wriggle's Lantern if you like.

The rest of the build is basically the laneing build except with Madred's.

Situational Items

BOOTS:

- These are the only other Boots I might consider for Irelia, but as I said before, even if it's an all physical damage team, you still want the tenacity.

For Boots, I think that's it. I cannot think of better boots than Merc Treads, regardless of situation.

KIND OF IN THE MIDDLE ITEMS:

- A really solid item. This gives both Mres, attack speed, and some good on-hit damage. I would not usually get this, but if you want to play a more offensive/AS Irelia, this item is very nice.

- This item is definately one of my favorites, because I sometimes debate whether to get more Mres, or more offensive ability. This solves everything. It gives the Mres I need early-mid game, good additional damage for offensive purposes, and the passive is great against nukers like Karthus, Annie, etc.

- It's got it's uses, but I dont think this item is worth it. It has solid Mres, CDR and Health, but I just dont think this was made for Irelia.

- I used to get this often on Irelia, but due to the "change", Irelia no longer benefits from AP very much, so I would rather get a Wit's End.

Shurelya's Reverie - Again, this gives solid stats, but it is not enough to keep late game, but not super amazing early or mid game either. Leave it for your supports

- Read the reason I don't use cleanse. Same reasoning.

DEFENSIVE ITEMS:

- I usually take these as my main source of Mres. A Banshee's Veil is great as well, but personally, I like this item better. It gives slightly more Mres, great Health regen to match with the randou's regen, and the Move speed passive is awesome.

- This would be my second best choice for an Mres item. It still gives really good Mres, and the extra health and mana is useful. The passive shield is great against AP carries like LeBlanc, Brand, etc. They rely on huge long-cooldown nukes to burst you down. With the shield blocking a spell, 1/4 of their combo is already gone. :)

- Don't get me wrong, this is a great item for an atmog's combo. If you think you are fine without too much armor and Mres, then feel free to swap this with the Guardian Angel. This with an atmas to maximize your damage. If you don't seem to need lots of armor, then it's sometimes fine to swap this with a randouins. However, a randou's makes you much more tanky and gives you a very nice AOE slow. Again, it's personal preference. Basically, Atmogs for damage, Randou's and Atmas for more tankiness.

- A great finishing item, or a great item to rush after your trinity. If you choose to get it as a last item to boost your stats and give you a revive, it is a good item to do so. If you get it early on, Right after a Trinity Force, you will be very nicely tanky early on and people will generally be more afraid of fighting you because of that revive can be deadly mid game.

- There are lots of other items you can get instead that provide you with better stats, but if the enemy glass cannon xin or trynd is roflstomping your whole team, you might wanna give this a try.

- A great defensive item. I would not get it usually, but it is very helpful if you are having troubles against DPS characters. It offers you good armor, much welcomed CDR and mana, and most importantly, the attack speed slow. With this, you will have a lot easier time dealing against DPS characters and lower their damage output by a lot.

OFFENSIVE ITEMS:

- Find that you aren't doing enough damage? Their team has over 9000 health? Get a Madreds. It helps A LOT. It just give you great consistant damage as well, so it's definately a good choice for a offensive item.

- It gives you nice offensive abilities and a great active. However, I don't think it gives Irelia the survivability she needs to be successful early on, so I would rather take something else instead.

- This is a great item to add to your damage. Combined with Trinity and Atma's (if you have it), you will have a pretty decent crit chance. However, I think that the price is too high to be worth getting on Irelia. However, if you're getting super fed, and you just wanna have fun and do ****-loads of damage, go for it.

- I really dont see the point of lifesteal on Irelia. It's good, but I find that she does more burst and different types of damage, such as magic, physical, true damage, and although that's hard to counter, it's also hard to find good items for lifesteal/spell vamp. Starks is a decent item if you have another DPS/AD carry who needs some lifesteal but does not have it yet because they were building more damage. Otherwise, I wouldn't get this. Leave it for a support or something.

- A really good item for damage output. The extra damage and AP will boost your overall damage, the lifesteal and spell vamp will help, and the active is great for chasing. It's just a little bit pricey. However, if you feel like you are fed enough to not get lots of defensive items, then this is the way to go with offense.

- I'm not a big fan of this on Irelia, because it just doesn't give you enough survivability or damage to make it worth it.

- Decent item, but I think that it costs too much to make it worth it. It's got good armor reduction, attack damage, and attack speed, but it leaves you too squishy for whats good for you. tl;dr: get it when ur fed and you know your enemies can't do anything to you.

- Again, it's a decent item, but it leaves you a bit vulnerable. I would rather get a gunblade, but this item is okay on irelia. you can swap it with the Guardian Angel, even though I prefere the gunblade, it's a viable option.

Farming/Laneing

Farm Farm Farm Farm Farm Farm Farm Farm Farm FarmFarm Farm Farm Farm Farm Farm Farm Farm Farm

Ideally, you want a solo lane, but duo lanes are okay as well.

In a solo lane, you just want to last hit as much as possible, because Irelia really depends on farm. If you can get kills, go for it. You can rest a bit on the farm, but if you can't, then just focus on last hitting instead of harassing. If you get harassed a bit, it's okay to harass back. Bladesurge, Equilibrium Stike, and a few auto attacks can devastate the enemy early on. Irelia, with a Regrowth Pendent and with her Hiten Style passive, regens health incredibly fast, making her a very solid solo top. If you get pushed back too much, and you are afraid of letting your tower take too much damage, feel free to ult and clear the wave. You get lots of farm and it should heal you up pretty nicely if you are low.

Duo lane should be easy for Irelia, Harrass with the Q+E combo, run back. If you want to throw Hiten Style in that combo for some extra punch, go for it. Ult if you think you might get a kill. Don't be afraid to use your ult. It only has a 60 sec cooldown. Use it to farm a big wave of minions or just to heal up.


The most important thing is PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. The more you play Irelia, the more you will get a feel for what she can do and when to do it.

Jungling

So guys, Seriously. Irelia is not a top-tier jungler, and I would not jungle Irelia in a ranked, but if you like Irelia and you just want to try something new, go for it :D. She's not terrible at it. She's.....decent. so as long as ur not a super normal game try-hard, it should be fine >.>""



There are a few ways to jungle with Irelia, but i prefere to start at blue. (remember to drink potions when nessessary.)
You don't need a leash, but you should get one anyways because you will be a LOT more healthy after you finish the route, but that's no big deal unless you're in super high elo or something.
After you finish Blue, Go to wolves. Spam skills, "E" the big wolf for a stun.
Go to wraiths. "E" the big wraith for a stun
Go to double golems, kill those (you might need to smite one of them)
At lvl 4, with all 3 skills ready, go gank.
If there are no opportunities, go get red buff. Or, you can get red buff and not golems, then go gank.
Simply wait until your teammate is ready, Q, E (hopefully it stuns, if not, it will slow) and W and just auto attack. If you're teammate is competent, then you should get a kill, or at least burn the opponent's spells.

To sum it up:
-Blue buff

-Wolves

-Wraths

-Golems

-Red buff

Teamfights

When you're offtanking, wait for your tank to initiate, if you are the tankist hero on your team, then you can initate. Try to protect your carry, stun and burst down enemy carry. If you have a support or a tank, let them protect your carry. You can go and destroy theirs and clean up.

When your the assassin or the anti-carry, wait for your team to initiate. Try to not take any damage before you go in the fight. After the teamfight starts, run though their team (with 75% CC reduction, it should be easy) and bladesurge onto that squishy carry at the back. (ie: ashe, cait, ez) and burst them down. If you have a competent team, you should win the teamfight 90% of the time. If your team lets you down, well... That's not my fault.

If you were jungling, it depends how you build. If you built into offtank, read the 1st one.
If you built into assassin, then read the 2nd.

Summary

Thanks for reading :D, I know it's long. So please, if you have any suggestions, leave a comment or send me a PM. If there's something you think that I can improve on, then please leave a comment as well. Plz dont trollvote and try it first :3

Oh, and I will add scores and stuff as I get them. I never bothered saving old scores, so expect some updates :D


~JakofAllSpaydes~