Irelia Build Guide by splandifers

Introduction

The first thing i will say is that please try this build before rating it. Also, this guide is subject to change. Leave constructive feedback and if i think it's a good idea, I'll add it to this guide. I will also be updating this guide with the frequent changes that riot makes to this champion.

Anyways, this is my guide to laning Irelia, the will of the blades. Irelia is an offtanky-dps champion, that relies mostly on her skills for high damage output. If a jungling quide is requested, I may make one in the future.

Runes

Greater Mark of DesolationGreater Mark of Desolation - I choose these because most of Irelia's damage output is physical damage, so the armor penetration works great.

Greater Seal of ReplenishmentGreater Seal of Replenishment - I choose these because Irelia has a lot of mana issues early game, even when you get a Philosopher's Stone. I don't choose to get the mana regeneration per level seals because generally all of her mana issues are early game. If you don't usually have mana issues, then you can go with Greater Seal of Armor instead for the extra armor.

Greater Glyph of Celerity - I choose these because Irelia is a very skill based champion. The less cooldowns, the more you can use your skills. With this and your items, you will have 40% cooldown reduction at level 18. If you want to be more tanky, you can choose Greater Glyph of Magic Resist magic resist glyphs instead.

Greater Quintessence of Fortitude - I choose these for the extra health early game, which makes a huge difference. If you don't like these hp quints, you may go with Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed instead for extra move speed, which i don't think is necessary with the extra movement speed from the Trinity Force and Force of Nature. You can also go with Greater Quintessence of Desolation armor penetration quints for more damage, or if you want to go more tanky you can go with either Greater Quintessence of Armor armor quints or Greater Quintessence of Magic Resist magic resist quints.

Summoner Spells

Flash - Flash is the ultimate summoner spell. You can use it for virtually anything, and is great on Irelia for chasing or getting away.


Exhaust - Exhaust is great for singling out people in team fights, getting kills in lane, or just 1v1'ing somebody.

Other Options:

Ghost - Good for chasing and running away. I prefer Flash over this, but it's mostly personal preference.

Ignite - Reduced healing, true DoT, good for getting those kills that you cant chase down. Not really that neccesary on Irelia, because she is a good chaser, or you can just use Exhaust to get the kill instead.

Teleport - Useful for saving turrets with Transcendent Blades. You don't really need this on Irelia, but it's always an option.

Masteries

For masteries, i go with a 9-0-21 mastery page. Why 9-0-21? Alot of the point in the offensive mastery page are useless for Irelia. For example, Sunder ignores armor for your PHYSICAL ATTACKS, meaning your auto-attacks. Irelia is not an auto-attacking champion, and relies more on her skills. The critical damage from Lethality is useless since Irelia does not crit often. Instead, with 21 points in Utility, you can have more cooldown reduction along with mana regen, increased move speed, and a lower cooldown on flash.

Offense:

Tier 1 - I put 3 points in Deadliness for more critical chance, and 1 point in Cripple to make your Exhaust more effective.

Tier 2 - I put 4 points into Sorcery for increased cooldown reduction.

Tier 3 - I put 1 point into Archaic Knowledge because Equilibrium Strike is magic damage.

Utility:

Tier 1: I put 3 points into Good Hands and 1 point into Perseverence. Why choose Good Hands over Perseverence? Perseverence at level 3 is 4% increased regen. Meaning is you had 100 mana per 5, it would only increase it by 4 mana per 5, which isn't very useful. Good Hands will reduce your death timer by 10%, and late game that could take a good 6 or 7 seconds off of your death timer, which could just make a difference.

Tier 2: I put 4 points into awareness for increased exp gain, which is useful to outlevel those that dont have any points into the Utility tree.

Tier 3: I put 1 point into Greed for increased gold per 5. Why greed you ask? Greed gives you 1 extra gold per 5 seconds, which is an extra 12 gold per minute. In a 50 minute game, that's an extra 600 gold. I put 3 points into Meditation for increased mana regen since Irelia has alot of mana issues early game. I put 1 point into Utility Mastery because you need 1 more point to put into before the next tier of masteries. This could also be useful if you get a buff from killing someone and it'll just last a little bit longer.

Tier 4: I put 3 points into Quickness for more move speed, and 1 point into Blink of an Eye for reduced cooldown on Flash.

Tier 5: I put 3 points into Intelligence for more cooldown reduction to use your abilities more often.

Tier 6: I put 1 point into Presence of the Master for less cooldown on your summoner spells.

Items

Regular BALANCED Build

Shurelya's Reverie

Mercury's Treads - This one is pretty self explanatory. Tenacity + Ionian Fervor = Epic. You can get Ionian Boots of Lucidity if you want more cooldown reduction early game, but end game you should have 40% cooldown reduction with or without Ionian Boots of Lucidity.

Trinity Force - This item is your bread and butter. It has everything. Health, crit, attack speed, damage, move speed, ability power, a chance to slow on hit, and last but definitely not least, an improved effect of sheen.

Youmuu's Ghostblade - Attack damage, armor penetration, crit chance, and an active that gives you increased move speed and attack speed? Why wouldn't you want this item?

Shurelya's ReverieShurelya's Reverie - More health, along with cooldown reduction, and health and mana regen. Not only that, but an AMAZING active that gives your team increased movement speed. This combined with Randuin's Omen makes your team able to chase or get away very easily.

Randuin's Omen - Armor, health, health regen, and a chance to slow people that attack you. I LOVE this item on Irelia. It also has a great active that basically says "DPS champions, GTFO. Oh, and we're gonna chase you down." With Shurelya's Reverie you can basically chase down anyone on their team. Not to mention, it's a good method to help your team get away from a fight.

Force of Nature - Movement speed, extreme health regen, and alot of magic resist. This item makes you tanky as hell, and have so much movement speed with your Trinity Force and Quickness utility mastery. Not to mention this item, along with alot of your other items, makes you regen health very quickly, so you can go in and out of a team fight at will.

Optional:

Banshee's Veil - As if you didnt have enough Tenacity, this gives you health, mana, and magic resist, and blocks one negative spell every 45 seconds. Basically with this, merc treads, and Ionian Fervor, you're basically invincible to CC. However, with merc treads and Ionian Fervor you basically have 75 tenacity, so i dont really think this is neccesary.

Atma's Impaler - You have around 3k health end game, so why not turn some of that into attack damage?

Warmog's Armor - Tanky and alot of HP? Why the hell not?

Guardian Angel - You're tanky, have alot of hp, invincible to CC, and deal high damage. Now they cant even kill you? AWESOME.

Spirit Visage - Increased healing AND health regen? HELL YEAH.

Thornmail - For those teams that are all or mostly physical damage.

What not to get:

- The lifesteal is nice, but Irelia really doesn't use her auto-attacks much, so the attack speed isn't really necessary. This and most other attack speed items really aren't extremely useful.

- Same reason as Zeke's Harbinger, you shouldn't be going for any of those super-carry critical items, like Phantom Dancer or Infinity Edge, because you're not that super-carry that's full DPS. Leave those items for that Master Yi or Tryndamere.

Skills and Skill Sequence

Ionian Fervor - This is your AMAZING passive. Basically when there are more people around, you get more Tenacity, which is amazing in team fights. Basically, screw CC.

Bladesurge - This is your gap closer and farming ability. You should max this first because it is your main damage dealing ability, and with Sheen, it deals massive amounts of damage. The cooldown also goes down as you level up this ability.

Hiten Style - This ability isn't extremely useful on Irelia because she does not use her auto-attacks much, but the true damage is nice and the health restoration is very useful early game. Put 1 point in this at level 3, but then max it last.

Equilibrium Strike - Your slow/stun, and one of the most useful abilities that Irelia has. Used in conjunction with Bladesurge, you can chase down anyone, gank, solo out people in team fights, or even save a teammate. Also deals a good amount of damage, but unfortunately it scales poorly, and it only scales with AP. Put 1 point in this at level 2, and max it second after Bladesurge.

Transcendent Blades - Your ultimate. I love this skill. You can use it to farm whole minion mobs, to heal in a teamfight or even a 1v1, to kill anyone that's almost dead and is about to get away(in a teamfight or laning), or just to deal massive amounts of damage. The healing on this skill has been reduced alot, but it's still very useful, and ever since they made it scale with AP and AD together(rather than choosing the higher value), each blade does a great amount of damage.

Skill Combos

Early Game

Your main harrassing combo early game is Bladesurge and then Equilibrium Strike. You should last hit with Bladesurge, and if you're getting low, the passive on Hiten Style can heal you back(before you get your ultimate at level 6).

Main Combo

Your main fighting combo is to Bladesurge to close the gap between you and your opponent, and then Equilibrium Strike to slow/stun them. Then activate Hiten Style until your cooldowns are refreshed so that you can Bladesurge --> Equilibrium Strike again. If you're getting low or if they're running away and they're out of range of Bladesurge, you should use Transcendent Blades to finish them off. Generally, after you get Bladesurge and Equilibrium Strike off, you will have lost some health, and you can use Transcendent Blades to heal while your skills are still on cooldown.

Teamfighting

In teamfights, you can use Transcendent Blades to deal damage to their entire team, or to heal when you're low. You still use your basic combo of Bladesurge --> Equilibrium Strike to deal large amounts of dammage.

Conclusion

Irelia is a very useful and fun to play champion. She's quite tanky and has high damage output, and is one of my favorite champions. Thanks for reading my guide and i hope you give it a good rating.