Irelia Build Guide by ExileErupt

Introduction

Hi I'm ExileErupt and this is my Irelia Guide. This is my first guide I've made but I hope it's very helpful for any aspiring Irelia players. In this Guide I will be talking about item builds, Runes, Masteries, Skills, and some Basic techniques. Enjoy!

Pros / Cons

Pros

• Very good laning (not easily countered)
• True Damage!
• Strong gap closer
• Built-in sustain
• Built-in Tenacity
• Easy to Farm with

Cons

• No reliable escape
• True damage is countered by health stacking which is very popular right now.
• Item dependent
• A large portion of your damage depends on whether Hiten Style is active or not.

Summoner Spells

- Ignite will help you get kills in lane and gives you that extra bit of damage you might need to finish off a kill in team fights. I recommend taking this.

- Flash will be the deciding factor to escape a gank or finish off a kill, paired with Bladesurge you have a huge gap close.

- Ghost Can be situational to stick on to people for a prolonged fight or making a prolonged escape, if you feel you won't be needing to make split-second escapes, take this.

- Teleport is a spell you can take if you want to be helping your team and making plays rather than snowballing your lane. Remember that if you dont take ignite, it will be difficult getting kills in lane.

Runes

Marks - Your ideal marks will be Greater Mark of Attack Damage as they give you the early-game damage you need. Greater mark of armor penetration can work, but you have true damage which armor pen doesn't affect, so it is a viable option but I would still recommend Greater Mark of Attack Damage

Seals - Basically Greater Seal of Armor is essential to be able to trade in lane or take auto-attack harrass. I don't really see any other option for seals.

Glyphs - I prefer taking Greater Glyph of Magic Resist if you're facing an Ap laner. If you dont feel like you'll need the early MR, then Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist will be more effective.

Quintessences - Taking Greater Quintessence of Life Steal is a cool option as it will synergizes with you're sustain from Hiten Style, Doran's Blade, and Vampiric Scepter. Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage is also fine.

Masteries

14-16-0

I like this mastery page, it's a basic bruiser page that gives you a mix of offense and defense. The most important thing about this page is taking the Tenacious points as tenacity is one of the most important stats on Irelia.

9-21-0 Take this page if you're going to be taking alot of harrass and not really be going to trade or duel as much.

Going 21-9-0 is risky as you need to be all-inning and trying to kill your lane as much as possible, which Irelia doesn't really get much opportunity to, but if you can pull it off it can be rewarding. Not recommended.

Skills

- Ionian Fervor Gives you a lot of tenacity so that you can stick on to carries without much problem.

- Bladesurge is your gap closer and farming tool. When maxed it has a very short cooldown. With Irelia, leveling this or Equilibrium Strike is situational and depends on your team comp and the enemy team comp. Max this first if you need the shorter cooldown and extra damage. If not, max it last

- Hiten Style is your bread and butter skill, it gives you passive sustain and a true damage active. Activating it doubles the sustain of your passive for the duration. Max this first EVERY GAME.

- Equilibrium Strike is a very powerful stun/slow, that increases duration quite a bit with every rank. Max this second if your team is lacking CC, or if you need to lock down an opponent. If not, max it last.

- Transcendent Blades is a low cooldown ability that gives you health back from the damage it does. It can be used to wave clear and is most effective when fighting your opponent in the middle of a minion wave so you can get life back from the minions and your enemy at the same time! Level this whenever possible.

Items

Starting items - Elixir of Fortitude, 4 Health Potion, and 2 sight ward is a very popular start right now as you can have an early ward, all-inning potential/survivability, and a decent amount of hp pots which basically gives you everything you need to start off a game.

Now if you're facing a very harass-heavy opponent, like Jayce, Yorick, or Elise, you'll be needed a lot of potions and you wont really be fighting so starting 9 Health Potion, 2 sight ward would be the best option.

Boots -
Ninja Tabi - If you're facing an Ad opponent or their Ad Carry is getting fed get these!
Mercury's Treads - If you need MR or you need some cc reduction to pair with Ionian Fervor
Berserker's Greaves - Take these if you're getting fed, or if you just have no need for Merc or Tabi. The attack speed synergizes with your Hiten Style.
Ionian Boots of Lucidity - I've experimented with these and they're actually quite effective, having lower cooldown on your kit can help you stick on to people alot better. Not quite recommended but viable at the least.
Boots of Swiftness - No.
Boots of Mobility - No.
Sorcerer's Shoes - Please No. Please.

Early game items - Doran's Blade, Ninja Tabi and Vampiric Scepter will give you plenty of sustain and armor which let's you survive the early game by out-sustaining your opponent.

If you're facing an Ap laner and need some MR, rushing Mercury's Treads and Wit's End gives you a huge boost of MR which will help you trade, or take harrass from an Ap opponent. Irelia's Bladesurge also procs Wit's End's magic damage.

Trinity Force!
Your main goal in the mid game is to get a Trinity Force as quickly as you can.
Trinity Force basically gives you every stat you need on Irelia, Attack speed, Damage, Movement speed, Mana, a slow for sticking onto people, a sheen proc for your Bladesurge, and some Ap as Transcendent Blades scales off Ad and Ap. Best item for Irelia.

Blade of the Ruined King!
Blade of the Ruined King gives attack speed, life steal, damage, and an awesome active! This item is very strong on Irelia as it helps you stick to targets and gives Irelia her ever so needed attack speed and life steal.

Randuin's Omen!
Randuin's Omen gives you some much needed raw tankiness and survivability. One of Irelia's main focuses is to stick to a target in a fight, with Randuin's they won't be able to kite you and you can fulfil your intended role.

Guardian Angel!
Guardian Angel Gives you a hefty amount of armor and magic resist which benefits Irelia's kit because 2 of her abilities are giving her sustain so health doesn't benefit her as much as armor and MR. Guardian Angel has a pretty good passive too ;)
Tanky Alternatives

Warmog's Armor
Warmog's Armor gives a huge amount of HP and health regen. As I mentioned before, resists are more effective on Irelia because of her sustaining abilities so I would only take this item if I will be facing high true damage or instead of bulwark if facing an Ap.

Spirit Visage
Spirit Visage Is actually a really underrated item for Irelia, if you need Mr and more prolonged sustain in fights this item is great.

Runic Bulwark
Runic Bulwark Is basically your alternative for Randuin's Omen if you need MR. You could also take this if your support or jungler isn't already getting it.

Sunfire Cape
Sunfire Cape is a good option if you don't really need the attack speed reduction from Randuin's Omen and will be pushing a lot.

Frozen Heart
Frozen Heart would be a perfect item on Irelia if she was mana dependent, but in reality, she isn't. It's still a very strong item as it gives a huge boost of armor but I would recommend Randuin's Omen over this.
Damage Alternatives

Maw of Malmortius
Maw of Malmortius Gives good damage, MR and a shield against magic damage. I only take this item if they have a very heavy magic damage team with Wit's End NOT as a replacement.
Black Cleaver
The Black Cleaver This item can work on Irelia if you're snowballing pretty hard, I wouldn't recommend it though as Irelia has true damage in the first place.
the BloodThirster
The Bloodthirster Is an item you will get only if you're very fed and want to become an undying, lifestealing, tank or assassin.

Zephyr
Zephyr is an AWESOME item on Irelia. I will get this item almost every game if it drags out to the late game. Zephyr Is a late game item that gives tenacity, attack speed, movement speed, and damage. ALL THE STATS YOU NEED ON IRELIA!

Enchantments
Enchantment: Alacrity
Enchantment: Alacrity gives the much needed movement speed to stick on to enemies as Irelia. I take this pretty much every game.
Enchantment: Homeguard
Enchantment: Homeguard is necessary if you'll be pushed into your base a lot and need to defend.

Enchantment: Furor
Enchantment: Furor Can be good for sticking onto people, but I find Enchantment: Alacrity to be overall more useful for that.

Basic techniques and tips

Farming - When farming, I know it's fun to be using Bladesurge to get minions but it is very unnecessary and mana consuming. Try to auto attack as much as possible for last hitting. If you just killed your opponent and need to base, pushing a minion wave with Transcendent Blades is perfectly fine.

Trading - As most people know, with Irelia, you don't want to directly use Bladesurge in lane as you will not get a stun on them after dashing and dealing damage to them, the best way to trade is to find a low hp minion next to your target, Bladesurge to it, and use Equilibrium Strike so that you will get the stun. Since you killed a minion with Bladesurge, the cooldown is refreshed and you can use it when they try to escape after getting stunned. Try to get as many auto attacks as possible when Hiten Style is active to maximize your damage.

Gap closing - If you need to catch somebody that is running away, and is out of range for Bladesurge, activate Hiten Style, Bladesurge a minion (Trinity Force and Hiten Style will allow you to one-shot a caster minion) to get your Bladesurge refreshed and use it again on the person you are chasing. If you don't have Trinity Force, or don't feel that you have enough damage to kill the minion with one Bladesurge, than use your Transcendent Blades on the minion wave to get a minion low enough for your Bladesurge.