Hello all , first of all this is a build not an in-depth-guide , i just give my personnal way to build irelia .

Im not native english speaker so my apologies for the far-from-perfect language .

Greater mark of desolationGreater Mark of Desolation : These rune are the best way to increase your autoattack , Sheen / Trinity Force proc and Bladesurge damage to both early and late game .

I pick the important defensive masteries suck as increased hp that are very helpful since the base hp nerf , improved cleanse life regen and dmg reduction .

In offense i pick the increased attack speed and the more important the 6 arp , if you want to swap the CDR for AS feel free to do so .

In utility i just pick improved ghost , i dont feel that improved experience is that needed unless you are jungling .

I try to max Hiten Style as much as i can for both healing and true damage that give a great increase in your overall damage output , after that your Equilibrium Strike for increased slow/stun duration and damage , Transcendent Blades whenever you can and Bladesurge last (more points in this skill is really not a great increase) .

Note : Irelia is not that good for lvl 1-2 fight , but if your are looking for lvl 1 fight (or forced by jungle invasion) pick Equilibrium Strike first and Bladesurge at lvl 2 .

First , Ghost is MANDATORY , you can't play irelia whitout ghost , its great for ganking (even more needed if you jungle) , closing distance for Bladesurge , and its your only way to escape a fight .

For second summoner spell , Cleanse is a great choice to avoid many CC's and your only answer (with Quicksilver Sash) to teemo Blinding Dart !
You can swap it for Exhaust but then you will be hardly afected by cc , Flash is also an option for same purpose as Ghost.

Ok for this part a general tip : NEVER , NEVER follow an item build for all your games mindlessly , you NEED to think about the items you will get , what do you need the most at this moment and pick the right item , its just an example and more a list of options (thats why there is many items) .

Starting items :

I feel like a Doran's Shield is the way to go , if you want to build a wriggle's lanter start with Cloth Armor and health pots .

Main items :

Youmuu's Ghostblade : a really nice item , will provide you the AS you lack and some epic ARP&CDR , build an early brutalizer and finish it later for maximal efficiency .

Trinity Force : this is your main DPS item for this build , IT DOESNT MEAN YOU HAVE TO RUSH IT , you can find yourself finished this item very late , its not a problem take Sheen first and dont be afraid to stick with it only for a long time .
About the order , i usually pick phage before zeal feel free to take zeal first if you prefer attack/movement speed :)

Mercury's Treads : you will mainly use this boots for the reduced CC duration (multiplicative with passive , making cc duration ~65% lower) , but if there is low cc in enemy team or cc not affected by it (teemo blind , malzahar/ww ultimate for example) you can use Ionian Boots of Lucidity instead , reaching your cdr to 40% .
I upgraded boots after spirit visage , you can choose to upgrade it earlier if you feel you need more movement speed , always adapt your item build !

Spirit Visage : this items is amazing because it give you all you need for cheap : health magic resist increased healing and as bonus , cdr .
I will not recommand to skip Spirit Visage againts physical team because the health/cdr/increased healing remain really good in this situation , an almost mandatory item for irelia :)

Situational items :


- Hexdrinker : this item is REALLY nice if you face magic damage dealer (not only mage , but even melee champ with magic damage like Poppy etc even Garen it can save you from his ultimate (i dont say to pick it when you see garen , just to say its useful againts many champs)) .
you can compare it to say B.F. sword , for almost the same amout of gold you gain 30 mr and a very nice shield for the cost of only 15 AD , very cost effective :)
it have 2 more pros : it's made with cheap and useful components and it give BOTH damage and survivability , sometimes you feel sad to get def. items early because then you have bad damage , this item give both so its a really nice early game item !

- Executioner's Calling : pick this item if your team have no ignite and you face a heal based champion like Dr. Mundo or Swain .

- Quicksilver Sash : a really nice MR item , i personaly prefer it over banshee since you have enought life/mana in this build with others items and it have a much better mr/cost ratio than banshee .
but the really nice aspect of this item is the active , it cleanse ALL debuffs from you so its basicly a purge whitout the cc duration reduction BUT removing more debuffs , for example it get you out of malzahar and ww ulti but it also remove debuffs like vlad and morde ulti , so if your focused by this champions or laning againts them get this item it will make you really hard to kill for them :)


Late-game items :

- Zeke's Harbinger : a good dps item , take it if nobody made it before :)

- Atma's Impaler : its a great choice if you want both survivability and damage for end game .

- Black Cleaver : it will boost all your team damage on your target and give you really nice boost on your auto attack and Bladesurge .

- Madred's Bloodrazor : enemy team have all a lot of health and/or low magic resist? pick this item , the problem with this item is his price , really expensive but provide a nice damage boost end game

- Guardian Angel : you already have great damage output but enemy team take you down first all the time (for example , your fed !) and you feel that a "second life" will help taking down low life survivors ? pick this item , a bit expensive but useful in that particular situation .