Irelia Build Guide by rhysyo

Introduction

Greetings, summoners, my name is Rhys and I am here to show you the wonderful world of Irelia. I play her as a tanky DPS champion and that has shown me a lot of success in my games. She is my top choice for the following reasons: her sustainability is great, she can deal true damage, she can farm like it is her job and she can carry a team that is too scared to go in. I will talk about all of these issues further in the guide. Enjoy!

Pros/Cons

Pros

+Burst and sustained damage
+Durable
+Tanky dps
+Great farmer
+Queen of solo top

Cons

-Mostly single target spells
-Low damage output until level three

Masteries Runes

Why these masteries give me a bit of some much needed mana regeneration some more burst gives everything Irelia needs for multiple situations.More of a tank too really give you more survivability against that Nasus blocks two damage,which is truly great.And can help you deny him when he is weakest the early levels but still being able to have some mana regeneration and deal some burst back to him.

These runes are aimed at survivability throughout the game armour and magic resist and the penetration is used to hurt high armoured targets,to your full potential damage output you can achieve while being durable.Thee runes and masteries allow this to happen and provide you the best chance to win your lane if you do not have these runes I suggest getting them if not work with what you have got.
These allow you to duke champions with skill shots like Gragas more effectively and allow you to get out of sticky situations and the magic resist scaling with level,is great
because usually it is a bruiser top so when you go into you have more magic resist than you would otherwise.

Summoner spells

Flash is essential in the current meta to make you a slippery customer flash over walls trees out of that Morgana ultimate so you do not get stunned Ghost do not get me wrong it’s a good skill.Just flash in my opinion is better it allows you to escape in,numerous ways which ghost is just run fast along a very predictable path flash gives you that element of surprise for a gank or to escape ghost does not allow you to do this as efficient as flash.

This allows for fifty percent less heals which is to good against champions like Soraka
Taric are only a few example and also ignite,deals true damage and most of the time insures a kill so you do not have to tower dive and gives you some extra burst to push you over the edges of overpowered skill.

This will allow you to counter heavy burst champions like Akali Tryndamere and shut them down in top lane or in a team fight and also gives you,another escape if you Exhaust them and run away depends on the situation but still is a good skill.

This skill is very good if you are unsure if your jungler will cover your lane sometimes when either you need to buy or are to low to sustain which shouldn't happen often or two push another lane out.

Flash has a lot longer cool down now so ghost is a good choice if you feel you need to get in range for that killing blow more often so if you do not want to use flash use this.

Playstyle And Skills

Your pushing tool and initiation tool gap closer rolled into one while as well as dealing lots of damage and applying on hit effects like the elder lizard buff which you should grab whenever possible to make sure they cannot escape and kill them or deny them farm and levels. This is the skill I adore this makes Wit's End a must have item on her and health regeneration and dealing lots of true damage unlike Olaf and his burst of true damage with Reckless Swing whilst damaging himself she still heals while hiten style is active which is great I max this first because this gives me the most sustainability and damage per second of her skills. Her stun/slow skill very useful the reason I take one point in this early and leave it there for later is because it scales with ability power and does not help me farm and does not do that much damage as her Bladesurge and this skill does not help you push lanes its merely in my opinion a one point wonder Bladesurge then Equilibrium Strike Hiten Style is your main harras combination. The ultimate provides massive sustainability some nice damage and allows sheen to proc four times with just that one ultimate the trick is Transcendent Blades attack Transcendent Blades attack Transcendent Blades attack Transcendent Blades attack that is how simple this is to perform and also use this amazing skill if you need to sustain a lot of health quickly for example if you are tower dived by a Tryndamere this just might save you along with duking you can cast this while moving.
As Irelia you should focus there carry down and either make him run away or kill him that is her role she is a very durable burst assassin and this build helps you to achieve that then move onto the next target and do the same with this skill combination Bladesurge Equilibrium Strike Hiten Style Transcendent Bladesthe trick is knowing when to engage and when not to and if your team will go in with you so please hit G and ping on them.

Items and Irelia's Role

She is a tanky damage per second fighter which means she can take damage and deal it out which is great for the solo top role for the following reasons she won’t be a last resort top she can handle most normal solo top champions like you would expect for example Nasus Olaf Gragas.I have found the solution after a lot of games as her I will list some of items against specific solo top champions below and the play style that should be used against them to force them out of lane.

These are effective to dodge auto attack champions like Irelia Nasus Shyvanacan dodge Nasus and his dreaded Q siphening strike and some of his regular attacks and shyvana is mostly auto attack based.And has no crowd control affects so it is pointless for you to get them for her also you have your passive Ionian Fervor combined with masteries when you dodge will make you move ten percent faster.

First of all this stacks with her passive making you a lost resort target to use their crowd control on since Ionian Fervor combined with mercury's treads.Is a great choice against that sort of team which will allow you two burst down there squishiest champions before they wipe out your team.
As I have mentioned before she is a tank damage per second champion and I get this item instead of trinity force for the following reasons it provides: a lot of ,attack speed magic damage and magical defence for that ability power nuke that blows you up in team fights and helps you sustain so much more because of magic damage per second it gives also.

This item gives you a free ward which saves you some gold some more life steal armour and damage and allows for faster dragons and barons if you just need more sustainability be sure to pick this item up.


I get this item since it is cheap and provides me with burst and some ability power and mana everything that is great on Irelia rolled into one item I will explain why this is such a good item for her in the skills section of my guide.The reason I do not upgrade it into trinity force until later is Trinity Forcejust gives me a slow and some move speed.Which is not always required due to the fact of I have equiliberium strike for a stun or a slow effect and critical strike is useless on Irelia also Trinity Force is a very expensive item.Were as if I get sheen and wit's end it is not much more than Trinity Force and gives more sustainability and damage output also in certain cases is better than a Recurve Bow first if you need more burst fast.

This item can be useful if you want to spend most of the game with building it up and you wont be as much of a tank and it is really an expensive item on Irelia personally I prefer my build.But if you want to upgrade sheen after a defensive item feel free remember it scales on base damage so getting it after a defensive item is fine more levels = more attack damage.
Love this item it makes sure that they cannot shut you down if they have a lot of crowd control spells like stuns snares silences this is the perfect item for these scenarios from my experience.Because Force of Nature just provides health regeneration magic resist and movement speed where as the veil might have less magic resist and no health regeneration It has the ability to block that requim which force of nature does not that is my opinion on the subject.

Removes all current crowd control effects and new ones applied will be at a lower duration combines with your passive and mercury treads you are pretty much an immoveable force were crowd control effects are concerned.

This item provides a lot of health regeneration combined with Hiten Style to really see them numbers rolling I would say take this when the enemy team does not have a lot of crowd control effects.

philosopher's stoneA must have on Irelia she has some mana issues and also gives more health regeneration and some gold per five if you use her abilities to frequently just use them to harass the enemy.Until you get this item then use your Q skill Bladesurge to last hit and push the lane so you can go buy other than that last hit that simple were farming is concerned.

Another gold per five item some health and builds into my main armour defensive item

Mass health regeneration a ton of armour that slows there movement and attack speed if they hit you and last but not least a mass area of effect item every few seconds which gives more area of effect in a team fights and allows you to slow most if not there entire team if they try and escape this is when this item should be used no other times in my opinion.

Is useful against a lot of auto attacking champions for example Tryndamere after you get omen to deal that high damage per second back to them and giving you the chance to hurt there ranged attack damage carries damage back to them. Provides a lot of sustainability and allows for a fast philosopher's stone which solves her mana issues and is usually the best choice but it varies on the champion that is against you if you are against another Irelia I would suggest rushing Ninja Tabi and make her not being able to hit you some of the time with Hiten Style thus not allowing her to heal of you while you heal of her and most of the time wining your lane.

These are useful as a first item if you are up against a skill shot based champion like Gragas so you can dodge them barrels with ease and dive and burst him then rinse repeat.And get philsopher's stonethen mercury treads therefore making him under leveled and a Gragas with no farm is a useless one and you should be able to get a kill on him a few times.

Is useful against champions that can burst you down quickly like then if you build Ninja Tabi against her it is to good not to because her Q mark of the assasin.Needs an auto attack to proc and if you have dodge it lowers the chance of it procing on you that is why I get them boots as well as nimbleness move speed.

Solo Top Champions

Try and get ganks on him as soon as you can and try and stop him farming so he cant build up that damage on his Q Siphoning Strike his Wither annoys me so much so hard to 1v1 with that he can be beaten just is very hard just harass early level 3 and keep pushing him back please buy Vision Ward and ward river and then Sheen then you should be fine.

Easy win lane she has no sustainability just last hit pressure her with your combination whenever she goes for last hits and please buy sight wardthen ward river so you do not get ganked then Sheen first so you can out burst her along with philosopher's stone and then that broken sword will remain broken and not reforged on her death bed.

In my opinion easy lane you can out burst him and you scale better early and mid game to late game than him and can out heal him with Hiten Style were as his heal needs fury yours does not and fury on Renekton takes ages to get and keep the advantage with Sheen as your next item after philosopher's stone and you should have no problems against him.

no sustain and has mana problems has a lot of crowd control so if things are not going his way be wary of ganks so keep that river warded with sight ward because if the jungle pops out he can imprison you within Cataclysm and then they will both burst you down if the jungle is out side the area of effect or a minion is Bladesurge to it.

Garen can over power you early game but mid game when you get some damage you can make him cry and out sustain him just be wary if your health gets low of his ultimate
Demacian Justice and you should be fine.

Has more sustain but his mana early game and mid game is his down fall he runes out really fast so harass harass harass and drive him out of lane place sight ward down in river dodge his Rupture and keep harrasing him as he goes to last hit also if your low from a gank be carefull of sustaining of minions his ultimate Feast does true damage and is a big burst of damage and you should be ok.

Very hard and now even more people have discovered hiss potential thanks DUFFTIME:) anyway you need to get Sheen and then Heart of Gold or maybe even warmog's armour to just survive the harassment from his E Reckless Swing.

He has major mana issues but has an advantage early game but when you hit level three use the combination wait for cool downs and repeat until he gets low enough and finish him do not forget to sight ward river good luck and do not chase if you are low because Poison Trail will probably get you extremely low or dead.

My Tryhard Build

I use this when I am over powering there solo top this provides me with a lot of attack speed and a lot of Hiten Style life steal some health and mana regen gold per five burst damage.And a heaping helping of sustainability I usually use this but if you need any of the other items I have mentioned slot them in were you think.

This build gives her the durability to dive on there carry while not dieng to there team and able to be a highly distributable force to there team,and not being able to half kill that Teemo and die after being of actual use in a team fight and I think my build is the solution to this problem Irelia has.
This order gives me heaps of sustainability I use this if I am getting ganked often or am getting bursted by champions like Akali in my solo top lane. I use this if I am not getting ganked often and to burst down the top lane that does not have a lot of sustainability for example Riven. Gives both the sustainability Irelia needs and just enough burst to burst them efficiently I use this for champion like Gragas.
In a jungle invasion I would take Equilibrium Strike first to stun/slow them for my team otherwise I would take or in lane sometimes I will take this first for example against a Nasus to deny him farming as much as possible.But the reasoning behind taking Hiten Stylefirst most time is to cope with skill shot based champions having the advantage of,more burst at level one so while you heal up.They will waste all there mana harrasing you and when its near depleted at level three dive on them with the combination this usually results in me getting first blood.

Durarelia Build

This gives you a lot of burst early on as well as the gold per tens stacking more efficiently than they do in the other build but with Force of Nature and all the defence from masteries I think this is were Irelia shines also her passive now reduces blind on herself which is epic.
Im not completely sure but with these masteries you will take a lot less damage and survive bursts of damage you would not do so otherwise and a possible 75% or 85% crowd control reduction and 45% with your passive for solo top Ionian Fervor Mercury's Treadsand this mastery Juggernaut solo top will make you more effective against things like Wither Cryptic Gazewhich can often cause you problems.

Middle Irelia

Yes I bet most of you are thinking wtf but it is true summoners she can mid and she can mid well better than udyr ever could she can also be near enough immovable but this varies on the middle champion. Anything with effects like Impure Shots that reduces healing do not go middle but against champions like the following any more you own pm me I will credit you.

Nidalee you can well and truly own them she will just before six run out of mana harassing you to near death then just auto attack heal up then Bladesurge Equilibrium Strike Hiten Style.A few times combined with Ignite you
have yourself one dead Nidalee who wont be pooping rainbows in your face.

GragasI used to get owned by Gragas until I played Irelia a lot more start with a Regrowth Pendant Health Potion then follow the skill order above and you should be fine play smart dodge his Barrel Roll and harass him whenever your skills are of cool down with Bladesurge Equilibrium Strike Hiten Style a few times combined with Ignite and watch his fat *** hit the floor.

Kog'MawStart with Regrowth Pendant Health Potion then as soon as you hit level three the usual Bladesurge Equilibrium Strike Hiten Style.A few times combined with Ignite and its feeding time for you because his mana is bad and even with clarity I still won mid lane from him and got the tower down first easiest to mid against ever in my opinion and build Sheen first so you can burst him better.

Dominion Irelia

May I just say with the build I use you can take enemies out no problem you know it can work well when you go 14/6/10 and can 2v1 and win both which I personally found hilarious this build provides a lot of sustainability later on.And burst early and I take bottom lane and she can win most match ups I beat a Tryndamere in solo bot Xin Zhao Jax in 2v1 Riven team composition.And carried my team hard bare in mind some team compositions ,just to bad to carry but I win the majority the reason why I build her bursty then more tank later burst is to get some kills.And this helps if they lack burst damage and to net kills to be more durable so I can survive getting ganked.


Provides sustain and damage per second which is great other item in dominion just provide damage per second Hiten Style.I love this item and it works well with the build I run and provides so much for Irelia so please do not pass this item up.

burst damage this item provides combined with Bladesurge and equiliberium strike transendant bladesis insane coupled with resistance perfect offtank item.Also remeber for each one blade from trancendant blades is just one Sheen proc and four blades four procs use all abilities eight procs is too good to pass up.

Provides the tenacity that makes you more effective at escaping from ganks and initiating them fights for your team and surviving I choose this because mobility boots give you the mobility you need to push and chase and gank the opposing team.

Cheap effective against champions like Master Yi so this gives you the chance to deal his burst back to him and reduces the damage you take omen takes to long to craft and is not worth it in dominion.

reduces ten percent magic damage combined with wits end and the damage you can deal back to them is insane best magic resist item in dominion keeps you alive and lets you add more area of effect to a team fight.

Allowing you to gank unsuspecting victims and capture towers like it is no ones business only boots for Irelia in dominion that is my opinion.This also lets you capture the storm sheild faster and I suggest getting it whenever possible if you are carrying hard like I normally do.
This setup works even better in dominion the early game resistances this provides will really help you in the upcoming levels to really get the upper hand fast and keep the tides of battle in your favour and keep it that way throughout the game.

Provide cool down which helps you spam Bladesurge on your lane opponent without caring for the mana costs and for other abilities also which really gives you a advantage on sustained damage champions or champions with long cool downs like Gragas Cho'Gath.

Ranked Play

In my opinion she is very good in ranked play as soon as you find the right build and learn to play her properly.And I have the build sorted for all of you so you must learn how to last hit, and conserve mana most importantly ward up that brush crossing river get your jungler to gank if you are having trouble good luck summoners.

Summary

To summarise what you have been reading through I know it isn't the usually way people play Irelia from what I have seen but she has shown me great success the way I build her and allows me to really get into a fight.And not explode right away which is what I see most Irelia players do I believe I have come up with a good build but please leave your comments on what to improve on below and try out the build guide a few times before going worst build,ever get used to Irelia and the way I play and it will lead to success good luck summoners rhysyo:)

Change Log

14/11/11 Added Exhaust to summoner spells
14/11/11 Removed wards from ranked section pointless being there
14/11/11 Added Trinity Force to items when and when not to get it
14/11/11 Placed borders under items and runes section
14/11/11 Added level 1 skill choices
14/11/11 Added force of nature
14/11/11 Added new masteries
15/11/11 Sorted some grammar issues and punctuation issues
15/11/11 Added dominion Irelia teleport and ghost to summoner spells
17/11/11 Placed Kog'Maw as easiest to mid against
17/11/11 More grammar issues and spacing problems
17/11/11 Added Gemini Rise and Fall
17/11/11 Added solo top champions list
17/11/11 Added new tankier build and mastery set to go with it
17/11/11 Corrected masteries added trinity to end build and revelrie