Irelia is a mobile bruiser that possesses deceptive tankiness and damage. She specialises in diving the squishy back line champions and shrugs off any CC that is thrown at her. Her early game is somewhat weak while transitioning into a powerhouse at mid game. Just like any bruiser, she begins to fall off come late game. All in all though, a lot of the things written in this guide are my opinion on things and may not hold true for everyone's play style. This guide was written to both help beginners grasp the concept of Irelia while hopefully showing some older players some tricks and new ideas.

When should I pick Irelia?

To answer this, let's first look at the pros and cons of Irelia herself.

Pros

+ Has one of the best stick (ability to stay on a target, usually the adc/apc)

+ Does not require a large amount of damage items, rather will jut need more durability items

+ Is very efficient at last hitting under turret

+ Strong but slow sustain (note that sustain is not reducible like lifesteal is against high armor targets)

+ Deals true damage thus stays relevant for most of the game

+ Can close large gaps very quickly

+ Has a LARGE mix of damage sources thus making it hard to itemise against (physical from bladesurge; auto-attacks; transcendent blades and Trinity Force proc. Magical from wits end and Equilibrium Strike. True damage from Hiten Style active)

+ Is deceptively tanky due to high self-healing abilities

+ Extremely strong mid game presence

+ Synergies well with aggressive junglers due to her high damage, mobility and low cooldown CC.

+ Resistant to CC excluding knock ups, knock backs and suppression

+ Low mana costs

+ Possesses both sustained and burst damage

+ Extremely mobile

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Cons

- Has slow sustain which can be overcome be hard early game harass

- Is weak early game

- Requires solid farming as she is reliant on items

- Relies heavily on attack-speed, the most reducible asset in the game (frozen heart, Randuin's omen, Gragas barrel, Malphite E, etcetera)

- Melee range

- Comparably weak ultimate later in the game