Irelia Build Guide by facehunter33

Overview:

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Irelia is a champion with a semi-weak first few minutes and a great late game and mid game. She is a great duelist specially once she gets the Trinity Force. her Q Bladesurge is a reset-able gap closer, her W Hiten Style is a source of true damage, and her E Equilibrium Strike can be both a stun and a slow depending on the difference of health in between you and the enemy champion.[/color]
Full AD Irelia gives the benefits of being able to easily dive and kill squishy champions, while bruiser allows for a tankier sustained champion.

Masteries

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Ferocity Tree: 12

Fury x5 over all the better choice over the AP Sorcery gives
Double Edged Sword x1 and Feast are both good choices, take Feast when you need sustain and Double Edged Sword when most of the time when you just want to deal more damage.
Natural Talent x5 Scaling AD and AP is just so useful
Oppressor x1 The moment you stun someone, you just deal so much extra damage

Cunning Tree: 18

Savageryx5 Irelia is very single target heavy, so savagery really is great on her, plus she doesn't really benefit from Wanderer
Secret Stash x1 is great and gives you sustain, but most of the time I run Assassin
Merciless x5 DAMAGE
Precision x1 PENTRATION
Thunderlord's Decree pretty broken right now and irelia has a lot of AA resets to make use of this, make sure you make use of this mastery whenever possible.

Runes

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Attack speed Quints allow for more blade of the ruined king or guinsoo's procs and more health back from lifesteal, as well as it allows for more true damage to be dealt

Marks of attack speed give you even more sustain and more W procs

Seals of armor give you the sustain you need agaisnt AD champions in lane, which is now the most common due to the new items in season 6.

CDR allows for more stuns, more true damage and less of a need to reset your q, this also allows for being able to clear waves with your ultimate

Magic resists glyphs allow for a better chance late game or in lane agaisnt ap.

Abilties

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This is the ability you get when starting in lane, it helps you cs, normally and under tower, as well as serves as a good utility gap closer, max out last.

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This is your main source of damage, usually gotten level 2; to harass, CS under turret, do a lot more damage in trades and such. Max this ability first in most match ups, get it second in regular lanes and get it first if you are starting in a camp

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Irelia's only source of crowd-control, max this second or first depending on your matchup, if the enemy is tanky max W first, and if the enemy is an aggressive fighter such as riven max E. get it at level 3 or 1 depending on matchup. When you HP is lower than the enemies, using your E Equilibrium Strike will stun the enemy, while if you have higher HP the enemy will simply be slowed


: Your ultimate Transcendent Blades is a source of lifesteal, if they hit the enemy, apart from them taking damage you receive health back, use this ability to wave clear on in fights to activate Sheen procs. Upgrade whenever possible

Passive:

Works like Mercury's Treads, but scales off the amount of nearby champions (Max 3)
1- champion is 10% reduced duration of CC
2- champions is 25% reduced duration of CC
3- champions is 40% reduced duration of CC

CS and Farming

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Irelia's power spike comes from Guinsoo's Rageblade, the reason why I like to get Cull in my first or second back, is to allow for getting this item sooner. In some matchups you will be forced to CS under turret, which with Irelia is actually really simple, however it will kill your mana. When under turret let the turret hit the ranged minions once, then hit the minion with a W Hiten Style auto and if it doesnt die then Q Bladesurge. With melee minions simply let the turret hit the minions twice then auto.
Farming as Irelia is pretty simple, if you wish to clear a wave just try last hit or Q Bladesurge, if the enemy is missing you can ult the wave to clear faster.

Team Work

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Irelia has great assassination potential, therefore she is great at picking people off. she may not have the very best engage as FULL AD, same goes with bruiser, but your follow up, and back line dive is very good if there is no peal or the ADC / MID / other carry or if someone is out of position, if possible do not waste your Q Bladesurge on dashing to the carry, but instead dash to a minion to stun the carry / dmg the carry, kill with Q Bladesurge then Q Bladesurge away to get away, or if nothing goes wrong engage to another target. Irelia does not provide much CC apart from her E Equilibrium Strike, Peal or Engage, however she provides a heck of a lot of damage, and her stun can be great to have in a team fight, make sure you are not the one engaging fights unless necessary and that you hit the most champions possible with your ultimate Transcendent Blades to recover health and have more mobility with Q Bladesurge, also save your ultimate for when you begin to lose health. Your goal will be to either zone out the carry from the fights or to kill them before the enemy team gets to you, if the enemy engages first, you can either counter engage or simply play peal, with items such as Randuin's Omen you can slow down the enemy and let your carries kite the enemy till death, your stun can also help with this, if you are the target, instead of engaging simply bait them into your team or kill the one trying to kill you before jumping onto anybody else. In most teamfights however, make sure you are not your team's engage but a simple follow up, when an Irelia engages it should only be because an enemy carry is an easy target and a getaway can be easily done, most of the time you are just follow up to your team's or the enemy's engage, since if you do the engaging a lot of times you will get blown up.

Combos

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In Lane Combos :

Long Range Gap closer : R Transcendent Blades a wave of minions do not let them die
Gap close using the hurt minions with Q Bladesurge , to then get to your target and follow up with Equilibrium Strike and Hiten Style (e and w )

Bladesurge- Flash- Equilibrium Strike- hyten style
This Combo works as a way to quickly gapclose and stun the enemy, usually works best when you have a jungler ganking or coming to help, you do lose your Flash in the process however. This combo is to gap close when there is not a wave of minions to Bladesurge to.

Bladesurge- Bladesurge- Equilibrium Strike- Hiten Style (Simple gap closer)
Make sure the first Q Bladesurge hits a minion that it is able to kill, then have the second Q Bladesurge hit a champion , or if possible another minion to have a 3rd Bladesurge however if both you and the enemy have the same health try to not use Bladesurge on them so E Equilibrium Strike is a guaranteed stun

Summoner Spells

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Ignite is one of the spells you would want to bring if you were mid lane, it helps you get early kills, snowball and get your power spikes which is very important. Do not bring ignite top lane due to Teleport having very good split push potential


Flash is pretty much the best escape in the game for Irelia, so make sure to bring Flash both top lane and mid lane, it will also help with gap closing.


Teleport Irelia has a lot of split push potential when in the top lane, it allows her to farm and clear turrets / objectives, Teleport makes it possible to go to other lanes when they are in trouble, it is such a good spell, however I would rather have Ignite when mid.


I find Barrier is a very strong summoner spell when going for an all in or when agaisnt champions which burst you down in one combo, agaisnt Zed and or Yasuo if you are confident that you do not need Ignite for kill pressure this summoner does work.

Any summoner spell not here, is not recommended, however Cleanse would be the closest to being in the list, although not in the list because of Irelia's passive Ionian Fervor

Items

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Utility Choices:

Iceborn Gauntlet is a good utility choice to make sure the enemy does not get able, it makes you better sticky, and makes you a bit tankier


Guardian Angel is a pretty good item to have when you are incredibly ahead, or you are going full DPS built onto a team of squishies, on irelia this item has quite a lot of potential


Mercurial Scimitar is my replacement for Cleanse, it is a really good item on ADC's and over all on champions which build very offensive and go all in. Irelia's passive does reduce CC, and so does Mercury's Treads, but we know that Warwick players and Lissandra players are still out there. I would also recommend taking Mercurial Scimitar when going against; Morgana, Lux, Twisted Fate, Amumu, Sejuani, Malzahar and Yasuo

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Tank / Defensive Choices:


Spirit Visage is pretty much a must on irelia, if you are going bruiser that is, this is because of the heals coming from her ultimate and W, this is a very good item to have if the enemy does build a lot of AP a well.


Banshee's Veil is more of a choice for when you need extra MR, spirit visage works a lot better on irelia, but against teams that have a lot of projectiles or a lot of AP, maybe having both is a better choice.


Thornmail is great into Attack Speed champions, or champions that like to go full AD ( Master Yi, Jayce, Quinn etc.. )


Randuin's Omen is an item I personally get a lot, if building bruiser and you want to successfully dive backline you want the enemy ADC to deal less damage to you, Randuin's Omen reduces damage from Crits as well as gives you quite a lot of HP and Defense, and also giving you a slow to become more sticky to your target


Dead Man's Plate is a great utility / Tank item which allows you to easily get to your targets quicker, allows for mobility or roaming, and gives you the defensive stats you need.


Maw of Malmortius provides a really useful shield, this can be both an offensive or defensive item, however it does fit in very well with the Full AD style because it allows for some sustain and damage prevention such as Death's Dance does with its lifesteal.

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Offensive Choices :


Trinity Force on the old Irelia this item was core, and even though its still viable after some nerfs it became less useful unless u go full AD mid, Iceborn Gauntlet is over all better for top lanning


Blade of the Ruined King allows for a lot of things, more W procs = more true damage and healing, more sustain, a whole lot more damage, what else do you need? well it also gives a slow to make you stick to your target. If behind getting another cheaper item is a better choice to catch up, however blade of the ruined king is great to have both on Full AD and on Bruiser.


Lord Dominik's Regards is pretty much the new and upgraded last whisper, great to have, however I would only take this item over Mortal Reminder if the enemy team consists of mostly tanks or Bruisers.


Mortal Reminder is pretty much the same as Lord Dominik's Regards but works a lot better against squishy comps and applies grievous wounds which are great to have agaisnt champs like Dr. Mundo, and other healers.


Death's Dance gives you the needed sustain and lifesteal to be able to duel, stay in lane and Deal a heck of a lot of damage, one of the best items Season 6 brought.


Essence Reaver, now updated, gives a lot of damage and CDR, which works pretty nicely onto Irelia, this item works pretty well into bruiser like comps or agaisnt tankier comps in which you would need to have your W up more often


Guinsoo's Rageblade As of 5.23 and 5.24 this is possibly the most broken item, it is a Blade of the Ruined King, but with more dmg, and much cheaper, this is a very good item to get if you do not need lifesteal or you are getting another lifesteal item

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Boots Are usually just Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi depending on the enemy composition

Pros / Cons

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Pros :
Irelia is a great duelist
Irelia has a very good late game and mid game
Irelia has a reset-able Gap closer
Irelia has good sustain and very good damage
Irelia is very good into a lot of the current meta matchups such as riven and yasuo and gnar
Irelia's stun last for a pretty good duration
Great at Csing, farming and splitpush

Cons :
Irelia lacks escape
Is weaker in certain matchups agaisnt tankier enemy champions
Irelia is pretty weak if behind, but she does comeback lategame through farm
Does not have the best of waveclear

Corrupting potion or Cull ?

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When do you take Corrupting potion?
The reason why Corrupting Potion is what is normally gotten as a first item on Irelia is due to it being on of the only items that is able to restore mana after riot removed mana potions and crystalline flask. With this you are able to Q Bladesurge more often, stay in lane for longer and take more harass, this also allows for you to play a bit more agressive. If you start in a camp it is recommended to take Corrupting Potion

When would you get Cull?
Cull allows you to get to your power spikes faster. Even if it doesnt give much gold in total, it does put the player in a mind set where they CS more often over harassing. Overall if you arent doing too well in lane getting a Cull is always great.

How to deal with Ganks and Turret dives

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Getting into situations when you are being ganked or turret dived is usually not good, to avoid this make sure to ward the entrance to your lane and other places in the map, the following picture may help with where to put pink wards or trinket wards.

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Being Ganked

Irelia is pretty vulnerable to ganks, specially pre 6 or if there is not a wave behind her to Bladesurge into, which is rare anyways. Irelia really cant do much about ganks, however her passive and Mercury's Treads do help with CC heavy jungler's. Usually you want to just flash out or use your E to stop the enemy jungler, but sometimes this is not enough. Junglers usually gank lanes with full HP or high hp, so this is good news for your stun, not for getting kills however.
-Against Targeted CC: not much counterplay, just stay away from the enemy jungler and make sure you are warded, sometimes getting Mercurial Scimitar isn't a bad idea agaisnt junglers like these. Depending on the range of the enemy's CC, try to stun them instead of your enemy laner and get out as soon as possible (unless being counter ganked of course).

-Against Skill Shot CC: simple, dodge the CC, use enemy minions to hop around with Bladesurge and to dodge the enemy's abilties, agaisnt skill shots you probably shouldn't run up to them and stun them with Equilibrium Strike, since the enemy can simply aim in front of them and get the ability off on you, try to move from side to side and flash if you know you are about to be hit, Elise's E Cocoon is an example of a deadly ability you may want to Flash from.

-Against Pure Damage Jungles: Junglers like Master Yi and Shyvana use redbuff and their damage to get kills, usually not the best junglers at ganking, but if they do gank try to bait them into a dive and stun them into turret, if you win a 2v1 this way, it is usually worth.

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Being Dived

Being Dived is quite annoying if you cant do anything about it, make sure you ward tri-bush to avoid situations like being cornered. If possible save your Q to kite around using minions at turret or using the enemy champion, stun down the squishiest champion in the turret, and focus them down, if you do need to ult try to hit both of them to earn the most hp possible from it, and make use of thunderlord's as much as possible, since it does do quite a relevant chunk of damage. Flashing is always a possibility, outplaying is not always the best choice, or a choice at all.