[5.0] FIGHT FOR THE FIRST LANDS!!! - Irelia Guide
FIGHT FOR THE FIRST LANDS!!! - Irelia Guide
Pros
- Has great snowball potential
- Wins in most matchups
- Really good mid game power and map presence
- High mobility, good against immobile champs
- Can kill squishies easily
Cons
- Falls behind late game
- Weak against lane bullies like Darius and Renekton
- Extremely item dependent
- Difficult to play and requires a lot of practice
- Prone to CC
Irelia Build
Best Build Guide for Irelia
Item Build Description
Additional information on the items
In order to build
Irelia
properly, you must build her with physical damage items and tank items. Remember that you are a Baron laner, and the baron lane is mostly composed of tanks, bruisers and (sometimes) ADC. I'll remind you NOT to build full damage on
Irelia
, whether it be full AD or AP because you are going to be squishy.
STARTING ITEMS:
-
![Long Sword]()
Long Sword
or
![Dagger]()
Dagger
will be your first item. This will allow you to deal more damage in the laning phase. This item will also be useful for building your core items like
![Trinity Force]()
Trinity Force
and
![Blade of the Ruined King]()
Blade of the Ruined King
.
Long Sword
Dagger
Trinity Force
Blade of the Ruined King
POWERSPIKE:
-
![Phage]()
Phage
. This item is the component of
![Trinity Force]()
Trinity Force
. Gives health and AD. Attacks and kills give you movement speed. -
![Stinger]()
Stinger
. Gives attack speed and ability haste. -
![Vampiric Scepter]()
Vampiric Scepter
. Gives AD and lifesteal. This is one of the components of
![Blade of the Ruined King]()
Blade of the Ruined King
. -
![Sheen]()
Sheen
. This item gives ability haste. It's passive allows you to deal extra physical damage after using an ability. This is another component of
![Trinity Force]()
Trinity Force
.
Phage
Stinger
Vampiric Scepter
Sheen
CORE ITEMS:
-
![Blade of the Ruined King]()
Blade of the Ruined King
. One of the best items for
![Irelia]()
Irelia
. Gives AD, attack speed and physical vamp. It's passive allows your basic attacks to deal a percentage of the target's HP. This great as
![Irelia]()
Irelia
relies heavily on basic attacks. -
![Trinity Force]()
Trinity Force
. Gives HP, AD, attack speed and ability haste. Allows you to deal bonus damage after using a skill. Since you're going to AA a lot, this is another great item. -
![Sterak's Gage]()
Sterak's Gage
. Gives HP and +50% base AD. Lifeline is the most important part of this item because
![Irelia]()
Irelia
is very squishy.
Sterak's Gage
OTHER ITEMS:
-
![Guardian Angel]()
Guardian Angel
. Gives armor and AD. You would want this just incase you die or misposition. The armor and AD is great too. -
![Frozen Heart]()
Frozen Heart
and
![Randuin's Omen]()
Randuin's Omen
. These items are useful if the ADC is ahead and if you want to reduce their attack speed and damage overall. -
![Thornmail]()
Thornmail
. Gives HP and armor. It's passive allows you to damage anyone who attacks you and inflicts grievous wounds on them. -
![Spirit Visage]()
Spirit Visage
. Gives HP, MR, health regen and ability haste. You'd want this to increase the healing from your first skill. You'd also want this if your team has a healer like
![Soraka]()
Soraka
or
![Sona]()
Sona
-
![Force of Nature]()
Force of Nature
. Gives HP, MR and bonus movement speed. You gain bonus MR for every magic damage you take. Only buy this if they have an AP carry like
![Katarina]()
Katarina
.
Guardian Angel
Frozen Heart
Randuin's Omen
Thornmail
Spirit Visage
Soraka
Sona
Force of Nature
Katarina
FLEXIBLE ITEMS:
-
![Youmuu's Ghostblade]()
Youmuu's Ghostblade
. Grants AD, flat armor penetration and ability haste. It grants you momentum and upon reaching 100 stacks, gives you bonus movement speed. It's useful for maneuvering in the jungle. -
![Umbral Glaive]()
Umbral Glaive
. Grants the same stats as
![Youmuu's Ghostblade]()
Youmuu's Ghostblade
. It's passive allows you to see wards and traps and destroy them. Only buy this if you are playing Jungle and if you are facing against
![Teemo]()
Teemo
or
![Jhin]()
Jhin
. Otherwise, consider other item options. -
![Maw of Malmortius]()
Maw of Malmortius
. Grants AD, MR and ability haste. It also has the lifetime passive. However, this only works against magic damage. Only use this if you are playing
![Irelia]()
Irelia
in Mid. -
![Black Cleaver]()
Black Cleaver
. Gives HP, AD and ability haste. It's passive allows you to shred a percentage of an enemy's armor. This is useful against tanks like
![Garen]()
Garen
and
![Malphite]()
Malphite
. It's basically an anti-tank item. -
![Death's Dance]()
Death's Dance
. Gives HP, AD, physical vamp and ability haste. 30% of damage taken is converted into bleed for 3 seconds. This is a good anti-burst item especially against assassins. -
![Dead Man's Plate]()
Dead Man's Plate
. Gives HP and armor. It has the same passive as
![Youmuu's Ghostblade]()
Youmuu's Ghostblade
. Upon reaching 100 stacks, you gain bonus movement speed.
Youmuu's Ghostblade
Umbral Glaive
Teemo
Jhin
Maw of Malmortius
Black Cleaver
Garen
Malphite
Death's Dance
Dead Man's Plate
(NOT RECOMMENDED) AP IRELIA MID BUILD:
-
![Nashor's Tooth]()
Nashor's Tooth
. Gives AP, attack speed and ability haste. This item allows you to deal extra magic damage based on your AP. -
![Lich Bane]()
Lich Bane
. GIves AP and ability haste. This item is the AP equivalent of
![Trinity Force]()
Trinity Force
. After using an ability, your auto-attacks will deal extra magic damage based on your base AD and AP. -
![Void Staff]()
Void Staff
. Gives AP and +40% magic penetration. Use this against tanks and bruisers with a lot of magic resists. -
![Hextech Gunblade]()
Hextech Gunblade
. Gives AD and AP and physical and magic vamp. Hitting an enemy champion shocks them for magic damage and slows them down for 2 seconds. This is great for bursting down your opponents. -
![Luden's Echo]()
Luden's Echo
. Gives AP, ability haste and mana. Moving and casting stacks Discord. Upon reaching 100 stacks, you gain extra AP and deals +10% magic damage to nearby enemies.
Nashor's Tooth
Lich Bane
Void Staff
Hextech Gunblade
Luden's Echo
BOOTS AND ENCHANTMENTS:
-
![Plated Steelcaps]()
Plated Steelcaps
is the best choice for
![Irelia]()
Irelia
as it increases your durability against physical damage. Grants armor. -
![Mercury's Treads]()
Mercury's Treads
is also a good choice for AP and CC-heavy matchups. Grants MR. -
![Ionian Boots of Lucidity]()
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
is a good choice to reduce your skill cooldowns. However, you should only consider buying this if you are on a easy/fair matchup. - [stasis enchant] is by far the best enchant you can buy for
![Irelia]()
Irelia
. This item will prevent you from dying from assassins just in-case they're ahead. -
![Quicksilver Enchant]()
Quicksilver Enchant
is also a good choice in CC-heavy matchups where [stasis enchant] is pointless. -
![Teleport Enchant]()
Teleport Enchant
is good too since you are a Baron laner. You are going to be using this if you need to get to the frontlines quickly, or if you are splitpushing.
Plated Steelcaps
Mercury's Treads
Ionian Boots of Lucidity
Quicksilver Enchant
Teleport Enchant
Irelia Runes
Best Runes for Irelia
This is the standard rune set for
Irelia
in the Baron lane, assuming the team composition has low amounts of CC.
Conqueror
would be your best option as it allows you to deal more damage overtime and is very good in skirmishes/teamfights.
Triumph
will heal you after every champion take down and
Hunter Titan
will help you mitigate CC.
Sweet Tooth
is good as
Irelia
has bad mana consumption.
This rune set is good if you are against CC-heavy matchups.
Brutal
will help your laning phase in Baron lane or Jungle lane.
Hunter Titan
will help you mitigate CC from lane bullies like
Renekton
and
Shen
.
Only use this rune set if you are playing
Irelia
in the Mid lane.
Gathering Storm
(after its buff) is good so that your damage will scale in late game.
Bone Plating
allows you to mitigate some of the burst damage you receive from assassins and mages and
Hunter Genius
grants you ability haste after every champion takedown.
Skill Order
How to distribute skill points
Summoner Spells
When to take which summoners
Combos
Learn how to maximize the champions potential
This is your basic trading pattern in Baron lane with Irelia. You double-cast
Flawless Duet
towards the enemy, charge at them with
Bladesurge
, auto-attack and use
Defiant Dance
just in-case they have CC or burst damage then escape by casting
Bladesurge
to the nearest minion.
This is Irelia's INSTAKILL combo. Double-cast
Flawless Duet
towards the enemy, use
Vanguard's Edge
and dash towards them with
Bladesurge
and auto-attack. If the target is still alive, use
Defiant Dance
.
This is the complicated version of Irelia's INSTAKILL combo because it is hard to pull off and requires perfect timing and execution. Start by casting
Flawless Duet
. Use
Vanguard's Edge
, then Flash at the end of the channel to redirect the hitbox. Use
Bladesurge
then follow it up with your second
Flawless Duet
. Follow it up with AA,
Bladesurge
, AA,
Bladesurge
and then
Defiant Dance
.
Irelia Matchups & Counters
Detailed information on how to play matchups and counters
Has high mobility for sure, but he has lower range than most ADCs. His
Smoke Screen
can be annoying though. You can burst him down at level 5.
Barrel Roll
Gragas
Bramble Vest
Wind Wall
Assassin's Mark
Five Point Strike
Counter Strike
Grandmaster's Might
Darius
Decisive Strike
Executioner's Calling
Riposte
Comet Spear
Shield Vault
Singed
Poison Trail
Mega Adhesive
Fling
Vayne
Silver Bolts
Tumble
Final Hour
Olaf
Ragnarok
Camille
Precision Protocol
Tactical Sweep
Hookshot
Golden Staff
Nimbus Strike
Favorite Matchups
Orianna
.
Irelia
's ease to get into enemy backlines makes her an ideal champion for
Orianna
to attach her ball into. With this,
Orianna
can CC a lot of people while
Irelia
is securing kills for the team.
Lulu
. She is one of the best supports to play with as
Irelia
. She can buff your basic attacks while also making you tanky.
Rakan
. He can set up for you as you dive, however, it's going to be hard to pull off even though he's strong with her.
Braum
. Same thing for
Rakan
, but he can set up much easier with his passive.
Kai'sa
. She can follow up with your engages during teamfights.
Early Game
At level 1 you have the option of taking any of your 3 spells depending on the matchup.
Bladesurge
is best in good matchups where you can play aggressively early on as by waiting for the first few melee minions to drop low and then last-hitting them all with
Bladesurge
then using
Bladesurge
on your lane opponent you'll have a fully stacked
Ionian Fervor
.
Flawless Duet
is good if you're in a matchup where the opponent might go aggressive early on, since you can then stun them in your minion wave and trade back quickly before backing off as they take minion aggro.
Defiant Dance
can be optimal against opponents with level 1 CC, such as
Jax
or
Riven
, so you can just charge
Defiant Dance
with damage reduction during the CC duration, but if you're confident I would rather recommend taking
Bladesurge
and going on the aggression.
At level 2 no matter what you started you'll want to take
Bladesurge
, or if you started it at level 1 you'll want to again take either
Defiant Dance
or
Flawless Duet
depending on the matchup. Unless you're losing lane pretty handily you'll usually want to take
Flawless Duet
though, since it gives you the ability to Mark your lane opponent and cast
Bladesurge
twice on them, as well as being stronger in all-ins as it gives you the ability to stun your opponent.
At level 3 you'll take whichever spell you haven't yet taken, since even if your lane opponent doesn't have CC you can still benefit from the damage reduction even if just during one auto-attack, and it gives you more damage than just putting another point in
Bladesurge
. Your play pattern remains the same from levels 3-5.
After you obtain your ultimate, you'll have a lot more kill potential and can potentially cast
Bladesurge
onto your enemy 3 times in one fight, making you very sticky and increasing your damage beyond just
Vanguard's Edge
's damage. A great way to engage is to either cast
Vanguard's Edge
onto your target and directly
Bladesurge
onto them, or if you're out of range and a minion is low enough,
Bladesurge
onto a nearby minion towards your opponent and then use
Vanguard's Edge
. It's recommended to have at least built up a decent amount of
Ionian Fervor
stacks before engaging so you can very quickly get full stacks when you go in for the engage, rather than having to build them up from 0.
When your target is inside
Vanguard's Edge
, you'll want to save
Flawless Duet
temporarily rather than using it right away. If your opponent stays inside the blades to avoid getting slowed and taking more damage, you won't need to stun them to DPS them since they'll be waiting for the blades to run out anyway, and then you can stun them afterwards. And if they do walk into the blades, the massive slow will make it much harder for them to potentially dodge the stun. Additionally, should they Flash out of your
Vanguard's Edge
, you may still be able to reach them with
Flawless Duet
if you save it, also allowing you to re-close the gap with
Bladesurge
.
Mid Game
Mid game is usually the point from 10-15 Minutes into the game.
Irelia
is quite strong in the mid game and at this point you have some tank items that allow to you last a bit longer than if you were just at your BOTRK.
You still want to let your team initiate fights or wait until the enemy team initiates on your team. This will allow you to clean up and land your abilities easier.
You can still kill squishies relatively quickly and you will be able to impact the fights greatly. Ideally you can end the game during this period as later in the game you become more of a disruptor than anything.
Late Game
This is the point where
Irelia
cannot kill squishies as easily and tends to do much less damage in comparison to mid game.
At this stage of the game you should focus on being a front line for your team but not engaging unless your team has 0 engage. It is still better to wait for the enemy team to engage or if you have a
Alistar
for example wait for her to engage for you so you can land all of your abilities without issue.
A lot of top lane champs outshine you at this stage of the game but you can still do a lot of damage to the enemy team if you land your spells and get to their backline and distract their squishies.
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