Irelia is a highly mobile champion with great dueling power and strong team-fight presence. Here’s a general guide for playing her:
1. Runes:
Primary: Precision
Conqueror: Irelia excels in prolonged fights, and Conqueror helps her stack damage during trades and team fights.
Triumph: Helps Irelia stay in fights longer by healing after takedowns, which is useful since she often dives in and out of fights.
Legend: Alacrity: This gives her attack speed, which is important for her passive to proc more often.
Last Stand: Irelia tends to be low-health in skirmishes, so Last Stand amplifies her damage when she’s at lower HP.
Secondary: Sorcery
Nimbus Cloak: Helps with mobility after using a summoner spell like Flash, giving Irelia more speed to chase or escape.
Celerity: Boosts her movement speed and enhances her kiting potential.
Stat Shards:
Attack Speed: Helps proc her passive faster.
Adaptive Force: More damage for her abilities and auto attacks.
Armor or Magic Resist: Depends on your lane matchup.
2. Abilities:
Passive – Ionian Fervor: Irelia’s passive grants her bonus attack speed per stack (up to 5), and stacks are gained by hitting enemies with abilities or auto attacks. The more stacks she has, the better her damage output.
Q – Bladesurge: This is her main tool for mobility. It allows her to dash to enemies, dealing damage and refreshing the cooldown on kills or assists. Use this to farm, chase down enemies, or escape.
W – Defiant Dance: A channeling ability that grants her damage reduction during the animation and deals damage in a cone. It's also good for blocking incoming damage and can be used to trade or disengage from fights.
E – Flawless Duet: A skillshot where Irelia sends two blades out, which stun enemies between them. It’s great for initiating or catching out opponents. It requires good timing, but landing this is key to winning fights.
R – Vanguard's Edge: Irelia throws a blade that hits all enemies in its path and applies a slow. If it hits multiple targets, it will explode, marking them for extra damage. This is her primary engage tool and damage source in teamfights.
3. Item Build:
Starting Items:
Doran's Blade and Health Potion: Standard start for sustain and trading power.
Doran’s Shield (against poke-heavy champions): Provides better sustain in tough matchups.
Core Items:
Divine Sunderer: Great for Irelia since she relies on her abilities to deal sustained damage. It also gives her some much-needed tankiness with its bonus health and damage.
Navori Quickblades: A solid item for crit-based Irelia builds, reducing cooldowns and allowing her to use her abilities more frequently.
Ravenous Hydra: Offers lifesteal and bonus damage, plus a significant power spike in the mid-to-late game.
Situational Items:
Sterak’s Gage: Gives extra durability and AD, especially useful if you’re diving into the enemy team.
Guardian Angel: If you need survivability for late-game team fights, this item helps you stay alive longer.
Death's Dance: For more sustain in fights, especially if you’re in the front line and taking a lot of damage.
Mercurial Scimitar: If the enemy team has a lot of crowd control, this item is good for cleansing stuns or slows.
4. Playstyle:
Early Game: In the early laning phase, Irelia is very strong if played correctly. Use your Q to farm, last-hit, and poke. Once you hit level 6, you can start looking for aggressive plays with your ultimate, especially after hitting a good E.
Mid Game: This is when Irelia shines. She can melt through squishier targets, split-push, and 1v1 most champions. Look to roam and make plays with your team.
Late Game: Irelia is very strong in extended team fights thanks to her passive and ultimate. She excels at diving onto backline carries but needs to be careful of being caught out by CC. Aim for the right target and try to clean up team fights.
1. Runes:
Primary: Precision
Conqueror: Irelia excels in prolonged fights, and Conqueror helps her stack damage during trades and team fights.
Triumph: Helps Irelia stay in fights longer by healing after takedowns, which is useful since she often dives in and out of fights.
Legend: Alacrity: This gives her attack speed, which is important for her passive to proc more often.
Last Stand: Irelia tends to be low-health in skirmishes, so Last Stand amplifies her damage when she’s at lower HP.
Secondary: Sorcery
Nimbus Cloak: Helps with mobility after using a summoner spell like Flash, giving Irelia more speed to chase or escape.
Celerity: Boosts her movement speed and enhances her kiting potential.
Stat Shards:
Attack Speed: Helps proc her passive faster.
Adaptive Force: More damage for her abilities and auto attacks.
Armor or Magic Resist: Depends on your lane matchup.
2. Abilities:
Passive – Ionian Fervor: Irelia’s passive grants her bonus attack speed per stack (up to 5), and stacks are gained by hitting enemies with abilities or auto attacks. The more stacks she has, the better her damage output.
Q – Bladesurge: This is her main tool for mobility. It allows her to dash to enemies, dealing damage and refreshing the cooldown on kills or assists. Use this to farm, chase down enemies, or escape.
W – Defiant Dance: A channeling ability that grants her damage reduction during the animation and deals damage in a cone. It's also good for blocking incoming damage and can be used to trade or disengage from fights.
E – Flawless Duet: A skillshot where Irelia sends two blades out, which stun enemies between them. It’s great for initiating or catching out opponents. It requires good timing, but landing this is key to winning fights.
R – Vanguard's Edge: Irelia throws a blade that hits all enemies in its path and applies a slow. If it hits multiple targets, it will explode, marking them for extra damage. This is her primary engage tool and damage source in teamfights.
3. Item Build:
Starting Items:
Doran's Blade and Health Potion: Standard start for sustain and trading power.
Doran’s Shield (against poke-heavy champions): Provides better sustain in tough matchups.
Core Items:
Divine Sunderer: Great for Irelia since she relies on her abilities to deal sustained damage. It also gives her some much-needed tankiness with its bonus health and damage.
Navori Quickblades: A solid item for crit-based Irelia builds, reducing cooldowns and allowing her to use her abilities more frequently.
Ravenous Hydra: Offers lifesteal and bonus damage, plus a significant power spike in the mid-to-late game.
Situational Items:
Sterak’s Gage: Gives extra durability and AD, especially useful if you’re diving into the enemy team.
Guardian Angel: If you need survivability for late-game team fights, this item helps you stay alive longer.
Death's Dance: For more sustain in fights, especially if you’re in the front line and taking a lot of damage.
Mercurial Scimitar: If the enemy team has a lot of crowd control, this item is good for cleansing stuns or slows.
4. Playstyle:
Early Game: In the early laning phase, Irelia is very strong if played correctly. Use your Q to farm, last-hit, and poke. Once you hit level 6, you can start looking for aggressive plays with your ultimate, especially after hitting a good E.
Mid Game: This is when Irelia shines. She can melt through squishier targets, split-push, and 1v1 most champions. Look to roam and make plays with your team.
Late Game: Irelia is very strong in extended team fights thanks to her passive and ultimate. She excels at diving onto backline carries but needs to be careful of being caught out by CC. Aim for the right target and try to clean up team fights.
