Hi, my name is Royalclam (twitch.tv/ominousc) and here you will learn how to be the best Irelia player out there. With this build you're teed to make it to Gold 5 in no time and finally get that sweet Victorious skins you've been wanting all these seasons.

You're probably wondering "Wow! This guide is so good, why is he putting it out for a noob like me?" well, its to help you get to a higher division then what you have now and I actually wanna help the League Community.

Now I will give you some tips and tricks about Irelia and why she is so good with this build.

Why Irelia is so good :3

Irelia has a tight ***. I mean have you seen that ***? Its like so tight and round, lump an delicious. I just wanna... NEVERMIND. At any case I'm just saying that Irelia is the best champ and you can optimize it by using this guide.

Irelia can snowball a game while being tanky, hard-carry as an assassin and if you fed top lane, all you have to do is farm to still be relevant into the lategame(As long as you get ). But what I love most about her is her playstyle, its not "We gonna farm until we have 300 stacks" *cough* *cough* and its not overly complicated like Riven. But she still requires some mechanical understanding of her kit.

To be frank with you, you only need to master my tips and tricks section and you're well on your way to get the sweet, sweet Victorious skin and have the bragging rights over your friends. I know I still have mine.

Pros and Cons for building her a certain way

Why build her assassin?:

Cons for building her assassin:

Why build her tanky?:

Cons to building her Tanky:

Explination of their play-styles.

Assassin Playstyle:

The play-style of her, as an assassin, is her just looking for opportunities for her to go all-in on an opponent. She is supposed to get fed and snowball the game way out of control, probably even forcing a surrender at 20 from the enemy. But, you don't wanna go ham every chance you get, because then you get too predictable.

Trust me, changing your patterns in League is key to winning a game and acquiring more ELO. Besides all of that, she is just a fun assassin to play as.

Tanky Play-style

The tanky method is one a bit boring, in my opinion. To kill someone below 7, you'll require knowledge of the match-up and . But I don't believe that you went the tanky route to get fed and kill loads of people.

Being a tank, the only way that I can describe it, is like a boat in the distance. You see it moving slowly, but if you get in its way its gonna slam you to the side and keep moving at its own pace. Being a tank is like a glorified support with a bit of damage.

What Every Irelia Player should build everygame

Mercury Treads

One of the most essential items for Irelia because it synergizes well with her passive. Its just so good to have because it makes anyone's crowd control reduced to half, or sometimes even more. But you don't want this if they have a little to no CC composition.

Ninja Tabi

This is a good, in-fact the BEST alternative for Irelia when they have little to no CC. Since Irelia doesn't really NEED more attack speed, even when shes going tanky. Gives armour and a cool little passive that stops 10% of their incoming AA damage.

What you'll buy in every game that you play as Irelia; Tanky or NOT.

This **** right here is gonna be the power spike that you've been dreaming of. Look at the stats! No wonder they bumped their price up. It is just insane, and it has 2 passives that benefit Irelia so well!

The Phage helps you. It gives health and damage. Also gives a fairly good passive that speeds you up when you attack an enemy. A good alternative if you're falling behind or just need the extra health.

Squishie-destroyer item known as Sheen! If you're snowballing in lane and you don't know what to buy, you're gonna wanna buy this! It gives you an on-hit effect that scales with your AD. Look at it it scales 200% with your AD! It is just amazing.

Zeal gives Irelia that OP stat that she needs, gives her even MORE movementspeed and gives you the chance to crit an opponent. I know, its not much. But once you crit, you're gonna be so happy!

(Especially that animation as she crits mmm~)

Damage FTW

The arsenal for her owning:

Ravenous Hydra

This item, I feel, is underestimated with Irelia. This has insane sustain, with even more of it combining it with your Hiten Style. You can out-sustain the damage pretty much any champion. But don't let yourself be poked down to no health(Unless you're baiting them). I usually swap out my Ravenous Hydra for Bork if the enemies have too much health for my Ravenous Hydra. Trust me, swap it out for Bork It is much better if they have too much HP. Be wary, people may criticize you, flame you and even call you bad if you use this and the other person is an Irelia main. I just feel those people are ignorant. I usually show them otherwise once I play with it though.

Infinity Edge

Only buy this if you know you're gonna be ahead and know that you're gonna maintain that lead. This with Hydra will destroy any squishie. I usually buy this when I'm completely and utterly dominating every aspect of the game. Like you mom.

Last Whisper

I buy this when my opponent is stacking armor, or they have a Rammus. This completely shreds through armor. The best option if you're dominating the lane and your lane enemy decides to stack armor.

Youmuu's Ghostblade

I usually get this when I'm going tanky Irelia and I need the armor penetration with an attack speed steroid, because I'm getting fed. It is a good item when you're going tanky, gives you a good active,that gives you some movement speed for escaping or chasing, CDR and armor penetration. You can even get some lucky crits when you stun them, makes for some hilarious reactions from them. "Did you just crit me as I flashed!?". Sometimes It even puts them on tilt, which makes the game easier to win.

Black Cleaver

hen Assassin Irelia needs health and armor penetration at the same time, this is your friend. When you see that Garen trying stack armor, hoping that he can kill you when you're squishy early game. Well, when you buy this item, his dreams will be crushed. Even though this has phage, its still a good option for her when you're going assassin. DO NOT GET THIS IF YOU'RE GOING TANKY.

Wit's End

This will make any AP mid in your team LOVE you. LOOVE YOU. If your AP mid is fed, and you have enough tankyness, BUY THIS A.S.A.P. He will thank you later and even gift you a mystery skin(true story). I don't buy this when my team lacks AP though. I just find it redundant when my team is full AD.

Blade of the Ruined King

This item is situational. Because you don't wanna get this in the early game if their team isn't buying armor. But you wanna buy this in the lategame when they have the HP for this to be worth it. Buy this in the lategame if their team is stacking health.

Resist da booty(Magic Resist, Armor)

Armor:

Dead Man's Plate

I get this item when I'm ahead and I'm being kited hard by someone. This gives you a +50 movement speed when fully stacked, so you can run down any ADC that is kiting you. After you hit them with your proc it slows them by 75% for 1 second. That's 1/4 the slow of Thresh's The Box. I sometime even get this when I'm playing assassin Irelia because some people are so quick and I need to catch up to 'em.

Randuins Omen

Buy this Item if theres someone thats fast and is stacking armor. This **** is gonna slow them down HARD. Combine this with the movement speed from Youmuu and the slow from Randuins and you will be called speedy Gonzales with slows.

Frozen Heart

If they have alot of people that rely using their auto attacks. The CDR helps ALOT. Escaping, initiating. Because you have your Q up when you waste it using it on them to engage. The bad thing about this item is that it doesn't give you health.

Thornmail

If their AD is fed and you know you're not gonna kill him. You will buy this. Thornmail will be your best friend. He is like the mother protecting her baby cubs from predators. She will carry you when you can't carry yourself!

Sterak's Gage

This item is the CORE of your tanky build. Because it gives you health and a good passive. Trust me, buy this thing agianst a Riven and you will own her(assuming you know the ins and outs of Irelia).

Magic Resist:

Maw of Malmortius

Good when you need damage and magic resist. I don't rush this ever. But its a good 3rd or 4th item. Just make sure to get hexdrinker first, because of the sick shield it gives you. And, if you read the Maw's passive, it has a passive that gives you bonus AD, that stacks to 35, for 1% of health missing.

Spirit Visage

Get this when you need the extra health and the sustain that the item gives you. It is a solid item for tanky magic resist with a good sustain. I always get this if the AP of their team is someone like Swain or Vladimir that have insane sustain.

Banshee's Veil

The Veil will help you in soooo many situations. I cannot count how many games I won because I had this item's passive on me. Get this if they have someone like Annie that relies on her stun to initate. Just think about it like this: "Will I survive a straight up teamfight if I don't block a stun or a CC?". Usually get this when I'm going assassin, but it works wonders with tanky irelia as well.

Locket of the Iron Solari

This is a controversial item to have. Because it takes up a slot in your items that can be used for some thing like Randuin's Omen or Banshee's Veil that are certainly better then this item. But I didn't put this here for no reason. I get this item when they have 3 or more people with AP and I know that my jungler or support isn't going to buy this item. DO NOT GET THIS IF YOU'RE TEAM ALREADY HAS ONE. Gives you +15 magic resist to every ally, with an aura that covers pretty much all your screen. A good item to have if they have 3 or more AP casters.

Runes

Attack Speed.

Attack speed:

AS(Attack Speed) is the most valuable asset in Irelia's stats because of her W. The more attacks you do per second, the more true damage your Hiten Style will do.

Attack Speed is a wonderful thing, but it isn't if the enemy does too much damage before you can do your damage or enemies that can damage you and get away quickly(Zed, LeBlanc, etc...)

Scale Health :

I pick health over armor because it helps against bursty champions ,like Riven. Although you can switch this for armor if you feel that you need it. I feel that this comes down to personal preference.

Magic resist per level :

I always felt that as Irelia you didn't need that much magic resist, unless you're laning against a heavy magic dealer. That's why I get this, so that we have more magic resist by level 18 then if we had non-scaling regular magic resists blues.

Quints AS :

Now, it may be overkill to have 29% attack speed on Irelia, but this is so that you can assassinate whoever squishies target that you stun. Since your stun last 2 seconds at max level, so you have 2 seconds to burst down that target and kill her before she can do anything. That's why I believe that the more attack speed, without compromising the other defenses(AKA magic resist and armor) the better.

Tank 'Relia

I take Attack Damage reds and Quints , because I want to maximize my power potential without becoming reliant in building some Attack Speed in order for me to do a significant amount of damage. I sometimes even run these runes instead of my assassin runes because I got against a top laner like Malphite because his Ground Slam that reduces you're attack speed significantly.

Rest is for tankyness reasons. I actually take armor rune here, because I plan on building a ton of health instead of armor, because I'm going tanky. Even though I'm gonan build armor and health, I feel that its better to have these runes rather then the health runes.

Masteries

OFFENSIVE TREE

I got for double edged sword so that I can do more damage, even though you take 1% more you deal more damage then what you take, which is awesome.

I take Sorcery over Fury, because I feel that we need that 5% CDR in Irelia so that we have our spells faster. We have enough of that in our Runes.

Taking Butcher helps you last hit, trust me. When I made a smurf level 1 account I couldn't farm that good. So taking Butcher really helps you.

Brute Force is the best option here because you get more damage and you don't really use the Exposes Weaknesses on Irelia its just the best alternative.

You take Feast to sustain better in lane. Its not much but it helps. Its like a mini Dorans blade without the lifesteal or extra health.

We're gonna wanna take Martial Mastery to get more of that sweet Attack Damage, again I don't take Spell Weaving here because Irelia doesn't use much of spell damage, she uses a lot of Auto attacking.

Executioner level 2 to make room for other masteries. Its better like this because the +5% attack speed from Frenzy helps you more once you have your Zeal so that you can do more damage per second, this helps you burst down champions making it faster to hit 35% and have that 5% damage increase.

Gonna take Warlord because of the Attack damage, son!

Frenzy because of the reasons that we've covered previously.

Devastating Strikes and Havoc to complete our offensive tree.

DEFENSIVE TREE

Standard defensive tree build. The last 9 points are so that you're not the squishiest lil' homeboy around and if things go south you always have the extra health and defense from this tree.

Abilities

This passive is ridiculous, it makes Irelia the only champion to have more then 35% tenacity, infact, if all 5 enemy champions are together and you have Mercury's Treads you're total tenacity would be: 75% of tenacity. That is INSANE!

This is your only gap closer and it makes for some sick outplays in the Rift. You can use this to avoid skillshots, get away, engage onto an opponent and harrass damage.

You should try to get a caster minion whos HP is low or you know you can kill with your Q so that it refunds and you can your Q back up!

I wasn't kiding that Hiten Style is Irelia's most valuable asset in her arsenal.

(other then her ***s, mm~)

With damage coming from your Auto Attacks and an additional 30/45/60/75 TRUE DAMAGE its just insane. Thats why I stress to have Attack Speed with Irelia.

Not only do you have true damage, your healing doubles when you activate this ability, gaining 10/14/18/22/26 healing done in addition to any other Lifesteal that you have. Its just amazing.

This **** right here is one of the keys that seperates the good Irelias from the bad ones. You gotta know when to use it and when not to use it. For example: If you know Yi has Meditate up and he goes on an all-in you just know to: save your E so that when he uses his Meditate you stun him, breaking him from his meditation and killing him.

Just some insight.

This can also turn around the fight, are you getting it? Irelia is about when to use her abilities and how to use them. This ultimate will let you all in a Darius if you have a wave that's pushing onto you. Because the amount of healing done from each blade is ridiculous, I mean...

Look at the math!

You're healing 10% per minion, assuming there's 6 minions in the wave. You're gonna be healing 60% per blade. And that's on top of your W's Active. It is just insane the amount of sustain that this has.

Not to mention that you have 80/120/160 damage per blade as well. So 80*4 = 320 damage. I mean this **** is just ridiculous.

Images taken from here

Laning Phase

The most crucial time in the game. This decides whether you're gonna struggle throughout the game, or not.

Starting out:

When you first get into the Rift you're gonna have to check who is your opponent. Even though you're gonna start Flask and pots, you gotta know who you're going against in order to build appropriately. I don't want to build Thornmail when all they have is an AP team, I don't wanna build Hexdrinker when they have 0 AP. That being said, assess who is your top lane opponent AND how much AP or AD damage to they have and then decide what to buy throughout the match.

Alright, you're walking into lane, now I'm gonna have to ask you to farm until you're 7 and then wait for an opening to go in for the kill.

Or... You can go all in on him at level 4 and try to kill him if you know for a fact that you're not gonna die. How do you know that? By looking at the "Just the tips and Tricks" section of the guide so you know when to go all in before level 7.

When to use your trinket:

You usually use your trinket at minute 3:00 because thats usually the time that the enemy jungler(If they've followed the traditional path) will gank you. So put a ward down:

Red Side Ward

I put my trinket down at 3:00 minutes here, so that I can see the enemy jungler when he finishes his blue. This works 90% of the time.

Blue Side Ward

Placing a ward in their tribush makes it easier, because that is a common route for junglers to gank you in the early stages of the game.

What to do if you're behind or feeding in this phase:

If you're feeding, you gotta build defense and become the ***** Tanky Frontline instead of an assassin. You never heard of a behind Riven whos 0/6/0 coming back and doing insane amount of damage. No, you're gonna have to go full tanky , full full tanky. Refer to my second build, the ***** build in this guide by clicking the arrows near the title of this Guide.

After becoming a full on ***** tank, go back to lane. Try to stay near your turret and farm, Irelia is one of the best champions farming under turret. Ask for ganks from your jungler, but don't pester him about it, just mention it a few times.

Or, you can group up and push a lane other then yours, let your tower be taken and then go back to it to farm in a safer position in the map. I suggest you try and freeze your lane if you're farming under your tier 2 turret.

Lastly, you can roam. Sounds the same as grouping but its not. Its going mid and trying for a kill, its teleporting to bot lane so that you can try and get some assists, its helping your jungler when the enemy jungler is in there jungle. Roaming is when you go to another part of the map to become useful again.

What to do if you're ahead and snowballing:

You have made me proud. You have done it man.

You can splitpush, but if you're gonna splitpush you gotta do it wiseley:

Is the enemy jungler near? And can you kill him?

IS the enemy mid laner near? And can you kill him?

Is your splitpushing helping your team?(Because why do you wanna split if their bot lane is fed?)

Do you have a good ward coverage?

Here is where I usually ward if I'm splitpushing:

Roaming will help your team out alot, especially if you're fed and the others are struggling. What makes a successful roam is that you know when to gank and how to gank.

Here are some videos of good roams(since its easier for you to understand):

Teamfighting , we are fighting dreamers!

As an assassin Irelia, you are to be in the shadows . Trying to get the most squishy target and burst him down without anyone noticing you. So just stay back and let your team initiate or, if you're feeling ballsy, you can flash in > E the ADC or the squishy target(make sure you can stun him) use your all-in combo and then get out. Which may not happen because you used your flash onto the squishy carry. Remember to use your actives in all of this.

The tanky 'Relia is suppose to babysit the carry, whether that is the ADC or the mid-laner, hold their hand and keep them alive like a mom. It's like they're college kids that are living their lives with a lot of alcohol and they need you to give them more money to buy more alcohol. So that's the analogy that I see when I play Irelia tanky. Just stick with your ADC or mid-laner all the time and peel. Save your E to stun anyone who goes in to rush the back-line. You should consider buying a pink if they have someone like Rengar, or anyone that can turn invisible.

Just the tip and Tricks

So, in this section, I wanna get DEEP into what a good Irelia can do. She sees opportunities the no other Irelia player can see and knows how to execute it accordingly.

Tips and tricks:

You can't really kill anyone before level 7 as Irelia(assuming you've maxed W first) if you don't have the AS runes and quints.

When to kill someone before level 7:

You gotta meet these requirements first:

These are all questions you have to make in order to kill someone before 7, or during laning phase. With time you will develop an instinct for this and will recognize more opportunities about when to go in and when not to.

Use your Q(Bladesurge) on a low HP minion to reset it and gain some mana back when the enemy champion is near that minion whos HP is low. After that you wanna E> W and then back off.

If you think you can kill him, use your R.

Here is a video of a successful all-in.

Sometimes you wanna save your E to stun the target rather then slow him down. So, what I usually do is when hes going in and I have more HP then him I activate my W let him attack him WHILE I'M ATTACKING HIM. Then, when I notice my HP is lower then his, I stun him and if I know I can kill him with my All-In then I use it..

Since your R has a low CD you can use it to clear the waves of minions sometimes, not all the time. You will develop a sense for this.

Here is a list of tips to help you know when to use R.

Why and when you should max E over W

So it comes the time where your W is just not as good as maxing your stun. I mean, it has a 2 second stun in there. Its not weak against bursty champions. Champions that are squishy and can be punished by your Stun,Not to mention it deals insane amount of damage maxed.

TL;DR You max E when you can punish an assassin. Aka every assassin match-up. Think in terms of Riven, Yi, etc...

Why are you so good with Irelia?

I'm good with Irelia because I've been playing with her ever since S2, I mained her and got really good with her. I realized that she was better as an assassin rather then a tank.

because she has a tight *** like me :3.

Nevermind that, I got good with her by practicing with her, reading other guides and getting more experience with her. She was the one who carried me from Bronze to Gold, 2 seasons in a row. And with the increasing numbers of good Irelia guides you have no excuse to not go out and learn what makes a good Irelia and a bad Irelia.

Still to come:

1 Videos
Deeper understanding of Irelia
Future Seasons
And you guys :3
Jungle Irelia