Introduction
yo, my name is Ireallyabot, but some of you may know me as franky.
I am a 21 year old Grandmaster Irelia one trick on the NA super server.
As a one trick, 75% of my 200-300 games every season in high elo are just playing Irelia mid or top, sometimes even jungle or ADC. The only times I don't play Irelia is when she's picked or banned. I’ve done many Irelia only accounts to Masters, and I’ve been Rank 1 Irelia NA on every account I’ve climbed to Masters, even peaking Rank 1 Irelia World occasionally on LeagueofGraphs.com. You can find me and my many accounts on onetricks.gg for build paths, itemization, and even VODs in my Master+ games.

I've been coached by the likes of Irelia one tricks such as IreliaCarriesU, and also Challenger Mid/Top lane players as well. I have also coached tens if not hundreds of lower rank Irelia one tricks to reach their ranked goal all ranks from Gold to Masters.

I stream (almost) everyday on Twitch and am currently working on a YouTube guide currently as you are reading this. A Patreon catered to all things Irelia related will be coming soon as well.
Follow my socials to be updated on the release of any content in the near future.

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/ireallyabot
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@ireallyabot6452
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ireallyabot
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ireliaplayerxd

Join the Discord for stream notifications and all things Irelia related!
https://discord.com/invite/JR2MUp54cK

Irelia, the Blade Dancer is a flashy, balls-to-the-wall, all-in, 1v9 L9 SPACEGLIDE fighter champion played typically in the Mid Lane or Top Lane. With insane synergy with one of the best items in the game, Blade of the Ruined King, Irelia's core kit revolves around her powerful auto-attacks and mobility to teleport onto the enemy screen while one shotting their carries.

However, in order to start this guide off, I want you to start thinking of Irelia as the Pawn in the game of chess. The Pawn progresses only by moving forward on the board, never backwards. Each move the Pawn takes is a calculated move as the Pawn cannot go retreat once it moves forward. This concept is very similar to Irelia's very one sided gameplay. The incredible upside to Irelia's aggression is ultimately coupled with her inability to withdraw from a fight until either she or her target is dead.

All good Irelia players develop the ability to map out their movement preemptively. Each and every move made is a calculated one, and the play is typically planned out a few seconds before it even happens on the screen. Therefore, she requires some degree of game sense and muscle memory as well as confidence in order to operate her at maximum capability. She is a champion of discipline and coordination, and therefore requires tremendous amount of practice in order to really understand how to pilot properly. Due to the amount of sheer practice needed to just master the basics of the champion alone, I'd give her an overall difficulty rating of 8/10. Although her learning curve is exceptionally high, she is most definitely worth the time invested into learning her.

Here are a list of her Pros and Cons:

PROS - High mobility champion with a lot of potential to outplay any enemies in any given scenario - Exceptional laning potential paired with insane wave control capabilities and farming - Strong early game & even stronger mid game - Good frontline unit with good teamfighting potential & high survivability - Highest attack range melee champion (200) - Insanely good 1v9 champion to carry lower elo games & can easily take over by maintaining a large Gold and XP lead - Punishes enemy micro mistakes a lot harder than any other champion could

CONS - Insanely high learning curve, requiring a lot of practice in order to play properly - Easily disrupted and shut down by any & all types of hard CC (stun, ground, suppress) - Requires a large gold and/or XP lead in order to be useful in the late game - Falls off extremely hard in the late game - Easily countered by enemy objectives such as Baron Buff or Enemy Super Minion - Less room for error as Irelia is punished by enemy champions a lot harder for her mistakes than the average champion

Q: What is Irelia's best skin? I basically only use Sentinel Irelia with the Sapphire Chroma. The Sentinel skin line just has such amazing sound effects and animations. My second favorite skin is Divine Sword Irelia with the Obsidian Chroma just because of how clean it looks. I like Mythmaker a lot, but personally just think the Q animation feels rather clunky. Overall though it's a very well designed skin in terms of particle effects and VFX. I also really like Frostblade Irelia, for no particular reason at all.
Q: What do you play when Irelia is banned? I usually dodge if Irelia is banned. But if I decide to play, it'll be champions that imitate Irelia's playstyle. Some of these picks include Akali, Camille, Qiyana, Vladimir, or Riven.

Q: What champion do you ban every game? If Mid, I'm banning Fizz a lot this season. In the mid-lane, there aren't many champions that really counter Irelia that hard these bans are more targeted for champions that can take over the game easily if fed. If Top, I always ban Malphite and Jax. These are not necessarily lane bans, but more so bans for champions that you will have little to no control over in the late game when Irelia begins to falls off.
Regarding lane bans, some bans for Mid lane are: Taliyah and Cassiopeia.
Bans for Top lane include Malphite, Jax and Poppy.

Q: What DPI do you play on? To be honest, it's really just about comfortability. I know Irelking plays on 2k~ DPI, but personally I've always played on low sens. My DPI is 850 and in-game mouse speed is 25. Over the years, I've gotten used to using my entire wrist and forearm to move my mouse for more accurate movement instead of just my hand. One trick I can give is to turn the cursor size down to ~10 and use the Legacy Cursor to aim at targets a lot more accurately.

Q: Is Irelia better in the mid or top lane? I think if you are just practicing Irelia, definitely take her to the Top lane. You will not only learn to utilize your waves better, but you will also be practicing a lot of your technical 1v1s more as well. In lower elo (<Diamond 4) it's a lot easier to carry your team building a lead in the Top lane than building a lead Mid lane. If you are way better than the enemy Top laner, there's a higher chance you will win the game than if you were better than the enemy Mid laner.
In higher elo (>Diamond 4), Mid lane is definitely more impactful than the Top lane. The matchups are usually a bit better, and there is a lot more impact on the map which is more important in these higher elo games. At the end of the day, play your comfort role.

This will be the default rune page every game, give or take a few keystones:
There is an alternative default rune page for more experienced Irelia players who feel as if the extra defensive runes are not necessary and would rather opt for a more aggressive playstyle:

Primary Keystone Options:
There are typically two primary keystones that are taken on Irelia-- both in the Precision tree. The two viable options are the following:

Conqueror Typically taken by melee champions who benefit from extended trades and long fights, Conqueror has proven to be the best keystone for Irelia. Conqueror is practically designed for Irelia's kit. Firstly, she's a melee champion-- which gains 2 stacks of Conqueror per auto attack instead of 1 for ranged champions. Secondly, due to her ability to reset her Q on champions that are marked, she can stack these effects twice as fast compared to the average champion. Conqueror also works particularly well with Ionian Fervor, as their effects both refresh in combat and increase both attack damage and magic damage on her auto attacks. It even increases her total healing, more so when paired with Revitalize and/or Blade of the Ruined King and additionally scales a lot better into the mid-late game than its counterpart Lethal Tempo. While it's not the only option for Irelia's main keystone, it is in fact the most viable one.

Lethal Tempo Lethal Tempo, although very niche rune choice, actually provides a lot of value in the early to midgame. Taking Conqueror in certain matchups forces Irelia to commit harder to a fight where she may not have the survivability or DPS to match it, while taking Lethal Tempo makes shorter trades a lot more Irelia favored. Yone for example, is a champion I always take Tempo into as it's easy to stack and helps trading in earlier levels since he takes it as well. Into tank matchups, I almost always recommend going Lethal Tempo since it helps Irelia win longer fights by increasing her DPS. At 4 stacks also, Tempo brings your attack speed to almost 1.5, which is actually absurd early game without any attack speed items.

The decision between Lethal Tempo and Conqueror is pretty simple. If you can stack Lethal Tempo against your opponent really easily, it's always Lethal Tempo. This goes for tanks and champions you have to duel with auto attacks very consistently (i.e: K'Sante, Ornn, Shen). This also goes for other champions that may take Lethal Tempo that are not Darius or Jax as well (i.e: Yone, Yasuo)
If not, then Conqueror is your best choice. This applies to champions with burst damage and are hard to target with auto attacks or champions such as Garen, Teemo that may inhibit your Lethal Tempo stacking.

Triumph
As one of the best tower dive champions in the game, Irelia benefits greatly from the effects of Triumph, especially in lower ranks. Learning to dive on Irelia infinitely increases her snowball potential during the early-mid game where Triumph is the strongest. It also increases the chances of surviving these higher risk plays. I can't begin to count how many times Triumph has helped me survive a tower dive with a slither of HP that would otherwise be a 1 for 1.
Alternative(s): The alternative to Triumph, Presence of Mind is more of a niche keystone choice. Usually taken by more experienced Irelia players, the reason you would take this rune over Triumph is if Irelia really needs the extra mana in order to sustain in lane or kill her enemy laner. This same concept applies to taking Inspiration over Resolve as a secondary rune tree. For beginner-intermediate Irelia players, there is a lot less reward to taking this rune. Prioritize learning what your limits are first and take Triumph and Resolve instead.

Legend: Tenacity
One of Irelia's biggest issues is how easily her kit is shut down by CC abilities. As a melee engage champion, landing CC on her is very easy and therefore Tenacity will help a lot with her survivability against those team comps. In Season 14, Riot Games added the Tenacity stat line to bruiser items like Sterak's Gage and Wit's End that Irelia actually builds, so keep in mind that itemizing those items with this rune is extremely important whe taking this keystone. You want to be maximizing the amount of tenacity you would get if you decide to take Legend: Tenacity. Although this setup will not guarantee that she can survive heavy CC chains, it definitely feels like it does. Paired with Mercury's Treads, Unflinching, and a properly timed Defiant Dance, dying to heavy CC chains become a thing of the past (sort of).
You typically want to take this rune against heavy CC champions such as: Leona, Malphite, Nasus, Nautilus, Poppy, Rakan.
Legend: Alacrity
Legend: Alacrity can be taken when the extra Tenacity from Legend: Tenacity is not necessary. The bonus attack speed is really nice and you can really feel the difference in gameplay compared to taking Tenacity. More times than not, the enemy team will not have enough CC to stop Irelia's mobility unless they are drafting champions specifically against her. Only then would I advise to opt for a rune that allows for more damage and snowball potential rather than survivability. On that note, Legend: Bloodline is pretty trash-- don't take it. The scaleability on the rune as opposed to Tenacity and Alacrity is not really there, and most champions will just build healing reduction if playing against Irelia anyways.

Last Stand
Judging from damage numbers alone, Last Stand is the most viable option for Irelia's last keystone in the Precision tree. Its counterparts, Coup de Grace and Cut Down are not terrible choices, but are less applicable throughout the course of the game. Paired with Irelia's innate healing in her kit and items such as Sterak's Gage or Sundered Sky, she can quickly turn around what seems to be a lost fight. Irelia is the strongest in the 30-40% HP range, and Last Stand allows for her to not just play with fire, but thrive in it.

Secondary Keystone Options:
Irelia has two viable secondary keystone options: Resolve and Inspiration.
The Resolve tree is typically the safer option of the two as it provides Irelia with more defensive countermeasures while allowing more room for mistakes in lane and in teamfights.
The Inspiration tree on the other hand is usually taken by more experienced players who wage extra defensive stats for increased aggression in lane in order to snowball harder.

As mentioned earlier, if you are a beginner-intermediate Irelia player, take Resolve as your secondary rune. You will not get the benefits of extra aggression if you aren't extremely familiar with the matchups. Very rarely is Inspiration a better option, and more often than not is just an ego pick for more advanced Irelia players.

Resolve
Bone Plating
Bone Plating is the go-to secondary rune for Irelia against melee matchups, especially in the top lane where most of her matchups are against other melee champions. It allows Irelia to have better trades in the early levels where her defensive stats are the lowest. The most common Irelia level 1 trade is Bladesurgex3 into Bladesurge onto the unsuspecting enemy champion for the 4th Ionian Fervor stack. Bone Plating will almost always guarantee that you win this trade against champions with weaker early games. It also surprisingly scales pretty well into the late game where it's used to help Irelia survive the first few seconds of an engage during a teamfight.
In lane, Bone Plating is exceptionally good against fight engaging champions with combos such as: Darius, Fizz, Jax, Sett, Talon, Qiyana.
It can even be good against champions that you are pretty evenly matched with such as: Akali, K'Sante, Nasus.
Alternative(s): Second Wind is a safe alternative to Bone Plating. There will be games that Bone Plating won't provide any real value due to how easily it will be proc'd (i.e: vs. ranged or poke matchup). In these games, opt for Second Wind and Doran's Shield to avoid being poked out by the enemy laner while trying to farm. Conditioning is also not a bad option-- the only downside being the lack of access to an early game defensive rune. This rune is usually picked when Irelia really needs the extra defensive stats in the late game to avoid being one shot by enemy carries.
Read Doran's Shield to see what matchups to take Second Wind

Revitalize
As mentioned earlier, Revitalize is the icing on top of Irelia's already high base healing stats. As one of her best secondary carry runes, it pairs extremely well with Irelia's kit. The extra 5% healing makes a large difference in how much Bladesurge heals per cast, the effects of the lifesteal from Blade of the Ruined King, and also Conqueror. It also increases the amount of healing from Sundered Sky and any other item you might build that provides healing such as Ravenous Hydra or Immortal Shieldbow.
Note: If there is a champion on the enemy team that you know for sure will apply some form of healing reduction such as Bramble Vest, this extra healing will be negligible. If this is the case, opt for one of the following alternative runes:
Alternative(s): Unflinching is usually the best alternative to Revitalize. If you are taking Legend: Tenacity, there is most likely heavy CC on the enemy team and you should probably also take Unflinching. If not, then Overgrowth is not a bad option. However, keep in mind that if you are taking Overgrowth, you will probably also be taking Conditioning as well, as both runes help Irelia scale into a tanky fighter that can survive longer in teamfights.

Inspiration
Biscuit Delivery
During the laning phase, Irelia will inevitably run into Mana issues, some matchups more so than others. In these cases, Biscuit Delivery is a viable option. Sometimes, a kill is just one Bladesurge away, and chances are if you are playing extremely aggressive, Irelia will not have enough mana to kill the enemy champion. This rune provides just enough extra mana to guarantee these kills that will shift the matchup into Irelia's favor. It also catches unsuspecting enemy champions offguard who will engage on the "manaless" Irelia with a few biscuits in her inventory.
These champions include but are not limited to: Ahri, Annie, Syndra, Zoe.

Cosmic Insight
With the knowledge that Vanguard's Edge can be buffered by Flash, it makes sense for an Irelia player to pick Cosmic Insight as a secondary rune. With more access to her flash throughout the course of the game, Irelia suddenly becomes a champion that can engage teamfights very efficiently and subsequently punish enemy champions a lot harder for micro/macro mistakes. She also becomes a strong split-pusher with a shorter cooldown if taking Teleport, and can potentially solo kill more in lane with a shorter cooldown if taking Ignite.

The two safest options for summoner spells are Flash Teleport and Flash Ignite
Check below to determine what the best secondary option is for each game.

Flash Teleport Most game will just be Flash Teleport, especially in the Top Lane. Remember that we are trying to scale into the mid game as efficiently as possible. It's the safest choice as it allows more room for micro and macro mistakes throughout the early-mid game. Also, since Irelia is a very good split pusher, Teleport draws immense side-lane pressure away from objectives such as Baron Nashor and Dragon in the late game. If the enemy team does not send someone to match the sidelane Irelia, she will clear a path straight to the enemy Nexus. This is also the most ideal situation for Irelia as she is strongest when isolating her enemies in sidelanes where there are always minions. She doesn't really need to take Ignite in most of her lane matchups, and it's more important to get solo lane XP and CS than kills anyways.

Flash Ignite Flash Ignite is a lane oriented pick. It's an extremely useful lane tool to have, but its usage late game gets extremely outscaled by its counterpart Teleport. As one of the best 1v1 champions in the game, this choice of summoner spell gives Irelia just enough to guarantee her early solo kills. Most of Irelia's matchups are pretty even without Ignite, so having it gives her an early advantage in these matchups. Ignite also opens up the possibility of solo killing champions with strong early game healing such as Sylas or Darius that she would not otherwise have without it. However, because it's such a lane oriented choice, you really should only be taking Ignite to win lane. In matchups where Irelia wins or loses hard, there really is no point in taking it. A good example of this is Aatrox. Since Irelia is one of Aatrox's biggest counters, even though he has high base healing, Irelia wins it without Ignite anyways so Teleport is ideal.

The decision between Teleport and Ignite can be easily made by answering the following questions:
1) "Will the enemy laner also take Ignite?" If yes, proceed to Question #2.
Good examples of this are Wukong and Riven.
2) "Does Ignite's Grevious Wound effect reduce any healing done by my laner?" If yes, take it and make sure you are playing aggressive vs. your laner in order to fully utilize your Ignite. Remember, you are using taking Ignite to win lane, and you can only do so by winning your fights.
Good examples of this are Aatrox, Illaoi, Darius, and Sylas
If the answer to either questions are no or you are not feeling confident about the matchups, just take Teleport. Irelia scales into the mid game a lot better going 0/0 in lane with almost perfect CS than going 2/0 in lane with bad CS.

In Season 14, I think that Exhaust has become a viable summoner spell to take in lane and in my opinion, actually very good in certain matchups. It can be used to stop all in champions such as Riven from taking your entire HP bar in one trade, and
also shift the momentum of fights in Irelia's favor. Exhaust almost guarantees any 1 vs 1 if used correctly as it allows Irelia to stack up her Lethal Tempo or Conqueror while the enemy is exhausted. Just keep in mind that you are waging guaranteed free scaling into the mid game for kills by taking Exhaust over Teleport. But, for matchups like Riven where they will almost always take Ignite and not Teleport, it proves to be really useful.

Other Secondary Spell Options:

• Cleanse is mainly lane oriented, but also provides some security in the late game. CC is Irelia's biggest counter, so anything that can relieve this proves to be good. Typically, Cleanse is taken against champions that have a strong CC ability early game that allows them sets up ganks for their jungler or to all in Irelia in the early game. A good example of a matchup where Cleanse is necessary is Zoe. Early deaths without Teleport are detrimental to Irelia's overall scaling in the mid game, so opting for Cleanse to ensure safety and even go for an early kill is optimal.
  
• Ghost is an extremely niche pick. The average Irelia player will not take this, but there will be games that this could be the best secondary summoner spell. An example of this is the Cassiopeia, Poppy and Taliyah matchup. Ghost mitigates the slow effects of Cassiopeia's Miasma and helps Irelia escape the Ground terrain. The same concept applies to Taliyah as trying to Bladesurge out of her Unraveled Earth will just stun you. Essentially, Ghost closes the gap created by these terrains as they are extreme hinderances to getting Irelia's full damage off, and if there are many deterrances like this on the enemy team, Ghost is a viable option.
  
• Barrier is probably the worst summoner spell, but is one of my all time favorites. Although it's definitely troll, it makes Irelia feel unkillable early game and it's like a lifeline to call on that is always reliable. I don't recommend it every game but it's worth trying, at least once. ;)
  SHOUTOUT TO KBI: KidBarrierIgnite !
  

Passive- Ionian Fervor Stacking steroid passive with effects that exponentially increases by tier (capped at 4) Ionian Fervor stacks by hitting an ability on an enemy champion or large monster+. Each unique enemy hit by Flawless Duet or Vanguard's Edge provides one stack of Ionian Fervor, while also marking each enemy hit with Unsteady, which allows Irelia to reset her Bladesurge on marked enemies. Each stack of Ionian Fervor increases Irelia's attack speed and gives her auto attacks bonus magic damage per stack. At max stacks, Irelia's champion model glows yellow. With increased attack speed and mixed auto attack damage, fighting at maximum stacks with Irelia is almost always ideal.

Q- Bladesurge Dash ability with a cooldown that resets on champions marked with Unsteady or when executing enemy target As the sole ability that survived Irelia's countless reworks, Bladesurge has proven to be one of the most original ability designs to date. The applications of this skill are endless, and learning how to use Bladesurge is a skill in of itself. To truly master Irelia, one must learn to manipulate all the different intricacies of this ability first.

W- Defiant Dance Charged defensive ability Defiant Dance is Irelia's only real means of defense in her kit. While in her defensive stance, Irelia takes 40-70% less Physical Damage and 20-30% less Magical Damage. This damage includes tower shots, objectives, and any global ability damage. As mentioned earlier, one of Irelia's biggest weaknesses is her susceptibility to heavy CC. However, if timed properly with good reaction time, Irelia can mitigate most of the damage taken while being CC'd in teamfights and buy time for her teammates and her other cooldowns. For example, if an Irelia is fighting a Gnar and is ulted into a wall, using Defiant Dance before hitting the wall will make the difference between winning or losing the fight. The same goes for most all in champion abilities such as Garen Q, Sett E, Darius E, and so on so forth. As the longest cooldown of her non-ultimate abilities, it's important to every good Irelia player to use this ability correctly in order to get the maximum value out of it. It's one of her most overpowered abilities, and there's a reason why its cooldown is insanely long. Irelia mitigates a lot of damage that would otherwise kill her in fights if not used.
E- Flawless Duet Two part stun ability Flawless Duet is the first of two abilities that mark enemies with Irelia's secondary passive skill, Unsteady. In 1v1 situations, it is crucial to land this ability in order for Irelia to reach maximum Ionian Fervor stacks. It is also Irelia's only form of hard CC, making it all the more important to use properly.

R- Vanguard's Edge Skillshot AoE that explodes on impact, creating a wall of blades that slow and damage enemies Vanguard's Edge is Irelia's ultimate and second ability that marks her enemies with Unsteady. It is much easier to get these marks from Vanguard's Edge than Flawless Duet. Therefore, this ability is best used as an engage for an all-in or teamfight.

For a more detailed breakdown on abilities, refer to the Ability section in Tips and Tricks below.

Optimize your League of Legends game settings for Irelia.
1) Go to your Settings --> Interface and find the "Cursor Scale" setting. The smaller your cursor is, the less likely you are to accidentally hover over the wrong target for your Bladesurge. Use a cursor scale anywhere from 1-25 (I use the smallest one possible)
2) Go to your Settings --> Game and find the "Mouse Speed" setting. The lower your mouse speed is, the more accurate your mouse movement will be when finding targets for your Bladesurge. Obviously, if you are more comfortable with higher DPI, it's okay to not use this. But I would still recommend dropping by 5 until you find a comfortable, lower mouse speed that will help you have more accurate mouse movement.
3) Switch to the Legacy Cursor. The Legacy Cursor has a smaller surface area than the updated cursor. Therefore, it's easier to see what targets your mouse is hovering over.

"Proactive vs Reactive"
Irelia is a champion that heavily relies on being the aggressor. Very rarely does Irelia win a fight when she is reacting to a fight rather than starting it. This creates a concept in League of Legends called "proactive vs reactive" that applies to Irelia's fighting style. As long as she is proactive, and constantly picking the fights to take, she will always have an edge over her laner. Inversely, if she is on the reactive side, she will usually lose the fight as she requires preparation to maximize her fighting capabilities. It's important to recognize that as an Irelia player, you must always be a few steps ahead of your opponent, as being a step behind or even on the same step closes the window of opportunity for you way faster. One way to do this efficiently is to always map out your movement ahead of time. Plan out where you want to Bladesurge before actually dashing-- plan a few Bladesurge. Every extra dash you account for before actually taking it will give you more timing on your opponent to catch them offguard with an all-in or trade potential.

Abilities
Ionian Fervor
Most Irelia players think that Bladesurgex4 is the most efficient way to stack Irelia passive. However, many players don't know that by hitting multiple targets with Defiant Dance, Flawless Duet, or Vanguard's Edge, you can instantaneously get 4 stacks of her passive as well. Any enemies (large/epic monsters or champions) hit by any of Irelia's multi-target skills proc her passive once, multiplied by the amount of unique enemies hit. For example, if Vanguard's Edge hits 3 enemy champions and Scuttle Crab during a river fight, Irelia will get all 4 stacks of her passive instantly. Play Video Play Video Bladesurge
Known for its efficient farming and passive stacking, there are many hidden mechanics of this ability that many don't know about:

• There is practically no cast time on Bladesurge and its reset capabilities. As long as you reset, Irelia will go as fast as you can input her Q. Therefore, by inputting Bladesurgex2, it is possible to Bladesurge twice in one frame, allowing Irelia to dodge tower shots or enemy abilities that would otherwise have a cast time.
  (Note: Sometimes, Bladesurge will reset even without executing the target. As long as the full duration of Bladesurge goes off before the enemy is executed, the ability will reset regardless as long as there is a second target for Bladesurge inputted. As of 14.2, the Q will always reset.)
  
• Bladesurge places Irelia behind her target. This concept is useful for interactions against champions such as Syndra or Yone. The idea is that Irelia's movements are extremely telegraphed. It makes her an easy target for enemy CC skill shots especially if they are ranged champions.
  For example, if Irelia is laning against a Syndra, it's extremely easy for Syndra to use her E Scatter the Weak to disrupt Irelia. However, if Irelia casts Bladesurge and Syndra reacts even a second too late, instead of knocking Irelia back, it will actually push her forward instead since she's technically behind Syndra when she lands. Likewise, if a Yone attempts to retreat by ulting away to his tower, casting Bladesurge before his Fate Sealed goes off will place Irelia behind him, stopping him from going his full ult range. Use this mechanic for dodging (or intentionally getting hit) by any ability in the game to place Irelia in an optimal position to kill her enemies. Play Video Play Video
• Bladesurge applies on-hit effects and abilities. Items like Blade of the Ruined King and Wit's End which provide bonus on-hit damage for auto attacks also apply to Bladesurge's damage. You can even proc Blade of the Ruined King's on-hit effect with Bladesurge. Other on-hit effects include Sundered Sky, Guinsoo's Rageblade, Kraken Slayer, Red Buff, and even Irelia's passive Ionian Fervor.
  That being said, when Bladesurge is maxed out at level 9, Bladesurge is usually able to one shot Caster Minion (usually paired with a Blade of the Ruined King or its components + 4 Ionian Fervor stacks), thus making for more opportunity for Irelia to punish her weaker enemies and shoving waves much faster while stacking her passive efficiently.
  
• Bladesurge heals Irelia's HP for each cast of Bladesurge. This mechanic just goes to show how important it is to learn how to reset Bladesurge. Use minions and Unsteady marks to your advantage as they really just serve as mini health packs. While the healing isn't all that much, it is most definitely not negligible especially when factoring in the amount of resets Irelia can get with any bonus healing stats (i.e: Conqueror, lifesteal from Blade of the Ruined King, and runes such as Revitalize.) Play Video

Defiant Dance
Defiant Dance's damage is based off of its cast duration. The longer Irelia holds her defensive stance the more damage the charged ability does. However, Irelia does not need to hold the entire cast duration to do the maximum damage. Around 65-70% of its cast duration is when the full damage of Defiant Dance goes off.

Use the full cast duration of Defiant Dance to lower the HP of Caster Minions to execute with Bladesurge. Wait for all the minions to line up so the charged ability hits all 6 minions. This is the fastest way to push a wave as Irelia. If you are strong enough, you can even one shot the Melee Minions. Play Video In lane, Defiant Dance at lower champion levels does a decent amount of base damage, especially when charged. It is also Irelia's easiest ability to land in terms of damage for trading. Use the ability to punish an enemy laner's all in, end an extended trade, or even execute low health enemies from long range.

In teamfights, assess the threats of the enemy team during an engage or all-in. Account for any heavy CC that may disrupt Irelia's ability to get all of her damage off. If the threat is immediate, always hover the W button and try to time the W preemptively before the CC chain. While CC'd, hold the button down until the coast is completely clear, then go for the all in. The idea is to mitigate all the lethal damage in the teamfight which will be used to disrupt Irelia's engage. You should always be prepared in every fight, teamfight or not, to use Defiant Dance. This mechanic separates the average Irelia player from a good one. Learning to manipulate this ability will completely change your gameplay. Play Video
Flawless Duet
Tip #1: Wait out the duration between the first and second cast of Flawless Duet. The duration between the first and the second cast is approximately 3.5 seconds. Most enemies will anticipate the second cast and try to dodge it-- use this time to freely auto attack and read any enemy movement in order to predict where they are going. The longer Irelia takes to cast E2 in this situation, the higher the chances of hitting it. Chances are, enemies will be so fixated on dodging the second cast that they will walk into it anyways.
Play Video Tip #2: Slowed enemies are easier to land skillshots on. By this logic, using Flawless Duet on a slowed enemy practically guarantees the stun. Irelia has two slows in her kit: her ultimate Vanguard's Edge and Blade of the Ruined King. Drop E1 (the first cast) before the slow goes off, and incorporate this with the slow E2 (second cast) from Tip #1. Enemies will try to run out of her ultimate ability, slowing them and making for an easier target to hit with E2. If they don't try to run, they will either have to flash out or stand in a fixed space within your ult, which also makes the stun easier to land.
Play Video Tip #3: E1 and E2's cast animation can be canceled by Bladesurge. When casting E1, Irelia's character model turns to the first blade dropped. By buffering Flawless Duet's cast time with a Bladesurge reset, the initial cast animation is hidden by Irelia's dash from Bladesurge. Cast E2 after Irelia lands by moving the cursor behind the enemy target. This is a good way to catch any unsuspecting enemies off guard. If timed and executed properly, there will be little to no time for enemies to react. Play Video Vanguard's Edge
One neat trick with Vanguard's Edge is to utilize Flash to buffer the cast location of the skill. The ability does not go off until the cast time is complete, so by casting R right before the Flash, the range of the ability can technically be doubled.
Play Video Similarly, you can change the cast location of the skill for a larger hitbox. The blades explode in the direction you cast the ability in, but since Flashing changes the original cast location of the ability, you can displace yourself last second to hit the ideal ultimate and mark the enemy backline in teamfights. Play Video

I was originally going to put this mechanic in the Tips & Tricks section. However, I decided that this concept is so important to learn for aspiring Irelia players that I put it in its own chapter. Play Video Play Video Auto weaving describes an Irelia mechanic where she weaves an auto attack before, in between, and/or after her Bladesurge resets to maximize the damage she deals per second while farming or fighting. When watching any experienced Irelia player, you will see them use this mechanic in almost every interaction with any enemy target. This concept is very similar to Riven's animation cancel with her Q, and also Vayne's animation cancel with her Q. Think of this mechanic as buffering Irelia auto attacks with a Bladesurge cast. Since Bladesurge resets Irelia's attack animation, by auto attacking before and after Bladesurge is casted, you are actually able to get more attacks in per second than if you were to just stand still and auto attack in the same amount of time. Here, let me explain it to you.

In order to truly understand this mechanic, we must first evaluate the intracicies behind it. Let's start off by breaking down the mechanic of an auto attack in League of Legends. The attack speed mechanic is a two part process to measure a champion's attack per second:
"cast time" + "cooldown time" = full auto attack animation

An attack's "cast time" is the speed at which your champion model takes to register the initial damage from an auto attack.

An attack's "cooldown time" is the speed at which your champion model resets its attack animation to prepare for the next auto attack.

Both of these processes simultaneously are measured in hundredths of a second, and the sum should always be equal to the champion's cast time rounded up to the nearest whole second, which as a result determines the champion's attack speed per second.

Given this, let's embellish on this concept. As of 14.2, Irelia has a base Attack Speed of 0.656 at level 1. Based on what we just learned, this means Irelia's "cast time" for her auto attacks are also 0.656 of a second.
The closest whole second to the cast time when rounded up is 1.0 seconds.
Therefore, her "cooldown time" for her attacks is equal to 1.0 seconds subtracted by 0.656 (Irelia's "cast time" for her auto attacks) giving us that Irelia's "cooldown time" for her auto attack is 0.344 seconds. Basically, every 0.656 seconds Irelia takes to do one auto attack, it takes another 0.344 seconds for her to be able perform the next auto attack. Therefore, in 10 auto attacks, 3.4 seconds are spent dealing 0 damage.
In League of Legends, every "cast time" must be followed by a "cooldown time" in order to repeat the auto attack cycle-- with very few exceptions.

Bladesurge is actually one of these exceptions. When incorporating Bladesurge into the equation, the rule that a "cooldown" needs to follow a "cast time" is completely thrown out. Bladesurge is a special case due to the fact that its "cast time" is technically equal to the distance between Irelia and her Bladesurge target. However, this isn't the important part of this ability. The important part is that Bladesurge resets Irelia's attack animation when casted, resulting in an auto attack animation reset. By implementing Bladesurge after performing the "cast time" of an auto attack, you are resetting the auto attack process back from wherever it was prior to the Bladesurge to its "cast time", skipping the "cooldown time" altogether.
This mechanic essentially gets rid of the "cooldown time" of her auto attacks by instead inputting Bladesurge. Mixed with the fact that Bladesurge has practically no cast time in shorter ranges, you can manually control when your auto attacks begin its "cast time" by manipulating the speed at which you are inputting Bladesurge in between each auto attack.

Why is this important you might ask? Well, if you reset Irelia's attack animation after every "cast time" by Bladesurging, you are actually attacking more times per second than if you were to just normally auto attack with its corresponding cast and cooldown times. It may not seem like much, but if Bladesurge is resetting and you are able to get an attack off in between every cast of Bladesurge, the damage per 10 seconds increases drastically than if you were to just auto attack for 10 seconds. Mathematically, at 0.656 base attack speed, you can get a maximum of 10 auto attacks off in 10 seconds. However, by implementing this mechanic, you can actually attack upwards of 15 times in 10 seconds depending on how fast you input your dash resets, while including the damage of Bladesurge if you were to use it on the target you are auto attacking.

In terms of application, this mechanic can be used throughout the course of the entire game. You are not only practicing your Bladesurge resets, but you are also maximizing the DPS you are dealing in a normal trade against your laner, and we know how important one or two auto attacks are in these early trades. Overall, the tempo at which you play the game increases exponentially and not to mention the damage as well.

Of course, this is rather min max for the average player, but it's an important concept to learn because it makes all the difference in playing certain matchups in lane. Irelia can become a ranged bully in minion waves where she can reset her Bladesurge and most of the times the enemy isn't even able to react if you are fast enough. This mechanic also increases the speed at which you can shove a wave in drastically, and creates faster timers for Recall or roams. League of Legends is a game of seconds, and every second matters when you are playing Irelia. Remember that the clock at the top telling you how long you've been in game is not in your favor, and every second it ticks upwards is a second closer to your imminent downfall. Make use of your time and don't let it go to waste on things that are in your control.

Tempo (or pacing) is a concept that must be applied in all realms of League of Legends, especially when you main a champion like Irelia. If you are a one trick like myself, you will unintentionally develop an idea of good tempo in the game just based off of muscle memory and game sense alone.

Some games you flash into the enemy team by yourself and get a pentakill, and some games you'll go for the same all in and it'll look so grief.

The thing is, in all of these situations, you and I both know that you are capable of making whatever play you are choosing to take. The only difference in all of these situations is the immediate power gap between you and the enemy team.
Conceptually, there is a reason for all this, and I will use a law I created solely for this section of the guide to help break this idea down as much as possible. The goal of this law is to create time standards for Irelia that will allow her to always maintain a safe distance of the power gap between her and the enemy team, no matter what the situation is.

Called the ideal tempo law, it varies depending on each stage of the game you are in. This law is universal to every game, and states the following:
Under the Ideal Tempo Law, Blade of the Ruined King should be acquired under 11 minutes. At around 14 minutes is when Irelia should hit 10 CS per minute, and 3 item powerspike should be hit around 22 minutes. The game should usually be over by 30 minutes if all objectives are followed correctly.

Early Game
The early game objective is to set yourself up for a fluid transition into the mid game. These objectives in their respective importance are: consistent XP gain, good CS per minute, kills.
1.) The most important thing to do on Irelia in the early game is to get all of the solo XP you can possibly get from lane. This means having good wave control, not dying to solo fights or jungle ganks, resetting on good timers to not miss minions crashing under your tower, and making sure you are getting all the XP you can, even if you aren't getting all of the farm. Irelia is a lot stronger with a prominent level lead, and being a solo laner helps a lot with this. You should be the highest level in the game if playing Top, and you should be one of the highest levels in the game if playing Mid. What I'm trying to stress to you is that following this law means that you are always the highest level in the game, and it's your job to maintain that.
If tempo is good, you should be level 9 at around 9-10 minutes.

2.) CS (creep score) will determine how well Irelia scales into the mid game. As the most consistent form of gold and XP income, how well you farm in the early game will determine how fast you get your Blade of the Ruined King, which, as mentioned earlier, is Irelia's strongest powerspike throughout the entire game. The quicker you get it, the sooner you hit your powerspike, and the sooner you can start farming kills as well. Prioritize the gold you get from farming over the gold from kills in the early game. Your goal for the midgame should be to have as close to 10 CS per minute as possible. As Irelia, farming is so easy that you should realistically be around 75-90 CS at 10 minutes. 120 CS at 10 minutes is "perfect CS."
If your tempo is good, even with 0 kills, you should have the 3 components of your Blade of the Ruined King 9-10 minutes, and complete your Blade of the Ruined King by 10-11 minutes.

3.) Don't get me wrong, kills in the early game are very important. Just because it's the least important of our 3 objectives doesn't mean to completely ignore these opportunities in the early game. They provide large amounts of gold, and more importantly, allow for you to snowball in XP over your enemy laner. However, I want you to get into the habit of deciding if the snowball potential a kill outweighs the snowball potential of getting farm.
(For example: Dying 1 for 1 with your wave pushing into the enemy top laner's when you both have Teleport even if you get first blood is not worth it, as your wave will just be in a bad state when you Teleport back to lane resulting in you missing XP while the enemy top laner does not miss any XP. Therefore, this is a bad kill.

There is such a thing as good and bad kills to go for. As much as gold is an important resource in the game, XP should be your main priority in the early game and like I said earlier, farming and catching minion waves is the most consistent form of XP gain. Additionally, staking your resources such as Health and Mana during the laning phase for a kill that can only potentially earn you gold vs. going for the guaranteed gold income that's handed to you by locking in Irelia is a decision that has to be made on every minion wave. That's not to say to avoid going for kills entirely, but moreso to stress that every time you shift your attention from farming to getting a kill, you are waging guaranteed XP and gold income for a smaller chance at earning more gold. Understand that this is the risk of going for kills in the early game, and act on your own discretion. If the kill is 100%, go for it. If it is anything under, know that you are gambling for those odds when you can instead just play it safe and farm for your Blade of the Ruined King.

Advice I have for this is to avoid any all ins during the laning phase. Always be ready to decommit from your fights, and never truly all-in your laner until you have a guaranteed kill. This means keeping Bladesurge off cool-down at all times when you are fighting, only dashing in when you hit Flawless Duet for an Unsteady mark and being prepared to Bladesurge away to enemy minions to decommit from the fight. This way, you can farm while playing aggressively, and open up the possibility of a kill while still getting all the available gold. If your laner decides to Recall without Teleport, go for turret platings to maximize your gold income.

Mid Game
Although Irelia is one of the strongest mid game champions in the game, from my coaching experience, I am inclined to believe that the mid game is also where a lot of Irelia players start to get lost and fall off. In my experience, a lot of it is due to very obvious macro mistakes, but the main reason is usually because many players neglect farming in the midgame and choose to fight for objectives instead. I don't know for sure why, it may be due to the fact that I coach a lot of NA players, but once first tower falls, I notice that a lot of players don't know where to go on the map and as a result, end up ARAMing, sharing XP with their teammates and waste time fighting objectives like Second Dragon and Rift Herald.
Personally, I almost never contest second Drake. If my botside is winning, we'll get the Dragon and if they are losing we will lose it. Either way, your tempo is not worth sacrificing for such a minor objective in the grand scheme of things. Your objective as Irelia to win the game is different than your team's. It's okay to do these things in the late game when you are level 18 and there's not much to get around the map, but in the midgame we need to maintain the early game tempo we developed from getting Blade of the Ruined King at 11 minutes.

In the midgame, your goal is to keep getting stronger and give yourself as big of a lead you can get before the game reaches its late game stage. This includes plating, first tower gold if you can, and every single minion wave that you can catch.
If you are not at least 9 CS per minute throughout most of the midgame, then you are not pacing yourself properly. Based on everything I've said so far in this section, we know that midgame is not when you are allowed to fall off in CS. At this point, we should be maintaining a high CS per minute count and prioritize leveling and gold income.
A good midgame Irelia is one that's solo pushing a wave out to the furthest she can go without dying, and resetting to another lane to do the same thing. Irelia pushing a solo sidelane by herself is the most ideal situation to be in in the midgame. Enemies that are coming to you in sidelane are weaker than enemies that you are going to at objectives. This way, you can also pick your fights as well instead of just fighting permanently with no clear direction in mind. This method works even better when the enemy team is also ARAMing, and you just increase the level gap between you and the enemy team. If the enemy team is reacting to a sidelane push, it creates timers for you to play a game of cat and mouse with whoever's matching you. And chances are, they are weak and you can dive them under their Inner Tower anyways.

Starting Items
There are 3 good starter items to buy, and they are as followed:
Doran's Blade
Doran's Blade is the default buy for Irelia. If you win the level 1 or level 2 fights against your laner, buy Doran's Blade. This is when Doran's Blade is the most effective, and you should be looking to trade as much as you can in the early levels and play aggressively for an all in.
Such matchups include: Yorick, Kayle, Yasuo, Yone, Fizz, Akali, Urgot.
Doran's Blade is also good against beefy tank champions when paired with Lethal Tempo. As mentioned earlier, these champions include Shen, Ornn, Malphite.

Doran's Shield
Synergized with Second Wind, Doran's Shield is the go-to buy for matchups that are very poke oriented, usually ranged matchups or matchups Irelia doesn't start winning until level 3. Access to early health-regeneration keeps Irelia healthy enough to stay in lane and farm freely without losing early tempo from getting poked out.
Such matchups include: Jayce, Gangplank, Garen, Fiora, Sett, Darius Vladimir, Quinn, Vayne, Syndra, Ahri, Viktor, Vex, Taliyah, Cassiopeia.

Blade of the Ruined King will be your first item every game. Every recall during lane will be to purchase components of this item. The order of the components purchased will usually be as followed:
Long Sword Dagger on first recall with 650 Gold.
Vampiric Scepter first if you recall with 900+ Gold, or 550 after first recall with Long Sword buy.
Recurve Bow > Pickaxe first if you have less than 875 Gold on a recall, but Dagger + Pickaxe is better than > Recurve Bow on its own.

Mid Game Items
Around 14 minutes is when the midgame begins. This is when turret platings fall and usually when the second dragon is about to spawn. Based on the idea of good tempo , you should already have completed Blade of the Ruined King by now and be at, if not close, to 10 CS per minute.
The decision to make now is what item to build second. One thing to note is that there will not be a consistent second item to build every game as each situation varies depending on what rune you take, what lane matchup you are against, and what team comp you are against. Use the following to decide what to build as your second item:
- If your pacing is good, and you are close to the 10 CS per minute mark at 12 minutes, if taking Tempo, I'd recommend building Terminus. This item is extremely good into Tank matchups and beefy frontliners that would otherwise take time to kill without it. Building Terminus second is similar to building Wit's End second last season. It's only a good option if you have the economy to build it.
- If you are behind good pacing, it is not cost efficient to build such an expensive item. Instead, build your Sundered Sky first, or if the enemy team is very CC heavy with AP mages, new Wit's End.

These items previously mentioned are to be built for certain situations, but generally the three items Irelia will always build every game this season are Blade of the Ruined King, Sundered Sky, and Sterak's Gage or Death's Dance.
The rest of the items are contingent on how impactful you are in the midgame.

Late Game Items
After 3 completed items at around 22-25 minutes, we enter the late game. This is where every item you build must adhere to Irelia's needs against the enemy team comp. Unlike most champions in the game, Irelia falls off extremely hard after 3 items. At this point, you will not be getting much stronger in terms of damage other than maintaining a large level lead. Usually, any items built after her core items will be defensive items that increase her survability in teamfights.
The items in order of relevancy is as follows:
Sterak's Gage
Sterak's is an extremely solid option on Irelia. Most of her item options provide some sort of bonus HP, which increases the shield that Sterak's gives. This item is an S Tier item for Bruisers currently, and is not different when it comes to Irelia. However, when building this item, make sure to keep in mind that you want at least 3 item slots occupied by Bruiser items that will provide bonus HP to increase the shield. Sterak's Gage itself counts as one, and Sundered Sky counts as two. If you will be building On-hit items such as Wit's End and Terminus, you will not benefit as much from building this item so opting for Death's Dance is not a bad choice.

Titanic Hydra
The new and updated Titanic Hydra is a strong item when paired with Sterak's Gage. It provides a lot of bonus HP which increases the shield you receive from your Sterak's, but also has a Tiamat component which allows for really efficient split pushing. I almost always recommend going Titanic whenever you don't build on-hit for Irelia, and even when building on-hit sometimes it is really nice to have. It's active also applies on Bladesurge, which can increase your DPS during teamfights by a decent amount. I think overall, Titanic Hydra and Sterak's Gage synergizes with Irelia a lot better than Ravenous Hydra and Death's Dance does.

Maw of Malmortius
Great option when playing against a team with heavy AP damage. I would only recommend building this item over Sterak's Gage when the majority of the enemy team has AP burst damage. This means either there are three or more strong AP carries on the enemy team OR there is at least two champions on the enemy team such as Syndra or Veigar that has the ability to one shot you with the click of a button. And even then, I wouldn't really try to argue that Maw of Malmortius is the better option than Sterak's Gage. But, when also paired with a Wit's End or Mercury's Treads, Irelia actually feels quite tanky against AP heavy teams.

Jak'Sho, The Protean
Jak'Sho is actually quite good on Irelia when not forced to build it as a Mythic item. I would say though that you are waging a lot of offensive stats to build such an expensive defensive item, so do keep in mind that you will not be as strong as you would building this item than let's say a Titanic Hydra. However, there will be games that you will not even be able to enter a fight without dying instantly, so Jak'Sho is a good option to consider in these games.

Frozen Heart
At the cost of 2400 Gold, Frozen Heart is one of the best bang for your buck items you can buy. With the amount of CDR, armor, and defensive capabilities including a slow on any enemy auto-attacks for the cheap price of 2400, this item becomes a viable defensive option on Irelia. Situationally, this is a good item to build against strong attack damage carries on the enemy team such as Vayne or even champions like Darius and Tryndamere. It also gives additional mana, which is always nice.

Contrary to popular belief, there are not many actual Irelia combos to learn. A lot of her "combos" are really just ability sequences that are used situationally. There are many different factors that determine the proper situation to use a given combo. A good Irelia player knows each interaction, and will use each combo accordingly in split second decisions. Below are all combos I could think of with a corresponding in game clip.
Notations: & means buffering the first ability with the second ability

Combo 1 Q & E1 + E2 Play Video Combo 2 R & Flash Play Video Combo 3 E1 + Q + E2 Play Video Default All-in Combo R & E1 + Q + E2 Play Video Triple Q Combo R + E1 + Q + E2 + Q + Q Play Video

If you've made it this far, congratulations. You've taken one of the most important steps to improving your gameplay, and that's willing to learn how to improve.
I was once in your shoes as well. For most of my League career, I was a low Gold-Plat player. After picking up Irelia in Season 8, my entire relationship with League of Legends changed. It made me want to learn how to get better, and really learn to master a champion and pilot it in a way that no one else has ever seen. Part of how I initially got over the hurdle between Platinum and Diamond was just doing my due dilligence and taking the time to really learn the game mechanics necessary. Not just Irelia mechanics, but really understanding macro and how Irelia interacts with every aspect of it as well. I hope that I was able to provide some of that to you in one simple but long read.
If you made it here, my biggest advice I can give to you is to take it slow. Limit test, go 0/13 and int a few games. With all the mechanics in the world, even if you don't have the right knowledge to supplement it, it will be hard to climb. A perfect balance of both is the only way to efficiently climb, and like I said, you really just have to take the time to learn. Even today, I am always learning new things watching IrelKing or General irel VODs and putting myself in their shoes to see what they do differently. With this champion, the sky is really the limit. You are capable of doing anything really, as long as you have the right tools to execute on it.

I mentioned it before, but I'm creating a Patreon for all things Irelia related. The goal is to have VODs set up for all champions in the game, and show you how Irelia interacts with each individual champion. It's not completely finished yet, but join my discord Irelia community for all updates and for more direct communication. I do coaching and there's notifications for live streams as well. I will keep this guide updated for any upcoming changes in Season 14.
https://discord.com/invite/JR2MUp54cK

Thank you for taking the time to read my guide. I am and always will be available to answer any questions you may have, don't be afraid to ask. Come by the daily streams or the discord and ask away.

See you all on the rift :)
love, Ireallyabot