Hello and thanks for coming to my guide.I will just briefly say about myself,i love to game,love technical stuff and i dont solo/duo rank often.More often team rank(5v5).and im in gold for solo queue.Main is Irelia so i thought i should just write a guide after playing for 2 years

This guide is more suitable for players
-That just started
-That is from a low to medium elo (Bronze ~ Gold)

It will be rather wordy but hopefully you can bear with it and get better with Irelia

Note :
[*] By the way,Irelia doesnt look too bad ^^
[*] I will add more notes , explanation , items as time goes on...this is like only 60% of my finished guide.
[*] If you need a request like champion counter mechanics or my opinion on something just reply in the comment saying so then i will update it here asap

Rather simple and standard .
[*] Start off the game with your Equilibrium Strike.
(Note that you should only up your Equilibrium Strike when you enter laning phase because you might need to up your Bladesurge to dash to a minion for safety for like when you get caught out while watching for the jungler) .Then up your Hiten Style (level 2) , Then Bladesurge(level 3)
[*] Max Hiten Style first only if you can stick on the target long enough to make full use of your Hiten Style.Otherwise it would be better to max Equilibrium Strike (Example : When vsing a Jax you should up Equilibrium Strike) .Note that maxing Hiten Style is the standard skill sequence and is a crucial skill to Irelia cos of the true damage and sustain it gives.
[*] If you maxed Hiten Style first,max Equilibrium Strike next.Likewise,if you maxed E first,max W next.Q should always be the last to be maxed

NOTE:
-Try to use your Ultimate( Transcendent Blades) where there is minions so you will be able to steal more life.
-Standard combo is Bladesurge-> Equilibrium Strike -> Hiten Style(Basic Attack)
-If your Equilibrium Strike is a stun,you can stay longer to make full use of your Hiten Style.If its a slow,it is more wise to just leave half-way , before the enemy can trade back fully with you.

Nothing much to say here.Just go for the standard built where your
- Greater Mark of Attack Damage Marks are AD .Possibly try attack speed ones
- Greater Glyph of Magic Resist Glyphs are MR.You can consider getting scaling ones
- Greater Seal of Armor Seals are Armor .You can consider replacing a few for scaling ones but i personally like it flat.
-Quint are 2 AD( Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage) + 1 Lifesteal( Greater Quintessence of Life Steal) / 3AD . Usually you should take LS(LifeSteal) unless you feel like you dont need it.

There is a few things to take note of for your Masteries ,specifically the ones in your defense. I have tried 21-9 as well and it works great.But i think 9-21 is better for people new to Irelia

If you noticed in my Attack/Offensive Mastery, i have taken CDR(cooldown reduction) over AS because the AS given i feel that its not of much use(5% when maxed) whereas 5% CDR makes a bigger difference when you want to trade with your opponent.More CDR= Faster Skill Cooldown = More opportunity for good trades(Trade is in your favor,where you dealt more damage than you received)

For the defense Mastery ,
[*] Consider putting the 1 point in Reinforced Armor into Resistance .
[*] Swap 3 Hardiness for Resistance if you up against a heavy ap.If not its best you just stick with Hardiness

Standard spell on almost any top lane champ is Flash + Ignite with a few exception of Ghost over Flash and Teleport over Ignite like Singed / Nasus etc.

What you will want to take is Flash + Ignite . Maybe Ghost if you feel it suits you .Otherwise take Flash cause it can go over walls for quick escape,just a longer cooldown so you will have to use it wisely.

Few different scenarios for Flash usage :
(DO NOT Flash when you are like 3 bars of health and a few enemy is near you cause you will obviously die no matter where you run,this has exceptions of course..)

-When you want to dive an enemy ,you can use Flash combo-ed with your Bladesurge to close the gap instantly.Likewise to get out of turret range.
-Sometimes i fight a 1v2(Top Lane + Jungler vs Me @ Top) and i will usually take out the more squishy one and then Flash away.
-When Running(Rather obvious?)

Few different scenarios for Ignite usage :
-When you are going all out on an enemy,the enemy is going all out on you too.Remember to use ignite early and not at the last moment ! The ignite may kill the enemy before he kills you and hence save your life.

-When you diving a turret,considering that both of your level(You and Enemy) are at most 1 level diff, Hit the enemy till roughly 2 bars and Ignite and walk off.

-You may not see this often in normal games but if you ever come across a situation where you are fighting 2 people alone and one of them is low enough ,just try to get in range,plant an Ignite on him and if possible,fight with the other person(Usually the Jungler)

Starting Items :
[*] Doran's Blade + 1 Health Pot.
[*] Doran's Shield + 1 Health Pot.
[*] Cloth Armor + 4 Health Pot & 1 Mana Pot / 5 Health Pot / 2 Health Pot & 1 Stealth Ward

Core Items :
[*] Trinity Force Crucial item on Irelia.Just helps you deal so much more burst. Your enemy pees in his pants when you get this done.
[*] Blade of the Ruined King Works well with irelia.What can i say?With your Hiten Style which deals true damage and Blade of the Ruined King passive(deal 5% of current hp) you wipe out so much hp in an instant.On top of that,there is the attack speed which helps with your Hiten Style and gives you lifesteal for sustain.
[*] Guardian Angel .Armour + Mr and a free resurrection,deal more and tank more damage.

Swap-able items :
[*] Randuin's Omen vs Spirit Visage . If your enemy(team as a whole) deals more AD then you should get Randuin's Omen . If your enemy deals more AP damage then get Spirit Visage
[*] Ninja Tabi vs Mercury's Treads . This is similar to the above,however i usually get it depend on the LANE champion im against and not the enemy as a whole.So if your lane enemy is heavy dependent on AD like Riven or Renekton get Ninja Tabi .If your enemy is heavy dependent on AP like Ryze then get Mercury's Treads
[*] Black Cleaver can be swapped for a defense item if you need more tank .Usually when you have a mid/adc doing well or just alright.Or else i usually will go for more attack over defense when im trying to carry the team.

Situational Item :
[*] Black Cleaver Decent item for pickup.Armour pen,health,ad,10%cdr.Balanaced item and a more commonly bought item but not always hence,i listed it under situational.
[*] Zephyr Decent item .Attack Damage,AS,Movement speed,cdr and Tenacity effect.If you get Mercury's Treads , do not get this.If you get Ninja Tabi ,this is a possible item but the main point is the Tenacity effect which stacks with your passive.
[*] Frozen Heart is great against someone like Jax or Aatrox who relies heavily on basic/auto attacks.

Note : counter here means that if both champion uses all their skill at once,the one that counter will win the trade.

[*] Making a mistake against direct counters are fatal and if the opponent chooses to capitalize on your mistake,your pretty much doomed.But of course everyone makes mistake,even your opponent so try to watch out for them.
[*] Knowing your opponent champion skills and roughly remembering when he used it(remember the cooldowns) helps you greatly to time your trades .

Olaf :
Personally dont have much experience against him but i will say what i can.
[*] His trades with Reckless Swing outburst you way much more in a shorter time compared to your Hiten Style.Hence you should call for early ganks from jungler to help you
[*] Because his Ragnarok ignores crowd control , it is best you save your Bladesurge to chase him down or he will just run like mad.

Jax :
[*] Jax is a direct counter to Irelia and you must remember that ,its hard to outplay a Jax.
[*] When fighting against a Jax,you will be able to win trades Pre-6 .This is very important and if possible you should call for Jungler help to pressure Jax before he totally outscales you in the Mid~late game.
[*] You should max Equilibrium Strike first because he can dodge your normal attack(that includes your Hiten Style)
[*] Initiate trades early on by hanging around his minion which will get last hit.This will save your Bladesurge for any sticky situation(Try to let Jax dodge on you then Bladesurge away)
[*] Bait his Counter Strike(Dodges attacks) if possible but a pro Jax player will usually not let this happen.Bait it by going near and giving him a few hits letting him think you are planning an all in trade.Sometime,just by initiating with your Bladesurge , some Jax will activate their Counter Strike.
[*] If your opponent Jax uses his Counter Strike, this is when you should trade it assuming your skills are not on cooldown.If you see him frequently leaping onto you,you can call your jungler to wait behind the turret/around the tribrush and when he leaps,jax is more or less dead.
[*] Get an early Ninja Tabi

Renekton :
[*]Beats you early game .Dont ever try to trade with him unless you know what your doing.Your burst will be stronger once you hit 9 .You will start to do better against his trades once you hit 6.
[*] Max your W. This helps you in burst and when he uses his Slice and Dice towards you,try to get off a stun along with his so both of you wont be doing any damage.Usually renekton maxes his Q first so his W will be 0.75(He usually wont use fury(1.5s) for stun either) so your stun last .25 longer so you probably can give him an auto attack be4 he runs off.
[*] Rush a Ninja Tabi

Darius :
[*] Not exactly a hard matchup but probably slightly to Darius favor because his pokes are deadly.
[*] If you are able to dodge his Q( Decimate) just trade with him freely.However you should take note that most Darius players will use their E( Apprehend) to pull you back and use their W( Crippling Strike) and Decimate .In this case you will lose the trade(you lose more health than he does) and so it will be wise if you can bait out the Apprehend / Decimate
[*] If his Apprehend is on cooldown,you can feel free to trade with him 1 or 2 times with your full combo because the cooldown is at 24seconds on level one.On top of that,he wont be able to chase you down because you are so much more mobile and he cant grab you so you cant just kite him around.

Irelia can farm ...
[*] Using Bladesurge .It helps especially when the wave is under your turret and you dont want to lose any minion gold/exp . It recovers some mana when u kill it so it is not mana costly to use it.
[*] Use your Ulti- Transcendent Blades when you need to clear wave urgently/extremely fast.It has a cooldown from 60~80second so its alright to use it.But if you do use it,do not take on the enemy in a fight unless you know what your doing because you wont have your ulti up.

Pros :
[*] Relatively mobile
[*] Has good lane sustain
[*] High burst damage and can take down targets instantly in a team fight
[*] Fun to play
Cons :
[*] Doesn't scale too well in late game unlike Jax.
[*] Won't have high burst if you plan to go more tanky for your team.
[*] Doesnt have aoe skill(the ulti is a pierce thru and not aoe)