Summary
Early Game
- Corrupting potion allows Irelia to stay in lane longer even with the high mana cost of her spells.
Boots
- Ninja Tabi are ideal againt AD damage.
- Mercury's Treads might be used when AP damage is dominant on the enemy side.
Core Items
- Tiamat helps farming and clearing waves very quicly with Irelia's Q - Bladesurge.
- Trinity Force is mendatory on Irelia. On top of its great stats the item keep the passive from the Sheen augmenting Irelia's damage via her Q - Bladesurge.
- Sterak's Gage is a great damage income and will provide you plenty of tankiness thanks to the shield from its passive.
Situational Items
- Guardian Angel will allow you to engage for your team and win some time while they follow-up.
- Titanic Hydra is the upgrade of your Tiamat.
- Wit's End is an other option againts an AP oriented team. Giving to Irelia both heal on hit and magic resistance in addition of more damage.
- Dead Man's Plate is a defensive choice and gives you an easier access to the enemies.
Playing Irelia
Irelia has a lot of great tools in the early game. On the other hand, these suffer from her lack of range against most of the mages played Mid.
Starting level 6 though she's able to close that distance thanks to her R - Ionian Edge.
- Level 1: Q - Bladesurge will let you both farm with an easy last-hit on creeps but also stack your passive giving Irelia a good chance to in early trades against a level 1 enemy.
- Level 2: Try to create opportunities with your E - Flawless Duet and stun enemies by following with Q - Bladesurge.
- Level 6: Engaging with R - Ionian Edge to mark your enemies and slow them making a stun with E - Flawless Duet easier.
During a teamfight: use your R - Ionian Edge on a maximum number of targets to become way to mobile for your enemies. Access the carry to inflict more damage and keep your W - Defiant Dance to survive the heaviest bursts.
Teleportation also is an option to be able to splitpush and having an impact closer to a Top Laner.
Match-ups
Tips & Tricks
- Try to keep your passive Ionian Fervor up to benefit from a damage and attack speed bonus.
- You can use a low health creep to surprise your oponenent with a double Q - Bladesurge.
- Q - Bladesurge applies on-hit effects like the bonus damage from Sheen.
- W - Defiant Dance can mitigate burst damage like Syndra's ultimate.
- The longer you charge W - Defiant Dance the higher the damage.
- E - Flawless Duet add a mark on enemies. Using Q - Bladesurge on a marked target will reset Q - Bladesurge cooldown.
- You can use both Flash or Q - Bladesurge to cast E - Flawless Duet on a longer distance.
- R - Vanguard's Edge add a mark on any enemy it hits, ideal in the middle of a teamfight.
