Talk:Irelia/@comment-78.90.57.3-20120328231616/@comment-2124153-20120328235501

The reason that you don't understand why people max Hiten first, is apparently because you 1) don't understand how Bladesurge works, and 2) don't grasp the importance of damage types.

First of all, Bladesurge doesn't have a "ratio", it literally applies an autoattack coupled with on-hit effects. Spoiler alert, this means that Bladesurge also adds the damage from Hiten Style's active. That means that if you Q + W you are Doing It Wrong, you should W + Q instead to get an extra tick of Hiten. Or ideally, you walk up to them, stun if it's available, and then turn on W and only use Q if they are running or to give one last quick burst of damage. So Hiten's damage is applied more often and more easily than you think.

Secondly, damage types. Equilibrium Strike does magic damage, and guess what, top-lane bruisers that you are up against are going to have 49+ MR at level 1 from runes and masteries. Irelia has no mPen, so the damage on E is reduced straight-up by 33% or more. Against a bruiser with MR scaling like Garen, by the time that you're both level 9 and you have E maxed, he has almost 60 MR, never mind the addtional flat MR bonus from Courage, plus its general damage reduction. Or MR from items. The True damage from Hiten Style? Not reduced by anything.

Smart Irelia players always max W first. Q or E second is a matter of preference, style, and lane match-up.