Irelia/Strategy

Skill usage

 * is her staple ability, making it very difficult to lock her down in teamfights and skirmishes with crowd control due to her extended tenacity.
 * Coupled with and,  can achieve a maximum of 65% tenacity, one of the highest values in the game. This effectively turns a three second silence such as  last only one second.
 * For this reason, is a feared assassin and very capable at targeting and killing carries due to the difficulty involved in keeping her off of them with crowd control.
 * Bear in mind that this tenacity does not reduce the crowd control applied by being knocked airborne or from suppression.
 * will not reveal hidden or invisible units, such as enemy champions in brush or with  active.
 * is a powerful farming tool as it refreshes and refunds mana if it kills the targeted enemy, including minions, and also serves as a gap closer.
 * applies on-hit effects, including the true damage given by, the magic damage from , and it will proc and immediately apply the additional damage from , albeit only every two seconds per its cooldown limitations.
 * Use to cover great distances by targeting low life minions on your way to champion targets. Inversely, targeting enemy minions can help  escape from ganks.
 * gives exceptional laning strength. Each level will provide increased sustain, doubled when active, and increased true damage per attack.
 * synergizes strongly with attack speed. The more hits can apply within the duration of its active means increased sustain and increased damage output.
 * also gives heals while attacking structures like turrets, because it heals per hit. Activate it during pushes to quickly heal extended amounts if safe to do so.
 * True damage cannot be negated, so keep in mind that the active cannot be negated by  or any attack damage debuff.
 * will either stun or slow depending on the total % of health has compared to her target. If higher, it will slow. If lower, it will stun.
 * This gives a lot of flexibility in its use - it will slow in a chasing situation, and stun to either turn the tides of a fight or give  the means to escape.
 * For this reason, it is often best to save until later in a fight to secure a sudden advantage and turn around.
 * To help your jungler gank your lane, purposefully letting your health drop below your target's can provide a much-needed stun to ensure a kill.
 * Consider investing your first skill point into in order to avoid and survive a potential early gank during laning.
 * allows for strong, multi-target damage and sustain, giving increased survivability in fights, especially when focusing down important targets.
 * Remember that will heal  for more when striking champions than striking minions.
 * In a teamfight, it's generally best to aim to hit as many champions as possible to keep you alive, rather than directly at a single target for extra damage, as this will give you the best sustain. With proper positioning, both these effects can be achieved without having to compromise. For example, shifting around to fire the blades forward into the bulk of the enemy team while also hitting the main target.
 * During laning, fire into as large of a minion group as possible to regain large amounts of health either to continue laning or to survive a skirmish.
 * combined with makes a rather strong combo to kill fleeing enemies.
 * If coordinated well, it also makes an effective tool for escaping ganks or failed team fights at low health. By clicking the edge of your screen and firing off a few blades, you can heal off of the enemy champions chasing you to buy time to escape.
 * is great for jungling. Being able to sustain herself in lane while also being able to deal true damage to neutral creeps allows her to use other runes rather than armor penetration.
 * When ganking as, it is important to use your abilities when they will be most effective. If you can engage your target without using then consider saving it in case you need to chase them.  can also be of greater use if it is reserved until your target starts to flee, or your health is low enough to leverage the stun to your advantage, rather than for immediate burst damage.
 * Even though has a lot of sustain, she also has a lot of burst damage when her opponent has more hp than her and she is 6. Opening with, activating  and  immediately, and  as the opponent flees and gains some distance (so you can land another autoattack or even more with phage). This combo is capable of dealing a lot of damage. Combined with  and  , it can even kill somebody from full health in a few seconds.

Build usage

 * is recommended for good reason, as shown by its components and subsequent easy build-up:
 * grants a small boost in mobility, and attack speed to use more effectively.
 * applies itself automatically on, boosting its damage. Each individual blade of activates (but does not apply) the / proc. The mana increase also allows  to use  to farm and last-hit minions more often, especially in a lane she cannot control and is forced against the turret.
 * adds onto chasing potential with CC, and health is always essential on a melee champion.
 * Attack Speed should be a priority to DPS-focused players, if only because of the damage potential of.
 * is a great item on because of the AS, magic resistance and the bonus on-hit damage.
 * Tank items are also good on because of her ability to stick to an opponent with  and, forcing them to retreat. Good options include  and.
 * Buying her is highly recommended, since the effect works well with her, as any tenacity item boosts her CC reduction by up to 41.5/51.25/61% depending on the respective amount of enemy champions nearby.
 * and along with  allows  to gain a great amount of health back when in trouble.
 * , and  give  quite a lot of sustainability while retaining a sufficient damage output.
 * With the use of and  to farm minions,  can quickly build stacks on  and.

Countering

 * is a champion that relies on attack speed. A or  is a good counter to her AS.
 * When ganking, always remember to take her increased tenacity into account.
 * Suppressions and knockups are not affected by tenacity and are good counters to.
 * When engaging, make sure your health percentage is lower than to prevent her from stunning you using her.
 * It is recommended not to fight in minion waves. Her  allows her to heal a lot of damage if it deals damage to both you and minions.
 * Try to counter her healing with healing reduction. It can be quite powerful in early game.
 * Ask for early ganks, shut her down early, so you can get ahead.
 * Buying an early is a great way to counter irelia if you are having trouble vs her.

Champion spotlight
MFcsOX9xcIo