Talk:Irelia/@comment-69.143.170.11-20121012212730/@comment-4929329-20121015022641

"Early game" is far more than just levels 1-2. I would define early game as the point where your main objective is to get farm. Mid game is when team fights start happening, and Late game is nearly full build.

In this respect, Irelia can do quite well early game, and I have yet to see an Irelia fail because of being killed from lvs1-2. She usually fails because of, well, single-target CC.

If I stun you after you jump, and then I permaslow you, then you're going to do nothing besides use R in a teamfight. In this respect, she's a bit like Yorick. This is why people say her late game is strong, because she's maxed her spells [small CDs], is tanky, and has good movespeed, so it's harder to kite and kill her.