Talk:Irelia/@comment-75.72.55.220-20120519192256/@comment-4957501-20120522043920

Yes, ofcourse you'll be doing decent damage even late too, but what I was trying to point out is that contrary to most champions who get progressively stronger the longer the game goes on because of scaling abilites, Irelia reaches her maximum potential damage wise by mid game and starts falling off thereafter. While this is true for a lot of other bruisers as well, it applies doubly so for Irelia. You'll also get your Wit's End/TriForce by mid game, and this is part of the reason she's such a monster then, but you won't be building any more damage after these items.

You're right, ArP runes are better if you feel you can manage your lane without the initial AD runes to last hit. The thing is skilled opponents will most likely try and take advantage of your early game and bully/push you back to your tower quite often, and the extra AD will make your attempts to last hit under the tower a lot more succesful, so AD's usually a safer choice.