LoL Wild Rift Irelia Build & Guide (Patch 5.0) - Runes, Counters, Items, Ability Analysis

S Tier

Class: Fighter

Recommended Lane: Mid

Best Irelia Wild Rift build guide for Season 11 Patch 5.0 of WR. With our Irelia guide you will learn which items to build, runes to select, skill order, who counters Irelia, and how to use abilities properly.

Recommended Builds

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Starting Item

Boots

Core Items

Complete Build

Runes

Irelia adapted the ancient dance of Navori into an art for war. She gracefully move to levitated a host of deadly blades. Irelia is a high mobility fighter with lots of tools for outplay in her kit. She can jump from one enemy to the next, mesmerizing them with her precise movements. She is a highly mechanical champion that can carry the game 1v9 once she is mastered.

Irelia Wild Rift Build Recommendation

Here are Item Build Recommendations that works on this champion and which are the best build for Irelia Wild Rift in this patch.

The Blade Dancer

This is the standard Irelia Wild Rift build which balances damage and survivability. This item build grants her the most carrying potential throughout the game.

Trinity Force grants good all-around stats. Spellblade does not only increase Irelia’s burst damage but also allows her to one-shot ranged minions using her 1st ability, Bladesurge and that opens up a lot of opportunities for Irelia.
Gluttonous Greaves augments Irelia’s high-sustain playstyle. If against many champions with crowd control, use Mercury’s Treads instead. Upgrade with the Protobelt Enchant for more mobility options to mix with Irelia’s abilities. Use Teleport Enchant if your team needs a split pusher. You can also opt to buy Stasis Enchant or Stoneplate Enchant if you find yourself dying a lot.
Blade of the Ruined King is your next damage steroid. Its Ruined Strikes passive adds a layer of %HP damage to your auto-attacks and 1st ability, Bladesurge dashes. The Drain passive which steals movement speed from enemies you have hit with consecutive attacks will also help you secure your kills.
Sterak’s Gage increases your base damage by 50%, consequently increasing the bonus damage of Spellblade because it uses your base damage as the basis for its bonus damage. Its Lifeline passive also grants a lot of room for outplay thanks to the shield and tenacity bonus it provides.
Death’s Dance grants the Cauterize passive that converts a portion of the damage you receive into three seconds damage per second. It basically divides 30% of the damage you receive into 10% per second so you can heal it all back before it hits you completely.
Guardian Angel’s Resurrect passive grants you room to play more aggressively because you will have a second life if you die. You are already so hard to kill with all the lifesteal and the dashes so a second life will just make it even more frustrating to play against you.

The Heavy Blade

This alternative Irelia Wild Rift build can be used if you are forced to play as the tank and/or initiator if your team lacks one. The replacement of damaged items with defensive items will make it harder for your enemies to kill you.

Wit’s End is a great buy against magic damage-heavy teams. Plus, it grants magic on-hit damage that synergizes with your own passive.
Mortal Reminder lets you deal with Grievous wounds against healing champions reducing their healing abilities and letting you finish them off without a hassle. Ultimately due to her passive Attack Speed, Irelia can simply 1v3 or 1v4 and come out triumphantly.

Runes for Irelia in Wild Rift

Conqueror is the only Keystone rune for Irelia. Her passive Ionian Fervor needs her to stack up ability hits to increase her damage output. Conqueror works the same way. And, both Conqueror and her passive are designed so that the longer the fight, the stronger the damage she deals.
Brutal grants a flat damage and penetration bonus which is perfect for being aggressive in the early game. She can also opt to use Hunter-Vampirism for more physical vamp so she can sustain herself in longer fights.
Last Stand helps Irelia to survive and conquer enemies even longer, even when she is in low health, as it provides additional damage to Irelia whenever she is in low health.
Sweet Tooth grants bonus gold so she can reach her first item spike faster. The additional healing on eating Honeyfruits are also great against tough matchups in the early game.

Spells

Ignite is great for matchups you are confident you are going to win because it is great for forcing first blood. But it loses effectiveness in the later stages of the game except for countering high sustain champions like Dr. Mundo.

Barrier is the safer choice as it counters Ignite and it can be useful in the late game as it can save you against other burns like from the Red buff or from your own Cauterized damage.

Flash is a must-have Summoner Spell since it opens up a lot of offensive and defensive plays.

Skill Order

Irelia’s 1st ability, Bladesurge is maxed at all situations because it is her main source of damage and sustain. You can choose to pick her 3rd ability, Flawless Duet in certain matchups though to counter champions who can be overly aggressive at level 1. Flawless Duet is always maxed second to reduce its cooldown. And finally, Irelia’s 2nd ability, Defiant Dance is maxed last because it is used for its damage reduction which stays the same from its first level to the last. Upgrade Irelia’s ultimate, Vanguard’s Edge whenever possible.

Abilities

Ionian Fervor

Passive

Hitting enemies with abilities grant 8% bonus Attack Speed for 6 seconds, stacking up to 4 times.

At max stacks, attacks deal an additional 14 magic damage (14 + 25% bonus AD) on hit.

Attacking enemy champions refreshes the duration.
An ability grants multiple stacks upon hitting multiple champions.

Bladesurge

Active

Dashes through an enemy, dealing 49 physical damage (10 + 60% AD) and healing herself for 9 (14% AD).
Bladesurge’s cooldown is refreshed if the target was Marked or dies to Bladesurge.

When aimed, Bladesurge will prioritize targets it will reset on. Deals 150% damage to minions.

Defiant Dance

Active

Hold: Defends with her blades for up to 1.5 seconds, taking 50% (50 + 7% AP) reduced damage.

Release: Whips the blades forward, dealing 42 physical damage (10 + 50% AD + 40% AP), increased by up to 100% with charge time.

Flawless Duet

Active

Send a blade to target location. May be recast within 3 seconds to send another blade.

The blades converge upon reaching their destination, dealing 80 magic damage (70 + 80% AP), stunning for 1 seconds, and Marking enemy champions and large monsters hit for 5 seconds.

Vanguard's Edge

Active

Fires a storm of blades that deals 125 magic damage (100 + 70% AP) and Marks enemy champions for 5 seconds.

The blades explode into a wall for 3 seconds upon hitting an enemy champion. The bladewall deals 75 magic damage (75 + 70% AP) and slows by 90% for 1 second.

Abilities Analysis

Innate Passive: Ionian Fervor

Ionian Fervor grants bonus attack speed per stack and on max stacks, it grants bonus on-hit magic damage.

Ionian Fervor gains a stack each time an enemy is hit by Irelia’s abilities. Her AoE abilities grant multiple stacks when hitting multiple champions. The most reliable way to stack her passive is through multiple resets on her 1st ability, Bladesurge.

Irelia heavily relies on Ionian Ferver to deal damage. She has one of the strongest level 1 power spike if she manages to fully stack her passive before engaging in a fight.

Q | 1st Ability: Bladesurge

Bladesurge is a targeted dash that can be reset in two ways. First, it can be reset by using on enemies that will die through Bladesurge. Second, Marked enemies automatically reset Bladesurge.

Bladesurge deals a lot of damage because it applies on-hit effects like Ionian Fervor, Spellblade, and Ruined Strikes.

It also applies a heal on Irelia each time it is activated, on a close fight, if Irelia manages to pull off multiple resets, she will automatically gain the upper hand.

It is important to learn the mechanics of Bladesurge. It has a target prioritization mechanic depending on how it is activated:

When tapped, it will prioritize:
1. Marked champions.
2. Marked large monsters.
3. Champions.
4. furthest minions.
When dragged, it will prioritize:
1. Low health champions.
2. Low health minions.
3. Marked champions.
4. Marked large monsters.
5. Champions
6. Targeted minions

When dragged, it will only jump to low health champions if they can be killed by Bladesurge. Enemies with low enough HP will have their HP bar turn purple. Take note that it takes into account Spellblade when it calculates if the enemy is about to die so you might be surprised that your second Bladesurge jump does not reset on the second ranged minion.

Once you are comfortable with dragging the ability button of Bladesurge, take it to the next level by flicking the ability button in your target direction. It will prioritize jumping to targets it will reset on so you do not have to precisely target the enemy you want to jump on, you just have to flick into its direction. Mastering this technique will make your Bladesurge jumps much faster.

Bladesurge prioritizes Marked champions when tapped. Champions are marked through Irelia’s 3rd ability, Flawless Duet, and through her ultimate, Vanguard’s Edge. To quickly jump across the battlefield, take note of how many champions are Marked before tapping Bladesurge. You can note how many enemies are marked by counting the enemies that are hit by your other abilities or by looking for the Mark, which looks like this:

If 4 enemies are Marked, you can confidently tap Bladesurge four times, knowing that it will still be available for use after your flurry of dashes.

You can use Bladesurge to escape through jungle monsters by casting Irelia’s 3rd ability, Flawless Duet over the camp so you can dash through and over the wall.

You do not always have to rush on a marked target, if they are, for example, trapped in your ultimate, Vanguard’s Edge, you can wait for them to use Flash before using Bladesurge to waste their efforts to escape.

W | 2nd Ability: Defiant Dance

Defiant Dance is Irelia’s main defensive tool. It can be cast and held for up to 1.5 seconds. While channeling this ability, Irelia gains at least 50% damage reduction. The channeling cannot be interrupted so one of the best times to cast it is while crowd controlled.

Once Defiant Dance is released, Irelia whips the blades forward and deals damage depending on the charge time. Do not expect high damage from this ability but it can be a good way to reach dying targets if your other abilities are on cooldown.

You can use Defiant Dance to damage minions so that they will be low enough for multiple resets on Irelia’s 1st ability, Bladesurge.

When in a losing lane, you can also use Defiant Dance to secure last hits, especially the cannon minion.

E | 3rd Ability: Flawless Duet

Flawless Duet is Irelia’s primary crowd control tool. She sends a blade to the target location and sends a second blade at another location. Once the second blade reaches its target location, the blades converge and damages, stuns, and mark enemies hit.

Flawless Duet is another challenging ability to learn because you have to predict where the enemy will be once you send out the second blade. Here are some tricks to making it easier to land Flawless Duet:

Send the first blade behind the enemy champion so you can send the second blade closer to you, making it land faster, and therefore, making the enemy stunned faster.
Cast the first blade under you and immediately cast Irelia’s 2nd ability, Defiant Dance to hide it. Once you have released Defiant Dance, immediately cast the second blade to hide it under Defiant Dance’s animation.
Cast the first blade under brushes.
Cast the first blade far away before using the Flash + Ultimate combo.
You can also hide the second blade by casting Irelia’s 1st ability, Bladesurge at the same time but this is discouraged because it will put Bladesurge on cooldown.

After using Irelia’s ultimate, Vanguard’s Edge, it is best to wait for the enemy’s decision to fight or escape before casting Flawless Duet. If the enemy chooses to duke it out, you can hold on to your stun so you can wait for a better opportunity to outplay. If they try to escape, you can use a 1st ability, Bladesurge + Flawless Duet combo to rush them down with your stuns and multiple resets.

R | Ultimate: Vanguard’s Edge

Vanguard’s Edge is a burst damage and soft crowd control ultimate. Those damaged by Vanguard’s Edge are immediately marked and those who pass through the bladewall are damaged again and slowed by a huge amount for 1.5 seconds.

Vanguard’s Edge is great for forcing immobile enemies to fight you and your team. Since the enemies hit are all marked, you will have most likely have a fully stacked passive with ease.

If there is a low HP enemy hiding before their team, you can use Vanguard’s Edge to reach them because the bladewall extends further away from the first champion hit. After hitting enemies at the front, you can jump from one champion to another to reach the low HP champion behind.

Vanguard’s Edge is the best ability to use Flash on offensively. In itself, Vanguard’s Edge already has quite the range and by using Flash with it, you will be able to surprise enemies with a long-range initiation with few options for counterplay.

Because Vanguard’s Edge only slows enemies, champions with blink abilities or Flash can easily jump out of it. This is the reason why you’d want to save Irelia’s 3rd ability, Flawless Duet so you can have another chance to lock and take down your target.

Vanguard’s Edge’s animation is faster so you can immediately use the 1st ability, Bladesurge to gap close.

Combos:

Lane all-in: Stack passive > 3 > 2> 3 > 1 > 1

It is crucial to stack your passive first before using the lane all-in combo so you can deal as much damage as possible to your lane opponent. Hide the 3rd ability, Flawless Duet’s animation using the 2nd ability, Defiant Dance.

Ultimate all-in: 4 > 1 > AA> 2 > 3 > 3 > 1

Once you have max Ionian Fervor stacks, squeeze in as many auto-attacks possible before stunning the enemy. If you don’t have any stacks, pull off the full combo so you can have the full stacks, especially when against a single target.

Irelia Early Game Guide

Irelia is fairly average in the early game but you can sneak in an early advantage through two ways.

First, if you can set up the minions to be killed by four straight 1st ability, Bladesurges, you can surprise your opponent with your fully stacked passive which then you can use to force a Flash or even a kill if your opponent underestimates your damage.

Second, if the enemy forces an engagement on you, you can use Irelia’s 3rd ability, Flawless Duet to stun them while they are being hit by your minions. This is best done against champions with an aggressive level 1 like Fiora, Jax, Darius, and Yasuo.

If you cannot set up these situations, just wait for your level 3 power spike. Once you reach level 3, you have a good chance at killing your opponent provide that you stack your passive and hit your opponent with your 3rd ability, Flawless Duet.

Once you reach level 5, though. You become one of the strongest champions in the game. Just be careful with champions who can outplay you like Camille who can dodge your ultimate with her ultimate or Nasus and Renekton who can out sustain and out damage you if they have their ultimate activated.

Irelia Late Game Guide

Irelia is one of the strongest champions in the mid game. You just have to pick your battles though.

Irelia is best as a follow-up engager because she deals a lot of damage but she cannot really survive burst damage and if she cannot get her resets, she also cannot heal up.

If you really have to initiate a fight, cast your ultimate then wait a little bit for your teammates to get closer before dashing into the middle of the fight.

If you can connect your dashes into the backline, do so and reserve your 3rd ability, Flawless Duet for killing the enemy’s carries.

Look for split push opportunities whenever possible.

Synergies

You will love diving the enemy team if you have an Orianna as a teammate. You can easily access the enemy team through your ultimate and your dashes and Orianna’s ultimate and shielding will ensure that the both of you will deal so much damage to the enemy team and that you will survive the fight.

Lulu will make you an unstoppable AD carry. She can shield you, increase your max HP, and make your move and attack faster. Plus, she makes Irelia bigger for all of us the enjoy all of her glorious dancer physique.

Rakan does well with pretty girls. No, seriously, Rakan is a great follow-up to Irelia since he has enough mobility and crowd controls to disrupt the enemy team while Irelia does her thing.

All Irelia Wild Rift Counter Champions

Renekton can easily stop you in your tracks thanks to his 2nd ability, Ruthless Predator. He has the ability to weave in and out of a fight, burst damage, and sustain so you have little room for winning against him unless he is careless.

Akali matchup is extremely hard to play against since she can poke you and her 3rd ability, Shuriken Flip can be used to easily avoid your stun. You have to learn how to play using minions to reset on to avoid her skillshots. Otherwise, you will lose your duels especially if you cannot avoid her 1st ability, Five Point Strike pokes and her ultimate, Perfect Execution.

It is easy to use Fiora’s 2nd ability, Riposte on Irelia’s Flawless Duet. She can beat you hard in the lane and she split pushes better. Play with your team as your only upside against her is that you have more utility and team fight presence than her.

Pros & Cons About Irelia

Here are some pros and cons if you are playing with Irelia in Wild Rift.

Pros

Irelia is a high mobility fighter with lots of outplay potential in her kit. She can avoid skill shots with her 1st ability, Bladesurge and she can sustain herself with it too.
For a high mobility fighter, Irelia has a really strong team fight presence. She can slow a lot of enemies with her ultimate and her stun can potentially be landed on a lot of enemies too.
Irelia is a high skill expression champion. Her kit offers a lot of possible plays and she can carry her team hard if the player using her is proficient in using her.

Cons

Irelia is hard to learn and extremely tough to master. Her abilities require a lot of practice and it demands great situational awareness.
She has a lot of tough matchups in lane because she is weak against burst damage and crowd controls.

FAQ's About Irelia in Wild Rift

How good is Irelia in Wild Rift?

Irelia is a (Tier S+) champion. She is a high skill expression champion who is capable of carrying her team 1v9 but she requires a lot of time investment from her user to master her and she is inconsistent in the way that some match ups are hard for her to win.

What role / lane should I play with Irelia in Wild Rift?

Irelia is traditionally played in the Baron lane as a split-pushing high mobility fighter. She can also be played in the middle lane as a counter to melee assassin champions.

What abilities do I level up with Irelia?

What items should I build with Irelia?

Trinity Force and Blade of the Ruined King are Irelia’s core items. Trinity Force grants the Spellblade passive which increases her burst damage so she can use her 1st ability, Bladesurge more often and Blade of the Ruined King grants the Ruined Strikes on-hit passive which adds %HP damage that can also be applied through her first ability. After her core items, she can build Sterak’s Gage, Death’s Dance, and Guardian Angel.

What Runes should I use when playing as Irelia?

Conqueror and her passive are designed so that the longer the fight, the stronger the damage she deals. Her other runes are Brutal, Hunter-Titan, and Sweet Tooth.

How can I get multiple resets with Irelia's 1st ability, Bladesurge?

It is important to learn and get used to Bladesurge’s unique mechanics. Tapping it prioritizes Marked targets while dragging it prioritizes low HP targets.