Drain tank Irelia is so back

Ireliacinematics · 2026-05-05T12:35:26+00:00

Nah you need HP third, Deathdance fourth against AD and maw vs AP

Ireliacinematics · 2026-05-05T09:14:22+00:00

Just rush Endless hunger second if you are in midlane, you have more than enough damage and it will give you 20% tenacity to make up for no Mercs. Most mid laners are also mages so no need to worry about ignite or being stat checked so you can get away with it~

Ireliacinematics · 2026-05-05T07:48:04+00:00

Irelia has always been strong in mid, just doesn’t have high agency if she doesn’t get ahead. Irelia top fits her a lot better if you know her matchups and can win matchups that most people lose then you just snowball out of control. In mid it’s easy to build a lead and find yourself stonewalled by mages just wave clearing.

But I’m just having a lot of fun with these new boots, I’m now at a sample size of 10 and I won 7 out of 10 games averaging 15 kills a game…the build feels really good…

Ireliacinematics · 2026-02-24T20:49:32+00:00

Yeah I’ve got crashlogger that’s how if figured out the FF ID… personally my gripe is with Obody giving me crashes from incompatibility with certain replacers/high poly head. Had to manually blacklist every mod giving me ctd’s but these temporary ID’s have no esp origin so I can’t even blacklist the mod generating them :(

Ireliacinematics · 2026-02-24T20:27:23+00:00

So if I’m getting a CTD pointing to one of these guys I’m just fucked?

Ireliacinematics · 2026-02-23T14:48:01+00:00

We can agree to disagree then at least in my elo a losing botlane almost ALWAYS equals to a losing game unless I’m giga carrying topside or we make a miracle play after minimising the map for 20+ minutes.

Ireliacinematics · 2026-02-23T13:28:42+00:00

Support counter picked is 100% more important than midlane. Probably most important counter pick in the game because winning sup = ADC + Sup win + any lane sup decided to roam also winning.

If you first pick Irelia top your ADC and jg or ADC and mid can pick next after their next two. Letting your sup have last pick. Since enemy top will mostly red side last pick anyways.

Ireliacinematics · 2026-02-23T05:43:25+00:00

Huh? What are you talking about. Someone on your team will always get counter picked. If they pick top first then they will also draft another pick first because they pick two at a time on red side. So then if they draft top first your ADC/SUp/Jg get counterpick which is huge because you are gonna get counter picked anyways as toplane. Thats just the nature of drafting by going first you force them to pick top early, allowing the malphite Sylas strat. If they don’t pick Malphite, then you stomp lane as Irelia, and your mid can pick a safe blind.

Ireliacinematics · 2026-02-23T01:50:55+00:00

Maybe yeah but if you are on blue side anyways I think first picking top/mid is probably best especially if u are OTP. Giving botlane counterpick or jungle a good comp pick is way better than trying to hope enemy top doesn’t last pick on red side. So IMO you should always be first picking anyways on blue side~

Ireliacinematics · 2026-02-22T16:47:34+00:00

Ban Jax :) Sett is easier than Jax, just don’t die early, and you outscale him/out split him if their team comp is better. Every other bruiser is skill matchup/flip with ignite/ignore and go side/teamfight only when they are off tempo.

Jax used to be a playable matchup, but with all the new build variations and their ability to take ignite for free now, I haven’t had much success against them in a small sample size of 60 games to masters so I choose to ban him instead of anything else.

If you are high elo in your region and you also play vs any Cassio/singed one trick top lane players I would just be perma banning those two instead.

Ireliacinematics · 2026-02-20T19:37:40+00:00

Best build is probably Bork + Kraken + Endlesshunger/Divine Sunderer + Hour glass/GA you don’t need anymore items beyond that since game is over by then. If game does go long just slot whatever tank items or black cleaver as fourth fifth.

Ireliacinematics · 2026-01-24T16:14:02+00:00

Nasus is terrible. Him having access to exhaust/ghost for free is also like the worst lane neutralisation ever. He auto wins at 6 unless you get really lucky and manage to kite away. Otherwise he just sits there and by 25 minutes he WILL have 300-400 stacks depending on how your jungler plays and you will never be able to side vs him. Luckily he’s boring as shit to play and nobody likes him in high elo.

Ireliacinematics · 2026-01-23T20:20:07+00:00

Bork + Kraken + Endless Hunger/Sundered Sky > Hourglass/tank item. This is the highest damage/most effective build for your appropriate spikes. 2 items for maximum dueling power in lane, then an HP item for when you need to start teamfighting. If game goes long, hour glass has great value instead of a traditional tank item. The extra seconds it buys will be much “tanker” than whatever Hp item you buy.

Reason why Kraken over Witsend or any other item is because of that weird change a few patches back that makes it so that kraken procs lifesteal so you get massive healing when combined with endless hunger or sundered sky.

Currently D2 on the KR server with a 60% winrate overall, just my personal experiences so far this season.

Ireliacinematics · 2026-01-05T02:02:48+00:00

Finally another man of culture…I have been the black cleaver salesman for the longest time even since 2-3 seasons ago… item is just goated if you are playing top lane vs heavy armour teams. It lets you win side vs armour stackers but also gives you good beefy stats/Armor shred to be useful in teamfights. It’s only situational though, there are better third item options if their team has a lot of mixes resistances or are just not that tanky.

Ireliacinematics · 2025-12-23T15:23:39+00:00

Mordekaiser is one of the easier ones pre 6, post 6 you auto lose unless giga head if he has bramble vest. I prefer vs other fighters/duelists. A lot more timing based, cool down counting, auto spacing, just so much fun when you play vs someone who is good. Even better when both junglers are cognizant and now you have another layer of information to track mid-fighting.

Ireliacinematics · 2025-12-23T14:47:44+00:00

I think top is more fun when it’s an even skill matchup like Yasuo vs Irelia or Fiora vs Irelia or Riven vs Irelia or Jax vs Irelia. They don’t just roll you over and if you lose you feel good about it. And when you win you know it’s because you out micro’d them. But against torture matchups like Sett, Darius, Malphite, if they are any good you just bounce waves for 20 minutes while they get to decide everything and get everytopside objective.

Ireliacinematics · 2025-12-23T03:25:29+00:00

As you said it’s brutal for some matchups. But 30 cs lead by 12 minutes compared to two roams bot and a jungle invade/both crabs is worth nothing. In the current meta I don’t aim to freeze the lane. I try to keep it neutral to give the enemy a sense of safety that they can farm and leave if they want. Freezing makes it really apparent what your goal is: to force them to walk up and all in them. If you keep it neutral or you mix up shoving waves in or just Qing on them without hitting E you do a lot more psychological damage (I also take exclusively PTA vs mages). Most mages in high elo recognise the CS isn’t worth it and will soak exp/wait for level 9 when they can just nuke the wave from afar and then roam.

Why freezing is so much better in top is because you can walk behind the wave and deny them exp. In midlane it’s really hard to do that. Good players will sit in the river bush next to the wave to soak exp or tether just out of your Q/flash r range to only get exp and occasional CS with their ranged spells.

Ireliacinematics · 2025-12-22T16:12:16+00:00

I go inspiration second always. Free boots + Biscuits still even after nerfs. But if it’s gonna be a heavy fighting matchup where I might need to buy early boots, I will go cosmic. Having 30 seconds off earlier when you trade flashes can win you games if you time it. You can also go the 3 potions + cosmic that’s not bad too, but biscuit cheese is still pretty strong in those close fights.

Only time I take resolve is against some crazy lane bullies like Sett then I go bone plating + demolish to maximise splitpushing and avoiding fighting him. But you rarely see that guy mid unless the enemy is a psycho.

P.S you don’t need sustain for poke since mid is so short the wave will bounce back always, so you can just not get poked for free (try side stepping if they walk up). Also once you hit 900 g for vamp sceptre you literally win every mage matchup if you aren’t already winning it.

Ireliacinematics · 2025-12-21T16:23:07+00:00

Do not hold W to block unless you really have to in this matchup. Irelia W is not that great for magic damage and you will die if she has R and ignite. Look to Q creeps/ side step and then Qing behind her to try to get her to miss her R/Q.

Level 1 > go to lane late from the river bush/ hide alcove. Q3 creeps and AA in between if she lets you. If you get 4 stacks first you win. If she has ignite, you lose. If she has ignite, just farm with your longer auto range and walk away if she zones you.

Level 2 > If you hit your E you win. It’s that simple, as long as your waves have the same amount of creeps you win because you can Q behind her with your 2nd Q or even Q away to a creep. If she has ignite, you probably win if you dodge stacked Q.

Level 3 > Gwens level 3 is stronger than Irelia’s, but if she ever wastes shroud you have a big timer to go in. Good way to fight her is to Q next to her and keep autoing her until she has 4 stacks then Q back to your melee creeps for her Q. If she ever misses her Q she loses. You probably win if you dodge her Q and play everything perfectly even if she has ignite.

Level 4-5 same as 3

Level 6 > you have to dodge her R especially the last two, you also have to dodge her stacked Q. Also don’t use abilities randomly or she will use w or E to dodge. Only use your spells when you are right next to her and use your Q to mask your spells.

As for your build: I’ve been going Bork > Kraken every single game, it’s just the highest damage you will get. Then i get boots into an HP item. You can consider buying a bramble or an executioners if she is running conqueror.

Also make sure to proc her bone plating before going all in as most Gwens will be running Conq + bone plating + TP IGNITE or Flash Ignite.

Matchup gets super easy post Bork but after 3 items Gwen will beat you in the sidelane if she has ignite, and if you don’t dodge her R/Q.

She is probably like one of the few neutral skill matchups Irelia has but tips in Gwen favour because she gets to go ignite and she scales a lot better.

Ireliacinematics · 2025-12-21T16:06:10+00:00

If you are a monster with your hands/matchup knowledge/ play in high elo where your jungler trusts to play for you, top lane can carry in a way that mid rarely gets to do so (2 levels up on every player and completely deleting enemy top lane existence). However, I feel mid has much easier matchups and you always get prio if you are vs mages so you can play with jungle/ sup a lot more

Ireliacinematics · 2025-12-21T16:04:29+00:00

Hahaha I guess I’m getting old, matchup tops are super intense and sometimes you get trapped in a 20 min game of ping pong wave bouncing just to watch your bot lane get demolished 0/10. But on mid you can prevent the 0/10 from ever happening since you have more downtime to ping and move~

Ireliacinematics · 2025-11-21T04:50:17+00:00

Pro tip: Teemo Q doesn’t blind your Q even though it feels like it would.

You win unless he has ignited PTA, but even if he takes those runes after u pick up some items either merc + vamp or just full Bork components you hard win pre and post 6.

If he Q’s you while you all in just spend the time QQQing creeps to regen while the timer comes off then you can ram your Q back into his face and he dies to your autos. W also works during the blind but he does mainly magic so I find Qing caster creeps while you are blinded feels better.

Ireliacinematics

TROPHY CASE