The trouble with Irelia: You can't buff her. Why? Too much crap in her kit.

darkdill·Oct 31, 2014·3 votes·1,314 views

Life-on-hit, stun, slow, wave-clear, gap-closer with reset, multi-type damage with true damage on-hit, durability, CC resistance...

You name it, Irelia probably has it for a fighter. And all in sucky qualities.

Something in that probably needs to be removed, or Morello will keep nerfing her (even if he hasn't in a long while). Additionally, it means that if left in her current state, she cannot be adjusted for balance because any change will either make her instantly OP or UP.

If you had to take something out, what would it be? And don't say "Nothing", because that defeats the purpose of this topic.

I'd first remove the stun on her E, because it punishes you for outplaying her. You get ahead in health, she stuns you and you can't counterplay that stun.

8 Comments

RadiantWingsOct 31, 20142 votes

Her E really should have been a comeback mechanic rather than an amazing bullying mechanic (slow you down so I can beat you to death or stun you if you get even one step ahead.)

If her E only stunned and then had a stun length that varied with the difference between her health and the target's, it would make much more sense. For example, if the stun length varied from .5->2.5 and only stuns for that drastic 2.5 seconds when Irelia has say, 50% less health than the opponent, it actually becomes a comeback mechanic in line with her lore.

DryJuiceOct 31, 20141 votes

Her E really should have been a comeback mechanic rather than an amazing bullying mechanic (slow you down so I can beat you to death or stun you if you get even one step ahead.)

But it is a comeback mechanic...

TUfekAeySiOct 31, 20142 votes

The problem isn't that Irelia's overloaded, it's that Irelia is the bare minimum for what a melee "carry" needs to be consistently viable. In fact this was Riot's very own reasoning (go and listen to the old Irelia spotlight where they explain this). Back in the day of Irelia's genesis it was almost impossible for melees to deal with things like Ashe's perma-slow.

Basically nothing is going to change because Riot has worked themselves into this knot. You can either give champs kits like Irelia's (which make sense in the game Riot has fashioned for themselves) or you can seriously address the issue of ranged vs melee (which they haven't). Until then the status quo'll prevail.

AetherKingdomOct 31, 20141 votes

Then there is no problem because she doesnt need buffs

darkdillOct 31, 20142 votes

She kinda does when she can't do anything that someone else can do better.

AetherKingdomOct 31, 20141 votes

She kinda does when she can't do anything that someone else can do better.

What cant she do? Shred tanks? CC People? Jump on enemy carries? Ignore cc?

SteelflameOct 31, 20142 votes

That's just it. She can do it all.

Just not well, usually. Jack of all trades, master of none, is either a broken overpowered, or worthless, archtype. Either you are good enough at everything that you instantly invalidate every other pick by just out-statballing them, or else, someone just specializes so hard over you in 1-2 areas that you are rendered obsolete, because specialization is much stronger than JoAT is. That is why League had such a problem with bruisers for so long, because bruisers were such statballs with no real play behind them for the longest time. And quite frankly, Riot would rather have her be worthless, than have her be Pick or Ban status. Because when she is PoB, she is an absolute monster that just runs the top lane on her own.

She has the exact same problems Lee Sin has, and the only reason Lee hasn't been gutted is because, unlike Irelia, Lee at least makes for flashy plays

AetherKingdomOct 31, 20141 votes

That's just it. She can do it all.

Just not well, usually. Jack of all trades, master of none, is either a broken overpowered, or worthless, archtype. Either you are good enough at everything that you instantly invalidate every other pick by just out-statballing them, or else, someone just specializes so hard over you in 1-2 areas that you are rendered obsolete, because specialization is much stronger than JoAT is. That is why League had such a problem with bruisers for so long, because bruisers were such statballs with no real play behind them for the longest time. And quite frankly, Riot would rather have her be worthless, than have her be Pick or Ban status. Because when she is PoB, she is an absolute monster that just runs the top lane on her own.

She has the exact same problems Lee Sin has, and the only reason Lee hasn't been gutted is because, unlike Irelia, Lee at least makes for flashy plays

Lee Sin isn't even OP anymore. He doesn't need to be gutted, or nerfed, in that matter