Looking for help with Irelia

I've always been really interested in Irelia as a champion. I like the idea behind her concept, and her kit seems really cool. I even saved up the IP for her and bought her during season 3, as well as dropping the cash for her Frostbooty skin, but only got to try her for one match. This was back when I was trying to be a top main, but the team I was on at the time was in need of a jungler. I bit the bullet and promised to learn how to jungle, found out I loved it, and ended up shelving most of the champions I'd come to know and love in lieu of deepening my pool of junglers.

But in the new jungle, apparently Irelia's finding a place? I've heard it mentioned by friends, and with the promotional page for her being a surprise jungler up I couldn't resist trying her out.

It didn't end well. Maybe it was the Azir who didn't know he could throw his minions, or how to get his minions to auto instead of him and vice versa, maybe it was the enemy Vi that was camping my bot lane, but it just didn't go well. Heimer got super fed, I managed to shut Corki down once, but with Azir using his ult and throwing the enemy team away when we WERE in good positions, Thresh interfering with our Darius, the only fed player on our team, getting ults by dropping his lantern on enemies at crucial moments so Darius was clicking the lantern instead, and me struggling to keep up, the match was lost. It didn't surprise anyone.

I'm not sure if it's just because of how the match went or if it's just me, but I couldn't get Irelia to work right. I managed to pull of a few cool plays, but I never really knew what I was going for.

Her Q was doing almost nothing in terms of damage, and since it was the only gap closer I had it's what I ended up using to get into someone's face to start trying to apply a beatdown, but it's range is so pitifully low that I had to chase just to get close, and ended up either taking free shots and walking into ambushes or just flat out being kited until I realized I wasn't going to catch them soon enough, trying to turn back, and suddenly getting Heimer ulted over a wall in my own jungle.

Hiten style was cool, but I felt like it wasn't doing enough damage, or healing enough for me. I was prioritizing her Q to increase it's damage and decrease it's cooldown, so it felt like Hiten Style ended up being pretty useless, especially once it got to the point where Corki and Heimer were just blowing our team up so I couldn't just sit and fight them.

I liked the feel of her E, but having to be at a lower health percentage than the enemy was really off putting. I would dive in for a stun only to find that my Q had done JUST enough damage to put them lower than I was at, leaving them still able to retaliate, and get blown up. Or when I WOULD land the stun I still couldn't seem to put out enough damage quick enough to get a kill, or get them low enough to where I could kill them before they killed me once the stun was over.

Her ult was great, honestly. I liked the feel of it, and it was pretty easy to line up the shots... but they did almost nothing. Three separate times enemies walked away from me after unloading my ult on them with less than 20 health, and they had started with maybe 3 or 4 hundred. These weren't tanks either, just carries.

Are there any Irelia mains out there who might be able to help me? Should I have been prioritizing W instead of Q? Or E for the longer stun? Should I not bother with the ult while I'm in a duel and just stick to auto attacks? How can I get in good ganks without needing the enemy to be way over extended, and taking a bunch of free harass while I walk close enough to Q to them? Or should I just not bother with Irelia in the jungle, and keep her shelved?

I really enjoy her as a champion, she just feels so ineffective in my hands and I'd like to fix that if I'm at all able. I know she can do great, I've gotten Irelia's fed and dealt with them being fed on an enemy's team. I want to be that Irelia, dangit.