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Irelia Rework Idea

zero356·2/4/2017, 9:07:40 PM·5 votes·3,284 views

Foreword: My perspective I haven’t really played league in while because I think it’s balance is complete garbage right now, but that’s not the point of this post. When I did play, I had mastery five on Irelia. I wasn’t great, but I did know her kit and could play her decently. Of note is that I did primarily play her as a jungler, not a top laner, so these ideas may be biased to JG Irelia, though I don’t think so. Last, I was a high silver, low gold player.

Having said that, let’s walk through her abilities one by one

Passive: So this is where it all starts. Irelia is the will of the blades and her theme is “telekinetic sword” wielder to quote a Rioter from a post a couple of days ago. So, that is the basis of her kit and is thus found in her passive, which has three parts (I swear nothing else has a passive)

Part One: Ionian Fervor What she has now as a passive. I think it’s a pretty good idea because the other half of Irelia’s theme is equilibrium and balance, a theme shared by most Ionian characters.

Part Two: Will of the Blades Irelia is constantly surrounded by four blades (basically the first, passive part of her ult is now her passive). These blades are used for Irelia’s abilities (see ability details). They are also used for her autoattacks. As such, having no blades (explained later) means she CANNOT AUTOATTACK (think graves, except you get rid of and restore the blades through ability usage; again, see later). AUTOATTACKS DO NOT consume blades, though. The damage dealt could also scale with the number of blades, though I think that is getting a bit too complex.

Part Two and a half: Guardian Blades After using an ability, the blades currently attached to Irelia will each block one instance of enemy champion/monster damage or CC (completely negates damage over time if it blocks the first part, does nothing, and doesn’t waste the charge, for DOT already applied). This part of the passive has an internal cooldown of X seconds (may scale down per level) per blade.

Q: Bladesurge Relatively unchanged. The mana refund and CD reset stay. Damage now scales with the number of blades held. The range could also scale, but I think that’s adding more complexity than needed.

W: Blade Dance/Storm (pick one, I’m terrible with names) Irelia fires out a blade in a straight line, dealing damage and healing herself for a portion of the damage dealt. Basically, it’s the second, active part of her ult but it does less damage and heals less because it’s available more often. It will also still work with trinity force. Blades fired will lodge into the ground at the end of their travel or into the first enemy champion/large monster struck (so she can still heal off minions and so minions don’t completely wreck her shit)(might be weird fighting in JG, but I want her to still be able to JG; see beginning for why).

A couple of notes • Blades do not automatically return • Walking over a blade in the ground picks it up (think Orianna ball) • W fires the blades that still have passive block charges available first. This is to prevent players from jumping in with Q (triggering the passive with 4 blades) and mindlessly using W for damage while the passive blocks everything. • How to implement a good CD for this? Maybe a small cooldown after using E • Mana cost on each blade

E: Blade’s Equilibrium Irelia recalls all blades. Enemies with blades stuck in them will take damage based on the number of blades removed. Further, enemies with blades stuck in them will be slowed or stunned. Which one occurs will be based on the same mechanic currently in place. If Irelia has a higher % of her health, it’s a slow. If she has a lower %, it’s a stun. The duration of either depends on the # of blades removed.

Notes: • Blades deal damage to minions (not champions) on the return journey. This is to enable her to use it conjunction with her Q as an escape/gapcloser/maneuvering tool • If Irelia has the same health % (within a certain %) she SLOWS the enemy (I like the equilibrium part of the skill, but this part is bullshit) • Blades recalled DO NOT contribute to her passive block • Flat mana cost, regardless of blade’s recalled

R: Blade’s Release Ok, so, this part is going to feel really underwhelming. I couldn’t really think of a good idea for this, so I just went with the best I could. To be fair, though, her current ult is fairly underwhelming. Regardless.

Irelia spins he currently held blades around in a circle, blocking all damage and projectiles for the next X seconds (think windwall/riposte/braum shield). After, they push out in a formation around Irelia (straight in front for one, sides for two, triangle with one straight back for three, and an X centered on Irelia for four). Enemies hit are knocked back and take damage. Think Gragas ult centered on her, with a bit more damage (barring AP Gragas) Basically, it’s her taunt (or whatever emote it is), except it actually does something.

Notes: • Irelia is counted as still having all blades used for this ability (though it might be more interesting to have it be like she used W with all four at once) • Obviously, if Irelia has no blades, she cannot use this ability

EDIT: Because this was confused elsewhere, autoing does not consume blades like Grave's Autos. She needs them too auto, but autos do not consume them.

16 Comments

FermentedDog2/4/2017, 10:11:04 PM3 votes

honestly I like the character concept in itself a LOT but I feel like it wouldn't be Irelia anymore at all. Irelia is a melee fighter who goes into the fray along with her tank to take the enemy down but this would make her more like an AD-caster, something like an AD-Syndra or AD-Aurelion Sol. There would also be no point in having a Q that lets you go in on an enemy other than for last hitting or a passive that let's you reduce CC when the rest of your kit allows you to handily stay out of combat. I feel bad for sounding like a douche lmao, it's a really nice champion concept but I think it'd be better off as it's own champion

NooseNoodlz2/11/2017, 3:43:02 PM1 votes

I really like your Passive idea and I think it really fits more with the Lore we are given by Riot. She is not just a melee fighter as the previous commentators have said, did they even read her Lore? It would fall in line with her lore of flying magic blades flying around and defeating an army as her lore states.

I had a similar idea like yours with her Ult because I was once looking at her blade dance with ctrl+3 and thought wow why couldn't that be an Ult? Since she tends to be in the center of team fights and therefore prime for dealing dmg to all enemy fighters? Really tho, Riot would only need to transfer Irelia's dance animation to an ult and it would look like it is wrecking the enemy team. But I was thinking kinda like Nunu's ult where it slows surrounding enemies but also gives life steal and does % magic and % ad dmg.

But I think RIOT could just transfer the original R animation to Equilibrium Strike (E) with only 1 or 2 shooting blades. They can make it that if a champ is at a certain range Irelia can shoot a blade out towards said champion. But if champ is within melee range the original E animation can be activated. The slow and stun effects should remain unchanged.

However, Q and W can remain the same, I think they are fine the way they are.

What do you think OP?

Ivern and Irelia3/27/2017, 3:54:14 AM1 votes

First things first, im quite happy to find another jg irelia main. I always get flack in the lobby, but i almost always do well.

Now as for the rework, i love the direction this is headed. As much as i love irelia and her kit, ive always felt like they completely flopped on the telekinetic blade thematic. But your idea is a great idea towards what she should be. I really like the W and E interactions. They help capture her theme while still maintaining some of her play style. With a few tweaks this would definitely be something that id be excited to try out. Good job

nachocheeseeeee3/27/2017, 4:13:46 PM1 votes

Riot expressed its interest to make her theme of a telekinetic blades wielder more prominent but that would mean she probably will have more ranged abililies which could mean the following: she could be converted either into an AD or AP mage or be a hybrid of melee and ranged AD caster. I personally like if she remains predominantly an AD melee champion whose main source of damage comes from auto attacks. Yes it would be nice to give her abilities something more unique especially her ult and w which from what I heard is the only ability without scaling. I like the idea of her tenacity in her passive as it gives her more identity as a honey badger but it's already nerfed and maybe could be reimagined more creatively.

HzVee3/28/2017, 2:00:53 AM1 votes

I like the idea/concept. For her W, I think it'll be nice if she first slashes her enemy with her first three W cast in melee range before she fires the last one or it has increased max range with every cast (125-250-500-1000 for each consecutive cast for example).

With this, she still needs to stay in melee/close range to deal full damage, and her last cast of W can be used to finish fleeing enemy.

donortiz557/16/2017, 12:12:53 AM1 votes

Just stumbled upon this because I like hearing other people's thoughts on older champion "reworks" and of course her blade recall is now on a newer champion I really would have loved that for irelia gives her some poke instead of her all in or nothing playstyle.