HP is the counter to true damage huh?
So tell me how to win against Irelia early game when "having HP" isn't a thing. Because true damage on auto attacks is fucking broken as shit.
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Irelia is a champion that relies on attack speed. A Frozen Heart is a good counter to her AS. Randuin's Omen also works, arguably better, due to providing HP, which reduces her true damage and burst. However, it only helps to protect yourself, while Frozen Heart helps to protect your entire team against Irelia's damage. ◾ In fact, champions with attack speed slows, such as Malphite and Nasus, have a much easier time against Irelia. They are also too tanky for her to beat easily.
◾ Most crowd control effects are not very effective against Irelia due to Ionian Fervor granting her enormous amounts of tenacity. However, tenacity cannot reduce the effects of knock-up and suppression crowd control. ◾ For suppression, champions like Malzahar and Warwick are good options against Irelia. They can suppress her during teamfights, giving your teammates enough time to kill her. But keep in mind that Irelia can buy a Quicksilver Sash to counter those suppression effects. ◾ For knock-ups, champions like Wukong, Zac and the aforementioned Malphite can give her headaches during teamfights.
◾ Try to disengage when you see her Hiten Style is activating. It only has a 6s duration and the true damage and on hit heal allows her to trade. Try to harass her back when it is on cooldown. ◾ Buying a Doran's Shield in the first trip back is a great way to counter Irelia if you are having trouble vs her, since most of her damage come from basic autoattacks but note that Hiten Style 's true damage can not be reduced by Doran's Shield. ◾ After that, by using the same logic, you can buy Ninja Tabi or stack health (Giant's Belt is good since it has many upgraded paths).
◾ Irelia's Equilibrium Strike makes her trading deceptively strong. Keep your current % of health higher than hers or you will lose lane.
◾ As a top lane champion that relies on reaching an enemy and sticking to them to apply her on hit true damage, picking a champion that can outdo her constant damage once she enters melee range like Xin Zhao or Udyr or disengage like Renekton is always a good idea. ◾ Ask for early ganks, shut her down early. Snowball champions like Riven are nightmares for Irelia to deal with when they are ahead. Though Irelia's power will allow her to turn the lane around if she gets enough levels. Riven, for example, cannot burst Irelia after enough levels have passed, causing Irelia to win lane. ◾ It is recommended not to fight Irelia in minion waves. Her Transcendent Blades allows her to heal a lot of damage if it deals damage to both you and minions. ◾ Try to counter her healing with healing reduction from Ignite. It can be quite powerful in early game.
Sad thing is I don't think Riot realizes that HP is the key to burst true damage. The key to sustained true damage is regen.
Sometimes you just have to play like a scared rabbit in certain match ups.
It's not all true damages fault if you get hit by it repeatedly.
Against Irelia, your best bet is Cloth + Potions. Armor to reduce the majority of her damage output, the physical portion, and HP potions to help deal with when she deals more than a tick on your meter because she activated her W.
You can just use a champion like Darius or Renekton who have much higher burst damage than Irelia. Early game sustained fights arent that profitable compared to burst damage.
Fiora - kills full tanks without penetration or BORK...