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@Reds/Designers: Irelia

QuestForDankWeed·2/19/2014, 2:33:56 AM·3 votes·479 views

I thought I might put a real discussion here, in light of all the dirt being slung around the past day or two.

I'm an Irelia main, and have been since around Summer 2011. She is my favorite champion. I've thought a lot about her kit, balance, and inevitable rework. So thought I'd share what I've come up with thus far, and get people's opinions on it.

So, before diving deep, I tried to think about what her problems are in terms of mechanical strength, game health, and current balance/viability. After that, I though about things such as what made her cool/fun to play, and what kind of direction her kit would take based off currently gameplay. Here is what I came up with:

Irelia's Problems

Sustain

  • Some of Irelia's Core items bolster her sustain and can make her extremely overbearing in some scenarios
  • Her sustain with W is very subtle when used on minions, and before her lane opponent is aware of it, Irelia has recovered a large percentage of her health
  • Her sustain is in discord with her E (Equilibrium Strike, her Stun/Slow). The player wants to raise their health, but at the same time, cannot afford to lose their stun
  • Her sustain can be, and often is, too strong in lane, but in a duel or teamfight, is barely useful at all

Ultimate - This, in my opinion, is currently the largest single source of problems within her kit

  • Her ultimate is on a very short cooldown, both in the late game and in lane. This gives her quick access to a large arsenal of (weak) utility, and reduces counter-play for her lane opponent

  • Her ultimate is a very strong wave-clear for a single wave, but with it down, the rest of her kit struggles to effectively clear waves

  • The % health restoration from her ultimate is either completely underwhelming (Small waves or single champions) or stupidly strong (Teamfights and large waves)

  • Her ult on its own does minimal amounts of damage, and does not scale exceptionally well, but can do a significant amount of total damage if all 4 blades hit, and indirectly applies much more damage through sheen and triforce. Summed up, Irelia's opponents struggle to see how much damage they are actually taking, or will take when Irelia goes all in

  • The blades are infuriating to play against at times. One would normally not expect to be killed by an Irelia ult, but when you think you've managed to escape, the very long range and ability to pass through all targets make it easy for Irelia to execute you in a humiliating manner

Stun/Slow

  • The duraiton of her slow is very long at rank 5 for a fighter/bruiser/melee carry/melee DPS. If I mop the floor with somebody and make them upset, one of the most common "WTFs" I get through chat are over the length of the stun.

  • The slow itself is still very powerful, and still has the scaling duration to the ridiculous 2 seconds

  • The ability does a significant amount of magic damage, 300 at rank 5, with fairly high AP scaling, adding to her huge power-spike when she gets a sheen

  • The is no visual indicator, outside of the healthbar, for Irelia or her opponent, showing if her E is going to stun or slow

There are a few thing I left out, like her W being extremely effective against squishy targets and completely ineffective against other bruisers, but I feel like these other problems are not that significant. If I had to sum up the problem with Irelia's kit in one word, I would describe it as "inconsistent." To the possible dismay of the Irelia player, her teammates, and her opponents, Irelia's strength and usefulness vary to huge extremes, from broken to useless.

What do I think should be done?

In terms of a gameplay rework, the ideas I've come up with are centered around wanting to try and create the feeling like of a juggernaut soldier that dives through the front lines to reach their target. I personally feel like you should be able to pick a target, and be able to go deep into enemy lines to pick off said target.

First off, I think her ultimate as it is needs to go.

What I would propose is an ultimate that would work like something between a Quinn ultimate and a Riven ultimate.

When the ultimate is active, it would enhance other aspects of Irelia's kit. For example, while her ultimate is active, perhaps her W could gain a small attack speed buff that ramps up over time (Either over the X seconds, or while W is active. Also, more examples to follow below). On top of this. she would gain a second effect, used in the same manner as Riven's, where she has a set number of "Ammunition" to fire. This "Ammunition" would be similar to the blades of her previous ultimate, but only hit one target (It would stop, like an Ezreal Q), and are fired in rapid succession while she holds down the R button (You can release and rehold the button to start and stop firing as many times as you would like, as long as the ultimate is active and you still have ammunition).

A key part of this ultimate is that the cooldown or cost would have to be significant. This is a good place to give her counter-play; she will be very strong for 15 seconds every 2-3 minutes, rather than moderately strong every 30-60 seconds.

Her E would probably need gutting as well. Its an immensely frustrating part of her hit for opponents, and overall a stupidly strong tool. Personally, I think it should be replaced by a low cooldown, low-moderate damage displacement with a short range. Imagine a very small knockback, perhaps the range of a Riven dash, on a short cooldown that grows shorter if Irelia stays in combat.

**As for W, ** cut it's sustain against minions out, and provide a slightly stronger heal vs. champions that is abit stronger while W is active. Players will have to avoid her while her W is up, and then force a trade while she is much more vulnerable.

True damage should be pretty heavily reduced, or removed entirely, and replaced with something more like Yi E. How exactly this would scale is something I can't say without toying with it; this is a huge part of adjusting her power curve, and changing the damage on it even by a small amount changes her entire game by a significant amount (as far as scaling/power curve goes).

Q (Dash) is probably the easiest. As far as gameplay mechanics go, it's pretty much fine, though I personally think there should be some way to reduce the cooldown on the dash by staying in the fight, ulting, or killing a champion - the cooldown is too long if the dash doesn't get the refresh (This even happens when it does get the kill, from time to time), especially before levels 15-18.

More Ideas for the Ultimate's enhancements. Keep in mind this is just a collection of things you could have it do; by no means do I think her ultimate should have all of these.

  • Have her W remain active for extended durations

  • Have kills and assists reset her Q while the ultimate is active

  • Extend the range of her auto attacks

  • Extend the range of her Q

  • Extend the knockback of the proposed E

  • Heavily reduce the cooldown on the proposed E (Make her bully her target)

  • Have W having a "rampup", where over the duration of the ultimate, she gains more damage and attack speed

  • Give her "Stacks" of Q during her ultimate, letting her dash to multiple targets

That's it for now. What do you guys think of these ideas (In terms of gameplay). Numbers, of course, would have to be adjusted; I just wanted to cover mechanics.

1 Comments

Anonagon2/19/2014, 3:10:51 AM2 votes

The issue of Irelia is something I've though about a lot since I picked her up a month or two ago. She's definitely fun to play as, especially when ahead, but I see where Riot comes from when they talk about the lack of counterplay for her.

First off, I agree that Q as it is can and should stay. Its one of the few defining things about her. I also really like your idea for E.

But while I like your proposed ultimate change, I am going to throw my own idea into the pot: Move her R to her W, reduce the damage a bit, put it on an Akali ult style charge system, and have that be her source of lane sustain and poke.

This would give her interesting decisions in lane. "Do I use my W to sustain, or do I save it to finish them in an all-in?" "Do I use them 1 by 1 to poke him down, or do hold them for big burst?" Also, I think that the idea of "flying blades" should be present in her base kit, and this would provide that.