My Version Of... An Irelia Rework Concept
Before we get started... Irelia has a spam dash before, and needed constant nerfs, Irelia now has everything changed, but the spam dash, and needs constant nerfs... coincidence? Definitely not, they are linked together, mobility makes the game not fun to play in when against it. If you were to make a mobile champion in a player vs player game like League of Legends, then you need to compensate by over valuing the power of mobility by making the rest of the champion very, very gimped to keep them balanced.
The second point, I never care how late or recent a rework happened, and I also do not care if another champion "needs more priority" first. I simply do not care, I rather make a concept I have an idea for than try to force it on another champion that I have nothing to offer for them. Doing it this way just means that champion will have a concept kit that is more fun, unique, and interesting to play as and allows for more the player can do with it.
What I envision for Irelia is someone that uses these floating blades and have their gameplay revolve around that.
This means instead of dashing, Irelia surfs on a blade in the air, which then opens up a lot more cool and fun gameplay opportunities. Like balancing her blade surfing mobility with restrictive movement for the extra speed, and since she is surfing and always moving, she has this fun and fluid way to summon out blades to slice up her foes as she surfs around them!
Outside of mobility, to fulfill a floating blade fantasy, she cannot be a melee attacker and instead she is a sudo-marksman type and spell caster. This aspect does a lot for balance as it means her kit no longer needs to be overloaded, does not need a bunch of mobility, and can make it where here attacks and spells share a resource mainly to make basic attacking to be more engaging and then do more with it and not right-click-to-win (hence why she would a sudo-marksman with this concept is because she may choose to intentionally not basic attack at all).
Will Irelia be played in different positions and roles on the team? Potentially, but this nothing to care for, as long as she can be played and be viable without being oppressive or overpowered, then let her be played in an originally unintended position as long as it is healthy for the game.
Anyways, I just think Riot could have done a lot better job with Irelia and this entire post is not a "whine post" or "you just got stomped Irelia post" because neither are true. I simply just want to share my ideas for the future to help create something down the road that makes Irelia play like an interesting and fun champion that can be in a balanced, healthy state without the need to nerf her constantly. Put of that is learning what did not work in the past and avoid it.
Attack Range: 525 units Movement: 340 units per second Attack Speed: 0.715 +3.5% per level Attack Damage: Average Mana: None
Master of the Floating Blades (Passive):
Irelia has 5 blades to use as she pleases for her basic attacks and certain abilities, having no blades on hand means she cannot attack or cast some abilities.
Irelia throws out her attacks damaging all it passes through for 40% damage, floating in place at the end of its range for 2 seconds, and then returning to Irelia to deal 120%(+30% per 100AP) damage to all it passes through. On hit effects are applied in full.
Minions are dealt 10% - 50%(+15% per 100AP) damage, unless it was the main target, then that minion is dealt 100%(+30% per 100AP) damage, for both passes.
Blades Surge (Q):
Cooldown: N/A; Cost: All Stored Blades; Range: 400 to 2000 units
Irelia throws out between 1 to 5 of her blades in the target direction, each traveling 400 range from Irelia and then 400 range from each other, each blade that strikes an enemy deals 12/19/26/33/40(+40%AD) physical damage, and remain floating for 3 seconds.
After 3 seconds, the blades return to Irelia, each dealing 12/19/26/33/40(+40%AD)(+40%AP) true damage to every enemy they pass through.
These can critically strike and apply on hit effects and life steal.
Defiant Dance (W):
Cooldown: 7/6/5/4/3 seconds
Irelia instantly calls in her currently floating blades to her location, but removes their secondary effect upon returning them in this way. For the next 2 seconds, every blade currently on hand grants Irelia 6/7/8/9/10%(+1% per 100AP) damage reduction, up to 30/35/40/45/50%(+5% per 100AP).
Blade Surfing (E):
Static Cooldown: 1.5 seconds
Toggle: Irelia stands on her large blade and is always moving forward with restrictive movement.
Irelia gains up to 42/54/66/78/90%(+10% per 100AP) bonus movement speed the more turns she makes, surfing straight or too much in a circle will rapidly decay this bonus movement speed.
While surfing, Irelia can freely attack, cast her abilities, and channel without stopping her movement.
The Dance of the Blades (R):
Cooldown: 120/90/60 seconds; Cost: All 5 Blades On Hand; Range: Technically Global
Irelia channels in place, unless surfing, to gain full control over all of her blades, each 100 units behind each other, that follow the mouse cursor around.
Quick motions of the mouse is a slice attack, up to 0.5 second, causing each blade to deal 10/25/40(+30%AD) physical damage, up to a maximum of 3(+1 per 150AP) slice attacks. These blades apply grievous wounds for 1.5/2.25/3 seconds and deal 50/100/150% bonus damage against shields.
In order to keep controlling these blades, their movement must be fluid, smooth, and elegant with no harsh turns or straight movement outside of slice attacks.
(The camera will zoom out while channeling, increasing the zoom out farther based on rank.)