With all the talk of visuals and texture updates..

xPsy·Nov 14, 2014·32 votes·25,878 views

When are we going to fix my Ionian waifu's hair? Day by day goes by getting untouched. I mean it's not like I'm asking for a complex graphical update. Just please for the love of god fix her tentacle hair. Tis all I ask for.

Oh and, better nerf Irelia.

(reposted because was in the wrong Board)

73 Comments

oddeyeovalNov 14, 201429 votes

I'm sort of on a rhyming spree today, so I'm gonna try this out:

Irelia :

I may not be mechanically intense, But at least I have junglers buying their tents, And when I try, I can draw some ganks In a lane that mostly is a slap-fight between tanks.

While it's pretty much true that I've never been buffed, And attempts to play me competitively have mostly been rebuffed I've tried to eke out a small-sized chunk of that Glorious elo, even under Morello's nerf bat.

But it's kind of hard, swinging a blade When my hair looks like it was assembly-line-made In some factory that makes kids-meal toys I mean, come on, I need to impress the Ionian boys.(In all honesty, has some rad hair)

All I'm asking for is a little dusting-off So you can tell if my armor is metal or cloth Then even Morello will have to recognize That I can live up to my own model size.

Love, Irelia.

Irelia

Electro522Nov 14, 20142 votes

You, sir, are a genius.

Rew711Nov 14, 20142 votes

I like it because it made me feel warm on the inside. :') You go Irelia.

Ayame IsakiNov 14, 20142 votes

This poem makes me want to buy Irelia; she is so sad. item 3070 Irelia

RiotIronStylusNov 14, 201426 votes

Have noticed.

EssoranceNov 14, 20143 votes

So do something about it?

Champion SkinNov 14, 201412 votes

Noticed does not mean priority or have resources to fix right now

CriomhthannNov 14, 20145 votes

This. It was commented on in the old forums, Irelia is up for a rework at some point in the future. I know her kit is undergoing a full kit rework, I'm not sure if they are doing a full visual overhaul or just a visual update.

Regardless, there are bigger priorities for any of the above at the moment.

RiotIronStylusNov 15, 20147 votes

This.

TacticCarrotCakeNov 23, 20141 votes

Irelia doesn't need a kit rework though, she's perfect in terms of gameplay imo. All she needs is a VU, and if possible, a couple of new skins, that's all she needs. Also I like her battlefield personality, like she's some kind of reckless warrior that pursues and cutts her enemies violently, without mentioning the way she yells during the combat.

And if I want to say something about her gameplay:

I'm used to play Irelia in-lane like "bite me, oh you didn't see that coming you buffed broken champ! now YOU get rekt!". In other terms right now she's fun to play if played correctly in any matchup.

Now, I don't know who or which rioter stated that about her gameplay, but whatever they're going to do with her I guess it'd be terrible as they did with Sion and Cassiopeia, making it probably a very scary anti-climatic and anti-hype patch. (Yes, I'm panicking as I think of it)

RiotIronStylusNov 15, 20144 votes

Oh I have. I've got a concept sitting all nice and warm on my hard drive. I've had a pretty good reaction from it, though as has been said, she's in need of a kit re-tune. If we're going to do something with her I'd really like to make her blades REALLY mean something than just being a floating skateboard that she thwacks you with. So any VU will be dictated by kit changes which are currently not on the schedule.

SolideusNov 15, 20142 votes

I've noticed that people seem to have latched on to a fan-interpretation of Irelia based on one rioter comment way back. I'm not convinced it was cannon, but essentially the idea is that she is a lich and doesn't age/feel/etc.

I'm not opposed to the idea or anything, but there is currently nothing supporting that interpretation visually or otherwise. Is that character trait something you embrace internally and would develop when she is updated?

RiotIronStylusNov 21, 20147 votes

Ehhhhh I'm not really fond of the idea. I guess there's something in her story about cheating death or coming back from death or something. I'm a little lazy to look it up at the moment..

..however the core thing is that if that's a thing, currently there's nothing that indicates that she has some sort of death-cheating powers. I think there's enough cool stuff with Irelia, or could be with Irelia, that we can have some fun times without having to tack on that she's undead or whatever.

Just from tightening her look around the current direction we can get a) military commander in Ionia b) badass floating blade manipulator. So I think we could add something tertiary that fits nicely into that space, such as maybe a young commander that defied odds, or someone who prematurely took up a mantle of command, etc. Even if we didn't have something crazy, we could make her the Garen/Jarvan of Ionia. Not saying that we'd limit ourselves to that, but that's still a solid place to start from. Slapping undead on top of that with no visual significance sort of seems like a waste to me.

I wouldn't mind connecting her to Riven, Yasuo, Darius, whoever, that would enrich her world relations. I think we can find something more fitting than lich.

steelblackskyNov 21, 20142 votes

rioter comment first to use term lich specifically.

lore TLDR was: dies during noxian incursion. soraka resurrects and fathers blade weapon animates at same time moving by her will.

if you want odd read her other lore segment(the one that actually includes her brother).

long version:

Irelia, charged with the protection of their home until Zelos returned, was alone when the Noxian forces struck.

The Ionians fought admirably, but soon Ionian blood stained the land beneath the prints of foreign boots. At the Great Stand of the Placidium, Ionians prepared for surrender, but were inspired to maintain their resistance when the young Irelia lifted her father's enormous blade and pledged to hold until her brother returned. In the chaos of the ensuing fight, Irelia was cursed with dark Noxian Necromancy. As her life ebbed, Soraka, the Starchild, made a final attempt to anchor her fading soul. Unwilling to relinquish her home, Irelia rose at the brink of death, and her father's sword lifted in the air alongside her.

so we have dying by necromantic curse, soul bound in place by 'raka, blade magically animates. that "fan interpretation" isn't exactly stretching things.

LankPantsNov 15, 20146 votes

Can she also have a skin where her blades are a floating skateboard that she thwacks you with?

RiotIronStylusNov 21, 20146 votes

God how I want it.. but it's probably not very globally appealing.

MasterGroudonNov 18, 20143 votes

can you not change her kit i love it the way it is

MotherChurchNov 19, 20143 votes

Oh I have. I've got a concept sitting all nice and warm on my hard drive. I've had a pretty good reaction from it, though as has been said, she's in need of a kit re-tune. If we're going to do something with her I'd really like to make her blades REALLY mean something than just being a floating skateboard that she thwacks you with. So any VU will be dictated by kit changes which are currently not on the schedule.

Booo no kit changes. Don't fix what is not broken.

Toothless LionNov 14, 20146 votes

Have noticed.

Don't nerf frostbutt irelia :c

RiotIronStylusNov 21, 20142 votes

It's a skin, I doubt we'd alter it that much. I personally like the skin a lot and think all it needs is a fidelity upgrade.

ChimeiTekinaNasuNov 22, 20141 votes

Yeah. I recently got it from a mystery gift. It looks weird, but I don't think much needs to be done to it. Just a bit updated with how it looks is all.

Zephyr909Nov 24, 20142 votes

In the meanwhile, I have acquired myself Nightblade Irelia. I absolutely adore the splash art for Nightblade, it's so amazingly detailed and badass that I honestly don't care that there is no in-game animation/particle changes (not that any Irelia skins do; most or her abilities have very little flashiness that could be capitalized on with changed/improved animations or particles). All for the low price of 520RP! Also , I must mention I love her kit. Finally, I think her dance/taunt/joke animations are probably in my top 5 in the whole game... so beautiful and cool ; ; Edit: grammar fix :P

HeliostormNov 14, 20144 votes

Sorry to tell you this, but fixing tentacle hair IS a complex graphical update. Hair is notoriously difficult to model and animate well, way too often it ends up looking like tentacles or moving like it's made of gelatin.

I doubt we'll ever see champs with long hair that doesn't look like it's made of jello.

LankPantsNov 14, 20144 votes

There are already a few champs with long hair which look OK in the game, for example Kat, her hair definitely doesn't look like tentacles or jello.

RiotIronStylusNov 21, 20145 votes

This is a legit problem. You sorta have to make hair into masses. That's why ponytails and consolidated shapes are popular. You sort of have to treat hair like cloth in a way, making flat planes of it if you want any sort of movement.

PtarlorrNov 21, 20142 votes

Which is why we haven't seen champions with curly hair yet, I'm guessing?

No I'm not including whatever MF's hair is supposed to look like.

CLusNov 14, 20144 votes

wait, her hair isn't supposed to be tentacles?

RiotIronStylusNov 21, 20142 votes

CONTRARY TO YOUR LOCAL AQUARIUM'S ASSERTION.. no, not tentacles.

TortferngatrNov 21, 20141 votes

Hmm. What if we had a champion whose hair was literally meant to be tentacles?

(coughthemaraineedlovecough:Pcough)

GlasirNov 21, 20144 votes

Ehhhhh I'm not really fond of the idea. I guess there's something in her story about cheating death or coming back from death or something. I'm a little lazy to look it up at the moment..

Though 'lich' might not be the best description of Irelia's situation, I do hope you don't throw away one of the more interesting story/character points in League. Irelia's old lore pretty clearly states that as Irelia was dying from a curse, her soul was bound to her father's blade, anchoring her life and giving her control over the blades. The blades are her soul (or the anchor for it), which is even reflected in her title "the Will of the Blades".

From her lore:

At the Great Stand of the Placidium, Ionians prepared for surrender, but were inspired to maintain their resistance when the young Irelia hoisted her father’s enormous blade and pledged to hold until her brother returned. In the chaos of the ensuing fight, Irelia was cursed with dark Noxian necromancy. As her life ebbed, Soraka, the Starchild, made a final attempt to anchor Irelia’s fading soul. Unwilling to relinquish her home, Irelia rose at the brink of death, and her father’s sword lifted in the air alongside her. Irelia rushed back to the fore, unfazed by the blade's sudden animation. The weapon danced around her effortlessly, cutting down Noxians as they gaped in horror.

The effect this has on her is hinted at in her league judgement (which isn't cannon, but still makes a good character piece). In the present part of the league judgement she seems oddly emotionless; in fact, her weapon emotes better than she does. Only when her memories of the past are recalled in the Reflection does she show emotion, and that still ends with her blithely sticking a sword in the reflection of her father. The war certainly had a profound effect on how she views the world, but the way she was written implies that some/all of her emotions may have been bound into her blades with her soul.

Irelia has a lot of potential as a character, and would be made far more interesting if her old lore was expanded upon rather than thrown out to make a "Garen of Ionia."

Edited for clarity.

Sunya UwUNov 14, 20143 votes

[deleted]

Frick MakoNov 14, 20142 votes

if her q doesn't reset on minion kills anymore, that's really going to fuck up her gameplay

SukishooNov 14, 20142 votes

Pretty sure she's coming. They are updating ALOT of champions... which like just about everything before 2013.

Ah yes that tentacle hair, need her tentacle hair to go away please.

Blind DevotionNov 14, 20142 votes

wow... irelia looks kawaii

Warrior of IoniaNov 14, 20142 votes

yes pls do this, I'm sad she still hasn't been texture updated yet :c

I feel like it'll never happen because Morello doesn't like her :c

GwingMasterNov 14, 20142 votes

Can't we just nerf her and solve the problem that way? Seems like the most sensible option.

Twilight DrizzleNov 14, 20142 votes

MissFortune also needs this PLS

CuixNov 21, 20142 votes

..however the core thing is that if that's a thing, currently there's nothing that indicates that she has some sort of death-cheating powers. I think there's enough cool stuff with Irelia, or could be with Irelia, that we can have some fun times without having to tack on that she's undead or whatever.

Please have a deeper conversation about this before anything big happens to her. I'm not an Irelia player, but I don't want to see them get another Karma/Trundle situation popping up for their favorite champ.

Dies to WolvesNov 21, 20141 votes

I'm pretty sure "Skater Irelia" would be much more appealing than "Aviator (really?) Irelia", and the later already exists.

make it happen!

exe3Nov 21, 20141 votes

Why does every skin have to be globally appealing? Brolaf is among the best skins imo. :C

2nd FiddleNov 21, 20141 votes

Ehhhhh I'm not really fond of the idea. I guess there's something in her story about cheating death or coming back from death or something. I'm a little lazy to look it up at the moment..

Slapping undead on top of that with no visual significance sort of seems like a waste to me.

I agree with you on the undead part, but there is a good way to convey "back from the brink of death" visually.

I think Irelia needs a scar.

ChimeiTekinaNasuNov 22, 20141 votes

By "globally appealing", you mean you don't think majority of people would like it?? I would be one of the ones that would like it though if that ever did happen. =P Is a funny idea for a skin lol

ChimeiTekinaNasuNov 22, 20141 votes

Ehhhhh I'm not really fond of the idea. I guess there's something in her story about cheating death or coming back from death or something. I'm a little lazy to look it up at the moment..

..however the core thing is that if that's a thing, currently there's nothing that indicates that she has some sort of death-cheating powers. I think there's enough cool stuff with Irelia, or could be with Irelia, that we can have some fun times without having to tack on that she's undead or whatever.

Just from tightening her look around the current direction we can get a) military commander in Ionia b) badass floating blade manipulator. So I think we could add something tertiary that fits nicely into that space, such as maybe a young commander that defied odds, or someone who prematurely took up a mantle of command, etc. Even if we didn't have something crazy, we could make her the Garen/Jarvan of Ionia. Not saying that we'd limit ourselves to that, but that's still a solid place to start from. Slapping undead on top of that with no visual significance sort of seems like a waste to me.

I wouldn't mind connecting her to Riven, Yasuo, Darius, whoever, that would enrich her world relations. I think we can find something more fitting than lich.

Oh. I think I can help out a bit with this, @IronStylus. I think I know how that idea might've spawned. Look at the name of her W ability. Hiten. That might be how her defying death came to be. In this sword fighting anime, Rurouni Kenshin, it's about a swordsman who learns the Hiten-Mitsurugi style. Hiten in its name, just like Irelia's W. Now the thing with this sword fighting style, it actually kept you very youthful looking. Also, her W heals her and hurts her enemies. Like with the Hiten style in the anime, keeps Kenshin youthful and was a very powerful sword fighting technique.

Just read her lore in the store from the champions tab. "struck by dark Noxan Necromancy, Soraka tried to revive her, Irelia returning from the brink of death". I think whoever made her tried to do something with Hiten and being young or something. Also, I just remembered. That "curse of Necromancy". At the end of the anime, Kenshin also fell to some illness. So I think it might be a bit derived from that. Even though the Hiten style kept him very young looking (mind you, it kept him looking young but he still aged like a normal human), he got an illness later on. This is also why I say I'm a secret Irelia main. =P Wanting to use her a lot more. Because Hiten ability, always reminding me of that anime. So that might help you a bit more there, or at least I hope it does. If you change her lore like you did with some of the others. You could probably take out the curse and Soraka bringing her back to life, and mention how the weapon has powers and can heal her from dangerous wounds or something. So you wouldn't really have to make her undead. It'd be all in the weapon.

Agonys EmbraceNov 23, 20141 votes

Ehhhhh I'm not really fond of the idea. I guess there's something in her story about cheating death or coming back from death or something. I'm a little lazy to look it up at the moment..

..however the core thing is that if that's a thing, currently there's nothing that indicates that she has some sort of death-cheating powers. I think there's enough cool stuff with Irelia, or could be with Irelia, that we can have some fun times without having to tack on that she's undead or whatever.

Just from tightening her look around the current direction we can get a) military commander in Ionia b) badass floating blade manipulator. So I think we could add something tertiary that fits nicely into that space, such as maybe a young commander that defied odds, or someone who prematurely took up a mantle of command, etc. Even if we didn't have something crazy, we could make her the Garen/Jarvan of Ionia. Not saying that we'd limit ourselves to that, but that's still a solid place to start from. Slapping undead on top of that with no visual significance sort of seems like a waste to me.

I wouldn't mind connecting her to Riven, Yasuo, Darius, whoever, that would enrich her world relations. I think we can find something more fitting than lich.

You cut me deep...You cut me real deep.

Grand ViperNov 23, 20141 votes

Slapping undead on top of that with no visual significance sort of seems like a waste to me.

I wouldn't mind connecting her to Riven, Yasuo, Darius, whoever, that would enrich her world relations. I think we can find something more fitting than lich.

Gotta say, I'm biased about the fact that Irelia is not a lich, and the reasons you put forth for why she's not a lich are a lot of the same reasons I've said before, so I have to be a bit egotistical and be excited that a Rioter I like has similar thoughts to me.

But I do have a question, will you be doing something similar as you did with Taric: A thread in which the general populus can submit some ideas they have behind Irelia in the hopes that you (or other Rioters) will read them?

AltervNov 23, 20141 votes

Actually the skateboard part is probably more appealing to the vast majority of people than a weapon. Fun>war and fighting. One of the reasons why i love Irelia is her "balance in all things" joke, reminds me of back to the future hover board :P. I also love her /dance animation. It was the reason why i decided to play her for such a long time, and is still my fav. champ.

Hopefully you guys don't remove some of the things that make her cool, for the purpose of making her/blade "mean."

KinGhostPhoenixNov 24, 20141 votes

Ehhhhh I'm not really fond of the idea. I guess there's something in her story about cheating death or coming back from death or something. I'm a little lazy to look it up at the moment..

..however the core thing is that if that's a thing, currently there's nothing that indicates that she has some sort of death-cheating powers. I think there's enough cool stuff with Irelia, or could be with Irelia, that we can have some fun times without having to tack on that she's undead or whatever.

Just from tightening her look around the current direction we can get a) military commander in Ionia b) badass floating blade manipulator. So I think we could add something tertiary that fits nicely into that space, such as maybe a young commander that defied odds, or someone who prematurely took up a mantle of command, etc. Even if we didn't have something crazy, we could make her the Garen/Jarvan of Ionia. Not saying that we'd limit ourselves to that, but that's still a solid place to start from. Slapping undead on top of that with no visual significance sort of seems like a waste to me.

I wouldn't mind connecting her to Riven, Yasuo, Darius, whoever, that would enrich her world relations. I think we can find something more fitting than lich.

I've always envisioned Irelia as someone who was a PK. Using her psychokinesis to control her sword and have it dash around the battlefield..like Yondu from Guardians of the Galaxy. Or similarily Age FX from Gundam Age, or Qan[T] from Gundam 00, or even Vergil from DMC 3 when he's using spiral swords)

Age Fx: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xs6uas_gundam-age-gundam-age-fx-first-time-from-ep-40_shortfilms

Or have her act a bit like Vergil from DMC 3 when he uses Spiral Swords (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGlCH_rGIaM)

So I always saw her as more caster than what she is now. Someone who should rely on spell rotations/mana/cooldowns to deal a hefty amount of ad damage from far away. The two most iconic things I remember about Irelia is the true damage and her ult and how she can heal herself with it in a fight.

Story wise I've always envisioned her as something close to a LoL Jedi. Because of her near death experience, she can see the threads that connect things and thus enabling her to manipulate that (which would cause her weapon to float etc)

And gameplay wise she would be someone who would go through the battlefield like a blender of death, cutting down one foe, and sending her blade into the next. Like...in my head I have this idea of Irelia anchoring herself down and then letting us control her blades as she slings it across the field slicing though enemy after enemy with true damage. Like every blade that passes through an enemy would do X amount of true damage, and she can only do it for so long.

Then she can have her blades rotate around her and expand/contract, she'd be a running buzzsaw.

edit: stupid little proto kit I came up with (this is irelia as a pk caster)

Q: wide arcing swing directly infront of her, longer you charge it, the further out it goes. There would be a "safe" zone, so you can dodge into her, or dodge away from her in order not to get hit. The swing would give a slow.

W: Would force irelia's blades to rotate around her body for a limited amount of time doing X amount of dps. Pressing W would force her blades to expand around her (meaning you can jump inside the radius to dodge), and pressing w again would cause them to retract. This would be a bit scary because she can chase people and still do damage (like burnout)!

E: She'd slam her blades infront of her and have them spin like a big fan, it would create a forward facing shield, and if he she hit E again she'd shoot her blades out as a line skill shot and stun/slow a target depending on % hp.

R: She'd root herself in one spot and her blades run through the battlefield. We would have a vector kind of like lulu Q, where we can angle the blades and when we click the slice through, and the blades would do true damage on each pass..

Zephyr909Nov 24, 20141 votes

I second not changing her kit. I know that Riot is all about changing things for more 'counterplay' right now, and Irelia's stun is a target for that. But honestly, I love Irelia right now. Her passive is amazing, giving small amounts of tenacity based on the numbers or enemies, her Q is amazing as both a farming tool, gap-closer, and great potential for sweet engages/escaping by jumping to low-health minions. Her W gives her both lane sustain and offensive power with the true damage active (reminiscent of Master Yi's E without the sustain; he's another champ I love in the top lane). Her E is amazing for disengage (2 second stun WUT) but requires very high reaction times and proper usage to be effective. I will admit that there is very little counterplay to it however. Finally, her ult. Oh, how I absolutely love her ult. Mid/long range line skillshots with 4 charges, an awesome short cooldown even from first rank, gives sustain as well as decent damage, and AMAZING synergy with Sheen. I personally love top laners who can function as both tanks and assassins (Irelia, Jax, Riven), have true damage abilities (Irelia, Master Yi, Olaf), have excellent initiation as well as CC/debuffs (Irelia, Maokai, Malphite), and can build a few core items and then go tanky (for example, the Triforce/BotRK combo: Irelia, Jax, Gnar, Leona Top >:D). You'll notice Irelia is on all of these lists. I am definitely up for a kit change, don't get me wrong, but please don't change her main gameplay/theming: a combination of tank and assassin with lane sustain, a gap closer and/or farming tool, disengage/CC with meaningful tradeoffs, and a Triforce/BotRK core. I love her right now, and I'll still love her if you rework her kit without taking away what makes her fun to play and powerful as a champion. Thanks for taking the time to read this if you finished it :P

CriomhthannNov 25, 20141 votes

Ireleia was one of their earlier solutions to the problem of top lane melee. Their solution was to design a champion that had pretty much everything.

MS True Damage Magic Damage Attack Damage Sustain (weak) range Tenacity A reset on kill Gap closer A slow A stun

They came to the conclusion that his style of design wasn't healthy for the game, as it forced their hand negatively on all other top laners. Either they could do what she could do, or they were irrelevant. Of course this also put her in the same position as a few other champions: Riot doesn't want to buff her, because then she becomes overbearing. A ban/pick champion (she was this in the pro scene for quite some time). At the same time they don't want to nerf her, because that would render her useless. A consequence of being designed around having everything (likewise when they did nerf her, people stopped banning her, but also stopped picking her).