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I'm sort of on a rhyming spree today, so I'm gonna try this out:
:
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.
Have noticed.
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.
wait, her hair isn't supposed to be tentacles?
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.
[deleted]
..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.
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.
wow... irelia looks kawaii
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
Can't we just nerf her and solve the problem that way? Seems like the most sensible option.
also needs this PLS
Why does every skin have to be globally appealing? Brolaf is among the best skins imo. :C
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.
I'm pretty sure "Skater Irelia" would be much more appealing than "Aviator (really?) Irelia", and the later already exists.
make it happen!
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
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.
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.
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?
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."
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..
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
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).
Now, I don't know who or which rioter stated that about her gameplay,
Morello and a few others on the old forums.
There is a reason for the meme "Better nerf Irelia."