League of Legends Confirms Irelia Will Receive the Next Champion Update

The next champion in line for a Visual and Gameplay Update has been confirmed to be Irelia, according to the Champion Roadmap announcement for October.

Irelia definitely might not be the first champion that many players would suggest for a full-scale graphical and gameplay rework, but according those who work on the champions both new and old, she's the next one who needs the update the most. Riot Reav3 explained the reasoning behind choosing Irelia for the next VGU and said that she's actually been on the docket for an update for a while now.

"After a lot of explorations we've settled on who our next big VGU will be after Swain: none other than the Will of the Blades herself, Irelia," the update read. "Irelia has long been very high on our list of champions with huge untapped potential, and players have been requesting it more now as well."

Pointing towards some of the biggest issues that Irelia faces, Reav3 spoke about the top laner's thematic identity first, a champion that has complete control over her blades without even needing to wield them directly. The idea behind the champ is certainly an interesting one, but when it comes to bringing that to life in-game, her abilities don't always live up to the theme. Sure, she's got floating blades around her and can cast them out with her ultimate, but other than that, her abilities don't separate her too far from other champions with similar playstyles.

"Her thematic fantasy promises a highly agile warrior that uses multiple telekinetic blades to vanquish her foes," the update continued. "Yet, outside of her ultimate, she doesn't really have any abilities that are delivering on that fantasy, and even her current ult falls a bit flat compared to modern champion designs. Her kit is very reliable, which leads to uninteresting stat checks and makes her more snowball reliant than she should be."

A projected release patch for when Irelia's VGU will come wasn't given in the post, but it'll likely take some time before we see it. The releases and updates usually alternate between new champions and reworks, so we'll likely see the new burst mage, Swain's update, another new champion, and then Irelia.