League of Legends Reveals Irelia's New Abilities

Passive: Ionian Fervor

• Hitting enemies with spells grant Irelia stacks of Ionian Fervor for a few seconds. Hitting multiple champions with an ability grants multiple stacks, and basic attacking extends their duration. Each stack adds bonus magic damage to her basic attacks. At max stacks, this bonus damage is increased against shields, and Irelia also gains attack speed.

No longer will Irelia gain tenacity based on enemies around her while she shrugs off crowd control. Instead, she'll gain bonus stacking damage when she strikes an enemy with more stacks earned when an ability hits multiple champions. Additional attack speed is also granted at max stacks as well as an effect that makes attacks more effective against shields, something that echoes Riot Games' previous explorations into anti-shield mechanics.

Q: BLADESURGE

• Irelia dashes to a target, dealing physical damage (increased if it's a minion or monster), applying on-hit effects, and healing for a small amount.
• If the target was marked or dies to Bladesurge, its cooldown is refreshed.

This ability should be one that any Irelia player is familiar with, a move that's the bread and butter of Irelia's kit. Riot Games said in the past that they'd be bringing back the Bladesurge after Irelia's rework. The reworked version of this move also makes use of another ability's effect that marks enemies to allow Irelia to refresh the move's cooldown in another way aside from just killing the enemy minion or champion with Bladesurge. Part of Irelia's sustain also carries over in her new form with the Bladesurge ability healing Irelia when landed.

W: DEFIANT DANCE

• First Cast: Irelia begins charging her blades, losing the ability to move or attack but gaining significant damage reduction for a brief period. This channel can't be interrupted.
• Second Cast: Irelia lashes out with her blades, dealing physical damage in a line. The damage increases as Irelia charges.

An ability that operates in a way similar to Fiora's Parry or Xin Zhao's ultimate, Definat Dance allows Irelia to withstand incoming damage for a brief duration before sending back her own counterattack. It doesn't provide complete immunity though, only a "significant damage reduction." The channel of the ability also cannot be stopped, so this looks to be Irelia's go-to move after diving into a teamfight and taking out her target while she waits for other cooldowns to come back up. She can also recast the ability at a decent length to deal damage based on the charge time.

E: FLAWLESS DUET

• Irelia sends a blade to a location, and can recast Flawless Duet to send a second blade to another location. The blades will then fly towards one another, dealing magic damage and stunning enemies caught in the crossfire. Flawless Duet also marks champions and large monsters for a few seconds.

The ability that seemed hardest to understand from the teasers this week is Flawless Duet, a move that replaces Irelia's point-and-click slows and stuns with a more skillful spell.

The move allows Irelia to send two blades in different directions that'll soon converge and stun any champions caught in the narrow patch. A well-place Flawless Duet looks like it could be a huge turning point in a teamfight, especially when paired with champs like Braum who can keep enemies in a line with his ultimate. It also marks the enemies to allow for her Bladesurge to be reset.

R: VANGUARD'S EDGE

• Irelia unleashes the full force of her blades in a line. If Vanguard's Edge hits an enemy champion, the blades will radiate outward, dealing damage and marking enemy champions and large monsters, and forming a barrier that lasts for a few seconds. This blade wall deals magic damage and significantly slows enemy champions that pass through it. It also disarms them for a few seconds, making them unable to basic attack.

Irelia's final ability is her ultimate, Vanguard's Edge, a move that imprisons enemies while dealing damage and marking them. Enemies can still try and move outside the walls, but they'll be slowed tremendously and will be disarmed, an effect that's not seen too often. This means that they won't be able to basic attack, though this is the first time that it's been seen as a dominant effect on an ability and not a secondary. Disarm is part of Amumu's ultimate as well as Quinn's Blinding Assault.

Irelia Tips

Like any champion reveal or rework, Riot Games also provided a couple of tips for the champion to explain how to use Irelia and ideas for chaining her abilities together. Those tips can be found below, some of which are seen in action in the gameplay sample video above.

• Flawless Duet is as versatile as you are. In addition to serving as your most reliable method of applying marks, the stun makes it a great technique for both engaging and retreating. Surprise your enemies by changing up the angle of attack, when you use it, and how far the second blade falls from the first.
• You can quickly tap Defiant Dance to trade the extended damage mitigation for an immediate attack. Use it to strike down fleeing enemies when you don't have the option to Bladesurge for the last hit.
• Vanguard's Edge has two main functions: Wall off priority targets, and generate marks for Bladesurge. Masterful bladedancers will force enemy carries to choose between standing still and being disarmed, while simultaneously setting up their next sequence of dashes. Try to strike hard and fast instead of engaging in protracted duels; use your mobility to win with hit-and-run (and-hit-and-run-and-hit-and-run) tactics.