Irelia mains, prepare for changes coming in League Patch 11.14.
The Blade Dancer of League of Legends looks to be dancing to a different rhythm in the upcoming League Patch 11.14.
Today, game designer Phlox revealed some preliminary Irelia modifications that will be implemented on live servers with League Patch 11.14. The changes aren’t final and are subject to change, but players may experience them out on the PBE later today.
Irelia’s base health and magic resist have been reduced to 520 and 28, respectively. Her HP per level, on the other hand, is growing from 95 to 110, which should help her bulk up in the later stages of the game.
Ionian Fervor, the champion’s passive, will be limited to four stacks instead of five. At higher levels, the attack speed per stack will increase, allowing Irelia to attain the same attack speed with four stacks as she would with five. However, her early game will suffer, making her a weaker laner in League Patch 11.14.
Bladesurge’s (Q) movement speed will be “significantly reduced,” and it will do less damage to minions at lower levels, but Defiant Dance’s (W) maximum damage will be much greater. Flawless Duet’s (E) travel time is constant at 0.25 seconds rather than depending on distance—and it cannot be cast or recast during Q or while under the impact of crowd control. Irelia’s Vanguard’s Edge (R) will reduce Q’s cooldown by 0.5/1.5/2.5 seconds to compensate for what look to be major nerfs to her mobility.
The Blade Dancer’s mobility is one of her guiding principles, allowing her to produce outstanding outplays and suppress opponent laners. She is considerably simpler to counter and needs less mechanics from her opponents by lowering her Q’s dash speed and not allowing her to recast E when dashing or CC’d. An adversary, for example, can hold onto a stun only to utilize it after Irelia casts her first E, causing her cadence to be disrupted. Riot looks to be adding additional damage to her kit in the later phases of a fight to compensate for these adjustments, particularly with Defiant Dance in League Patch 11.14.
Riot should publish a blog post tomorrow that goes into further detail on the forthcoming Irelia adjustments. According to the official patch schedule, League Patch 11.14 is set to go live on Thursday, July 8.
Update, June 24th, 6:00 p.m. CT: According to Phlox, Riot decided to restore the restriction on casting Irelia’s E in the middle of a Q dash after hearing community comments. This modification should be reflected in the next PBE deployment. Devs “loved the counterplay… obtained by preventing E from being cast mid-Q,” according to Phlox, but it was “pretty costly to the feels of the Irelia player.”