Who to play with Irelia — best team synergies

Curse of the Sad Mummy (R) pins the group where it stands for a second and a half: you drop Vanguard's Edge (R) on top and mark all of them at once, and from there every Bladesurge (Q) into a marked target refreshes. That is the dash chain you never get without a mark.

Cataclysm (R) seals a target inside a ring with you: you are a duelist who wins long exchanges, and in there nobody can hold you at arm's length, which is the only way you lose. Dragon Strike (Q) through Demacian Standard (E) knocks them up before they think about leaving.

A fully grown Biggest Snowball Ever! (W) rolls into the front line and knocks all of it up at once, then Absolute Zero (R) keeps it slowed in the same spot: a clumped, motionless group is the exact condition for Vanguard's Edge (R) to mark more than one target.

Infinite Duress (R) is point-and-click and suppresses for a full second: against a champion who keeps slipping away, that second is what guarantees Flawless Duet (E) lands, and with it the mark. And with the mark, Bladesurge (Q) comes straight back up.

Frenzying Taunt (E) forces a carry to stand still and swing at him: against a team that holds you at arm's length, your stated limit, it is the only way you get a clean duel. He brings no damage though, so if the game isn't about kiting you want something else.

Your plan is to flank instead of walking in, and it ends the moment the first CC chain catches you. Hero's Entrance (R) lands on you from anywhere on the map, knocks up everyone around you and shields you exactly as the burst was about to hit.

Command: Shockwave (R) yanks the enemy team into a single spot: that is where Vanguard's Edge (R) marks four bodies instead of one and the Bladesurge (Q) chain actually starts. Command: Protect (E) attached to you adds a shield and resistances while you come in from the side.

Flawless Duet (E) travels slowly and is easy to read: Frozen Tomb (R) is point-and-click and undodgeable, so it freezes the carry and buys you the time to place both blades. Guaranteed mark, and on that mark Bladesurge (Q) resets right on top of her.

Two walls in the same fight: Weaver's Wall (R) cuts the enemy team in half and Vanguard's Edge (R) closes the other side, so whoever is stuck with you gets no help at all. Unraveled Earth (E) meanwhile stuns anyone who tries to dash out of the pocket.

Sleepy Trouble Bubble (E) puts a champion you could never walk up to fast asleep. Careful though: the sleep breaks on the first hit, so it is a way to close the gap, not a lockdown - if Bladesurge (Q) connects before your own mark you have wasted half the combo.

You have no ranged tool at all and whoever runs from you is gone: Frost Shot (P) slows on every single hit, so enemy kiting never gets going, and Enchanted Crystal Arrow (R) freezes their carry from half a map away before the fight even starts.

Fate's Call (R) can, when you are her Oathsworn, launch you into the middle of their team, knocking up everyone you hit: you land with the group clumped, so Vanguard's Edge (R) marks them together. And if the flight goes wrong, the same ability pulls you back out.

Deadly Flourish (W) turns into a root on anyone who has just taken damage from an ally: your Bladesurge (Q) switches it on by itself. And a rooted target cannot walk out of Flawless Duet (E), which is how the mark reliably lands.

Chain of Corruption (R) roots the first target and spreads to whoever stands next to them: it leaves you a group that is stuck and bunched, exactly the picture Vanguard's Edge (R) wants. Hail of Arrows (E) then cuts the healing on whoever you are finishing.

Bullet Time (R) only pays off on enemies that cannot move, and the only thing stopping them is you: the Vanguard's Edge (R) wall slows anyone crossing it by 90%. It only works if she channels while you are already deep inside, and not every game allows that.

Your stated weakness is point-and-click crowd control catching you as you go in, and Black Shield (E) cancels it outright. Dark Binding (Q) roots for a full two seconds: more than enough time to place Flawless Duet (E) and get the mark for free.

Flanking means ending up behind their lines: the Dark Passage (W) lantern is the way back when the flank does not pay. And Death Sentence (Q) rips a carry out from behind the front line - the target your own card puts above everything else.

Magnet Storm (R) drags scattered enemies together, and that is the condition for Vanguard's Edge (R) to mark more than one target and for the Bladesurge (Q) chain not to stop at the first. Shattering Strike (Q) also breaks the shields that would eat your damage.

Zenith Blade (E) roots and pulls her onto the target, Shield of Daybreak (Q) stuns for a second, Solar Flare (R) stretches it further: against a champion who would kite you, that is a chain long enough to arrive, mark, and stay stuck.

She is the highest win rate support on the server and her auras keep you standing while you soak, but she gives you nothing to catch someone who runs and Crescendo (R) arrives late in the fight. Take her when somebody else on the team already brings the lockdown.