Irelia Is The Final ‘Guardians of the Ancient’ Champion Coming to Legends of Runeterra!

As expected, Irelia will be the final “Guardians of the Ancient” champion coming to Legends of Runeterra on May 5th! And, based on this initial reveal, it’s fair to say that she’ll be as elusive as they come! Heck, “OP” might be the more apt way of describing it, but we’ll reserve judgement until we try her out ourselves!

Moreover, things have finally fallen into place. What initially began as quite a perplexing slew of card releases has now coalesced into a very potent strategy. Irelia will chop your units down bit by bit before ultimately going for the coup de grâce, and fighting her will require a metric ton of dexterity on your end. All in all, quite an exceptional addition to the game!

Legends of Runeterra | Irelia Joins the Fray!

“Irelia” is a 3 mana champion from Ionia with 3 | 2 and Quick Attack. Her stat line isn’t all that impressive, but that Quick Attack keyword will definitely allow her to clear her opponent’s side of the board early on. Once she’s summoned (or Round Start), if you happen to have the attack token, you’ll get a “Flawless Duet” in your hand as well.

To level her up, you’l need to attack with at least 12 units. Once leveled up, she’ll grow to 4 | 3 and gain yet another passive effect: once allied units attack, you’ll get a “Bladesurge” in your hand as well.

“Flawless Duet” is a 1 mana Slow spell that’s also Fleeting. Once activated, it’ll proc “Blade Dance” twice.

“Bladesurge” is a 0 mana Burst spell that’s Fleeting. Using it will allow you to swap Irelia with another unit. This, in short, is simply astounding. And, well, a bit overpowered, too! The sheer number of use-case scenarios that come to mind is simply overwhelming. This one spell will make Irelia even more elusive than she already is.

“Lead and Follow” is a 2 mana Fast spell that’ll allow you to recall an ally and create a “Flawless Duet” in hand. A great little spell — cheap, practical, and simple by design. Stellar stuff!

“Irelia’s Vanguard’s Edge” is a 7 mana Slow spell that’ll proc “Blade Dance” three times. You’ll also get to pick and ally to attack with the three “Blades.” Finally, as if all of that wasn’t enough, you’ll get a bonus copy of Irelia in your deck.

Closing Remarks

All in all, this has been quite an exciting spoiler season! Irelia is about as powerful as most of us had hoped, and she’s also bound to push Ionian decks into the mainstream. Heck, she’ll empower a slew of other champions as well, including Azir, Miss Fortune, Yasuo, Quinn and maybe even Lucian!

It’s still too early to predict anything with confidence, but it seems as though the LoR meta will shift in a wholly positive way once these cards ship to live servers! As always, we’ll be back with more post-expansion coverage, so stay tuned!