In Season 5.5, one of the new Traits that has thrilled players is the Light Brigade. Firstly, while Season 5 was the era of the Great Despair, Season 5.5 marks the counterattack of the Light Brigade. Except for the absence of Riven (who belongs to the Divine – Legion Trait), the remaining champions of the Light Brigade possess incredibly formidable powers, making this one of the Traits that has all the elements: crowd control, burst damage, mobility, attack speed…
However, while Lucian and Akshan are both 4 and 5-cost champions, and notably, The Reckoning is currently a top pick, another strong name in the Light Brigade composition that players might consider is Irelia – a champion with solid magic damage. Similar to Riven in Season 5, Irelia also interacts extremely well with Bloodthirster, making her a “super tank” champion in the new season.
In the early game, most players can easily acquire the Irelia piece as this champion costs only 2 gold in Season 5.5. In fact, when compared to some other 2 gold champions appearing in Season 5.5 or those that have been around previously, Irelia is somewhat easier to upgrade as she is often “neglected.” The reason is that in the early game without items, Irelia struggles to deal damage compared to other champions like Tristana, Syndra, Varus, or the tankier champions like Sett, Hecarim, and Sejuani, and she does not have any crowd control skills.
However, while the Riven Legion meta in Season 5 was strong due to crowd control, burst damage, and healing from Riven, in Season 5.5, Irelia is a different version, strong due to her large stacking damage over time and notably more durable thanks to damage blocking abilities. In the early rounds, Irelia pairs well with Kalista and Aatrox (if lucky enough to get Yasuo or Riven early, it will be a very favorable start).
After the Stone Beast, players need to have at least a Bloodthirster to operate the composition centered around Irelia. Similar to Riven, having Irelia stay as long as possible in combat maximizes her effectiveness, as Irelia’s damage increases by 10% after each attack, capping at 90%. Therefore, Bloodthirster becomes Irelia’s “must-have” item in this season. Additionally, since her damage is magic damage, items like Archangel’s Gauntlet or Infinity Edge are also good choices. Not to mention, Irelia can also build items like Giant Slayer or Rageblade to enhance her attack speed, durability, and damage.
Toward the late game, players can combine the attack speed from the Legion with the durability and damage from the Light Brigade – Warrior of Irelia to ensure a comprehensive offense and defense. The late game composition will include Garen – Galio – Nautilus – Olaf – Rell – Lee Sin/Jax/Viego – Riven – Irelia.
The strength of the composition centered around Irelia is that the most expensive champions are only Jax, Rell, and Garen, and moreover, upgrading Irelia to 3 stars is not too difficult given her very low cost. Aside from Bloodthirster, players can opt for either damage or defensive items, both being viable.
However, the weakness of this composition lies in its heavy reliance on whether Irelia can survive long enough in combat and whether players can upgrade this champion to 3 stars early. Thus, only when having the right items and levels should players confidently rely on this strategy; otherwise, they need to always have backup plans to adjust the composition when necessary.