On December 13th (Vietnam time), a clip caused a stir in the LMHT community on Reddit. The clip features a highlight from T1’s young top laner – Zeus. The player, who will replace Canna in the upcoming 2022 season, showcased a smooth performance with Irelia, securing a Pentakill. In the clip, Zeus was under a lot of crowd control and damage. At the start of the “dash,” his champion had only about 10% health left.
Notably, despite being low on health, when Zeus’s Irelia took down Sylas – the last remaining enemy champion – and secured the Pentakill, the champion regained almost full health. Although Zeus had teammates nearby, Irelia single-handedly managed to “destroy the enemy formation.” Alongside Zeus’s skill, it must be said that Irelia demonstrated her overwhelming power even when she was only one level above Lee Sin on the opposite side (level 12 versus level 11).
When this clip appeared on Reddit, it garnered over 6.7k upvotes and hundreds of comments from the international LMHT community. Many praised Zeus’s talent, but the majority expressed concern over Irelia’s overwhelming power. In the clip, Irelia was only level 12, meaning she was still in the mid-game phase and certainly not fully equipped. If Irelia could “devastate” the enemy formation as shown in the clip at that level, it’s unclear how dominant she would be when fully equipped and leveled up.
In reality, Irelia has not just recently been considered an “overpowered” champion. Since Summer 2021 and the 2021 World Championship, Irelia has been highly favored and almost always occupies a spot in the ban/pick phase. Irelia is often used in solo lanes (top or mid). This champion is also very versatile and can build in various ways such as tank or damage… At the recent 2021 World Championship, Irelia was picked 9 times but banned 45 times just in the Main Event group stage.
Yet, despite the “outcry” from the LMHT community, Riot remains “unmoved”. With this situation, Irelia will surely still be a hot name when the 2022 season officially kicks off.