Volibear vs Irelia Counter Pick

Irelia is listed with mixed damage, which makes her hard to prepare for: armor alone falls short against the bonus on-hit damage of Ionian Fervor at full stacks, and magic resistance alone does nothing about Bladesurge. Volibear deals only physical damage, so her 36 base armor climbing to 115.9 still matters, and his 65 attack damage at level 1 is identical to hers. Over 737 games on patch 16.13.1, a heavily sampled top-lane matchup by counter-data standards, Volibear wins 55.5% of the time.

The trading pattern is what decides it. Defiant Dance cuts incoming physical damage while Irelia charges it, so holding ground pays off for her, and Thundering Smash stuns a motionless target on the first attack after Volibear gains speed toward her. Frenzied Maul then asks for a second cast on the same marked enemy for extra damage and healing, which is far easier to hit someone committed to a charged strike than someone weaving through dashes. Irelia does have the health edge, 2,585 at level 18 against 2,418, and her 200 attack range outreaches his 150, but Stormbringer grants bonus health on hit and disables nearby enemy towers, turning a won trade into a dive. Difficulty is rated 5 for Irelia and 3 for Volibear, so the execution burden also falls mostly on one side.