Ekko is as strong as they come in the current meta. He is great at Laning, Skirmishing, Split pushing, Team fighting, most of all he is super slippery with his E letting him dash to anyone, and dash through anything. His ultimate make him incredibly hard to kill and makes him even more mobile. He is incredibly versatile based on what your team comp wants to do, and his base damage just lets you build whatever the heck you want. There are ways to maximize efficiency based on what you want to do especially in lower ELO since many people usually just build one straight path every game until they become more gifted with the game.

So obviously you want to take flash on Ekko, helps to be more slippery, however with this champion it is rare that you ever want to use it to engage. Don't get me wrong, a good flash E combo is great for closing distances with that last kill for the ace, but i don't recommend getting used to doing it very often.

Teleport is great for most top laners but specifically for Ekko, he doesn't need the kill pressure in top lane that ignite gives since he can finish off kills and stay safe with his ultimate. Ofcourse if you teleport and do what you wanted to accomplish in under 4 seconds (ex. finish a kill, steal a drag, etc.) ulting will bring you right back to wherever you ulted from losing no lane pressure from whatever lane you teleported from.

The point of Tank Ekko is to be an obnoxious Damage dealer who you can't peel, can't fight and can't out split push.

To start the lane you want to go either Corrupted potion or Dorans ring and 2 health pots. since the mastery page Ekko should be using doesn't have biscuits, both options give you health and sustainability (Corrupted gives you 150 health and 50 mana over a time period, Dorans Ring gives 60 starting health and mana regen for every killed unit, along with the health pots giving 150 health over a time period also) Both options give you extra damage to help skirmish with your opponent (Corrupted potion applies a dot to the enemy when you attack with it ticking, Dorans gives you an additional 15 AP so your abilities do more damage) So honestly pick whatever one works best for you.

First buy is usually a Bami's cinder because Ekko is hard to peel so that extra damage from immolate helps win lane. boots should also be prioritized early so you can stay true to being hard to peel.

Core Items start with Iceborn Gauntlets, you finish this before your Sunfire Cape. The reason is, you get so much that Ekko uses from the Frozen Fists (CDR, Mana, Armor, Spellblade procs with more AOE.) We are building Sunfire for the health and immolate passive mainly, which Bami's Cinder has already. Finishing Sunfire Cape second is important though so you get that extra armor. Spirit Visage is important in almost all matchups, it gives you 10% CDR (with IBG you are already at 30%) health and increases your healing from your ultimate. The health regen is nice on all tanks also.

So at this point you have 4 slots full at least, I'll get into what boots you want to build in a minute. First we have to focus on Items 5 and 6. Stick to your tank plan as much as possible when deciding what to build against the enemy team. Depending on what you want to do, you should be focusing your attention in that direction only. If you are more of a split pusher this game (in low ELO this is likely the case) ZZrot portal and Deadmans plate are great items that give you movement speed which also keeps you slippery if you do have to team fight and can stick to any champs trying to kite.

If you are trying to Team fight more often however, going with a Randuins omen and Banshees veil is likely better. If there are no AP threats on the enemy team going with Deadmans is a good idea in place of Banshees. If you are in lower ELO it is likely no one on your team has build an Aegis Item, This item is great for Ekko, weather it's the locket or the banner of command. both give Ekko everything he wants/needs (Aegis gives health, MR and a sheild. Banner gives AP, health and some MR. however both give 10% CDR which with your other items gives you 40% CDR[Max]).

If you have a couple other tanks on your team from jungle and support, it can be okay to build a little more offensively. You still very much want to be very tanky and hard to kill, but you can give up some stats for some AP and utility. In instances like these, Wits end can help split push and skirmish 1 or even 2 people at a time. it gives MR, Attack speed (which we already covered stacks really well with Z-Drive) and Magic damage on hit (which Ekko is very auto attack heavy this fits his kit well). Zhonyas is another one that can be subbed in, you want health with a tank ekko but the Armor and utility that Zhonyas brings to the table is hard to ignore for any based champion (except maybe the tree). Ekko is a champion that was designed to be hard to kill if no locked down hard. giving Ekko that extra tool to be untargetable just makes what you are trying to accomplish with Ekko that much easier. the armor and AP can obviously be utilized with a tank Ekko. other notable items in the right situations are Abyssal Scepter and Rylais making you even harder to peel.

Boots are situational. if you are fighting a Lissandra and Leona (heavy CC champs)take mercs. You aren't looking for the MR so much as the Tenacity. not many items give you this and Ekko is all about moving where ever he pleases. If you are fighting a Yi and Jinx(heavy Auto Attack Carries) Take Tabi's for this you just want to soak up as much of their time as possible focusing on the Tank Ekko that is ruining their chances at victory. Obviously Ekko is so strong right now because of his ability to do whatever he wants. If you feel like split pushing is the key to victory in that specific game, you take Swiftness boots. Moving from lane to lane is important in any split pushers agenda. If you are splitting Furor is good for skirmishing and Distortion is great for bringing your tp back up so you can out rotate the enemy team more often. In almost all cases though, it is smarter to take Furor.