Hello and welcome to my Guide for Ezreal, the Prodigal Explorer.
This Guide is my first, and it's not too much in-depth because I think one should always read more than one Guide and get into a Champion and not only adapt a playstyle. It's basically just my thoughts about Ezreal, how I build him and how you will hopefully be successfull with him, too.

I fell in love with him as soon as I saw that he is a skillshot-based Champion, and he truly IS fun to play(Pew pew lazerguns).
The Question why to play him AD is easily answered:
Your Q and your Ultimate scale with AD, and you got your sexy Autoattacks to stomp your Enemys into the ground. I feel like AP Ezreal is limited to his skills and when they are on CD, he deals no damage, you don't have this issue with AD Ezreal.
I hope you will enjoy reading this Guide and I hope that it will improve your Gameplay with Ezreal!

The first Build is the one I used to run when I created this Guide, and it's still good.
But nowadays I run the second Build because I like the direct damage from the BT more and use my AA's more often, you get more sustainability in Lane with an early BT aswell, allowing you to farm all day long.

Pros:
-Deals great dmg on all skills and autohits.
-Best dance in LoL.
-Extremely fun to play.
-Skillshot based.
-Provides a very intensive combat-feeling.
-His Ult can take down anyone anywhere on the map on low hp.
-Very mobile
-Very strong early

Cons:
-Hard to play and master
-Squishy, if squishies are not your business, better stay away from him.
-Very vulnerable to CC.
-No CC.
-Somehow eq-dependent(But not as much as, for example, Tryndamere)

Runes are an important part of the game and they will drastically improve your gameplay, so never ever hesitate to buy Runes, I would even prioritize them over Champions.

My Runes:
Greater Mark of Desolation

Those are the Runes I usually go every game.
Greater Mark of Desolation give you 15 ArP, you always want these because they improve your dmg the best out of all marks.
Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration fix those mana-problems you will have during the laning phase.
Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction lower your Cooldowns by 5,85%. More damage, more survivability with E.
Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage boost your early damage very hard, you want those to dominate mid.

Other Viable choices:

Greater Seal of Vitality
Greater Seal of Vitality

Greater Seal of Resilience
Get those if you have problems to handle his squishieness or have a good mana-management.


Greater Glyph of Warding
You will probably face AP champs in mid, so you can get these to counter them.


Greater Quintessence of Fortitude
They are as good as the AD Quints imo, since they allow you to play more ballsy on lane.

I take 21/9/0 masteries.
The offense tree is very strong atm, and the extra health from the defensive tree is always nice to have.

Mystic Shot
This spell is pretty much your bread-and-butter spell. You can spam it like crazy, it hurts like hell and applies on-hit effects(Like Red Buff, Sheen etc.). This spell also hits minions, so it's a great lasthitting tool and great for getting stacks on your passive.
BUT! You can't hit Champions if a minion covers them!

!Important note!:
-Mystic Shot lowers the cooldown of all your skills by 1 Second, use this to your advantage when getting chased to get Arcane Shift off CD!


Essence Flux
You won't need this really much, just grab a point on level 4 for the buff/debuff.
80 dmg for 70 Mana on Mana-starving Ezreal, 'cmon thats an autohit!
Don't forget to buff your allies and debuff your enemys in fights later!



Arcane Shift
Arcane Shift is awesome. It's your very own built-in Flash, your positioning tool and your chasing tool aswell as your escaping tool. You can even dodge Skillshots with it! And best: It deals dmg! I'm maxing this after Mystic Shot to have its CD as low as possible as soon as possible.


Trueshot Barrage
Dun dun dun. This is the spell Ezreal is known best for. It's the reason why you're waking up screaming and sweating in the night. Trueshot Barrage. It's a skill to get used to and a skill to fail easily with. What does it do? Ezreal is channeling pure arcane energies and throws them across the map, right into some unlucky champion. I will go more in-depth with this Skill in it's own section.

Trueshot Barrage is an awesome skill and the funniest of Ezreals skills, but aiming it needs some practice and overall foreseeing of the enemys moves.

Some General things about Trueshot Barrage:

-Trueshot Barrage cannot be interrupted by CC when casting it!

Traveling-Time:
-It takes about 12 Seconds to travel from your basement to the enemys basement(Casting-Time included).
-It takes about 7 Seconds to travel from your Basement to the enemy's Red/Blue Buff(Casting-Time included).
-It takes about 5 Seconds to Travel from Mid Lane to one of the Sidelanes(Casting-Time included).

Aiming:
-Take care of your own Position because it influences the angle in which it passes your target.
For Example: It's easier to hit a running target from behind than from the flank.
-Take care of your Target's movementspeed.
-Predict the movement of your target.


When to Snipe:
You should always try to hit a target if it's low.
Don't forget it's MRes, so make some quick maths:
If the Target has 0-20 MRes, subtract 20% dmg.
If the Target has 20-50 MRes, subtract 30% dmg.
If the Target has 50-100 MRes, subtract 50% dmg.
If the Target has over 150 MRes, subtract 70% dmg.

Do the Maths quick and vague, if you are kind of sure that the Target will die, snipe it.

How to Snipe if the Target is Towerhugging:
Just aim slightly behind the Tower, it should be an easy kill.
If you see that the Target is moving unconstantly, tell your mates to push the lane a bit so the target is backing a bit.

How to Snipe a moving Target:
This is kinda tricky.
You need to evaluate the traveling time of TB to your Target and guess where it's moving to.
The important thing is not to hesitate. If you hesitate, your target will run and it becomes harder and harder for you to aim TB correctly.
There are a lot of factors that influence your targets movement and you will never be able to predict it's exact movement, so it's best to shoot intuitive, this works best.

How to Snipe Baron/Dragon:
Getting the Dragon and the Baron are keys to winning a game, so is keeping track of both.
You are able to steal those from everywhere on the map, and here's how to do it:
As soon as they begin to fight Baron/Dragon, count to three and count the dmg they dealt in this time. Now predict the traveling-time of your Ultimate and the moment where the Dragon/Baron HP is low enough to die to your ultimate.
It's all about time.
Knowing their damage per 3 secs, knowing how many seconds your ult travels and how many seconds it takes for them to get him on low hp for your Ult.


Don't expect epic TB kills in your first Ezreal matches, because this skill is the hardest to get used to, but somewhen you will have the flow and become save with it.

You can either go mid or bot with Ezreal. He is an overall very strong but squishy champ and you outlane pretty much any other champ earlgame, allowing you to zone Bot and Mid with your great Q range.
However, this chapter deals with Ezreal's mid laning:


Laning Mid (Lvl 1-9):
Grab a Doran's Blade and head to mid. Look out if your Jungler needs help or wants a pull.
As soon as the Minions arrive:Lasthit.Lasthit.Lasthit. Ezreal needs the farm.
Don't push, try to hit your opponent with Mystic Shot whenever you can and watch the map, you don't want to die!
If you poke your enemy enough(He has 30%-50% life), you can Arcane Shift behind his minions and try to kill him, but don't overextend, the minions can kill you if you're not careful. If he runs away to bluepill let him do so, he will be outleveled and his tower will be hurt, giving you a great edge and pressure on the lane.
As soon as you hit level 6, take a look at the sidelanes. If someone is ~250hp, snipe him, the kill will be yours. When you have 1600g, port back and buy Sheen and Boots. If you are forced back earlier, grab Boots, some healpots and wards.

After the Laning-Phase:
-Gank a lot and participate in Teamfights whenever it's possible, push lanes and destroy Towers.
-Never stay alone on a lane too long, you might get ganked!
-Help your mates whenever they need it.
-Snipe low-health Targets
-Be active and agressive, but stay safe



A tip for the Lane:
-If you have Problems to handle your enemy, stack Doran's Blades up to three(Depending on the pressure you have). They give you a great edge early on.
-If you have much mana and are able to manage your manapool, try the Mystic Shot+ Arcane Shift harassing combo. Aim your Q and use E immediately afterwards, this should rip out 1/4 of your enemys health, if not more, depending on the edge you have towards your enemy.
-Try to zone your enemy, you can do this easily with your Q. Zoning means to deny your opponent XP and Lasthits, while enlarging the edge between you and him/her.
Play Video This Video explains the Zoning-Strategy extremely good, watch it!

The current dominant Meta has an AD Range and a Support on bottom lane, allowing the AD Carry to farm alot and eventually get a kill or more.

For your bottom laning, you grab a Doran's Blade and play very agressive, since your Q has got an awewsome range and hits pretty hard.
You need bush dominance on Bot, meaning that you should always have your Supporter or you sitting in the bush, enlarging your possible Zone and allowing to ambush the enemy.

The rest is basically the same as for mid laning, just look one chapter up. :P

Gameplay Basics:
-Always have an eye on the map and watch enemy's movements because you can never rely on your allies calls for 100%.
-Ult everything you can.
-Grab Blue and Red Buff.
-Never push a lane too far alone, never backdoor a lane if you are not 100% confident in what you're doing.
-Farm whenever you can, be constantly moving! NEVER do nothing!


The Teamfight:
You are one of the main DD's in a Fight, so act like this and be aware of the responsibility you take for your Team and always participate in a teamfight in some kind, might it be active fighting or ultimating.
Cast your Ultimate at the beginning of a fight and try to hit as many enemys as possible to get max. Stacks on your passive and max. damage. Afterwards, concentrate your firepower on one target, follow the Focus Order at this.
Focus Order:
#1: Melee Carry
#2: Range Carry
#3: Support
#4: Tank

-You won't always be able to hit the desired targets, hit everything moving in this case.
-Also, never chase someone in a Teamfight, you might find youself getting picked up by the rest of the enemys Team!
-Keep your passive stacks up and spam Q as often as possible.
-Don't forget your Essence Flux to debuff your enemys and buff your allies,
it's very strong and can change the outcome of a fight!
-Never use Arcane Shift in a Teamfight to deal damage, it's a positioning tool!

My Picks:


- Cleanse.
Cleanse is for that ZOMFGIAMSTUNNEDSNAREDWHATEVERHELPZPLZ moments, as mentioned above, Ezreal is very vulnerable to CC. Take this and you're safe.
Since it also removes Exhaust and Ignite now, it's exceptionally strong.

- Exhaust.
Exhaust is a very flexible summoner spell. It allows you to chase or run, to stand a 1v1 vs Gangplank and to kite tower diving enemys round your tower. I would highly recommend to take this with you, especially if you're new to Ez this Summoner Spell can save your *** from ganks many times.

Optional Picks:

- Ignite
Ignite is a good Summoner Spell for Ezreal because it increases his killing capability drastically, especially Earlgame mid. It happened more than only once that i pulled out a FB before minions even spawned because the enemy simply underestimated the dmg of my Mystic Shot and stacked-passive auto-hits+ Ignite. Besides of that it's always a good pick when facing a Dr. Mundo, Swain or Vladimir.

- Ghost
Meh, doesn't really need it but it's a viable choice.

- Teleport
Teleport is always a good pick. Good for joining a Teamfight, good for defending towers, good to surprise the enemy's jungler by porting to a ward.
But you can also use Trueshot Barrage for all of those, so I refuse to pick this with Ez.

- Heal
Very strong spell after the buff. Alternative to Cleanse.

- Smite
Yup, Ezreal can jungle.

- Flash
Already has Arcane Shift, but if you really want it, get it.

Core:


- Ionian Boots of Lucidity
I prefer CD Boots over Zerks or Mercury's, because they are the Boots that improve your dmg the most.
Nevertheless, if the enemy is CC-Heavy, get Mercury's Treads.
- Trinity Force.
Trinity Force is a must-have on Ezreal.
Your Q applies the slow and the dmg bonus, it gives you movementspeed, AD, Mana, HP.
Nothing you don't want, it's made for Ezreal.
- Hextech Gunblade.
Since all of your abilities scale with AP, I feel like this Item is very important on Ezreal, because it improves all of your spells. Furthermore it provides you with Lifesteal and Spellvamp, which give you great survivability and an awesome kiting
(Don't forget that your Ultimate heals you now, so use this for your favor if the situation desires so!).
However, if you like the pure AD more, get Bloodthirster.
- Last Whisper.
ArP is the word.
Last Whisper is superior to TBC because you instantly get that 40% ArP on your Q and AA, you will barely find yourself in a situation where you safely get three TBC Stacks on your Enemy.

Defense:
- Banshee's Veil
Banshee's Veil has proven over the time that it's the best defensive Item for Ezreal to get, you get everything you need through it.

Optional:
- Bloodthirster.
Lifesteal and Attack Damage.
Not a bad Item, but you can easily lose the stacks on it.
I prefer Hextech Gunblade, but BT is as good.

- Madred's Bloodrazor.
Adds a very nice bonus dmg to your Q and AA's, get this if you face high-HP enemys.

- Black Cleaver.
Get this over Last Whisper if the majority of your enemys don't have much Armor.

- Guardian Angel.
Get this if you die a lot, it will lower your focus.
Also, the Defensive Stats are very nice.

This chapter contains nonsense and non-guide related stuff, dont hesitate to skip it if you want :P

As we all know, Ezreals dance is by far the most awesome dance in LoL.
I totally freaked out the first time I saw his dancing animation since I am a big Fan of the Haruhi Suzumiya series, anyhow:
It is a parody of the dance to the Song "Hare Hare Yukai", which is the outro song of the awesome anime "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya". In the outro you can see the main cast dancing the "Special Hare Hare Yukai Dance"(Srsly, I have no idea how this dance is called): Play Video And chances are, that Haruhi was the template for Ezreal!(Just look at both haircuts).

If you didn't watch the anime yet, then do it now. You wont regret it. It's awesome.

That just as a little note at the end.

Don't forget the key things of the Guide:
-Stay safe, play safe.
-Be agressive but don't forget your lasthitting.
-Don't save your Ult until the Teamfight is over, shoot it at the very beginning in order to maximize the number of targets hit and the stacks on your passive.
-Farm a lot.
-Get the buffs whenever it's possible.