Ezreal Build Guide by JaeStarks

Introduction

Ezrealites,

Are you tired of playing the typical AD build and need more excitement in your gameplay?

Well, prepare to take your Ezreal on an exploration like never before. However, there are a few things you must know before using this build.

1) For Advanced Summoners (This does not mean beginners cannot try this build, however, it is much easier for Summoners who are comfortable playing Ezreal)

2) For Mid-Lane and Bot Lane

3) Use this build to your play style

4) Comment with your likes and dislikes about this build

Positive and Negatives

+ High damage combos
+ Can escape easily, even ganks
+ Secure kills
+ Great for ganking
+ Perfect for experienced kiters
+ Wonderful for harassing champs
+ Can perform skills near enemy's turret while taking minimal to no damage (if used properly)


- OOM, this happens often without good mana management
- Squishy!
- Difficult to farm
- Requires good spacing, timing and map awareness
- Skills are difficult to execute on opponents during huge minion waves

Masteries

Offensive Tree:

Summoner's Wrath I take Ghost, because it allows me to chase my enemies down,
get to lanes quicker for a potential gank or escape

Sorcery Gives a 4% Cooldown Reduction, which is helpful to your skills

Blast Gives you an additional +1 Ability Power for every level, any bit of AP helps

Havoc Increases your damage dealt by 2%

Arcane Knowledge Adds 8% Magic Penetration, this is what we want!

Mental Force Provides +6 Ability Power, and you need this DPS

Spellsword Deals 5% of your Ability Power in magic damage to the target on each basic attack

Archmage Increases your Ability Power by 5%! Starting to sound good yet?

Executioner Increases damage dealt by 5% to targets below 50% health. This will make you more dangerous and ... underestimated! moohahaha

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Utility Tree:

Summoner's Insight I use Flash because it will increase your chances to successfully gank or escape

Meditation Gives you +3 Mana Regen per 5 seconds. Not enough, mana regeneration? Maybe you'll reconsider when you read the Runes section

Mastermind Reduces the cooldown of Summoner Spells by 4%

Expanded Mind Gives you +10 Mana per level. That's +180 Mana at level 18!

Runes

Greater Mark of Magic Penetration: Gives you 7.83 (9 X .87) flat magic penetration thru your opponents magic resist

Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration: Gives you 0.585 (9 X .065) mana regen per 5 seconds each level. Then multiply by level 18 (0.585 X 18 = 10.53). Now, add Meditation +3 Mana Regen (10.53 + 3 = 13.53). That means your Mana Regenerates 13.53 seconds every 5 seconds. Lastly, add your base mana regen of 18.7 at level 18 and your total mana regeneration is 32.23! Ezreal's mana cost scale from 30 to 100 depending on your level and the skill you use. You can afford that!

Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction: Some of you may want to use Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power for that extra Ability Power but I believe Ezreal is a champion that relies heavily upon using his skills as fast as possible, and that's why I believe Cooldown Reduction is important. Let's do the math! You have 0.45% (9 X .05%) CDR at level 1. Then multiply by level 18 (0.45% X 18 = 8.1%). Now, add Sorcery +4% (8.1% + 4% = 12.1%) CDR and that gives you 12.1% Cooldown Reduction applied to your skills. Lastly, add 15% for your Ionian Boots of Lucidity and your total CDR is 27.1%!

Greater Quintessence of Magic Penetration: Gives you 6.03 (2.01 X 3) flat magic pentration. This means you will be penetrating at least 13.86 (6.03 + 7.83) of your opponent's magic resistance when you add Greater Mark of Magic Penetration to the equation. Lastly, add 15 because of Haunting Guise and your total magic penetration comes out to 28.86! This does NOT include the bonus magic penetration percentage.

Sorry! I know most of you guys play this game to get away from school but my major was in Psychology so I attempt basic statistics :)

Summoner Spells

Offense: I use Flash and/or Ghost to turret dive and chase my opponents down in 1v1 or ganking situations. In addition, Ezreal's skill Arcane Shift can be used interchangeably with Flash to increase the odds of securing you or your allies with a kill. Here's an example:

Defense: In certain situations, you may find yourself being ganked, pursued during team fights, or trying to survive with low health. During any of these situations, it is dire that you have good map awareness. Why? Because depending on where you are on the map you could have several options by using Flash and Arcane Shift to escape through walls or using Ghost to high-tail it out a sticky situation! Here's an example:

Remember, Ezreal can counter ganks and pursuits from his enemies rather well and can be used to your advantage offensively when properly used! Plus, Mastermind reduces the cooldown on your spells by 4%.

Champion Skills

Rising Spell Force: (Passive) Ezreal's abilities increases his attack speed by 10% for 6 seconds, stacking up to 5 times when he hits a target.

/// This is ONLY important when you are attacking a turret or farming


Mystic Shot: Ezreal fires a bolt of energy that deals 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 (+1.0 per attack damage) (+20% of ability power) physical damage and applies on-hit effects. If it strikes an enemy unit it reduces all of Ezreal's cooldowns by 1 second.

/// Use rarely, your objective is to conserve mana for your other skills
/// Use ONLY to harass your enemy, last hit minions, reduce the cooldown reduction on your skills by 1 second, or increase your Rising Spell Force stacks when attacking turrets


Essence Flux: Ezreal fires a fluctuating wave of energy at a targeted area. Any enemy champions it passes through take 70 / 115 / 160 / 205 / 250 (+80% of ability power) magic damage, while any allied champions it travels through have their attack speed increased by 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 % for 5 seconds.

/// Harass your opponent, preferably in a combo like Arcane Shift, Essence Flux, then Trueshot Barrage
/// Should cast on your allies, preferably the AD Carry for destroying turrets faster
/// Great for team fights when your opponents are grouped together
/// Use this skill mainly to decrease your opponents health, it does 80% ability power!


Arcane Shift: Ezreal teleports to a target nearby location and fires a homing arrow at the nearest enemy unit dealing 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+75% of ability power) magic damage.

/// Use this skill mainly to attack your opponent, it does 75% ability power!
/// Great to use when there are minimal minions and there is space to attack your opponent
/// Use this skill sparingly. You want to ensure that this move is available to go on Offense or Defense at any time


Trueshot Barrage: Ezreal channels for 1 second to fire a powerful barrage of energy missiles, which deal 350 / 500 / 650 (+1.0 per bonus attack damage) (+90% of ability power) magic damage to each enemy unit they pass through. However, it deals 8% less damage for each additional unit it hits (30% minimum damage).

/// Use in team fights, ideally try to aim for the AD or AP Carry
/// Great for sniping opponents who have low life
/// Excellent skill for ganking

Remember, the objective with AP Ezreal is to save mana while using your skills to output high damage for enemy kills. NOT MINIONS

Skill Sequence

Situational Items

Catalyst the Protector: If you are laning against a Nuke Champion ( LeBlanc, Brand, Karthus, etc) or Tank Champion ( Mordekaiser, Gragas, etc) then I highly recommend you replace Sheen with Catalyst the Protector. It not only gives you more sustainability and mana, but it also restores 250 health and 200 mana over 8 seconds to keep you on the field longer.


Rod of Ages: This item will replace Lich Bane for obvious reasons. You'll have more life and mana, but you'll also be gaining 18 health, 20 mana, and 2 ability power every minute. That's perfect! Why? It's because you'll still be doing a considerable amount of damage with your magic penetration items Haunting Guise and Void Staff


Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Should be the last item you purchase rather you're playing as Glass Cannon or Tanky Ezreal. This item gives you a lot of health and slows enemies movement speed, which is great for team fights during end game play. Sell Liandry's Torment if you're going to pick this item up as your six slot.

Early and Late Game

Early Game: In the beginning, I start out with the skill Mystic Shot and Doran's Ring. I attempt to control the minion wave without being hit by my opponent until I reach level 3. Now, you should have Mystic Shot, Essence Flux and Arcane Shift. At this point, I'm trying to ensure that I have my opponent close to my turret, that way I know my turret will kill most of the minions without taking much damage and I'm free to bombard my opponent in the open lane with combos. I try to ensure that EVERY time I attack, I put Ezreal in a good position to where I will take minimal damage from my opponent and I can easily go on Defense if necessary. Here's an example:

From level 4 to 7, I'm only worried about leveling up my Arcane Shift and Trueshot Barrage. When I hit level 6, that's when I take an extra moment to look around the map for an easy gank. If there is no potential kill and I have pushed the minions up to my opponent's turret, then I will return to base and purchase Boots of Speed or Ionian Boots of Lucidity.

After you've gotten your boots, then you want to see if you can start securing kills in 1v1 or ganking situations during level 7 to 11. At this point, you will need more mana and sustainability, so I farm for a Sheen first then a Ruby Crystal to stay on the field longer. Now, I'm just focusing on limiting my deaths, securing kills, and assisting my teammates when needed.

Late Game: During level 12 to 18, you will see the extreme difference in how much damage you are outputting when you have purchased what I like to call ... The Art of Double Penetration! This consists of the items: Haunting Guise and Void Staff

Why are those items so important? Well, when you consider the magic penetration that you are receiving from your Masteries and Runes then combine them with your high damage Ability Power items like Rabadon's Deathcap, you will see that you've become a nuke DPS Caster in a matter of moments!

Always have in-mind that you never want to put yourself at risk to die, so ensure that Ezreal stays in the middle or behind your teammates during fights. That's the importance of having Lich Bane because now you have that extra movement speed if you need to go on Offense or Defense. Once a team fight commences, you can use Essence Flux from a distance to lower the health and decrease the attack speed of your opponents while increasing the attack speed of your allies for several seconds. At any time you may want to use your ultimate Trueshot Barrage which will do a significant amount of damage in team fights! In addition, having Zhonya's Hourglass provides you with more Ability Power but can be activated when baiting your opponents into team fights (very risky) while escaping with Flash, Ghost, and/or Arcane Shift or protecting you from near death.

If you are working towards getting Zhonya's Hourglass, open up a six slot by selling Doran's Ring.

If your game lasts long enough (which oddly enough doesn't happen to me and you may receive comments like "What's up with this Ezreal's damage?"), then you should sell your Liandry's Torment for a Rylai's Crystal Scepter that way you can slow your enemies down in teamfights and increase your sustainability.

Bot Lane

Bot Lane can easily be won with a few key components. Please consider the following:

1) Use the Glass Cannon Ezreal build, as it will give you more mobility and attack damage
2) Recruit a Healing Support partner like Soraka, Sona, Karma, etc. I prefer to lane with Soraka for constant healing and mana replenishment
3) Buy Sight Ward's

The gameplay works the exact same way as if you were playing Mid Lane, HOWEVER, your goal is to harass the hell out of your opponent's AD Carry with Essence Flux (as it is safe to use) while allowing the minion wave to push close to your turret so that your Jungler is able to gank with ease.

Ensure that you are always putting Ezreal in a good position to avoid a gank and inform your Healing Support to keep their distance from being tag-teamed on; as AP Ezreal is not very good at protecting a Support Champ during the Early Game phase. Once you've reached level 3, you should be able to unload your combos towards your opponents while taking minimum damage and being healed by your partner.

As always, you want to avoid dying and stay in the middle or back of your allies during a team fight. You will begin to realize that you will simply melt the AD / AP Carries with ease. Typically, I target the AD Carry.

I will add more dialogue to this section once I've collected more information. ENJOY!

Screenshots [Updated]

Shoutouts to istisHD for submitting a screenshot:




Please send me your screenshots of you trying this build and I'll post them up ;)

Last Thoughts

Ezrealites, we made the Top 10 Guides for Ezreal!!!!!! I want to thank the Mobafire staff and community for the exposure. You guys rock!


First, I'd like to thank every one of you who was willing to read or try this build. I've played this game for a long time, and I like to experiment with different ideas.

Secondly, I do NOT claim to be a Pro but some people were kind enough to say that I'm pretty good. Maybe I'll try MLG or a serious group tournament one day?

Lastly, this is the FIRST guide I've ever made and I'm glad that it was with Ezreal who was hands down the first champ that I fell in love with. I've read several member's guides since I joined this site about a year ago, but this is the first time I've ever written anything here ... I wonder what took me so long?

Updates Log [Update]

2/3/2013
- Added Seeker's Armguard to Items
- Added Screenshot provided by istisHD

1/10/2013
- Added Enchantment to Items
- Corrected BBCode in Skill Sequence and Bot Lane section

12/9/2012
- Updated Glass Cannon and Tanky build for preseason changes
- Updated Masteries section for preseason changes
- Updated Runes section for preseason changes
- Updated Summoner Spells section for preseason changes
- Updated Champion Skills section for preseason changes
- Updated Skill Sequence section for preseason changes
- Updated Early and Late Game section for preseason changes

8/27/2012
- Content added to Bot Lane section

8/23/2012
- Bot Lane section added
- Screenshots added
- Content added to Last Thoughts section

7/7/2012
- Situational Items section added
- Glass Cannon and Tanky build added
- Content added to Early and Late Game section

7/6/2012
- Chasing video was added to Summoner Spells section

7/5/2012
- Edited words in the Skill Sequence section

7/4/2012
- An error was caught by Thiazzix and updated.
- Level 3 Gameplay video was added to the Early Game section
- Escaping video was added to Summoner Spells section
- Updated the Purchase Order of items