Ezreal Build Guide by KingEmonerd

Introduction

What's happening, whippers and snappers? It's yaboi Emo here, and today, we're celebrating - however late - the release of Pulsefire Ezreal. With this short introduction, I'll be showing you how to play Ezreal as a successful AP Mid Carry - which is how I mainly play him, and have the most knowledge on - as well as showing you how to function as an AD Carry.
Ez
It's always up to you how you play a champion, however. You are, in no case, forbidden to avert from this guide, as this is mainly to show you how I play Ezreal.
Ez
So read on if you will... it's only a matter of time before you will join Ez in the future.
~Emo

Pros / Cons

So what makes Ezreal tick... and what makes him unwind?
Ez

spa

Pros Ez + Good constant stream of damage + Damage scales well into late game + Range advantage over most mages + Ultimate for mad sniping + Ridiculous single-target damage + Mad fun to play

spaace

spaace

Cons Ez - Extremely squishy throughout all stages - If shut down, becomes totally useless - Has a very high skill cap - Easy to get OoP with Arcane Shift - Very combo-reliant for good damage - Has no form of lane sustain

spa

Abilities

Ez
Each time you successfully land one of your spells, you gain 10% Atk.Spd. for 6 seconds for each correct application. This effect stacks up to 5 times, and each new application refreshes the duration.
Ez
This is a pretty straight-forward passive, and it's pretty much why AD Ezreal became viable - other than the business with Mystic Shot. As you deal damage to your enemies - with abilities, that is - you gain the ability to do more damage in the same amount of time. With the business which lies in Essence Flux, you'll get an amazing advantage over your enemies. This does not, however, concern AP Ezreal one bit. Too bad, eh?
Ez Ez Ezreal fires a long-range bolt of energy, dealing physical damage - scaling off both his full AD and a small amount of his AP - to the first unit it hits, and applying all on-hit effects. Whenever it hits a target, all of his cooldowns are reduced by a full second.
Ez
For an AD-based Ezreal, this is the skill you'll want to max as soon as possible. It's basically a new auto-attack on a really low cooldown, which applies all goodies a normal auto-attack would otherwise. So where does it leave us on an AP-based Ezreal? Nowhere. Its AP Ratio is abysmal, and it's no good ranking before Lv.4, and even less good maxing before Lv.18.
Ez

About Mystic Shot...

Shroud of Darkness: Popped.
Spell Shield: Popped.
Black Shield: Surpassed damage-wise, but blocks applications of Crowd Control effects like Red Lizard Buff.
Hextech Gunblade: Will benefit from the LifeSteal component for both the Lich Bane proc and the physical portion of the damage.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Will have no effect.
Ez Ez Ezreal fires a broad wave of energy to deal magic damage - scaling off of AP - to enemy champions. Also, it applies an Atk.Spd. buff or debuff to champions whenever it passes through them. Allied champions gain an Atk.Spd. buff, while enemy champions gain an Atk.Spd. debuff. These (de)buffs last for 5 seconds. Essence Flux applies a stack of Rising Spell Force for each individual champion struck, be it an ally or an enemy.
Ez
This is the ability most AD Ezreals rank last, because of its apparent 'low usefulness'. I've always considered having an Atk.Spd. gap with the enemy carry - in your favor - a good thing, but oh well. For AP Ezreal, this is facewreck-mode engage. The damage on this thing scales rediculously with level, and I reckon it can be easily maxed to max damage before building any real AP items due to it being an amazing poking tool and zone hazard.
Also, remember that it is not only effective at poking at enemies, but also effective when pushing towers or capturing big targets - Baron Nashor and The Dragon with allies, as you can help them attack a lot faster.
Ez

About Essence Flux...

Shroud of Darkness: Popped.
Spell Shield: Popped.
Black Shield: Damaged, and will not take down health if shield trength surpasses the damage.
Hextech Gunblade: Receives SpellVamp effect with diminished effect on all targets hit, as with all multi-target spells.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Slows for 15%, like all spells with dimished effect.
Ez Ez Instantly blinks Ezreal to(wards) target location. Upon arriving, he fires a fast travelling homing missile to the nearest non-allied unit, dealing magic damage to them. This damage applies one stack of Rising Spell Force.
Ez
It's a free flash on a reducing-by-level cooldown. There's basically only one thing to keep in mind: the homing missile. It's the only thing that actually deals damage through this ability, and missing it means you mis out on about half your damaging rotation. Now there's always Mystic Shot to reduce its cooldown, but using it cripples one of your escaping mechanisms, and without Flash, it could really mean putting yourself in quite the pickle.
Note: You can scale walls bigger than the max casting range - which Flash cannot - if the max range of the ability scales at least half the non-passable range, meaning you can escape or give chase over walls which other enemies can't cross. Good stuff.
Ez

About Arcane Shift...

Shroud of Darkness: Popped.
Spell Shield: Popped.
Black Shield: Damaged, and will not take down health if shield strength surpasses the damage.
Hextech Gunblade: Receives full SpellVamp effect, as with all single target abilities.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Receives full effect, as with all single target abilities.
Ez Ez After a one-second delay, Ezreal fires a broad barrage of energy to travel the whole map, dealing magic damage to every unit it passes through. Each unit it passes through can only be damaged once, and each unit it hits reduces the damage following units take by 8% each, down to a minimum damage of 30% of the tooltip damage. This ability applies a stack of Rising Spell Force for each individual target hit.
Ez Ez
This ultimate is so incredibly powerful, you'll hardly ever have troubles with it if you know how to use it correctly. Only problem can be when all of a sudden, enemies begin to move - FFFUUU - when enemies receive a clutch heal just before striking - FFFUUU - or when they just manage to survive and your allies are too filled-with-fµck to actually land the kill - areyoukiddingme? Other than that, it's on a relatively low cooldown for such a high-damage spell, with an even lower true cooldown thanks to Mystic Shot, and the damage it does makes it either amazing for initiating fights with rediculous amounts of damage, or sniping enemies as they flee with HP<100.
Ez

About Trueshot Barrage...

Shroud of Darkness: Popped.
Spell Shield: Popped.
Black Shield: Damaged, any crowd control effects will be blocked too.
Hextech Gunblade: Will have the diminished effect on all target hit, as with all multi-target spells.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter: Will slow for the diminished 15% on all struck targets, as with all multi-target spells.

Setups

Ez
For AP Ezreal, I take my standard AP Caster Runepage. First off, I take Flat Magic Penetration on Reds to give me a bit more... oumph in the early game, as well as building towards the targeted 30MR-to-beat.
Secondly, Flat Mana Regeneration on Yellows to just increase my early game regeneration by that little bit.
Lastly, I take Flat Ability Power on Blues and Quints to strengthen my early game, and send me off with over 30AP. Good stuff.
EzEz
My Casteries (haha, Masteries+Caster... fu) consist of a 21/0/9 setup, taking every standard Caster mastery in Offense - Ability Power, Ability Power/Lv., AP Percentage Increased, % Magic Penetration, the good stuff.
Ez
In Utility, I take Flat Mana and Increased Mana Regeneration, paired with the standard Increased Neutral Buff Duration, because Ezreal LOVES Blue Buff.
Ez EzEz
For me, it's a standard Ranged Physical Damage Carry Page. I go for Flat Attack Damage Reds and Quints. They give me a total of 15 Bonus Atk.Dmg., which complements my Mystic Shot, harassing, and last hitting very nicely. For Yellows, I go Flat Mana Regeneration when I'm not with a Soraka, in which case I swap them for Flat Armor to withstand more sass from the enemy carry. And finally, my Blues are Flat Magic Resist. You could opt for Scaling MR Blues, but it's preferential, I like these, I fear the early game more than I do the late game.
EzEz
Simple AD Carry Masteries. I take every goodie for a carry here, being Flat Attack Damage, Attack Damage per Level, Flat and % Armor Penetration, Attack Speed, and Percentage Increased Damage.
Ez
In Utility, I take Flat Mana and Mana Regeneration, and Increased Neutral Buff Duration. Ezreal likes Red Buff pre-Mallet.

Summoner Spells

spa

Yes, Flash. Even though we have a Flash at a 10~ second cooldown, I have spoken before and will speak again: it's more likely that it puts you out of position than in a favorable position. Enemies are always around, and they'll just wait on you to screw that one up. We need Flash, end of story.

Ez

spa

These are respectively for AP Ez and AD Ez. It's more than perfectly possible for you to swap them, but this is how I use them. I like the added safety on Bot lane, seeing as how... well, AD carries have the same constant stream of damage as you do |D On mid, it's a nice thought to have Ignite to go with Arcane Shift - putting you in range for the rest of your combo.

AP Ezreal Itemization

spa

Before revisiting this guide, I used to start with a Doran's Ring because I used to fear not being able to take control of my lane if I didn't have the extra power to supplement my extra spammability. Now... I've come to the conclusion that ONE: Ezreal is frail as sh¡t, meaning Health Potions are godly, and TWO, he now has enough smack to work someone down, even without the Ring.

Ez

spa

In the best scenario, you'll be able to afford this off-the-bat, along with a Blasting Wand. Things don't always work out like that, so just focus on getting a Sheen first. However, some like to stack Doran's Rings in the early game, as supplemental damage, if you will. This is also viable on Ez, so buying one or two Rings before the Sheen will also work :)

Ez

spa

You'll want to rush this. Like, really fast. Farm hard, if you have to. You'll want to have three damaging abilities, not two-and-a-quarter. Seeing as how Mystic Shot applies on-hit effects - obviously including Lich Bane's proc - you can half-kill a caster with a simple E+W+Q combo. Just remember to keep yourself out of harm's way, there's still junglers out there.

Ez

spa

Your damage will fall of oh so hard if you don't get this second. It's a bit... strange - I'm Dutch, can't find the word, fu - to get it this early, because other mages scale differently into later stages of the game. However, this brings Ezreal to a whole new level of hurt - for the enemy, that is. Rabadon's for all your abilities, and for Lich Bane-procced Mystic Shots. Good stuffs all around.

Ez

spa

You'll want some sustain. I personally absolutely hate having to go b everytime I win in an exchange, but have next to no HP left. A Vampiric Scepter is your best form of sustain, until you upgrade it. Simply put: Essence Flux heals for 33% diminished effect, and only from champions, Arcane Shift is your only escape, and Trueshot Barrage... it's your ulti, get real plz.

Ez

spa

It's the only logical sequal to the Cutlass. Now all of Ezreal's abilities have the ability to heal him... albeit for either a diminished percentage or against a big cost. But in 1v1's, you'll most likely throw down all of your abilities.

Ez

spa

Yeah, if you get fed - which is likely, AP Ez too stronk - enemies will counter you. Be it via Abyssal Scepters, Force of Natures, Banshee's Veils, the lot. It's annoying, so we'll want to get past it. Luckily Riot thought of that, and made the Void Staff. As some call it: "The giant ribbed d¡ldo of FÚCK YOUR MAGIC RESIST!!". Call it what you will. It works.

Ez

spa

Last item. I like this because it provides allround good defensive items, but there's always a Abyssal Scepter or Zhonya's Hourglass. Preferential, and dependant of those who got fed.

AD Ezreal

So yeah. You know those times when you just feel like playing Ezreal Mid, and then someone instalocks Anivia or Annie or some sh¡t. Well, I sure as hell do. If you just want to play Ezreal, you could always opt an AD Version of him. It would require you to alter your playstyle a bit, but AD Ezreal is close to just as much fun as AP Ezreal.
Ez
Please note though, that only his Mystic Shot has a good scaling with AD. Essence Flux and Arcane Shift are both solely utility-spells, and even though Trueshot Barrage has an AD Ratio... it's a Bonus AD Ratio, which is sh¡tty because it really doesn't add much to what it already had to offer.

AD Ezreal Itemization

spa

There's two... actually three options. My favourite is going for a Vampiric Scepter to-go, because Mystic Shot procs on-hits like LifeSteal. If you have a mass-healer, you could go for either Boots and 3×Health Potion, or for a Doran's Blade, depending on whether you really need to keep the pressure up or have to take loads of hits.

Ez

spa

You're at least aiming to get Berserker's Greaves. If you can pick up a B.F. Sword along with Boots of Speed, go that way instead. Botlane is commonly known for getting sh¡t relatively soon and relatively safely, so it's possible.

Ez

spa

Both are more-than reasonable options. Starting with a Vampiric Scepter gives you more than enough sustain, so going for a Black Cleaver first is very strong, due to the shredding effect, applied by both Basic Attacks and Mystic Shot. However, The Bloodthirster provides more damage and more sustain. It's an but-but battle, so pick for yourself which wins.

Ez

spa

You take whichever is left. Most notably, I don't go straight for an Infinity Edge, because I dislike having loads of Crit Chance and the lot when Mystic Shot - why Ezreal is viable when AD - doesn't apply Crits. If it would, I'd rush all Crit items straightaway, but it doesn't, so I don't. Seems reasonable enough, yes?

Ez

spa

We skip The Brutalizer and go staight for its big brotha: the Last Whisper. 40% Armor Penetration really shreds those tanky motherfµckers to shish-kebab, and its friends alongside it. Remember that first the Flat Armor Reduction from The Black Cleaver goes in effect, so it's effectiveness rises a bit during longer fights. Still one hell of an item though, a must-buy.

Ez

spa

You might downvote the guide, purely because of this item. But think about it. You strike an enemy with Mystic Shot when you're carrying this? They ARE dead. This is such a beast for pinning down single targets, and if you like getting pentakills... this is what you'll want. Besides, this is way better than the 25% chance proc on a Trinity Force.

Ez

spa

Last item is always a bit more defensive, but with this setup, you'll dish out more than enough damage. AD carries can't take you on because of Essence Flux, and AP Carries hate you because you have that mad AD. GG, enemies, GG.

Lane Presence

So what do we use and do to maintain our lane presence?
Ez
You'll want to get aggressive, as an AP Carry. Your main damaging skill is on a relatively short cooldown, and has some more-than reasonable damage figures on it. Really, it does. Just keep on the pressure and if you can, try to kill 'em in a quick burst. Ignite is a great addition to any spell rotation, preferrably the last one before they die |D
Ez
When you have this, you can instagit people with a single spell rotation, if you go at it properly. Trueshot Barrage is powerful enough to take off 35-50% of the enemies' health, and if you can, use it as an assured entry into a spell rotation. TSB into AS into EF+MS is game over, if you hit them all.
Ez
Game over. If enemies buy resist, they're down to 50% health after an E+W+Q rotation, just not dead. Sure thing, wait 10 seconds and you're dead. You can even contribute to fights halfway across the map with a 50% damaging Trueshot Barrage is you desperately want the assist on it. I'd recommend holding on, but hell, we have Mystic Shot.
Ez

Ez
On AD Ez, you're not powerful until about Lv.3. At that point, Mystic Shot gets a reasonable amount of damage, and Essence Flux makes 1v1s a lot easier on you - providing there's no wild Nunu debuffing you and buffing them, which is annoying as sh¡t. Your Mystic Shot is a new basic attack every 5~ seconds, with more damage, which is very awesome.
Ez
Best skill on an AD Carry. Not many carries can debuff an enemy champion like that, and if you can land your Mystic Shots a bit, you can land this, which means you win ALL 1v1s post-Lv.13 against the enemy AD Carry.
Ez
Thanks to a Bonus AD ratio, and us building primarily AD, contributions to afa-fights are useful with Trueshot Barrage. And best of all, we get to wreck faces oh so hard thanks to The Black Cleaver and Last Whisper: even tanks don't stand a chance anymore. In fights, get Rising Spell Force up as soon as possible. GG enemies. GG.

Using Trueshot Barrage

Ez
Trueshot Barrage is an extremely potent form of damage on Ezreal - duh, he's the only one who has is - but it can be tricky to land. Most obviously, because of the one-second channel time, giving away the fact you're using it, and making you move your a$$ before the smackdown comes. So how do we catch enemies off-guard?
Ez Ez
This basically means, especially during the laning phase, you walk out of minion sight range. Walking to your tower is way too obvious, as it's the easiest way to get out of sight range. They'll just push minions to the tower. You'll have lost farm, and get a sloppy, if one at all, ulti off.
Ez
Best thing to do, is move to the side of the lane - the wall between River and Wraith Camp - and fire it from there. From there, you have clear vision of the enemy, and if they cower near the tower, you have a clear shot on them without minions and mobs knicking damage from it. As such, it's strongest when you make the enemy champion eat the first hit of it. Doesn't matter who takes the second bite, as long as your target takes the first hit.
Ez
For AD Ez... Trueshot Barrage isn't that awesome, but still a very strong ultimate if the intended target is the first one to be struck. You can either step into the river a bit - provided river has not been warded (yet) - or get in one of the two lower bushes. Another alternative is to step into any team's tribrush, but that's risky. Stepping into your own kinda gives away that you're planning something, especially if you didn't take all that much damage, and stepping into the enemies' puts you out of position, and seeing as how TSB is not cancellable, means that if you get caught, you're doomed.
Ez

Ganking

Ez
When you gank, you'll want to hang on to your spells as long as possible. Especially after Lv.13 or so, when Arcane Shift also starts to deal damage, you'll want to wait as long as possible. You can, however, fire a Trueshot Barrage first, to initiate with some heavy damage. Point is, if you miss it, you'll have given away your location, and made the enemy wary of your location. As such, once again, Fog of War, and then move in for the kill. Only once you're sure you can actually land the kill, though, as you're losing out on a lot of damage without Trueshot Barrage, and even though we have Mystic Shot, it's still a long cooldown.

Laning Enemies

Ez

spa

Annie is one of those champions on who you have the ability to stomp in the early game, but becomes an absolute train once she hits Lv.6. She can't harass you pre-6 like you can, because her main damage is a mana-devourer, but after Lv.6, if she hits you with a Pyromania-procced Tibbers, you're fµcked.

Ez

spa

LeBlanc is the nemesis of all AP Mid champions. Her lane presence and poke are too powerful, on too low a cooldown, and too low a mana cost. She can outdo your poking and go in for the kill once she hits Lv.6, she doesn't give a sh!t at all. Play as passive as you can, farm, snipekill enemies, and if you feel like wasting your money on it, buy some MR. Her Mimic will just nullify it, but hell.

Ez

spa

He's a fairly good matchup for Ezreal, seeing as how his main damaging ability is on the same range as yours. It's basically a struggle who can outpoke the other faster than the other. Luckily, Ezreal can win that match, but in comparison to Brand, we lack two good damaging skills. There's your setback.

Ez

spa

I've had to face one, but for no apparent reason, he abandoned his lane to the botlane Twisted Fate. I guess this was because I was a very scary person to deal with, but I forgot to ask his reasons. As such, I have no rating for him, but for as long as i did fight him, he was not that scary... even though it was only like the first 2 levels.

Ez

spa

Twisted Fate has a good long-range poke, and has an up-to 2 second stun, which makes him a worthy adversary. However, to guarantee a good poke, he has to get really close range, and if he does, Q+W+E are all easily hit, which puts him back significantly. His poke hurts though, and as such: Medium.

Ez

spa

Galio is a hard counter to any AP Mid, really. The more hits he can take from you, the more damage he can do you. It's rediculous, and props to the person who thought of Galio going mid. However, he has really poor mana sustain. He'll often start Boots and Pots because of his lacking speed, and has the upper hand - health-wise - over Doran's Ring starters. Your poke is better though. Don't hit him when he has Bulwark on, and pester him out of lane hard.

Ez

spa

Kennen's a d¡ck. He has rediculous poke from a long range, and he is a generally very scary guy to deal with. You fire Essence Flux? He'll pop Lightning Rush and profit from a reasonable Armor/MR boost. Your pokes don't do that much, and you need to keep behind your minions in order to evade his poke. A d¡ck, I say.

Change Log

29/05/2012
Ez
~ Guide published.

05/06/2012
Ez
~ Note that in the Draven Patch, Ezreal received an amazing buff, in that for Essence Flux, all mana costs have been lowered by 10, making early game aggression very rewarding and little hurting. In addition, the Mana cost for Trueshot Barrage has been lowered at all ranks from 150 to 100, making it less of an attack to your manabar. It's like using an Essence Flux with its current mana cost, making him a very strong lane enemy due to having no mana costs over 100 Mana.

27/6/2012
Ez
~ Added a section containing info on using Trueshot Barrage best. I've found it so annoying to have minions eat some of the damage, or have the enemy champion move out of its path before it struck them. Hating Emo is hating.

11/7/2012
Ez
~ Added the AD Ezreal page, consisting of Runes, Masteries, Items, Level-ups, and an in-depth look at his items. Also slightly updated the Laning Enemies section, but I will add AD matchups to that once I feel like playing AD Ez again (I've been playing Urgot over Ez, really).

Closing Words

So this rounds up my guide to both AD and AP Ezreal. Feel free to ask any questions you have, I check my messages almost every day, so I'll get back to you as soon as I can :)
Ez
Don't forget to rate and comment, and +rep if you think this guide is worth it. I'd like to see this guide at the top of the leaderboards - at least AP Ezreal will get you there, will you help me get Ezreal there?
Ez
So peace out guys, hope you enjoyed.
Ez
~Emo