Hi. New to Mobafire but have been playing Ezreal for a while and understand the champion in depth. With the changes in Preseason, I have found an Iceborn build to be extremely powerful
now with all of these strong engage/assassin comps being in the meta. Iceborn Ezreal fits into any team comp and Ezreal has a very strong laning phase in this preseason. This build focuses on poking relentlessly and maxing CDR to have your ultimate off cooldown more often, making you very strong at stopping an enemy from advancing, stopping an enemy from retreating, and having lots of wave clear/poke damage. It is also the strongest build to have if your team has fallen behind, and helps to get them back ahead while stalling.

Important:
The champion matchup section indicates more about the laning phase than any time after you get iceborn gauntlet. Once you get iceborn, you are strong against any of these champions since you can poke them down while they have no way of returning damage (besides varus Qs or Corki rockets - which aren't as fast, reliable, and mana efficient as your mystic shot.)


In general, Ezreal is a strong poke champion that can keep people permaslowed with iceborn gauntlet activating on his Q which also makes him a very safe champion. And, he is also good at cleaning up a fight against low health targets that he has poked. He is not strong at close quarter skirmishes against champions that build crit, nor is he a good all-in champ against a full health target. You can win skirmishes, especially with a blade of the ruined king, but, in general, will lose skirmishes to champions like Vayne/Draven if you have not poked them down first before engaging.

I use flat Magic resist glyphs since Thunderlord's Decree is so popular for laners now, and does magic damage.
2 Flat armor quints gives you 8.5 armor and is about the same as having 9 armor seals, which I replaced with scaling health seals, since it makes you a little bit tankier as you level up and is good against all forms of damage including true damage.
Ezreal's passive gives him attack speed per spell hit so I prefer to just get flat damage marks and quints, increasing not only the damage of my autos but scaling with thunderlord's decree and mystic shot to increase their damage.

Manamune Rush into Ionian boots and Iceborn Gauntlet is very strong on Ezreal, giving him 30% CDR and a huge mana pool to spam spells. Also, for the early lane, grabbing an item with nice mana regen (tear or completed manamune) is very good for Ezreal's sustain and to me is a must, especially since mana pots were deleted from the game. Essence reaver usually is picked up after multiple backs while tear can be picked up after a minute or two of laning if you have good CS.

The items also end up being much cheaper than an Essence Reaver/Triforce rush and allows you to gain the powerful synergy of these two items earlier and be a total nuisance to the enemy team.

AD assassins like talon or zed have become more popular and having the extra armor of iceborn (and the slow to kite them) may very well keep you alive.

During the mid game, if you notice that the enemy team is building armor then I would recommend picking up a last whisper just to have the 30% Arp, but I don't recommend getting this before manamune and Iceborn.

Blade of the ruined king is still a strong item and has %health damage that is relevant throughout the entire game. It makes you able to more easily kill champions that stack health, and kite better with it's active if you get in a tough spot. It also gives lifesteal, attack speed, and flat ad which are all good for any AD carry build. Your mystic shot applies the on-hit passive of Blade of the ruined king, so you will be very strong at poking tanky champs who like to stand in the front.

Build a sash after manamune and iceborn, if you feel like it's necessary, to deal with any hard CC.

12/18 with Thunderlord's.
I take sorcery because the bonus damage it gives to your Mystic Shot and Trueshot Barrage is more valuable than the 4% attack speed.
Feast was recently nerfed but is still viable, I prefer double edged sword because Ezreal is
a very safe poke champion, especially after getting Iceborn gauntlet.
The lifesteal from Vampirism I feel is stronger for laning and is better than natural talent - however, if you are laning with a soraka or sona you can take natural talent for the stronger damage since they will heal you.
Oppressor is more reliable than Bounty Hunter - if you have a strong kill lane (brand/thresh support etc.), take Bounty Hunter. If you don't feel confident about getting kills or the enemy has a very safe lane (soraka, janna), then take Oppressor. I usually take Bounty Hunter because it is very rewarding once you get kills which is bound to happen, especially
if you snipe someone across the map with your ultimate. However, a benefit of having oppressor is that you get 2.5% damage to a CCed target at the start of the game so it can be seen as stronger for the early game.
At the current time, thunderlord's decree and the flat armor/magic pen you get from precision is stronger for ezreal since he does a mix of magic and physical damage.

Pros:
- Strong Poke
- Safe lane and good escape tool
- Global ult
- Mystic shot reduces cooldowns of all abilities
- Makes better use of iceborn gauntlet than any other champion in the game + permaslow
- Attack speed steroid
- Massive burst damage potential if skill shots land
Cons:
- Skillshot reliant
- Not as high of auto attack damage/skirmish power as champions who build crit

Trick #1: Ezreal can get the attack speed bonus from his W if he uses his W, then immediately uses Arcane shift in the direction he casts his W in. This is good for all ins that you can safely jump into and taking objectives when you know that no enemies are nearby.

Trick #2: If you are in the middle of casting your ultimate, you can use flash during this time to get to safer positioning and avoid skillshots.

Tips:


Waiting for hard CC before casting your ultimate can guarantee that it lands. Casting your ultimate while out of vision of the enemy is also effective since they won't be able to preemptively dodge it.

Your ultimate damage is reduced for each unit it hits, so you will make the most of your ultimate by using it when a champion is the first target it will most likely connect with.

Activate muramana while you are actively fighting enemy champions, but remember that it is mana consuming so it is better to keep it toggled off any time you are not fighting champions.

Mystic shot will also apply the on hit damage of an active muramana and of blade of the ruined king's passive at the same time. This means that you will do 6% of their current health + the damage of muramana (based on mana consumed), every time you land a mystic shot.

Sterak's Gage will increase your base attack damage, which affects the amount of damage done by spellblade procs on Iceborn Gauntlet or Trinity force. This makes it a preferred
defensive option for Ezreal.

In all ins, using heal sooner, especially before you go below 40% health, will make it so that the enemy champion attacking you does not get the Merciless mastery activated. This will prevent them from doing an additional 5% extra damage to you. And, if they decide to wait to use heal when they are lower, they will be taking 5% extra damage from you while you are not taking 5% extra damage from them.

In summary, Ezreal is a strong poke champion that can keep people permaslowed with iceborn gauntlet activating on his Q which also makes him a very safe champion. And, he is also good at cleaning up a fight against low health targets that he has poked. He is not strong at close quarter skirmishes against champions that build crit, nor is he a good all-in champ against a full health target. You can win skirmishes, especially with a blade of the ruined king, but, in general, will lose skirmishes to champions like Vayne/Draven if you have not poked them down first before engaging.