Evelynn Build Guide by Tsaalyo

Introduction

Welcome, one and all, to your guide to the finally reworked Evelynn, the Widowmaker. This guide details jungling Eve as an AD assassin. The item build allows for enough AP for some people to call this build a hybrid, but it's an unintentional side effect of the items we want having some AP in their recipe. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the screams. Eve likes it when they scream.

Runes

Eve has virtually no meaningful damage or defense early game, so her runes focus heavily on correcting this.

Flat AD marks, and flat armor Seals and Glyphs. The armor allows you to safely jungle without getting Cloth Armor, keeping your health high enough for that level 2 gank. The marks scale your Hate Spike, and give you a little extra early game damage, which really puts the exclamation point on the Ravage attack speed boost in the early game.


In the vein of early game durability, two flat health quints ensure you can be perfectly healthy for a level 2 gank. I personally only run two of them, though, and go for a flat AD quint to boost damage. If you think an extra 2.25 AD is not worth sacrificing the potential 26 extra early game health from another health quint, go for it.

Don't waste your time with armor penetration. You need the early damage boost for jungling and early ganks.

Masteries

Eve has very little reliance on jungle buffs to be effective. That first blue buff will be the only time you will ever rely on mana regen, since your passive, Shadow Walk, provides you with plenty of it for free. As for the movement speed you can get from the Utility tree, you've got a no cost MS steroid on Dark Frenzy, and you'll be getting Boots of Mobility. You've got no need for Utility.


You do, however, need the tankiness from the Defense tree. As I've been saying repeatedly, you need to keep yourself healthy for a gank the second Ancient Golem goes down. Eve relies on snowballing early game. Your runes, masteries, purchases, and aggression should reflect this. The points put into Defense, coupled with all your armor and health runes, will punish all those fools who still scream "FOCUS EVE!!" the moment they see you.


Your offensive masteries are obviously geared towards AD power. There is an Infinity Edge in this build, so if you think it's worth sacrificing Butcher and Havoc for Deadliness and Lethality , that's also a valid choice. However, I find that this is only useful if you get Infinity Edge before Rylai's Crystal Scepter, and this is rarely a good idea, for reasons which will be discussed later. But if it's your playstyle, go for it.

Items

This is the most important section of this guide, so listen well, little ones.

We start with the ever overdone Boots of Speed and three Health Potions. It's overdone because it works, people. Do NOT get Cloth Armor and five Health Potions. You have plenty of armor in your runes to negate the need for this, but more importantly, you need Boots of Speed to help with your level 2 gank. This is because we'll only be getting Dark Frenzy at level 3.


I find that, in very early ganks, cranking up your attack speed for when you descent upon your opponent is far more valuable than keeping up with them if they try to flee. Early game, your target will either be safely towards their tower, or stupidly overextending. If they are near their tower, your Dark Frenzy won't allow you to keep pace with their Flash to safety. It's far more valuable, from my experience, to land your Exhaust, land Ravage as quick as possible, and use the Attack Speed boost to get in that extra hit or three before they manage to use their escape mechanism.

Meanwhile, if they've stupidly overextended, you could have chosen either Dark Frenzy or Ravage and you'll still be able to catch and keep up with them, thanks to Exhaust and Boots of Speed.

...so what you can take from that whole rant is, buy shoes instead of a shirt.


Your first goal is to get Trinity Force and Boots of Mobility as quickly as possible. You'll want to get Sheen first, which will help in jungle clearing and ganks. Then, get Boots of Mobility to really crank up your buzzing around the map.


At that point, get Trinity Force in whatever way the game necessitates. I typically get Zeal before Phage, for the movement speed, but if you find yourself in need of extra early game tankiness, you might want to consider Phage first. Regardless, Trinity Force, asap.


This is where you really need to analyze how the game is going, and itemize accordingly. The Purchase Order I've put up there is the best case scenario. Don't count on it being viable often.


The first thing you'll want to invest in after Trinity Force is a Vampiric Scepter. I know it has been nerfed, but 10% lifesteal is way better than 0%. This is the stage of the game where your tankiness from Runes and Masteries become less relevant, so you'll need lifesteal to continue your aggressive playstyle.

Next, you'll want to buy a Giant's Belt, which will be transitioning into Rylai's Crystal Scepter.

But like I said, this is best case scenario. There will be cases where you need a little extra tankiness and lifesteal, and in that case, you'll want to purchase Wriggle's Lantern before moving on to Rylai's Crystal Scepter.


Worst case scenario will have you putting off Rylai's Crystal Scepter until late game, but hopefully that doesn't happen. Keep in mind that, come late game, you'll be selling Wriggle's Lantern for The Bloodthirster.


If things are going badly not because of your squishiness, but because you aren't dealing quite enough damage, you may consider a more glass-cannon band-aid with Executioner's Calling INSTEAD of Wriggle's Lantern. This will synergize very well with Lethality , if you chose that mastery, and still provide you with the lifesteal you want.


By now, you'll have gotten a feel for the enemy, and you'll know what you need to do.


You can either go for The Bloodthirster for the AD and lifesteal, or go for an Infinity Edge for the criticals and the TONS OF DAMAGE.

Hi Phreak.

It's honestly your choice. If you find yourself needing more lifesteal, The Bloodthirster is the better choice. If you are having no issues with survival, Infinity Edge is the way to go.

You'll definitely want to get Infinity Edge before The Bloodthirster if you bought Wriggle's Lantern already.


I seldom find the need to purchase a dedicated defensive item. Instead, I find that Zeke's Herald works very well on Eve. Extra lifesteal is never bad, and extra attack speed is delicious, too. Plus, it helps out your allies.

Come on, it's not only the support's job to lend a helping hand.

If you're just not feeling Zeke's Herald, I recommend Force of Nature. Solid defense, especially for the Magic Resist that is otherwise absent from this build. But best of all, it provides extra movement speed. I realize there's a diminishing return on movement speed when it gets too high, but you'll still be cranking out over 600 MS with your Dark Frenzy active.

How DOES she move like that in heels?

But you're building AD, why not Frozen Mallet?

Frozen Mallet applies its' slow by landing autoattacks. You already have Trinity Force for that.

• Yes, Trinity Force only works 25% of the time, but with Hate Spike on a mere 1.5 second cooldown, that's all you need.
• Your Hate Spike will land a guaranteed 15% slow every 1.5 seconds. Couple this with your movement speed increasing for every spell you land, thanks to Dark Frenzy, your one spell is pulling guaranteed double duty.
• Yes, landing Hate Spike without Rylai's Crystal Scepter will still raise your movement speed, but who's to say it'll raise it enough for you to close the extra distance and land an autoattack to proc Frozen Mallet? The more reliable choice is getting Rylai's Crystal Scepter to make your Hate Spike do double duty of speeding you up and slowing the enemy.
• Slows don't stack. When Trinity Force finally works, Rylai's Crystal Scepter becomes meaningless. However, Rylai's at least allows you to easily keep pace with your opponent UNTIL Trinity Force lands its 35% slow.

Skill Sequence

Hate Spike is AD Eve's primary source of damage. It scales off her bonus AD, it deals solid damage in quick bursts, and it procs her Sheen/ Trinity Force. It's your jungle clearing tool, your minion wave clearing tool... Eve's life is Hate Spike. You'll want to max it as soon as possible. No, there's no "but if your playstyle is more like". Stop thinking of alternatives. No. Bad Summoner. Hate Spike maxed first.


As I discussed earlier, you'll want to pick up Ravage BEFORE Dark Frenzy, as it is generally far more useful for your level 2 gank. Plus, it makes clearing the jungle much quicker. Yes, I'm sure someone out there is going to time moving between minion camps, time clearing rates depending on various positionings of Hate Spike bursts, and after a week of calculations, post some comment of "Well actually, you save 0.35 seconds if you take Dark Frenzy first, provided you position Hate Spike flawlessly in every camp!"

There's nothing I can say to that which wouldn't be blocked by the language filter.

Ravage helps clear minion camps, and it makes your level 2 gank more lethal. Pick it up at level 2.

But after that, you'll want to max Dark Frenzy before Ravage. AD Eve really only uses Ravage for its attack speed boost. Getting more base damage on it is unneeded. The extra movement speed you get from Dark Frenzy is far more valuable. Combine this with Rylai's Crystal Scepter, and there is no escaping Eve.


But, yes, the attack speed boost you get from Ravage scales with levels, which is why you don't want to only have one point in it until you've maxed everything else. Feel yourself out and see how quickly you need it raised. But until you get Infinity Edge, your main source of damage will be proccing Trinity Force with Hate Spike. Attack speed isn't necessary for that.

Summoner Spells

As a Jungler, you'll get Smite. Apart from that, I always get Exhaust, since Eve has no CC apart from her ult. Plus, with the Summoner's Wrath mastery, you shred their armor.

Depending on your playstyle, Ignite is also a solid choice. You do get bonus attack damage and ability power with it on cooldown, thanks to Summoner's Wrath , so that helps your level 2 gank.


Heal... CAN work, I suppose, if you find yourself getting overzealous. But Exhaust and Ignite are far more useful and reliable. Besides, why is your health that low anyway? You're loaded with defensive runes and masteries for a reason, good sir. Play smarter.

Cleanse is also a decent choice. Yes, Dark Frenzy allows you to cleanse slows, but it's also your primary gap closer. If you want to be able to use Dark Frenzy to initiate, yet still want to be able to tank enemy CC, Cleanse is a good choice.

Teleport is a solid choice if you find yourself out of place too often. Your enemy will really be quaking in their boots, because you can literally be anywhere. The moment you revive, that's it, hug the tower, Eve could be around any corner or hiding in any minion wave.

Revive has the same logic as Teleport. If they kill you, five seconds later, you could be anywhere. Maybe even right on top of them. But... I really wouldn't recommend it. Yes, it can be effective, but would you have died to begin with if you were packing Exhaust, Ignite, or even Heal? Probably not.


Listen, I'm one of Clarity's biggest supporters. I hear all the time how Clarity is "omg a newbie spell manage your mana better noob", and these are the people who spend the game passive farming for the first half hour because they can't afford to miss even one ability shot. These are the people whose game is ruined if their jungler doesn't give them the second blue. These are the people who miss out on sniping with Caitlyn or Lux because they have 3 less mana than they need at the key moment. These are the people who don't bother helping their allies at all, because "that's what the support is for." Don't listen to the sheep. Clarity is good.

But not on Evelynn.

Shadow Walk gives you all the mana regen you need. Don't bother with Clarity. It's a complete waste of a slot.

Surge, on the surface, looks like a good choice. But here's the thing: until late game, where you get Infinity Edge, your main source of damage is proccing Trinity Force with Hate Spike. The attack speed boost from Surge is good, but it's just not worth it until very late game. And by that point, your Ravage will provide you with all the attack speed you need.

Ghost is near worthless on Evelynn. Okay, yes, it is good for what it does. But Dark Frenzy does literally the same thing. Every 15 seconds, no mana cost, you get a whopping speed boost and you ignore unit collision. Don't take Ghost. You already have it.

The New Stealth System

Learning to utilize Eve's stealth system will make or break your Eve-ing. I hear all the time how Eve's stealth is useless, how it's almost as large as vision range, how it basically means everyone has an Oracles, blah blah blah. I thank these fools, for it makes me look way more awesome when I rack up kills.

First of all, yes, it's true, you can no longer just lay on your opponent until they leave the protection of the group. You can no longer facecheck with relative impunity.


But really, I can't even tell you that "all this means is you're no longer on easy mode", because you still basically are. It's just easier in a different way. Instead of having a 10 seconds stealth at level 1, it's now permanent. Instead of having to go to that bush, ping, activate your stealth, and hope your lane guys get into position within the next 10 seconds, you can now scoot along the outside of the lane and give your teammates as long as they need.

Once you actually play Eve, you'll see just how small her detection radius really is. But more importantly, minions do not reveal her. You can hide behind the opponent in their minion wave and wait for them to overextend.

You can go through the enemy jungle without any risk of being detected by wards, unless they invest in pinks. And that is the biggest issue of all. You'd be surprised how many people don't buy pinks or oracles anymore, because "Eve becomes visible when she gets close". And even if they buy those things, you get early warning - the sight detector above you turns to the exclamation point if an enemy sees you, even if they are outside of your detection radius. You'll have plenty of time to get away if you're inadvertently standing in a pink zone and the enemy is closing in.

The new stealth system requires a slightly different playstyle, but it is far from useless.

Creeping / Jungling

Eve relies heavily on early game kills and assists, so you'll want to be aggressive. Very aggressive. I've spoken extensively about the level 2 gank, and unless all three lanes are tower hugging, you should go for one.

Depending on how much the enemy is overextending, you'll want to gank the second you take blue, or you'll want to give the enemy a few more seconds to make mistakes, and take the wolf camp in the meantime. Either way, gank as early as possible. The minion camps are valuable, but not as much as that early kill. I've actually gone whole games without touching our twin golems, just because I was buzzing between lanes.

If ganking absolutely isn't an option, then the order you'll want to jungle is Blue -> Wolves -> Wraiths -> Golems. Heal up, then get Red, rinse and repeat.


Eve's Hate Spike allows her to easily hold lanes for your allies, but try to do this sparingly, if at all. You want the enemy quaking in their boots, not knowing where you are, not knowing if you're hiding right behind them, in their minions, between them and their precious tower.


Your ultimate, Agony's Embrace, is primarily a teamfight move. But don't reserve it for that. It's a perfect ability for making sure you nuke that enemy jungler or that distant lane farmer.


If you see the enemy go behind their tower to recall after a teamfight or a push attempt, rush over there, activate Dark Frenzy, rush right out there, slam them with Agony's Embrace, and if they survived that, rush in and burst down with a Hate Spike and your procced Sheen/ Trinity Force.

The kill will refresh Dark Frenzy, allowing you to rush out of there. It's one of the most satisfying things you'll ever do in this game. It's a hair raising move, but look at who you're playing.


In that vein, I just want to say, this is the sort of thing you need to do when you're playing Eve.

• A successful Eve plays high risk, high reward.
  
• A successful Eve tower dives with her ult and a Sheen/ Trinity Force.
  
• A successful Eve looks at her 10% remaining health, and doesn't recall, because a successful Eve will pick her spot, slam three opponents with Agony's Embrace, and use the massive shield she gets to safely take out the squishiest survivor and use her lifesteal to survive a focus.

Learn to pick your spots with tricks like this and you will be an absolute terror.

Teamfights

Thank the rework for Eve finally no longer being useless in this department. Eve's big teamfight move is her ultimate, Agony's Embrace. What a lovely name for it, isn't it? Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy.


It's a ranged, health based AOE nuke that slows the enemy and grants Eve a shield. I have no idea how this passed balance testing, but it did, and now, it's your best friend.


You can, yes, but if you do, you'll typically only hit one, maybe two enemies in the area of effect with Agony's Embrace. Agony's Embrace is Eve's only real teamfight move, so you'll want to ensure it hits as many enemies as possible. On top of that, if any enemies are stacking health, try your best to make sure they get hit by it. Agony's Embrace deals damage as a percentage of max health, so you'll get most use out of it, and be most helpful to your team, in bursting down the health tank with it.


It's high risk, but it provides you with the least possible distance to close when it's time to pounce.


Try to get one of your allies to bait the enemy. When they close in, getting all close together, nuke the crowd with Agony's Embrace, hit Dark Frenzy*, and dive onto the squishiest target you can get your claws on. Use Exhaust if you've got it. But be smart in this regard. If your team isn't joining you, do a 180 and let your Dark Frenzy carry you to safety. Eve can burst down enemies like nothing else with Hate Spike and Trinity Force, but she goes down quickly, especially with this build lacking meaningful late game defense.


Watch the enemy carefully during the teamfight, and the moment you even catch a whisper of the enemy turning their attention on you, get out of there. At this point, the enemy might follow you, which divides the teamfight to your team's advantage. The enemy might let you escape, allowing you to return when Shadow Walk is up again, and pounce the wounded from behind. You can return before Shadow Walk is up, if you see an opportunity, but be careful.


Basically, this section is too hard to write an overly detailed guide for. You'll have to learn to feel out teamfights and really learn to pick your spots. This is why most people think Eve isn't any good. Practice at it. Be one of the few people who 'gets it'. The reward is like nothing else.

Summary

Eve has a rather different playstyle now that she has been reworked, but despite the revamped stealth system, she is far from useless. She is still an unseen terror that leaves the enemy quaking in their boots. Only now, she's got a game changing AOE ultimate on par with Cassiopeia and Amumu.

But she's not for the faint of heart.

Eve has to be played high risk. You will fall behind in experience and gold if you try it any other way. If you're not comfortable with this, don't even attempt anything I've told you. But if you enjoy assassin characters, and you're good at taking risks, have fun. Eve is the perfect champion for you.

Play smart, pick your spots, and you too will like it when they scream.