Build Guide by Seystuff

Introduction

First of all, I would like to say that, even thought you probably saw the build and are thinking "omg such a noob guide", please read the whole guide before judging, I know some of you may also be thinking something like "so many text blocks and no images? No way, I'll just rate this down on the noob build and forget about it", but please take the time to consider this: This is a guide/build, not a 4 year old book, I strongly suggest you take the time to read it before judging, rating and commenting, I'm sure you will find it pretty interesting. Also, I would like to stablish that I've always had Ezreal as my main, so I've been playing him for a long while and had been giving it a long hard thinking. That said, let's begin, shall we?

Why Ezreal?

Well, as I've said, I've been playing as my main for a really long time now, and I felt like sharing my (as you probably already saw) "unorthodox" build. I know you probably see a lot of dps and carry builds out there, specially in this site, but I still would like to publish this as many ppl still don't know how to use it. Sure, it is really easy to pick for the first time and try to build up as many ppl do in AD or AP, but let's face it, except for Static FX's guide, there are not so much hybrid build guides out there, and balancing well a hybrid isn't as easy as it seems.

Pros / Cons

The Cons

On Ezreal's case, it is pretty obvious that its greates CON is that he's one of the most squishies dps out there (I know you will say something like "now way, this or that champion is way squishier", but the point is that EZ is really squishy, despite other champions), not to mention it has absolutely no CC or slow, fact that can be partially compensated by , but I'll get to that later. I would also like to put out the fact that, althought in early game he can easily manage, in late game he becomes a mana eater (note that I mean this in the case of this build, where you act as a spell spammer, not an auto-attacker, but, once again, I'll talk about this later on).

The Pros

First of all, may be squishy, yes, but he has a huge mobility, specially if you take Flash, you should know this, and make use and abuse. Remember too that has a huge harassement potential, it might be hard to do so against someone who knows how to cover up (minion talking), it might be hard to make good use of it, but it still is easy to do. Even a level 1 is awfully harassing. Also, his DPS is carasteristic for its range and distance safeness: has a huge range and is both a great teamfight dps spell and a finishing spell in case you deal with scape mecanisms, regarding this point, is really useful against ppl who know how to avoid it, however, with practice and awareness, you can still handle it without clairvoyance. Finally, let's take into account that, inbetween his passive, , and , you not only have a great "attack speed" (remember is technically a hit outside the AS-CD) and a good AD-help-nerf spell be it that you got an AD in your team or play against an AD (in an ideal game you will have both).

Skill Sequence

Now, this is the point I wanted to get to. Most of you are porbably thinking "OMG, N00B EZ, LVL 1 MS AND MAXING UP ARCANE SHIFT, GTFO" (not to mention many ppl closed the guide too). But, let's face it, barely gets benefit from lvling up, and, even thought is hard to use as a nuke, it is way more useful than . Let's take a deeper look into this.

Mystic Shot

If you look carefully, you will see it only gains 20 damage per level. However, the cooldown reduction per level is, althought small, relatively high, specially if you take into account that, on hitting, your CDs are reduced in 1 second, and since, as I said before, we are going on a spell spammer build, it is really useful. However, if you compare it to your other spells we will see an important difference: Leaving on lvl 1 is only good if you are AP, since a hybrid can't manage to get enought AP to make it worth spending only one level on it, meanwhile, (and I know 80% of the ppl out there will verbally rape me for this) can't be left on lvl 1, why? I'll get to it later. The point is, that the only spell you can aford to spend only one point on is , specially giving the amount of damage it gains from / , making it way worth it, even in lvl 1. Besides all this, the important thing you need to remember is that applies on-hit effects, wich not only makes it a huge dps spell with / , but also makes it usefull for applying on-hit slows (such as / and lizard buff), sometimes (mostly in AD builds) this is useful for effects such as , and (this last one you should keep in mind in case you absolutely NEED to kill an armor/hp stacker).

Essence Flux

I don't think I need to spend a lot of time in here. Easily said, unless you are going support (wich I don't really think a lot about), the only way you can afford having only one poing in here is if you are AP, but, as I said many times, this is hybrid. It's important to remember that, in your spell sequence, you should cast this right before , so that you can make good use of CDR effect to increase your spamming capabilities. Also, ALWAYS remember it increases allied AS; I've seen many that don't really pay that much attention to it and don't realize that, in some cases, it could make a turret killing into two. Finally, keep in account (specially in early/mid game) that, unlike , it pierces throught units, and can be very useful against ppl who shield themselves from your .

Arcane Shift

Ok, here is where the discussion begins. Most of you (more than I would like to) just spend one point in here and use it as a low cd , but it is not. I'm not saying you should always max out before anything else, but it would be wise to try to always have it maxed up in midgame, when teamfights come and go all the time. You probably think you will loose DPS by spending four extra points in here instead of your other abilities, but you have to keep in mind that, even thought it is a single target, deals almost the same damage than (only 5 points) but benefits 5% more from AP, so, actually, it deals slightly more single target damage. As long as you skill it up properly, have the right CDR and know how to move yourself and where to use it, , althought hard to use, will pull the same dps that any other of your skills would, and since you need to max out DPS, you desperately need to max out these last two abilities so that you can make good use of them. All of this without mentioning that it is really usefull going in and out of walls so that you can DPS safely and place well your other shots (yes, that comment is in the ability explanation for a reason).

Trueshot Barrage

This is one of the most interesting ultimates out there. Not only it benefits from both your AD and your AP (and I know it used to be one or the other instead of both, I'm just not poiting out patch notes, no need for you to comment on this point, thank you anyways), but it also is worldwide ranged, passes throught units, has a great width, has a good speed so that many ppl won't notice it until it's too late and, last but not less, it has a really nice CD (wich combined with CDR and , can allow you to cast it pretty often. Always keep in mind it looses 8% of its damage per unit hit as it advances (up to 30%), so, unless you use it to ks a low hp champ thats getting away, I suggest you cast it from the right position and in the right direction, once again, is really usefull in this aspect.

In Conclusion

To close this chapter, you must keep in mind that this skillup is built this way so that you can have the great mobility and survivability from , the damage from and yet make good use of the as a DPS ability (and also its effects, wich are primary on ). I don't think I need to say something about his ult's skillup.

Items

Oh, the items. This is, once again, a point where a discussion will fire up. By this point, you will most likely either think I'm a complete "n00b" or a "real good player", but be sure I'm neither. I just play a lot and build up a lot of different ways to find the one that suites me best.

Core Items

As most do, I start with , not only because it's a great item for and his , but also so that I can make as powerful as my other spells, making it worth haveing 1 point on it and maxing out the others. You will see that, after that, I go and , wich are items you don't usually see on (even thought are recommended). This comes from the fact that many ppl think that spending that money on is just a non-dps useless invest, but think about this: the CDR provided by those two cheap items, along with the masteries, gets you to the CDR cap, making you have a 6.6 sec cd on , so that you can move as you please, a 2.4 cd on and a 5.4 sec cd on , making you a great spell spammer dps, not to mention that your will be on 60 sec cd, all of this, with effect will be outrageously low dps (take into account that reduces its own CD, making it a 1.4 cd if it hits, making also other spells refresh way faster). This is, ofc, assuming you are lvl 18.
Also, gives you enought mana regeneration so that you don't need to recall out of low mana (this is no longer so in late game, when you spam out a lot). Now you may think "well, that's fine, but you could just get that CDR from other items, and even save those boots for something better". Well, yeah, but and give you a CHEAP cooldown reduction cap, and, even thought you may not know it, other boots aren't that much of a different to , since AS isn't rlly usefull for an (specially if you take into account his passive, the out-of-AS-hit, and the AS provided from ), 's may be useful, but the money you save and the early you get the CDR is way more useful, and may also be good, but remember we are maxing out , so we get all the mobility we need in there, along, ofc, with and walls. So, to shorten things off, and together make a cheap, loseless, invest that gives you a nice AP, CDR cap and a really good mana regeneration so that you can handle until late game.

Trinity Force and Banshee's Veil

After these two items, I go , mainly cus it's the most important and useful item for , althought it's kind of pricy, it gives you everything you need and even more, not to mention that, with it, you won't need , nor , nor any other of those items, it's an army knife in one single slot. Once you got , and , you got all you need to DPS. Later on you will need a or a survivability item to keep on, the standard spell bubble is useful, but, as always, keep in mind that you must keep your eyes open, watch the teams and know your enemies so that you know what to build. After that, you will most likely want to get some more AP so that you can pull out from "good" to "monster truck" dps (Hence ).

Manamune

Most of you (I'm having a deja-vu) probably saw it as the last item and now think "no way", but yeah, it's neither a first item nor an initial for a later , it is there cus gives you a great mana regen to supply for the late game spamming and a decent AD, wich you will find sweet fitting with the other items, since you got a good AP already but your only "AD" item is 's effect. Also, remember that, since its maximum mana increasement triggers with attacks, it not only is easy to charge up but also gives you a huge max mana (and hence, AD) in a short time, weather you build early or late game.

Now, it's important for you to keep in mind that every item you buy should be analized in basis to the specific game you are playing, there is no use buying a if they are all AD champs, you might want a instead of one of your items (prlly or ) if you absolutely need to kill HP/armor stackers (Ideally, someone else will take care of that, but you can't just let your team down, can you?), taking into account applies it.

Guinsoo's Rageblade and Hextech Gunblade

You most likely are wondering why didn't I incluse these in the build. Well, to be fair, they are good items and you can always sacrifice a slot for one of them, but, sincerely, the AS from is kind of wasted (even thought charges it, belive it or not, three times per cast-n-hit), and , althought it gives more than efficient AP and AD in proportion to its cost, the 30% effect from Rabbadon's Deathcap will make it more useful to get it along with an AD item instead of double , and removing an AD item other than will unbalance the DPS, you might remove , but you will seriously need to get golem buff or recall for mana a lot if you want to spam, and trust me, you want to spam. Also, you may instead, if you got the right team and are playing against not so much CCing enemies (or in case they don't focus on you enought to make you need it), replace with to make use of the lifesteal and spell vamp, but the slow is still not needed, since, with your mobility and the effect from , you should be fine, but always remember this: that lifesteal/spellvamp alone won't make you survive, it's just so that you don't need to recall out of low hp.

Whatever items you buy, always remember that, if you go hybrid, as this guide is oriented to, you should keep in mind that the benefit you get from that is that you can deal both physical and magical DPS, so try to balance it out.

Runes

When talking about the runes, in an hybrid , it is likely that you will agree with me that Greater Mark of Desolation, Greater Quintessence of Desolation and Greater Glyph of Scaling Ability Power runes are fine, but you might wonder about the Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power. Well, many ppl use max /Greater Seal of Vitality or Greater Seal of Replenishment/ runes. These are fine too, however, /Greater Seal of Vitality are useful mainly in early game, since you don't get that much health out of it, but if you rush (like many ppl do, and I sometimes do too), you might just buy the quickly and be over with the problem, not to mention that your increased mobility can make up for your squishiness (and is supposed to). Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration is probably one of your best choices, if you get these, you won't need the in late game (assuming you got the same Seal in all 9 slots), and you have another slot, I've concidered it many times, so I'll just leave it there, It's up to you, but I, personally, prefer the Greater Seal of Scaling Ability Power so that I can get that extra powerup early-midgame (not to mention that before you get to , you are most likely ahead in the game). Whatever you do, please, don't get Greater Seal of Attack Speed runes, I've said this already, they are a waste on , specially on a spammer.

Summoner Spells

The Options

The interesting thing about is the versatility it has when it comes to summoner spells. You might want to use to get a decent slow and a kill-securer for any dps, an to increase your dps, your AP with Burning Embers , the heal-killer (you should if no one else in your team does, it is always good idea to have an and an in your team, at least one of each). The + combo is always good for FB, wich on a champ like can snowball really well. Also, you might want to have so that you can always get away in a very -like escape. You can always use OR for obvious purposes, but, honestly, can't make up for his mana screw in late game and , even thought I see why to pick it, it's rlly nothing compared to (in 's case) and + is kind of an extreme choice for , remember you got your own "blink" spell and you are maxing its CDR.

The Hot Spot

The hot spot here are , and . is the most obvious, you might think "why? you already got , and after focusing this much on it you are now telling me to also get ? Isn't it too much?" Well, belive it or not, it's not too much. is not only for mobility but also for nuke, remember, too, that you use it to place yourself for your other shots, not to mention that in many cases, ppl will use their own "blinks" and to chase you off, plus, + can be used as a really long distance teleport, making you almost unkillable, the idea is that you have whenever you can't afford to wait for , think of it as your very own (I know it's not remotely the same, but you get the idea). is one of the greatest mobility and ganking spells, is this "be right there right now" thing you can really use as , you should also know that, combined with , you can quickly make up for the 4 seconds it takes you to get there.

, on the other hand, is pretty good for placing your ult and keeping yourself safe, it gives great map awareness and control and with Mystical Vision and the Presence of the Master , you can lower it down to 40 sec cd while lasting 10 sec, so you will have a Eye 25% of the game on, giving you a huge advantage, however, the downside is that, due to its use and properties, it is more of a support spell, so you should only get it if no one does (I have to add that, as it probably sounds obvious, you can use it to steal Baron with your ). I myself always use with / , but you might want to leave out and just keep the other two, it is a valid option too and I don't do it only cus it doesn't fit me, at the end, once again is up to you.

Masteries

The masteries are pretty self explanatory. You might want to get all offensive masteries, and it's a good, useful choice, but you have to pay a price for it: You don't really need those that much, specially if you take into account the real damage you get from those, wich isn't that much, remember that the main physical-AD dps you do comes from 's effect, wich is unaffected by crit, (also, can't crit, so, you see how many masteries from offensive are wasted). The 4% extra damage from is sweet, and I won't deny I sometimes get tempted by it, but the benefits from utility's bottom masteries are more useful for , and you still get the important ones from offensive (trust me, I too want that 4% extra and the armor penetration from , but the AS, crit chance and crit damage are wasted so...).

While in utility, you get not only the masteries for all your summoner spells but also a really useful 3 mp5 from Meditation , an extra XP from (you might instead get the 4% extra max mana from if you are going for Static FX's +Archangel Staff build), a nice 30% extra duration for buffs if you want to get lizard or golem in (trust me, you don't usually get them, but if you do, they help you as ), and, most important of all, 6% CDR and 15% summoner spell CDR from n . The 15% magic penetration and the 0.6 AP/lvl are almost mandatory if you go AP or hybrid, and the 3% CDR, along with the mastery on the utility tree will give you that extra CDR you need to cap with your items (you might also want to get only one point in if you are gonna get to cap quickly so that extra 4% CDR over the cap from those two points go somewhere else, but that depens on you too).

The extra 4% HP and MP regeneration in is kind of useful in late game so that you can catch up to your mana eating, but sometimes you might want to get the 10% death timing reduction (I know you are not supposed to die, and if you play right you will be safe with your mobility, but **** happens, you will eventually die in a long game).

Once again, everything is up to you, but as you see, my main goal in the masteries is to reduce the Summoner spell's CD, get the powerup from offensive and get that important CDR that makes me get to cap.

The Lane, the Farm and the Teamfights

This is where it gets tricky, where you have to put up for your build and yout choices, and, more important, where I demonstrate my point.

First of all, you need to know that is not easy to play, you need to learn, practice and be patient. You must practice enought your shots, and get the grip on thir size and range. Your movements must be right or you will die, think of yourself as an itemless , you are squishy, but if you learn how to play this champion, that won't matter at all to you, you are not like most champions, standing your ground, taking some damage but killing before dying, you are a dodger, you should avoid everything and still deal enought dps, you must perfectly know where, when and how to use and move, and the only way to learn it is practice. Some may say that you should just get some extra health from a , /Greater Seal of Vitality, a , etc. but, like it or not, that's just the easy way out, think of me as a noob, think of me as an idiot, think of me as close minded, but here is where I stand my ground, that gold would be better spent in your damage, and has the skills to survive without extra health or resistances until midgame, thats where you will need that extra survivability from or whatever item you replace it with. isn't a champion of items, is a champion of practice and player skills, and if you are patient and practice enought, it will pay off more than any other thing.

As always, you shouldn't auto-attack, last hit and don't push, if you do, you will be open to ganks, and you can't afford that until midgame, when you have maxed out, you might survive a gank... as long as they dont CC you.
Regarding the lane, you should solo mid or top, since you are hybrid it doesn't matter wich one, but, as always, the team you have will influence in this decision, of course that it's no use if you pick knowing your team looks something like
(I know, that only happens on real low ELO games, but you get the idea).

You should focus on getting money, lasthiting minions and farming up all early game, don't get greedy, althought most people fear , they all know he's squishy, don't try to get a kill, the kill will get to you, learn to know when to and when not to, in the meantime, get moeny so you can get to midgame with your , , and half of your , Since lvl 5-7 you are ready to gank, keep an eye on other lanes and be ready for a quick if you got it, if you don't, a little roam is useful, but only if you already got your for that factor 2 movespeed.

You should be careful about burst champions, but never afraid, know how to dodge missiles, nukes and AoEs, don't fear to use your to avoid those, but never use it to chase a "got-him-barely" kill, you will die if you do, always keep your ready to escape if your is on CD, and if you don't have , play conservative until you got it on lvl 5, and always remember reduces its CD.

Finally, don't forget that you are a carry and a little bit of an assasin, if you are not doing good just go farm a little money to catch up and go for easy kills and KS, your team won't blame you, you need to catch up with your dps.

Another impotant thing is that, in the teamfights, you should learn to know what distance to keep and where to move when, is a mobility champion, if you stay in one place autoattacking, chances are that you won't do any good, it is amazing the difference in your DPS when you learn this part. Keep in mind that walls are your best friends, if you get a teamfight on the forest or in the corner of a lane, you should come and go, as soon as you get a hit or an AoE, just Arcane Shift to the other side of the wall and cast and attack from there, remember your spells have a really long range.

Also, know when to use your ult at the beginning and when to save it for KS those who get away, that knowledge comes from the team you got, knowing all champs, practicing with and doing a few teamfights in that specific game, and it will reward a lot as those kills and teamfights snowball.

Summary

To finish this off, I would like to repeat, once again, that, althought unorthodox, this build is really usefull, I've come and gone a lot throught a lot of builds and items and, as far as Hybrid goes, this is the best I've found, the dps from and lvl 1 , combined with the mobility from makes you a deadly and hard to kill dps, I'm sure many people will just rate this guide down and go "GTFO N00B" or something like that, but if I do this for a reason is so that more people know how I play and, if they want, try it out. Hope you liked it, thank you for reading.