I had similar problem, because in the past protobelt used to be a must have item on Evelynn, but now since it doesn't give the best stats, it's kinda better not to buy it.
Biggest problem for me was that I was too used to the gap closer so it was kinda hard to kill enemies who have some sort of jump, dash etc. I got much more used to the slow (q-w instant) which helped me kill these champs easier, and also instead of running into them, I had to relearn the kill potential, meaning that now that i KNOW that i don't have rocketbelt, some of these kills aren't an option anymore, so the other solution was to just make them come to you, try W-ing them from weird directions to try to make them come to you, or just wait in the bushes since they wont be seeing you there when they come close which will make it an easier kill.

Played it twice, not too bad but gathering + absolute still better, also since Evelynn R is ape, the bonus damage goes from 14% to 9% which I don't like.
Could be an angle for next patch because we are getting R buff, but I think I'll keep using gathering + absolute because I don't want to lower my damage on other abilities.