Welcome to my guide. I am here to present you my "unique" guide to my favourite champion, Ekko. I have been playing Ekko since he came out. So far I have played around 200+ games of Ekko. This season I haven't started ranked, because i have been busy but i will try to climb with him. I'm not presenting a totally overpowered way to play him. This is just another way to enjoy the champion with a different build then the "standard" Ap mid. I will try to constantly update this guide with new sections. I apologise for all grammar mistakes because English is not my first language. I hope this guide doesn't steal your time and maybe you try it out for yourselves. Now without any further ado let's get into the guide.

Ekko-the Boy Who Shattered Time

Ekko is a melee Assasin-Fighter. He is mostly played as a Mid laner but also sees play on Top lane and in Jungle. He doesn't deal as much damage as other assasins which are focused solely around burst for ex. Zed , Katarina , Talon but he makes up for it in other categories. He has 3 slows in his kit a stun which is hard to land but rewards you greatly if you manage to do so. His ultimate Chronobreak gives him a new chance to either leave a fight or deal massive aoe damage to unaware opponents. He has good waveclear and lots of mobility but lacks in range and poke because he is a melee champ.

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Ekko Lore
A prodigy from the rough streets of Zaun, Ekko manipulates time to spin any situation to his advantage. Using his own invention, the Zero-Drive, he explores the branching possibilities of reality. As well as experimenting with multi-dimensional probability, Ekko spends his days running wild with the other lost children of Zaun. Though he revels in this freedom, when there's a threat to his friends, he'll endure anything to defend them. To the unknowing observer, Ekko accomplishes the impossible with ease, time and time again.

Ekko is by far my most played champion. I have really tried lot of builds for him. First you have the full AP build which i mainly take into jungle. Then you have the tankier bruiser type build which is the more serious and safer aproach. I like to play the letter one in ranked because it is more realiable.


Pros for playing the tankier build

-Your damage doesn't fall off too much by building tanky items. In other words you still do meaningfull damage mainly cause of your passive Z-Drive Resonance , Thunderlord's Decree and aoe Timewinder / Chronobreak

-Full Ap Ekko can burst 1 target or maybe do a chunk of damage with a good Chronobreak but after that he has to either use Zhonya's Hourglass, try to escape fight (use of Chronobreak defensivly or use of Phase Dive and/or Flash )

-Tanky Ekko can stay in the fight much longer and permaslow with Iceborn Gauntlet (Bruiser playstyle)



Pros for playing the full Ap jungle build

-Your damage is higher and you offer more burst (The on-hit damage on Phase Dive with Stalker's Blade - runic echoes]] and Lich Bane is ridiculous)

-Has extraordinary mobility (around 430 movement speed with first two items and boots), good dash in Phase Dive and reliable escape tool if its a losing fight Chronobreak so building almost full dmg will often not get punished

-This build is much better for single target execution and getting out of danger after that (Assasin playstyle)



Pros and Cons of this build

PROS

-Good waveclear (Ekko has an easy time clearing the wave by simply throwing his Timewinder and waiting for it to come back. It won't outright kill minions at early levels without much ap so you have to finish them off by autoattacking)

-Good mobility ( Phase Dive is a good dash and gapcloser because it blinks you on your next attack to the target. This makes landing your Q no problem and helps greatly in sticking to your target. It also procs on hit effects from items. Chronobreak is a potent escape tool which can also be used offensivly.)

-A lot of slows (Ekko has no problem sticking and disrupting his targets primarily by using slows. He has a very good slow from his passive Z-Drive Resonance which even gives him a large movement speed buff. The passive is easy to proc by using your kit. His Q Timewinder slows in a small aoe for 60% after the skill is maxed. You will be using this most often after your dash in with Phase Dive so it is almost guaranteed. After completing Iceborn Gauntlet your Phase Dive slows for 30% in a small aoe for 2 seconds. For jungle Ekko you can get a nice slow on your Phase Dive with Rylai's Crystal Scepter to add up for the lack of Iceborn Gauntlet. As you can see Ekko has crazy high sticking power.

-Potential Aoe 2.25 seconds stun ( Parallel Convergence is hard to land cause it has a 3 sec delay. But if you manage to land it and proc by walking or dashing into it via Phase Dive its a great and long aoe stun. You have the potential to stun entire teams with it giving your team a long window of opportunity to engage upon them and win the teamfight. You also get a nice fat shield for 2 sec which is an added bonus.

-Relatively low mana costs (Your main spells Timewinder and Phase Dive cost only 50 and 40 mana at one point invested. Don't be afraid to use them often. The mana costs start to rise with time but so does your mana pool. Rod of Ages and Iceborn Gauntlet give you a lot of mana to spam those abilities.

CONS

-Melee range (Ekko can be kited if his Phase Dive is not up. The dash has a lenghty cooldown before you aquire cooldown reduction. Once you get your initial tankiness with Rod of Ages and Iceborn Gauntlet you don't have this weakness anymore.

-No reliable hard CC (I know you can't ask for reliable hard croud control from an assasin like champ but again your Parallel Convergence is even if you don't detonate it a great zoning tool.

-Not the best laning phase (It doesn't matter what lane you play Ekko, he isn't a early game champ. You have to get items to be dangerous which requires a safe and thought out early game most of the time. Good thing is that this build doesn't cost that much. It costs less than 15k gold while the Full Ap build goes well over 18k. You can also go jungle to skip your average laning phase and come strong into mid game for teamfights and objectives.

-Weak to hard CC (If you are hard cc'd you can't jump on people and you can't use your ult. Avoid skillshots like Dark Binding / Light Binding at all costs by using your Phase Dive or Flash in an emergency.)

-Lack of tankiness in early game (You are still a squishy assasin until you start stacking that Rod of Ages atleast. Even then it is not advised to dive like a crazy person. Use your Parallel Convergence wisely to minimize the damage taken. You are tanky after getting Iceborn Gauntlet and a Magic resist item in form of preferably Spirit Visage or Abyssal Mask. You can be decently tanky as a jungler too by taking Strenght of the Ages, scaling health glyphs (+214 Hp at lvl 18) and Rylai's Crystal Scepter.)

Stats

HEALTH 580 – 1940
HEALTH REGEN (per 5) 9.0 – 24.3
ATTACK DAMAGE 59 – 110
ATTACK SPEED 0.625 (+0% – 56.1%)
MANA 280 – 1130
MANA REGEN (per 5) 6.0 – 16.2
ARMOR 27.0 – 78.0
MAGIC RESIST 32.1 – 53.4
MELEE 125
MOVEMENT SPEED 340



Abilities


Z-Drive Resonance (Passive): Any spell (except your W) or basic attack landed by Ekko on a Monster, Minion, or Champion will apply a stack of his passive. The third stack applied consumes the stacks and deals bonus magic damage while slowing the target. If the stacks were consumed on a champion target, Ekko receives a burst of movement speed.
Important facts about Z-Drive Resonance:
-It can be applied on multiple targets with autoattacks and all your spells except Parallel convergence (W).
-Once you hit 3 basic attacks or abilities and proc it you can't apply stacks for 3 seconds
-Your passive makes around half the damage during a standard combo(explained further down below). Because of this it is important to proc it as often as you possibly can.


Timewinder (Q): Timewinder is a skill shot that travels a fixed distance. It slows at the end of its path or by hitting an enemy champion. When the projectile slows down it expands and creates a slowing field. After that it comes back to Ekko dealing more damage then the first time. This spell can apply 2 stacks of his passive.
Important facts about Timewinder:
-Timewinder will turn into a slowing zone at the end of its path when hitting minions or monsters. When hitting champions it slows them immediately and continues to do so if they stay in the slowing zone.
-This spell does almost double the damage when returning. Try to land the return as often as possible. If neccesary reposition yourself with your Phase dive.
-Timewinder is a great waveclear tool. Use it to quite easily last hit minions because Timewinder apllies two stacks of your passive. After that just autoattack them.
-When building full cooldown reduction the cooldown of this spell is under 4 seconds at max rank. That means you can throw this spell and once it returns you can instantly throw your Timewinder again.
-Throw your Timewinder at enemies who are trying to get to you to slow them down.
-Preferably trade with your Timewinder available. Your damage is lacking without it. Also you can't apply passive stacks that fast.


Parallel Convergence (W): Passivly this spell grants you increased missing health % damage on your autoattacks against champions with 30% or less max health. When you activate it Ekko creates a slowing zone which can be detonated if he enters it. The detonation gives him a large shield. It also stuns everything inside it for a fixed amount.
Important facts about Parallel Convergence:
-This spell takes three seconds to aim. Throw it were you are going to be or want to be not where you are now.
-If you manage to catch an enemy inside it by entering the sphere you are well rewarded. Try to accomplish this as often as possible. Aim it in laning phase behind you to make give your opponent two options. Walk back and get stunned or fight you straight up.
-The shield component and passive % are important as well. It is advised to enter the sphere if possible even if you miss champions and can't stun them. The sheild is really big. It has a crazy Ap scaling. The % damage on autoattacks helps to finish low health enemies. It can also decide close 1v1's in your favour.


Phase Dive (E): Phase dive is a short dash, after which Ekko's next basic attack has massively increased range. The next autoattack will blink him to his target. The attack does increased magic damage and apllies on-hit effects.
Important facts about Phase Dive:
-Phase dive is your main mobility spell. Use it for a multitude of applications. Dash and blink to catch fleeing enemies with it, dodge hard CC and spells, dash over walls (not all but most of them).
-Phase dive is important in setting up your combo with Timewinder.
-The blink part of the ability lasts a couple of seconds before faiding after the dash has been used.
Phase dive into your Parallel Convergence. It is better then walking into it.
-Phase dive applies on hit effects. That is the reason why most Ekko's buy a Sheen proc item (Lich bane,Iceborn gauntlet,Trinity Force)
-When building full cooldown reduction the cooldown of this spell is under 4 seconds at max rank. That makes Ekko mid-late game very mobile.


Chronobreak (R): When Ekko's ultimate is up he is folowed by a 4 sec delayed clone. He can cast his ult to go back to the clone. When he does that Ekko becomes briefly untargatable. On arrival Ekko does massive aoe damage to all nearby targets while healing himself for an % of damage taken.
Important facts about Chronobreak:
-Your clone or ghost will only follow you if your ult is up. Also if the enemy has not vision of you they will not see your ghost.
-Ult is cast instantly. Ekko becomes invincible for 0.5 seconds while he travels back to his ghost.
-Your ult deals aoe damage to everything while healing you for a % of damage taken making it a good "get out of jail card".


The one and only ability order Ekko is specific because unlike other champs he has one build order that is the best and gets things done. Timewinder (Q) is taken first at level 1 cause it provides a good wave clearing and trading tool right of the bat. Phase Dive (E) is taken on level 2 because you want your standard trading combo (explained in the next chapter) asap. Parallel Convergence (W) is taken on level 3 because it gives nice zoning potential a good shield and execute damage on autoattacks if an early all-in happens.
Chronobreak (R) is taken as 90% of other champions take their ult at level 6,11,16.
Timewinder is maxed first because it is your main damage and waveclear tool.
Phase Dive is maxed second because it provides good mobility and is essential for all your combos.
Parallel Convergence is maxed last because the stun is not increased with level which is the biggest aspect of this ability. The shield scales better with Ap then ranks. The only thing you are missing out is the lower cd of this spell but we will have to pass that in favour for your mobility.
The same ability order can be applied for Ekko jungle except that you take Parallel Convergence at lvl 1 and then Timewinder at lvl 2. This is because you want to minimize the damage taken from the first camp. After that you proceed the same with this explained ability order.

Standard trading combo
+ + OR + +
This is your most used and standard combo you will use the whole game. First you dash forward or to the side (if you are dodging a skillshot) with your Phase Dive. After that you blink with the second part of Phase Dive. Once you blink right behind them you throw out your Timewinder. Now the enemy should have two stacks of your passive on them. Smack them with your glowstick (autoattack) once to proc your passive. After that they are heavily slowed cause of Timewinder and your Z-Drive Resonance. Now you can either continue to attack them with autoattacks which is often not advised cause you can't stack your passive again for at least 3 seconds. It is often the best way to escape with the boosted movement speed while your Q goes back again to you dealing return damage to the now heavily slowed enemy. You can also proc it by hitting them forth and back with Timewinder and then blinking to them with Phase Dive. This way you don't have to use that autoattack needed to proc your passive. It is easier to double hit Timewinder when enemies are chasing you then the other way around.

Advanced Combo
+ + +
This is the same combo as the first one only with your W. This combo will be used in lane or before a teamfight to stun as many people as you possibly can. Your Parallel Convergence is hard to land so this combo is not guaranteed to land. First you place your Parallel Convergence. You will try to predict your opponents movement. The enemy can see that you have launched your Parallel Convergence but they can't see where it is going to land until half a second before. If you land it good then you can proceed to dash in with Phase Dive and do the afformentioned standard combo to them while they are stunned for a whooping 2.25 seconds. You also get a large shield which is useless in 1v1 fights cause it lasts less then the stun. It is quite good in teamfights however because you can combo one person while the other opponents have to deal with your sheild first. You can also use this combo when escaping. Place your Parallel Convergence in front of you and continue running to it. After the enemies catch up to you dash back to them into the stun zone for a quick tournaround.

Dive Combo
+ (if needed to close greater gap) + + +
This is your dive combo. Use it to kill low health champions or squishies quickly and to get immediately out after that. It is quite simple. Use the standard combo and hit your ult Chronobreak right after you applied your Z-Drive Resonance to get out of the fight. Chronobreak is the reason why you are great at tower dives too.

Expert Combo
+
This is a great combo if you can pull it off. Aim your Parallel Convergence were your shadow is going to be in 4 seconds. This is best used while being chased or during extended fights at one location. Then immediately ult to your shadow into your Parallel Convergence to both stun everything inside and do your regular aoe damage from Chronobreak. Then you can follow up with Timewinder and/or Phase Dive or escape.

OR

Wanderer gives 3% additional movement speed which is about 10 movement speed at the start of the game. That amount is certainly not high but it is only outside of battle. Because of that it is better for supports.
Savagery mastery gives 5 additional damage to minions and monsters while using basic attacks and single target spells.
I think that Savagery is the prefered choice here because it helps last hitting which is better then the small movement speed boost outside of battle.


OR OR

Runic Affinity is an ok mastery but a lot better on junglers cause they will have buffs more often.
Secret Stash is good for the early game giving you also some mana back with each potion.
Assassin is only good in the laning phase later you won't be fighting that much 1v1.
Secret Stash is the prefered choice because it helps in the early game which is the period you are most vulnerable. Also you will be buying a lot of Health Potion through the course of the game.


OR

Merciless gives you 5% increased damage to champions below 40% of health. This is particulary good cause you have a lot of aoe. That means that 5% increased damage to more targets is nothing to scoff at.
Meditation is a better mastery for supports. The mana regen is nice in lane but not really needed on this build since you will be building mana since very early into the game. After you finish your core you will have plenty of mana so this is a waste.
Merciless is better in the long run. It can help in close 1v1 fights as well which makes it the prefered choice.


OR

Bandit is a support mastery. You want to farm minions and get strong. Don't take this.
Dangerous Game game has great synergy with Merciless . Since it is the only option left we are taking it.


OR

Precision gives you some Armor and Magic Penetration. The stats you get from it get higher with level. Nice mastery to get.
Intelligence gives you 5% cooldown reduction and increases your cap to 45% max cooldown reduction. 5% cooldown reduction for free is pretty good but the best part is the increased cap.
Intelligence is my prefered choice here because i really like to have the max amount possible on ekko. With items you easily hit that 45%. That means your Timewinder and Phase Dive have a cooldown of only 3.85 sec at max rank while your Chronobreak is up every 48 sec. That is amazing.
Precision however is also good and can be used instead, if you want that extra magic penetration.


OR OR

Stormraider's Surge is a good keystone mastery but not needed on Ekko because you won't always burst people that much to activate it every time. You already have a build in movement speed buff from your passive which is plenty enough to get away.
Thunderlord's Decree goes so well with your kit it is unbelivable. You proc your passive every time if you land your most basic combo which means you are also doing the damage of Thunderlord's Decree . Thunderlord's Decree and Z-Drive Resonance go together like bread and butter. It is a must take keystone mastery.
Windspeaker's Blessing gives 10% stronger sheilds and heals. 10% stronger shields is not that much to make it more worth then Thunderlord's Decree . This is primarily a support mastery too, so stay away from it.


OR

Fury gives us 4% attack speed which is a small amount but still fine for slightly easier last hitting.
Sorcery gives us 2% increased damage from abilities. Because we will constantly use abilites the whole game this is from greater benefit then Fury .


OR OR

Double Edged Sword gives you 3% increased damage but you also take 1.5% more damage from everything. It would be a fine mastery if we played Ekko squishy. We are constantly going deep into the enemy team and taking higher % damage then usual is not optimal.
Feast gives some health on a long cooldown for killing a unit. This mastery is nothing spectacular but it is ok for laning phase I guess.
Expose Weakness gives 3% increased damage to your allies once you damage them. This is the newest addition to the mastery tree. I think that this mastery is much better then the other two options because it gives a free damage boost to all your allies for literally just attacking the opponent.


OR

Vampirism gives you 2% life steal and spell vamp. The life steal on this champ and build is useless. The spell vamp is not good either cause it is such a small percentage. Maybe it would be useful if we build full ap but even then it is not that impacful.
Natural Talent gives 10 attack damage and 15 ability power at lvl.18. This is an okay boost but nothing great. We take this mastery over the other one because at least it gives some usefull stats.


OR

Bounty Hunter gives you 1% increased damage for every unique champion you kill. This is a decent mastery. The only thing holding it back is that is not that big of a boost and it is too situational.
Oppressor looks like it was made for this build. You deal 2.5% increased damage to enemies with impaired movement. As you are going to constantly slow with pretty much everything you have in your kit you take full advantage of this mastery. Choose it over Bounty Hunter every single time.

9 Magic Penetration Marks-We take these because it helps in shredding a lot of the early magic resist opponents will have. These marks are Flat ones so they are better early game then late.

9 Flat Armor Seals-Gives us some much needed armor for the early game. They can be exchanged for Scaling Armor seals if you are playing against Ap champions in lane.

9 Flat Magic resist glyphs-Gives us some much needed magic resist for the early game. They can be exchanged for Scaling Magic resist glyhps if you are playing against Ad champions in lane. They can also be exchanged for 6 or 9 scaling cooldown reduction glyphs. This gives at lvl 18 either 10% or 15% respectivly. This is not needed since you can easily hit that with items but it can be good in games where the early magic resist is not needed and you are not planning on building Spirit visage but instead go more offensive.

3 Flat Ap Quintessences-Gives us some ability power for the early game. Quite standard.

Flash Is a must have spell. No exeptions. Take this every single time because it is the best summoner spell in the game.
Teleport I take teleport very often. If i go top it is mandatory but for mid it is not that neccesarry. Teleport gives you global map presence. It alows you to go back to lane fast. You can contest dragon with it or help other lanes especially bot.
Ignite I take ignite mid to have extra kill pressure early game. It is good all game long because it provides true damage. Ignite is great at finishing low health opponents or to secure a kill.

All other summoner spells are not good like these three options. The other summoners are either being outclassed or used on different types of champions and are not worth the consideration for this build.

Starting items



Doran's Ring is the prefered starting item. It gives 60 health, 15 ability power and 50% mana regen. Those stats are the best you are going to get for its cheap price of 400 gold. It also gives some mana back whenever you kill a unit. With the health you aren't a total glass canon and the early ability power is very good. The mana regen will be enough until your buy your next item. With this start you also get 2 Health Potion. That is more then 300 health regen which is enough early game sustain until your first back.

Cloth Armor is rarely taken. The armor can be good against specific autoattack damage heavy champions with stronger early games then you. Yasuo , Tryndamere , Riven , Renekton all come to mind. Those chamions can easily harass you because of great mobility and/or cc in their kits. The ability power however will be lower and the mana regen will be mised with Cloth Armor. The benefit however are 4 Health Potion for better sustain in lane so you can't get pushed out easily. Later you will build this item into Glacial shroud so it isn't wasted.

Corrupting Potion is rarely taken. It doesn't provide any combat stats. It is good against a hard matchup or if you are expecting a lot of poke from ranged damage dealers in lane. It's a good alternative to Cloth armor. Corrupting potion gives 3 charges which together heal for 450 health and 150 mana. They are also refilled every time you visit the shop. Take this with teleport most of the time for a very safe early game.

The bottom point is that you take 80% of the time Doran's Ring. Also don't forget your trinket the prefered choice is Stealth Ward because it helps against ganks by warding key spots (more about in the upcoming warding section.)


Early laning phase items



Catalyst of Aeons is your main item you are building towards in the early laning phase. It is made out of cheap components you can buy with small amounts of gold. Once finished it gives you a nice boost of 225 health and 300 mana. It has a nice unique passive 15% of damage taken from champions is gained as Mana. Spending Mana restores 20% of Mana spent as Health. This passive is great for laning phase sustain.

Blasting Wand is built mostly after Catalyst of Aeons but can also be built before, if you think that you can play safe against an melee opponent, who can't really reach you. It gives a good amount of Ap for an okay price to power up your spells.

Boots is a really cheap source to get much needed movement speed. Pick them up whenever you have 300 gold to spare. Buy them quite early the sooner the better. Later you will upgrade them.


Building up to your core items




Rod of Ages is your main big item you are aiming towards the end of the laning phase. The item gives you 300 health,300 mana and 60 ability power. That is some nice tankiness and mana and a good amount of ap packed together. It also has the same passive as Catalyst of Aeons. The item gives you stacks every minute up to a maximum of 10. You get every minute with every stack 20 health, 10 mana and 4 ability power. This is the reason why we rush this item asap. It would be optimal if you could complete the item and get it going around the 10-12 minute mark. You may ask yourself why are we buildng this item first and foremost. U usually see Ekko's building either Morellonomicon (if they're going full Ap) or another tanky item like Sunfire Aegis or even straight up Iceborn Gauntlet) (if they're going full tank). I think it is best to rush Rod of Ages for a couple of reasons:
-This item needs to stack up, so building asap is very improtant
-This item gives the much needed mana to spam your abilities with the added benefit of giving you a large amount of Hp and Ap as time continues (unlike the other options)
-The components for this item are cheap and Catalyst of Aeons makes you quite tanky in the early laning phase while giving you good sustain
-The only benefit of Morellonomicon is the 20% CDR which is easily obtained through other sources like Iceborn Gauntlet, Spirit Visage, Abyssal Mask and Zhonya's Hourglass to let you hit the CDR cap.


Sheen is one of the two options after completing Rod of Ages. For 1050 gold you get a small amount of mana and 10% cooldown reduction. The passive of this item is more important. Sheen gives your next autoattack bonus physical damage equal to 100% of your ad but only after a spell. Sheen also applies on hit effects. Your E will now deal solid damage.

Glacial Shroud is the second option. One thing to note is that Sheen is build if you want damage and Glacial shroud if you need armor. Sooner or later you will need to build both so it is not a game deciding choice. Glacial shroud also provides 250 mana and 10% cooldown reduction.

Finishing your core



Iceborn Gauntlet is built out of Sheen and Glacial shroud with a combine cost of 650 gold. Iceborn gauntlet is a great item on this build. You get 65 armor out of it which makes you with the stacking Rod of ages quite tanky at least against physical damage. You get a whooping 500 mana. Now you can start to spam abilities like there is no tommorow because you will have over 1500 mana. That amount is going to be around 2000 once Rod of Ages stacks up. You get 20% cooldown reduction. That is a big amount which will greatly help in using your abilities often. Now we come to the greatest asset of Iceborn gauntlet, the passive on-hit proc. Iceborn slows 30% for 2 seconds on autoattacks after an ability. This item gives you amazing sticking power and a lot of slows. Now your standard combo looks like this. You dash in with Phase dive and slow them for the mentioned amount. You throw out Timewinder which slows them even more. After that autoattack so your passive does again some slowing. Soon after that because of your 25-35% cooldown (depends if you bought Ionian boots of lucidity) reduction your spell rotation will come back. Repeat. Kill. Rewind.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity is the prefered boots choice because we are trying to cap cd reduction. They give the standard amount of movespeed and also passivly 10% reduced cooldown on summoner spells which is not bad. Because you can easily hit cdr reduction with other items alone Boots of Swiftness are also great. The trade of here is movement speed for cooldown reduction. Other boots i would consider are Mercury's Treads against a team full of cc blinds and fears and Ninja Tabi against an autoattack heavy based team. Sorcerer's Shoes are good if the enemy team is stacking heavy magic resist. Ionian were the best option in my opinion until recently. After the great Ap items rework and mage patch in mid season 6 Ionian's are no longer neccesary to cap CDR. Because of that i tend to go Boots of Swiftness much more often because the added movement speed is great.

With these 3 Items you hit a nice powerspike which if you were at least decent should occur around the 20-24 minute mark. You now deal good damage while having a large amount of cc in your kit and being physical tanky. Now it's time to build up other items to make you even stronger. Those items are different from game to game. All notable options after the core will be listed here:

Situational items



Spirit Visage is a good adition to your build. It is build of out of Spectre's cowl and a Kindlegem with a combine cost of 900 gold. Spectre's Cowl can be rushed earlier in the game before your core is finished if you desperately need it for the magic resist. That however is not optimal because it delays your Iceborn Gauntlet. Spirit visage gives you 500 health, 70 magic resist and 10% cooldown reduction. This item coupled with your core makes you tanky and quite resistant to both forms of damage (physical and magic). The 10% cooldown reduction is enough to finally cap it at 45% (5% from masteries,10% from ionian boots of lucidity,20% iceborn gauntlet and 10% from spirit visage). Spirit visage is slightly better then Banshee's Veil in most match-ups. It is better because of the cd and the 20% better healing which is an okay boost for Chronobreak. Banshee's veil however can be taken over it, if they have a lot of dangerous magic abilities, you don't want to get hit by, that could potentially mean your dead in late game like Rocket Grab or any hard other hard cc.

Abyssal Mask is the most often build item after your core has been completed. The item costed only 2340 gold but now it is slightly more expensive after the rework. It gives a nice amount of 60 ability power for its relative cheap price. The magic resist of 60 is good too. The cooldown reduction of 10% comes in handy. This item also has an unique aura of 700 range around you that reduces magic resist by 10-25 (note that it gives you much more flat magic penetration the higher level you are). This doesn't sound like much but it makes a good difference when fighting champs that have some magic resist built. It helps greatly in killing squishies (most often enemy adc and mid laner) and the boost is for your whole team too. Build this item if you want more Ap while still being quite tanky against magic damage. Build Spirit visage for the bigger boost in health and the cooldown reduction.

Dead Man's Plate is built in specific situations. The item gives you 500 health and 50 armor for a good price of 2900 gold. It is built when you need to become even more physical tanky after finishing your core. If they have a mostly Ad team you also build at least a Chain Vest before finishing any of the magic resist items. This item is also taken if you find that your movement speed is lacking. With this item and your core you hit around 200 armor late game which is plenty enough.

Randuin's Omen is only built over Dead men's plate if they have a fed or high damage dealing adc you need to take care of. The same applies to other high threat crit champs like Tryndamere , Yasuo , Master Yi. It gives the same health but slightly more armor and an active which emits a shock wave to slow enemies by 35% for a couple of seconds. Not really needed on this build but not bad either. It also has a passive which slows attack speed by 15%. It helps in extended fights.

Zhonya's Hourglass is a great option on Ekko if you can afford it. This item gives a good amountof Ap and even decent armor and 10% cooldown reduction. Zhonya's passive is great because you are even harder to kill with it, your ultimate and tanky buildpath. Tank Ekko doesn't rely to much on it like Full Ap but its still a very good item to make plays with your ult. The only problem with this item is that it isn't the cheapest item and sometimes you will just need more tankiness then damage. In those situations build the before mentioned armor options.

Warmog's Armor is an item that only provides a large amount of 850 health. It costs 2850 gold and should never be finished sonner then your fifth item counting in boots. However with its 200% base health regen and Warmog's Heart passive you regen your health like crazy, once you get out of the fight and wait 8 seconds. With Spirit visage,Warmog's and Chronobreak your survivability goes through the roof. Buy this item for a large boost in health and crazy health regen. Do not buy this item before completing Spirit Visage first. You have to buy resistances first (armor and magic resist) before flat health. This item is built very rarely because there are usually a lot of better options then pure health (Ap,Cdr,Armor,Magic resist).

Luden's Tempest is build only if you think that you have enough tankiness and defensive stats. It is the best pure Ap boosting item for this build. This item gives a high amount of 100 ap and a very good amount of 10% movement speed. The passive of this item is very useful for dealing extra damage which scales with your ap and procs on your abilities like Timewinder and Phase dive. Very good late game item for extra damage especially on your Phase Dive. It is also advised to switch Stalker's Blade - Runic Echoes for this item if you are jungling. You get 40 more Ap slightly more movement speed and the same but stronger active. Of course do this only if you have completed your full build in super late game.


Jungle items



Coming soon...





Prefered item build

This build is optimal because it gives a good amount of 3000 Hp around 200 armor and magic resist, 300+ ability power, invulnerability in Zhonya's and ultimate + permaslow with spells and autoattacks. That doesn't mean you should build exactly this build every single game. Adjust your build with the options explained in this chapter. The only 2 must have items are Rod of Ages and Iceborn Gauntlet. Only those two items will be build every game. Everything else is exchangeable.
Items that can be changed from this build for other options are:
Ionian Boots of Lucidity --> Mercury's Treads , Ninja Tabi , Boots of Swiftness
Zhonya's Hourglass --> Dead Man's Plate , Randuin's Omen
Warmog's Armor and Luden's Tempest for everything except core
Spirit Visage --> Abyssal Mask or the other way around. If a lot of magic resist is needed both items can be built.

Here are some wise words on how to lane with Ekko:

Early game
Ekko's early game can be either a walk in the park or a hard experience. That all of course depends on the matchup he is facing on top or mid lane. In the mid lane you are going to face mages which are often highly immobile but have great range and poke or assasins of all kinds with loads of mobility and burst damage. On the other side top lane has tanks which don't deal as much damage but are hard to kill and fighters a combination of damage and tankiness with limited to good mobility. There are some exeptions in each class like Ahri for mages or Renekton for tanks but you get the point.
Now I'm going to roughly show you how to deal with each class and then after that you can read in-depth champion matchups.

Ekko vs. Mages
Ekko general has a good time against most mages cause his waveclear is not lacking. He can easily farm while doging skillshots if need to be with his dash. Ekko can proceed to go in and trade quickly with his standard combo. Often these type of champs don't have mobility so you can "easily" land your zone if you predict movement or launch it out of the fog of war. Mages this early in the game are vulnerable and most of them shouldn't be able to outrade you unless they land a full rotation of spells on you. Once you get your ult you can play somewhat risky or outright towerdive them if the opportunity arises. You win against mages if you kill them or harass them out of the lane. Push the waves into the opponents tower, deny cs and trade often and effective.

Ekko vs. Assasins
Ekko has a mixed matchup against other assasins. Sometimes they hard counter you, sometimes you can easily zone them and try to kill them. You have to play safer in the laning phase with those kind of champs. Under no circumstance should you give an opponents mid assasin the lead by either killing you or roaming and accomplishing the same on your teammates. Don't feed assasins cause most of them snowball quite heavy into the mid game and that leads to lost games. After getting ult you are very hard to kill for other assasins so you can play a little more aggresive. Alert your teammates if the opposing mid laner is missing.

Ekko vs. Tanks
You will from time to time play Ekko on top with this build. Most tanks can't get to Ekko really so as long as you farm up and ward you will have a good day. The problem is Ekko can't really kill tanks either. You will rely on your jungler to do any of the killing with you or this is going to be a farm lane. Because top lane is mostly an island that is completely isolated fom anything that could happen early game like dragon you heavily rely on teleport and teamfighting (explained further down below in this chapter).

Ekko vs. Fighters
Fighters can kill you and the other way around. In the early game farm up and wait for level 6. Engage mostly in small skirmishes by using all your skills effectivly. You are building tanky to withstand the damage they can dish out. It is not as much a 1v1 lane as mid lane but more a preperation for mid game. Farming up and trying not to feed is the main concern here. Take teleport for map presence and prepare for mid game teamfights and objectives.

Although this guide is mainly about playing Ekko in lane i think that he can be a great jungler aswell. This section of the guide is currently under construction...

Teamfighting with Ekko

Teamfighting is a key aspect for any champion. Won teamfights give map control and objectives like towers,dragons and baron and those lead to victory. This build is all around Ap tank Ekko. Now i am going to explain how to teamfight with him mid and late game. First of all you are a good tank, good assasin and peeler. I said good because you are not great in any aspect. There are always going to be champs that tank better or have sick initations. There are assasins who deal way more damage then you and supports that peel better. The point of Ekko and this build is to be good in every aspect, not great but good to give you and your team a lot of options when teamfights occur. Here are some options for teamfighting:
-You can choose to dive into the enemy team and whipe out their Adc or do serious damage rendering them useless for that specific fight and ulting out. (Playing as an assasin)
-Be the peeler for your higher damage dealers with your numerous slows and aoe stun. Protect your adc long enough and win the fight. (Playing as the ultimate peeler)
-Splitpush lanes why your team keeps the opponents team occupied. If they need you for a massive teamfight use teleport to help them out. (Playing as an annoying splitpusher)

Conclusion: Although this build works fairly well on top lane, choosing mid is still prefered. Ekko generaly has a better laning phase on mid lane. He is fairly good against melee opponents which on mid are always squishy. The worst case scenario is playing against hard counters or poke champions. But even in those mathcups you can farm and push the wave safely with Timewinder. Your Phase Dive and proper warding before lvl 6 is often enough to escape ganks. Taking Teleport is prefered in a hard match-up. After you get your ult you can play a lot safer and towerdive if you manage to get your opponent low. If your lane is not going well it is never bad to roam bot after you pushed out if playing mid. If playing top you don't have big dragon presence and bot is to far away. Teleport is because of this reason 100% mandatory on top. Once the laning phase is over and teamfights occur you can play in a lot of different ways (better explained in the previous paragraph). It is often suggested to throw your Parallel Convergence into the enemy team to catch someone out. The worst case scenario is that you don't catch anyone but still provide zoning. You can easily defend or siege towers with Parallel Convergence zoning the enemy team and Timewinder clearing the wave. The single most important tip is to not get hard cc'ed during a fight. You can absorb damage if needed. You can fail terribly and get totally out of position, but that is what your ult is for. You can use Chronobreak for a lot of different reasons. It can be used for repositioning, disengaging, damage or even just for healing. Don't hesitate to use your ult because it will be on a rather low cooldown. It is better to "waste it" on yourself and survive instead of dying because you wanted to land a perfect aoe ult on the enemy team. Also be aware that your Phase Dive if used offensivly is a great engaging tool because you have that blink part too. If your escaping it is only a small dash which can go over smaller walls only.
Try to proc your passive Z-Drive Resonance as often as you possibly can. It does so much damage,slows the enemy and speeds you up. The gained movement speed allows for repostioning or escaping. Almost no champ can escape Ekko with this build because you will be constantly slowing your enemy with Z-Drive Resonance , Timewinder , and Phase Dive with Iceborn Gauntlet.

In the last chapter you got a general idea how to play Ekko against specific types of champions. In this chapter however I will go a step further. I will in detail explain every highly possible matchup for Ekko in the laning phase. This will be mostly champs that are played mid, but to a lesser degree top lane aswell. I am not doing every champ in the game. Only those I already played against a couple of times before or are popular picks right now.
The champions are listed in alphabetic order. Click the spoilers for the information you need.

Mid champion matchups

Ahri


Akali


Anivia


Annie


Azir


Brand


Cassiopeia


Cho'gath


Diana


Fizz


Heimerdinger


Karthus


Kassadin


Katarina


LeBlanc


Lissandra


Lux


Malzahar


Morgana


Nidalee


Ryze


Teemo


Twisted Fate


Vel'koz


Viktor


Xerath


Yasuo


Zed


Ziggs

My current ranked status: Gold 5
I have completed my placement games with a win ratio of 50%. I got placed in Silver 3 for this season(not that good) and I'm currently using my limited time to climb out of this tier. My goal is at least high Gold. I am playing mid (most often Ekko,Ahri,Vel'koz) with secondary jungle (most often Shyvana,Volibear,Vi) and sometimes top. I don't like to play bot lane because i suck at adc and support isn't really my thing but i can play that role if needed.

In ranked you can play Ekko in top,mid and jungle. I don't like to play Ekko jungle as lane Ekko but he is viable. Ekko jungle is quite strong with solid clears and good ganks. If you are interested that visit the jungle section of this guide. Take Ekko mid into immobile champs and mages. Most often these champs have a difficulty around 5 or lower (see In-depth champion match-ups). Do NOT pick Ekko into the following matchups if you can avoid them (those match-ups can be played against but are often hard to deal with/annoying and/or are not optimal for Ekko): Cho'Gath, Diana, Heimerdinger, LeBlanc, Malzahar, Yasuo. Take Ekko jungle whenever your team doesn't need a tank but be aware that building full Ap is riskier.

This section of the guide has some neat tips and tricks in it. You can exploit those to help you in the game.

Ekko is not the easiest champ to play but he isn't that hard either. You have to get used to some mechanics which are included in his kit and are not similar to other champs you are already good at. It will take you some time to get used to everything his kit offers. I would like to point out that his kit is a little bit overloaded which is great for the Ekko player. You can exploit that to great results. Here is a small list of things you can practice or just be well aware off to give you a tactical advantage in fight with the Boy who Shattered time:

1. Make the most out of your Phase Dive
Ekko can dash over a lot of walls on Summoner's rift. Some of the thicker walls are dashable but you have to be right next to the wall or you will embarrase yourself. You can also throw your Parallel Convergence to give you vision of an area in the jungle (ex. Wraiths , Wolves). It will not give you immediately vision as you cast it . Instead it provides vision in the last second after the ability has landed. After that you can use the blink part of Phase Dive which has actually larger range to get over walls. This is best used on jungle creeps for escape. Here is a detailed map where you can dash over.


2. Use Your Ultimate as a Teleport
Chronobreak will return you to anywhere you were 4 seconds ago, even if you recalled back to base. If you want to get back to lane instantly because your lane is getting ganked,pushed or you’re about to lose a tower, pop your R before 4 seconds passes while you were in base to jump right back. Of course the downside is that you’ll have used your ultimate, but sometimes the time it saves is more than worth it.

3. Harass,zone and waveclear with Timewinder
Timewinder is a great harass tool because it both damages and slows the enemy champion and cannot be blocked by minions and it can hit multiple champs. Periodically fire it out to whittle them down and then Phase Dive onto them to finish the job.
Use your Timewinder to constantly farm and push the wave especially once you max this skill and/or have some Ability power built.
Always throw your Timewinder in teamfights because nobody wants to walk into it to get slowed and damaged. It is a good tool for sieging and defending towers or slowing and damaging incoming enemies.

4. Combine your Parallel Convergence or Zhonya's Hourglass with your Chronobreak
Chronobreak deals a good deal of damage to the area where Ekko was 4 seconds ago, this trick takes some good timing but if you pull it off you will have incapacitated and nuked a group of enemies into the ground. The key is placing the Parallel Convergence on the same spot as the enemy team and where your Chronobreak ghost is. If you can time this correctly you will teleport into the enemy ranks dealing a bunch of AoE damage while also activating the stun and locking them in place. This leaves you in a great spot to finish off any enemies that weren’t blown up by your ult, or for the rest of your team to move in for the kill. Very hard to do but can be gamechanging and spectacular if pulled off. You can also combine Chronobreak with Zhonya's Hourglass. If you get caught out or dash into the middle of an enemy team and blow every spell except ult you can do the following. Immediately get into stasis and invulnerability. You can't be damaged while you wait for you shadow and cooldowns on other spells. Once the Zhonya's Hourglass ends immediately ult to AoE damage and slightly heal up. This can be destructive if the enemy team clumps up and doesn't realise what your up too. It also buys some time if you screwed up and got caught in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

5. Watch this highly educational video about how to play Ekko
(This video doesn't belong to me it is the work of the youtuber BrickyOrchid8) He explains a lot of things you need to know about Ekko with some added jokes to make your day. The video serves as a great reminder for certain topics in this guide which i may have not explained well enough. You could have also missed them so here you go:
Play Video

6. Constantly use the hit and run tactic
I can't stress enough how it is important for Ekko to get his passive of. If we look at the sheer numbers your passive does 20 - 190 (based on level) (+ 80% AP). That is almost half the damage in a standard spell rotation of Q+E and slightly less then both parts of Timewinder. ( 120 / 160 / 200 / 240 / 280 (+ 70% AP) both parts of Timewinder). Your Phase Dive does the least amount of damage on itself but still hits pretty hard especially counting in a Spellblade item. (100% AD - normal autoattack damage) + 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+ 20% AP) + Spellblade). The conclusion: The passive is key for everything and should be proced whenever possible. It ads a lot of "free" damage to every combo. This is all without even including the big slow you get on enemy champions ( 30 / 40 / 50 / 60% for 2 / 2.5 / 3 seconds) and the necessary speed up ( 50 / 60 / 70 / 80% bonus movement speed for 2 / 2.5 / 3 seconds). The immense slow allows for easy chasing while the added movement speed is crucial for escaping, repositioning, peeling etc. Now back to the hit and run tactic. After your passive has been proced you can't use it for 3 seconds. Your basic damage abilites will be probably on cooldown too (Q+E) which means you are left with weak autoattacks. Because of that reason it is 90% of the time the best option to slightly back off or straight up run away. Wait for you cooldowns and use the movement speed you got for the multitude of applications explained in this guide. This is the reason why are we aiming for 45% because Ekko needs his abilities to be effective. When your ult is up you play somewhat more risky but remember it will be primary used as an legendary escape tool. Threat it foremost as an added layer of security instead of a damage tool.

7. Animation canceling
Ypu can animation cancel your basic combo like this. After the first dash portion of Ekko's Phase Dive, press Timewinder before blinking on the opponent with your autoattack.
What it does is the cast time from Timewinder gets overwritten by the blink from your autoattack, and your Timewinder is cast at the end of your dash, making your combo faster and thus less reactable. Not necassary to play Ekko good but can be used to make the combo feel a little smoother and faster.

V6.8

Parallel Convergence
Damage reduced to 3% of target's missing health from 5.
AP ratio increased to (+ 3% per 100 AP) from 2 per 100.
NEW EFFECT: Minimum 15 damage to minions and monsters.

Phase Dive
Damage reduced to 40 / 65 / 90 / 115 / 140 from 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170.
AP ratio increased to (+ 40% AP) from (+ 20% AP)

These changes in patch 6.8 are aimed at the full tank build for Ekko which has been terorizing solo q while buffing the Ap ratio's and Ap playstyle. These changes mean that we have to get at least 200 Ap in our kit to actually deal more dmg with Parallel Convergence and Phase Dive.

Ekko is a jack of all trades champion. He does everthing well but isn't great in any category. He has a well rounded and overloaded kit which encourages some risky plays while retaining utility which i find very important. He is very fun to play because he has good outplay potential and a lot of possible combos and plays. Ekko requires good predictions and capatilizes on the missplacement of enemies. He is a well made champion with an interesting kit,visuals and personality to set him apart from all the other characters in this game.



Thanks for reading. I hope you learned something and you are willing to give 6300ip to rito for this amazing champ. Good luck on the Fields od justice. I wish you ranked games without intentional trolls,noobs or feeders. Irl i wish you a good day be happy,be yourself. :)