Hello, I am Tuatha and this will be my guide to playing Ezreal. First off EVERY GAME IS DIFFERENT, this is a basic rundown of how I usually play Ezreal. However depending on your support and lane item builds will need to be adjusted! I will go more in-depth on that at a later time. If you decide to down vote or if you do not like my build please leave a comment, as I would love to know why or what you do differently!

Pros

~Amazing attack speed from passive
~Free Flash!
~High early game burst
~High late game damage
~Great farmer
~Global Nuke with Trueshot Barrage

Cons

~Squishy
~Skillshot based attacks
~No Crowd Control
~One of the harder champions to master

You have two jobs as the ad carry. Farm and Kill. It is your job to bring as much damage to a team fight as you can. These masteries support that in the strongest way possible. There are a few varieties that you can do. You could drop the 9 in defense for 9 in utility, picking up some move speed and a little extra mana. However the extra armor gained from Hardiness and the health from Durability and Veteran's Scars is in my opinion a better option for your early game lane.

I prefer to play Ezreal with ignite so I pick up Summoner's Wrath . Following down the tree you are AD, so take Brute Force , Alacrity , and obviously Weapon Expertise for the Armor Penetration. Because we are basicly following a Crit/Attack speed build I take Deadliness into Lethality for the extra damage. Vampirism Extra Life Steal, what more is there to say? Helps you stay in the lane, keeps you alive, take it. Sunder and of course Executioner MORE ARMOR PENETRATION AND MORE DAMAGE!

When it comes to runes, each person has their preference. Obviously some runes are better choices than others, but there is a large variety that Ezreal can profit from. The basic setup is Greater Mark of Desolation, Greater Seal of Armor, Greater Glyph of Magic Resist, and Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage. These runes will essentially cover any of your basic AD carries.

For my Ezreal build I prefer to make one minor change and replace a few of the Armor Penetration marks for some Attack Damage. In all honesty the difference is subtle.

Marks

+ Greater Mark of Desolation
+ Greater Mark of Attack Damage


You really only have two options for your marks. You want to get the most out of each category and these two are the best to go as both are vital stats.

Seals

+ Greater Seal of Armor
+ Greater Seal of Vitality
+ Greater Seal of Replenishment
+ Greater Seal of Scaling Mana Regeneration

Choosing your seal more so becomes preference. I prefer to use the Greater Seal of Armor for the extra armor. Keep in mind playing bot lane it is you and your supports job to farm, and get as far ahead of the other AD carry as possible. This means if you can kill them, you gain not only the gold advantage but an XP advantage. In most cases you will be up against another AD, the armor runes help with the harass from them allowing you to stay in the lane longer, or secure a kill.
Another option for Ezreal is Mana regen or flat Mana. Again preference. Casting more spells is nice, but so is staying alive and farming that extra gold.
The last option is Health. Either per level or flat out. Armor is better! I have not done the math myself but I have read a few articles that state flat armor actually gives more health in the sense that you take less damage, than that of the health advantage you would gain.

Glyphs

+ Greater Glyph of Magic Resist
+ Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist
+ Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction
+ Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction

Now we get to Glyphs. You have a few decent options here Greater Glyph of Magic Resist, Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist, Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction, or Greater Glyph of Scaling Cooldown Reduction. Again it will come down to preference and what you want.
I prefer the Magic Resist per level. As the AD carry magic resist wont be a huge factor until mid game. Thus you get more out of per level than flat Magic Resist.
Some prefer the Cooldown Reduction. It is not a bad choice, and more Cooldown Reduction never hurts but being able to survive that initial burst from the enemy AP is in my opinion slightly better.

Quintessence

+ Greater Quintessence of Desolation
+ Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage
+ Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed

Attack Damage, Move Speed, or Armor Penetration. These should be the three Quintessences to consider for AD Ezreal. My preference is the Flat AD. You have enough armor penetration to start with from Marks, however more cant hurt. Run speed is often an overlooked stat more speed means more auto attacks when chasing, and it can also mean easier escapes. Ezreal has a free Flash with Arcane Shift, escaping is usually not an issue.

One of my preferences, most teams are going to target the AD carry first. Thats you. Double flash allows for quick escapes.


Ignite! MOAR DAMAGE! Although the meta at this time seems to be heal flash for the AD, heal doesnt do much while ignited. It is true damage, and often helps secure kills.


Heal is another good option, with the last buff to this spell, it is actually quite decent. Heal baiting is also pretty awesome, make an enemy think they can kill you, pop heal, easy kill.


Another option for Ezreal, exhaust is a slow, a damage debuff, and can be an armor/magic resist debuff with Summoner's Wrath .

Rising Spell Force
Rising Spell Force is one of the reasons AD ezreal does so much damage! Everytime you land a spell, you gain 10% attack Speed stacking 5 times! This works on all spells. When mystic shot does damage you gain 10% attack speed. When Essence Flux hits an enemy, or an ally you gain 10% attack speed for EACH ONE HIT. When the bolt fired by Arcane Shift lands you gain 10% attack speed. For Trueshot Barrage you gain 10% per enemy hit, which means using this correctly should gain you the full 5 stacks immediately.

Mystic Shot
The bread and butter of AD Ezreal. This is a skill shot single target nuke. IT CAN be blocked by minions, and it will apply on hit effects such as Blessing of the Lizard or Trinity Force. Also everytime you lane Mystic Shot, all of Ezreals spells cooldowns are decreased by 1 second. Mystic shot recieves a 1:1 ratio from Ezreals Attack Damage making it to be quite the nuke early and mid game.

Essence Flux
Essence flux will either boost the attack speed of any allies hit, or debuff the attack speed of any enemies hit. As AD it isnt a very high damage nuke, we simply put one point into it for the additional cast for passives, and to use it to debuff attacking enemies. It is not blocked by creeps, and will do no damage to them.

Arcane Shift
FREE FLASH! Not only do you get a flash on a relatively short cooldown but it deals a decent amount of damage. This can be used to flash behind walls and out of danger. The make and break of a good Ezreal is using this skill, if you use this to flash in and attack a champion in a team fight, you just lost your escape. It is great for chasing, or finishing off a champion, but in team fight situations, SAVE IT TO SURVIVE ITS NOT WORTH THE DAMAGE.

Trueshot Barrage
Ezreal fires a massive nuke in a straight line. This skill is amazing. Not only is it a huge burst of AoE damage, it is global. You can snipe an enemy behind a tower, steal Dragon and Baron buffs. Oh and ya instant 5 stacks off Rising Spell Flux is always nice. The down side is that it does loose damage for every enemy hit, 8% each to a max of 30%. Even still decent damage for its range!

It is very important that you are able to farm as an AD carry. Thus the preffered lane is bottom with a support. The majority of farming is simply last hitting creeps. However you have two enemies in lane who will try to prevent that. In order to win your lane you must not only farm, but avoid jungle ganks, and harass the enemy out of farm. Their is more to the laning phase than just straight farming. For example if you are able to either kill, or send the enemy back, PUSH to the tower. Every creep killed by a tower while an enemy champion is not there is lost money and experience for them. However you must be appropriately warded to avoid getting ganked. The lane phase is simply a race. The first side to get enough of an advantage over the other, will win the lane and make team fights that much easier. Learning the balance between when to push and when to simply be passive and last hit is a key factor.

At the start of the game you can buy a few things, a Doran's Blade or a Boots and Health Potionx3. Depending on who you are laning with will decide what items you will need. If your support has a heal, and they are just going to be passively heal botting you then a Doran's Blade may be the best option. I prefer a more aggressive support and will often start with Boots and Health Potionx3 so that I can harass and chase, while using the health pots to stay in the lane as long as possible.

As we progress and make our first trip back, get a Doran's Blade. If you were able to farm enough I will often skip the first Doran's Blade and get a B.F. Sword. From here as soon as possible upgrade your boots. Now we can get a Vampiric Sceptor and possibly a Doran's Blade or two depending on how often we have been sent back. Getting the early Vampiric Sceptor will allow us to stay in the lane as we leech off our farming. Now finish Infinity Edge when you can and then get your Sheen. Many players tend to rush a Sheen and then Triforce this is great that you got all that farm, but now you have no damage. Do not rush the Triforce until you at least have your Infinity Edge. In many cases depending on how farmed or fed I am, I will get an Infinity Edge Sheen then another B.F. Sword and then finally finish Triforce. However it depends on how well your game is going, getting a Phage or Zeal might be the way to go for that extra run speed and health. You should now be able to finish up with Last Whisper.
Now you have all this damage but need some survivability! Take a look at the enemy team, do they have any surpresses, are you the target of a Mordekaiser, Quicksilver Sash for a mere 1440g this amazing item can be yours and it will wipe ALL debuffs off of you. Another option is to grab a Guardian Angel. Armor, Magic Resist, and a revive.

You are an AD carry. You are squishy. You are not Rammus. If you go in first you will die. Never underestimate the enemy team, all it takes is one mistake towards the end of the game and its over. If you are walking into a team fight, or trying to force one then stand in the back and be ready to go in AFTER a more tanky champion starts it off. Your job should be to take out the other carry while staying alive. Whether that carry is the enemy AP or AD carry depends on the bigger threat. As Ezreal if you can open up with Trueshot Barrage this CANNOT be interrupted by a stun, you will still cast while stuned once started. This should deal significant damage and start you off with a few stacks of Rising Spell Force. Now debuff the enemy champions with Essence Flux or buff your team and start killing. Use your Mystic Shot on cooldown whenever you can, and most of all stay mobile and alive!

Believe it or not, your support should change how you play. Aggressive? Defensive? Farm Lane? Your support matters! Ezreal can pretty much take advantage of any support. I will list them in the order of MY preference obviously depending on how you play, will change who you might prefer. No matter how good of an Ezreal player you are, your support can make or break the lane along with the other AD carries support. I will not be going into detail about each of the supports skills as this is a guide for Ezreal not for the supports. I will give brief details on how you should expect their skills to influence you.


Soraka

Soraka brings a lot to the lane, and is by far one of Ezreal's better supports. First and foremost she brings the heals. YOU HAVE A TON OF LANE SUSTAIN USE IT. Bully your opponents out of your lane, don't get yourself killed but use your mana Soraka will replenish it. Fire off [Mystic Shot] as much as you can, harass them out of the lane and farm to your content. If the enemy has no real sustain i.e. heals, don't be afraid to exchange hits with them. Pay attention to Soraka's mana before you engage. Get them low enough and go for the kill if they stay!


Taric

You are going to play a lot like the Soraka lane. Taric has a heal and will help to keep you in the lane, however he brings to new things. A stun, and an armor/magic resist buff and debuff to the enemy! PLAY AGGRESSIVELY! Taric can use the stun/shatter combo on an enemy and you can melt them away! once they're stunned its an easy mystic shot and just lay into them.


Janna

Depending on your Janna you can be aggressive or defensive. Janna is amazing when it comes to protecting you. With her knock up, shield, and slows she can keep you alive. I prefer to be aggressive when she shields you get some hits in and back off, the shield will give you AD and protection. This is another strong lane use it to your advantage!


Leona

Their is only one way to play with a Leona. Kill. Kill. Kill. She brings the stuns. You bring the damage. Kill them. Kill them again. Get the point? When she goes in you follow and kill. She brings a total of 3 stuns and some decent aoe damage.


Sona

The poke lane. Use mystic shot when you can, she should be using her spells to poke at the enemy, healing you, and a speed boost for chasing or running away. This lane is all about the poke advantage, push them out of the lane and away from the farm. If they are dumb enough to stay kill them!



Some consider her a support, some do not. She CAN be a support and a semi decent one however she is possibly the most difficult champion to play at this time. She will bring a shield/nuke, some small heals, and a run speed buff/debuff. Again play aggressively and try to force them out of the lane, between the two of you, you have some decent burst use it. She is my least favorite support aside from a kill lane support.

Now for the rest of the supports, I am throwing them all into this one category. I DO NOT prefer these supports as Ezreal. Yes they can work and I am sure you can debate the finer points. A kill lane is just that, get kills or loose in the end. If you are solo kill lanes are rough. Duo'd they can be dominate! It's all in preference.


Kayle Lux Maokai Malphite Shen Zilean Galio

The Kill Lane

In order to win this lane, You will need to beat your opponents into the ground and keep them from farming. Kill lanes are usually amazingly good, or a complete failure. Unfortunately 95% of the time when your partner chooses a kill lane champion, it means they don't want to support :(. However don't give up! Play as aggressive as you can and rack up the kills! Kill lanes consist of constant harass and killing when they make a mistake. Don't let up on the harass and use it to push your opponents back. WARD CONSTANTLY if they wont buy them you should, kill lanes are very weak to ganks!

I will be adding video to compliment many of the sections, it is a work in progress. Thank you for taking the time to read my guide, I hope it helps in your future games! I appreciate any feedback or comments. If their is anything you believe I should add please let me know!

Tuatha



6/21/12 - Published
7/1/12 - Support/Kill lane combos
08/20/12 - Secondary Build
?/??/?? - Alternate Items/Alternate Lane guide