Ezreal Build Guide by VorikVolens

Intro to Ezreal

Ezreal was born with the gift of magic flowing through his veins. Ezreal, however, was also born with a much stronger sense of wanderlust. Put into school to become a skilled techmaturgist, Ezreal quickly became bored with magical studies. By the time the boy genius was eight years old, he had fully mapped out the underground tunnels of Piltover. The quality of his work was so great that the government of Piltover purchased his maps and salaried his services as Piltover's Grandmaster Explorer. This sealed the deal on Ezreal's path in life - he would eschew the arcane arts in favor of archaeology. Since then, countless of Ezreal's adventures have been written about as romanticized stories.

One of Ezreal's latest adventures, however, has brought him face-to-face with his other legacy - his latent magical power. While exploring the pyramids of Shurima Desert, Ezreal uncovered an amulet of incredible power. Aside from the sheer size of the amulet (it was made for a being easily twice Ezreal's size), it allows the wielder to control and shape magical energy - provided a source of magic is in the vicinity. This allowed Ezreal to tap into his natural talent for magic without having to put any serious effort into it - a big win for the Prodigal Explorer. The drawback is that for some unknown reason, the amulet is attuned with summoning magic. Without warning, Ezreal may find himself acting as a champion for, as he puts it, ''a summoner hell-bent on resolving some irrelevant world-shattering League conflict.'' Still, Ezreal feels being summoned into a Field of Justice on occasion is a small price to pay.

''There's little time to study musty tomes when you're busy crawling around where the musty tomes originally came from.'' Such is Ezreal's credo.

The builds from left to right in team one at the top are as follows:

Ezreal Build for those who are lucky and don't get targeted

Targeted Ezreal Build

Enemy Tanks Build

Inexperienced Ezreal Player

Pros & Cons

Pros of Ezreal:

+ Sexy Dance
+ Global Ultimate
+ Balanced in 3v3
+ Uses Skill-shots
+ Fun to play
+ Looks awesome
+ Built-in flash
+ Wields an energy bow that shoots laser lightning
+ Very mobile
+ Can buff team and debuff enemies

Cons of Ezreal:

- Squishy
- Vulnerable to CC
- Has no CC
- His hot bod may blind those who are unworthy
- Vulnerable to Jump-to abilities
- Uh...
- That's all I got

Masteries

When I play Ezreal I use 22/0/8 Masteries, as seen in the first build.

These Masteries allow me to do good damage, increase the potential of the Summoner Spells I use, help me if I'm targeted ( Good Hands ), help me if I'm not targeted ( Demolitionist ), and help me with sustain.

However I have included in this guide four different builds for different scenarios.

Runes

The runes I use are classic AD Ezreal runes.

I use the following runes:

Greater mark of desolation: Great Armor Penetration and early & late game damage

Greater seal of replenishment: Great mana regeneration for the early laning stage.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction: Nice flat cooldown reduction, these are great for Ezreal.

Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: I use these in conjunction with a Doran's Blade for early game domination.


Other great runes are Attack Damage Marks, Armor Penetration Quintessences, Armor Seals, Magic Resist Glyphs, MP5/lvl Seals and Glyphs, CDR/lvl Glyphs, and Movement Speed Quintessences.

Summoner Spells

Ezreal's summoner spells are very disputed.

I believe the best choices for him are:

Exhaust: Ezreal lacks CC of any kind, and Exhaust helps to fill in that weakness, when combined with your W this spell cripples the enemy to the ground, preventing nukes in team fights or 1v1 battles. It also gives you a head start on an enemy if you need to get away, fast.

Ghost: I like to use Ghost because Ezreal needs speed, and Ghost is a lot of speed. combined with Exhaust and Arcane Shift, no one will be able to catch you, but you will be able to catch anyone.

Other good Summoner Spells:

Cleanse: Stuns murder Ezreal, so this is a good choice, however I feel as though by the time I hit cleanse, I will be dead anyway.

Ignite: Great early game and late game nuke, also good with the +5 AP/AD. However Ezreal is already ranged and has a global skill shot. It doesnt have the same utility as Ghost or Exhaust in my opinion.

Flash: Many people love this spell on Ezreal, I however do not. When compared to your Arcane Shift which is on a ten second cooldown, Flash on a three and a half minute cooldown does not seem useful at all. I have tried Flash on Ezreal but I found that anytime Flash had helped me, Ghost would have been better.

Clairvoyance: If you aren't yet skilled with using your ultimate, this Summoner Spell will help a ton, it is very good for beginners.

Skills That Kill

Unlike many champions, Ezreal's skills require just that, skill.

His skills or abilities are as follows:

Rising Spell Force: This is Ezreal's passive, it increases his Attack Speed dramatically the more spells he uses on enemies, so spam that Q!

Mystic Shot: This is Ezreal's Q ability, it shoots a bolt of energy that does very nice damage to the enemy, and applies on hit effects (Like Sheen's passive). It has a very short cooldown and should be spammed, we max this skill at level nine.

Essence Flux: This skill is fairly worthless to an AD Ezreal, as it scales off of AP. However, one point should be put into this at level four for the Attack Speed debuff/buff.

Arcane Shift: This is your life saver, it is a built in flash that can be used to get over almost every wall in the game. Even though this ability scales with AP as well, we max this second because it still deals great damage and has a lot of utility.

Trueshot Barrage: This is Ezreal's ultimate, it is a global nuke skill shot that we use to get rid of huge minion waves, steal buffs, nuke enemies, or kill people with low health.

You will notice that all of Ezreal's abilities are "Skill-Shots" which means they require you to aim to hit something. If you are new to characters like Ezreal you should go into your key bindings and set all your skills to "Smartcast". This will make all of your skills work much like Flash, wherever your cursor is, the spell will land there.

Tips for using your skills correctly:

Trueshot Barrage should not be aimed with your mini-map, unlock your camera and pan over to the area you wish to shoot at. This method is much more accurate and will not disappoint you often.

Use your Mystic Shot to hit enemy champions from a very far range, you can even hit an enemy standing next to his turret without gaining turret aggro.

When initiating in any fight, use Essence Flux to buff your teammates and debuff your enemies.

Do not use Arcane Shift to initiate, instead use it for chasing, running away, or repositioning yourself.

When in a team fight, make sure to keep Rising Spell Force maxed out, it changes the outcome of fights.

Ezzentials

Ezreal when played AD, should have a few of his items set in stone. These items are "Core Items" and many guides will have the same items as I do.

These items are:

Wriggle's Lantern: It gives you Life Steal, Armor, Attack Damage, a Minion/Monster damage boost, and an active effect as a ward. (Also Ezreal discovered the damn thing on an archeological expedition in ***ungu)

Trinity Force: Commonly refered to as Tri-Force, this item has everything you need. It also builds off Sheen, Phage, and Zeal, which are very strong items for Ezreal.

Last Whisper: I feel that this item is a great boost for Ezreal and should be used in all builds, it has a large amount of Attack Damage and a ridiculous amount of Armor Penetration.

Situational Items

These items are good for Ezreal but should only be used in certain situations, base your item decision on what the circumstances of the game are.

At around level ten you should have:

Doran's Blade

Sheen

Mercury's Treads or Ninja Tabi

Wriggle's Lantern

Once you have these items, you should go for one of the B. F. Sword items.

These items are:

The Bloodthirster: This is the item you want to get if you are not dying very much at all, and can keep its stacks up to a decent amount

Infinity Edge: This is the item you need if the enemy team is focusing you in team fights or killing you often, it won't lose stacks like The Bloodthirster.

The Black Cleaver: This is the item you want to get if you are fighting a team with a lot of armor.

After the item of choice from those three, you will make your Trinity Force and your Last Whisper and now you have another choice. Again you will have to ask yourself, "Am I being targeted or am I kicking ***?"

Frozen Mallet: This is your choice if you are kicking ***. Sell your Doran's Blade and buy the Giant's Belt first as the Phage wont assist you while you have Trinity Force. It gives you an awesome slow, Attack Damage, and a lot of Health.

Guardian Angel: This is your choice if you are being eaten every team fight. Sell your Doran's Blade and get this. It will give you increased defensive stats, and it will cause you to come back to life seconds after you die. This will often release you of the opposing teams focus, and allow you to deal some good damage.

If the game goes on long enough it is a good idea to sell Doran's Blade and Wriggle's Lantern for better items. I would recommend the Frozen Mallet if you got Guardian Angel for your last item. However, if you chose to go with a Frozen Mallet get a Madred's Bloodrazor next.

If you are fighting a tanky team, I would recommend switching the Frozen Mallet in the "Non-targeted option" to Zeke's Harbinger as well as using The Black Cleaver.

If you are in experienced I would recommend switching the Frozen Mallet in the "Targeted option" for Zeke's Harbinger (This item assists your team and hurts your enemies a lot, if you aren't doing so hot, you can at least help your teammates out) and getting a Infinity Edge as well.

Neutral Monster Buffs

One of the great things about Ezreal is that neutral buffs increase his damage potential by a lot. One buff in particular, the "Red" buff, is gained by slaying the Lizard near the center of the map. When killed, the Lizard grants his killer the Blessing of the Lizard Elder buff, which makes every hit deal 10-50 true damage every second for 3 seconds and slows enemies hit by ranged attacks 5%-15% (Based on level). This buff increases Ezreal's damage and kiting/chasing capabilities by a huge amount, especially in team fights.

Other buffs in 3v3 are:

Crest of Crushing Wrath: Slaying the dragon will grant your entire team this buff, which increases all the damage you do by 12%.

Crest of Nature's Fury: Slaying the group of wolves will grant you this buff, which increases your attack speed by 20% and grants 10% cooldown reduction.

Crest of Flowing Water: Slaying the group of wraiths will grant you this buff, which increases your movement speed by 30%.

If you have a chance to get any of these buffs, you should take it, they can change the tides of battle significantly.

The two most important of these four buffs, however, are the "Dragon buff", and the "Red buff". The neutral monsters that grant these buffs should be kept warded if at all possible. Starting at level four your team should place a ward at the Lizard, and starting at level ten, the Dragon should be kept warded.
(Ten is around the level you get your Wriggle's Lantern, using its active to watch the Dragon can greatly assist your team.)

When you see a MIA called out, pay attention to both areas, if you see the enemy move in to take the buff, get ready. Using your Trueshot Barrage it is very possible to steal the buff from under their noses, just wait until their target is close to dead, and fire away. Its a free buff for you, or for your team in the case of the Dragon.

In fact, a few games ago, we were losing, forced into our base and waiting for demise, when I saw the enemies disappear from the map. Noticing that dragon was up I estimated the time it would take for them to slay it, and shot my ultimate. Without the use of wards, I successfully timed my Trueshot Barrage and killed the Dragon, granting my team the buff. Granted, we still lost that game, but it is very nice to be able to pull off something like that.

Watching for MIA's and having good timing can win you games, and its what Ezreal is all about.

Minion Slaying and Laning

After the standard bottom gank, you should recall if you need it, and head to the top lane. Check both bushes with your Mystic Shot and wait for the minions. Once the minions arrive, you want to stand as far away from them as possible to limit your oppositions chances to strike you. It is important that Ezreal has one of the best minion kill counts in the game, so pay attention and farm like the wind. Farm the minions by last hitting them with your Mystic Shot, and watch for breaks in the line, anytime you see a clear shot at your enemy, hit them with your Mystic Shot. In my experience, Ezreal can push hard against anyone who is balance for 3v3, this will allow you to do a few things.
Depending on how long ago you killed your enemy, Missing-In-Action calls from bottom lane, and how much health & mana you have, you can do any of four things.

Push to the turret and recall, this will make the enemy turret kill the minions, denying your enemy experience and allowing you to heal up and buy items.

Attempt to gank bottom if you don't think its safe to push and you don't need healing.

Damage or destroy the enemy turret.

Get a neutral monster buff.

Use your common sense to figure out which is best for the situation at hand. Never stay in your lane and do nothing, when the enemy gets back he will have more items and they will be stronger. You need to have a counter for this, whether it is levels gained, additional items, a buff, or a demolished turret.

After the first turret is destroyed you should be breaking off of your lane frequently, ganking bottom, jungling, etc. Try to catch the enemy off guard, because now that the first turret is down, an ace will lead you to another downed turret or more.

When MIA or Missing-In-Action is called, watch yourself, because the enemy may be preparing a gank. The easiest way for Ezreal to avoid a gank is his Arcane Shift. This ability will allow you to jump through a jungle wall to safety, or flash back to your turret.
(More on MIA calls in the "Neutral Monster Buffs" section of this guide.)

Team Work

We all know that there is no "I" in team, however, there is an "AL" in Ezreal, and "AL" is the symbol for Aluminum, which can be an "Alloy", which is just one letter off from "Ally"
Get the picture?
When a team fight pops up on your screen.
When an enemy runs in fear from the almighty wrath of your teammates.
When a teammate runs in fear from the almighty wrath of your opponents.
You will be there.
To shoot them with awesome laser lightning from your *****in' energy bow made of pure coolness.

Do you know whats similar between Trueshot Barrage and team work?
They both go a long way.

If you are near a team fight, go help out, but try not to attract attention to yourself. You are fairly easy to focus down, so you'll want to stay hidden (Some good places are behind walls, in bushes, or even just behind your teammates.), and try to keep your range at max. Also remember to plan a route of escape just in case, help your teammates, but don't give the enemy an ace.

If you aren't near a team fight, take aim and fire your Trueshot Barrage, then make your way over there as soon as possible. This is actually a better approach to a team fight as Ezreal because you will have time to fire your ultimate, and you wont be targeted as much if you show up late.

Also remember to watch for an enemy retreat from a team fight, think about their movements, where would you go if you were in their shoes? Whether the enemy lost or won the team fight, one thing is almost certain, they are wounded, and badly. If you have the opportunity, aim your Trueshot Barrage and kill them. Many a time, just by predicting where they were going, I was able to score a double kill or even an ace by slicing through them with my ultimate.
(More on using your ultimate in the "Skills That Kill" and the "Neutral Monster Buffs" sections of this guide)

So lets say you have an enemy Teemo, or another champion with ward-like abilities or passive stealth. You need an Oracle's Elixer. Ezreal is one of the better champions to take on this role, due to his spammable ranged abilities and low mana costs. If you don't die, the elixer will last all game, and it is worth the investment. Remember that time you were going to backdoor the enemy, only to step on four of Teemo's Noxious Trap's, not to mention the countless others you passed by that also gave away your position? If you've never had that happen to you, trust me, it sucks hardcore and can cost you a victory.Other than that, just remember that winning is a team effort, and no matter how good you think you are, you need those other two teammates.

Don't trash talk or verbally abuse your teammates when they die, or if they are feeding. Even if your teammate is intentionally feeding, or trash talking you, save it for a report at the end of the game, there is no need to get them even more upset while they are on your team. When somebody kills an enemy, tell them nice job, if they seem to be dying a lot ask them if they are having trouble or if they would like to switch lanes. Being nice to your teammates can boost team morale significantly, and could be the edge you need for victory, it certainly works for Gangplank.
Seriously though, don't be that guy who types, "God my teammates blow huge ****s" in /All, it's just not cool, and it certainly won't help your chances for victory.

Summary

I just made this guide look 400x better and I hope it gets some attention. Any constructive criticism is welcome, just please don't troll. If you do criticize make sure you read the whole guide please. Other than that I hope my guide helps out all you Ezreal 3v3 players and don't forget that warping through walls is a natural occurrence in the growing pattern of blonde haired, magically endowed teenage boys, so don't sweat it.