ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hey guys. I have played Evelynn for a very very long time now, and have been through all of the changes Riot has put her through.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS

I play on the SEA server and ended season 3 at Platinum 1 exclusively playing Evelynn.

I am currently Platinum II, aiming for diamond this season if all goes well.


I have played her in almost every way possible and have experimented with lots of builds, especially this season after the changes and I think i found a really great way she can be played, and have had most success playing her in the jungle.
These games were played in the High gold~Low plat ELO.


I believe I play Evelynn really well, and have had much success with her as well.[*]

I run smite and ignite in ALL of my games.
Smite is required because you're jungling and helps clear faster as well as secure important objectives like baron/dragon.
I prefer ignite over flash because I'm really comfortable with evelynn's W, and don't feel I need flash and believe ignite gives me a lot more versatility to go where I want.
Advantages of ignite :-
1) Ability to counter jungle & 1v1 certain junglers early due to having an extra damage spell.
2) Stronger burst damage ganks
3) Insure 100-0 on squishies late game.
4) The 50% Reduction on healing effects is very useful.
Disadvantages of ignite :-
1) No escape
2) Flash gives a stronger initiate when the opponent is grouped up with flash + R
3) No means of followup if W is down and opponent uses flash.

Smite & Flash is also a safe and effective way of playing Evelynn.

I think machete & 5 pots with a warding totem the only way to start on jungle Evelynn. An other option may be blue pot + pots but I wouldn't recommend it.

Core Items :-
Spirit of the spectral wraith & Sorcerer shoes/Mercury Treads + Homegaurd are the items you should be working to get as soon as possible.

After building these items there are two ways to go, which will be explained in the next chapter.

After building the core items, theres two ways to go :-

1)If you're snowballing & must rely on yourself to carry the game. (I use this build 99% of the time)
ASSASSINATE their backline :- Rabadons Deathcap ~> Zhonya's hourglass ~> Liandrys torment ~> Guardian angel.

Explanation :- With this setup you aim to catch out their adc/apc or even sp and assassinate them, you shouldn't go in through their front line and engage, but if you get the chance to hit a strong ult and engage from behind, it would be optimal.

2)If you're behind/doing average OR have a fed backline OR need a strong engage.
Engage & peel for your carries :- Zhonya's hourglass ~> Liandrys torment ~> Randuins Omen ~> Banshee's veil

EXPLANATION :- The combination of Liandrys with your ult, does really strong damage AOE damage when you engage on 3-5 players, zhonyas with that is a great backup to save yourself from dying after initiating and getting sometime for your team to follow up.

PRO's :-
1) Easy to snowball
2) Stealth is crazy strong in this meta.
3) Good clear times
4) Can assassinate carries late game
5) Can engage a full 5v5 team fight very well as well as do extremely well in 2-3 man skirmishes
6) Can be built very diversely (AD, Tanky, AP Assassin , etc.) Depending on the game flow.

CON's :-
1) High Ult CD
2) Very squishy without Ult
3) Hard to come back when behind
4) Countered by hard cc
5) Very blue buff reliant

Many of you may have a lot of questions, like;
Why no Magic Penetration?
Why no DFG?

Let me explain the nerfs to Evelynn after 4.1.
Two CORE ITEMS on Evelynn in the last patch were deathfire grasp and void staff.
Evelynn does not scale as well anymore with MAGIC PENETRATION. While evelynn has 3 damaging spells to 100-0 carries, building
Void staff only compliments two of them, and not the highest burst skill; Ravage.
Void staff is still a great item, but not as cost efficient as other items because of the changes.

Deathfire grasp, having the active of doing 20% extra subsequent magic damage, again only scales on R and Q. And in many cases you can use R before DFG because they both contradict each other. Thus this item probably isn't very cost efficient for Evelynn anymore.

Now, with these nerfs, what exactly DOES Evelynn scale on now?
ABILITY POWER. RAW ABILITY POWER.
How much MR do you expect a late game squishy adc/apc to make late game? Not to mention your E counters that, dealing physical damage.

Evelynn is an AP assassin, that deals immense damage at the cost of being very fragile & having no hard CC.
When playing Evelynn, it's important to have a tanky top laner, and other lanes to have reliable hard CC.
Evelynn is blue buff reliant, so playing it when the mid laner isn't a mana intensive champ, would be optimal.

A few Champions Evelynn is strong with :-
Renekton, Shen, Lissandra, Annie, Leona, Varus, Sona etc.
Evelynn is strong with these champions as they have strong reliable high CC, which makes it easier to gank early game, and gives your team enough CC for late game teamfights.

GET YOUR BUFFS. This is the most important part of early game for Evelynn.
-Start on the bot side so you'd get a good leash. I generally put my trinket down at 1:30 to avoid the opponents stealing my buff, and Smite the buff at exactly 1:55.
-After which you move straight to your second buff and kill it. Since you smite at exactly 1:55, the smite will be up again for the second buff in time.
-Now you should be level 2 with about 80% exp to level 3. Here, you can gank mid or top if they're aggressive. If you are ganking, don't go in instantly and try to leech 2-3 minions exp to reach level 3. and then engage.
-Or you can just do wraith/wolf to level to three.
-Focus on ganking and presence more than passive farming your jungle, & snowball yourself and your team, but don't force anything excessively, like sitting in a lane for over 30 seconds trying to get a gank off.
-Smite is at a 40 sec CD. do a quick camp every time its off CD and proceed ganking/counterganking.

By this time you should have your spectral wraith & boots. When ever your passive is anywhere between 30-80 gold you should be looking for camps to clear.
Mid game you should be forcing kills bot lane and pressuring dragon. But don't over do it because being a squishy champion, its hard for Evelynn to tank dragon.
Evelynn synergises well with supports like Annie/Sona/Leona.
Since you'd be focusing dragon as an objective around this time, its important to switch out your yellow trinket with the red one.

Late game is all about securing objectives such as barons, turrets, inhibitors etc. your positioning is important, and you should always be lurking around to look for a chance to get a good engage, or catch someone off.
By this time you should have a high amount of AP and be able to do crazy damage in teamfights, PROVIDED YOU LIVE. It is VITAL that you are mostly steathled with your passive before a teamfight is about to break out, & have your W up as well. Don't ever use R and W at the same time, and blow all of your escapes and cc. Practice, and play smart.

Evelynn can be played two ways in teamfights. Engaging a 3-5 man ulti and blowing out all your skills and W'ing out, or waiting for an opportunity after the fight begins to destroy an enemy APC/ADC.
Your positioning is vital and can only be perfected with practice. Try staying on sides, or in positions where you can easily reach their back line.

After the patch, Evelynn is a bit different from before, but I believe with this current build she is as strong as ever.
She is an extremely versatile champion that can initiate, burst, do sustained damage, and get consecutive kills with the W resets, and stealth is a very very strong advantage in season 4.

Thank you for reading my guide :) Any suggestions or questions would be appreciated.