Evelynn Build Guide by TricolorStar

PROS:

• High Burst
• Easy First Clear
• Very Fun
• Beautiful
• Easy to Learn, Hard to Master

CONS:

• Squishy
• Relies on Last Caress for mobility
• Can't Handle 1v1 Situations
• Falls Behind Easily
• Countered by True Vision
  
  When playing as Evelynn, you're not very useful during teamfights, but you excel at picking off squishy targets or cleaning up afterwards. Knowing your weaknesses is very important when playing Evelynn, since all of her engagements are very all-or-nothing.

Ability Insight:

• Afterglow: While under the effects of Demon Shade, Evelynn gains bonus effects on her Whiplash ability.
• The Night is my Veil: From Level 6 onward, Demon Shade grants Evelynn permanent Camouflage, only revealing her when she enters combat or when under the effects of True Vision.

Ability Tips:
Demon Shade is how Evelynn stays healthy in-between clearing her jungle camps. By pausing briefly when she is low on health, she can regenerate a large amount of health and stay ahead of her enemy jungler. Post Level 6, the Camouflage granted from this ability is part of Evelynn's trademark design, allowing her to get in unseen and surprise an unsuspecting target.

In combat with enemy champions, this passive allows Evelynn to take damage, retreat, regain health, and return to pick someone off. Weaving in and out of the fight is how you'll make the most use of this passive.


In this clip, I see Cassiopeia away from her team. Confident I have the burst to solo her, I engage. However, I underestimate her damage and start to die a horrible poison death. I disengage by using Empowered Whiplash to get behind her, then using Chilling Smite to slow her down. She begins to chase, popping Ghost in the process. I enter Demon Shade and become invisible, rapidly regaining my health. I get behind her as she looks for me, casting Allure and bursting her down right before she ults, securing the kill.

Ability Insight:

• Hate & Love: Enemies struck with Hate Spike are marked with three charges of Hate, which are consumed by Evelynn's basic attacks and abilities to deal bonus damage to her target.
• Pins & Needles: Recasting Hate Spike causes waves of Spikes to emanate from Evelynn to her current attack target or nearest enemy (if her current target moves out of range). These Spikes damage everything they pass through and consumes any charges of Hate on a target.
• Teratophilia If Hate Spike is used on a jungle monster, 60% of its cooldown is refunded.

Ability Tips:
Hate Spike is Evelynn's most versatile ability. You'll use it primarily to clear your jungle early game, but once you start ganking, it is your most useful way to proc the Love Curse from her W, Allure, when you're not in melee range (which is most of the time).

Hate Spike's recasting component, Spikes, is incredibly useful when clearing multi-monster jungle camps, like the Raptors or the Murk Wolves. The area-of-effect damage from Spikes is also very useful during Evelynn short time in teamfights, and the bonus damage from Hate further increases her burst when coupled with her E, Whiplash.

Since this ability has a large refund when used against monsters, you're going to be spamming it very, very often.
I move in on the enemy Shen with an my ally Teemo, placing Allure over Shen. He attempts to get away, but with a carefully aimed Hate Spike, I Arouse him and force him to walk towards us. I use Empowered Whiplash followed by Last Caress to kill him before he has time to escape.

Ability Insight:

• Just One Kiss: The Love Curse Evelynn places over her target matures over 2.5 seconds. Once it matures, Evelynn's next basic attack Arouses her target, Charming them and reducing their Magic Resistance. If the Love Curse has not fully matured, the target is Slowed instead. Arousing a target fully refunds Allure's mana cost.
• The Feminine Mystique: Once the Love Curse has matured, an indicator points in Evelynn's direction, giving her target a vague idea of where she is.
• Let Me In: Arousal affects different targets in different ways:
  • Champion: Reduces their Magic Resistance by up to 35%
  • Monster: Deal bonus damage upon Arousal, and the duration of the Charm is increased by 2 seconds.
• Lovestruck: The Magic Resistance shred of this ability is only applied to the ability that Arouses your target ( Whiplash or Hate Spike).

Ability Tips:
Allure is Evelynn's only crowd-control ability, so landing it is vital. Although it delays her damage (since you have to wait for the Love Curse to mature) the reward you reap by waiting is extremely beneficial, since the Magic Resistance shred is percentage based, meaning that you can burst down tanks once you have a few items online.

Although this ability is incredibly useful, the trade-off is that enemies can see where you are through the Feminine Mystique component, so switching up your location as you move in is very important so you don't get caught.

This ability is all about mind games. Get behind someone, blow them a kiss, and watch them scramble backwards right into your waiting arms. Clever positioning and careful aim of Hate Spike will separate good Evelynn players from bad ones.

Ability Insight:

• Whip it Good: Using Whiplash applies on-hit effects and grants Evelynn a burst of movement speed. This ability also deals a percentage of the target's maximum health as magic damage.
• It Hurts so Good: When under the effects of Demon Shade, Whiplash becomes Empowered Whiplash, dealing more damage and causing Evelynn to dash to the target instead. Entering Demon Shade automatically resets Whiplash's cooldown. These effects apply whether Evelynn has gained the Camouflage portion of Demon Shade or not.

Ability Tips:
Whiplash is your primary engagement tool, allowing you to dash to someone out of stealth with an Empowered Whiplash. It is useful as a means to Arouse a target by getting close as the Love Curse matures, and dashing to them with Empowered Whiplash.

Since this ability applies on-hit effects, bonus damage from Lich Bane, Nashor's Tooth, and other items are added to it.

This is how you burst down your enemies. The maximum health damage, plus an Aroused target, plus a Lich Bane equals one dead champion.

This ability also deals a flat amount of damage to monsters, making it very useful to execute mini-Krugs or leftover Raptors. Ability Insight:

• One Night Stand: Evelynn is untargetable during this ability and cannot be interrupted.
• Cross My Heart: Enemies below 30% of their maximum health are marked by a Widowmaker's Kiss, causing them to take massive bonus damage if hit by Last Caress.
• Leave Them Wanting More: After the initial swipe, Evelynn blinks backwards a medium distance, passing over walls and other obsacles.
• The Bigger They Are: The bonus damage from Widowmaker's Kiss can apply to large monsters, such as Baron Nashor and the Elemental Drakes, allowing them to be executed as well.

Ability Tips:
This ability has a wide range of uses. Most notably, it is one of the only area-of-effect executes in the game, and is very, very hard to dodge. Typically, you'll be using this to rack up kills on low-health enemies, finish off a combo, or clean up an enemy team after a teamfight. But this ability has three primary uses that you should learn if you want to get the most out of it.

• As an Execute
  The most common use is an an Execute. It is very easy to chase down low-health targets or surprise a recalling enemy with this ability, and it never, ever gets old.
  VIDEO DEMO
  Spoiler: Click to view

  Play Video
  
  As I approach a teamfight from the flank (the only way you should as Evelynn), I see my team does a good job of initiating and cleaning up without me. However, Rhaast targets me and uses Umbral Trespass, meaning I'm in for a world of hurt. Knowing that Rhaast heals more if he's in combat with more people, I Flash to isolate us from my team to prevent that. A quick Empowered Whiplash and Last Caress kills him before he has a chance to heal or get back to my team.
• As an Escape
  When the enemy team brings the heat, it's time to disappear. The One Night Stand component makes Evelynn very slippery while her ultimate is up, allowing her to pass over walls, dodge or cancel ultimates like Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow or Caitlyn's Ace in the Hole.
• As an Engage
  If you really, really want that kill (or know you can get it), turning away from your enemy and ulting backwards is a very effective way to close the distance or cross over walls and keep the chase going. Experienced Evelynn players will know when to go for the kill.
  VIDEO DEMO
  Spoiler: Click to view

  Play Video
  
  After a teamfight, I see Cassiopeia and Shen leaving with low health. I place a ward over their Nexus Wall, and use Last Caress to close the gap, Smiting Shen to slow him and using the Spikes from Hate Spike to finish him off. Turning on Cassiopeia, I kill her with a combination of the remaining Spikes and a quick Whiplash. Although I got two kills, I'm in over my head and Graves finishes me off.
  
  
  "Hate? No... I hurt them out of love."
  - Evelynn

Our primary Keystone is Electrocute. It provides up-front burst damage, and when coupled with Evelynn's already fearsome burst potential, it's just the most efficient choice. As of Patch 8.13, Electrocute remains Evelynn's best choice across the board.

Although Dark Harvest can be a good choice, it takes far too long to come online and requires you to farm and gank almost constantly. It does more damage the longer the game goes on, but it is an unnecessary risk when compared to Electrocute.

Predator is generally a poor choice, since it telegraphs where you're coming from (and that's the last thing a slow assassin like Evelynn needs). The bonus damage is difficult to proc and it offers no consistent damage.

Hail of Blades can be useful to gain a bit of quicker damage when used in conjunction with Hate Spike's bonus damage, but it overall is not that good of a choice.

Our Slot 1: Malice choice is Sudden Impact. This rune grants you bonus damage both when you exit stealth and when you use the blink from Last Caress, making it the most effective and lucrative choice for Evelynn.

Cheap Shot and Taste of Blood are also good choices, since they combo with her Allure and high-burst potential, but in general you'll want to pick Sudden Impact since it gives the most consistent results.

Our Slot 2: Tracking choice is Eyeball Collection. Evelynn is all about mid/late-game burst, and this rune is much quicker and more productive than Dark Harvest. Since the enemy team will be using Control Wards to reveal you, clearing them serves a double bonus of removing enemy vision and granting you a stack for your Eyeball Collection.

And if you're a good jungler, you'll be carrying Control Wards of your own to kill enemy wards and continue stacking your eyeballs.

As for the other choices, Zombie Ward is basically pointless since Evelynn will not be benefiting from extended vision uptime as other champions would be.

Ghost Poro is a decent choice, but once again, it offers nothing in terms of mid-to-late-game power.

And finally, our Slot 3: Hunter slot belongs to Relentless Hunter. It couples extremely well with your out-of-combat stealth, bonus free movement speed from your runes is extremely valuable.

Ravenous Hunter is actually also very good on Evelynn if you intend to get into extended fights or need healing from abilities. This choice comes down to playstyle.

Ingenious Hunter is useless on Evelynn since she very rarely builds any active items, bottom line.

Nimbus Cloak allows Evelynn to either make her getaway or return to the fight with the movement speed she gains after she uses her ultimate.

Nullifying Orb is a poor choice since it does not proc from damage done by monsters, and typically you'll be facing AD-based champions in the jungle.

Manaflow Band is an even poorer choice, since it does not grant bonus mana when you attack a monster, which means it will take you forever to fully stack it.
For our final rune, we take Celerity, since out-of-combat movement speed is incredibly important on Evelynn.

Transcendence is generally a poor choice since Evelynn does not need bonus CDR since she absolutely has to get everything done in one spell rotation. Extended fights are just not a good idea for her.

Absolute Focus is actually a good choice, since you can remain very healthy with Demon Shade in order to gain the bonus power this rune provides.

Mix and match runes to best suit your playstyle. If you're a Predator or Dark Harvest kind of Evelynn, be true to your comfort level and personal preference.

Building Evelynn is complex only in its simplicity: She has a limited item pool, but your choices in this pool matter a lot. Below is a run-down of her core items, her possible late-game choices, and situations for specific build paths.
Stalker's Blade - Runic Echoes is going to be your most common jungling choice. Skirmisher's Sabre - Runic Echoes is also a good choice, however. It really comes down to playstyle, like many other choices in Evelynn's item pool.

The main tossup between the two choices is the choice between Chilling Smite or Challenging Smite. Chilling is very, very useful for slowing down fleeing targets for an Allure proc, but Challenging is useful if you find yourself dueling the enemy jungler often, or you are in extended 1v1 situations. Even though Evelynn suffers in 1v1 circumstance, Challenging Smite allows her to tip the scales. I prefer Chilling because it is much more consistent, and I tend to avoid 1v1'ing the enemy jungler if I can avoid it.

We take Lich Bane because the bonus on-hit damage from this item stacks with your Whiplash ability. Using Allure activates the bonus damage, then using Whiplash deals it. It is incredibly powerful on Evelynn and is absolutely essential to her burst.
Morellonomicon is my most common choice for Evelynn after her core items. The bonus Magic Penetration stacks with the Magic Resistance shred from Allure, and the grievous wounds from this item is always valuable.

Void Staff is also a common choice, since it is a percentage based MR shred like Allure is, meaning you can cut right through tanks like a hot knife through butter.

I tend to finish my usual build with a Rabadon's Deathcap for the insane spike in AP, and top it off with an Elixir of Sorcery to bring it all together.

My most common Evelynn build is as follows:


However, sometimes this build doesn't cut it. Below are some situations for specific items:

• Zhonya's Hourglass: Take this item if you find yourself getting locked down a lot, or if you're against telegraphed abilities like Kayn's Umbral Trespass, Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow, or Caitlyn's Ace in the Hole.
• Luden's Tempest: Take this if you're ahead and need the extra mana.
• Spellbinder: Take this if you're very ahead and want to increase your burst to it's maximum potential. Be warned; this item's active has a cooldown, so your burst will be windowed somewhat.
• Banshee's Veil: If you're facing lots of crowd control ( Lux, Annie, or Morgana), so you can break free from the constraints of mortal living.