Hello! I am a Ezreal player who has been playing the champion for about 6 months. I have tried many different builds, but what I am about to share with you is the one I find the most effective for competitive gameplay. Please read the guide throughly before voting, and enjoy :). I am here to teach you a way to play Ezreal you probably haven't even thought of before. Many people believe Ezreal is just an AD carry for early game and useless lategame, I'm here to prove those statements wrong.

Ezreal is an strong, fast, challenging & excellent carry for both AP and AD, but in this guide I will be teaching you how to play him as an AD carry for ranked gameplay. I myself play Ezreal as my main, I know he isn't the "top tier" for Ranked Gameplay but if played correctly he can be devastating for both early and lategame. I will show you a more "unexplored" side of this great champion.

Ezreal


PROS

Great Utility
Amazing Survivability
Great damage
Incredible Chaser
Potent Farmer
AoE Nuke Ultimate

CONS

Can be locked down by high cc
High Skill cap
Skill Shots Can be Blocked
Counterable with Huge amounts of armor


-Explaining Ezreals abilities-

Rising Spell Force is Ezreals Passive. This ability is overlooked by so many people, basically what it does is increase your attack speed by 10% for each ability that you land for a short amount of time, stacking up to 5 times for the maxinum of 50% attack speed bonus. This can be very crucial to you in 1v1 fights, team fights, or useful in pushing turrets, I wouldn't rate it as the best passive there is but it is a fair ability.

Mystic Shot is Ezreal's Q ability, it is a fairly long ranged low cooldown skill shot which scales with AD (your main ability!)
In this guide I will ask you to build sheen since it will almost double the damage of this spell and of course since you will be using spells very actively making full use of the item on Ezreal.
This ability is crucial to your performance in Ezreal, it is a fantastic ability but it takes some skill to use. First and most importantly, every time you land Mystic Shot it will decrease All Of Your Abilities cooldowns by 1 second, and since Mystic Shot is a very low cooldown spell (4 second lategame) you can use all your abilities very effectively,
also it does a fair amount of damage to squishies. This ability unlike Gangplank's Parrrley can not crit, but it activates on hit effects such as phage & red buff, also it activates lifesteal, also Mystic Shot stops on the first target it hits, so it can be blocked by minions or tanky champions.

Ezreal's W ability is a shorter range skill shot than Mystic Shot, but it pierces enemies, dealing a low amount of damage & decreasing their attack speed by a fair amount. Some guides encourage you to take this ability at level 4, but I believe as it doesn't scale with AD, it has a high mana cost & the damage is very low that you should leave this to the end.
Also you can shoot this ability to team mates giving them the same amount of attack speed as it would reduce from enemies. This ability procs Rising Spell Force with both hitting enemies and allies, just to keep in mind. This lategame can be useful for example giving team mates attack speed to push lanes, towers or killing baron faster.
This ability also cannot damage / slow minions.

Arcane Shift is Ezreals E ability, aahh where should I start, this ability is just fantastic, this is the edge you have over normal ranged carries, this is a damage ability + built in flash with a short cooldown of about 10 seconds lategame, great huh? In early game you should not be spamming this ability too much due to its high mana cost, some builds encourage to build manamune for these kinds of cituations, but I discourage that because you can easily counter this problem by proper Mana-Management
This ability is fantastic on Ezreal for so many reasons, it makes him able to chase very effectively early & lategame, escape many cituations through walls (thanks to this ability when you get tanky you will be almost unkillable). Also never ever forget the sweet fact that every time you hit on any target with Mystic Shot this sweet abilitys already short cooldown gets reduced by a second. After your flash lands, the ability sends a homing arrow to the nearest target enemy for a fair amount of damage. Only bad thing I can say about this spell is that it doesn't scale with AD, but obviously if it did it would make Ezreal OP.
Note that the homing arrow from the spell procs Rising Spell Force and it can target stealthed targets (amazing right?) so if you are confident in your skill shots and know something is stealthed nearby you can use this to find out where, as long as you land close enough to it.

Here it is folks, Ezreals Ultimate, that thing that makes everyone rage so hard, while not only being a non-skilled Karthus ultimate where you just press a button and hope to get a kill. You have to aim this huge arrow (similarily to Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow) This ability now scales with AD making AD Ezreal even more viable than before, the ability is just wonderful for all cituations, say a teemo runs out with about 20 hp after a harsh 1v1 with you using flash, you can snipe him off with the ultimate and get that kill you would've raged over. This also helps you in the psychological factor as they wont just be able to be "lucky" all the time as you can do something about it, also this ultimate will get you laughing and happy a ton of times.
Aside from just teasing low hp squishies, this ability is wonders in team fights. By dealing a huge amount of damage to the whole enemy team (yes this pierces enemies) it can multiply the damage done to unreasonable levels making you able to win that teamfight as you jsut flash in and clean the corpses up.
Not to forget to mention it has a fairly low cooldown (about 70 seconds lategame) and once again remember it is reduced by 1 second every time you land Mystic Shot. Sounds amazing doesn't it? Well there is a little catch... The abilitys damage is reduced by 8% for each target it hits up to a maxinum of 30% reduced damage.
Don't forget you can cap up Rising Spell Force easily with using this ability, you can shoot off minions who are pushing lanes from the base if you are missing a few coins for an important item aswell, thanks to its fairly low cooldown it doesn't really matter, be creative with it!

For Masteries you will want to go for an usual 21-0-9 improving that damage further & making it a bit easier to last hit. For the utility tree you will want to improve neutral buff durations because they are very useful for Ezreal since he is a very mana dependant character making blue buff an excellent way to improve his damage, laning or poking early or lategame. Not to forget about red buff which gives Ezreal that bit of CC he so desperatelly needs. Since after all Ezreal has no CC but in return he is given great damage, utility and good scaling.

For runes I recommend you to go with
Greater Mark of DesolationArmor Penetration Marks, a very usual and steady choice for an AD carry pushing your Armor Penetration to great levels for early game. Lategame you will realise these are very crucial as there are not many Armor Penetration items in the game.

Greater Seal of ArmorFor Seals we will improve your Armor giving you that bit of extra survivability against those other AD carries early & lategame.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction Now moving on to your Glyphs , I personally believe there's many choices for this spot from Magic Resist , Attack Speed or Cooldown Reduction I find all of these solid choices for Ezreal but I personally go for Cooldown Reduction Glyphs.

Greater Quintessence of Strenght Now on to the Quintessences, I would very much suggest you go for Attack Damage as it helps you deal a whole 7 points more AD early game, while this might not seem like such a great bonus lategame, it can improve your Last Hitting early game, and maybe win that crucial first blood fight for you. If you feel intimidated by this choice you can always go for the Armor Penetration ones.

Now onto the items.


Doran's blade is a great item for early game, giving you that damage, health & lifesteal which helps Ezreals early game very well, by giving you survivability, last hitting will be easier, and you can sustain in the lane longer thanks to the bit of lifesteal.

B.F. Sword
Now, some guides support getting Sheen before B.F. Sword, Well this is pretty much up to you. If you find yourself in the base with 1300 gold, you shouldn't hesitate to buy Sheen, it's easier to buy it first but if you survive on the lane having about 1700 gold, B.F. Sword is your best bet, improving your Q & Ultimate and of course your base attack, making easier to last hit & get more money. Sheen is a good choice aswell but if you get it first, it will take you more time getting the B.F. Sword, so I find the easiest way to buy B.F. Sword first.


Boots are of course crucial to Ezreal as any other champion, the buying order between boots, b.f. Sword, & Sheen is totally up to you. If you find yourself in base with 1700 gold, you can buy either boots & Sheen or B.F. Sword. If you happen to have to go back to base with only 400 gold, you can start up Sheen or then buy Boots. (I recommend getting boots first.)


Like I explained in the two previous items, the building order is up to you what you think is most crucial to you at the moment. Sheen is a great item for Ezreal, since he is a very spell dependant champion, giving you that extra attack damage after every flash, and most of all, making your Q's damage double itself as it deals Physical Damage.


I find Berserker Greaves the best choice for Ezreal, of course many other good choices would be Boots of Swiftness, Mercury Treads or then in some rare cases, even Ninja Tabi.


Black Cleaver is a fantastic item. I recommend you getting this every game, You Could change it for example for a bloodthirster or infinity edge, but most of the time if you go ranked you dont see 4 squishies in an enemy team. And most usually they will start building armor against you if they see you as a threat.


Trinity force is one of the main items of Ezreal, It is just wonderful. It gives you that bit of CC you want from Phage, extra utility from Zeal, & not to forget about the 150% + damage to your Q and after every spell. It pushes your damage forward from many different levels.


Now it's time to start building defensive, with Black Cleaver & Trinity Force, you should already deal a huge amount of damage. Some Ezreals believe they are useless lategame because they just get focused and die. That is common, it used to happen to me aswell, but you shouldn't let that happen. To do so, build this item to dodge those obnoxious Annie ultimates, or Veigar stuns. You won't even notice how many times this item saves your life.


Sunfire Cape might seem like an Odd choice for Ezreal, but in fact it gives you a huge deal of Armor & Health. Thanks to your amazing utility with your built in flash & slow from phage, you can kite champions such as Xin Zhao if you find them just demolishing other squishies. You should always get ONLY Banshee's Veil OR Sunfire Cape first. Look at the enemy team and see what is the biggest threat, the AP carries or the AD carries. Build accordingly and if its AD, Build Sunfire Cape, if it's AP, Build Banshee's Veil.


Now lets put that HP bonus from Banshee's or Sunfire Cape to use. This will boost your Attack damage, survivability & critical chance by great levels. A fantastic item giving you that bit of damage you will want. After Atma's, you should usually buy the one you did NOT buy previously, for example if you bought Banshee's Veil, buy Sunfire cape, And if Sunfire Cape, buy Banshee's Veil. But if you see the cituation differently, Please check out the optional items below.

OTHER ITEM CHOICES ---


You can get Banshee's Veil, Atma's and then Warmog's if you really think the AD carries in the opposing team really are not a threat. I take Banshee's Veil every game though because it saves you from the CC of both AD and AP carries, Warmog's pushes your Atma's Impalers damage bonus to insane levels aswell. A great item.


You might want to consider buying Infinity Edge instead of Black Cleaver incase of a ton of squishies in their team. I personally prefer Black Cleaver but if the cituation looks proper, get Infinity Edge, it makes you cut through squishies in short moments thanks to the critical bonus damage & Damage bonus.


Now if you decided to get Infinity Edge and find some of the enemies buying armor because of your menace, Last whisper can be a great item to make sure you still deal damage to them. You shouldn't get Black Cleaver + Last Whisper because in that case, Black Cleaver's passive actually REDUCES the amount of armor Last Whisper pierces through.

EXAMPLES ---

This is what your Core should look like:



This is what a balanced full build should look like:



This is what a Heavy AP defense build would look like:



This is what a Squishy team offensive build would look like:

In summary you should build your Ezreal more tanky and making him an unstoppable object for the opposive team, thanks to your excellent utility, survivability and damage they can't even focus you but you still get to do your amazing damage to the enemies.

Thank you for reading the guide and finding out about my side of playing Ezreal. please vote and comment telling your opinions about Ezreal and how you play it :) Thanks!
-HillGigas (Lucky Seven)