Ok hi. So my name's Gunnar, as in Ancient Norse (grandfather was Norwegian). Actually Ezreal kinda looks like me. I'm not tall, I have blonde hair, and I like Archery. I've been playing him for a long time now. He's my main, I think he's just brilliant. However, I noticed that I'm the only one who plays AP Ez. And I don't think this is because he's not viable AP, that isn't true. So here's my guide. Please rate and comment with constructive criticism. No "AP Ez noob" trolling please.

As I said, I think Ezreal is just brilliant. His burst against squishy to moderate champions is amazing, he has a ridiculously good ult Trueshot Barrage(a must for me), And good AP ratios on his skills. Also, his Arcane Shift is amazing, allowing you to finish of bush-dodgers, catch stealthed champions (like akali), avoid ganks and basically anything you'll ever want to do. He's got some issues. He's really quite squishy (but what AP caster isn't??) and he is painfully slow (that can be offset though). In general though I love Ez, I would say everyone should play him, but then, I wouldn't get to. Y'all get the point though.

Don't let this happen to you!

The item choices you make for your champion are the most important decisions you will make in a game. You can have the best rune page and masteries but if your build sucks then you're not going to get any kills and you're just gonna sit there and cry (like I almost did when I built Malady on LeBlanc my first time.) With the right build however, you can dominate a game.

Doran's ring - In my opinion the best starter item for AP Ez, especially if you're mid. It gives you a nice little 15 ability power, 5 mana regen, and 80 health, all of which help a good bit :)

Boots of Speed - I usually get this either second or third. Sometimes I'll go for a Blasting Rod if I need the burst. Speed is just an all around nice thing to have.


Blasting Wand - Usually third. The 40 AP is very nice especially since your W has .8 Ap scale. this will of course eventually be built into a Lich Bane


Sheen - Mana, Ability power, and nice little passive! the mana'll be quite nice and it helps out your Q quite a lot,(since you're not Ad it won't really do much for a while)

Sorcerer;s shoes- Gives you more speed, which is nice for someone as slow as you, and 20 magic pen, to cut down on their magic resist.
Null-Magic Mantle- 26 Magic resist, nice for mid, but really it's just to build into Lich Bane You might even want to build them both at once, since it's only 400 gold.

Lich Bane - Lich Bane is an absolute must for AP Ezreal. Up until now, your Q has done very little except refresh cooldowns, but now, it applies the on hit effect of Lich Bane (which is your ability power) Your Q now does at 100 more damage, your W around 60 more, your E around 60 your ult around 72 more. In addition you get some nice magic resist (30), 350 mana, and a 7% movement speed increase (which is nice for Ez)
Tear of The Goddess- 350 Mana, 7 Mana Regeneration., and a passive that increases your mana with every spell you cast -you will have no more mana problems now. This needs to be built sooner rather than later so that it can be maxed out, or at least close to maxed, come time to buy Archagel's Staff

Needlessly Large Rod- 80 AP, pricey, but you need to build it into Rabadon's Deathcap

Rabadon's Deathcap- A must but for any AP carry. It gives you a base of 140 AP plus 30%
of your AP. You should be running above 300 AP now.

Archangel's Staff- The other msut buy for an AP carry, it carries on the effect your Tear of The Goddess as far as mana, giving you 400 more base mana, plus the stacked passive. It also gives you 45 Ap plus 3% of your your mana in bonus AP. a well built Staff should give you well over 100 more AP, this also, is compounded into the 30% increase of your Deathcap, getting you to around 500 AP.

Void Staff Built off of another Blasting rod, and an Amplifying Tome, this will top off your build, giving you a 40% magic penetration bonus, and leaving you with around 600 AP.

Rising Spell Force(passive): Hitting a target with any of Ezreal's abilities increases his attack speed by 10% for 6 seconds, this effect stacks up to 5 times.

useful for minion farming :) your ult maxes out this effect.
Mystic ShotMystic Shot: Ezreal fires a bolt of energy in a line that will deal physical damage and apply on-hit effects to the first enemy it hits. If it strikes an enemy unit, all of Ezreal's cooldowns will be reduced by 1 second.
Range: 1100
Projectile Speed: 2000
Cost: 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 mana
Cooldown: 6 / 5.5 / 5 / 4.5 / 4 seconds

Physical Damage: 35 / 55 / 75 / 95 / 115 (+1.0 per attack damage) (+0.2 per ability power)

Less useful to AP Ez till late game for damage but don't forget to spam it for the CDR, every time it hits it reduces all your cooldowns by 1 second. Once you build lich bane this skill will actually do a good amount of damage too, and once you've got some good AP, this skill can deal real damage.
Essence Flux: Ezreal fires a wave of energy in a line. Any enemy champions it passes through are dealt magic damage and have their attack speed slowed for 5 seconds, while any allied champions it travels through have their attack speed increased for 5 seconds.
Cooldown: 9 seconds
Range: 900
Cost: 50 / 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 mana
Magic Damage: 80 / 130 / 180 / 230 / 280 (+0.7 per ability power)

Attack Speed Buff/Debuff: 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 / 40%

Your money skill. The wonderful thing about this is that it passes through minions. That way there is no hiding behind minions for the other player. it has good base damage and it also has a nice range, set it up with your E if you like :) Since the nerf this skill is hard to hit and does a good bit less damage.
Arcane Shift: Ezreal instantly teleports to a nearby target location and fires a homing arrow at the nearest enemy unit, dealing magic damage to it.
Cost: 90 mana
Teleport Range: 475
Arrow Range: 750
Cooldown: 19 / 17 / 15 / 13 / 11 seconds
Magic Damage: 75 / 125 / 175 / 225 / 275 (+0.75 per ability power)

A wonderful, wonderful skill. This is your own personal flash. you can use it to avoid ganks if you want, it's really good for that. Or you can kill a stealthed character you is hiding from you (the arrow is homing irregardless of whether or not the target is stealthed. I particularly like to use it to jump in, W, maybe Q, and then run out. Great harrass use.

Trueshot Barrage: Ezreal charges for 1 second to fire a powerful broad energy missile that travels in a line across the whole map and deals magic damage to each enemy unit they pass through. It will deal 8% less damage for each subsequent target hit, down to a minimum of 30% damage dealt.
Cost: 100 mana
Cooldown: 80 seconds
Range: Global

This is the best ultimate in the game. Infinite range, high speed, high damage. It can, and should be used either at the start of a teamfight, to guarantee wins, or at the end to grab a kill. With this skill you can snipe players returning to base with ease(I just played a game today where I got a double kill as Vayne and Olaf were b'ing in a bush I saw them run into). You can steal dragon, baron, anything you want. Just remember to use your Q to lower the cooldown.

the highest damage you'd get would be:
Arcane Shiftto a lone enemy -> Essence Flux -> Mystic Shot -> and then landing the kill with Trueshot Barrage

I usually go with Teleport and Flash. The Extra flash makes you almost uncatchable. And teleport helps a ton if you're trying not to get out leveled. Possible substitutes are Clarity, and Heal.

My rune choices are pretty standard. Since you'll be going mid (you really should, though you don't have to), it's important to have some magic resist built in, ergo the nine glyphs of warding. Secondly, you're an AP caster. Get magic pen. End of story. The one main difference I have with most AP guides i've seen as far as runes go is the seal. Most people will go with greater seals of clarity. This doesn't jive with me though. It gives 0.065 mana regen per level, quite shabby if you ask me. by the time they're useful you should have enough mana/mana regen from your item build to take care of yourself. So instead I get nine greater seals of replenishment, which help you early game, when you actually need it. Also, a lot of people will complain that I have no base AP runes, but, I've found that they don't help that much early game, and do almost nothing late game. Magic pen on the other hand, never gets old.

So, in conclusion:
Greater Glyph of Warding - Magic resist

Greater seal of replenishment - Mana regen

Greater Mark of Insight - Magic Penetration

Greater Quintessence of Insight - More Magic Pen

Pretty standard. I sink 21 points into offense (like most AP champs), 1 into defense, for a little magic resist, and then 8 into utility because I like me some mana/mana regen.

So as my conclusion:
Standard AP offense, Ability power, Magic Penetration, and cooldown reduction.
Mana/mana regen utility

and that's pretty much it.

On AP Ez, minion farming is a royal pain in the ***. He doesn't have a good AOE 'cept for his ult, so you have to be really good at last hitting. His passive helps, so try and use your Q a lot.

Pros

Great range
Great mobility
he's really fun
(what with the skillshots and all)
Amazing burst

Cons

Slow, slow, slow
So squishy (but then, so are all AP's)
terrible farmer

In my opinion, the Pros far outweigh the cons. Ezreal ftw! Seriously though. His cons can be offset by item choice and smart playing. And you can boost your feed by using your Q and getting pentakills with your Ult.

Ezreal is a great champion. He has amazing burst and good escape. He's also really, really fun. If you like this guide please rate and give constructive comments.