Hello friends! I'm Lyñx, and I play on the SG/MY server (aka Garena). I am gold IV (there are like ~2k people on the SG/MY server who are gold and above, with 10s of thousands of players in Bronze/Silver, which explains why we are perceived to be the weakest region), and this guide aims to explain why jungle Ezreal is viable and extremely useful, how to build him, as well as tips and tricks for jungle Ezreal and junglers in general (not gonna cover all).

Now I was stuck in Silver for quite a while. I'm decent with support junglers such as Jarvan IV, Sejuani as well as Nautilus, but I just wanted to do a bit more in the jungle. As someone who doesn't like to go all in at every fight, that's when I stumbled upon jungle Ezreal. I found him to be extremely useful(which will be explained later), and using jungle Ezreal, I managed to get promoted to Silver I (I was Silver II), and I took just 9 jungle Ezreal games to get to gold V. Now I'm not trying to encourage people to spam jungle Ezreal games, but I want to prove that jungle Ezreal is legit.

Jungle Ezreal, unfortunately, can't be played by everyone. The requirements to play jungle Ezreal(or you wont be good at it) are that:

• You need to be level 30
• You need to at least have armor seals and AD quints/marks
• You need to have some sort of experience and knowledge with jungling

Now why do you need the following?








It is also extremely helpful if you have the following:

• Experience and knowledge of playing AD carry and Ezreal
• Favours poke/disengage champions (I'll explain more on that later)
• A positive mindset i.e. Not raging at teammates

It's beneficial to have the following because:







If you fulfill at least the first criteria, carry on with the guide! If not, it's best if you gain some experience with jungling before you apply what you have read in this guide, or you will face less than desirable results.

Now on to the pros and cons:

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Pros: Good damage all game Extremely good kiter Good escapes Decent clear time which only gets faster Rewarding to master Can be played as an AD caster or AD carry Arcane Shift and Trueshot Barrage means surprise ganks or evading wards Has an ultimate skin No other champion can do his role as effectively Jungle Ezreal is an extremely good pick. He scales very well with items, and he fulfills a psuedo poke/kite role in a team, making sure enemies are unable to reach his backline easily while also dishing out tons of damage. His constant poke during sieges with Mystic Shot, and his waveclear/damage with Trueshot Barrage makes him the best when it comes to sieging down towers, and he is arguable suitable in any team composition with a champion (usually the toplaner) acting as the frontline.

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Cons: Extremely high skillcap Requires a good understanding of the game Needs time to master Reliant on snowballing to carry However, at the same time, from my experience, jungle Ezreal was one of the hardest champion role that I could ever master. Along with having a lot of experience jungling, I needed to know his limits very well, and I often get flamed for picking jungle Ezreal. Ezreal is also reliant on snowballing, even though he can still dish out decent damage without much items, he will fall off HARD mid-lategame.

Jungle Ezreal is effectively an AD caster, who deals damage along with the true AD carry in botlane, whether that character is Vayne, Caitlyn or other such AD carries. It allows for the AD carry to be more Autoattack reliant (such as Vayne or Caitlyn) so that the overall team scales very well in the mid and lategame. One problem with AD caster lane Ezreal is that he often falls off a bit lategame such that other AD carries such as Ashe becomes much better than him, but in the lategame jungle Ezreal is able to stay in the mid-backline and help peel for his AD carry by kiting the enemy to prevent them from touching the AD carry, who will then dish out a lot of damage to the frontline and significantly increase the chances of winning a teamfight.

By playing jungle Ezreal, the disadvantages are relatively minor, with jungle Ezreal often being able to reach the same heights as lane Ezreal in terms of build, maybe a few minutes late but very close as long as he does not have a terrible earlygame.

Other than surprising the enemy, jungle Ezreal leaves opponents extremely vulnerable with his multiple innovative paths of ganking, in which he offers a lot of damage, slows and with the suitable followup by his laner, he will likely be able to at least force a summoner from the opponent and make him base.

Jungle Ezreal is able to suit all compositions without falling off lategame with the pairing of a strong lategame AD carry. He can be played in the poke/hard engage/disengage compositions effectively with his damage output which will be very similar to a lane Ezreal, his mobility as well as his kiting potential for the backline AP and AD carries.



This is why I am willing to play 250+ games of jungle Ezreal. This is why I have gained a lot of success with jungle Ezreal with an average KDA of 5.1. It only takes a few games of jungle Ezreal to realise his potential in the jungle.

Flash and Smite are the only options here. All other spells tend to leave you vulnerable, and I believe that these spells are the only spells that jungle Ezreal should use in order to achieve maximum success with his build.

For Flash, even though you have Arcane Shift, solely relying on Arcane Shift is very very risky. There inevitably will be situations where you need a blink to escape or chase after an enemy, however you have no mana, Arcane Shift is on cooldown]], or you need to make a very large distance between yourself and the chasing enemy. This is when Flash comes into play.

Smite ensures that you take much less damage than you should when taking buffs, as well as helping you secure objectives. Even though the Smite values have been nerfed at earlier levels, the spell is on a shorter cooldown, which makes it equally as precious with the new jungle changes.

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I take flat Greater Mark of Attack Damage marks to deal more early game damage to jungle creeps, and to make his clear faster. I also take these marks to deal more damage during my ganks and to help bolster my early game, which is very important for Ezreal.

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I take Greater Seal of Armor so that Ezreal can survive his first clear in the jungle. His base armor is low, and without additional armor from runes, he will not survive his first clear with good health such that he is able to gank immediately. Thus there are no other alternatives.

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I take Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist so that during the lategame, I can reduce magic damage dealt on me. Also, Scaling MR also outscales flat MR around midgame, which is when teamfights start to break out and I have to actually worry about Magic damage.

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This is where people may ask, why 2 Lifesteal Quints and 1 AD Quint? Why not get 3 Lifesteal or 3 AD quints? It's personal preference really, but I prefer running this for a bit more relevant sustain in the jungle (4% is equivalent to the Doran's Blade passive), while having enough AD to clear the jungle and deal more damage.

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On the first tier, I get 2 points in Fury , 4 points in Sorcery and 1 point in Double-Edged Sword . I choose to get Double-Edged Sword as I want to maximize Ezreal's ranged DPS, and even though I will take an additional 1.5% damage, I believe that with the AD caster build that I use, in most skirmishes/fights it's either you live or you die, so the extra damage will not amount for much. Though I will take a bit more of a beating in my early jungle clear,

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In the jungle, this spell actually helps quite a bit. Jungle Ezreal spams Mystic Shot, which progressively helps to increase his attack speed, which increases his DPS as well as the speed of his clear. In teamfights, a well-used Essence Flux or Trueshot Barrage allows you to get multiple stacks quickly, sometime even getting the maximum stacks (5), which really helps Ezreal's damage output in fights. Coupled with Spirit of the Elder Lizard and Iceborn Gauntlet/ Trinity Force, this passive helps a lot with being the kiting machine you are made to be.

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Your bread and butter spell, the spell that makes you so strong as a pseudo kite/poke champion. This spell has good base damage and AD scaling. It is also extremely spammable, and the fact that if you hit an enemy with Mystic Shot all other abilities cooldown are reduced by 1 second you basically have a Ryze passive inside an ability. This spell is the one that you will spam consistently in the jungle, and use it to apply slows and kite the enemy really hard. Also, this spell can be used to check the fog of war in places such as bushes. Just fire a Mystic Shot into a bush. If there is a sound before or at the end of the projectile, there is an enemy there, which means that you can decide the next course of action. This saves lives, and even close games.

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Honestly, this spell isn't very useful. It does minimal damage as jungle Ezreal, provides only an attack speed boost for allies, and only affects champions. However, there is one primary use I use this spell for, which is to stack my Rising Spell Force multiple times. This is especially helpful in small skirmishes, as it increases your DPS and your overall damage.

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A very useful escape tool/chasing tool, in fact it's range is slightly bigger than the range of Flash! However, this doesn't mean that you can waste this spell. This spell doesn't really deal damage as jungle Ezreal, however it is useful for stealing objectives such as Dragon , as you can Arcane Shift in, Smite steal before Flashing out. I mainly use this spell as my escape/chasing blink.

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A very useful ultimate. With the cooldown reduction build (aka the Iceborn Gauntlet build), this spell's cooldown will be around 60-70 seconds, however with the Trinity Force build this spell's cooldown is still relatively short. which means that it is extremely spammable. I use this spell to clear big minion waves which might otherwise take down a tower, attempt to steal objectives, use it to deal damage and stack Rising Spell Force in small skirmishes/fights, as well as to snipe/deal damage and help a lane without actually having to be there!

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Starting Items:

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The only start you should go for. Ezreal lacks durability earlygame, as he is effectively an AD carry, and AD carries usually have terrible earlygame durability. The Hunter's Machete + 5 Health Potions start should allow you to survive both buffs with approximately 75-90% health as well as 2 Health Potions just in case (provided you get a good smiteless leash at the starting buff). I tried Doran's Blade and Boots + 4 Health Potions start, but both will make you barely survive the double buffs (or even get executed if done wrongly) such that it will be a waste.

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Rush:

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You will want to upgrade your Hunter's Machete to a Spirit Stone at least when you first back. This helps significantly with your clear speed due to the extra damage dealt to jungle camps. You will want to rush Spirit of the Elder Lizard as Ezreal lacks a form of CC without Red Buff. This ensures that even though you may not have red buff, the slow from this item will allow jungle Ezreal ganks to not only be flat out damage ganks. The stats such as cooldown reduction, 30 AD, mana and health regen also make this item a really good pickup, and the only Spirit Stone upgrade that you should pick up. I also rush a Vampiric Scepter so that I have better sustain in all kinds of situations, and take as little damage as possible from the jungle camps. The two items in an average game should take about 13-15 minutes to complete.

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Iceborn Gauntlet or Trinity Force?

Benefits of Iceborn Gauntlet:

• The AOE slow is actually quite significant
• The AOE slow helps the team (especially AP and AD carry) to prevent enemies from reaching your backline easily
• Gives armor and cooldown reduction, something Trinity Force doesn't give.
• Effective against full AD teams

Benefits of Trinity Force:

• Gives AD, attack speed, movement speed as well as crit chance, something Iceborn Gauntlet does not have.
• Extremely useful for staying mobile
• More gold efficient than Iceborn Gauntlet
• Spellblade does more damage (200% of AD compared to 125% of AD)

With this in mind, let me tell you that both items are fantastic, and using one ahead of the other isn't set in stone.

Use Iceborn Gauntlet when the enemy team has a lot of AD, and if the enemy team lacks a reliable gap close such a Malphite's Unstoppable Force. Iceborn Gauntlet can also serve as a defensive item. Iceborn Gauntlet is also recommended if your marksman lacks a good escape mechanism such as Varus. I commonly use this item if I am even or behind, however even when I am ahead I will still consider using Iceborn Gauntlet.

Use Trinity Force if you are ahead and you believe that you can snowball heavily with this item. Ezreal will have better damage as well as increased mobility due to the movement speed bonuses. However, I personally prefer going Iceborn Gauntlet over Trinity Force given the choice to only build 1 as Iceborn Gauntlet gives me more durability, as well as being a better teamfight item in general to benefit the team as a whole.

I don't commonly use Iceborn Gauntlet and Trinity Force together as they can be really expensive and snowball reliant, but I often get the two when I'm really ahead (completing one of the two by the 20 minute mark). The two items surprisingly synergize very well with each other, and it really helps to fulfill Ezreal's role as a poke/kiter who dishes out tons of damage in fights.

Choice of Boots:

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For extra cooldown reduction. Use it when you need to donate blue to your midlaner (which is 90% of the case for midlaners who uses mana-more on buff donation later) such that you will not get the 20% cooldown reduction from blue. Also helps when you don't have blue and get into a skirmish/fight, where CDR really helps to increase your Mystic Shot DPS.

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Use this if you can get blue/attain at least 30% cooldown reduction or if you want to transition into a marksman instead of an AD caster lategame.

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Only use these boots if you are constantly being targeted with high CC that risks you dying in the initiation phase.

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My usual 4th-6th items:

(after tier 2 boots)

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My usual 4th item. Why? Usually, the enemy will start to stack armor at this stage, so this form of armor penetration is absolutely essential to deal more damage and not see your damage fall off against that 200 armor enemy who wants to kill you. Furthermore, the AD it gives is also useful.

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Although this is a pricey 5th item, I believe that this is a great item to get. The AD it gives is really high, and the critical chance does help. Even though jungle Ezreal's main damage output is through his spells, in fights you will definitely have to autoattack (your autoattack rate is quite fast too!), and there is always that 1 in 4 chance you crit and deal 250% of your AD, which packs quite a punch and certainly does more damage than a Mystic Shot.

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A very debatable upgrade of Vampiric Scepter. Most people will ask why I don't get Bloodthirster for the extra damage, or even why Bloodthirster isn't the 5th item. Through 250+ games of jungle Ezreal, I think that Blade of the Ruined King is the best 6th item (yes, even ahead of Guardian Angel) that a jungle Ezreal can build. Yes, they nerfed the active, but this item just helps to complete jungle Ezreal's role as a kiting machine. There is literally no way a team without a reliable gap close can get to him, and he will be able to stay safe in fights with this item. It is also an extremely good dueling tool, and as Ezreal is already mobile enough with Iceborn Gauntlet, Guardian Angel would not be as useful as Blade of the Ruined King. Furthermore, the bonus 50% attack speed and small amounts of AD helps Ezreal to deal more DPS with his autoattacks in fights, and together with his high damage from his items as well as crit chance, he will be extremely relevant in the lategame.

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Situational Offensive items:

When to use Double Doran's Blade:
When you feel that you want to have a stronger earlygame and more damage/survivability in both the jungle and during ganks. I don't usually get this item because I'd rather use the 950 gold to rush Spirit of the Elder Lizard as well as Vampiric Scepter, but if you want to use it, during your first back get double Doran's Blade and if possible with the Spirit Stone. Sell it later in game, but not too early!

When to use Muramana:
If you really have severe mana issues or if you want to make sure that you always have enough mana. I don't like this item due to the relatively low AD, as well as Ezreal not having the highest mana costs in the world, but the Active and passive does help with Ezreal's Mystic Shot and autoattack DPS. Although I believe that Ezreal should build more damage items, if you want to get Muramana, get Tear of the Goddess on your first back (even if you have to delay Spirit Stone) so that you can stack it fully by the 24 minute mark, or this item will just be a huge burden to your potential damage output.

When to use Maw of Malmortius:
If the enemy is wrecking you with AP damage really bad, and you need this item in order not to get one-shotted. I believe that this item is a waste unless the enemy magic damage dealers are ridiculously fed, as the passive isn't the best in the world and I believe that the alternatives are much better. However if you want to get this item get Hexdrinker after Spirit of the Elder Lizard, Vampiric Scepter and Sheen, and upgrade it to Maw of Malmortius as your 5th item in place of Infinity Edge, or selling Spirit of the Elder Lizard after the 40 minute mark.

When to use Bloodthirster:
I admit, this item would be really good on jungle Ezreal due to the high AD (with stacks) as well as the lifesteal bonus. I have already mentioned why I prefer Blade of the Ruined King above. However if you want to use this item, build it as your 5th item in place of Blade of the Ruined King and make Infinity Edge or a defensive item your last buy.

Situational Defensive Items:

(Note: All items are good and can be used, just sell Spirit of the Elder Lizard after getting 5/6 items)

When to use Guardian Angel:
This item gives decent armor and magic resist, and a 2nd life every 5 minutes. This is a good item if the enemy can kill you during the initiation phase before you can do anything, so that you can remain relevant throughout the fight. However the active is on a 5 minute cooldown. If you want to build this item, replace it with Infinity Edge and get Bloodthirster instead of Blade of the Ruined King.

When to use Banshee's Veil:
Very similar uses to Guardian Angel, however it applies more to dodging deadly spells such as Unstoppable Force. I feel that in most cases, the enemy will not have this kind of initiation, however if you want to build this item do the same as Guardian Angel.

When to use Mercurial Scimitar:
When you are vulnerable to certain spells such as Zed's Death Mark, surpresses and CC which could leave you caught and potentially lead to your death. Such spells shouldn't really be used on you as you aren't really a carry, but if you find yourself the most threatening/the most vulnerable of carries then you should get this item ahead of Infinity Edge.

Consumables:

It's best if you can get like 2 Health Potions and at least 1 Sight Ward when you back. The Sight Ward can be used to ward lanes from ganks, Dragon and Baron, or warding your buffs/enemy buffs for buff control.

During the lategame if you have finished your build/5 items you can get Elixir of Fortitude and if you still have money, Elixir of Brilliance and Oracle's Elixir.

For my jungle path , I usually aim to gank at level 3, right after double buffs. Sometimes I gank mid, but usually top. Below is a picture numbering how I usually start when I use a ganking start (90% of the time):

*Note: Green indicates blue side jungle path, red indicates purple side jungle path.


Why do I choose to gank top and mid, you may wonder. Firstly, most top laners will start with Doran's Shield and 1 Health Potion, while AP midlaners will tend to start with Doran's Ring and 2 Health Potions. However, the bot lane usually has a support who will definitely ward early, so ganking bot lane will be extremely difficult. Thus I always aim to gank top and mid first as these lanes are extremely vulnerable and the chances of a successful gank is naturally higher in these lanes.

However, do take note of what every laner starts with once you have vision of them. Check if the laners start with any Sight Wards, and if they disappear from the map and come back without a ward, you know that they have warded, and judging from the time that they are away from lane you can then deduce the likely location of the ward. You can then assess whether to evade that ward and gank the lane anyway, or not gank the lane at all till the ward runs out. I will talk more about general jungling tips later.

The ganking paths you can take will be shown later in this section.





Sometimes when I know that lanes will be pushed early/ganks will be hard to carry out I will usually choose to complete the entire jungle to get level 4, back for items and gank. My jungle path is shown below, in numerical order:

Now you may be wondering, why do I start blue at both buffs to get the extra mana regen and the 20% cooldown reduction, which helps a lot when it comes to clearing my jungle efficiently, as I will be able to clear jungles faster with blue buff than red buff, on an average of about ~10+ seconds (tried and tested in a custom game).

Then, the next big question will come into mind-why are jungle paths different for blue and purple side even though you have the same aim to hit level 4?

For blue side, if you start blue, after your midlaner "leashes"(which in most case is just a spell and an autoattack since they do not want to lose out on any CS), it will usually only be your top lane who will help you with blue. Chances are you may have to smite blue, and even if your toplaner is generous enough to give you a smiteless leash, the time taken to clear bluebuff will be arounr 5 seconds slower than if you were to start on purple side. The first path assumes that you have a smiteless leash, which allows you to do wolves, wraiths(you'll hit 3 already), red(which you smite) and golems to get level 4. On average, Smite will be up after you have cleared 3 small camps, however if you smite blue, do wolves and wraiths and go for red, you'll either have to 1. Wait for Smite to be up when attempting red buff or 2. Hope you survive red with enough health(inclusive of potions) and do golems safely. That's why I go for the second path when I use Smite on blue-so that I do not waste time.

For purple side, you'll most likely get a smiteless leash on blue buff. Then, the reason why I do wolves before red(which I smite) is because once I finish wolves, go to red, do wraiths and go back to wolves, wolves would already have spawned as their respawn timer is only 50 seconds. As Ezreal isn't exactly the fastest junglers earlygame (he's kinda average), you won't lose any time. If your mid and botlaners happen to be so bad to you that you have to Smite bluebuff, use the 2nd blue side path instead.

The advantages of going such a path for purple side is that you'll most likely be faster than blue side. However, take note that such a start for both blue and purple side will likely leave you with no Health Potions at the end (maybe 1 if you are lucky).

Ganking Paths:

There are 3 ways to gank top and bot and 2 ways to gank mid. This is illustrated below:

Note: Red lines-common gank paths for blue/purple side
Blue lines-gank paths for blue side
Purple lines-gank paths for purple side

All gank paths can be successful, however the towerdives (blue side bot or purple side top) requires the enemy laners to be 1. Low and your allies are healthy or 2. Squishy and easy to burst down.



Now I will talk more about evading gank paths:

The common ward places and ward ranges are as shown below. The color of the circle(green, yellow and red) indicates how hard it will be to gank if wards are placed around there. You can still go through some paths even though it may be warded if the opponent is extremely overextended. If you have any questions on why I have labelled a certain spot in a certain color, feel free to ask me.

Do take note that certain ward placements combined together may mean that ganking certain lane(s) will become extremely hard. One example is that if your jungle entrances on blue side and Dragon is warded then you can forget about ganking mid/bot lane unless the enemy is hardcore CC'ed or you can validate that your enemy does not have map awareness. Also take note that you can still sneak into top and bot side river brush to gank if they ward the river but not the brush.

This is if you are BLUE SIDE:

This is if you are PURPLE SIDE:





You need to know which lanes are warded, and where each lane is warded. Bot lane is the hardest lane to gank due to the presence of supports, who often block out 2 out of 3 of your possible gank paths. Ask your teammates to ping where the enemy has warded (or where they think the enemy has warded) and choose an appropriate gank path to avoid the enemies wards to make a successful gank. Also, do take note that jungle Ezreal excels at evading gank paths. He can easily Arcane Shift over Dragon and Baron pits to launch a surprise gank. Also, Ezreal can Arcane Shift at the edge of the tribrush wall towards the brush to avoid one kind of ward, as illustrated below. Even if the brush is warded, a pushed enemy lane will not react in time to escape from your gank! This is illustrated below:





After going through these tips, you should have a better knowledge on the basic jungle aspect of jungle Ezreal. We shall proceed into more advanced tips.

Take note that there is the presence of an enemy jungle with an enemy jungler, which opens up a lot of opportunities for counterjungling.

Ezreal's jungling speed is average earlygame, however it gets quite fast into the midgame. However, despite his average jungling speed earlygame, he is still an extremely good counterjungler due to his mobility. The presence of a spammable Mystic Shot makes taking down a buff much easier as the single target damage to the buff (Ancient Golem/Elder Lizard) will mean that you should be able to take down the buff monster (not the small creeps) so quickly that unless the enemy is prepared, you will most likely escape with the buff. His Arcane Shift also allows him to evade river wards and get to the buff unnoticed. Also, by the time he finishes the buff, if the enemy jungler or even laners come, jungle Ezreal can easily escape with an Arcane Shift over the wall.

However, before you even counterjungle, there are things that you must TAKE NOTE OF, in order of priority:

1. Enemy jungler position:




2. Enemy matchups (which you can refer to later in this guide-to be up soon!):



3. Enemy wards:






Counterjungling involves a lot of calculated risk. However, it is good to counterjungle as it will set the enemy back, and as a jungler, if you are leading, you should aim to place immense pressure on their buffs such that it frees up your other lanes, when enemy laners are often forced to assist their jungler to drive you away. In most games, I will always aim to place pressure on the enemy buffs and steal them once the enemy jungler is out of position.

I'll give you some tips on counterjungling in general:


1. Take note of timers for Buffs, Dragon and Baron. Blue and Red buff spawn every 5 minutes, so expect the buff that the enemy jungler started with to respawn at around 7:15, and his next buff at around 8:00. This is especially important as if you are too late to contest the enemy buff, the enemy jungler would likely have secured it.


2. Place a Sight Ward before you counterjungle, preferably 1-2 minutes before the buff actually spawns. This makes it easier for the "safe" steal, but does not help with the "risky" steal, both of which I will elaborate on later. You will want to place the Sight Ward in the brush, which allows you to see the buff monsters when they spawn, as well as the enemy if they are doing their buff.


3. Counterjungling non-buff monsters are much easier. Enemies won't really notice you stealing the camp unless they are there themselves, and clearing non-buff monsters are much quicker. You would usually want to leave 1 small monster which gives very little exp left to further deny the enemy jungler. The death timers of these camps are relatively small (50 seconds), so it shouldn't really be something you should take note of. The only disappointment is if the enemy has cleared the camp already.


4. There are 2 ways to counterjungle buff monsters-the "safe" route and the "risky" route.







Now you will have greater knowledge on counterjungling. Now, what happens if YOU are getting counterjungled? Firstly, I will explain under what circumstances when you should just give up a buff, because in ANY OTHER circumstance you should always try to secure your buffs, or else the enemy will get ahead of you.

When to GIVE UP a buff(take note that all these applies PROVIDED you have 0 ward coverage on your buffs):

-If you spot an enemy running towards your buff when you are out of position and your laners cannot help you.


-If your laners cannot help you and the enemy jungler is way better at dueling with you(high base damage junglers such as Shyvana and Aatrox).



-If that super fed enemy is doing your buff, and you can't get laner help.



-If you are outnumbered or if you are sure the enemy is stronger than your team when they contest your buff.



In any other situation ALWAYS contest your buff as buffs are important to your team!

If you find that you are getting counterjungled frequently, do not hesitate to ward your own buffs! You will be able to catch the enemy jungler out of position, and even if you can't kill him or blow his summoners(which you'll probably do as long as your laners assist you), the chances of Smite stealing back your buff is high too.

This will be a very short chapter, but I feel that it is necessary as this will affect your build, as well as assessing how much a champion can effectively use a buff.


BLUE BUFF gives good mana/energy regen and 20% cooldown reduction.

For BLUE BUFF, in normal circumstances, champions that uses mana should be given blue buff, unless they have a strong likelihood to give it away (0-3 by 7 minutes or losing heavily in farm, or if the enemy laner has extremely high kill potential in lane). You are better off with blue buff than champions who uses energy or neither, as you have mana and the mana regen and cooldown reduction will be much better on you. However if they are really fed and/or you are not doing well then they should be given the buff for the extra CDR.


RED BUFF makes autoattacks and abilities that proc on-hit effects (such as Ezreal's Mystic Shot) slow enemies and deal bonus TRUE damage over time.

For RED BUFF, in normal circumstances, you should be having this item early/mid game. Once it is lategame, always donate red buff to your AD carry(unless he is practically useless) as they scale better than you and are much better kiting and chasing down enemies with it. However, even so, do not hesitate to donate red buff to your fed AD laner/AD carry as you already have Spirit of the Elder Lizard.

Now you may ask-why do I choose to get red buff even after Spirit of the Elder Lizard? This is because I want my teamfight presence to be stronger, and add the Red buff slow and DoT AS WELL as my Spirit of the Elder Lizard slow and DoT to deal more damage. After all, Ezreal shines in the midgame, and this is where his damage will truly make him a force to be reckoned with in fights.

Ganking as jungle Ezreal without red buff means that you only have flat out damage to offer, as Ezreal has no form of CC from his abilities that can inhibit an opponent. However, with Spirit of the Elder Lizard or RED BUFF, his ganks become slightly more potent as he is able to slow the enemy from a distance with Mystic Shot as it procs on-hit effects, as well as gap-close effectively with Arcane Shift to increase the chances of getting a kill to snowball a lane.

The advantage that you have is that most laners seriously underestimate the ganking potential of jungle Ezreal. They will usually burn a summoner only when the realise "HOLY **** HE DOES SO MUCH DAMAGE AND BASICALLY PERMASLOWS ME), and by then it's usually too late as when Ezreal ganks earlygame with redbuff, his damage with the laner's damage will usually be so high an opponent can easily be whittled down to 0 HP.

Here are some tips you should take note of when ganking as jungle Ezreal:

• It's not advisable to gank without RED BUFF or Spirit of the Elder Lizard unless the opponent is extremely overextended and/or your laner has strong CC. This is because without CC, it becomes much easier for enemies to just run to their towers.
  
  
• Take note of the enemies wards and evade them by taking an alternative ganking path(from the ones shown above or any other gank path you deem fit) unless your laners can initiate with hard CC such that you will be in lane just in time to follow up with slows(hopefully) and high damage.
  
  
• When ganking, DO NOT immediately use Arcane Shift to gapclose unless you really need it to send that last Mystic Shot to finish the enemy. When you use Arcane Shift, if enemies escape, you can't follow up by gapclosing to secure the kill. This prevents a golden opportunity to kill the laners and snowball the lane, and if you play jungle for a long time you will know that a gap closer skill is precious and should only be used IF THE ENEMY HAS ALREADY USED HIS ESCAPE MECHANISM(e.g. Flash, Ghost) or CROWD CONTROL ABILITIES(e.g. Exhaust, Aqua Prison, Counter Strike).
  
  
• After a successful gank where you kill the enemy laner/force him to recall, ALWAYS PUSH THE LANE unless the enemy's minions are already pushed heavily. By pushing the wave and getting your creeps to the tower(maybe killing off 1-2 waves of enemy creeps once your creeps hit the tower), you and your laner are CASHING IN on the experience on the enemy's creep waves, so technically you don't lose any experience from their minions. When your minions push to the enemies tower, NOT ONLY will your minions deal good damage to the tower, the enemy laner will LOSE EXPERIENCE because of the tower executing the minions, thus setting him back further and allowing the lane to snowball even harder. Even if your laner does not like the idea, let him thank you after you have helped him win his lane even harder!
  
  
• There is one special case to the point above, and that is if the enemy's minions are already pushed to or very near your tower. This is because if this is the case, it is very unlikely you can shove the wave fast enough such that it gets to the enemy tower, and even so, the enemy loses minimal experience and it becomes harder to snowball. I would recommend FREEZING the lane, and 1-Letting the laner stay in lane and freeze the lane or 2-Let your laner recall for better items compared to the enemies and hold the lane for him. This is useful especially if your laner is good at last-hitting under the tower. The advantages are that with the kill, your laner (if he backs) will have the same experience as the enemy, but due to the larger enemy minion wave he is likely to gain more experience in the long run. Furthermore, each time the enemy comes to last hit your laner can harass him and make the enemy risk eating tower shots.
  
  
• Once you get your Trueshot Barrage, DO NOT BE AFRAID to assist your enemy laners by sending an ultimate when a small skirmish breaks out(of course, don't use it randomly on a peaceful lane or your laner will hate you). It does quite a lot of damage (especially rank 2 Trueshot Barrage) and also applies Spirit of the Elder Lizard slow, which could be the damage/CC your laner needs to win the skirmish!
  

Before I go into the specifics such as Earlygame, I will want to highlight jungle Ezreal's role in a team with more detail. Jungle Ezreal is meant to be a high damage AD caster with extremely high mobility, outplay potential, as well as an insane kiting machine which prevents bruisers and tanks from reaching the backline. Ezreal is a "carry jungler" and not a "support jungler", so he will have to get kills/a lot of assists in order to get ahead and snowball, and with items fulfill this potential. He will also need to get quite a bit of farm, which often mean taxing lanes by taking farm or even waves of minions(do it appropriately though). This build of Ezreal ensures that he shines on his strongest period, the midgame, while ensuring that he stays relevant and strong in the early and lategame.

Earlygame:

Look to gank after doublebuff and get kills/assists for lanes to snowball. This phase is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT as jungle Ezreal, as it will most likely determine whether you can effectively scale into the mid and lategame. After a successful gank, PUSH THE WAVE, and maybe get a few hits on the tower. Cash in on the gold and experience that the creeps give, and allow your laner to back to get items and snowball. Your laner may question this, but when he gets an advantage he will thank you for pushing the wave.

Make sure you cover lanes that back. Just soaking up experience/farm will also help you a lot. However in this case don't push the lane or your laner will lose out in experience.

Also, take note of which lanes have the hardest CC. These are the lanes where, if you manage to evade enemy wards, ganks will be most successful.

Midgame:

By now, the laning phase should have ended with a few towers going down. This is when the team will start to stick. The midgame is usually from the 20-40 minute mark, though this number can easily be adjusted depending on each game. As jungle Ezreal, look to siege towers and go for objectives. Don't go for Baron until the enemy is aced and you have at least 3/4 members remaining, or you risk throwing the game. Don't look for fights-jungle Ezreal is not supposed to engage fights. Instead, constantly poke with your Mystic Shots, and save your Arcane Shift in case the enemy decides to engage. Follow the skill tips I mentioned above, and once you manage to force an enemy to recall due to your poke, siege the tower by using Essence Flux on your allies (especially your AD carry) to give an attack speed boost.

Lategame:

If you reach this stage, you will have to stick with your team no matter what (unless you have vision of all 5 enemies not rushing for some fight/objective). This WILL cost you the game, especially if you are OUT OF POSITION. Remember that even if you are behind, it takes just 1 GOOD FIGHT to change the game. Most importantly, remember your role as jungle Ezreal.

This is my first guide on MobaFIRE! It took me a really long time to write this guide, and for those who have read the guide up till here, I really appreciate it! Feel free to leave constructive comments about my guide, and message me if you have any successful games you would want me to post up! I know that my guide may need a lot of work, that's why I need you as the reader to comment and give me more tips to improve!

Also, tell me what other sections of this guide you would like to see!


Special thanks goes to:

• JhoiJhoi for the line dividers as well as the BBCode guide.
• My buddies tpy7777 and xShyGuyx for giving me so many suggestions for jungle Ezreal builds, which allowed me to experiment and come out with a suitable build!
• Stonewall for gameplay footage of junglers, which really helped me get a basic understanding of jungling!
• Trick2g for making me a jungle main(I don't like to disrespect though, sorry!) by showing me just how much a jungler is able to carry, as well as some of the funniest videos I have ever seen!
• Lastly, to you, the reader, who has spent so much time looking through this guide and helping me with your constructive feedback!

That's all from me!
-Lyñx

Chapters:
-Teamfighting tips and your role

Also:
-More explanations in terms of gameplay (early, mid, lategame)
-More appropriate colouring in paragraphs of explanations
-Better formatting
-Videos and pictures