All of Ezreals skills have really good AP ratios, and building him AP is a viable, even though
underused way. However I haven't seen a guide yet that goes AP because of his Q, Mystic Shot and it's amazing synergy with the new powerfull On-Hit effects of S3. What is special about this build ?

To make it simple his Q can easily become the highest DPS skill in the game. Other than that, his long-ranged sniping and high mobility make him a strong and very fun to play AP carry.

I will try to demonstrate his incredible Q damage potential by comparing it to the most known and feared long-range-AP-nuke, Javelin Toss:




While Nidalee can only stack AP, Ezreal has a variety of - expensive - On-Hit effects to choose from. The above is a usefull comparison but shouldn't be seen as Nidalee beeing inferior to Ezreal - both are good at what they do.

Compared to a standard ADC build, this build gains DPS, burst damage and range. Nothing is more satisfying than a 1,5k damage Trueshot Barrage, clearing a whole lane of creeps and taking away 50% HP on every enemy champion. Did I say nothing ? Only his constant Q poke on entire, hopelessly slowed, enemy teams under towers and his godlike, unescapable burst.



His mobility is legendary, Arcane Shift beeing the best blinking ability in game, and at a ridiculously short cd of 4,6 seconds at that.

His problems are that of any squishy AP carry, assasins, hard CC and some bruisers will give him a hard time should they lock him down and his early game is very weak against strong pushers until he gets his first items and lvl 6. Beware that most of his skills are skillshots - don't miss them (Gauntlet helps in this regard).

Read further to see why each item in the spread sheet has its place and purpose and will make you destroy your enemies without mercy. And yes Lich Bane and Iceborn Gauntlet do stack in everything except Gauntlet 125% main target damage!

My build starts almost as a normal AD carry would, with AD/APen runes, 21/x/x AD masteries and early AD items like , . This leads to confusions, since my build claims to be an AP build, and no normal caster would start this way.


This guide is all about his Q: Mystic Shot. With and it has a 1.0 AD and a 1.0 AP ratio and does both physical and magical damage. While building AD allows for hard hitting Q together with hard hitting auto attacks and is what everyone does, building AP stacks up his Q damage even more and promotes his other abilities but lets his auto attacks drop off - Spellsword still gives them some potencie, though.
The above calculations should have convinced you that an AP build has overall the most damage, and this is where we are going. However, Mystic Shot starts as a physical damage ability and only has an AD scaling early, also your passive and auto attacks are your biggest source of damage early. And not to forget, even with AP your q will always have a substantial physical damage part.


Looking at summoner spells we should add to his mobility with Flash and decide on either defense against bursty enemies with Barrier/ Exhaust or on pure offense with Ignite. Both and are amazing if used correctly, but as they belong to the most difficult summoner spells to master and are generally not seen on Ezreal, you should only use them if you know what you are doing.

• 9xGreater Mark of Armor Penetration 3xGreater Quintessence of Armor Penetration
  These improve your predominantly physical damage oriented early-mid game phase where you still rely on and Auto Attacks (AA) to deal damage.
• 9x 9x
  Scaling Ability Power will increase your late game performance a lot and you will need only and to get over 500 AP already. Nice isn't it ?
  An alternative would be MR or CDR Glyphs and Armor Seals for a more versatile and durable early-mid game.
• 
  This is absolutely required as it improves your Q ratio by 5% per AP! Also because your auto attacks gain some serious On-Hit damage later.
• 9x / 9x + +
  Against some enemies you may want to consider a more defensive setup, Phanteon, Le Blanc and more come to my mind.

You have a number of starting options, sometimes I want to rush a Tear or shen and start with Sapphire Crystal, when I dont fear ganks and want to dominate my lane Doran's Blade or Crystalline Flask and Health Potions/ Sight Wards when I know I will be struggling. Do not take flat AP early since we do not rank and spamm until later Essence Flux.


Because of the amazing AP that Seraph's Embrace provides an early Tear of the Goddess is a good option else you can rush Iceborn Gauntlet and its parts or another Doran's Blade for some sustain. Compared to a Doran's Ring, another blade gives a lot more damage and sustain, you can make more use of AD in the early game and you shouldn't have mana problems with the Tear. It is important to get 40% CDR and a Sheen as you continue to put points into your Q. Blue Buff is really good on him in early-mid game. Always remember that 90% of your early game damage comes from auto-attacks and Q, so AD (Doran's/Runes/Masteries) and APen (Runes/Masteries) is well worth it.


Sooner or later you want to have Iceborn Gauntlet, Seraph's Embrace and Lich Bane in your inventory. Why these and not a rushed Deathcap ? Because gives you almost as much AP as the Deathcap for only 2k gold and the Shield will be your only defense for a long time. Because provides you with valuable pushing power and CC together with Armor and CDR, the sheer amount of different stats gives you more than pure AP. Because - no matter how tiny the damage increase may seem at first - is absolute core to any AP Ezreal build and gives you MS, another survivabilty stat and the strong passive only costs you 310g. Obviously you can delay upgrading your Tear or getting a Lich Bane until late game and get a Rabadon's Deathcap or Deathfire Grasp earlier. But your poke from Q - precisely the thing that Ezreal is all about - will stay low until you get Lich Bane and it is also the best item to take down towers in a rush. For boots I suggest as it makes you independent of blue buff and allows for a lot more DPS. are an option if you have the CDR already (runes, , blue buff).

Be aware that your power will peak with and will then stagnate until you get + + - you need a solid amount of AP to back up your Lich Bane damage. Still you should have an easy farm fest before you (just + - and you can ult every creep wave with blue/CDR). You just have to get to late game, then you will 1v5 them.


Now you have your core and the only thing you want now is as much AP as you can handle, the 1.0 AP ratio and the 1.4 sec CD on your Q are the best poke this game has to offer, and your burst will rise to Veigar-levels with Rabadon's Deathcap, your last core item. Make sure you get as soon as you see them buy MR, consider Enchantments like , or . Don't forget to buy stacks of wards, Vision Wards preferably, as your range allows for incredible snipes and ambushes.


If you have enough skill or your team has enough slows and CC to skip Iceborn Gauntlet, you can also exchange this item for some more AP like Deathfire Grasp. But in most cases the slow from Gauntlet is just too awesome to pass up.

HHH Rising Spell Force (Passive): Great passive because together with your Q-AA-resets every 1.4 seconds your effective AS will be close to the cap. Even with a low 150-ish base AD you will do some great damage, especially early-mid game. Anyone pretending that 50% AS is bad just because we build him AP underestimates the value of basic attack-harrass. Compared to other build, you will have your passive up for the entire game.
HHH Mystic Shot (Q): 1.4 seconds CD, low mana cost, 1100 range, good base ratio, applies On-Hit effects. The new, powerfull On-Hit effects of S3 make this skill so strong: Iceborn Gauntlet-slow, Lich Bane-damage. Also because its so cheap and spammable, it can help you last-hit over a great distance and stack your Tear of the Goddess. The one thing that really makes his Q godlike is the 1 sec CDR for every hit he lands; resulting in drastically lowered CD's - and with that drastically increased damage - for all his abilities. Insane damage with AP and Lich Bane.

HHH Essence Flux (W): It passes through minions with a decent damage and good ratio. The perfect follow-up after a hit Q. Because of its long CD without Q-CD-reduction and high mana cost we level it last. Its a very easy way to poke though. Note that because AS is a very expensive stat in S3, beeing able to give your teammembers 40% AS (permanently with its 3.6 sec CD) is very helpfull late game. Constant AS buff for your team.
HHH Arcane Shift (E): As mentioned earlier, we max this second for its damage and - most of all - utility and mobility. You can skip even Flash because of this. It can be used to blind shot escaping enemies through the fog of war or stealth. You will catch anyone and escape from everything.
HHH Trueshot Barrage (R): Global skill, high base damage and ratio, extremely short CD (28 sec) and it's AOE. After building some AP this skill alone will clear a lane completely and take away 50-90% HP of all champions in its path. As minions spawn every 30 seconds, you can keep a lane free indefinetely. Try to keep enemy buffs warded and steal them, its damage will surpass Smite very quickly. Sometimes you can even take down a careless jungler with it. Also assisting your allies across the map is pretty awesome.

Concerning skillorder: You always max. Mystic Shot first. Its the highest damage you can get. Consider some early points into Essence Flux if you get blue buff and the enemy can't perma-push your lane. Take Arcane Shift at level 2 and max it second due to its damage and utility. Obviously you take Trueshot Barrage whenever you can.


But isn't it better to max Essence Flux first ? SPACE I tried to show that Mystic Shot has a bigger damage, but even if we want to get the highest DPS out of Essence Flux, you will get more damage if you max Mystic Shot first - the On-Hit-1-sec-CDR will drop your W CD down to 3.6 seconds, meaning you can use it twice as much and your overall W damage goes up even though you have less points in it. You consume more Mana but that should never be a problem with Tear of the Goddess and blue buff.
So max it second or last but take one point early to spamm it.

• My guide is not a pure AP guide. You can are free to build AP, AD or even hybrid every game as your core doesn't nail you to any direction. Every build has its strength and drawback ...
  • AD more damage early-mid game, more sustain due to lifesteal, less skill-shot reliant but smallest overall damage.
  • Hybrid cheap, strong mid game, sustain, falls off late but can then switch to AD or AP.
  • AP weaker early-mid game, no sustain, skill-shot reliant, highest damage output.
  ... I like to put emphasis on Hextech Gunblade and Guinsoo's Rageblade. The gunblade is another step in delaying your AP build for more mid-game strength with a and boosts the sustain and CC of an AP build greatly - at the cost of a precious item slot. The rageblade is by far the most cost-efficient item there ever was. If you lack money and farm, if you wall behind, its the perfect buy ( all in all 5175g worth for the price of 2600g).
• This build works on top lane, too. Just make sure you start with a Sight Ward.
• I advise against defensive items on Ezreal. He can remain at a save distance and has enough escapes. If you really want a defensive slot, you better fill one with wards and get enough vision to destroy your enemies with superior reconnaisance.
• Because you will do both physical and magical damage, it is very hard to counter you. You can also use hybrid penetration runes.

Thanks for reading and credits to JhoiJhoi. Feel free to post your feedback.