Ekko Build Guide by xIFelix

Hello!

Hello! I'm TheWickedCat, currently ranked Silver 3 as of Season 5. Recently, I've been playing Tank Ekko in the Jungle, and have found out how much fun he can be, and how easy it is to win games without having to do a ton of damage. Ekko, in his rawest form, has a high base defence when built into late game defense. Ekko is a champion who can go facerollmykeyboardandwin style, and still get off scott free without feeding the enemy team.
So with that, let's get started!

Summary

Playing Tank Ekko is mainly for those who like to have a champion who is unnaturally tanky, but still does damage. Jungle Ekko is a very gank-related champion. His main goal during ganks is to place his Parallel Convergence W out, jumping into the enemy laner using his Phase Dive in order to stun the enemy laner, forcing a flash or getting a kill.

Ekko brings a multitude of tank and damage stats to just about any team. This is because of the combination of his passive and his ultimate. His passive, Z-Drive Resonance deals tons of health points in damage against his opponent after three basic attacks, regardless of Ekko's AP or AD. This provides a lot of damage at the beginning of a gank in order to get the laner low enough to secure a kill, or to force out summoners.

Ekko's ultimate is basically the biggest F--- you ganking tool that can be used to defeat an opponent under turret, and then shift back to a previous position to restore the health Ekko lost. Once you get your second core item, you can use Ekko's W to freeze someone under turret during a gank, Timewinder Q, E, and then ultimate out, resulting in either a kill or a pressure point put on the enemy laner.

Pros / Cons of Tank Ekko

Pros:
- Extremely tanky when built properly
- Has great diving ability with Ultimate and W
- Decent damage output
- Excellent ganks, if pulled off correctly

Cons:
- Coordination is required with your laners during ganks
- Susceptible to counter-jungling early
- Very reliant on your blue buff camp
- Low mana pool, especially late game when ability spa0mming

Spells

Z-Drive Resonance : This is your passive. Every three basic attacks the Ekko is able to pull off on an enemy opponent causes Ekko to gain movement speed, and sap the enemy's own movement speed. This passive is the reason that tanky Ekko becomes worthwhile in the jungle. Besides the slow, Z-Drive Resonance also does health damage based on Ekko's level, which is actually a significant amount early on during ganks (Think Lee Sin Q nuke).

Timewinder : This is Ekko's Q, it isn't really all that great during ganking, but does add a way to add those stacks to your passive. Ekko throws his timewinder out in a line to a distance, extends out slightly further after it's max distance is achieved, and then returns back. Both the travel and return do damage, which means using this against your wolves and raptors is important to improve your clear time.

Parallel Convergence : Ekko winds up to hit a shield bubble into a targeted area. If Ekko is inside of it, he gains a shield. If an enemy is in it, the bubble will slow them until the bubble dissipates or they leave it. And if both Ekko and an enemy are inside, the opponent will be stunned for one and a half seconds. A wonderful ability for Ekko. Ekko's W is your starting ability in the jungle. Reason being that it provides a sub-par shield that can help you tank the first camp, and improve your sustain through your jungle clears. This is also Ekko's ganking tool. When initiating a gank, throw Parallel Convergence out BEHIND the laner, otherwise, to where you believe they will go (NOTE: Very hard to do with laners with escapes, LeBlanc, Zed, etc) and initiate the slow. If you are able to get close enough, Phase Dive in, and if Ekko is inside of the shield when an enemy laner is inside of it, a one and a half second stun will be place on the enemy laner. Remember, your Phase Dive is a Blink, so you become invulnerable to stuns during that time.

Phase Dive : Ekko's E. Ekko tumbles in the direction of your mouse cursor, and if in range of an enemy opponent, Ekko will blink to them if clicked upon. This is the second ability to your combo stun. When going in for ganks, this ability is what gets you into the initiation area. When placing down Parallel convergence, you are able to use Phase dive to jump to the enemy laner inside of your shield bubble, allowing you to stun, or force a flash on the enemy laner. Its jungle clear ability is kind of meh, so try to minimize its use when jungling.

Chronobreak : Your ultimate "F--- You" ability. Ekko creates a trailing hologram of himself, which he can then activate to phase back to the area he was previously at. This is what makes Tank Ekko, Tank Ekko. When beginning ganks at level 6, the easiest way to kill the laner, or to force out summoners, is to dive turret. Yes, dive turret. With your level 6 ability available, all you have to do is go deep into range with turret, and harass the enemy. At this point, you should have enough tank items in order to take a few hits, and finally, bring you back out of range where your clone is at. Chronobreak doesn't only revert you back to a former place and restore health, it does damage. LOTS, of damage. Even when you build tank, this ability still does massive amounts of health points if you revert back onto the enemy carry. So using your phase dive in conjunction with your Chronobreak can make teamfights and taking out carries much simpler than you may think.

Ganking/Jungling

Your ganking phase is fairly simple. Stay out of sight, Parallel Convergence the enemy laner to try to get him to run into it to stun them, or to zone them away from the area to block their escape. Your basic combo here is Parallel Convergence W, Phase Dive E, dive into laner, and Timewinder Q. At point blank range, the Timewinder Q cannot miss, and you can apply your passive at least once, and often times you can get a second one if you're lucky enough to get a good gank on top or bottom lane.

Your usual Jungle route is Gromp, Blue, Wolves, Red, then Raptors or Krugs if you are still on good health. When initiating the fight in the jungle, the best thing to do is to place down a Parallel Convergence W on top of the camp, throw a Timewinder Q into them, and then Phase Dive E the big minion. The ensuing stun will prevent minions in the jungle from hitting you for about 2 seconds, giving you a small shield (Since you aren't building AP) and stunning the minions for about two auto attacks.

Early on, you're squishy. You are going to need to plan out your route accordingly, and possibly take scuttle if you need the extra health to continue your run. Always watch for lanes that are close to, or further out than the center line of their lane, because this provides a perfect opportunity to make them panic when they see your Parallel Convergence W flying in, with you in pursuit.

If you are looking for a bit more harass, and tower dive the enemy champion, you can use your Chronobreak Ultimate to keep yourself safe from the turret's wrath. If done correctly, you can run into turret and continue to apply your passive to the laner, and once you become low enough, Chronobreak out and recover much of your lost health.

Runes

Greater Mark of Attack Speed

: I take these for the pure essential piece to why you make a great tank. After three hits, this mark will trigger a large sum of damage on the target that receives three marks.

Greater Seal of Scaling Health

: For some people, you can take Scaling armor if you'd like. I however like the scaling health runes because of the bonus health it gives you late game. You already are very relevent early game, and give large amounts of pressure because of the long range on your W, but with scaling health you become even more annoying to focus down with nearly 300 bonus health by the end of the game.

Greater Glyph of Cooldown Reduction

: These are in order to use your W more often. The more often you're able to use it on a camp between roaming the jungle, the better off you'll be. It's also to use in the late game to hit that 40% to allow your ultimate to be up more often to engage in 5v5 teamfights.
If you want to swap these out for 9 Greater Glyph of Magic Resist you are able to do that as well if you want to make your mid lane ganks slightly less diminishing on your health.

Greater Quintessence of Armor

: For even more Jungle sustain, you can take Armor Quints. These tend to be better on Tank Ekko just because of the ability to sustain more damage from the top and bottom lanes, as well as survive invades from the enemy jungler. You can take whatever you want here, but I find that armor quints work the best when you are an aggressive ganking Jungler.

Advanced Items/Mechanics

Now that the basics are covered for your routes and ganking, you can work on advanced mechanics in order to keep you safe, aid your teammates, or to escape sticky situations.

Deadman's Plate slows : You may have already guess, but Deadman's Plate procs with your Phase Dive on the second animation. Using Dead Man's Plate Deadman's Plate + Phase Dive Phase Dive results in a guaranteed slow on whoever you are aiming at. This is why it is your core item to get first or second, depending on your matchups.

Your Ultimate Ability, Chronobreak is one of Ekko's bread and butter skills after level 6, beating out a Parallel Convergence stun or flash dive. Once you become an unstoppable force with at least two or three bars of health, Ekko can tower dive with ultimate ease. Even if you begin to take damage under turret, keep going! If you find yourself getting low, or you've killed the enemy champion, pressing your R will get you out of turret aggro without any stray turret shots that can kill you at low health.



Still working on this guide! Bear with me guys!