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Evelynn Build Guide by The Patriots

Jungle "I want to kill other people." - In-Depth (8.19)

Jungle "I want to kill other people." - In-Depth (8.19)

Updated on October 2, 2018
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League of Legends Build Guide Author The Patriots Build Guide By The Patriots 17 2 82,437 Views 13 Comments
17 2 82,437 Views 13 Comments League of Legends Build Guide Author The Patriots Evelynn Build Guide By The Patriots Updated on October 2, 2018
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Choose Champion Build:

  • LoL Champion: Evelynn
    Evelynn (Electrocute)
  • LoL Champion: Evelynn
    Evelynn (Dark Harvest)
  • LoL Champion: Evelynn
    Evelynn (Mid Lane)

Runes:

Domination
Electrocute
Sudden Impact
Eyeball Collection
Relentless Hunter

Sorcery
Transcendence
Gathering Storm

Spells:

LoL Summoner Spell: Flash

Flash

LoL Summoner Spell: Smite

Smite

Threats & Synergies

Threats Synergies
Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny
Show All
None Low Ok Strong Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Synergies
Ideal Strong Ok Low None


Hello! I am the author of this ever-evolving Evelynn guide. My in-game name is Umbrakinesis. I have been playing League of Legends since August 2013. While I classify myself as a support main, I am in the jungle nine times out of ten for other reasons. I am currently placed as a Gold I player Update: I have reached Platinum V as of the 25th of September, 2018 in solo queue! With the end of Season 7 being my first time really dedicating several hours to ranked (having finally finished Gold), I am now learning more than I ever have in five years of playing League of Legends and hope to reach Diamond before the end of Season 8 or in Season 9.

Evelynn was my first champion that I took into solo queue, in the closing of Season 3: at the time, she was an entirely different champion. I was new to the jungle role, but swiftly fell in love with her stealthy play style. I placed Silver IV and would slowly drift away from playing Evelynn following the removal of a key item used on AP Evelynn (rest in peace Deathfire Grasp) and several nerfs to her reliability/versatility. I would only play her on-and-off because I did not have the experience as a player, much less a jungler, to make her niche work consistently from there. I preferred middle lane more than the jungle, and that was as niche pick as it gets. It was only with the addition of lethality items like Duskblade of Draktharr that lead me to truly dusting Evelynn off and playing her as one of my main champions.

So what about the actual champion, Evelynn?

The Evelynn rework pushed away many of her old players, and I was initially one of them: however, after dozens if not maybe a few hundred games across several accounts of playing Evelynn (from the PBE to live), I grew to love her new kit and appreciate that it might even be too powerful in solo queue because of the amount of power perma-stealth holds; even with a delay. Evelynn, in my experience, is now a mid-to-late game assassin with an interesting advantage over most assassins: rather than outright fall off, she instead grows stronger, has monstrous ability power scaling on her abilities, and has hard crowd control/a crippling slow, with the addition of a Magic Resist shred, in the form of Allure. It sounds complicated, but with consistent play these perks become second nature. Seeing as this is just a rather long introduction, everything else will be covered in excruciating (and I mean excruciating) detail down below. You have been warned.

May this guide offer you greater insight into the enigma that is Evelynn!


Table of Contents



Pros: Evelynn's Torturous Strengths

+ Healthy jungle clear (becomes one of the fastest).
+ Versatility in how she clears.
+ Objective control via Last Caress & Smite.
+ Assassin with hard CC via Allure.
+ Shreds tanks thanks to Allure & Whiplash.
+ Strong, oppressive mid game.
+ Strong late game for picks, some team fighting.
+ Can snowball out of control.
+ High scaling AoE nuke via Last Caress.
+ Demon Shade can heal to full with right build.
+ Very high burst damage.
+ One-shot potential with right build.
+ Stealth: allows you to ignore Stealth Ward.
+ Stealth: forces gold into Control Ward.
Cons: Evelynn's Glaring Weaknesses

- Extremely weak early game.
- Pre-6 ganks take more thoughtful planning.
- Squishy as they come.
- Relies on laners with hard CC to gank pre-6.
- Very susceptible to counter-jungling pre-6.
- Allure is difficult to use in untrained hands.
- Easy to pick-up kit, very difficult to execute.
- Very item-reliant, yet stagnant in build path.
- Must remain consistent if ahead lest you fall off.
- Initial Hate Spike must land to do real damage.
- Next to no sustained damage, even at full build.
- Hard time split-pushing, even late game.
- Last Caress is on a long cooldown early.
- That same ability is also her only reliable escape.


Evelynn has a solid kit that combines reasonably high burst damage with a perma-stealth mechanic, a lengthy and rewarding to use form of hard crowd control and a nuke with a built-in gap closer/escape mechanism. Early game, she does struggle. Pray there be no aggressive early game junglers like Lee Sin or Jax on the opposing team to ruin your early jungle clear, then you have the window of opportunity to snowball a lane out of control and put global pressure on the map without ever being physically present in said sections of it. Post-6, Evelynn assumes stealth after a four-second window of being disengaged from combat/taking damage from any source, which allows her to plan her next move out of the enemy's sight while regenerating a decent amount of lost health rapidly the more ability power you build. The fact that you are perma-stealthed alone post-6 incites a level of psychological pressure regarding Evelynn's potential whereabouts/activities. If the enemy is stingy with gold for Control Ward or ineffective at warding regardless, Evelynn's window to engage opens up substantially and thus allows her the freedom post-6 to snowball the game in her favor and therefore her team's favor.

Once she has her hands on her core items, Evelynn is free to burst down enemies she catches out of position with her basic abilities alone very quickly, if not blowing their summoner spells such as Flash. Once Evelynn has a Lich Bane, it is very possible to insta-kill squishies with a Whiplash and Hate Spike combo, regardless of a charm off of Allure or not. At full build, Whiplash and Hate Spike will insta-kill squishies, period, and chunk tanks for at least 3/4th of their health (though you should be focusing on squishy targets as an assassin). So long as she remains even with her opposition, Evelynn at least offers large AoE damage and slipperiness with Last Caress to a team environment, hard CC and Magic Resist shred in the form of Allure (though it can also be a carry deterrent for a brief number advantage in a fight) and the ability to clean up afterward even if she sustained heavy damage, thanks to Demon Shade. In regards to objectives, Last Caress allows Evelynn to secure objectives with one of the largest nukes in the game, eclipsing even Nunu & Willump in that regard. Evelynn can Flash into the dragon / baron nashor pit, use Last Caress and Smite for a huge and nigh unpredictable burst of damage, and get out safely, securing both an objective, your safety and possibly even a kill.

TL;DR: Evelynn is a force to be reckoned with once you capitalize on her strong suits: strong pick potential, objective control and some team fight potential. Evelynn is also extremely oppressive when fed, perhaps one of the most oppressive assassin junglers in the game. You would think it's unfair, right?


Evelynn is arguably one of the weakest champions at levels one to five: Hate Spike does relatively low damage without Electrocute being up and is on a long cooldown outside of the jungle. An Allure start means she can only slow or charm a target - you most likely will fail to invade early with it, as your only means to proc it would be with a melee attack. Whiplash has weak damage in and out of the jungle early on, even when its an empowered one. Evelynn, fortunately, does not fall under the usual category of a feast-or-famine kind of assassin: ahead or behind, if played well, having hard crowd control via Allure and an execute via Last Caress means Evelynn can always be somewhat useful, gradually snowballing into relevance. If your teammates do not or cannot help you being invaded, you probably will be useless early on though: hell, Soraka could invade you solo and ruin your game if you are unprepared.

If you are effective enough in surviving your early clear, avoiding or simply not being counter jungled and picking either smart fights or no fights until level 6, then you can rejoice only briefly: your damage is still gated to landing a Hate Spike and the 30% execute threshold on Last Caress at this stage of the game. If you fail to snowball at this point, you continue to lose the potential to do anything remarkable in the game and will have basically lost yourself (and thus the team) the game if you do not make up for slack in gold/objectives. Last Caress has an unforgivably long cooldown early game and wasting it on something like escaping or simply a failed gank is going to make anything but farming camps very dangerous for you. Farming side lanes to circumvent falling behind is ill-advised because your Hate Spike is abysmal for it, even at next to full build, as are your auto attacks. Failure to keep vision on the enemy team and to avoid the paths of Control Ward post-6, regardless of your stealth, will either waste your Last Caress or get you killed if you do not have it up to escape (or if you are that unlucky, both).

TL;DR: Evelynn is simply not the best early game champion, and until level 6 and some items, is a sitting duck. You most certainly want to avoid the lengthy list of cons, correct? Then follow this simple dogma: always be on your toes pre-6 so that the enemy is on their toes post-6!



Dark Harvest is my preferred keystone on Evelynn. Dark Harvest has good synergy with Evelynn's kit and her role in the jungle ( Whiplash procs Dark Harvest because it is treated as an on-hit). Stacks of Dark Harvest can be acquired through being present at the time of a (not necessarily killing) large monster/minion's death. The same applies to champion deaths, whether you kill, assist, or stand by idly. Dark Harvest allows Evelynn to rack up her potential damage, very quickly if you are proactive in picking up stacks without simply getting abysmally fed. Farming camps is the most obvious way to acquire a stack, but as mentioned above, being near deaths (though preferably contributing to the enemy's deaths) is also sufficient in stacking Dark Harvest. Learning to timing the arrival of a siege minion in lane, keeping track of your camps and the enemy's camps, and patience/time in your decision making are all crucial in optimal stacking and use of Dark Harvest.

As of patch 8.16, Electrocute has had its early cooldown halved: instead of scaling down from 50-25 seconds, it is now 25-20 seconds. This is good news for Evelynn, as repeat ganks will now become stronger whether they are on the same lane or you get into a fight relatively soon afterwards; on the other end of the spectrum, however, its nerfs to scaling/base damage mean that its burst damage is now weaker than before. However, Evelynn gets the majority of her damage output from her own absurd ratios, so this is a minor set back with more positives than negatives. Electrocute also works really well with Hextech Rocketbelt and front loads a ton of damage into your early game domination (as the rune category would suggest).

The reason why I prefer Dark Harvest over Electrocute in easy-to-moderately difficult games is because of it enabling Evelynn to one-shot squishy targets with just Whiplash (and if you have it, a Lich Bane). It is a bit more tedious to pull this off reliably with an Electrocute proc and usually requires you to land a Hate Spike in your combo as well, which can remove the split-second element of surprise and allow a target to escape. Simultaneously, Dark Harvest is not reliable pre-150 stacks because of the small window of time you have to use a stack. Although they tend to do the same damage overall throughout a game, Dark Harvest opens more opportunities to snowball and clean up fights because of its resets on kills, the ability to time multiple procs via the deaths of champions, large minions/monsters, etc. and overall higher burst potential in post-20 minute games. Ultimately, it is down to preference: do you prefer that much more consistent edge/dominance that Electrocute permits you throughout the early to mid game, or a mid-to-late game powerhouse of a keystone in Dark Harvest?

Domination:
Sorcery:
Inspiration:



Flash: The bread and butter spell and easily the most used spell in League of Legends. Flash is your first choice of summoner spell: it possesses incredible versatility for both offensive and defensive play. Whether it is to close a gap, create a gap, re-position one's self, simply escape, or in more advanced cases, animation cancel, Flash is the alpha and omega: anything else is simply not an option for Evelynn, so deviate only if you want to play at a significantly less effective level. Evelynn is also not innately mobile like most assassins, instead relying on her positioning and raw movement speed. Flash helps to remedy her play-making potential, and playing around it can make Evelynn truly unpredictable and near-impossible to counteract if you get the jump on your target when bypassing Demon Shade's stealth radius with a good Flash.
Smite: If you do not have Smite in the jungle, you are going to have a very bad time. More importantly, you just are not going to be a jungler. You lose bonus experience because you cannot purchase the jungle-specific items ( Hunter's Machete and Hunter's Talisman), you lose objective control, and most importantly, you lose the ability to reliably clear and will likely fail to without significant early help. Pray for a remake if you somehow do not have Smite in the jungle.


ABILITY
SEQUENCE
1

Q
2

W
3

E
4

Q
5

Q
6

R
7

Q
8

E
9

Q
10

E
11

R
12

W
13

W
14

W
15

W
16

R
17

E
18

E





Demon Shade (Passive)

RANGE: 700 (detection radius)
COOLDOWN: 4 or 1.5 (4 if attacking, 1.5 if damaged)
Evelynn gains Demon Shade after being out of combat for 4 seconds. Damage from enemy champions puts Demon Shade on a 1.5 second cooldown. While below 250-590 (based on level) (+ 250% AP) health, Evelynn restores 15-50 (based on level) health every second. From level 6 onward, Demon Shade also grants camouflage.

The passive that makes Evelynn the stealth assassin she is. Demon Shade is Evelynn's signature ability, granting her sustain (when out of combat), a reset and buff on her Whiplash cooldown, and finally, upon reaching level 6, the godsend known as camouflage. Camouflage is different from invisibility: unlike invisible units, camouflaged units are temporarily revealed while within 700 units of a champion, are within the vision radius of enemy Control Ward or enemy turret, or if revealed by an effect that grants unit-vision (e.g. some champion abilities , the Scryer's Bloom plant and Oracle Lens). Camouflaged units will briefly shimmer whenever they take damage (e.g. if hit by a skill shot). A unit cannot shimmer more frequently than once per second, and shimmering does not make a unit targetable nor remove the stealth effect.
  • Demon Shade allows Evelynn to heal anywhere from half of her health bar early-mid game to a full health bar in the late game. It also enables her to remain relatively healthy in the jungle in combination with good kiting via Hate Spike and Hunter's Talisman.
  • After leaving a fight with Last Caress, Evelynn can heal back up from Demon Shade and re-position to clean up any stragglers.
  • Camouflage-based stealth also works off of line-of-sight: this means that obstructions such as towers, walls, bushes/the spaces between them, etc. will not reveal Evelynn if an enemy champion is within her detection radius, the one instance being if there is not a ward in the brush (since it is not a solid wall).
  • Try and use walls and brush to cut your enemy's line of vision if gaining on them for a kill or trying to escape.
  • Sometimes it is better to wait for your camouflage to return for the Whiplash reset, as the non-empowered version is very lacking in comparison to an already lacking ability.



Hate Spike (Q)

RANGE: 800
COST: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60
COOLDOWN: 8
RECAST COOLDOWN: 0.5
Initial Cast: Evelynn flourishes her lashers, launching a dart in the target direction, dealing 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 (+ 30% AP) magic damage to the first enemy hit. Hitting a monster refunds 60% of the cooldown. For the next 4 seconds the enemy hit takes 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 (+ 25% AP) bonus magic damage from her next 3 basic attacks or abilities. Hate Spike may be re-activated up to 3 times until the ability comes off cooldown at no cost.

Recast: Evelynn projects a line of spikes in the direction of her attack target, dealing 25 / 30 / 35 / 40 / 45 (+ 30% AP) magic damage to all enemies struck. Hate Spike will prioritize the nearest enemy if she does not have an attack target.


Evelynn's main source of damage, particularly in the early game. This ability is maxed first (levels 1, 4, 5, 7 & 9 respectively). Hate Spike is also Evelynn's only means to clear the jungle, as her Allure alone will not do the job and her auto attacks are weak/slow. The 60% cooldown allows it to have near-permanent up time against large monsters, so it is of the utmost importance to actually land it if you want to do consistent and meaningful damage. Because you should not be looking to gank early and Allure gets a significant ramp up on its charm duration/Magic Resist shred, putting three points into Allure before maxing Hate Spike is an option in more difficult games. Hate Spike's damage may seem underwhelming initially, but the bonus damage from landing the dart can make the difference between an enemy champion's survival or death.
  • Always angle your Hate Spike appropriately when fighting multi-monster camps: with Hunter's Talisman, this will sustain you through the jungle without the need for potions.
  • Hate Spike is your only means of proc'ing Allure at a range. This range also happens to be, at its maximum, just at the rim/outside of your stealth detection radius.
  • The recast of Hate Spike has no cast time, so you are safe to kite or chase targets while spamming the additional spikes.
  • The first cast will apply single target effects (e.g. Rylai's Crystal Scepter's slow, spell vamp from Hextech Gunblade, Muramana's bonus damage, etc.), while the second cast will apply area-of-effect effects (e.g. Rylai's Crystal Scepter's slow, spell vamp from Hextech Gunblade at 1/3 effectiveness, etc.).
  • At full build, it is possible to kill an isolated squishy with a full Hate Spike rotation alone (throw in a Whiplash for assurance).



Allure (W)

RANGE: 1200 / 1300 / 1400 / 1500 / 1600
COST: 60 / 70 / 80 / 90 / 100
COOLDOWN: 14 / 13 / 12 / 11 / 10

Evelynn curses the target champion or monster for 5 seconds. Evelynn's next basic attack or ability against the accursed expunges them, slowing them by 65%. Expunging a target will refund Allure's mana cost. If the target is cursed for at least 2.5 seconds she also charms them for 1 / 1.25 / 1.5 / 1.75 / 2 seconds, as well as applying additional effects based on the target type. Against champions, the expunge also reduces their Magic Resistance by 25 / 27.5 / 30 / 32.5 / 35% for 4 seconds. Against monsters, the expunge deals 250 / 300 / 350 / 400 / 450 (+ 60% AP) bonus magic damage and the charm lasts for 2 more seconds.

One of the reasons why Evelynn is both underestimated and feared. This ability is maxed second (levels 2, 12, 13, 14 & 15 respectively). Allure was regarded as useless and impossible to proc by many players when Evelynn was first reworked, but that was because they did not adapt to her stealth changes. Allure
requires careful planning and positioning to be used consistently and successfully, and the rewards for doing so are high: a lengthy hard crowd control ability on an assassin is a godsend on its own, but the fact that it can be prepared from such a long range gives it a number of other uses beyond the charm/slow and Magic Resist shred; from zoning specific enemies from a fight, to baiting targets directly into you, the sheer versatility of this ability also means that it is difficult to use beyond its more obvious mechanical uses. Use Allure to slow enemies immediately, or to charm them and help increase magic damage output for not only yourself, but your allies as well.
  • Allure makes clearing camps both healthy and quick due to the burst damage and extended charm duration.
  • The direction Allure is cast from is only revealed after the cook-up time passes, and with practice, it can be impossible to detect the direction you came in from if you time a Hate Spike to hit the quarter second that Allure fully cooks up.
  • Try to cast Allure from behind enemies when ganking; this forces attentive enemies to either path oddly and allow your allies to deal damage/lock them down, or inattentive enemies to simply run straight into a charm.
  • You do not need to focus your Allure target in a team fight; if enemies group around the target or you are unable to do anything else without risking death, you can use Last Caress to do burst AoE damage, proc the charm and reposition to pick off targets while your team follows up on your damage.
  • Do not underestimate Allure's slow; it is more than enough to catch up and deal your damage on a target, especially if they do not have Flash.
  • Allure is not needed to delete squishies once you achieve your core items ( Sorcerer's Shoes, Oblivion Orb & Stalker's Blade - Runic Echoes), though it assures their deaths.
  • The Magic Resistance shred will be applied to the attack or ability that procs it.
  • Just how much Magic Resist can you ignore?
    • On a target with roughly 100 Magic Resist, a maxed Allure proc alone brings them down to 65 Magic Resist; add a Void Staff for the 40% Magic Penetration to bring them down to 39 Magic Resist. Finally, your 33 Flat Magic Penetration will reduce your target to a pathetic 6 Magic Resist, or 0 Magic Resist via Sudden Impact. Thus, your damage will be dealt as if your target had 0 Magic Resist. Congratulations - you are effectively dealing true damage! (Unfortunately, only Magic Resistance reduction gives bonus damage beyond 0 Magic Resist: Flat Magic Penetration does not)



Whiplash (E)

RANGE: 210
COST: 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60
COOLDOWN: 8

Evelynn whips the target enemy with her lashers, applying on-hit effects, dealing 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 (+ 3% (+ 1.5% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health) magic damage, and gaining 30% bonus movement speed for 2 seconds. The percent health ratio deals a minimum of 25 damage.

Empowered: Evelynn dashes toward the target enemy, dealing increased 95 / 115 / 135 / 155 / 175 (+ 4% (+ 2.5% per 100 AP) of target's maximum health) magic damage as well as damaging all enemies she passes through. On-hit effects are only applied to her initial target.


One of Evelynn's most "useless" and yet most powerful abilities. This ability is maxed last (levels 3, 8, 10, 17 & 18 respectively) in almost all situations. Whiplash is notorious for doing next to nothing for damage in the early game, and is taken simply because it offers at least some damage. Fortunately, it features a movement speed buff, which helps with increasing your overall damage if you have taken Celerity as well as situational escapes/re-positioning. Whiplash functions as a one-point wonder, its % damage gaining no increase in levels and instead only increasing its rather lacklustre base damage. This means that Whiplash relies on stacking raw ability power or an on-hit item like Sheen early game to be of any significance. Once the former condition is met, however, Whiplash becomes a menacing ability that can insta-kill a target if you have a Lich Bane and sufficient ability power. Dark Harvest circumvents the need for waiting for ( Electrocute) to reliably burst another target while allowing you to deal extensive bonus damage. When Whiplash is empowered, it will deal significantly increased damage, as well as follow its target if timed correctly (e.g. following a Flash, Shunpo, etc.). Not exactly the most versatile ability, but it has its uses.
  • Whiplash is generally not worth using against a champion without its empowered version being available (which it usually is due to how Demon Shade works); make sure to avoid using it without it being empowered.
  • Whiplash grants a movement speed buff, which can be useful when trying to close a gap or escape. Using it on a nearby target can grant the buff and help you to escape a close call (though you must judge if it is better to simply stealth and dodge via walls and brush versus out-speeding pursuers).
  • It is possible to hit several targets with an empowered Whiplash if they are all grouped together (however, on-hits only proc on the initial target while area-of-effect will be applied to surrounding targets); angling it is key here and may score you a massive % health shred versus several champions.



Last Caress (R)

RADIUS: 450
ANGLE: 180°
COST: 100
COOLDOWN: 140 / 110 / 80

Evelynn becomes untargetable as she reveals her true form to all enemies in front of her, before blinking back 725 units. Enemies caught in her reveal are devastated, taking 150 / 275 / 400 (+ 75% AP) magic damage, doubled against enemies below 30% of their maximum health.

Evelynn's most dangerous ability, if not her passive. This ability is maxed whenever possible (levels 6, 11, 16, respectively) in all situations. Another ability of Evelynn's to have vast versatility, Last Caress is most simply used for executing targets. The easiest indicator that Last Caress will do double damage is shown when a target it at/below the 30% maximum health threshold (denoted by an X on their champion). After cleaving anything in a 180° angle, Evelynn will blink backwards relative to the angle that she used Last Caress at. The scaling on this ability is insanely high, as are its base damages. While it is your main tool for securing kills in the early game, in the mid-to-late game, Last Caress can be used liberally for many other purposes: to close gaps and finish targets off with other abilities, as an area-of-effect nuke/long range proc on Allure to return to safety after initiating or even finishing a team fight, to avoid key abilities via the brief period of untargetability casting it grants, or simply to re-position (whether it be into brush or over a wall) when caught out. Last Caress is not limited to champions, and also gets its bonus damage on dragon , baron nashor and jungle camps. This allows Evelynn to also use her Last Caress and Smite to secure objectives in a similar way to how Nunu & Willump's Consume works, but with a built-in escape mechanism.
  • Hitting level 6 grants Evelynn arguably one of the strongest power spikes out of any jungler in the game: in a lane with hard crowd control, it is essentially a guaranteed kill.
  • Last Caress, like most mobility abilities, will not be usable if movement restricted (e.g. rooted): so be careful against Morgana, Zyra or Lux.
  • Just because a target is marked for death does not mean Last Caress will kill them; it simply denotes that you will do double damage. Other factors, like Hexdrinker, a timely Heal, a spontaneous shield, etc. may block out just enough damage or bring a target just above the 30% threshold.
  • Try and make sure that you land the initial Hate Spike dart to get some of its bonus damage off with Last Caress.




Early Game Items:

Starting Items:

Hunter's Talisman
Your starting item in the jungle. It gives you sustain, a DoT (damage over time) effect on monsters in the jungle, and mana regen (while within the jungle). As a champion with a spammable AoE (area of effect) spell, Evelynn is one of the better users of this item. It is infinitely better than Hunter's Machete on her.
  • Refillable Potion versus Health Potion & Control Ward
    Refillable Potion is the standard second item to take with Hunter's Talisman. However, Demon Shade's passive ensures you will sit around at least half of your health. The sustain that Hunter's Talisman grants is thus overkill with it and ensures you are not low enough to be reliably killed if counter-jungled.

    However, a Health Potion and Control Ward start gives you a better read of the map by providing vision and the bit of extra sustain will not be going into overkill territory. It is up to preference, though I almost always go with a Health Potion and Control Ward.


VS
Warding Totem
A simple item with many uses. The Stealth Ward allows you to use a charge (holds 2 charges) to ward a section of the map for 60-120 seconds (depending on your level). It recharges one charge every 180-90 seconds. The Stealth Ward, while it is ideal to use no matter who you are playing or what role you are in, is especially ideal for Evelynn. Evelynn's stealth via Demon Shade allows her to cross into enemy territory unnoticed to place deep wards, something other champions cannot do without exposing themselves or a teammate to immediate counter play. Stealth Ward works exceptionally well for Evelynn throughout the entire game, especially if you use ghost poro ward over Eyeball Collection.
  • Warding Totem versus Oracle Lens
    Stealth Ward is the better choice in most situations. A Control Ward can do the job of removing any potential wards in your jungle, though simply warding your jungle entrances will allow you to know if the enemy is coming to invade or ward your jungle. Using it to clear wards to gank is unnecessary because post-6, Demon Shade enables you to pass Stealth Ward unnoticed. Ganking pre-6 is usually not worth it unless the enemy is grossly overextended/has their summoner spells blown, but if that is more your style then Oracle Lens may be of better use to you.


First Items to Consider:


VS

VS
Stalker's Blade > CHILLING SMITE
The upgrade I go with in pretty much every game. It provides a 20% slow/movement speed buff in one and a bit of burst true damage. It does not interrupt the cooking of Allure and can thus be used to slow a charmed target to make landing Hate Spike a lot easier.

Tracker's Knife > WARDING
When the map is too dark for your liking or you are likely to benefit more from vision than damage, Tracker's Knife is your best bet. However, it does not allow you to smite enemy champions, meaning you are down a bit of extra burst. In a sense, this is good for having more constant smite up-time for neutral objectives.
-- FAREWELL, OLD FRIEND.

Skirmisher's Sabre > CHALLENGING SMITE
If you are a confident duelist, though you should not be as Evelynn, then take this upgrade. It reveals an enemy champion, reduces their damage output by 20% and marks them for 4 seconds. If you manage to land a basic attack on a marked target, they burn for true damage over a 3 second period. It has more overall damage and outplay potential than Stalker's Blade but has less utility.

Ultimately the choice is yours, but the most consistent of these upgrades is Stalker's Blade because of its synergy with Allure, your Whiplash movement speed buff and Celerity. You can use Smite to make closing a gap with an Allure target easier, to slow a champion and boost your own movement speed if you need to run away, or simply to secure a kill on an enemy that is at very low health. Because it steals movement speed, it will add a small bit of additional damage via Celerity, and this can be further magnified by Whiplash's movement speed buff. If you can chain the two together, it makes your Last Caress hit a little harder than usual, though this kind of micro-management is not at all necessary as it is a hardly noticeable damage amplification.


Smite Item Final Upgrade:

Enchantment > RUNIC ECHOES
The enchantment of choice no matter which of the smite choices you go with. Enchantment: Runic Echoes is the only viable enchantment on Evelynn as she scales solely on ability power. The early 80 AP and 10% cooldown reduction are excellent stats for an early game spike in damage, and its passive is wonderful for keeping your mana sustained in the jungle without the crest of insight (better known as blue buff). Offensively, the passive gains charges via spell casts and movement: when fully charged, it expends its charges on the next spell hit to deal 60 (+10% AP) magic damage on up to four targets. It is 250% more damage on large monsters and restores 25% of your missing mana against them as well.


Early Game Options:

Oblivion Orb > FLAT MAGIC PENETRATION & HEALTH
Flat Magic Penetration is a rare and amazing as it is valuable stat to have on any magic damage dealer. Evelynn is no exception to this fact. Oblivion Orb gives 15 Flat Magic Penetration and a solid 200 health. Slightly boosting your survivability and drastically increasing your damage output in one buy is phenomenal. It is a bit of an expensive item to build (1500g), but it is well worth the gold. I rush this item almost every single game, always after Enchantment: Runic Echoes but either before or after Sorcerer's Shoes, because of the value in having Flat Magic Penetration on damage dealers.

AND/OR

Hextech Revolver > RAW DAMAGE
Hextech Revolver adds an extra bit of on-hit damage, which can be directly applied by your Whiplash. It later on becomes a Hextech Rocketbelt, a useful item for its cooldown reduction, health and active, all for a cheap price. The active can be used for closing gaps (specifically the gap to land Hate Spike and proc Allure), clearing minion waves that you otherwise struggle to clear, and dealing extra burst damage in your rotation. It falls off around the mid-late game though. Hextech Gunblade is also an option, but it is very much a premium item due to it being very expensive and not all that beneficial to Evelynn anymore.


Boots & Upgrade Options:


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VS

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Sorcerer's Shoes > FLAT MAGIC PENETRATION
One of the more important buys on Evelynn (and most other magic damage dealers). The power of Flat Magic Penetration is seriously underestimated by players. While having high ability power is great, it can sometimes be negligent if the enemy has Magic Resist items. Sorcerer's Shoes, which negate a whole 18 of the target's Magic Resist, helps to circumvent this. Along with Oblivion Orb, it grants you 33 Flat Magic Penetration, which allows you to do near true damage to most squishy targets because Magic Resist does not scale with level like Armor does (this is champion-dependent). If you can position well enough to consistently make the most of the enhanced damage, then take these boots.

Ninja Tabi > ARMOR/% DAMAGE REDUCTION
All-AD enemy team composition? Heavy auto-attacking threat that needs your immediate attention? These are a viable option to try and mitigate some damage, all though generally the best way to do so is through maximizing your offense and escaping with Last Caress. Nonetheless, sometimes it cannot be helped. Get these against fed basic attack champs (a fed ADC like Vayne or a strong jungler like Lee Sin) if you do not trust your ability to avoid damage.

Mercury's Treads > MAGIC RESIST/TENACITY
Sometimes your job as an assassin is impeded by very heavy crowd control by opposing mages/supports. Mercury's Treads allows you to power through this and soak up some magic damage. A matter of preference, as your Demon Shade's stealth should allow you to wait and sneak past these threats. Again, sometimes there are situations where it is not enough to wait and sneak and maximizing damage is not optimal. Get these against heavy crowd control compositions (e.g. a Leona support, Sejuani jungle, etc.) if you must, though Banshee's Veil can usually do the job on its own. If you get locked down, chances are you are probably dead anyway.

Boots of Mobility > MOBILITY
An old favorite of mine before the Evelynn rework, these give unmatched mobility and map control. However, the Relentless Hunter rune also functions as a sort of mini version of these boots and allow you to pick up either more damaging or utility-based boot upgrades. If you anticipate snowballing beyond needing either of those things, or instead using Ravenous Hunter instead (which can be somewhat useful on Evelynn), then Mobility Boots are a good pick.


Mid Game Items:

Mid Game Options:

Morellonomicon > FLAT MAGIC PENETRATION & HEALTH
When upgraded to Morellonomicon, you gain additional stats such as 80 AP and 300 Health (though the 15 Flat Magic Penetration remains). Dealing magic damage to an enemy champion inflicts them with Grievous Wounds for 3 seconds. A great item, whether you build it in the mid game or not: you can hold onto Oblivion Orb for as long as necessary and finish Morellonomicon as your final item if you reach full build. It is worth finishing in the mid game if the enemy team has a great number of incoming heals (think Soraka), though if the enemy team is not heal-heavy or they stack Magic Resist, there are better options for you. Into Magic Resist-heavy teams, Void Staff is probably the better alternative. Otherwise, if you have a good lead, trying to rush Rabadon's Deathcap is also an option.

Void Staff > % MAGIC PENETRATION
Usually an overkill item, especially so into squishy teams, we have the heavy Magic Resist buster, Void Staff. If you opt to finish this item as one of your first in the mid game, you may deal somewhat lesser damage to squishy targets, but you will almost never have a time period where you feel your damage is being significantly resisted - tanky champions will fear and respect you, otherwise they may as well be squishy targets themselves. With a fully cooked Allure to shred Magic Resist, on top of your 39 Flat Magic Penetration, you will be doing true damage to squishy targets or bringing tanks to a similar threshold if they do not invest in enough Magic Resist. A very useful item, though it is not wholly necessary to have if you are only aiming to take down squishy carries.

Rabadon's Deathcap > TONS OF DAMAGE
The crown piece of any mage that wants to annihilate their enemies. Though it has no special active like Zhonya's Hourglass or Banshee's Veil, Rabadon's Deathcap does have something: raw damage. On most magic damage dealers, you do not want to rush Rabadon's Deathcap, not even as a second complete item. However, Evelynn does not scale like most mages: her Demon Shade and Last Caress have absurd scaling, and while Whiplash is not as deadly as it was pre-nerf, it still benefits from the hefty amounts of AP Rabadon's Deathcap has to offer. While it is a very expensive item, you get the best bang for your buck if you rush it directly after your core, especially if you are already snowballing (which is honestly the only time you should). It should go without saying that if the enemy team begins stacking Magic Resist, you leave this item for later in the game and go with an alternative: either more survivability in Banshee's Veil/ Zhonya's Hourglass or maximizing your offenses with Void Staff and Morellonomicon.


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Lich Bane > ON-HIT BURST DAMAGE
A valuable item with great synergy in Evelynn's kit. It gives a solid chunk of AP, cooldown reduction, some mana, and a useful movement speed boost. Useful stats aside, what you really grab Lich Bane is its passive, Spellblade. Activated by casting your spells, it enhances your next basic attack to deal bonus magic damage. The extra basic attack is unneeded in Evelynn's spell rotation because Whiplash procs on-hit effects. When building Lich Bane, you have to reason with yourself whether its worth buying in the mid game: do you want to maximize your immediate burst but lose out on some important damage until you can build your next item? With higher AP, if you were to get another item or two before Lich Bane (especially if you grab something like Rabadon's Deathcap first), then you not only benefit from more damage throughout your kit overall, but the on-hit from Lich Bane will scale harder with the higher AP. It is still a viable rush after your core, allowing Evelynn some leeway if a target survives with a sliver of health, as well as granting her a bit more dueling power, but it comes down to a matter of preference.

Spellbinder > LOTS OF MOVEMENT SPEED & DAMAGE
While I would consider it situational, this item can be amazing on Evelynn. It gives a massive 120 AP and another 10% movement speed bonus. Spellbinder has solid stats on its own, but wait, there's more: Spellbinder works exceptionally well with a champion like Evelynn because its active grants her an additional burst of ability power, up to 80 AP when fully charged, and up to a a 50% decaying movement speed buff. This item charges extremely quickly on Evelynn because of her Hate Spike spam in the jungle. It can replace Hextech Rocketbelt in most situations for giving your high scaling abilities much more power, though it has a longer cooldown and is not entirely as consistent as the Hextech Rocketbelt. Spellbinder is cheap for its benefits, only costing 400 more gold than Hextech Rocketbelt.


Late Game Items:

Late Game Options:


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Zhonya's Hourglass > ARMOR & INVULNERABILITY
Some games, there is a threat too large to ignore: whether it be an AD assassin or a comp reliant on landing a wombo combo, Zhonya's Hourglass is your best bet to survive the ordeal. The armor stats help to lower the physical damage output of bursty assassins like Zed and Talon. The active's invulnerability can help interrupt a their combos on you and usually allows your team to take care of them. Against AP champions or comps where blocking the first ability is more important, Banshee's Veil is most likely the better option.


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Banshee's Veil > MAGIC RESIST & SPELL SHIELD
On the opposite spectrum of resistances and ability power sits Banshee's Veil. Banshee's Veil grants you a spell shield periodically (about 2/3 of a minute after it has been popped and no damage has been taken) that will block the enemy's next ability, be it crowd control or a damaging ability. There is a trade off to getting Banshee's Veil over Zhonya's Hourglass; it can be easier manipulated than Zhonya's Hourglass because Zhonya's Hourglass grants its buyer the freedom to go invulnerable when the situation denies; Banshee's Veil loses this predictability and any one with enough range can pop the spell shield, limiting its uses significantly against smarter opponents. It is still a solid buy into comps that require a key ability hit ( Morgana's Dark Binding, for example) and will allow you to engage with greater risk to take out high priority targets.


PLACEHOLDER:
Gameplay: Jungle - Pathing & Ganking

Disclaimer: This section is to be ever-changing. As I am overseas and away from home right now, I cannot artistically decorate this section the way I would like and it will instead be a rather bland wall of text that serve to give insight to readers. I will make it more appealing when I return home. Sorry in advance!


There is no single option for clearing jungle on any champion; Evelynn, contrary to popular belief, has many deviations and possible clears that are healthy for her and allow her to avoid being counter jungled by otherwise more powerful junglers. Until I can sort out a clear and concise map to explain this, I will instead explain three options to you: the red start, the blue start, and the counter jungle start.


On the red start, you will start the game from the red team's spawn point. The clear for this side can vary, but the most common option is to do the following:


On the blue start, you will start the game from the blue team's spawn point. The clear for this side can vary, but the most common option is to do the following:
  • Let your bot lane leash you at the red brambleback - which gives you the red buff.
  • Run over to the top side of your jungle and lure the crimson raptor / raptor with Hate Spike to the murk wolf camp: this allows you to heal off of the two multi-monster camps and tops your health up without needing to use potions.
  • You can either use the murk wolf camp to continue to heal up without killing any of them and start blue sentinel , or go straight for the blue sentinel after red brambleback .
  • You can now either a.) clear the wolves first or b.) take rift scuttler . While murk wolf camps are good experience, the importance of rift scuttler can take priority over that.
  • Finally, look to either a.) finish the remainder of your camps or b.) get an easy gank off, most likely on top or mid lane.


On the counter jungle start, you will start the game from the either point of the map. The objective of this section is to show the many options that you have to try and counter jungle the enemy jungler in the early game. Here are the details:


Gank Pathing: Even more difficult to decide is the path you will take to gank your targets. These factor in many things: champion match ups in lane, as well as the kind of opposition you have to consider, most commonly in the form of the enemy jungler. Most importantly is whether you are making your attempt at a gank pre-6 or post-6. Pre-6 ganks are generally not as effective on Evelynn but can still burn summoner spells ( Flash) or even score an early kill if the target is overextended/low enough. Post-6 ganks are her strong suit, and are most often meant to be focused towards the bot lane because of how powerful the execute on Last Caress actually is. Naturally, depending on the game it is best to focus your efforts where the most benefit will come from (i.e. snowballing a powerful champion if not yourself in the top lane ( Jax) can force all the pressure from the enemy team up there, freeing the bot side jungle for you to take/secure dragon for most of the game). There will be more details on how to approach the enemy: what angles to gank from, additional ones to consider and when to and when not to attempt a certain lane/opponent and what you could do instead.
  • Early Game - Pre-6: For early game ganks on Evelynn, if they become necessary, then it is best to wait for your opponents to be past the river, regardless of the lane they are in. In regards to specific lanes:
    • Top Lane: If you started from the blue team side of the map, then you are able to enter the tri-bush on the top-side of the map to get behind your target for a gank. If you started from the red team side of the map, then you only have access to ganks from the river. In either case, you will want to cast Allure just before coming into vision or after your laner has set up/locked down your target. This will either net you a kill in a successful gank, or at least burn their Flash/other summoner spells.
    • Middle Lane: Regardless of starting from the blue team side or red team side of the map, most of the time you will enter this lane through the river to gank, or try and use one of the side-entrances into the lane near the respective side's raptor camp to get behind your target. In either case, you will want to cast Allure just before coming into vision or after your laner has set up/locked down your target. This will either net you a kill in a successful gank, or at least burn their Flash/other summoner spells.
    • Bottom Lane: If you started from the blue team side of the map, then you are limited to entering through the river/hiding in the brush in that river to try and gank your target(s). If you started from the red team side of the map, then you are able to use both the river and the tri-bush to get behind your target(s). In either case, you will want to cast Allure just before coming into vision or after your laner has set up/locked down your target. This will either net you a kill in a successful gank, or at least burn their Flash/other summoner spells. In most cases, it is best to try and charm the support and focus the ADC, especially if the support is an enchanter and your team has the damage advantage: this prevents them from peeling their carry and if the situation calls for it, putting your attention to the support for the kill instead.


  • Mid Game - Post-6: For early-mid game ganks on Evelynn, you gain much needed versatility in choosing where to gank from and how via Demon Shade giving you camouflage. Most importantly, you get a huge power spike via Last Caress. Approaching from the river is no longer your only option, and you can even enter lanes through other means; sneaking right past an enemy laner outside of your stealth radius, walking directly into the lane, etc. In regards to specific lanes:
    • Top Lane: If you started from the blue team side of the map, then you are able to enter the tri-bush on the top-side of the map to get behind your target for a gank. If you started from the red team side of the map, then you can not only use the river to sneak into lane, but you can enter through the lane itself and sneak into the lane bushes, biding your time to pounce on the target. In either case, the gank pattern will be virtually the same; you will want to cast Allure just before coming into vision or after your laner has set up/locked down your target. You have the addition of Last Caress to execute the target and ensure that they are killed. You can forgo Allure if they have no Flash, are low health or are simply too overextended for it to matter (though there is no reason to not use it for at least the slow).
    • Middle Lane: Regardless of starting from the blue team side or red team side of the map, most of the time you will enter this lane through the river to gank, or try and use one of the side-entrances into the lane near the respective side's raptor camp to get behind your target. Because this lane is so wide, it is possible to enter from any angle - walking directly into lane, through the river, etc. - and simply drift around your target so that you are never in their view. Once the opportunity arises, you can begin the gank with an Allure cast and either slow or charm the target. If your laner cannot secure the kill, then your Last Caress will do the trick. You are free to tower dive because of the safety Last Caress affords you.
    • Bottom Lane: If you started from the blue team side of the map, then you are limited to entering through the river/hiding in the brush in that river to try and gank your target(s). On the other hand, you can still just walk right into lane and sneak into the bushes to avoid being detected. If you started from the red team side of the map, then you are able to use both the river and the tri-bush to get behind your target(s), on top of simply walking into lane and sneaking into the bushes to avoid being detected. In either case, you will want to cast Allure just before coming into vision or after your laner has set up/locked down your target. This will either net you a kill in a successful gank, or at least burn their Flash/other summoner spells. In addition, with Last Caress, a successful lock down almost always ensures a kill for you. In most cases, it is best to try and charm the support and focus the ADC, especially if the support is an enchanter ( Janna, Soraka, etc.) and your team has the damage advantage: this prevents them from peeling their carry and if the situation calls for it, putting your attention to the support for the kill instead (if you have an all-in support like Leona or Thresh you can easily double kill the bot lane).

  • Late Game - Post 30 Minutes: Unlike most assassins, Evelynn scarcely falls off in the late game: at best, her potential as an assassin is lowered solely because of enemies grouping more often. Evelynn can weaken certain champion's stats by forcing them to leave a space in their build open for holding a Control Ward, but this serves as a double edged sword in gating your options to engage the enemy. Evelynn will scarcely suffer in damage like most assassins, even into tanky teams, though any crowd control-heavy ones will make shutting her down that much easier (and often necessitates Banshee's Veil as a buy). Your job as Evelynn in the late game is to pick off either isolated carries or sneak into the back line in team fights to eliminate them. However, there are times when it is better to peel for your carry with Allure if the enemy team relies on the engage of a tanky champion ( Amumu, Nautilus, etc.) to begin a fight. It is extremely crucial to save Flash and Last Caress for game-changing ultimates; whether this be securing an important kill on a priority target, or for being able to safely Flash into the baron nashor or dragon pit, Last Caress + Smite and get out. In regards to specific lanes:
    • Top Lane: You should try and focus most of your efforts towards the top and middle sides of the map, especially if dragon is down. This will allow you to play close to the baron nashor should it become available or should a steal become necessary. Naturally, if you find an isolated champion farming in this lane, you can sneak up on them through the lane's bushes or any other angle you favor and pick them off. At this stage of the game, Allure is unnecessary to cast but you may benefit in doing so to bruisers/tanks to ensure you can 100-0 them (especially so if you have a Void Staff purchased). If you have the baron nashor buff, hand of baron , you can stealthily push lanes just by being present in them briefly; this helps to secretly pile up minion waves and slow push a lane into the enemy towers, which is especially useful in the top and bottom lanes.
    • Middle Lane: Typically, team fights somehow manage to break out almost exclusively in this lane, especially in lower elo games. This can be unfavorable for Evelynn depending on where in the lane the fight begins: if it is directly at the center of the map, Evelynn has both more room to engage from and less enclosed spaces to escape into. Avoid fights in the mid lane in the late game as Evelynn if you can help it, and instead look for picks in side lanes or the jungle. Communicate this to your team (otherwise they will probably engage 4 on 5 and spam ping/blame you for not contributing).
    • Bottom Lane: The same principle as top lane, except you will be playing around the dragon (preferably the elder dragon ). The select bushes in this lane, as well as the jungle space you can occupy, allow you to pick off carries if they attempt to solo farm this lane. Hugging walls or the very tip of a bush allows you to sneak up on them with little to no retaliation if they are alone and saves using Last Caress, but it is likely they will be grouped with a support or the rest of their team if they are even slightly aware of what being alone means for them. The same principle stands for if it is a bruiser or tank pushing the lane alone; you will most likely win (though there are challenges, like Jax) in a one-on-one. With the hand of baron buff, you can also shove this lane from relative safety and force a slow push to occur, allowing you to put additional global pressure on the enemy team.

TO BE ADDED IN THE FUTURE: Interactive/Prettier Table of Contents, more art/photo demonstrations, and possibly footage/advanced techniques. Stay tuned!
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