Ezreal Build Guide by Hoodstomp

Back again, I'm Hoodstomp. If any of you don't know me, I now play as an amateur/high elo solo queue player. The role that I enjoy playing the most is the AD Carry, or "marksmen". I've played this role for a while, resulting in me having lots of experience and knowledge in my role. My main account is in Diamond 1, while I have a few smurfs, all around diamond elo. Ezreal is a champion that has been around for a long time and has been tweaked quite a bit along the road. He's a strong pick in both solo queue and a competitive champion. Be sure to follow me on Twitter if you want to know whenever I have a new guide out, or on the rare occasion I might be streaming! @Hoodstomplol

Pros

+ Strong during all stages of the game. + Has arguably the best escape of any ADC with Arcane Shift. + Great poke from long range with Mystic Shot. + Good objective control/siege power with Essence Flux. + Can farm from a safe range with Mystic Shot. + Has a global ultimate ability with Trueshot Barrage.

Ezreal's a strong and safe pick currently. His power stays around throughout the whole game. His Arcane Shift provides him an easy escape on a short cooldown, reduced even shorter by his Q, Mystic Shot. His Mystic Shot is a long range spell, giving him an easy way to poke enemies from a distance, and also you can farm well in lane, even if you're being pressured. His Essence Flux provides a hefty amount of attack speed to him and his allies when hit, allowing your team to take objectives faster. Finally, Trueshot Barrage gives him that little bit of global pressure. It allows you to be able to snipe your enemies, steal a buff, steal a Dragon , or even a Baron if you're lucky.

Cons

- Can be punished in the early laning phase. - Damage heavily relies on landing skillshots. - Can have mana issues. - Looks like a woman.

Luckily, Ezreal doesn't have too many faults. However, while he is strong in all-game round, he can be pushed around a bit in the early phase of laning. Most of his damage comes from him landing his skillshots, most of the time Mystic Shot. Because of his reliance on his abilities, it can result in some mana issues early on as well. Always know how much mana your spells require before trying to trade, only to find out you're out of mana! Lastly, he looks like a woman.

// The offense masteries are pretty self-explanatory. It's the standard 21 points into the offense tree. Butcher is useful for killing minions while everything else is for dealing tons of damage to people. The important points picked up are points in armor penetration and extra damage, such as the last point being put into Executioner . The 21 points ensure you have plenty of damage sustained throughout the game.

// The points into utility are helpful, especially for Ezreal. Summoner's Insight and Mastermind help to reduce your cooldown on Flash, Barrier, or Cleanse. Meditation also gives Ezreal a little bit of extra mana regeneration, allowing you to spam your skills even more. It gives you a little bit extra lifesteal from Vampirism .




The 9 AD marks for runes are the basics. Everyone takes these on ADCs because it helps with trading and last hitting in lane. It gives you that extra AD that also will help you be able to take down towers early, especially useful and important in 2v1s. The AD also benefits your Mystic Shot scaling at early levels.

All armor seals are also basic runes for ADCs. It keeps you from taking too much damage from champions, minions, and on the rare occasion, towers. This is important because the extra armor allows you to be able to trade easier in lane, resulting in less damage taken. During mid-game, the armor keeps you from being blown up by any farmed AD assassin.

The magic resist runes are useful in lane when taking poke from supports like Sona, reducing a small amount of damage that can end up saving your life. During mid-game to late-game, it reduces a tiny bit of the burst from those strong AP mages. The mana regeneration runes are helpful for reducing the repeated use of Ezreal's spell in lane.
Usually, you'll want to be taking two lifesteal quintessences and one flat AD quintessence. The two lifesteal quints make sustaining in lane easier. Lifesteal quintessences are taken because of the Season 3 nerf to Vampiric Scepter. Another option is to take three lifesteal quints and it's up to personal preference. When paired with your Doran's Blade that you'll be starting with, auto-attack the creeps if you're taking any damage. The AD adds to your Greater Mark of Attack Damages that you took, making last hitting and trading easier.

Flash Although Ezreal already has his Arcane Shift, Flash is still very useful. It's the summoner that there is absolutely no question about. Flash is a skill you'll see a vast majority taking on any champion, and for good reason. It provides you a source of escape from any of those bad situations you may be facing. If an assassin jumps on you, you can flash over a wall to escape safely. It can also help you can an enemy and deal that killing blow you might not have been able to do otherwise. Throughout all the nerfs, it's still very strong.

Ignite Ignite is a nice DoT spell that adds to Ezreal's burst. It can help you finish off an enemy that you may not have otherwise been able to kill. You can use ignite in this way all-game. Ignite is also useful to use on enemies that spell vamp, life steal, heal via item, or heal via ability. This'll usually be during late-game. Ezreal should be relatively safe with Flash and Arcane Shift anyways, so you most likely won't need two defensive summoners.

OR... Barrier Barrier is a summoner spell that was added to Summoner's Rift in Season 3, so it's somewhat new. Barrier is a summoner that provides you a shield, blocking a certain amount of damage for 2 seconds. Make sure to pop Barrier if you know a large amount of burst damage is headed your way. It's quite strong, especially during early phases of the game. A way to use it is to barrier-bait your enemies in a 1v1 situation by saving it until you're low, then using it to shield yourself while you get the killing blow on them. If you're facing someone else with Barrier, try not to get barrier-baited yourself!

OR.. Cleanse Cleanse is a summoner spell that can be proven handy in certain situations. If you see that you're up against a CC heavy team, definitely take Cleanse over Barrier. It can save your life from that crucial Nami Aqua Prison or a Crescendo from Sona. It'll be useful both in lane and during team fights. If possible, try to save it for the actual hard CC like stuns, and not soft CC like slows. Do remember it also reduces any incoming CC by 65% as well.

Rising Spell Force (Passive) Rising Spell Force is a very useful passive. When stacked to the maximum, it is a 50% attack speed steroid, which is pretty good for an ADC to have. Because of how often Ezreal's Mystic Shot will be up, it should be very easy to stack Rising Spell Force. You can have it up the whole time you're fighting an enemy. If you happen to hit Trueshot Barrage seconds before, you'll have your passive already stacked, assuming you've hit some minions from a distance with it.

Mystic Shot (Q) Mystic Shot is a great ability. This is your bread and butter on Ezreal. It does a pretty high amount of damage at a very low mana cost. It also applies all on hit effects such as Iceborn Gauntlet, Spirit of the Elder Lizard, Statikk Shiv, and red buff. Mystic Shot is your main source of damage as well. You definitely auto attack, but you'll be wanting to poke and soften up your opponents with Mystic Shot before going all-in. Do remember that each Mystic Shot you land reduces the cooldown of your abilities by one second.

Essence Flux(W) This is an okay spell. Essence Flux used to be a lot better, but unfortunately has gotten nerfed multiple times. It is still very good for grouping up with your team to do objectives such as Dragon and Baron or take towers. When you're sieging towers, make sure you hit everyone on your team with it. Also, Essence Flux makes it very easy to stack your passive up with this in teamfights because you can hit your teammates with it, stacking Rising Spell Force!

Arcane Shift (E) This is the reason Ezreal is so safe and hard to kill in any situation. Not only is Arcane Shift an escape, it's kind of weird. You can blink out of a lot of abilities if you time it correctly, like Rocket Grab, Enchanted Crystal Arrow, and Condemn. Even if the ability hits you, you will reposition and land out of harm's way. The cooldown reduction from landing Mystic Shot is also very broken for this skill. It can literally be up every 3-4 seconds if you land everything.

Trueshot Barrage(R) Trueshot Barrage is a relatively strong ultimate. It does a huge amount of damage, even starting at level 6, and can hit EVERYONE on the opposing team. You'll want to use this at the beginning of a team fight to get initial damage on targets and to stack your Rising Spell Force to the maximum cap. This ability is global, so always be looking for opportunities to snipe an enemy on the map or just to get the creep wave pushing in another lane. You can even steal neutral monsters and buffs if you're lucky. Remember, Mystic Shot reduces the cooldown of all your spells by one second, so if your ultimate is down, you can expect it to come back up quicker than your enemies think.

This item is what you'll see everyone starting on ADCs now. Doran's Blade gives you a good amount of health and damage, allowing you an easier time trading in lane. Mystic Shot deals a good chunk of damage starting out. This also helps when last hitting minions, especially under your tower. The passive 5 life-gain on each auto-attack may not seem like much, but when you pair it with your lifesteal from your quintessences, it adds up to be a good amount of sustain. If you're low on health or getting poked down a lot, be sure to attack minions to heal back!

• Of course, a B. F. Sword is the usual route to go on an ADC once you go back and have the money for it. It provides a good amount of damage, and is the building block to your The Bloodthirster. You gain quite a bit of power from it. This is the best route.
• If you don't have just enough gold for a B. F. Sword, you can opt for a Tear of the Goddess instead. This will obviously change your build path into the new, popular Blue Ezreal build.
• If you plan to go Blue Ezreal, you can go back and buy your Spirit of the Elder Lizard instead of a B. F. Sword for a little bit extra money.
• If you feel like the lane is rough and you can't survive with just a B. F. Sword, you can go with a Vampiric Scepter and a second Doran's Blade. It gives you a ton of laning power and trading potential.
• If you're forced to go back very early, you'll obviously just want to pick up a Vampiric Scepter if that's all you can afford.

As mid-game rolls around, it'll be when you start picking up your first big item. In this case, it's The Bloodthirster. The damage, +100 AD fully stacked, is very nice to have on Ezreal. Your Mystic Shot will apply the lifesteal. The scaling on Mystic Shot benefits greatly from the massive damage gained from a stacked The Bloodthirster. If you get a Statikk Shiv after, you'll be making quick work of your enemies during skirmishes and fights.

A Statikk Shiv is usually the best route if you went ahead in lane or if the enemy has very little to no armor on their team. Realistically, you'd want to get this item fast as possible after The Bloodthirster. Your Mystic Shot applies the Statikk Shiv proc as well. It also lets you clear waves and split push faster. It'll maximize the use you'll get out of it. A Zeal and Last Whisper will end up better if you came out of laning phase behind, or if your opponents are stacking some early armor to counter you.

An Infinity Edge gives you a good burst of damage and increases your critical hit damage by a good amount. It's pretty much a necessity on every ADC now. Your Mystic Shot will be dealing a chunk of a squishy's health late game.

This is a great all-around item for Ezreal. It provides a large amount of stats, all of which Ezreal benefits from. Your Mystic Shot also applies to slow effect on Trinity Force. It synergizes pretty well, but it's only recommended if you're very far ahead.

Go for a Last Whisper if you see that the enemy is stacking armor and you aren't doing enough damage late game. It's essential for you to be considered a threat later on in the game. If not, their tanks will laugh at you.

A Blade of the Ruined King is good for split pushing so that you can duel anyone. It also doubles as an escape. It's also good for catching out people. They'll find themselves in a sticky situation, most likely resulting in a summoner spell or ultimate blown.

Banshee's Veil is a great item if you're against a double AP team comp, such as Ahri and Rumble or Rumble and Vladimir. It can block a fatal Charm or the burst from a Vladimir Transfusion.

Guardian Angel is good if you feel like you're the biggest threat on your team. If you're confident in your ability to survive after you respawn, get this. If not, then go something else, such as Banshee's Veil or an Iceborn Gauntlet.

An Iceborn Gauntlet is a great defensive ability for Ezreal. His Mystic Shot applies the field of slow. It's a good kiting item for Ezreal, and also gives you a little bit of armor against the enemy team.

Mercurial Scimitar is an item introduced in season 3, upgrading from the Quicksilver Sash. It provides a good amount of magic resist, and the "cleanse" aspect of it comes in handy incase you took Ignite, Barrier, or used Cleanse already. The AD from it is pretty good too.

Enchants

This enchantment is becoming more and more popular now. Enchantment: Distortion is great for any ADC, simply because of the reduced cooldown on your Flash, giving you double escapes sooner. It can change the course of a team fight easily. Usually, you'll get this enchantment.

Enchantment: Furor is a good enchantment and has been the most common pick previously. It's good if you need that little extra kiting potential, but you should be safe with Iceborn Gauntlet and Arcane Shift.

The only reason you should have homeguards is if your base is getting pushed in. If not, it doesn't provide you any stats during a fight. You'd be better off getting Enchantment: Furor or Enchantment: Distortion.

Ashe Difficulty: 2/5 Ezreal has a pretty easy time in this lane. Ashe is one of the few heroes you can actually trade auto-for-auto with and win. You have to be a bit wary of her poke with her Volley + Focus early in the laning phase, but after that it's pretty easy. Look to trade with her and see how she responds. If she takes too much damage, don't be afraid to Arcane Shift in and all-in her. Be careful once Ashe hits level 6. She can set up ganks really easily with her jungler and get a pick on you. You should be able to dodge the Enchanted Crystal Arrow with Arcane Shift though.

Caitlyn Difficulty: 5/5 Caitlyn is pretty much one of the most annoying and most difficult to deal with champion you will ever encounter in lane. She can abuse her range and get free autos on you all day. She can also choose to just shove and keep you under turret all game. Be sure not to tank a Piltover Peacemaker and avoid her Yordle Snap Traps. Either way, try to stay out of her range and just farm safely, using Mystic Shot when needed.. You can look for some Mystic Shot poke in lane, and if you land a few you can start to be the aggressor. Once you get level 6, you gain a huge power spike and have a lot of all in potential against Caitlyn. If you poke her down, you can look to get a point-blank Trueshot Barrage set up by your Arcane Shift. Be careful about her Ace in the Hole when you're at low health.

Graves Difficulty: 4/5 Graves can be pretty hard for Ezreal to deal with, this is personally my favorite champion to pick against Ezreal as well. You can try to poke graves early with autos/ Mystic Shots to soften him up. If he's CSing, it's hard for him to respond early because his attack speed is so slow. Once he gets levels in his Buckshot, he is probably going to push you into turret. You can't really walk forward to trade with him either. Basically, try to be a bit aggressive early and if that doesn't work, look to play the farm game. You out scale Graves pretty hard. Watch out for his heavy burst combo with Quickdraw into Buckshot and Smoke Screen into Collateral Damage.

Miss Fortune Difficulty: 4/5 Miss Fortune is definitely a strong laner. You won't be able to win straight up trades with her, but if you can land a Mystic Shot it will knock off her Strut, allowing you to get a few good autos in. Be careful of her Double Up placement. If you're not careful, the damage will quickly add up. You pretty much want to split farm until level 6, then try to get a good all in on her with your Trueshot Barrage. Remember to never try and fight Miss Fortune while her Impure Shots is active. You will lose. Don't take a Bullet Time to the face early on either.

Varus Difficulty: 5/5 Varus is straight terrifying to fight against in lane as Ezreal. He is the STRONGEST AD in lane by far because Draven was recently nerfed. His Hail of Arrows is an annoying slow and poke, while Piercing Arrow is a strong poke as well. His Blighted Quiver stacks when procc'd also deal a bit of damage. He is pretty vulnerable to poke though. That's pretty much all you want to try and do in this lane--farm and poke. At 6, you can TRY to all in him if he walks forward and gets hit by an upfront Trueshot Barrage. Other than that, there's not much to do in this matchup though. You scale a lot better though, so you have that to look forward to.

Vayne Difficulty: 3/5 Ezreal can take advantage of this matchup. You have to be careful though, because so can Vayne. Pretty much a skill matchup! You want to abuse Vayne as much as you can at level 1 because that is when she is weakest. Get a lot of autos on her, and hit a Mystic Shot or two and you are golden. You should be able to control the lane off that. When you are trading with Vayne, remember to never be near a wall because of her Condemn. If you can prevent it, don't let her get a third auto off, proccing her Silver Bolts. At 6, be wary. You can win an all in if you get poke on her first and land your Trueshot Barrage. However, she can duel you with her ultimate, Final Hour, and dodge your skillshots with ease, using Tumble.

On your team: Blitzcrank isn't the most amazing support to pair with Ezreal, but he's not terrible either.. If he lands a Rocket Grab on your lane opponent after level 6, you'll probably have a kill under your belt if you manage to land a Trueshot Barrage and Arcane Shift into them to all-in. Be sure to poke your enemies to weaken them down. It'll give your enemies a good test on their positioning. Against: Blitzcrank is very easy for Ezreal to play against. You can easily Arcane Shift out of his Rocket Grab, completely negating it. Ezreal is a direct counter to Blitzcrank, so you probably won't play against him too much. There's nothing a Blitzcrank can really do against you.

On your team: Janna is a fairly good support to go with Ezreal. Her Eye Of The Storm can block damage, and gives him an extra oomph on his Mystic Shot and auto attacks. Her Zephyr and Howling Gale make it easy for you to land his Mystic Shots and Trueshot Barrage on your opponents. Her Monsoon and Howling Gale are great disengages paired with your Arcane Shift. Against: Against Janna, you just need to be careful of when you trade. You can poke and a bait an Eye Of The Storm out, and then back away. Once the shield is done, you can go back in for lasting damage. It's really never wise to trade with the Eye Of The Storm on her ADC. Just continue to poke at Janna lanes, they generally have no sustain so all damage will stick. Howling Gale and Monsoon provide her and her lane partner disengages. Her Zephyr provides her movement speed so you may not be able to chase her down.

On your team: Leona is pretty good with Ezreal too. Once you bring your enemies low with Mystic Shot, Leona can engage with Zenith Blade, Solar Flare, and Shield of Daybreak, giving you ample time to catch up, land Trueshot Barrage, and simply melt your enemy. This lane has a very strong early-mid game, so make sure to use it to your full potential. Against: Leona isn't too hard of a lane opponent. If she tries to go for a Solar Flare or Zenith Blade, simply Arcane Shift away, negating her chances of an all-in. Your Arcane Shift will be a godsend for you in a lane against Leona. The escape it gives is great, especially when you can lower the cooldown to a mere 3-4 seconds if you're using Mystic Shot.

On your team: Lulu is a great support with Ezreal. This is mostly because of the huge amount of poke this lane has. She can Help, Pix! your lane opponents, Glitterlance, and you can land Mystic Shot and Trueshot Barrage with ease. Her Whimsy also slows enemies down. Help, Pix! also applies Pix onto your Mystic Shot, giving you a bit of extra damage. Wild Growth will also be able to save your life. Against: Lulu is pretty annoying to play against. Her Glitterlance slow will make it hard to chase her and her teammates while Whimsy will speed her or her ally up. She can also choose to polymorph you during a skirmish, reducing your damage output quite a bit. Help, Pix! isn't too much of a problem though. Try to poke her early on in lane to gain an advantage because she doesn't have any innate sustain. Wild Growth will probably save her ally from the killing blow, resulting in one less kill for you.

On your team: Nami is a strong support with Ezreal. Her Tidecaller's Blessing slow is great because it's applied on both autos and Mystic Shot. This allows her to land an easy Aqua Prison, usually resulting in blown summoners spells or a kill. Ebb and Flow gives good sustain in lane and does a little bit of poke damage. At 6, make sure to land a good Trueshot Barrage if she uses Tidal Wave into Aqua Prison for an easy kill. Against: The thing you most want to be careful about when playing against Nami is her Aqua Prison stun and Tidecaller's Blessing slow. Her Aqua Prison can be deceiving because of its cast time. She'll most likely try to land it in the path that you're running. You can most likely Arcane Shift over it, or to the side. If she lands an Aqua Prison, it'll most likely result in a lot of damage, a summoner spell, a kill, or all three. Her Ebb and Flow is good sustain in lane too. Again, you can Arcane Shift to the side to dodge Tidal Wave as well. Nami does get low on mana though. Be sure to watch her mana.

On your team: Sona is another one of those amazing supports with Ezreal, next to Lulu. Her Hymn of Valor and Power Chord plus your Mystic Shot early can easily bring the opposing support down to half health. Sona is such a strong support throughout the whole game. She can practically 1v2 a lane, making your job a lot easier. Aria of Perseverance gives a decent amount of sustain in lane as well. If Sona lands a good Crescendo, your lane opponents are 100% dead. Against: When you're facing a Sona, you want to try to avoid her Hymn of Valor and Power Chord as much as possible. It does quite a bit of damage early on. When trading, be careful and see if she utilizes her different Power Chords. An Aria of Perseverance powered Power Chord will reduce your damage by 20%, which may not seem like much, but can turn the tides in their favor. Watch out for a Flash and a Crescendo onto you and your support. It may result in a double kill for the enemy carry.

On your team: Thresh is a great support with anyone. His Death Sentence is basically Blitzcrank's Rocket Grab. Be sure to follow up if his hook lands onto the enemy. Most of the time, it'll be a kill for you. Thresh has a lot of utility. His Flay can stop channelled spells such as Leona's Zenith Blade and Zac's Elastic Slingshot. The Box is a good engage and disengage with the massive slow it provides. Dark Passage combined with Death Sentence can make great plays. Against: Thresh isn't as much as a problem for Ezreal as he is for any other ADC. Arcane Shift negates his Death Sentence. If you don't manage to get it off, you can Arcane Shift his Flay after to reduce the amount of damage you take. Watch out for jungler ganks set up by Death Sentence and Dark Passage. Remember that The Box is a huge slow.

• Ezreal's laning phase is pretty decent. If you play properly, you can avoid being harassed in the early stages of laning.
• Poking with your Mystic Shot is priority because you can't trade auto for auto with most of the other ADCs, so you want to get free Mystic Shots when you can. When someone goes aggressive on you, walk backwards out of range or Arcane Shift and tag them with a Mystic Shot.
• You'll pretty much always be able to farm, even in a difficult lane. You should be able to snipe pretty much all creeps with your Mystic Shot. Be sure not to use it on unnecessary creeps though because you might run out of mana or push the lane in your favor, resulting in more creeps denied from you.
• If you see an opportunity to go in with your Arcane Shift, do it if the target is low. It'll result in a free kill. Remember that because Arcane Shift is your only escape, if you aren't sure if you can win the all in, it is usually best saved as an escape.
• Feel free to use your Trueshot Barrage casually. You can use it to clear waves, steal an objective/buff from the enemy, or you can use it in an engage. It'll be up sooner than you think because of the Mystic Shot reducing your cooldowns per Mystic Shot hit.

Ezreal is a master of kiting and poking. This will be your main focus in teamfights. You want to try to get some good poke in on the enemy team before the fight even starts, just make sure you stay in a safe position. In theory, this should be pretty easy with Arcane Shift.

Once they are somewhat low and your team engages, or if the enemy team engages, you want to try to immediately land your Trueshot Barrage on everyone. Not only does this provide good burst damage, it will also fully stack your Rising Spell Force, giving you a huge attack speed boost, WHICH MEANS BIG DEEPS. Try to kite backwards while continuously spamming skillshots at the enemy. They most likely won't be able to chase you because they are getting slowed by your Iceborn Gauntlet or red buff. If they do make it to you, Arcane Shift away and kill them. If you notice people are giving up on trying to catch you, you can use your Arcane Shift to go aggressive and pick up kills. Just remember that your role is to poke, poke, poke, and kite, kite, kite. You can occasionally try to land Essence Flux on your teammates to give them that little bit of extra attack speed.