Ezreal Build Guide by Willard

Introduction

Okay folks, this is my first Guide here. I decided to make a Guide for AP Ezreal since I don't see much of those around, most people apparently think AP Ezreal is not as good as AD Ezreal or Hybrid Ezreal. Well, in this guide you will find that Ezreal can decently play as AP and kick the enemy team's arse quite easily, as long as you are -ahem- "Careful!".
Keep in mind I haven't gotten the hang of the whole inserting the images of spells with description and stuff so I'll try to explain all of it with text until I find it somewhere online and edit this guide to make it better.
UPDATE 25/9/2011 Now with more colors and linked images, slight edits informing players more about the actual gameplay and the way to handle Ezreal as AP.

Pros / Cons

This is a very important part, you need to know what you can do and you can't do as AP Ezreal.

Pros:

Fun to play with.
Great Burst damage.
Has a flash-like skill that doesn't require anything other than mana as long as its CD is not up.
His Ultimate can literally fly across the map, aim it carefully and win.
Shift+3 or /d, if you have no idea what it is, GTFO
His W bypasses minions, that doesn't help with farming, but can be turned into a great weapon mid and late game if you are doing good.

One of the squishiest chars in LoL
Difficult to learn
Purely Skillshot based
Does not farm well due to his W skill bypassing minons and his auto-attacks being weak.
Can not do much once CDs are up, and has to back away and wait until they are up again in order to help the team
Requires decent map awareness
Does not support the team with Auto attack spam like hybrid Ezreal and AD Ezreal do

Runes

x9
x9
x9
x3

My personal choice of runes for AP Ezreal as you can see, are flat Magic Penetration Marks, Mana Regeneration Seals per level, Cooldown reduction Glyphs per level and flat Magic Penetration Quintessences.

Well, putting the fact that Magic Penetration runes act as "hidden" since the opponent sees no boost in your ability power, I prefer those over AP runes since they pierce the enemy's magic resistance, and can even turn your spells into true damage dealing ones to champions with little of it. Not to mention that they can turn the opponent's magic resistance to a negative one if they exceed it, helping you deal even greater damage.

The mana regeneration seals are something you could replace with health ones if you are feeling squishy, really up to choice. You can even replace them for flat mana regenaration seals if you are finding yourself spamming your spells often and running out of mana and just need that mana regen to pull one more off.

Same goes for the CD reduction ones, the difference is quite small, so if you are patient, get something else, otherwise keep them, they might help in crucial situations when you will be cursing for that Arcane Shift which was 1 second off and that Essence Flux for not being up in time so you could pop some damage and slow.

Masteries

Obviously, 9 0 21, Ultility focused, the key to Ezreal's skills are not only their power, but the frequency which you can use them, you need to reduce the time of the intervals between each spell so you will be able to help your team more often, those talents are often picked for a lot of casters, so you probably get the point of the cooldown reduction.
The Magic Penetration masteries are also good, when combined with your runes, don't forget about them.

Items

Okay, this is a very important chapter, because you NEED to know what you are buying and what you are building.
AP Ezreal plays Burst damage, don't get him any Attack speed, any AD, DON'T try Hybrid items like Hextech Gunblade or troll AD items like Manamune, stick to what I'm giving you and listen up.

:

A must have for almost all AP bursters out there, great starting item, good bonuses, Ability power and Mana regen, I definetely recommend this as a starting item.

:

Just pick those up whenever you can, everyone does.

Your Next purchase depends on whether or not you feel fast or not, I suggest you go for the Sorcerer's Shoes first, but if you don't go B often, you could probably save enough money to get the Amplifying Tome and the boots. Otherwise, get the tome first if you are being pushed back, then the boots.

Now here is a part which you might not like, if you think that you will not be able to avoid a lot of dangerous situation and not die much, don't buy this item, however, since I suggested you to play Ezreal with Ghost/ Flash as summoner spells, as long as you keep your distance and use them properly, you'll rarely die, unless someone CC's you out of nowhere, if there are any stealthers that could get you into trouble, keep in mind you could use an Oracle's Elixir, or a ward, to improve your lane survivability as well.


Great item, which few people use unless they pick OP characters like Akali and Katarina. Why I think Mejai's Soulstealer is good on Ezreal? First of all, he is a champion whose "blink" aka Arcane Shift requires no allied unit - enemy unit - something to jump to in order to work, it's a pure use of mana and CD, so it can be used to save you from a lot of scary situations.

Once Mejai's Soulstealer has been stacked, not only you have gained 20+160 freaking ability power, but a CD reduction as well, which is pretty helpful due to your Essence Flux, Arcane Shift and Trueshot Barrage having big cooldowns.


Okay, seriously, this is a key item, you want that slow. I don't care what you are up against, go get it and use it with your W or E, or even your Ulti, seriously, those guys will rage about not being able to run away/catch up to you


A Staple item for most AP champions, a lot of AP, good stuff.


I suggest you start building this by buyig either Blasting Wand or the Magic resistance cloak, you don't really need Sheen, its passive doesn't help AP Ezreal.
Lich Bane is a great item, see that Unique Passive. I choose not to buy it early since it's expensive compared to Mejai's Soulstealer, albeit it being riskier, it can help you more early game if you are doing your job decently as I said.

Alternate Items:

is a good choice, it gives you mana regen and ability power, you can replace Doran's Ring with this if you have enough gold.

is also good if you are having trouble against opponents with Mres, just buy this and troll right back at them.

... Karthus?

instead of Rabadon's, living is more important since you are basing this mostly on your Mejai's soulstealer.

could also help against teams with a lot of CC and annoying abilities if you are feeling quite squishy. But once again remember that you are NOT an AD Carry, you should ALWAYS sit on the back row and attack row and damage from there. Remember that Essence Flux bypasses minions, and it also increases the attack speed of your allies, so being behind of them is a must.



Well, rememember that there is no actual standard build and you have to buy and use items depending on the situation you are in and the team you face, but the items I put up for you work decently around 90% of the time you'll play as AP Ezreal.

If you are feeling unsafe, and if you are not experienced at playing Ezreal, buy Lich Bane instead of Mejai's Soulstealer, when you finally feel ready and safe enough (sure not to die much in-game), then follow this build as is.

Skill Sequence

Max your Essence Flux out first. It gains a great deal of your AP and can reach over 800 damage per hit late-game with a nearly full build. It also increases the attack speed of allied champions and reduces the attack speed of enemy champions, so make sure you allign yourself properly in order to make it work. It can also help when it comes to bringing down turrets, Baron, etc.


Arcane Shift fhould be maxed second, it's a core skill for any Ezreal. Don't use it to chase people if there are champions of the enemy team missing, you need a map awareness to do it properly, if you mess up to chase and get ambushed on your way, there is no way to escape unless you have flash up, but don't try that often, flash is only an ace up your sleeve.
Remember that Arcane Shift will always hit the nearest enemy unit, which means that even if it's Akali popping up her stealth trying to get away, use that, even if you can't see her, the spell and all of its damage will go for her, and you will get that kill.


Mystic Shot won't be needed much when it comes to damaging, HOWEVER, just level it up once at level 4 so it will help you last hit a few creeps, since it require less mana than W, you can spam it a bit more often when your CDs are up. Each time you hit something with that, all of your skills' cooldowns are reduced by 1 second, which is great.


"Oh boy, I got away with 300 HP... time to get back to the base... *presses B*"
"AAAAAAAAAAA YAH!"
"You have slain an enemy!"
"...FFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUU!"
Yes, this is one of the best ultimate skills in game, it can be used from any distance, to kill or damage any enemy. You can use it to initiate if a lot of enemies are bulked up. You can use it to farm minion waves, you can use it to slow enemies as long as you have Rylai's purchased. Just make sure you don't upset your team much by going for enemy champions who would be slain by someone else who could catch up to them (unless he didn't damage the other guy).
Your ultimate can deal even over 1.3k damage late game with a full build.

Ezreal's Passive:

Rising Spell Force is something AP Ezreal doesn't make great use of, even if you have bought Lich Bane due to its passive's cooldown, so don't try to waste mana on stacking it. Your Essence Flux covers up for the corresponding AD Ezreal's Mystic Shot and auto-attacking power.

Summoner Spells

I usually pick Ghost and Flash as my summoner spells. You need to LIVE ON for your Mejai's, you don't really need Ignite. It being a cheap summoner spell aside, you are a burster, you don't need DoTs to ensure a kill, it's stupid, and it's a stupid way of killing people as well. If you still think you can live without either of them and replace it with ignite, go ahead, just make sure you won't die.


Teleport is another great spell which could replace Ghost, as long as you switch that mastery point to the teleport benefitting one. You could fill up lanes with it, but well, I really don't think Ezreal is someone who should teleport from one place to another which is being pushed to save it, you are squishy and will pretty much teleport there to give away a free kill.

Clairvoyance has been used by some people, but I think you should leave that up to the support. Or just get wards. It works well with your ultimate, but other than that, you don't really need it.
So yes, pretty much that's about the summoner spells, Ghost/ Flash are the best choice, aside people believing Flash on Ezreal is a bad idea since he already has his Arcane Shift, I believe it's a trump card to be used when you need to get away with those stupid slows-stuns, or champions with them running up to you to use them. For that you might need to use ghost occasionally since your total movement speed is not good compared to the one of say, an assassin's.
You could also use an arcane shift - flash combo to get a troll kill if you are feeling confident. Just dive to that turret with arcane shift and use it to damage the enemy champion, then pop your flux and get away with flash if needed.

Team Work

AP Ezreal is useful to the team as long as he is able to use his spells, once you've used them, back away so enemies won't be nearby or after you, since you are pretty squishy and will pretty much die instantly. Wait until they are up again and return to the action once ready.
If your Q is up, you can return for a bit to use it to hit something and have all of your skills' CDs be reduced by 1 second, very helpful.
Your Ultimate can be used to either Initiate, finish an enemy off, steal a kill, farm creeps, slow enemies.
Don't try to steal kills someone else could get, only shoot it if you are almost certain no-one who participated in the killing will be able to finish the guy who is getting away off.
Farm with your ultimate when needed, use your Mystic Shot in order to reduce its Cooldown.

Summary

Closing up, I'd like to remind you that this is my first guide so it's a bit disorganised. I have no idea how to link spells/runes/abilities, so if someone could send me a message of how to do so in order to edit this Guide, please do. Don't judge badly due to it being pure text, try to judge its contents.
Anyway, this build is based on Ezreal's potential as AP Burst. Give it a try at a few matches, don't attempt this guide if you are not experienced with skillshot-based champions. Don't attempt it if you are going to be careless either, you have to be very careful in order for this guide to work, however it will be very rewarding once you get the hang of it, and will be able to pull of a lot of nice damage from a distance and get scores like 23 3 23, 24 0 8, 19 4 11

UPDATE 25/9/2011:

Now with icons, more colors, links, descriptions and extra cheese.

UPDATE 25/9/2011, evening update.:

Added some Rune icons to make it more pleasant to the eye, included slight information about the runes as well. Elaboration on masteries to be next, and some more description on Early-Mid-Late game if needed. Tune in for more.