Welcome to my in depth Ekko guide! I'm Yeager, a high elo midlaner in league of legends, consistently reaching at least master tier on EUW since season 5, finishing season 11 in 110 LP+ Master. I spend some of my free time creating high quality educational content to help you improve and become a better player. Why should you play Ekko? If you want to pick up a powerful assassin with a chaotic play style, and the ability to completely take over games, then Ekko might be the champion for you. He is unstoppable when ahead due to his mobility and burst, that can absolutely obliterate carries with almost no counterplay. It's a champion that requires a lot of experience because his kit is rather difficult to master, but once you get the hang of it, you will have no trouble carrying games. This guide will show you how to play like the best Ekko player in the world, Xiao Lao Ban.

Pros + High mobility + High AOE burst and CC. + Get out of jail card with R + High outplay potential Ekko has always been a strong pick in solo queue due to his aggressive playstyle and ability to snowball the game. He has great mobility that allows him to be creative with his gank paths. His kit has a great combination of burst and CC which is perfect in a solo queue setting.

Cons - Weak against point and click CC. - Squishy - Falls off lategame - Hard to master Ekko is naturally a very squishy champion, so he relies on his ultimate to get out of danger. That makes him weak against CC(ex. Nether Grasp and Infinity durress, that can stop him on the spot, and get him killed before he can rewind time. Since Ekko is an assassin, he falls off in the lategame, where ADC's and other champions start shining.

SUMMONER SPELLS - FLASH: The absolute best summoner spell with both offensive and defensive capabilities. You will always have this as the primary summoner spell while the secondary one can be situational. TELEPORT: You want to use this summoner spell if you are in a difficult match up where you won't be able to solo kill your opponent. Ekko's early game is weak since he's a melee champion, so it allows you to base early and return without losing CS and EXP. It also enables your splitpushing, so you can carry by applying map pressure. Ignite: The go-to summoner for having kill pressure in lane. If you are certain that you can get some easy solokills in lane, then this is a good option to ensure the targets don't escape with Flash and 10 hp.

Magic penetration is always needed on AP champions. Ekko can proc this every time he uses Phase Dive so he can make use of it in pretty much every single engage. If you find yourself in a difficult matchup, you can also opt for Taste of Blood for more sustain.

Assassins snowball very well with any lead, so this rune rewards them even more by giving free AP.

It's weak early, but when you start getting kills on the different champions in game, the sustain this rune provides you with, is just insane.

When above 70% HP, it will give you bonus damage which will allow you to oneshot the caster minions with 1 Q from level 9. The only champions that can use this are those who can manage to stay healthy during fights, and Ekko is one of them because of his reliable dive-and-disengage play style. His Parallel Convergence and Chronobreak keeps him safe while Ravenous Hunter can easily heal him back up.

A lategame scaling rune that slowly ramps up and becomes strong from the 20-minute mark.

PASSIVE ABILITY

Z-Drive Resonance (Passive): Ekko's Zero-Drive charges his spells and attacks with temporal energy. The third hit deals bonus damage and, if the target is a champion, Ekko gains accelerated movement speed.

Q

Timewinder (Q): Ekko throws a temporal grenade that expands into a time-distortion field upon hitting an enemy champion, slowing and damaging anyone caught inside. After a delay, the grenade rewinds back to Ekko, dealing damage on its return.

W

Parallel Convergence (W): Ekko splits the timeline, creating an anomaly after a few seconds that slows enemies caught inside. If Ekko enters the anomaly, he gains shielding and triggers a detonation, stunning enemies by suspending them in time.

E

Phase Dive (E): Ekko rolls evasively while charging up his Z-Drive. His next attack deals bonus damage and warps reality, teleporting him to his target.

R

Chronobreak (R): Ekko shatters his timeline, becoming untargetable and rewinding to a more favorable point in time. He returns to whenever he was a few seconds ago, and heals for a percentage of the damage received in that duration. Enemies near his arrival zone take massive damage.

Timewinder is maxed first as this is our bread and butter ability. This ability is both our main source of waveclear AND poke.

Phase Dive is maxed second. This is what makes Ekko so slippery in any situation. Having this on a lower cooldown is important for him to catch or get away from targets.

Chronobreak is maxed third. Offers massive AOE damage so it only makes sense to put a point in this when possible.

Parallel Convergence is maxed fourth and last. This is our AOE slow and stun. Maxing this over anything else doesn't really give us any added benefits, so we leave this and max it last.

Doran's Ring

Doran's Ring: Standard starting item that does well into every match up.

Refillable potion

Refillable Potion: You will never have to buy Health Potion's again for the rest of the game, and that alone can save you so much gold. You can also sell this later when you no longer need it.

Corrupting potion

Corrupting Potion: This is the best starting item if you're going to trade often with the opponent. It also works great into lanes where you get poked a lot since the potion will keep you healthy and recharge whenever you're basing.

Control Ward

Control Ward: Vision is one of the most important things in league. Make sure you always have a control ward on the map throughout the entire game. If you have good vision control, you're able to play more aggressive and take over the map.

Plated Steelcaps: Is the standard buy into AD heavy teams. It offers armor and damage reduction on autoattacks(Yes it counts magic damage from autos too). This is a good buy against champions like Jayce, Irelia, Tryndamere, Riven, Gangplank and so on. If the enemy team lacks CC, and has a fed ADC, Plated Steelcaps is still a decent buy.

Sorcerer's Shoes: Gives a big early-midgame spike with the flat magic pen. It's good into very squishy teams.

Mercury's Treads: Offers magic resist and 30% tenacity. If you are playing against hard CC, these boots are a must-buy. Ekko is very vulnerable to ganks in lane, so these boots will give him that extra bit of safety. Here are some examples of when you should buy Mercury's Treads. When you face Ryze + Sejuani or Syndra + Elise or LeBlanc + Skarner. Basically you want mercs, when you are up against any combination of mid+jgl, that has some form of hard CC.

Ionian Boots of Lucidity: These are not really needed as you naturally get a high amount of CDR just from your items, but if you prefer getting to 40%, and have lower cooldown on summoner spells then these are OK.

Hextech Rocketbelt: Offers AP, CDR, HP and an active that adds more damage to your combo, but also works as an extra gap closer. The active also works as an auto attack reset, so you can proc your passive almost instantly with Phase Dive + Timewinder + Hextech Rocketbelt active.

Luden's Tempest: This is a great mythic item if you're struggling with mana management. Flat magic pen makes you shred squishy targets in the early game because they rarely get to build a lot of magic resistance.

Lich Bane: The spellblade passive works so well with his mobility spell Phase Dive, letting you constantly proc it for lots of bonus damage. It also enables your burst and oneshot potential while also giving some much needed AP, CDR, Mana and movement speed. I always buy this as 2nd item, if i'm not forced into buying something defensive.

Rabadon's Deathcap: Super cost efficient item that provides you with the biggest AP boost in the game. Buy this before Void Staff unless the carries are stacking MR.

Void Staff: Buy this if your targets are buying magic resistance. As an assassin, your job is to kill the carries of the enemy team, so it doesn't matter that much if the tanks are stacking MR, because you won't be focusing them anyway. Only rush this if the carries have MR, else you should get Rabadon's Deathcap first.

Banshee's Veil: Great item against AP champions that are forced to use one of their important abilities to proc the passive shield (For example Twisted Fate and Annie).

Zhonya's Hourglass: If you are facing a heavy AD team, or just AD assassins, this item has great value. When used, it will buy you some time for your ultimate ghost to be where you want it to. Against for example Talon and Kha'Zix you can get away with just building Seeker's Armguard and then upgrading this item last.

Quicksilver Sash: This is a must-buy against Malzahar and Skarner, as it is the only item that cancels Suppression. I only buy this item to counter Suppression - for everything else you should get Cleanse, so you don't have to use up a item slot.

Playing Ekko midlane means that you will be at a disadvantage early game because most of your opponents are ranged. Luckily, Timewinder is perfect for farming safely from a distance. You want to throw it as soon as the minions are lined up, and then you use it again when the minions are low enough for the Timewinder to execute them. This is the most common way of playing Ekko as you won't be taking any poke + You will be safe from jungle ganks. If you have Minion Dematerializer, then you want to use 2 actives on the caster minions and then 1 on a melee minion. This will make your Timewinder oneshot the backline minions from level 7. It makes your waveclear much more efficient and gives you lane priority so you can be the first one to roam. If you have Teleport, you should look to base when you have around 750 gold, so you can purchase Dark Seal and a Doran's Ring for a strong laning phase. When you teleport back, you will be at a item advantage, so you can look for ways to engage on the opponent for quick trades. Hiding in bushes, to hide the animation of Parallel Convergence is a good way to catch people off-guard. Against good players it's rare that you will get solokills early game, but in lower ranks people won't respect your damage so you might be able to net in a few kills. Your main goal early game is to farm up for your 2 item powerspike which is Hextech Rocketbelt and Lich Bane and then you can start taking over the game.

Midgame is usually when the outer turrets start falling and people begin to rotate around the map. This is where Ekko gets his biggest powerspike with Hextech Rocketbelt, Sorcerer's Shoes and Lich Bane. This is your time to shine, so you need to abuse this while you have an advantage over most other champions, and constantly look for good fights. The reason Teleport is so effective on Ekko‚ is because he's insane at splitpushing, and taking down towers fast. You should be in a sidelane and pressuring most of the time, as there are only a few midlaners that can deal with you. Ekko is amazing at diving under towers, so when you are isolated in a sidelane with the enemy midlaner, you can often look for solokills, and snowball the game through that. It's important that you switch to Oracle Lens during the mid game. Assassins like Ekko relies on catching people off-guard with Parallel Convergence, so it's important that you clear out any vision the enemies might have. Your goal for the mid game is to extend the lead as much as possible by forcing solo kills / dives, and by taking objectives, so you can close out the game before you get outscaled.

While Ekko is still decent lategame, he unfortunately falls off compared to the traditional mage picks, due to him being an assassin. Full item ADC's with a support will kill you on the spot if you mess up your combo, so you have to play it out smart, and know when to go in. Lategame is all about teamfights and objectives, so vision is more important than ever, as 1 death can cost you the game. In teamfights you should always wait for the opponent to waste their mobility spells before you go in. Let your teammates bait and line the enemies up for a perfect engage, and then you can go in for a quick combo with Parallel Convergence + Phase Dive + Timewinder, proccing Z-Drive Resonance. That should oneshot most squishies, or at least leave them at 10% HP, so your other carries can clean up. As lategame is also about big objectives like baron and elder, you can take advantage of the tight areas, and look for multiple stuns with Parallel Convergence. Goal for lategame is to play it smart, and wait for the perfect moment to engage. 1 single fight will either win or cost you the game.

There are a few tricks you should be aware of when playing Ekko

- Timewinder can be animation cancelled with Phase Dive, making it really hard for opponents to dodge it.

- Parallel Convergence can also be animation canceled using Phase Dive

- Parallel Convergence makes a sound when used, but the enemies won't be able to hear that if you use it from the fog of war.

- Phase Dive can get you over most walls to catch or escape from targets.

- Chronobreak can be used to get you back to lane if you activate it within 4 seconds. This shouldn't be done often, however it's a good way to get big waves of CS that you would otherwise have lost. Only make use of this, if it won't put you at a massive disadvantage in the laning phase. Never do this against the likes of Zed and Fizz, as they can dive you at any point if you don't have ult up.

If you'd like to learn about the different combos you can do with Ekko, then i recommend watching this video as it covers all of it.

Freezing is a advanced technique that lets you deny your opponent exp and cs if done correctly. Freezing a lane means that you kite/tank the minions without letting your tower hit the creeps. You need to make sure the enemy minions always beat yours. After the enemy killed your entire wave, you let 2-3 of the enemy creeps live, and kite them until the next wave is here. When the next wave arrives, the wave will freeze right outside of your turret range.

By doing this, you are safe from jungle ganks, while your opponent takes a big risk everytime he overextends for a cs.


You can Freeze the wave when you and the enemy are even or ahead, and it can be used to help you win back the lane after you screwed up and died. You can attempt to freeze the wave already from level 1, leaving your opponent vulnerable to jungle ganks or be within your kill range, if you are able to kill them. When you get a lead, and you can solokill an overextended enemy laner, that is exactly when you want to freeze the wave. You force the enemy midlaner to either be in your kill range, or miss a ton of cs and exp, putting them further behind.

Freezing a wave is a great way to snowball a lead, if you have no objectives to fight for, such as dragon, herald or towers.

Here is a youtube video that explains wave management very well. I recommend watching the entire video. All credits for this video goes to Blitz Esports LoL

That wraps up my Ekko guide. If you still have any questions, feel free to ask me in the comments!