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Ekko is a scrappy street kid from the streets of Zaun. Aboy geniuswho invented his own time machine called the Z-Drive. In the game, he is an assassin mage that is always thinking three steps ahead. HisUltimate Chronobreakis great for giving Ekko a second chance and allows him to play risky. Ekko is a high-skill play-making champion inLeague Of Legendswho is great at snowballing leads with his scrappy playstyle and has high outplay potential with his flashy kit.
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Ekko is ahigh-mobility assassinwith a few tricks up his sleeve that can help him deal with insurmountable odds. Ekko excels at moving around in fights and sticking onto his target once he dives using hit-and-run tactics abusing his passive move speed gain. Ekko can make short work of opponents with theelement of surpriseand insane burst, and he has the tools to make risky plays with relative safety with his ultimate Chronobreak.
Understanding Ekko’s Playable Roles
Ekko’s best role is in thejunglewhere his lack of sustain and low mana doesn’t go as punished by an enemy laner. Hispercent missing health passiveon his W is very strong against monsters. His passive damage,high mobility, and scrappy playstyle all work to make him a powerful jungler. For runes,Dark Harvest, orFirst Strikeboth work well in the jungle as you usually can proc First Strike with your E into a stun. Dark Harvest is also great since you have a good execute with your passive. Early on, he can be weak since he needs items to really start hurting, but his scrappy playstyle favors him far more in the jungle as he is able to pick fights all around the map to look for plays to make.
He can be out-dueled by a lot of jungle, which makes fighting dirty or avoiding fights in harder matchups mandatory to come out ahead as he can struggle against a tanky opponent. His clear speed relies on his passive and takes a while to kick in until you get some AP, so you might be low in the jungle in the early game, which means you have to play safe. Because Ekko lacks sustain and only has an average clear without items,you are vulnerable to certain enemy junglerswho can duel better and sustain off jungle camps likeTrundle, Master Yi, and Udyr.
Mid Ekko can work decently well but can bestrongly punished by poor matchups. Ekko has a really hard time playing from behind since he is so scrappy that when you can no longer win fights, you are left to roam or push waves. He hasexcellent wave clearif you have the mana to burn with his Q and passive with enough AP but struggles early to farm as all melee champs do in unfavorable matchups. There are many skill matchups for Ekko, but his lack of sustain and low mana pool make it hard for him to contend without an early lead or safe play. It is wise totry and roam early or kill your opponent earlyto start getting a lead rolling to impact the game.
Igniteis essential for that, as is the extra burstElectrocuteprovides. When playing mid always keep an eye out for your jungler and try to help them make plays in the river and fight the enemy jungler with them since you want to be fighting anyway. Pushing waves and pressuring under the tower can be tricky for Ekko since he is melee ranged and can’t really tower dive until level 6. His high burst and mobility can still secure kills on low-mobility squishy champions or set-up roam to other lanes as well as set-up plays with your jungle. No matter which role you play it is essential to always be thinking ahead and either farming up or making plays.
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Key Abilities
Time Tricks
Ekko’s playstyle is one offorward-thinking and predictionrather than reactive. You have tools that can react to threats, but to maximize the damage you deal and use your kit to the fullest, you need to think about the future. A lot of your damage is from your passive and your Ult, which can be hard to hit, so a good trade involves proccing your passive and using the speed to get out unscathed or to dodge abilities while you wait to be able to do it again.
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Early Game Tips
Jungle Ekko needs tofocus on himselfearly. He is fragile and lacks sustain, so taking huge damage during a gank will take him off the map for a while. attempt to get skuttle crabs to aid you in ganking and give you river control. Look for ganks around the map, but also try and farm up. Ekko’s abilities scale really well with AP, soyou become much stronger with items. Regardless of your role,a Dark Seal is a good early investmenton Ekko since you want to be focusing on getting kills, and the bonus AP it gives from kill participation lets you get stronger without having to recall, while also giving you the stats you need as a reward for doing what you already need to do.
In the mid-lane, the early game is all about dominance. Winning trades is important to try and set up a kill.Try and hit level 2 first, so you can dive onto your target, proc your passive, and zoom out to avoid their retaliation. If your laner is a mage that can poke you,Corrupting Potcan be a good starting item so that you can sustain the poke. Otherwise, Dorans rings health and AP are good stats on Ekko. Focus on avoiding poke since losing trades can make your lane really hard. Your W is less useful in a lane, but it can still catch some enemies off guard if you go out of vision when you cast it — or if you use it after engaging them.
The overall goal for both roles is tobecome strong enough by the mid-game to make plays that can close out the game. Try and get to Protobelt to start off your power spike as soon as you’re able to for the mobility and extra damage. Ekko has amazing outplay potential with his long stun, high burst damage, and a versatile kit that allows him to pull off some flashy plays. In team fights, try and stay off the map until the fight breaks out to land a good stun on the backline — or flank to engage with your stun.
Itemization Is Important
Ekko scales well with ability power, so early you will want aDark Sealif you think you’re able to secure enough kills to make it worth it, and aHextech Protobeltis a great item on Ekko since it gives you CDR, Health, and AP, which Ekko makes good use of. Additionally, the small dash it gives can be the little extra push you need to reach someone in your bubble. The build is pretty flexible from here;Zhonya’sis a good defensive item, but the time it can buy you to proc your W or get your R in a better place makes it worth it for most games.
Lich Baneis also a strong power spike since it makes your E deal tons of damage. Defensively, aBanshee’s Veilcan be a lifesaver as it can give you some much-needed survivability, and the spell shield makes it harder to pin you down.Nashor’s Toothcan be good against melee teams where you will be auto-attacking a lot as the attack speed and extra auto damage can feel really nice, and it gives more AP than Lich Bane but isn’t as burst-focused, which makes it situational.
Be Aware Of His Weaknesses
Ekko has a lot of strengths but very clear weaknesses that make him easy to punish if he is picked too early or into the wrong team comp. With Ekko, every second matters, so knowing the right time to go in against teams that have a lot of counters to you will help keep you alive.
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