Ekko/Strategy

Gameplay
’s a powerful skirmishing assassin who thrives in extended fights, using his mobility and crowd control to slow and stun enemies as he whittles down his targets. And if he starts to lose a fight, the brilliant boy from Zaun can rewind time a little and try again.

Laning
Ekko's early game revolves around his ability to create windows of opportunity with. Its decent range and sheer size makes it a powerful zoning and passive generation tool, although if Ekko isn't judicious with his casts, he’ll quickly run both out of mana and into trouble. Aside from farming, Ekko’s Q also provides poke against his lane opponent, particularly when he, repositioning himself to strike his target with both rounds of. Smart positioning should gift Ekko with a perfect window to hustle in with blink and pressure his target with mounting  stacks. And, after diving on top of his opponent and triggering his passive, Ekko can simply run out, making the most of his speed boost as he heads to safety.

Ekko’s role as a solo lane skirmisher becomes increasingly apparent as he starts leveling up and unlocking his full repertoire of abilities. Accurate casts - especially used against enemies slowed by  - give him great trading windows: landing it on his lane opponent gives Ekko the chance to phase in and trigger W’s stun for a couple of free attacks. Even if his target avoids the crowd control, they’ll still have a hard time successfully trading thanks to shield.

Once his opponents see potential power of the ability, Ekko can get psychological, using his W casts to zone his enemies away from last hitting or force them towards an approaching jungler. He can even wrangle a couple of defensive uses out of, like triggering the ability’s explosion just so he can shield himself from otherwise lethal damage, or casting the ability directly on himself as enemy junglers come in to gank. This forces his would-be killers to choose between backing off, and stunning themselves within arm’s reach of the boy from Zaun.

Ekko’s skirmishing and trading turns stronger still after he unlocks, gifting him the chance to heal up and try again after unfavorable trades, or use the ability to blink inside stun sphere to trick his lane opponent. comes packed with plenty of utility, too - if he’s nimble enough, Ekko can simply hit his ult to escape from deadly gank situations, or just return to lane if he’s a speedy shopper after recalling.

Skirmishing
Ekko lacks the raw power to burst his targets down, so relies more on his cunning than his strength. As the two teams start gathering, he needs to look for opportunities to skirmish, harassing and chipping away at his targets from relative safety. an important component here, offering Ekko his best method for developing his stacks as his enemies group. All the same, he has to be careful to avoid being poked out himself or caught by enemy crowd control abilities - as slippery as Ekko is, he’s not a resilient champ, and will quickly bite the dust once caught. But if a pick opportunity presents itself - if an enemy is already wounded or they’re far enough away from their disruptive allies - then Ekko has all the tools, gadgets and gizmos he needs to get in, secure the kill and fall back in relative safety. Here’s where comes in.

By placing the ability’s sphere between his target and their allies, Ekko effectively zones them, forcing them to either move farther from safety, or willingly enter into the Ekko’s trap. Either way, an accurate should slow the target enough for the boy from Zaun to  in and start bludgeoning his target. Once he’s reduced their health enough, Ekko’s damage amps up pretty significantly thanks to passive, making low health enemies especially enticing. And once he’s done his work, he needs to quickly make his way to safety; if he’s up past his neck in trouble, he can push his big red button and to reappear with his team.

Teamfights
Ekko takes on a different role in large-scale teamfights, thriving in situations when he can follow up on high-impact area of effect abilities. After setting up his team’s initiation with, Ekko follows up with before  into his sphere to stun his enemies and shield his butt before he starts swinging his club. Then it’s a matter of timing: Ekko needs to carefully balance the level of his health against the impact of his ultimate. Trigger too early and he’ll end up back in his own team’s backline; too late and he’ll already have met his maker. But when Ekko correctly, when he reappears in the heart of the enemy team with topped up health and a devastating amount of area of effect damage, then his team all but wins the fight.

Skill Usage

 * Using proficiently can land two stacks of  on an enemy, allowing you to  in and proc not only the Z-Drive stacks, but Phase Dive's empowered basics attack as well. Remember, your Timewinder has to travel back to you, so positioning yourself while it's out can alter its path.
 * Knowing when to cast is a very important facet to master. Your enemies will not see the cast location until 0.5 seconds before it lands, but they CAN see you activate the ability. This can be a great intimidation tactic, but casting it too carelessly will only cause them to back off, and deplete your mana. Try and throw it when your opponent commits to something, like last hitting minions, or just general fights, to force them into pressured decisions.
 * Throwing it behind an opponent is a decent and simple way to force them into an almost guaranteed trade.
 * also applies vision to the targeted area two seconds after cast, while the enemy team will only see it coming 0.5 seconds before it lands - often too late. This leaves a small window of 0.5 seconds between your vision of the area, and the enemy team knowing you have that vision. 0.5 seconds isn't a long time, but it can be greatly underestimated in certain scenarios.
 * is casted by a separate hologram, that Ekko releases behind him. Positioning this correctly can hide the entire cast from your opponent. Dashing over a narrow wall wtith, and activating Parallel Convergence after you head over the wall, will place the hologram behind the wall and out of vision, or even effectively inside it.
 * 's dash can pass through narrow terrain, immediately allowing Ekko fierce mobility. If Ekko has vision of the other side of terrain, and there is an enemy present, Phase Dive's blink attack will also cross it. With the right vision placement, Ekko can dash across one piece of terrain, and then blink over the next, escaping or engaging from Leblanc-esque distances.
 * is a difficult initiation tool, but an extremely powerful one. It makes it difficult for enemies to chase you properly, forcing them to commit fully or back off hurriedly, just to avoid the hologram. Practicing your kiting and managing your hologram placement will greatly improve your Ekko play.
 * Chronobreak can be used in the middle of a team fight, if your hologram is given enough time to catch up to you. It applies tons of damage, gives a free ability dodge, and restores health, prolonging the fight and likely turning it.
 * Chronobreak can be used to return to your position after a recall or a teleport. Your hologram always marks your position four seconds ago, so you have four seconds to prepare and Chronobreak back. You can use it to refill Crystalline Flask or Sightstone charges, purchase items quickly without consequence, and essentially never leave your lane unattended. If an enemy tries to prevent you from recalling, but misses, you can immediately re-appear and catch them out.

Build Usage
is a versatile champion with different variety of builds. He often played either in top lane, middle lane, or even jungle.
 * Ideally, is best built as a burst AP assassin with a few defensive items since he needs to get in and get out to kill his targets, but he also be built as an AP Bruiser in a similar vein like  with a mix of tankiness, AP, and attack speed for late game DPS or even AD Bruiser builds due to his  passive,  passive, 's ability to proc on-ability and on-hit attacks in a similar vein like 's, and numerous crowd control skills. Bruiser builds are more common with top lane and jungle  while assassin type builds are more common at mid lane.
 * Keep in note that 's AP scaling isn't that high, and has very punishing mana costs and long cooldowns early game (especially if the player decides to spam . As such, it's a good idea to start the lane with  and some s/s if the players wants to poke the enemy with  and prioritize with mana and cooldown reduction items.

AP functions like a typical AP assassin where the playstyle involves bursting down squishies with various crowd control skills. However, he can also be built like an AP bruiser as well. AP builds will most likely focus on for wave clearing and bursting down opponents with the skill. However, AP does not have high AP scaling when compared to most other assassins, and his mana and cooldown costs are relatively punishing. As such, it is recommend to build a bit of attack speed, magic penetration, and a few defensive items in the build.
 * AP Ekko
 * An item that fits his name well, adds a substantial amount of burst in his kit. Combined with his good wave clear with, he can burst down enemies, wave clear, and poke them with  at the same time.
 * is a good item to start for . The item not only gives him some defensive stats, but the item's passive allows to stay in his lane a bit longer.
 * is wonderful for Ekko. The power and armor both help him tremendously, and Ekko can activate Zhonya's in the middle of a team fight to stall until his hologram catches up, and then immediately use when he's free, for a free heal and tons of damage.
 * complements Ekko's kit really well, providing him the power and movement speed he needs to land his abilities. Timing the Spellblade active with his stacks and 's empowered attack gives Ekko intimidating single-target burst potential.
 * is also a good item on Ekko. While it doesn't offer much AP burst damage like does, the advantage the item gives over  is that it allows Ekko to stick into his targets better with the  passive, grants more movement speed, and the built in attack speed synergizes well with his  passive and  passive.
 * Building on your boots is an immense buff when you Chronobreak back to the field. Recalling will give you full health and the Homeguard speed, and you can even swiftly purchase so when you Chronobreak back in, you're a force to be feared.
 * isn't really needed since his he already has his built in slow with and . However, the items does make his built in slows even stronger and adds extra tankiness in his kit.
 * With that in mind, is a good item to build on . Since  and  already applies a slow, the item's passive will be placed in full effect. This item is also relatively useful against a team who builds a lot of health.
 * Few champions synergize well with, but 's fighting style of sustained damage and crowd control makes it a viable defense or tank busting item.
 * Since will be entering and exiting out of fights, an  is a good item to build on  thanks to the magic resistance, ability power, and an aura that reduces enemy's magic resistance.
 * Unless starting with cooldown reduction runes and masteries, building should be avoided since early game 's abilities have long cooldown. However, it can later be built into, which the item grants him a shield which synergizes well with 's shield when he enters the bubble.
 * will add a lot of burst in his kit and is useful against enemies stacking magic resistance.
 * benefits strongly from cooldown reduction items, especially during the early game.
 * is a good item to build on . It not only gives him cooldown reduction, but a useful mana regeneration passive and some magic resistance to survive in lane longer.
 * is also a good item to build on, while it does not have the strong mana regeneration, the advantage Morellonomicon has over Athene's Unholy Grail is that it has higher ability power and applies Grevious Wounds, which is useful against sustain heavy teams.
 * is also a good item as well. The item not only grants cooldown reduction and ability power, but it also has an on-hit passive that scales with ability power and attack speed, thus allowing more procs on and 's passives.
 * Since, can heal, spell vamp items works wonderfully with him.
 * is a useful item on, can proc both on-ability and on-hit effects, which he will benefit from both the spell vamp AND life steal when he lands his basic attack with this ability. The item's active is also useful for assassinating his low health targets and chasing as well.
 * is a good cheaper alternative to, but it does not offer the same benefits does on 's kit. The only advantage this item has over Hextech is the cooldown reduction, and there are much more better item options for cooldown.
 * is a great item for health and magic resistance in addition to cooldown reduction. The item's passive works great with and any other life steal and spell vamp items he has. This item should be considered in both AD and AP builds.

AD functions very similarly to AD 's  and  in regards to 's passive, 's passive, and 's ability to proc on-ability and on-hit attacks where  can deal sustained damage and be relatively tanky at the same time. Unlike AD, AD is relatively more useful due to  passive dealing flat amount of % missing health instead of  where the damage is overtime, his numerous built-in crowd control abilities, and is one of the few assassins who has the ability to initiate fights with the / combo. Keep in mind that this build isn't normally recommended as much like AD, AD is far more item dependent and is only useful if your team has too much AP damage or needs a tanky character to initiate fights. However, AD builds cover some of 's lategame weaknesses such as lower AP scaling his kit, punishing early game mana costs, and lack of sustained damage in exchange for a weaker wave clear from.
 * AD Ekko


 * Since AD will be using basic attacks for most of his damage via  passive and  passive. It is recommend to build a lot of attack speed and on-hit items.
 * is a relatively powerful item on as the % health damage from the item synergizes well  passive. The item's passive will also trigger with  and the item's active is useful against high health targets.
 * adds more magic damage to his basic attacks from the item's passive and has built in magic resistance for to be more tanky. The item's magic resistance shred also helps as well.
 * allows more open options for boots due to the built in tenacity. The item's cooldown reduction and movement speed also helps.
 * will be far more useful in AD builds than AP builds due to the fact that will trigger both  and  item passives.
 * is a good item to build on . It will help compensate 's weaker wave clear. The item's passive will also proc with  as well.
 * and are also good items to consider with different advantages. The former gives a shield and has a stronger lifesteal, while the other grants mana per basic attac
 * Note that since can critically strike as normal, items such as  and  are good items to consider in the build
 * is a good item to build on since it'll proc with his basic attacks and synergizes well with  slow
 * Much like AD, AD needs a variety of defensive items in order to survive using basic attacks.
 * is a good item for as the item grants health and armor in addition to a damaging aura and synergizes well with his magic damage from his  passive and  passive.
 * ,, , and are good tanky items to consider as well
 * doesn't provide much damage like most of the other AD items, but the item's shield can synergize well with 's shield

Countering

 * Even when Ekko is building as an AD champion, the majority of his damage is magic. You should invest on magic resistance to counter that.
 * Try to sidestep away if being struck by . deals more damage on it's return path and adds an extra stack of.
 * Avoid trying to fight in melee range, as he can land three basic attacks to land the  proc. If fighting in melee range is necessary, consider punishing him with your abilities and attacks.
 * has no form of sustain and his high punishing mana costs. As such, sustain champions such as, , and , are good lane opponents against him.
 * Even better, most manaless champions such as, , , , , can lane pretty well against  since  will most likely spam  and waste a lot of his mana pool.
 * is the best counter against . He has own poke and wave clear, has higher scaling with AD and attack speed items, can block most of 's projectiles with , and does not use mana as a resource. He also has a stronger shield with than.
 * One of 's lategame weaknesses is having low AP scaling despite having high base damage in his abilities. A lot of AD assassins and bruisers (such as, , , , , and ) have better lategame damage scaling than and can easily outtrade  with life steal and/or critical strike.
 * has a three second delay and roughly 0.5 seconds of the bubble's radius appearing. If you see 's hologram throwing a projectile, moving out of the range and predicting where the projectile will land will help prevent from his his / combo initiation that would stun you and your allies.
 * Keep track on 's hologram position. If you happen stand near his hologram, he will use his ultimate to catch you off guard. This is especially true if he happens to on the position where his hologram is located and catch you off-guard.
 * hologram is only visible your team if you can see, he can effectively hide in the brush and use / to ambush you. He can also use to effective return to lane as well.
 * Note that can be deceptively tanky thanks to 's shield and  healing. Consider using hard crowd control abilities such as stuns or knockbacks to prevent him from entering  and use  or other abilities that apply Grievous Wounds to greatly reduce the heal from.