Talk:Ekko/@comment-14802729-20160607220001/@comment-26808509-20160610184206

Another problem with him is he doesn't really plays like an assassin. Assassins normaly jump to one target, blow all their stuff and either jump out again, jump to the next target or die. They are risking alot with their actions because if they don't kill their target they are mostly screwed (champs with reset mechanic such as Kata, Akali and Kha'Zix for example). But Ekko has something an Assassin shouldn't have to my mind and this is the ability to stick to his target due to his slows, speed boosts and gap closers. I understand that assassins need a way to get to their target but mostly they only have one gap closer and then they need to burst their target, but Ekko can just stick to his target until he is dead or until he needs to back off into safety with his ult. This is more a playstyle of a bruiser/tank and thats pretty much the reason why everyone played him like that. Riot now tried to balance around it by reducing his base damages and giving him imense AP ratios to force him buying AP, but this offers a new problem. Peope started to play him AP again and I noticed that this version of him is pretty strong now. I can't really decide if he is too strong or just right (and we all just need to get used to playing his AP version again) but the conflict in his kit and role remains. He is an Assassin that plays like a bruiser and this is pretty unhealthy to my mind, because he is really safe, just as you said, and he still has the sticking ability. People that can stick to their targets usually have good, but no super high damage. Bruisers are supposed to deal damage and kill squishies but they aren't compareable to assassin, damage wise. But Ekko right now has both, the sticking ability of a bruiser and the damage of an assassin. It doesn't matter if the ADC dodges the stun and survives his Q-E combo, because he is slowed, Ekko has a speedboost and can kill him with some W-epowered AA's or a few seconds laer with another E. There is mostly no escape. And if there are teammates to help the ADC, Ekko still has his ult to back off and still did a good job by nearly killing the ADC and forcing the enemy team to react on only him.

But my starting point for balancing wouldn't be his W but his passive. It offers way too much. The damage it does is disgusting (Diana has a compareable passive but has to AA 3 times, wich isn't really easy in teamfights), the speedboost is strong and the slow seals the deal for the target. And he can proc it with every of his spells but W and with his AA's, so it's not really hard to get this off.