Tank Ekko beats the clock in pro play

Riot·Aug 10, 2015·1 votes·56,473 views

[Editor's note] Many of you may be saying to yourself, "Hey Rito, tank Ekko's no longer a thing!" Well, that's sort of true. Playoffs for many regions will be played on Patch 5.14, prior to the recent tweak to his kit. So keep an eye out for tank Ekko on the Rift in pro play, and let us know how you think his changes could shift things in the future.

Picking a brawling tank jungler isn't unexpected of China's LoL Pro League. Their famously frenetic metagame, dominated by brawling, sprawling teamfights across most of the map, encourages champions that can match that aggression with good mobility and lockdown effects. But nobody quite expected scrawny Zaun scrapper Ekko to be among the most popular and successful of such champions across pretty much every team in the LPL circuit.

At first glance, Ekko looks like a melee mid lane assassin not unlike Kassadin. The combination of his passive Z-Drive Resonance and Phase Drive (E) suggested a champion oriented around building Sheen, then Lich Bane. The Spellblade procs on those items complemented the rest of the bonus damage his kit applied to his autoattacks, making for a champion that was supposed to get in, hit hard, and get out quick with Chronobreak (R).

[[{"fid":"18405","view_mode":"article_image","fields":{"format":"article_image","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//riot-web-cdn.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lolesports/s3fs-public/styles/article_image/public/Dominate2_1.jpg%3Fitok%3DS5e3xR30","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-article-image","height":"315","width":"700"}}]]

Maybe in a different timeline, he's still stuck in that mid lane role. In this one? Not so much. Teams like NA LCS’ Team Liquid have discovered that all that damage is a red herring; the real value in his kit isn't in how hard he hits, but how badly his time travel disorients the opposition. To get a good idea of why he's become so popular around the world, we sat down with Liquid's jungler Christian "IWillDominate" Riviera.

Reference Frame

"Ekko is just really annoying to deal with," said IWillDominate. “He can absorb a lot of damage because of [Chronobreak]. He also has a lot of utility. He's got two slows, a gap closer, a stun: that's enough for him to have pressure early game."

Each half of the Z-Drive Resonance passive is critical to Ekko's jungle success. The bonus damage after every three auto attacks makes for effective, if not necessarily quick, work of jungle camps.

[[{"fid":"16787","view_mode":"article_image","fields":{"format":"article_image","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//riot-web-cdn.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lolesports/s3fs-public/styles/article_image/public/Ekko.jpg%3Fitok%3DUiIWlRKp","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-article-image","height":"315","width":"700"}}]]

But it's the second half that makes him scary. Ekko's passive steals movement speed: upon a confirmed hit on an enemy champion, it slows them for 30-60% while speeding Ekko up. Not only does that make it easier for him to stick to a target, but he’s able to effectively keep them permanently slowed. While Resonance does take some time before it can slow the same target, tossing out Timewinder (Q) pins them down while his passive refreshes, giving Ekko and his lane partner time to spare to finish them off.

Sometimes, though, Ekko doesn't even need to be on screen to put a player on a deadline.

"He's a really scary jungler," said IWillDominate. "I remember there was a fight against Cloud9 when I threw a [Parallel Convergence (W)] near the Azir, and he Flashed away immediately. People are so scared of getting locked down by Ekko. [Parallel Convergence] is really hard to hit, but it's a really long stun. Throwing it from a bush gives you a lot of advantages, because you can potentially line it up."

Parallel Convergence sets up opponents for a finishing blow, casting a sphere on the ground that deploys after three seconds. Champions caught in it are slowed, and if Ekko joins them (either hopping in with Phase Dive or just straight-up running into it) it stuns enemies for over two seconds. To rub salt in the wound, Parallel Convergence's passive also adds another layer of damage to his auto attacks, ripping out a percent of his victim's health if they're already low, and grants Ekko a shield when he enters the field himself. On top of that, enemy players don't even get to see the field of effect until just before it snaps them up.

In short, as a ganker, Ekko is nearly peerless. The raw threat of just Parallel Convergence alone is enough to force Flashes out of enemy champions -- in itself a successful gank.

Yet that doesn't explain why junglers go out of their way to ignore his damage options.

Relativity

"As a jungler, you usually want to be tanky for your team," said IWillDominate. "You still do a lot of damage if you build him tank, because [Ekko's] base damages are super high."

Because Ekko gets basic attack modifiers from his passive and two spells, encouraging him to stick to a target, he's left vulnerable to a sustained barrage of spells and attacks. "I personally like just building him tank. I've tried building him AP, but I like to get into a fight and just mess with the enemy team, rather than trying to burst someone out."

IWillDominate's preferences are reflected in LPL play, where Ekko is most popular. Cinderhulk has been the go-to build for Weeks 10 and 11 -- when Ekko was played by Snake and Invictus Gaming -- where the bonus scaling health allowed Ekko to weather the storm of retaliatory fire whenever he showed up in a fight. Furthermore, a tank-oriented build interacts better with Chronobreak: Chronobreak's self-heal is based on the damage he's taken within four seconds of the cast. Basically, the more he can take the more he can heal.

[[{"fid":"18406","view_mode":"article_image","fields":{"format":"article_image","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":""},"tagName":"IMG","src":"http%3A//riot-web-cdn.s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/lolesports/s3fs-public/styles/article_image/public/Dominate_0.jpg%3Fitok%3DdywIkZwl","type":"media","attributes":{"class":"media-element file-article-image","height":"315","width":"700"}}]]

But the best reason to jungle Ekko? Because he's just too easy to kill in the mid lane.

"[Ekko is] just more of an annoying thing to deal with than mid lane, where [the other team] can just focus [their] time around crowd-controlling the Ekko and try to kill him," said IWillDominate. "But if you're a jungler, you get to do whatever you want, essentially. If they see you and try to kill you, you're tankier and harder to kill. But if they let you do damage for free, you're super strong."

In the right hands, Ekko’s opponents will wish that four-second rewind was a 20-minute fast-forward -- and forfeit. Watch Ekko end timelines all over Summoner’s Rift here on Lolesports.

99 Comments

BattleBunyRengarAug 10, 201556 votes

MAGIKARPUSEDFLY MADE THIS TREND PRAISE THE KARP KREW

bdcalatoAug 10, 201512 votes

PRAISE THE KARP KREW

tails551Aug 11, 20156 votes

KARP KREW

Unintelligence Aug 11, 20157 votes

PRAISE IT

PsyconaughtAug 11, 20152 votes

PRAISIN' IT PRAISIN' IT

YellowDuckAug 11, 20151 votes

Quack Quack

I Mrs Clean IAug 11, 20152 votes

Squish

HopeStrikerAug 11, 201523 votes

"Build him as a f*cking tank!" Ekko -The Karp ladies and Gentlemen

Dr DogAug 11, 20153 votes

by far the karp best vid https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XS1CiWvQtbk&spfreload=10 and heres a link to it

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHAug 12, 20154 votes

my comment is not related to this post but since it's on top and I always see people asking for a League of Legends sandbox, there is one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlGb8gZEKOo

ChiepAug 12, 20153 votes

upvote pls

PoofeferAug 11, 20158 votes

squish

UmbralAug 11, 20153 votes

TahmKench PRAISE THE KARP

MrSolomonAug 11, 20154 votes

I figured Karp was on to something when he pointed out Ekko's base-damage values and utility making him good as a tank.

THE KILLER GUYAug 11, 20151 votes

Except karp's recommended tank ekko build is awful and the only item karp and pros take in common is warmogs SOMETIMES. Also he stresses tank ekko but he also stresses ekko's AP ratios?

VreivaiAug 10, 201512 votes

Why would you make a feature about tank Ekko when we probably won't see it once professional play is on 5.15?

coeurloyalAug 10, 20153 votes

I question it too... pro leagues will switch to 5.15 for Worlds as soon as regionals are completed, right?

The sad part is half of the player base will still be running tank Ekko and Runeglaive mids long after they've been nerfed and keep on wondering why it isn't working. The moment 5.15 hits the stage Ekko will be a dead champ in pro play.

I'm pretty sure tank Ekko is already gone in higher elos because those players actually read the patch notes. Or at least, I hope they are.

MagearnaAug 10, 20152 votes

Worlds isn't until October, they might even use 5.16 by then depending on how soon 5.16 comes out on live, because that might be the patch most pros practice on for Worlds.

I do agree with you though, I like these articles because of the insight we get on why a champ is played competitively, but it's a bit annoying when solo queue players don't read these articles or patch notes, blindly choose a champ and build, and wonder why it isn't working.

Earl EulrichAug 10, 20153 votes

i think meddler stated somewhere that worlds will be played on 5.16. But currently it´s all about elise anyway.

PsyconaughtAug 11, 20151 votes

AHEM Ekko tank is still very viable in 5.15 they only nerfed his damage and his slow, while boosting his speed boost, he still has tons of percent of health damage and is a late game beast as a tank

coeurloyalAug 13, 20151 votes

They shifted a lot of his innate power out of his kit and into his AP scaling, making him much more dependent on itemization. In addition to the slow/speed shift that you identified they also reduced his shield by 50% and reduced his ult heal %, making both AP dependent. He needed both to effectively function as a tank, so he's going to have to implement AP in his build to really play as well as he was on 5.14.

Besides, even his passive damage received more AP scaling, making him really want more AP. Tank Ekko may be viable still, but it'll likely be too weak for pro play without adding Liandry's or RoA to his build. Whether Ekko will be forced to switch strategies or not has yet to be seen, but his build will have to change regardless. Riot targeted these nerfs specifically to reduce the value of tank Ekko, and they look like more than enough to do so.

PsyconaughtAug 14, 20151 votes

hmm well my build seems to work pretty well, its both unexpected, and makes me feel like nasus without the stacking indefinitely

coeurloyalAug 15, 20151 votes

I played it a couple days ago too, and it felt pretty good just with the addition of a Liandry's. It doesn't take a ton of AP to make up the difference, but it does require a bit more than before. A lot of pros have been testing it still, and it seems like an early Haunting Guise or a Rylai's will fill the void without much change. I'm still not sure if it will be enough to work in pro play, but it may still.

warpedmindAug 15, 20151 votes

just put a rylais anywhere in between and he should be fine. competitive will be another story as the pros do not take that kind of changes lightly

what you deserveAug 11, 20151 votes

Runeglaive mids are still viable. Smite can give a considerable bonus in 1v1 fights, and Runeglaive is a lot cheaper.

coeurloyalAug 13, 20151 votes

It's viable, but it isn't necessarily a better option than a rushed Lich Bane anymore. At the very least Runeglaive Ezreal in particular is dead now because he no longer gets the amount of extra waveclear and hp/mana refill that he needed to function cost effectively. The only mids I can think of that I would still run Runeglaive on are Diana and Fizz, but I'd rather have Lich Bane/ Ignite on both.

THE KILLER GUYAug 11, 20151 votes

Because he may still have a large presence in playoffs with the changes not occurring yet. Idk though. Still kinda pointless because with Elise and Nidalee being as strong as they are, ekko won't be played anywhere but maybe in china a little bit.

coeurloyalAug 13, 20151 votes

Agreed. I'm interested to see what the Worlds meta will look like in the jg. I think it will include Elise, Nidalee, Rek'Sai and Gragas as staples for sure. But other than that it's a toss up; Diana is typically more popular in the East than in the West; she may make a jg resurgence. Ekko is looking a bit iffy, and Evelynn is nerfed but still viable. Lee Sin got some PBE buffs that may lead to a resurgence for him. Who knows if/when someone decides to start running Devourer junglers, as well. So much could change between now and then.

StartygerAug 10, 20158 votes

Ekko just has an overstuffed kit. A shield, a stun, a slow, a dash, a blink, a move speed buff that's also another slow, a heal that's also another blink... all that and, as the article points out, high base damages and high ratios and percentage based damage. IMHO Riot just needs to eliminate a few of these from his kit if they want him to fulfill a certain niche. I'd like to see his ratios lowered pushing him into more of a cleanup role with his percent damage and remove the shield from Parallel Convergence so he doesn't get a benefit from it unless he actually hits something; as it is right now, it seems like a zero risk-high reward ability as even if you don't hit anything you get a pretty substantial benefit from it.

ShadowFiend812Aug 10, 20153 votes

You say his kit is overstuffed but even with all the things he has they don't do much for him anymore if riot implemented the changes you are suggesting ekko would be one of the worst champs in the game. His ratios are already low enough since they nerfed those to the ground when they nerfed ap ekko the shield from parallel convergence is almost a necessity for his kit so he can stay alive even if it misses plus the shield doesn't even last that long so when you do stun the enemy it wears off about a second after there done being stunned

Blind MinionAug 11, 20151 votes

Then buff what makes him Ekko and remove all the other random stuff he has. Problem solved from a thematic and design perspective and then he'd be more niche.

Crysi102Aug 11, 20153 votes

The problem with that is the niche he was made to fill. He does actually have a specific role. If you read his champion insights article, they wanted Ekko players to feel smart, have to rely on their kit's utility to outplay opponents, but also have the ability to be an assassin if they want. They wanted his gameplay to center around baiting enemies into w in interesting, surprising ways in order to outplay them. In order to do that, he sort of HAS to have a slightly overloaded kit. It gives his players options.

Looking at that design, tank Ekko is almost what he was meant to be. They wanted a crafty, durable scrapper who can still deal damage when done right. That's what they have. He's in a great spot right now from a niche/design perspective.

And if someone tells me his overbearing kit gives no counterplay, there actually is counterplay like crazy. All but one of his skills (the one being e) are skillshots, and e has a partial skillshot involved in it (the initial dash). W is really easy to miss, and Q is pretty easy to dodge if you know how to sidestep. And his ult (as I've been telling people since he came out and people were complaining about the instant quadras that full AP Ekko could pull) Is shown by his shadow! Keep track of it, and avoid standing by it, and you're fine! (Though it still has some decent visual glitches, but in that case, just don't be where he was 4 seconds ago. Simple enough if you keep track of him.) Honestly, it's his passive that makes him scary, and Riot nerfed it not too long ago. Most people just see him hitting them and think "Oh no, run away!" when they need to think "There's his passive down, I have a few seconds to hit him before he can do it again."

Ekko's fine as he is right now, his damage isn't too insane, and his surviveability isn't that spectacular... He's hitting that niche that Riot wants, of the sustained damage, outplay based fighter with the potential to assassinate. He was designed to make his player feel smart when they outplayed someone, and to make his enemies have to THINK to outplay Ekko. Right now, I think they finally hit that spot.

Ekko's not terribly broken (like on release), and he's not big enough to be one of the most common bans (from what I've seen). I think these recent changes make him fine, and Riot should just let him be now. Instead, can we talk about Shyvana with Devourer for a second? (jk on that.0

Whatevsman97Aug 24, 20151 votes

hey look, intelligence

The WhamboozlerAug 10, 20158 votes

This just kinda proves how little Riot understands their own game. They released Ekko saying he'd be a sustained damage midlaner and they gave him an insanely overloaded kit. People joked that the amount of utility in his kit was absurd and made most tanks and supports jealous... and now he's a tanky support jungler THAT STILL DOES CRAZY DAMAGE.

Also, why can Ekko have a permaslow but Skarner got gutted for having one? Skarner's was harder to pull off! If someone let you crawl up that close to them it was their own damned fault they got slowed and pulled! But the kid from Zaun with a ton of mobility and CC gets to do it on top of all the other nonsense he has in his kit? #balance

GoobyliftAug 11, 20155 votes

Fact is this: If you are good at Ekko he is still totally playable in any role. The people crying about him being nerfed are the "bad" Ekko players who just wanted a "cool" champ they can get freELO with.

Daeva of DestinyAug 10, 20154 votes

Anyone else just feel like some people aren't going to read the part about this not being viable anymore and are just going to run tank Ekko?

GhostWarrior5921Aug 11, 20154 votes

Build him as a fcking tank Ekko ~ Magikarpusedfly

ArtemisWinterAug 10, 20152 votes

What is really sad is tank ekko has been killed by riot. They refused to have ekko become the tanky jungler who dominates and has a real role in the game. Unlike how he is in 5.15 a Squish mage who does burst dmg but will die at the blink of an eye. RIP tank Ekko you were my favourite champ for a while until riot did what they usually do... Kill off good champs.

p0psiclesAug 10, 201534 votes

Oh no. Riot nerfed an OP champion who was excelling because he was given an overloaded kit with multiple dashes, stuns, slows, and damage spells all while he was building super tanky. Sucks when Riot decides to try to balance the game.

IcyPepperAug 11, 20158 votes

Poor Ekko.

The way his kit is designed, he's got to be kept at a weaker state. Right now, post-nerfing, he's got average statistics (average banrate, average pick rate, pretty average win rate a little on the low side).

Right now, I think he's finally in a good spot. As fun as Tank Ekko is, it's not fun to play against. Assassin Ekko has better counterplay, and the stats show he's not the #1 assassin right now.

I think Riot did a good job with the last patch. He's not quite as overbearing now, but he's certainly not unplayable.

ShimSladyAug 11, 20152 votes

but yet a champ like lee sin who has insane mobility and an overloaded kit has not been nerfed at all same with riven

GoobyliftAug 11, 201518 votes

You are either new or just plain ignorant. Lee has been nerfed a lot of times. On top of that, Ekko's kit is arguably even more broken from a jungle perspective .

MrMugglezAug 11, 20155 votes

Lee Sin has been nerfed, and so has Riven. Also the Skill ceiling for those 2 champs are of the highest in the game. Please, don't be a LeeSin and do some research before you make blind, blatantly wrong, statements as if they are true...

ShadragonAug 11, 20159 votes

Riven's skill ceiling doubles as her skill floor. Her deepest and most advanced mechanic can be discovered accidentally by just mashing your keyboard hard enough. Her most difficult matchups are moderately challenging for her and extremely skill intensive for the enemy. Riven may not be the easiest champion in the game, but she is far from skill intensive.

FeraasAug 11, 20156 votes

Don't compare Riven with Lee Sin please,There is big diffrence between the skill level of Lee Sin and Riven,If you F*** up early with Lee Sin you can't comeback because you are not a good late game champion,but on the other side if you go in the laning phase with Riven 1/10 when you reach the late game you can kill there squishes very easliy,Don't let me get started about Riven's level three power spike.

A Support BotAug 11, 20152 votes

I honestly think it would have been better to balance the AP and Tank stats, compared to taking from one and giving to another...RIP Jungle Ekko item 3070

Bleddyn is MidAug 11, 20151 votes

NO NO NO NO NO IVE BEEN BUILDING TANK EKKO SINCE HIS RELEASE YOU BUY A item 3027 AND item 3025 WITH item 3157 AND THE REST TANK ITEMS AND YOU DESTROY KIDS THEY DONT MAKE THIS SHIT UP PEOPLE LIKE ME AND STRANGERS DO i also said this in the nautilus top