An early analysis on Ekko

Last time I did this with Bard when he was released, and people got a little pissy, because speculation and discussion is apparently a bad thing around here. If you're going to try and shut down the conversation, please shut up and go elsewhere.

(Ahem) So I tried out Ekko, building and in roughly that order; a pure AP build. If this is an analysis on his ability as an AP assassin, I might as take it to its logical conclusion.

I have to say... he does his job well. TOO well. Too well to the point that he might get beaten with his own nerf bat. Imagine all the worst elements of Diana and Fizz and this is basically Ekko in a nutshell.

Let's start with his general capabilities. This chart ranks his capabilities from D- to S+, similar to the new mastery system.

Mobility: S Lane Clear/Push: S Mana efficiency: D Damage: S+ Crowd control: A+ Tower Smashing: B Sustainability: B General required skill: S+ Durability: D+

He tends to play to both extreme ends of the spectrum, and I kind of anticipated this when I saw his kit. Ekko is the type of champion that requires foresight from every participant, no matter if you're playing as him, with him, or against him. His W's range is roughly the same range as Yasuo's ult, and requires foresight about the enemy you're facing, how they'll react to Ekko charging at them and his illusion winding up, where they might go, and what they'll do to counter him and stop him from entering the bubble. Whether or not an enemy is in the bubble, great care should be taken to make sure Ekko can't enter the bubble. The shield he gains from it is short, but gigantic; with my build, I was able to get over 1000 points of shield, and though it lasts for a brief moment, the durability he gains from it can save him in a desperate pinch.

The spotlight video and the in-game text neglects to mention this, but Ekko's passive procs on his Q, twice if it hits both times. This actually turned out to give him fantastic wave clear patterns in the laning phase, dealing just enough damage both ways that, combined with the trigger from his basic attack killed minions in one shot. In the later phases of the fight, once he starts building some AP, his passive becomes unbelievably oppressive; my build allowed me to deal over 700 magic damage from the passive alone, not counting the damage from basic attacks, Lich Bane, Luden's Echo, or Nashor's Tooth. Combined with the fact that he can trigger it in rapid succession with his Q and E, he could potentially nuke down most targets before they have time to react. While this isn't anything new for AP assassins, his damage potential is leaps and bounds above even LeBlanc.

His ult at my max build dealt over 1500 damage, larger than even Veigar's strongest burst. It comes as no surprise that I managed to score an instant triple kill from the ult alone. As was said in previews, his ult allows him to recall or teleport and immediately snap back; combined with Homeguard, he can instantly restore his entire health/mana bars, buy an item or two and snap back to the lane with Homeguard still in effect. This could definitely be used for some powerful counter ambushes, recalling as the enemy approaches while you're at low health, and then snapping back with Homeguard and demolishing them. With proper timing from his W, Ekko can take an entire team of idiots who thought to chase him alongside his shadow while seeing a third Ekko winding up. With less than a third of my health remaining, I was able to demolish Renekton (who got fed early) at low health from a well-aimed W combined with my Q, ult and E in that order.

His sustain is what you'd expect from any mage without a healing skill. The healing from his ult is dependent on how much damage you've taken in the past four seconds, so it's not an instant or inherently reliable heal. The healing is meant to be used in a pinch, when you know you have the fight playing in your favor. On top of that, his mana efficiency is close to the bottom of the barrel; early on, he can run out of mana from just farming minions with his Q. I think in hindsight, I would prefer to build Athena's Unholy Grail over the Morellonomicon to allow him to stay in the lane. If the enemy is smart, they'll use this time to shut Ekko down and bully him into a corner. Like Nasus, if you give him breathing room, he will start to snowball very quickly as the game goes on.

In closing, I'd have to say I like Ekko's playstyle. It's one of those kits that's so heavily dependent on the skill from both sides of the team. A smart Ekko player will know how to anticipate the enemy's reactions and force them to play right into his hands, and a smart player fighting against Ekko will know how not to allow him to dictate the conditions of the fight. That is his greatest strength, is when he's able to determine where and when the fight is held. If he makes a bad decision or a miscalculation, which true to his character can be measured in seconds, then he gets vaporized easily and his damage potential is heavily mitigated.