Ekko vs Vel'koz

Mr Sexy Pants·Jun 5, 2015·2 votes·8,882 views

Alright, let's take a look at these. I haven't played Ekko and I refuse to purchase him until he's balanced because I have morals, so I'm going to go off of assumptions based on the wiki entries. Please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. So according to the wiki these two have similar passives, except one is exceptionally better than the other. The better one being Ekko's. Yes, Vel'koz deals True Damage, but as a Vel'koz main I generally stack magic penetration anyway for him so it really wouldn't make much of a difference.

Let's compare.

Z-Drive Resonance ON-TARGET COOLDOWN: 3

Ekko's damaging abilities and basic attacks build up Resonance stacks on his enemies, lasting up to 4 seconds. At 3 stacks the target takes 「 15 + (12 × Ekko's level) 」(+ 70% AP) bonus magic damage and is Slow icon slowed by 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80% for 2 / 2.5 / 3 seconds. Z-Drive Resonance's bonus damage will apply spell effects. Z-Drive Resonance cannot affect the same target more than once every few seconds. Against champions, Ekko also gains bonus movement speed equal in strength and duration to the Slow icon slow .

Organic Deconstruction ON-TARGET COOLDOWN: 0.5 Organic Deconstruction Each of Vel'Koz's damaging abilities apply a stack of Organic Deconstruction to enemy units for 7 seconds, up to a maximum of 3 stacks. Upon reaching 3 stacks, they will detonate, dealing「 25 + (10 × Vel'Koz's level) 」true damage to the enemy unit. Basic attacks will refresh the duration of the Organic Deconstruction Deconstruction stacks, but will not add additional stacks.

I'm assuming that the On-Target cooldown for Ekko is how often the final result can trigger, not how quickly it can add stacks. When you compare this to Vel'koz, he can trigger his twice within that time. Let's assume he lands his Q, both Es and his W and does. We'll go with level 6 or so with 120 AP for Ekko. Now, with these in mind, at level 6.

15+(126)+(87)=171 damage for Ekko with his passive every 3 seconds. Vel'koz is 15+(106)*2=170 damage every 3 seconds( the *2 is from triggering every 1.5 seconds, twice), if he pulls off his full combo. This does not include auto attacks, as unlike Ekko, auto attacks trigger his. So Vel'koz requires a lot more skill to trigger this.

Now, let's take the end-game example here. We'll stick Ekko fully built with 750 AP, which is pretty common for an AP carry.

15+(1218)+525=756 damage, plus an 80% 3 second slow for Ekko. Vel'koz gets a mighty 25+(1018)*2=410 true damage every 3 seconds, again, if he pulls off his full combo, or his ult. sticks the entire time.

Let's also note in Vel'koz's entire kit, he has a total of two slows, both of which are skill shots, one is channeled, as well as one knock up, which is also a skill shot. As for Ekko, he has one slow in his passive, another in his Q, yet another one in his W as well as a stun and a shield, and a dash AND a blink in his W (which can go through walls) and a teleport in his ult.

So, comparing two champions, even though they have different "roles", they're both AP and they're both carries. Why is one so much more powerful than the other? And if you guys want an explanation of the rest of their kits. I have that ready as well.

8 Comments

Pucking PurrfectJun 5, 20152 votes

Lmao. Comparing a melee assassin with a mage that pokes you from the base. Stronk logic.

Mr Sexy PantsJun 6, 20151 votes

This guy isn't a melee assassin. He has melee range auto attacks, but he is not a melee assassin. Akali is a melee assassin. Katarina is a melee assassin. Diana is also a melee assassin. They all have one ranged attack and the rest are close range with a single engage. This guy has 3 ranged AOE attacks and an AOE nuke around him. His play style is ranged assassin similar to LeBlanc, except with a hell of a lot more CC, range and burst.

BlueharlequinJun 5, 20152 votes

Ekko has a way of both getting out of the fight and then getting the reveral with his ult. Granted it's very risky to use them like that but there's a good reward. Vel'Koz on the other hand is at the mercy of his cooldowns. His only get off me tool is his E. If that's down and someone jumps on his face he will die.

That's basically the difference. If Vel'Koz keeps them at bay then he wins but if they get in his face he's probably gonna die.

Ekko can mid range poke with q and if he goes in he has the burst. If he makes a bad read on the fight he can ult out and then try again. So fighting Ekko is harrasing around his ultimate which is very easy. He suffers early so make those first 5 levels count because once he hits six he has his get of jail free card like most assassins.

Vel does have a good pro in that most of his abilites are AoE so again, when positioned right he's much better in a teamfight then Ekko but once again the positioning needs to be right. Same for Ekko. If he can get in and burst down the carry he ults out job done.

TL:DR people prefer a champion that has an escape and burst over a character with massive sustained/burst and no escape.

Mr Sexy PantsJun 5, 20151 votes

^^^^

Yes, this is exactly what I was talking about. Expanding on this:

Let's compare ults as well.

We'll do the same specs at level 6 and 18

First, note, that Ekko's ult allows him to reposition himself to pull it off, as well as run away, where Vel'koz's says "This champion is screwed while using his ult."

Chronobreak RANGE: Global COOLDOWN: 110 / 90 / 70 Chronobreak PASSIVE: Ekko is followed by a time-delayed hologram of himself that tracks where he was 4 seconds ago. The hologram is inactive while Chronobreak is on cooldown. ACTIVE: After a short delay, Ekko blinks to wherever he was 4 seconds ago, dealing magic damage to surrounding enemies and healing Ekko for a value equal to flat amount plus a percentage of all damage taken over the last 4 seconds. MAGIC DAMAGE: 200 / 350 / 500 (+ 130% AP) HEAL: 100 / 150 / 200 (+ 20 / 25 / 30%「 (+ 3.33% per 100 AP) 」of damage taken).

Lifeform Disintegration Ray RANGE: 1550 COST: 100 MANA COOLDOWN: 130 / 110 / 90 Lifeform Disintegration Ray ACTIVE: Vel'Koz Root icon roots himself in place and projects an energy beam in a line for 2.5 seconds, dealing magic damage to enemies caught in its wake in 0.25 second intervals and Slow icon slowing them by 20% for 1 second. MAXIMUM MAGIC DAMAGE: 500 / 700 / 900 (+ 60% AP) The ray's trajectory will update over the duration to face the cursor and can prematurely be concluded by reactivating Lifeform Disintegration Ray.

Okay, here we go. First off, as everyone probably noticed. Something IS missing from Ekko's ult....a mana cost. Also, check out those cooldowns. Anyway, we will make the assumption that everyone stands in the ults and they aren't interrupted.

Level 6 Ekko: 200+156= 356 instant burst damage AOE around him plus instantly healing 100+23.33% of the damage he took during the last 4 seconds.(None of this can be interrupted) Level 6 Vel'koz: 500+72+85 true damage = 657 damage, which is pretty darn good, assuming everyone stands still single file and it doesn't get interrupted for 2.5 seconds.

Level 18 Ekko: 500+975=1475 instant burst damage AOE around him and instantly healing 200+53.31% of the damage he took in that time. Again, no mana cost, nothing can be interrupted. Level 18 Vel'koz: 900+450+205(passive)=1555 damage in a line over 2.5 seconds.

So, assuming Vel'koz sits and channels the entire time and pulls off everything, allowing his longer cooldown and mana cost, he can deal a whole 80 more damage than Ekko at the same AP total assuming the channel hits full strength, and only 205 of which bypasses magic resist.

The thing I'm trying to emphasize is risk vs reward. Why does a champ with so much CC and mobility have so much more power compared to a champion that has very low CC and no mobility?

Lauricella3Jun 5, 20151 votes

ekko is melee, velkoz is ranged and true damage. also velkoz can refresh the 7 second timer with his auto attacks and has almost no mana costs.

PainforgedJun 5, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Mr Sexy Pants,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=F5GP9Wrx,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-06-05T02:10:20.875+0000)

Alright, let's take a look at these. I haven't played Ekko and I refuse to purchase him because I'm with the "op" hype train and don't want to bother wasting valuable time learning him and learning how to counter him.

Yes sir. Also, playing a certain champion does not determine whether you have morals or not.

Truly PridefulJun 5, 20151 votes

You're comparing apples to oranges.

Vel'koz is a poke mage with good range.

Ekko is an assassin who will have to go into melee to get many kills.

It's also a fair bit easier to get the Vel'koz passive to go off on more than one target at a time due to his AoE nature. You're also downplaying the value of the Vel'koz passive being true damage rather than magic damage. They're both very good, they just do different things.