Ekko would be fine if his ult costed mana

Besides some slight number changes and a mana cost on his ult, I think he's relatively fine.

His biggest drawback is that unlike and , once goes in, if he stays for too long, he cannot completely leave the fight. Once it's been 4 seconds, he no longer has the ability to instantly completely get out. And at least he's melee unlike a certain champion .

Honestly, if his ult had any sort of mana cost, I'd be fine with him. His biggest draw back is getting CC'd. I noticed in a game playing him in the jungle that I actually had to buy Merc Treads and sell my Sorc Shoes because if the enemy hit a binding on me, it was over. Hard CC shuts Ekko down harder than it does Master Yi. Additionally, high mobility champions, or even those with higher cooldown dashes, such as can easily avoid your W, and in some cases they will have more DPS than you and can kill you.

Ekko's biggest issue is his ultimate having no mana cost at all. I get that it's "Highly situational" and "Requires good positioning 4 seconds ago" but the huge heal and enormous damage is too much. Personally, for an assassin, I feel like it's fine to have the damage, after all, he is an assassin, that's kinda his thing. The heal could use some slight fine tuning. Although the current mechanic of healing more based on damage I feel is fine, and fits the theme of him really well.

Another issue I see with Ekko is people aren't realizing how important positioning is. Ekko brings a new meaning to the importance of positioning. Both Ekko and his opponent will need proper positioning. Examples would be his Q and W, both can zone the enemy, however the enemy must also pay attention to where Ekko himself is, or else they can be punished. And once Ekko hits level 6, positioning becomes even more important. You must keep track of his ultimate. There is always an indication if he has it, that I feel is the biggest drawback of it. Although a few things would be nice for clarity.

1. The trail and the clone can't be the exact same color. If Ekko walks back and forth in the same place, you can't tell what the trail is and what the clone is. For someone like Ekko, who you need to know exactly where he is, that is a problem. Easily fixed by a slight color change of the clone.

2. The clone's actions should reflect what actions where performed when Ekko was there, and not just walking/standing. I noticed while I was jungling, my clone would just stand there like a moron, when in actuality I had been attacking. Additionally, it's pretty awkward seeing the clone just kinda teleport around after using your E. I think if Ekko were to keep his ult as no mana cost, then the path left behind would need to show all of his actions and animations. Meaning, if you happened to walk over where Ekko was CSing 2 seconds go, you would see the clone smacking up the air. Additionally, you would see the animation of his Q and E (both parts) going off. The amount of counterplay this would provide would justify no mana cost. You would be able to see him using his Q and E if you were trailing him and didn't originally see him use them. Additionally, instead of seeing him walking past a camp, you would see him fighting the air, signalling that he was fighting and too some damage.

Ekko, for the most part, seems to be intensive of counterplay and positioning. The fact that I was tempted to buy a QSS as my last item, on an AP champion, vs a team with little AP, shows how important it is for him to not be CC'd. And if he were to have the clone telegraph all of his actions, and not just where he was standing, it would provide a level of counterplay that would counter his strong attributes, namely his no cost ultimate.

Also, come on, if his clone did this, you could see his clone dancing 4 seconds in the past as you clear a camp. Your clone could cheer you on in lane, as long as you did it 4 seconds prior.