Some ideas dealing with Ekko, AP vs Tank
The general problem in his kit that I see is that it supports a tankier Ekko while making assassin(AP) Ekko much more risky when both yield equally rewarding outcomes.
Timewinder(Q) Waveclear - okay for both, better supports building AP engage/disengage - the slow is good for both builds burst - supports AP build poke - lacking, return of Q very difficult to hit unless enemy walks into the skillshot Issue - AP Ekko needs the damage from both parts while Tank Ekko only cares about the slow to stick to targets. Idea - make Ekko's Q more reliable so that building damage feels more rewarding. As it is, the second part is too easy to dodge. I was thinking add a slow-on-impact of the spell rather than having it create a moving slow-zone that most can simply walk out of.
Parallel Convergence(W) Stun - great utility and easy for opponents to outplay, I think it's fine. Execute - design makes sense since you have to deal enough damage before you can utilize it - supports building damage to get more damage. Issue - Much easier for tank Ekko to set up than AP ekko. 3 second delay means that Ekko has to survive for that long after casting W to make use of it. Obviously Tank ekko has a much easier time surviving than AP Ekko. This aspect supports Tank ekko much more. Idea - reduce delay to 2s from 3s. This would mean that AP ekko has to worry about one less second of dodging cc and staying alive while it's one less second that tank Ekko doesn't care about. This would make AP Ekko more reliable while keeping tank Ekko at around the same place.
Chronobreak(R) Re-engage/damage - It makes sense for an assassin since it punishes enemy mistakes. If you don't walk into it, Ekko has a much harder time killing you, if you do, you're dead, most likely. Disengage - somewhat equally useful for both Issue - While the damage support AP ekko, the retreat/I messed up button is actually harder to deal with on Tank Ekko. If you try to kill tank Ekko, not only will you be using a lot of resources and time but also you risk that he can just ult away. If you force AP ekko to ult by landing some skillshots his much smaller health bar, than he has to use his highest burst damage source to escape. Furthermore, in the scenario where Ekko is CCed, Tank Ekko has a higher chance of survivng and being able to ult out whereas AP ekko will most likely die during the duration of the CC. Idea - reduce the latency between Ekko and his shadow. This would make the distance traveled when ulting less, which in turn makes it a worse escape. One second could be over another wall. This, just as the w change I mentioned means that AP ekko has one less second of surviving to worry about when trying to set up his Chronobreak damage. This means that being a carry - dealing damage is more accessible to Ekko while making his escape for both tank and AP Ekko worse.
Also I'm not a fan of the recent change to Ekko's passive. As an AP Ekko, it feels clunky and awkward that half of his skirmish damage (Passive) has a higher cool down than the rest of it (Q and E). It was intuitive before the current patch. You would think, "ok Q is off cooldown, that also means that E and passive are ready to go,"; then q+e(cancelling the animation of q) and then one more auto to proc your passive and finish the combo. Now you have to wait for the indicator to burn off and it feels super frustrating because in that time, the enemy's defensive spell or flash could come off cd or they can simply run away if they are faster than you.
I actually preferred AP ekko from last patch. I know that tank ekko was more op but I would definitely trade the new scalings they upped on his ulti and q for the lower cd on his passive.
- Myn