Nerfing Ekko's base damage and buffing AP ratios won't help...

It'll just make an entirely different problem.

When Ekko was released, I had high hopes. He seemed to be a balanced assassin. Yes, his kit was full of cc, but I didn't see what everyone was complaining about. After a few patches, they had nerfed his damage and his cc so that his slows and stuns weren't unbearable. He had a fair playstyle in lane in which he was a reactive champion, too. Ekko didn't engage on you in lane. He would wait for you to attack, plan his stun with his w, dodge with his e, and then blink onto you. After getting his third passive hit, he runs back to his side while you're slowed. I loved this playstyle in lane. This "wait for the enemy to attack, dodge, then hit and disappear/run" matched with the theme of a time traveler who dodges a sticky situation using time, attacks his enemy after time traveling, and then time traveling right back out. Ekko looked great on paper, and he's still stupidly fun to play as an AP assassin.

However, this was a champion with too much cc. His style can fit an assassin in an incredibly unorthodox yet awesome way. However, the tank items simply work better on him. He simply fits the role of a tank more, and he's unbalanced when he's a tank that dishes out heaps of cc and damage in a teamfight. People are saying to nerf his base damage and buff his AP ratios as a result. Seems like it'll work, no? That way, Ekko deals pretty much no damage as a tank, and is encouraged to build AP instead. However, all that will happen is you'll end up with an incredibly unfun champion.

Right now, assassin Ekko isn't unfun to play against. He doesn't have the highest damage, so instead he has to limit and trap you with his cc, then outsmart you with his ultimate. Playing assassin Ekko requires skill, and when he kills you, you feel as if you were fairly outplayed. What will happen if you buff his AP ratios and nerf his base damage? Well, he'll have a sub par lane phase - he'll have to play much smarter then in order to keep up with his opponents. Once he goes back to base to buy some items, he'll be set. However, towards mid and late game, he's going to be dealing stupid damage because of the heightened AP ratios. He'll have a much stronger late game than an assassin should. Maybe his winrate will be neutral, since assassins still don't always do well in the late game, but he's going to be unfun to play against. Don't believe me? Ekko will be an assassin that...

a) Has very high burst in a matter of seconds b) Is nearly unescapable once he sees you due to his dash/blink c) Has the ability to blink away at the push of a button once he instantly annihilates you.

Does this remind you (cough cough) of any other unfun champions (cough cough) that do pretty much (cough cough) the exact same thing?

Ekko will have a more balanced winrate if his AP ratios are simply buffed, but in the mid to late game, he'll be deleting champions and escaping instantly. You won't feel outplayed like you do when a current assassin Ekko traps you in his stun, blinks to dodge an attack, and plans his ult to hit you at just the right time. You'll just feel like Ekko facerolled the keyboard before pressing R to escape.

Ekko was a great concept for a champion, but no matter how you change his damage, he simply doesn't work because he'll either be a no-damage tank, a tanky cc-filled AP bruiser, or an unfun assassin. If you want to change him, instead of just changing his ratios like you've done in the past, there are two solutions that I can think of. I'm no game designer, but I figured I should put these up for consideration:

1. As many others have proposed, make his cc scale with AP. That way, he's less effective as a tank. Or...

2. Change his passive a little in order to punish him for building tank. Ekko's theme is a time warrior, right? Being that he's constantly travelling in time, that probably messes with his age. You can add as some kind of note something along the lines of "Ageless: Additional health is only 75% as effective on Ekko." This would discourage Ekko players from building tank, while still keeping tank Ekko an option. It would be less viable, but it would be kind of like Support Fiddlesticks - not meta, but a sort-of option.

I don't know, maybe I'm overlooking something. If you disagree, feel free to say so below.