Why don't Koreans think AP Ezreal is good?

ofart·Jul 11, 2015·6 votes·1,116 views

When interviewed, Curse's Piglet commented that he didn't think AP Ezreal was that good and they had counters prepared so it wasn't hard to beat him. Today, in the Najin vs Anarchy LCK game, again one of the players when interviewed said "AP Ezreal isn't as good as you guys think." He's also rarely banned in LCK and not doing that well.

Is it just the lack of CC and poor roaming potential or more his difficulty dealing with a tanky frontline? Most of the wins against AP Ezreal were with Maoki, Rek'Sai etc. body-blocking his Q-E-R.

11 Comments

LankPantsJul 11, 20152 votes

AP Ez has to compete with other poke champions mid lane like Jayce, Varus and Azir.

He struggles to output as much DPS as any of these champs and entirely lacks any of their utility. All Ez can bring to a team is a lot of damage, but the difference between his damage and other poke champs isn't really substantial enough to justify the pick over any of the others in a competitive environment.

He also suffers from having a particularly strong hard counter in Yasuo who both shits on him early and destroys him in teamfights. Picking Yasou into AP Ez is becoming more common in every region an Ez just can't really handle him.

ponkzyJul 11, 20152 votes

because korean top laners and junglers are actually good unlike NA

Imotekh KharnJul 11, 20152 votes

Because Ap Ezreal actually sucks and alot of people just don't seem to understand that

ofartJul 14, 20151 votes

I wouldn't go that far but it is surprising he actually scores HIGHER at lower ELO than Diamond+ for example.

Best Ekko NAJul 11, 20151 votes

The reason regular AP Ezreal isn't good is because his W has high mana costs, which normally would be his main tool of harass. It's also very hard to farm with normal AP Ezreal as you have to max W first since Q doesn't scale AP.

Now if you're talking Runeglaive Ezreal, there's several reasons why it's considered 'weak'.

The foremost biggest problem with Runeglaive Ezreal is that you are forced to take Smite. Early Smite does nothing for you in dueling an enemy laner, thus your early game you're essentially down 1 summoner spell on your enemies since they will likely have Ignite, Heal, or Teleport. Against an enemy who has enough range to harass you this can make for a really bad early game start as Ignite could mean the difference between you winning a duel with them or losing.
The next problem with Runeglaive Ezreal is the build path. When you play Runeglaive Ezreal you're forced to build Sheen first to reach your Runeglaive power spike and this means that you have to put off other items until mid or late game. This may or may not be a bad thing however against many champions in the mid lane you will never be in range to actually hit them with an auto attack after using an ability thus it's not always a very effective path for building.
The last problem with Runeglaive Ezreal is that Ezreal is lacking in terms of wave clear. The vast majority of mid laners can easily clear entire waves of minions and this will leave you struggling at your tower while they can roam about potentially ganking lanes with you being unable to respond without losing a lot of farm or risking much tower damage. Basically against Mid laners with wave clear early fights will be heavily sided against your team as you'll be stuck in lane or your team's Jungle will have to shove your lane which also exposes him in the process.

Hope this answers your question. ^_^

Duke AnaxJul 11, 20155 votes

partly wrong answer.

1: completely right

2: The point of this build is exactly Q applies sheen, so he doesn't have to AA.

3: that is not the problem that is the solution. Trailblazer gives him the waveclear he normally lacks.

Best Ekko NAJul 12, 20151 votes

[{quoted}](name=Duke Anax,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=HamhIBIL,comment-id=00000000,timestamp=2015-07-11T13:37:05.694+0000)

partly wrong answer.

1: completely right

2: The point of this build is exactly Q applies sheen, so he doesn't have to AA.

3: that is not the problem that is the solution. Trailblazer gives him the waveclear he normally lacks.

My bad, I forgot that Ezreal's Q gives and procs Sheen in the same cast. However the part where he lacks wave clear still holds very true. Even with Ranger's Trailblazer Ezreal cannot wave clear anywhere near as fast as mid laners with AoE spells such as Malzahar, Anivia, Xerath, or Brand.

BlacksSmokeCrackJul 11, 20151 votes

"TSM's Piglet"

Are you trying to act like vvvvortic or are you just retarded?

ofartJul 11, 20152 votes

My mistake, I meant Team Liquid. Here's the game I was talking about.

atomicwitJul 12, 20151 votes

I've actually had a lot of trouble facing Malzahar as AP Ezreal. I think he's pretty underrated as a counter. He pushes like a beast and his ultimate is a direct counter to squishy high mobility champions.

DurzakaJul 14, 20151 votes

I think people are primarily overestimating his power as an individual champion.

He is very powerful on the patch the pros are still on. His damage is very high once he reaches mid game, and absolutely nuts in the end game.

The problem is that there are a lot of things you can do to stop him. First and foremost picking big meaty champions who can get in his face and stop him from W-E-Qing or Ult-Wing a squishy on your team and destroying them in a half a second. Second, picking a high burst champion with CC that can stop him (someone like Ahri). Third, picking a big lane bully who scales just as well as him (like Azir).

So all in all, people are expecting Ap Ezreal and they are fully prepared to have multiple players practiced with counter picking against it because people are tunneling the Ezreal pick so hard they arent thinking about the entire game.

Go look at the games Ap Ezreal wins, it is almost always when the team drafts a really big front line to protect Ezreal AND the teams jungler camps mid very hard to get him going.