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Should Riot consider changes for Ekko?

Laçez·4/12/2018, 3:21:03 PM·2 votes·1,316 views

Before I get started let me just mention that Ekko is my favorite champion along with Kindred, his design in terms of his background and Lore is spot on and I can see how Riot tried to implement that into the game, which by the way, they were successful in doing. My problems arise where he falls short as an assassin.

I understand people find Ekko very annoying given the slippery nature of his kit, but I want you to consider this: Ekko in platinum+ has a death rate (averaged) at 5.85 deaths/game, worse in lower elos. His damage dealt is subpar; much less than his assassin counterparts. The win rate is static around 50%, give or take, at every elo with a play rate around 3%. These are just numbers and while they are an average across a large player count they give a good indication on how Ekko preforms. As an Ekko main myself I can definately vouch for what these numbers lean towards especially given my experience with the champion and I can only say that for the role of an Assassin, he isn't good.

Let me digress: Ekko's laning phase isn't good, while it is manageable is surely isn't a good one. For one he is a melee AP champ with really low base damage in the mid lane, fighting against people like Lux, Brand, Lb... A lot of ranged champions, making him suscepitble to a lot of poke while not being able to poke back effectively and or farm properly with an ability like his Q; On average you miss about 1/2 Cs a wave, which does add up. His Q innately pushes a wave and you need to use it against a ranged oppponent to avoid getting poked for Cs, it leaves you vunerable to ganks and while it does allow for some roaming potential, the tradeoff isn't valued in my opinion. I would say I am good at Ekko, I don't play ranked at all for certain reasons, so I can't really give you all an indication of my skill in League as a whole, but I would like to think that I'm not bad at the game. I have asked challenger players about their thoughts on Ekko and the occasional post on what they think of him and I kid you not, they have ALL come to the conclusion that he isn't a good champion. Although I'm sure someone like Shiphtur wouldn't vouch for. They all mention that they would rather play a champion that can do all Ekko can and more or just function better as an assassin. Common examples are Zed, Fizz, Kata and even Ahri (eeven though she is more of a mage). I'll copy and paste an example of what a Challenger (Currently Master tier) player thought of Ekko when I asked him just yesterday:

Me: What do you think of Ekko btw? Him: Well I ussualy critize champions so here we go:

His passive is fine His Q on a way back can be dodged by going backwards 100% of a time His W never hits even from FOG its really telegraphed His R only hits when a player is like.. Oh w/E dude hit me I can tank it (so if a player underestimates its damage) Whenever you want to main ekko ask yourself why not ahri over this champ, or Le blanc

Ekko has pathetic lane kill pressure and loses the most 1vs1 (He has few random good matchups ilke syndra tho) Ekko lategame does get more threatning but so does everyone in a game to a point where you ll find yourself not functioning in teamfights Link: https://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/A0TEhvdV-as-a-high-elo-ap-assassin-main?comment=0016 ^ - scroll down & ctrl f to find it if you wish...

It really sums up what I experience when playing Ekko in league and it is frustrating, especially when I feel I could just be doing better if I picked another champion. HIs potential was better before the Assassin update where they changed a lot of how Ekko worked, mainly because of the slow, it made his laning phase less punishable but unfortunately people had to go and start building him as a tank, which prompted the changes. I would really like it if Riot considered Ekko for changes that continue to encapture the design of Ekko but make him more viable as an Assassin.

11 Comments

webstar11084/12/2018, 3:45:44 PM4 votes

You just miss the Ekko form release! That OP bullshit. Remember those awful (good for you) days of his R being free and only Ekko could see where he would go......

Ahri Body Pillow4/12/2018, 4:50:24 PM3 votes

The whole point of ekko is that he's a utility assassin. He trades off damage potential for utility and AoE. I'd like to use the Zed example Riot used.

" We already have kill assassins (Zed and LeBlanc, for instance), so we came up with the idea of a utility assassin. Ekko, like Ashe, has lower ratios and so takes longer to secure kills than most in his role. But where he loses damage, he gains large amounts of CC that he can use to win teamfights even when he isn’t the main damage threat. Basically, if Zed can’t kill Anivia, he can’t kill Anivia - he doesn’t provide much else to his team. But if Ekko can’t kill Anivia, he can at least try to lock her (and maybe her team) down so people like Jinx can clean up."

To summarize, while champions like Zed do a lot of damage, that's just about all they offer. Ekko has a shield, a stun, a slow, a heal, and a rewind button. Ekko isn't supposed to just be able to oneshot squishies ( I mean, he can, but it takes a lot more set up on Ekko's part). He takes multiple passes at a fight/target until he can finally take them down.

He's a perfectly capable assassin, just not in the traditional sense.

C9 Squeeky 4/12/2018, 4:14:46 PM2 votes

I thought Ekko's laning was fine

Kwattigor4/12/2018, 7:11:54 PM2 votes

he trades off dmg for cc that being said they could speed up his w slightly as it is extremely slow for the range and set up needed but in team fight it performs alot better so might make it to strong for tf

Draehl4/12/2018, 7:26:28 PM2 votes

Ekko is one of the few assassins I appreciate both playing with and against. He feels both higher skillcap than most, yet offers more counterplay to his opponents. Just feels like a healthier kit overall than most.