what is Ekko's intended role

skyfall619·Aug 18, 2015·1 votes·2,962 views

i always thought he was made to be a mid lane assassin but 90% of the ekko i see go tank or some other type of huuublaa. pretty much everything except as a mid lane assassin.

so what intended role

7 Comments

Reaper ReviewAug 18, 20151 votes

He's a "utility assassin", but the best way to live and provide utility is to build tanky.

His abilities do little damage on their own, relatively speaking. Most of his damage is in his passive, for which he needs to hit you 3 times. It's easier to do that when you're tanky.

And by foregoing raw damage for tankiness, you're not much of an assassin at that point besides his W's execute damage.

HedønistAug 18, 20151 votes

Well i dont know im not going to say i'm an expert at ekko or anything but i play him full dps jungle a lot and sure early game his damage is not insane but late game I can 1v1 anyone and have an incredible team fight.

HedønistAug 18, 20151 votes

Ekko was intended as a solo lane assassin. however ekkos kit has plenty of cc, high base damage and a bit of aoe. The cc allows him to go tank and peal for the team. The damage and aoe makes him good i the jungle where you mainly see him these days going the tanky ekko or full dps.

CasterGilgameshAug 19, 20151 votes

ekko was meant to be an assassin mid laner but he was made during the tank meta so assassins were weaker so in order to bypass that people went jungle bruiser because he gets a shield a stun and high base damage

67chromeAug 19, 20151 votes

Intended as an assassin.

But Riot's missed the mark on several light-fighters and assassin before, most notably with Evelynn Aatrox Nocturne XinZhao Irelia LeeSin Khazix
Tryndamere MasterYi

The majority of which are just played as tanky DPS fighters, Trynd and Yi are noteworthy for only really seeing competative play with their AP off-builds (pretty sad there), and Kha'Zix went through a tanky DPS phase where people took advantage of %damage reduction during his ultimate and his main damage doing %HP damage to effectivly be a Darius with mobility and stealth, which was all kinds of awful. At least after a few micro-reworks and with the current AD itemization, Lee Sin and Kha'Zix can at least be played as a respectable assassin. And despite being originally an assassin, honey-badger is a pretty solid fighter.

When it comes to assassins and light fighters, there's really a smaller list that ended up getting played as intended rather than the other way around, most notably with , as there's really nothing they can do but try to be useful as a glass-cannon.

IcyPepperAug 19, 20151 votes

i always thought he was made to be a mid lane assassin

You mean assassin; lane has nothing to do with role.

Ekko is an effective jungle assassin, and can top reasonably well. Why is that better than mid lane? The speed and range of his abilities. His W is somewhat telegraphed, and his E is a gapcloser blink. The shield helps against minion aggro, but his E isn't great harass without it because it puts him at risk. His Q is his only ranged harass otherwise, making him weaker against ranged champions due to him being melee (to proc either passive, you're going to have to get in melee range eventually). His ult can't be free-aimed, and anyone ranged is not going to be in the radius if they know what they're doing during the laning phase, so there goes that damage output for the early part of the game.

He's better as a jungler, imo, since it lets him farm monsters (shield+melee procs=monsters good, minions eh). He dictates where he goes, going for all-in engagement ganks rather than short skirmishes or trades in lane that can lead to him being poked down by mages. Even Zed, a midlaning assassin, has more reliable poke than this guy. Running around in the jungle can increase his chances of using his ult offensively, especially if chased (who would chase Ekko with his ult up tho?) or at dragon pit where everyone's running around. Not to mention that junglers can often lead teamfights and his utility makes him useful in that regard.

Just my two cents. Ignore if you wish.