Ekko's lack of counterplay
Before I go forward this, I will say that I have read over this guy, and considering it as I run through this. http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/gameplay-balance/jLGvQ3Wk-before-you-make-a-post-about-balance
I like seeing the new champion. He's very unique in his kit, and he has a lot of versatility. Seeing a new champion like this come out is actually pretty cool :) The things he can pull off are crazy :P The only issue I see playing against him is a lack of counterplay. I just finished a game against him, and I'll be the first to tell you... we got trounced. It was a very one-sided game. I would say Ekko's lack of counterplay was our downfall.
Needless to say, he was already very strong. He had his build done before anyone else, and was easily mopping the floor with us. At that point in the game, it was understandable. He pulled a lead out against his mid lane opponent and snowballed into late game. Not exactly surprising. The problem, which I feel needs to be corrected, is his lack of counterplay. Normally, if a specific champion on the enemy team is too strong or needs to be shut down in a teamfight, that would usually dictate that person is our target. In the game that comes to mind, I was playing support sona. Knowing it's my job to lock him down and prevent a heavy amount of damage dealt to us, I would throw out a Crescendo. Makes sense to me. Anyone else hit in the blast radius of the ultimate would be stopped too. Every time I cast it though, and I mean every time, he would simply pop as soon as possible, go back his four seconds, and be completely revitalized and ready to go.
With his kit, he's able to rejoin the fray almost instantly, as if my ult did nothing. If he was to also run a QSS, what's the point of me even bothering to try to hurt him. He just gets a second chance on everything he does. When he does decide to pop his ult, he becomes invulnerable. I can't stop him from going back to his previous state. Nothing can be done. Untargetable. When he does come back, he heals for some of the damage taken, and he's typically in a safe spot, especially if we're engaged in a large teamfight. So he both heals and becomes safe, and seeing he's untargetable during the channel, we can only hope to kill him before he manages to pop his ult. If we can't manage to take him out, he basically gets himself a second chance. He can either run knowing he's burnt some of our mana/abilities, or go back into the fight knowing we have nothing else for him. My ult is gone. I can't stop him again. My only option is to run. Ekko being Ekko though, the gap closer is crazy. I'm not going anywhere.
There are no real items to counter this, I feel. Champions like Malzahar and Zed can be countered with QSS. All the rammus and Galio's are countered by thornmails and sunfire capes. The only champion I feel is a real counter to him would be LeBlanc, only because she can be ready to catch the re-wind. Even still though, she's gonna take some damage if she comes too close to the place he comes back at. She still has to play cautiously. Other champions like the previously mentioned Malzahar would work well enough too simply because of the lockdown as well, I suppose.
All in all, I feel he needs a nerf. I'm finding it difficult to counterplay, and even when I do, he gets a second chance anyway. I'm not entirely sure what the best approach would be, so I made this thread in hopes of discussing it. Would removing the damage upon return help out? Would perhaps making his channel longer and removing the untargetable feature help? Maybe just tweak his numbers and keep the general kit as is?
