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What's all this Ekko buzz?

oRexo··5 votes·1,272 views

As an Ekko main, (PBE & Mastery 5 on main) I don't understand why everyone hates Ekko. One of the reasons why I love League so much is because very character is unique and has their own playstyle. Ekko is just as unique as any other champ, and the real problem is some people don't know how to play against him yet. I can give some tips on that.

I feel Ekko has a hard time laning against champs just as mobile or more mobile than him.

Harrass when his Q is down.

If you get 2 stacks on you from his Q back off until they disappear. He will most likely and almost always E in if he gains 2 passive stacks from Q.

Champions with strong burst are trouble for him. Ex: Ahri's Q gives her MS and range on Ekko. Laning phase can be rather annoying when facing a seasoned Ahri. However, she can be outplayed (like any champ) by waiting for her ult to go on cooldown, then she's a sitting duck waiting to be bursted down by Ekko. However, I've lost laning phase miserably to a LeBlanc and Diana. Now partially because of mistakes of my own and their ability to burst me down before I can proc my passive on them or before my W goes off to stun them. TIP: (If you're playing as LeBlanc try to save chains for last to stop him from using his ult. )

Kiting Ekko is very effective. If he starts closing in on you or E's closer to you start to back off, dash, jump, hop skip, anything you can to get away from him. Once his E animation is up toss out some auto attacks and abilities. He's a sitting duck with no escape other than back through your minion wave or towards you.

Do not fight in long fights with Ekko. He will most likely, if it's not on cooldown, throw his W down to grant him a shield and stun you, which he can use to safely kill you or escape.

Hard CC screws Ekko over in teamfights. He has to be in your face to proc his passive. Stun him and he can't move and dishout damage, and he won't be able to ult.

There are some moments when laning against someone and you think you could take them you try to engage on them knowing very well you're going to get hit by a skillshot or two. Do not do that with Ekko. His full Q gives you two stacks of his passive. He will probably toss his w behind you before E'ing in to proc his passive, and stun you when you run backwards to get away from him, dishing out more damage before igniting you and backing off/ or flashing before your midlaner comes.

Harrass him when he comes to farm if you are a ranged mage. He doesn't have an E like Fizz to dodge skillshots when he wants to pick up some farm.

Ekko's Q autopushes the wave. His only way of freezing if from autoattacks. Take advantage of that and have your jungler visit a few times to give you an edge.

Keep in mind that his passive procs a slow as well when you're trying to kite him.

I can't think of anything else right now, but I will edit if I do. Don't hate a Champion for their uniqueness. Just because you don't know how to counterplay against a new champion yet does not mean they need to be nerfed to uselessness. For exampled, Fizz used to be fun to play as an assassin midlane. Then he got tinkered with so much I'm not even sure if he's 100% fish anymore. I started to seem him top lane, and then next in the jungle.

Thank You For Your Time

10 Comments

Lost In Time3 votes

List of Ekko's counters:

Range (Lux, Xerath, Azir) Mobility (Ahri, Ezreal, Lee Sin) Other assassins (Talon, Akali, Leboobs)

Counters, as in, if you know how to play your champion and have basic understanding of Ekko, you can easily outplay him.

His burst is good, but it isn't upfront - he needs to hit you with timewinder at least once to have a chance to proc his passive.

Unfortunately, the community much rather just list his numbers without realizing the execution & delay required to pull off a successful combo, not "I picked X, therefore I should auto win lane!"

BTW, he cannot escape AND burst you with his ult at the same time unless you are exceptionally out of position.

The Whamboozler2 votes

A: Lux is really weak right now. Also she's painfully vulnerable to assassins. Ekko is an assassin. I'll let you do the math there. B: All three range picks you mentioned are pretty immobile and thus incredibly risky to play against Ekko. If he gets even a little ahead he'll snowball like assassins do.
C: If you're picking Ez mid into Ekko you have bigger problems than dodging his stun.
D: Akali and Talon are just Ekko minus his utility, safety, CC, heal and shield. Also as mentioned with the ranged mages... VERY risky. They have to all-in him to do their job and at worst he can R out to safety. If he's lucky he can turn the all in around with the insane heal/nuke on his ult or the stun/shield on his W. Then he snowballs. Not the case for them, as if HE gets ahead he can both poke and all-in them hard and ruin them under tower but VERY safely. Unlikely they'll turn things around on him with his ult's safety net there. Advantage is still his. E: LeBlanc is probably an acceptable counter, but ONE counterpick doesn't make a champ balanced. ALSO LeBlanc is kinda obnoxiously strong/possibly broken herself right now. ALSO she scales much more poorly into teamfighting than Ekko and lacks any utility to be useful if she's behind... something he has. So he's STILL the safer pick.
F: No point here, this is just the grade I'm giving you for all that nonsense you posted. Ekko needs a nerf and everyone not riding the freelo train has said so. It's GONNA happen.

Lost In Time2 votes

{quoted}

A: Lux is really weak right now. Also she's painfully vulnerable to assassins. Ekko is an assassin. I'll let you do the math there. B: All three range picks you mentioned are pretty immobile and thus incredibly risky to play against Ekko. If he gets even a little ahead he'll snowball like assassins do.
C: If you're picking Ez mid into Ekko you have bigger problems than dodging his stun.
D: Akali and Talon are just Ekko minus his utility, safety, CC, heal and shield. Also as mentioned with the ranged mages... VERY risky. They have to all-in him to do their job and at worst he can R out to safety. If he's lucky he can turn the all in around with the insane heal/nuke on his ult or the stun/shield on his W. Then he snowballs. Not the case for them, as if HE gets ahead he can both poke and all-in them hard and ruin them under tower but VERY safely. Unlikely they'll turn things around on him with his ult's safety net there. Advantage is still his. E: LeBlanc is probably an acceptable counter, but ONE counterpick doesn't make a champ balanced. ALSO LeBlanc is kinda obnoxiously strong/possibly broken herself right now. ALSO she scales much more poorly into teamfighting than Ekko and lacks any utility to be useful if she's behind... something he has. So he's STILL the safer pick.
F: No point here, this is just the grade I'm giving you for all that nonsense you posted. Ekko needs a nerf and everyone not riding the freelo train has said so. It's GONNA happen.

Perhaps you should really actually PLAY Lux if you think she's weak vs any assassin beyond Zed or Leblanc. Go ahead, gap close her. Let her shield and land a point-blank snare combo and then tell me she's weak vs assassins.

KamakaziGumiBear1 votes

{quoted}

A: Lux is really weak right now. Also she's painfully vulnerable to assassins. Ekko is an assassin. I'll let you do the math there. B: All three range picks you mentioned are pretty immobile and thus incredibly risky to play against Ekko. If he gets even a little ahead he'll snowball like assassins do.
C: If you're picking Ez mid into Ekko you have bigger problems than dodging his stun.
D: Akali and Talon are just Ekko minus his utility, safety, CC, heal and shield. Also as mentioned with the ranged mages... VERY risky. They have to all-in him to do their job and at worst he can R out to safety. If he's lucky he can turn the all in around with the insane heal/nuke on his ult or the stun/shield on his W. Then he snowballs. Not the case for them, as if HE gets ahead he can both poke and all-in them hard and ruin them under tower but VERY safely. Unlikely they'll turn things around on him with his ult's safety net there. Advantage is still his. E: LeBlanc is probably an acceptable counter, but ONE counterpick doesn't make a champ balanced. ALSO LeBlanc is kinda obnoxiously strong/possibly broken herself right now. ALSO she scales much more poorly into teamfighting than Ekko and lacks any utility to be useful if she's behind... something he has. So he's STILL the safer pick.
F: No point here, this is just the grade I'm giving you for all that nonsense you posted. Ekko needs a nerf and everyone not riding the freelo train has said so. It's GONNA happen.

I approve

SEKAI1 votes

He is the champ that would definitely get picked or spammed in pro scenes because he is the sort of champ that is just better than everybody else when used to the same effectiveness, being the part of the "LCS roster".

This type of champ design and balance is what people have problems with.

LCS roster and normal champs have 1 distinct difference. The normal champs have lacking elements even when used to the absolutely max potential (because this is a team game), but the LCS roster doesn't by design. Hence when LCS champs are used to the full potential one can only wait for the player himself to mess up otherwise there is no way to play against him at all.

And that's the reason why this sort of champs are almost always abused in pro scenes. If there aren't any champs plaguing the place with completely off the chart stats, these champs will.

KamakaziGumiBear1 votes

Who would want to lane as lux or Xerath vs Ekko? Its hard to think of a worse match for the 2 than Ekko. They cant outplay Ekko, they literally cant go near him and have to play reacting to him. The only way ekko can lose to them is if he goes out of his way to lose. His kit is just stupidly overloaded, even nerfed he will haunt us as a tank and a off pick support troll.

oRexo2 votes

Not every matchup is easy? Lux can beat Ekko easy with her zoning capabilities. Xerath and burst Ekko down if he times his stun right when Ekko comes in on the E. Lux can burst him down easy if she gets her stun off. If Ekko e's to Lux all she has to do is toss out her snare cause he'll be right in her face. I've lost to both a Xerath and a Lux because of mistakes I've made during lane.

Some matchups are just hard. Ekko isn't hard, you just have to think when playing against him because he fulfill his role. "Utility Assassin". His kit offers alot of plays to be made. He's not an assassin that just dives in and uses all their ablities and dives out. (Leblanc Zed) It takes a smart player to know that you should only engage during laning phase if you stack 2 stacks of passive with your Q, or if Jungler is coming. It takes a smart player to know that if Ekko doesn't have his stacks on you and he's engaging, blow your whole kit on him and he'll be backing off if he's smart. And it takes a smart player to also know that if he has two stacks on you he most likely threw down his W and in moving in to get some damage off on you.

JRobin311 votes

I don't play Ekko.

I don't ban Ekko.

What's this Ekko?

Learn to play Ekko, then nerf him.

DrNova1 votes

I just beat Ekko mid with Urgot. Who has Zero mobility.

Paying attention and using good positioning OP

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