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Dealing Damage as Ezreal

WitchQueen Annie··11 votes·4,081 views

So I need some tips for playing/learning Ezreal.

I've noticed that I have a very low win rate on this champ even though I play him a lot and feel like I can generally win or survive laning.

In terms of laning... it seems to be poke with Qs (if you can safely), use E to engage when you get a Gank... make sure you auto attack in your all ins and try to hit the extra blast from E.

This is all fair and good but how do you team fight with him out of lane?

Are you supposed to stand back and poke with Q at MAX RANGE until an opportunity presents itself to E in and auto someone to death? Is this the best approach most of the time? Or should you try to generally be in auto-attack range, auto-ing almost as often as you are Q-ing but using E to reposition if focused (so hyper aggressive and close up)?

I'll call these: the Max Range Approach and the Close Up Approach.

I've watched some of the youtube videos and it seems that they prefer the Max Range Approach (generally hitting Qs at max range at key targets, only E in and autos when they KNOW a kill will be safely secured). This seems to suggest that E is mostly (when you are in control) an offensive, and less of a defensive tool (although of course, if you mess up, you would ideally be able to E out).

Also, how do you deal with the super late game when life steal Crit ADC out damage you and your team seems to die very fast (before you can land enough Qs)?

How are you supposed to fight with this guy?

10 Comments

Sp33d Zer06 votes

During laning phase, Q poke is great, but don't forget to weave in your regular autos. You are running fervor on ez, so keeping that stacked up to 8 will massively help your poke, CS, and burst.

In general, you want to stand at your max attack range as you fire off Q's if you want to be fighting. If you are kiting, then obviously you use your Q and autos as you can, while still firing off Q's if the target is out of range of your autos. In a standard fight, I find I can weave 2-3 autos in between my Qs once i have item 3153 and a item 3078 instead of item 3025. Otherwise it is almost always 2 autos between every Q.

You very rarely want to actually E forward into a fight unless it is to mop up a kill you know you can get as it leaves you very vulnerable (you wouldn't blindly caitlyn net into an enemy).

Most people like to stay at max range with Q because you are poking them down to soften them up for the all in. In an actual teamfight, that is the fastest way to lose a fight. You are still an ADC with some solid auto attack damage, and staying far enough back that you only hit Q's makes you a hindrance to your team.

When you get to late game, massive crits will tend to beat you out in sustained damage, but don't forget you do have manamura, which basically makes every attack a crit because of the mana consumption. The very very late game can be tricky on Ez because he is more a mid game pick and he falls off in comparison to a lot of other meta ADCs right now, but he is still able to effective because of his long range Q's on the backline if you can hit them, and his safety against divers because of his e and either phage passive or aoe slow on gauntlet.

fuffychan1 votes

First of all, my condolences for wanting to play ADC. This game is NOT friendly to them. With that said, heres some advice.

Identify which dudes on the enemy team are threatening you. For example lets say Malphite and Jax have been targeting you. Stay at "Max Range" and spam Qs until you see Malphite use his ult on anyone other then you and Jax use his jump on someone else. As soon as all enemy threats and cooldowns are engaged elsewhere, its safe enough to move in close enough to auto attack (likely Malphite or Jax ). Youll have to keep things in mind such as Jax jump has a low cd and he can switch his focus onto you easily.

This advice is actually how to play ALL ADCs, but Ezreal has the advantage of being able to deal damage without being in range of getting jumped. Just be aware this example is extremely flawed, and the other team will also have stuff like Lux SonaMissFortune so you have to be aware of dodging stuff both at long range as well as the tanks jumping at you.

But usually the enemy has a team like Nautilus MonkeyKing Yasuo Zac "insert ADC here" and theres literally nothing you can do except die every fight.

Also a tip about using your E. Use it in lane forward only to finish off your opponent. Dont use it to harass for damage, and definitely dont use it sideways outside of the minion wave to lane a "surprise" Q. It is a waste of mana. (Also dont even get a point in W until Q and E are maxed) After playing him enough youll get a feel for when is a good time to E forward to finish them off. In teamfights do as I advised above and if someone does jump you, E to safety. Youll probably be slowed and/or your enemies will be faster then you, so realize your E by itself is not going to save you, youll need to rely on teammates to provide you with CC.

Tobias Brackner4 votes

The game is plenty friendly to Marksmen.

Tribbles Foxfolk4 votes

{quoted}

First of all, my condolences for wanting to play ADC. This game is NOT friendly to them.

You have automatically invalidated everything you say with that one statement. With ADCs being picked every game and the existence of items like BoRK, you can't tell me with a straight face that "the game is not friendly towards them".

fuffychan1 votes

Im sorry an ADC main actually knows more about ADCs then you.

Tribbles Foxfolk2 votes

{quoted}

Im sorry an ADC main actually knows more about ADCs then you.

I'm sorry that I'm an ADC main and didn't have to make any effort in demolishing your terrible post. You did that yourself.

Oh, and doubly not-sorry that I happen to main Ezreal too, so chew on a lead pipe for all I care :P

Arakadia2 votes

How does one dumb statement automatically invalidate everything he has to say?

spaceman spiƒƒ1 votes

The other comments got it right for the most part, but I'll leave my own two cents for the hell of it.

TLDR Ez is an adc, like all other adcs. Except he can poke enemies down before they even get into range, or back out of fights and still provide dmg. Don't be afraid to AA, it's a large source of your damage! And don't play passively either, you have maybe 30 minutes before you lose your window of opportunity and the enemy adc catches up! Although you can still contend late game (mostly), pre 30 minutes is your time to shine! Use that time wisely and win some games :)

--

I've noticed players tend to think of ez as the safe pick, or the pick that you can take against any lane. I tend to disagree. He has range, and he has great mid game damage, but you won't really be able to make as much of an impact if you only sit back and farm up your tear. Maybe this is just me, but ez is a great lane bully. You will have heavy damage on your Q after Sheen, and should be casting like crazy. Either thru pushing or poking (ideally both) you should force ur opponent into making less than optimal choices. Do they recall because they are low hp and lose gp/xp to tower? Or do they stay in lane and trade with you, which is never a smart option.

Play ezreal like you would any other adc. All they want to do is farm, take favorable trades, and take objectives. To accomplish this as ezreal, consider his kit: standard adc aa range; long range poke; low cd flash; and an atk speed buff.

So what advantages do you have? You can usually poke them before they can poke you, you can build up to a pretty decent attack speed, you have 2 ways to cancel/reset autos, and you have a get out of jail free card.

And how exactly do you use those advantages in lane? Bully the heck out of your opponents. Walk up to AA range and damage them if they are behind minions, or poke them with a Q. Don't let them get any cs for free in your lane because with his kit they shouldn't be able to. If they start trading back, use your best judgement on when to disengage (but remember you have 2 flashes, 2 low cd AA resets, a heal, and your sexy ult). But as always, above all else, make sure your cs is better than theirs. It's easy, even if you're in a less than ideal lane. (Don't forget you can farm for days with your Q if you are in a tough lane!)

So what about mid/late game? Well, as we've discussed, ez is a lot like every other adc, except for a few key differences. Your poke is truly outrageous at this stage of the game, so if you can land Qs, go for it! But as with every other adc, stay safe!! Positioning is just as important on ezreal as with every other adc. look to push your waves into towers so that you can more safely poke them (don't be afraid to use your Q on minions, I see too many ez that only use it on champs...). If you can get his AA reset down, you will be able to put out a lot of damage quickly, and guess what? Your passive will be almost fully charged as well!

And on the topic of tower taking, make sure you utilize your passive. W your team, Q minions, and stack up your attack speed. You will have a much easier time taking objectives if you do.

So, push lanes, poke, charge passive. What's next? the actual fight. Position yourself wisely! Play around teammates! Save your E (although don't be afraid to use it to mop up or get important kills)! Position near walls that you can dash over! And use your ult wisely (if you want to damage champs, don't fire thru a wave of minions or you'll lose a significant amount of damage). And then guess what? Play like any other adc, AA, use your abilities, stay safe, kite, Etc...

Tobias Brackner1 votes

Have you considered telling your team to avoid teamfights? From what I've seen of Ezreal he has a lot of dmg on his body-blockable Q and people tend to not build him in a way that really works out for how explosively fast teamfights go. Not to mention the fact that E isn't the most reliable move if you are looking to output damage onto a single target. If you are building him like a typical Marksman item 3031 item 3086 then you should be okay to teamfight. If you are doing the more item 3078 build then you are looking at weird power spike stuff and whether you want to teamfight is based on how much damage the enemy has. Overall Ezreal feels like a strong skirmisher with lane bully potential.

Also weaving in and out seems to be the best play. Perhaps even walk into AA range to try and bait enemy plays and escape with E. Assuming you build item 3025 you will be able to keep them pretty locked down and set up for the rest of your team to rek them.

From what I understand of Ezreal, looking at his base kit you will probably have a hard time getting enough stacks of his passive to compete with the damage output of other Marksmen so knowing the matchup is going to be crucial. Essence Flux honestly seems like a really dope buff if you have the right team. Hit an Assassin or Bruiser with it and they will be outputting WAY more damage.

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