Ekko vs Diana, A Comparison of Balance

A lot of people have been talking about how powerful Ekko is. In my mind Ekko has a very similar kit to Diana, who I view as a very well balanced champion that is strong enough that she sees some LCS play but isn’t dominating the LCS scene. Let’s compare these two similar champions to determine how balanced Ekko is.

If you want the full details read everything. If you want the short version just read where you see Ekko's and Diana's picture.

Ekko Passive Ekko's damaging abilities and basic attacks build up Resonance stacks on his enemies, lasting up to 4 seconds. At 3 stacks the target takes 15 - 231 (+ 70% AP) bonus magic damage and is slowed by 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80% for 2 / 2.5 / 3 seconds. Z-Drive Resonance's bonus damage will apply spell effects. Z-Drive Resonance cannot affect the same target more than once every few seconds. Against champions, Ekko also gains bonus movement speed equal in strength and duration to the slow.

Diana Passive Every 3rd attack cleaves nearby enemies for 20 - 250 (+ 80% AP) magic damage. The counter will reset if Diana hasn't attacked for 3.5 seconds. In addition, Diana permanently has 20% bonus attack speed.

Analysis Right out of the gate Ekko has a more powerful passive. While Diana’s passive does deal slightly more damage, scales slightly better and cleaves in a small AoE, the slow and movement speed bonus from Ekko’s passive is far more impressive. Furthermore, Ekko can charge up his passive using his abilities, not just attacks, and procing his passive triggers spell effects while Diana’s passive does not. While Diana does get her “20% bonus attack speed”, Ekko has better base attack speed and better attack speed scaling than Diana.

Ekko Q Ekko throws a device in a target direction, dealing 60 / 75 / 90 / 105 / 120 (+ 20% AP) magic damage to all enemies along its path. At maximum range or if it hits an enemy champion, the device slows to a stop and expands, creating a 32 / 39 / 46 / 53 / 60% slowing field.

After a short delay, the device contracts and rushes back to Ekko, dealing 60 / 85 / 110 / 135 / 160 (+ 60% AP) magic damage to all enemies along its path.

Diana Q Diana unleashes a bolt of lunar energy that travels in an arc. Enemies struck take 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 / 200 (+ 70% AP) magic damage and are afflicted with Moonlight, granting sight of them for 3 seconds.

Analysis At all ranks Ekko’s Q deals more damage than Diana’s Q assuming you hit your target both going out and coming back. In addition, Ekko’s Q applies a slow and has a much longer range (1075 vs 830.) Diana’s Q is also a more difficult skill shot to land and because of its curved nature can rarely hit an entire minion wave like Ekko’s Q, making it a less effective farming tool. Even though Diana’s Q has a 1 second shorter cooldown it’s pretty clear that Ekko’s Q is vastly superior.

Ekko W PASSIVE: Ekko's basic attacks deal 5% (+ 2.22% per 100 AP) of target's missing health as bonus magic damage (Capped at 150 vs. minions / monsters) versus targets below 30% of their maximum health.

ACTIVE: Ekko calls upon an alternate version of himself that bats a device to the target location. After a total delay of 3 seconds, the device expands into a broad sphere that slows enemies by 40%. Enemies do not gain vision of the target area until the last 0.5 seconds.

If Ekko enters the sphere, it detonates, granting him a 150 / 195 / 240 / 285 / 330 (+ 80% AP) shield for 2 seconds while stunning all enemies inside for 2.25 seconds. Ekko can detonate the sphere while dead and while in stasis .

Diana W Diana gains a temporary absorption shield equal to 40 / 55 / 70 / 85 / 100 (+ 30% AP) and creates three spheres that orbit her, both for up to 5 seconds. The spheres detonate on contact with an enemy unit, dealing 22 / 34 / 46 / 58 / 70 (+ 20% AP) magic damage to all nearby enemies.

If all three spheres detonate, the shield is reapplied and the duration is refreshed. This second shield stacks with the original shield. Max shield strength 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 / 200 (+ 60% AP)

Diana E Diana reveals and draws in all nearby enemies to her location, slowing them 35 / 40 / 45 / 50 / 55% for 2 seconds afterwards.

Analysis Ekko’s W is pretty much a combination of Diana’s W and E with an awesome passive effect thrown on top of it. Ekko’s passive on his W makes his basic attacks even stronger, making the disparity between Ekko’s passive and Diana’s passive even larger. While Diana’s shield does deal a small amount of damage it is nothing compared to a 2.25 AoE stun. Furthermore, Ekko’s shield is close to twice as powerful as Diana’s shield, assuming all three of her orbs explode. While Diana’s W has a lower cooldown, Ekko’s W at max rank only has a 4 second longer cooldown than Diana’s W. At all ranks Ekko’s W has a shorter cooldown than Diana’s E and applies the slow in a larger AoE. Furthermore, Ekko’s W can be used to slow enemies from a long range and allow him to escape while Diana’s E is centered on herself and she does not have any method of escape in her kit.

Ekko E Ekko dashes towards a target location. His next basic attack within the next few seconds gains 300 bonus attack range (425 total range) and causes Ekko to blink on his target, dealing 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+ 20% AP) bonus magic damage. Phase Dive's bonus damage will apply spell effects.

Diana R Diana becomes the living embodiment of the vengeful moon, rushing at an enemy and dealing 100 / 160 / 220 (+ 60% AP) magic damage to it.

When used to dash to an enemy afflicted with Moonlight, Lunar Rush's cooldown is refreshed and the Moonlight debuff is consumed. All other enemies will have the Moonlight debuff removed regardless of whether they were the target of Lunar Rush.

Analysis I am comparing Ekko’s E to Diana’s ULTIMATE so you would hope that an ultimate on one champion would be stronger than the basic ability of another champion. Diana’s R does deal more damage than Ekko’s E, but Ekko adds his attack damage and can proc on-hit effects (such as lichbane) as well as spell effects (opposed to Diana’s R only applying spell effects.) Ekko’s dash has a 325 range plus the 425 attack range from the blink for a total of 750 range. Diana’s ultimate has a range of 825, not exactly a large advantage. Furthermore, the cooldown of Ekko’s E at rank 1 is equal to the cooldown of Diana’s R at MAX rank. At max rank Ekko’s E has less than half the cooldown of Diana’s ultimate at max rank. Furthermore, Ekko can use his dash to avoid skill shots or jump over walls, giving him increase mobility and ability to escape. Diana can only target an enemy champion or minion with her ultimate and has no escapes in her kit. Sadly, Ekko’s E is better than Diana’s ultimate for these reasons.

Ekko R Ekko is followed by a time-delayed hologram of himself that tracks where he was 4 seconds ago. The hologram is inactive while Chronobreak is on cooldown. ACTIVE: After a short delay, Ekko blinks to wherever he was 4 seconds ago, dealing 200 / 350 / 500 (+ 130% AP) magic damage to surrounding enemies and healing Ekko 100 / 150 / 200 (+ 20 / 25 / 30% (+ 3.33% per 100 AP) of all damage taken over the last 4 seconds.)

Analysis Diana is out of abilities but we still have Ekko's R to talk about. Not only does Ekko's R deal more damage than Diana's Q and W COMBINED, he does it in a larger AoE and heals for more damage than Diana's shield could ever protect.

Conclusion Ekko's kit is better than Diana's in every way, shape and form. His kit is so overtuned that both his W and R are better than two of Diana's abilities combined (W+E and Q+W repectively.) Furthermore, Ekko's E is so powerful that it is better than Diana's ultimate.

So if Diana is balanced, what is Ekko