Easy Tricks That Make Ekko Useless
RIOTERS HATE HIM!
Okay, the title is a bit of an exaggeration... But anybody who's been anywhere on the forums in the past few weeks knows that a lot of people think Ekko needs some serious tweaks. Although I agree that some parts of his kit are a bit much (or even unnecessary, such as the extra passive on his W), I've had quite a bit of success vs Ekko using some easy tricks, allowing me to get the upper hand in lane and make him far less useful in teamfights than he otherwise would be.
_Also keep in mind that I'm roughly only Gold material at best, so some of these techniques will probably be less effective in higher ranks. _
1. Pick a Ranged Champion If you know you're going to be facing an Ekko (or just want to be safe), pick somebody with range (I personally enjoy Ahri). This makes dodging his Q much, much easier, and Ekko has to commit a lot harder in order to get decent damage off. It also makes cs'ing a lot less stressful, as with melee champions, you're more vulnerable to Ekko's Q, and since you'll be closer, he'll have an easier time getting the 3 stacks off for his passive to proc.
Not to mention, the blink range on his E after he dashes is actually not that far (I don't know the exact numbers, but in my experience from playing Ekko, I'd say it's roughly the auto-attack range on a ranged champion), so playing a ranged champion will make it harder for him to get close enough to actually use the blink to get some damage off, and you'll make his one point-and-click ability far less useful.
If you play a melee champion, you better have jukes for days to avoid as much Q damage as possible and be able to trade effectively if he goes in with his E.
2. Dodge his Q Easier said than done for a lot of people, but this spell is his only safe form of poke, and his most reliable way to get stacks for his passive. If you can dodge his Q, Ekko will be missing out on a lot of damage.
When dodging his Q, getting hit by the first stack isn't that big of a deal- it comes out pretty fast, and if you happen to be in a bad spot or get screwed over by pathing because you can't go through your minions, you're probably going to get hit. What you want to be able to consistently do is dodge it when it goes back to him, since it not only does more damage on the return, but also adds a second stack to you if you also got hit by the Q when he initially threw it, allowing Ekko to simply E in and do #tonsofdamage by getting the third stack on you, allowing his passive to proc.
In order to dodge his Q, do not move back, move to the side. Because his Q continues moving forward, slows you, and has a decent-sized hitbox, moving backwards in the same direction as his Q will almost always cause you to get hit by the second Q. If you instead move to the side, you will be out of the path of his Q, and unless Ekko can do some insane (and from experience, I mean insane- he'll pretty much have to go from directly in front of you to directly behind you or to the side of you, which won't be worth the effort, or even possible in some cases, if you're playing a ranged champion) repositioning in that short period of time, you will almost never get hit by his Q on the return.
The only real way he can be almost guaranteed to land both stacks of his Q (or at least proc his passive) is if he does a Q-E combo on you, in which he uses Q, blinks to you with his E, and then his Q goes back to him as he's on top of you. However, this will be harder for him to do (and more obvious when he's about to do it, since he'll probably need to walk a bit closer to you in order to set up the combo) if you've picked a ranged champion and are able to stay back enough while still sufficiently cs'ing and poking him down.
Congratulations, you made his primary form of poke do virtually nothing to you!
3. Listen for his W People may complain that you only have 0.5 seconds to dodge his W, but if you have your game audio up (you can even adjust your audio so that you only hear champions' voices), you will hear Ekko shout something along the lines of "Think fast!" or "Heads up!" when he casts his W- you can also see his hologram come out and throw the w on the ground, but in my experience, you're more likely to hear it than you are to see it, so having your game audio loud enough is crucial.
Thus, if it is loud enough, you will have the full 3 seconds to dodge it rather than just the 0.5 seconds, as it's at least enough to let you know to back off, even though you may not know exactly where it will land. Since he also has to be somewhat close to cast it, you'll likely hear him shout in the majority of teamfights (unless you or your team gets caught off guard), allowing you to ping to your team so that none of them get caught by it either.
Congratulations, you made his pesky 2.25 second stun even harder to land!
4. Keep your eye on his R Currently, his ult can heal him and do over 1,000 magic damage with the push of a button. This should go without saying, but it's best to avoid his clone at all costs. Because you can see it at all times, it should act as though somebody is pinging "Danger! Danger!" 24/7 wherever that clone is. Keep your eye on it, don't get too close, and you'll be able to both avoid some hefty burst damage and catch him if he tries to escape. There's no trick to avoiding it practically 100% of the time like with his Q or W, you just need to have some decent map awareness.
Although Ekko still may not be completely useless in teamfights, if you do these things right in lane against Ekko, you will more often than not find yourself ahead of him and able to shut him down in fights while avoiding a good amount of his damage.
