One of the most common questions asked by beginners and people coming back into the game is this one. Is Ezreal hard to play? I would say yes, he is quite a hard champion to play and there are multiple reasons why that is the case.
In this article we’re going to talk about why this champion is so difficult to play, we’ll answer some common questions about this champion and end with a guide on how to play him well.
ADC is a difficult role
Playing ADC in solo queue or premades is hard. This has always been the case since League of Legends was released back in the day, and it’s gotten even worse with the constant release of stronger, faster and more “annoying” assassins (since season 4, in my opinion) like Zed, Akali, Katarina, Yone and so on.
Not only that, even champions not really categorized as assassins have gotten more mobile and equipped with more tools like shields, heals and multiple dashes. It’s very common for new champions to have a dash by default nowadays.
This is a big problem for ADCs, common bottom lane staples like Jhin, Draven, Twitch have no dashes at all! This means that while they can get to you quickly, you can’t really respond with your own dash.
It’s always been clear that ADCs peak in the late game, but the problem is that in solo-queue the early game often decides the game, a big lead will not only lead your team to be stronger but it will also mess with the enemy team’s mentality, leading to quick surrenders and tilted teams.
Another thing that is special for ADCs, mechanics. Mechanics as in attack-moving, and overall clean play is very important for this role, unlike other roles which can play relying on their abilities. ADC players must have the fundamentals down, how to attack move, dodging skillshots, teamfight positioning, and so on.
ADC is probably the “hardest” role to play in the game, you can’t really go and play whatever you want, instead you are forced to play immobile, squishy ranged damage dealers that are often the first target in team fights.
Ezreal is especially difficult
We already explained why we ADC is a difficult role, now we are going to explain why Ezreal is a particularly difficult ADC.
Ezreal is squishy
Ezreal is one of League’s squishiest champions. Riot has balanced him from day one with the knowledge that he has very long range and mobility, so to compensate he dies after a single stun every time.
Ezreal was one of the first champions in the game that had all of his abilities be skillshots, so Riot definitely made sure that he paid for it with his health pool!
All his abilities are skillshots
All of Ezreal’s abilities are skillshots, this means that in theory an enemy can straight up dodge all of your abilities, and if you’re lagging you can’t even CS properly either.
Ezreal’s has a lot of build variety
Ever since his old kit, and with his rework Ezreal has always been a hybrid champion of sorts. This means that for players it can be a bit overwhelming to choose any specific path, there is crit, on-hit, ap and more.
No waveclear
Ezreal is one of those champions, his abilities only hit one person except his ult, which is on a long cooldown. This means that you can get stuck under tower and there’s not much you can do to push but rely on your support if there is the need to do it.
Is Ezreal ad or ap better
Ezreal’s standard build is AD, he hasn’t really ever been an AP champion. But he can be played AP.
In most cases playing AP Ezreal is not optimal, if you miss your W, or if your E does not land on your intended target then your damage falls off. His ult becomes really strong on an AP build but it’s still on a long cooldown.
Don’t be discouraged though, playing AP Ezreal can be a fun thing to do on ARAM, or normal games, but for ranked stick to the standard Ezreal Build.
Is ezreal top viable
Not really, no. While you might be tempted to play Ezreal as a top lane champion, I wouldn’t recommend that. First of all, while you might have an easy escape with E he is still a really squishy champion so you will be heavily targeted all game long.
While you might expect to have easy matchups against tanks in the top lane, with masteries like second wind and items doran’s shield, your poke is not going to be that impactful early on and you will struggle to stay safe in top lane.
How to play Ezreal
Ezreal is a tricky, skillshot based ADC. To do well with him make sure you are adept at hitting skillshots constantly. Weave auto attacks between abilities to maximize damage, do not stand back and only poke the entire game!
Ezreal struggles in most ranks, he only starts getting above 50% win rate in diamond and even then his win rate is not that high. To do well with him you will need to put in significant time to get better, but if you do you will have a viable champion at all levels of play, plus he is very fun to play!
Pros
Long range poke
Escape
Multiple viable item builds
Cons
Balanced around pro-play.
Squishy
Reliant on hitting skills to do damage (difficult to play)
Item Build
There are so many item builds out there for Ezreal that it can seem overwhelming at first, let’s keep it simple today.
The item build I would recommend today as of 13.3:
Start: Long Sword + Refillable Potion
Early: Buy a tear and boots as soon as you can
First Item: Essence Reaver
Second Item: Navori Quickblades
Third Item: Ionian Boots
From here the build changes, but most games you build a Manamune for the massive damage boost, followed by Gale Force.
Consider Lethality items over crit if you are snowballing, it can be fun!
This is a pretty crazy patch for Ezreal, with just 2 items (Essence Reaver, Navori Quickblades and Ionian Boots) you will have 60 ability haste, plus your autos will reduce cooldown by 1 second so your Q cooldown is going to be very low.
Matchups
One of the best things about Ezreal is that he can kind of always farm under tower easily, with his Q and autos he can farm the wave well under tower, even vs annoying mages like Lux or Xerath.
Draven
Ezreal struggles to lane vs Draven, but Ezreal will eventually outscale him, don’t try and fight him in lane just farm up, ask your support to not push and play passive until lane phase ends and you should have an advantage.
Use your mobility and range advantage to fight on your terms until you’re strong enough to fight him head on.
Kalista
Kalista is a weird one, you’re not going to face too many of them, but her mobility is annoying and you need to get used to how she moves to hit her. Don’t fight her for too long or she will stack you and kill you. Unlike Draven, you don’t necessarily outscale her so it’s a bit more difficult later on but she isn’t as oppressive in lane.
Tristana
Tristana is an annoying opponent, she can kill you as early as level 2 depending on support matchup, her range starts out low but gets longer as the game goes on, try and abuse your mid game timings to get an advantage as this is when tristana is the weakest.
Just make sure to not die early and you can play safer in team fights than Tristana.
Tips and Tricks
For anyone starting out on Ezreal one of the best tips I got is to not blink forward almost ever, it’s way too dangerous and you’re better off when starting out just using it as an escape tool.
Focus on hitting your skillshots consistently, auto attacking in between all of them and trying to dodge enemy attacks. It can seem overwhelming at first so just focus on one at first, and build up from there.
When fighting as a team, position yourself far back in your team’s back line, most of the time you’re going to get jumped so never use your E or flash unless you really need to.
Your ultimate is a quick way to get max stacks of your passive at the start of a fight or a decent way of finishing people after a fight, cast it outside of vision for better results.
Conclusion
Ezreal is definitely one of the hardest champions to play in League of Legends, the combination of high mobility and long range means that he must have a low HP pool to be balanced. But overall ezreal is still a great champion to play, he is fun and he can play safe when required so it’s no wonder he is still so popular.
Don’t be discouraged with his low winrate, while it might seem low remember that he is quite difficult to play so that brings his win rate lower. One tricks who play ezreal easily average about 55% winrate with this champion!