LoL Ekko champion guide: skills, runes setup, & Itemization Choices

Ekko, the Boy Who Shattered Time, is an old favorite assassin-like making its way back into the League of Legends meta. Let’s see how to make the best of this LoL Champion by going through his runes setup, best items, and how to use his skills.

While Ekko is far from his past season’s power level in League of Legends, he remains extremely consistent and fun to play. You have a lot of opportunities to create exciting moments during your game, and your matchups against the main meta junglers aren’t bad at all. 

There is a lot Ekko has to offer you and your team, but the most important part is that he is the (second, after Fiddlesticks, but nobody likes him) strongest AP jungler in the current meta. And, as your team will inevitably pick an all-AD team, you’ll be glad to have this pick ready to balance out your team’s damage. 

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Skill Breakdown for Ekko in League of Legends

LoL Ekko Passive skill Z: Drive Resonance 

Ekko’s passive Z-Drive Resonance is simple yet extremely effective. Use your spells and basic attacks to trigger the Phase Rush-like effect and damage your opponents. 

The passive applies to monster camps, champions, and lane minions, allowing Ekko to clear waves and camps across the map effectively. In addition, Ekko’s strong passive allows him to synergize well with various attack speed items, such as the Nashor’s Tooth, but more on that later. 

LoL Ekko skill Q: Timewinder

Ekko’s Q-Timewinder is the main skill making Ekko as strong as he is in the current League of Legends meta. 

With its short cooldown and low mana cost, Ekko loves to use this ability every chance they get. 

Timewinder also helps you consistently activate your passive’s additional damage, as both the initial throw and the return apply a stack of Ekko’s passive to all enemies it hits. 

LoL Ekko skill W: Parallel Convergence 

Ekko’s W-Parallel Convergence is far and beyond the most difficult tool to use effectively during roams or ganks. 

The ability is relatively slow and easy to avoid unless you can catch the enemy by surprise. That said, both the passive damage increase against low-health targets and the shielding provided by this low-cost ability significantly improve your clear speed for Jungle Ekko. 

LoL Ekko skill E: Phase Dive

E-Phase Dive is what makes Ekko as prolific a jungler as he is. Despite its relatively short range, the gap-close is immensely effective during skirmishes and ganks. 

In addition, the dash allows you to cross most of the terrain on Summoner’s Rift, which makes your pathing much harder to predict for your opponents. 

Especially after reaching level six, you can safely invade the enemy jungle since you just press your emergency button if caught in a bad spot. 

This freedom makes Ekko’s jungle pathing even more unpredictable, which is especially beneficial at the mid to low ranks of League of Legends as your opportunities to gank will be endless. 

LoL Ekko skill R: Chronobreak

R-Chronobreak is Ekko’s emergency button, which can also deal a surprising amount of damage to unprepared opponents. It isn’t only beneficial for emergencies, however, as you can also choose to take some heavy trades against your lane or jungle opponent before pressing your R button. While that isn’t ideal if you aren’t aware of your opponents’ locations, it can make all the difference in controlling your lane in the mid-lane role, especially. 

Fun fact: Ekko can also use his panic button after using Teleport. The ultimate can be immensely beneficial when you teleport to try and save your bot lane, and it turns out they don’t need your help (any longer). The ult-after-teleport was a popular strategy in previous seasons when Ekko was prominent as a tank-style champion in the top lane position. 

Skill order for Ekko in LoL 

Unlike most champions, Ekko has quite an interesting skill progression order, depending on which role the player fills using this champion. For the Jungle position, players take W-Parallel Convergence at level one, assuming they have the assistance of a teammate to clear their first camp. If they do not, Ekko can solo-start at the Wolves or Raptor camp with the Q-Timewinder skill instead, although this is less than ideal overall. 

Aside from the difference in the level one choice, Ekko levels Q to max first, followed by E, as his W is the hardest-to-land spell in his kit. A neat trick players can consider once they reach level six is not directly to level up their R-Chronobreak and instead hold onto the skill point. The effect of Chronobreak will already work but remains invisible to the opponent, making it more difficult to track Ekko’s afterimage location accurately. 

LoL Ekko Rune Setups for Jungle and Mid

The rune pages for Ekko vary wildly based on player preferences and their playstyles. Some players prefer a first-strike build, whereas others prefer the consistency of runes like Electrocute or Dark Harvest. Below are some of the best-performing and most popular rune setups from Ekko mains worldwide. 

For players looking to try out Ekko, it is important to remember the following: the rune setup utilizing Electrocute is exclusively for the mid-lane. In contrast, the First-Strike setup rarely sees play outside of the Jungle role. In addition, the Dark Harvest setup is possible with both Inspiration as secondary, utilizing the Magical Footwear/Cosmic Insight setup, or with Scorcery Secondary, with a combination of Gathering Storm alongside Transcendence or Absolute Focus. 

LoL Ekko Itemization Choices breakdown

Unlike Ekko's diversity in the rune setups, the itemization choices for Ekko are easier than any other character in League of Legends. However, before we get into Ekko’s main items, we must mention the importance of Ekko’s first purchase for both the mid and jungle roles, the Dark Seal. 

With Ekko’s main goal in the game being to gank and roam around as much as possible, it is no surprise that the Dark Seal is a worthwhile purchase, but still, players consistently forget about this uniquely powerful first purchase. The stats are great, the gold value is even better, and the item just gets better the more impact you have in the game. That said, you rarely upgrade your Dark Seal into a Mejai’s Soulstealer, as you should play far more aggressively than a Mejai’s allows you to. The risk it’s just not worth the reward. 

Starting Item Choice for Ekko in League of Legends

Regarding Starting Items, there are a few options available to Ekko players. For the jungle role, both the Gustwalker Hatchling (Blue Orb) and Scorchclaw Pup (Red Orb) are popular and equally viable, coming down to the players' preference again. Try both and see which you prefer. Mid Ekko's go-to choice is your classic Doran’s Ring and two potions. There is some argument for utilizing the Doran’s Shield in your toughest matchups, but most experienced Ekko players choose to fight fire with fire and opt for the less safe, higher damage route. 

Mythic Items and Build Path

Ekko has one preferred mythic choice: the Hextech Rocketbelt. The stats are great, and the extra mobility is a nice benefit. 

After you complete your Mythic item, the best Ekko players follow it up with Nashor’s Tooth due to its immensely powerful synergy with Ekko’s passive and generally beneficial stats. If you follow Riot in-game item suggestions instead, it’ll tell you to build Lich Bane, which as such has become the “popular” choice, but the consensus among the high-rank Ekko’s is that Lich Bane just cannot compete with a second item Nashor’s Tooth. 

While the two-item point is where your game will likely end as Jungle Ekko, the most common third-item choice is Rabadon’s Deathcap. Whenever the game goes this long, the item helps Ekko remain relevant and grants you the necessary AP to take out the enemy carries in one combination. 

Other optional items for your third (and further) item slots include Void Staff, Shadowflame, Zhonya’s Hourglass, Lich Bane, or another defensive item, such as Banshee’s Veil. 

For Ekko’s boots, the choice is simple. Your default is Sorcerer’s Shoes, with Mercury Threads being optional in certain matchups. Mid-Ekko especially loves his Mercury Threads, significantly improving his matchup into AP Mid’s such as Syndra and Taliyah. 

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