Ezreal hints and tips

As of late Ezreal has become uncommon to see in a match. Even more so after the small movement speed nerf he received. Ez is not a bad champion. But he is a situational one. To be the most effective on our prodigal explorer, it's vital to pick up a few early game kills and secure momentum to steamroll the mid game. There's a common misconception to Ezreal, that his late game is bad. That is wildly incorrect. He is only useless at the end of a game when either the enemy team has too much health or if the enemy carry out scales him. For example: you can't expect an Ezreal to compete with AD carries like Vayne, Kog, or Tristana unless he gets a good lead.

Ezreal isn't so great on the 3v3 map.

Fact of the matter is, Ezreal is a very difficult champion to master. To keep up with other champions you need to consistently land all of your skillshots, and gain a good lead early on. He can even win many 1v1 situations if you play him correctly. Regardless of the haters, Ez is a fantastic champion and I though I would provide a guide with hints and tips on how to play him. I am not the best Ezreal, but I have enough experience and research to play him right.

So for you lovely people who want to get better at Ezreal and master him- try to incorporate some of these hints and tactics into your strategy.

Sometimes you can't get ahead in the lane, so you just have to outfarm them.

Ezreal: Hints and Tips

- Some players are best on Ezreal using smartcast. Try it out and see which works best for you.
- Using your Arcane Shift is the key to winning most fights. Using it offensively can get you killed, whereas teleporting too late will leave you missing out on kills and assists. Remember you can shorten the cooldown by landing skillshots.
- The best way to win trades in the lane is to land your skillshots. You don't have to trade to hit your opponent with abilities.
- When any kind of confrontation is incoming, begin stacking your passive up immediately. The attack speed bonus can win you the day. 
- Early game you have an unparalleled ability to burst your opponents without trading. Practice landing an auto-attack, follow it up with a Mystic Shot, and finish it off with another attack. This combo should strip away a formidable amount of HP before your opponent reacts. You can decide to continue hitting them or port away on top.
- Don't take minion damage. At the beginning of the game it's your time to shine. Ez takes a lot of damage and doesn't have much health. Don't lose it to the creep wave.
- In a teamfight, use your ultimate at the beginning on as many targets as possible. Trueshot Barrage serves two purposes: To unload damage for your team, and to instantly bring up your passive stacks. Aside from teamfights, use your ult to snipe kills, start a fight, or even clear minions.
- Essence Flux doesn't do much damage when you're the AD carry. However, it does increase the attack speed of your allies. Use it on them when you push down towers, or in a team battle.
- It should only take a few games to get to grips with the terrain that you can Arcane Shift over. Always stay near a wall you can use to escape or reposition yourself.
- Don't be a hero. Too many Ezreal players play him like Rambo. If you get hit by one stun or the wrong champions sticks to you, you're dead. Learn when it's a good time to go out and poke for your team, and when to stay at the back. Staying at the back is boring, but you will have to do it a lot.
- Icebourne Gauntlet will not make you a good Ez player. It's a good situational purchase, if the opposite team has a lot of attack damage or if you are desperate for a slow. Trinity Force is still acceptable if your team is coordinated and can peel for you. Sometimes it's a better idea to just build Ezreal like a normal carry.
- Building a little health early can help a lot. A couple of Doran's blades or a Phage can help you survive against high burst like LeBlanc.
-  CS is important. Ezreal is a powerhouse in the lane. You should try to zone your opponent and get ahead. Use your Q to farm if necessary. Just make sure you're last hitting to the best of your ability.
- Always try to take part in the earliest teamfights. Ezreal can do a lot of damage and any kills will put you ahead. Staying ahead is probably the biggest key to winning a game on Ez.
-  Once again. Stay at the back! In a teamfight, you want to wait until all of the hard CC has been used and even then you can still get destroyed.
- When in the lane, try to poke them down a little with your skillshots before forcing trades. That way if they fight back you can kill them outright. If you get an enemy to 70% as you hit level six, using your full combo followed by an ultimate is a guaranteed kill.
- Remember to build to counter the enemy team. The same build won't always work, so mix it up a little. That doesn't mean buy armor or magic resist, that means buy armor pen and crit if the opposing team is excessively tanky, or lifesteal if it can win you a few fights.
- Warmog's and Guardian Angel are fantastic items if you're getting tunnel visioned by an annoying player. Once you buy it you can probably kill them 1v1.
- Try not to pick Ezreal against a bruiser heavy or tank based team. He can kite them, but he sucks at killing them. Always focus the weaker targets first.
- Red buff is amazing early game on Ezreal, as soon as your lane is over either ask your jungler nicely for one or just take it from somebody.

I hope my advice will help some of you play Ezreal better. I know a lot of it is common sense and knowledge, but sometimes even the best of players forget the basics. But remember most of all to have fun! Because that will make you play better too.

Champions that will make you better at LoL

Since all champions are specialized to do a particular job and have completely different skillsets, it stands to reason that mastering certain champs will improve your overall skill at the game exponentially more than others. Therefore to get better at LoL, you might want to prioritize learning to play some characters over others.

In truth, it's a good idea to play everyone at least a couple of times. Once you have played a character in several games you understand how they tick, what situations they can perform well in and their limitations. Perfecting your play on any champion will undoubtedly make you a better overall player. But if you're looking to bring up your game then try some of these guys, because they either have a high skill cap or require you to master mechanics that will help you whenever you play.

Bear in mind, I'm not saying you won't pick these skills up elsewhere or just naturally. I'm just suggesting characters that will utilize a wider variety of tactics or knowledge and generally help you in future matches.

Trueshot Barrage is a free kill at level 6 under the right conditions.

Ezreal- Getting good at Ezreal will accomplish a few things. First, learning to land his ultimate at any distance helps with any global ultimates. It's good to know when to use them, and when the enemy might send one your way. Secondly, Ezreal has two major skillshots that need to consistently be fired accurately to win a trade with any opponent. Skillshots are self explanatory. Many champions use them, so learn to land them or expect to lose. You will also learn positioning and how to escape. A good Ezreal knows when to teleport over a wall, and since it's on a fairly short cooldown it will teach you the limitations of flash when to use it. I've pulled off many effective retreats using flash because I've personally tested them using Ezreal in prior games. Positioning is vital to playing any champion and can dictate whether you get jumped by 4 players or manage to auto-attack them all to death without being touched. Lastly, kiting is a vital skill in any LoL players toolbox. As Ezreal you will mostly be more concerned about taking damage over dealing damage. Even the enemy support can strip chunks off your health if you let them get too close. Ultimately, Ezreal is just a brilliant champion for improving your game play. To master him you need to be doing everything right.

Crescendo is one of the best ults in the game for teamfights.

Sona- I can guess you think Sona has no place on this list. She does. Sona is an easy character to learn, and very easy to succeed on. This is exactly why she's the best support to learn how to support on. While playing Sona you can focus on warding and watching the map without being too concerned about your lane. Map observation is an important skill in every game. If you were watching mid when that Veigar burned his flash then you know he's an easy gank. When I play Sona, I usually ping an enemy coming in to gank other lanes before the lane even notices. There are several AOE stuns in the game, Sona has one of them. If you use them at the incorrect time, your team will not be able to seize the advantage. So learn to utilize her Crescendo when your team is in a position to deal lots of damage. She's also very squishy, one mistake and somebody will probably kill you. That will teach you not to facecheck or be stupid in general.

I love Shyvana.

Shyvana- Shyv has a brilliant clear speed. Which means you have more time for ganking and counterjungling. Both of which are vital skills. Learning to counter people in the jungle is useful for laning too. If you're at bottom lane and you know the enemy Udyr is currently doing blue, you can easily run up and disrupt him. Pulling off a successful lane gank is an even more useful tool- you need to know when to jump in and turn the fight. Shyvana also has the ability to pull off a successful tower dive from level 6 onwards. I see so many opportunities for people to dive and snatch some kills but they pass it up because they are afraid of dying. Check out this Shyvana guide, see if it helps.

Acceleration gate is like a free Shurelya's.

Jayce- I like practicing Jayce because you have to manage a wider set of abilities efficiently. Last hitting can be difficult for him early game if you choose not to waste mana on creeps. Using acceleration gate defensively and offensively can help your team immeasurably. You also need to know when it's the right time to switch into melee and start hammertime. Choosing to switch at the wrong opportunity might net you a kill but you will die in the process. Mastering Jayce means you need to know many nuances about ranged and melee champs, because your range drastically affects your playstyle. Jayce uses both, and therefore you need to know the limitations of melee and ranged. Finally, his knockback is useful for interrupting dangerous opponents. Using it on that Katarina instead of Ashe might save your entire team, so use it wisely.

I hope you understand the merit of learning these champions and the skills they require. If you can think of any other characters that will drastically help you get better at league in general, post a comment and let us know! And vice versa, if you think some of my suggestions are bad; let us know! Hopefully this article helps people, if it does I might post some more useful champions to learn. Good luck improving ladies and gentlemen, it's nice to see players actively looking to perform better every match.

Pulsefire Ezreal screenshots

Even the recall is different.

With my earlier post on Pulsefire Ezreal, I thought I'd follow up with some screenshots of his animations. This skin is very well animated and I think you'll like them if you haven't seen them already.

Don't fuck with Annie.

All of these images were taken in one match, it was a good game but we still lost to a fed Skarner and feeding Tryndamere. I really enjoy playing with Pulsefire, but I might stop until they fix the last hitting issue.

Upgraded Pulsefire looks more like a cyborg.

I really want to see more skins with custom animations like this, it really inspires people to buy them more. Clearly we should all spam Riot forums demanding more stuff like this, it worked for Pool Party Ziggs.

The dance is clearly the best part of the skin.

The dance as seen above is the best part by far, and I even use it to face check bushes for me, despite it pissing people off and usually getting me killed (if you have Pulsefire try it, and see how they focus you all game because of it).

If you like the skin, leave a comment and tell us why!

Pulsefire Ezreal

I've been playing a lot of Ezreal recently, one of my favorite champions. I've played him so many times I couldn't guess the total. The face time he's had at the season 2 tournament has demonstrated how truly powerful Ez can be and also managed to reestablish my motivation to play him.

A friend of mine bought me the Pulsefire skin upon release, due to it being half price. I love playing using it, although it feels a bit like boasting and puts me under pressure to do well every match. I do, for the most part.

The cannon seems a little bigger than ingame.

The morphing upon grabbing a new rank of your ultimate is really awesome, and I do hope Riot introduce a few more skins with the same amount of effort.

One issue I've noticed is once in a while a last hit appears not to go through only whilst using Pulsefire. This seems to be a minor issue but if people are truly missing a few last hits each game and precious gold, it is something that should be fixed immediately.

I feel kinda stupid having two skins for one champion.

I may or may not also own Frosted Ezreal as well. But I guess if I would have more than a single skin for a character, Ezreal would be my choice.

Anyone else share the love for our homo Ez? Or do you hate him and his stupid anime face?

Ezreal underpowered? What?

So recently I've seen a string of threads and people complaining Ezreal is weak on the forums. I'm a little shocked. Sure, baddies can't play him successfully- but doesn't that ring true for all the champions except Darius?

Rush the bush!

The only legitimate point I've seen made against Ezreal is he does end up being less forgiving than other carries. With a small margin for error and a ticking clock to get fed before mid game, the cons can sometimes outweigh the pros. 

He's a great champion. Although the newer AD range like Graves or Varus do seem to perform better than him generally, that doesn't negate the fact a good Ezreal is an asset to the team. If I play him in middle, the majority of mid characters that play against me die before level 6 or get denied a lot of exp. He's certainly viable in bottom lane with a support too- so I don't understand where this consensus has come from.

His recent buff is a little lackluster, but he didn't even need it anyway:

• Essence Flux Mana cost reduced to 50/60/70/80/90 from 60/70/80/90/100
• Trueshot Barrage Mana cost reduced to 100 from 150

Reduced mana costs are better than nothing eh? It's not possible to increase his damage early game, he hits hard enough as it is.

I prefer Ez mid.

AD Ezreal excels at performing high damage on a single target if you land a couple of skillshots. As AP he can spread that damage out a little more across multiple targets. My favorite part of him is he is often underestimated, and you can often take out squishier champions like Ashe before they can react.

His built in flash is his only escape, so positioning is absolutely vital. When used correctly however, he's a slippery little bastard to catch. It can also be doubled over as a damage tool early game, because it does a fair bit of damage.

You can assassinate targets in a teamfight.

Trueshot Barrage is brilliant for sniping kills, and very accurate and efficient once you've practiced it a little. Sometimes you aim for one person and end up killing two or three, the new champions can't do that can they?

All in all, Ezreal requires you to think a little more than just sitting on your fed AD champion farming last hits and auto attacking in teamfights. His damage more than makes up for the lack of CC or survivability- provided you have the right team to utilize him to his full efficiency.

A few minutes of Ezreal play and Summoner showcase

I have a some footage for you today. I got a few kills playing as Ezzer in the lane with an awesome Gragas. Also, Summoner showcase #34 is out, so I thought I'd cover that incase anyone likes to laugh at that kind of thing.

Since the game as Ez turned out really badly afterwards (we didn't play too well), I decided to cut the rest of the game from the video. Irelia and Olaf were both really bad, which is why we beat them down so much over a period of ten minutes.

Hopefully the quality of the clips are much better, I've been looking into a way to keep the filesize small and the graphics fairly nice. Seems like I may have found the best settings.

Summoner showcase is always quite amusing to watch, you gotta be boring as hell to take it seriously though. I want to know who came up with this crap, and I hope they don't get paid. Surely the funds could be put towards better customer service?

I also collected some League of Legends wallpapers for this post, I hope you find one worth saving.

Kayle is surprisingly underrated these days, she's still good though.

 This is the chinese version of Taric, far cooler than ours. Hard to say if more or less faggy.

 Some guy on the League forums made this one, pretty awesome huh. Katarina and Jax is a pro laning combo too.

 Hell yeah Udyr got buffed he's a monster now. Overpowered, try him.

Very... Purple. Morgana for the win, gotta love the stun.

Keep on trollin' trollin' trollin'

So, I've just played a game where a first time Ezreal demanded middle lane from me as Teemo. Without wanting to cause a division in the team, I happily trot off to bottom lane with Mordekaiser. Sure, we have no synergy in the lane, but that's alright anyway, as long as the team hasn't fallen apart.

Sure enough, the game starts and Ezreal dies to Kassadin at level 3. How do you die to Kassadin at level 3? He doesn't even have his main spell, the only spell that Kass is useful for. Ezreal continues to feed, over and over. Until Kassadin is an unstoppable beast, who teleports around the map shutting down all of our lanes whilst spamming us with "Nice try lol!" "You suck."

At this point, nobody can stop him, because he's over levelled and over fed. We get snowballed into a loss. So the question I pose to you is this: Which person is more rageworthy, the Kassadin or the Ezreal?

I choose Ez, because I hate damn feeders.

If you feel like it, share your tales of horrible games that turned worse. This is a tame story compared to some of the games I've had, but it's the most recent. Regardless, I still raged.

Riot should keep the champions of the week as easy mode characters, like Xin Zhao and Ashe. Not that they take less skill to master, but you can pick them up and play without feeding... Too much.

On another note, Heat n Serve has gone on vacation for a week. When he returns, he will be answering my interview questions! So look forward to that! In the meantime, if anyone has a specific person they'd like me to talk to or a specific question you'd like me to ask Heat n Serve, let me know!

And finally, a couple of LoL comics to make you laugh: