I heard rumors floating around about how strong Ezreal jungle is and decided to try it for myself. Trust me, this is ridiculously strong, so let's break the meta.

Pros:

• Strong early game ganks
• Scales well
• Huge burst
• Extremely versatile build paths
• Fast clear after a couple items

Cons:

• Squishy
• Have to be able to orb walk/kite
• Really weak against an invading jungler
• Have to play super aggressive
• Have to get ahead early

Summoner Spells

Flash:

Even though you can use Ezreal’s E, Arcane Shift, to move around the map and get over walls, it is always good to have Flash as an extra option to get out of aggressive plays.

Smite:

This is a must have for junglers. It helps you secure objectives and assists in Jungle clear. It also allows you to buy the jungle items and get that sweet bonus experience from jungle items.

Masteries

Option 1: Early Game Burst/ Snowball

Ferocity:

Tier 1: Fury: 4% increased attack speed will help you clear your jungle camps faster and help you apply red buff to the enemy laner you are ganking.

Tier 2: Fresh Blood: You are looking to deal as much damage as you can during the early game. Fresh Blood does an extra 10 damage on your first auto attack on an enemy champion. Every bit counts!

Tier 3: (1/5) Vampirism: The .4% life steal adds just enough to your sustain that you can clear your jungle camps safely.

(4/5) Natural Talent: Gives you free AD and AP as you level up. The .4% life steal is worth more for the early game clear than the extra 2 AD and 3 AP you get for going (5/5).

Tier 4: Double Edge Sword: Gives you 3% increased damage while you take 1.5% increased damage. The main goal of jungle Ezreal is to snowball the game. You want as many % damage increases as you can get.

Cunning:

Tier 1: Wanderer: The 3% out of combat movement speed allows you to move around the map easier to gank and clear your jungle faster. Ezreal does enough damage to where you do not need Savagery.

Tier 2: Runic Affinity: Buffs from monsters last 15% longer. This is imperative to have because Ezreal has zero CC in his kit and relies on red buff during the early game. The longer you have red buff, the longer you can gank effectively.

Tier 3: Merciless: The 3% increased damage on low health targets helps you burn through that last bit of health and secure kills. This entire build is about snowballing quickly, the mana regen from the jungle items in combination with blue buff make Meditation null.

Tier 4: Greenfather’s Gift: Deals 3% of target current health as magic damage after exiting a bush. This mastery is extremely useful for the extra damage it provides on a gank.

Tier 5: Precision: The extra armor penetration with the mastery will help you deal more damage to enemies throughout the game.

Keystone:

Thunderlord's: Thunderlord’s will make your early game so much more potent. The amount of burst you will have from a quick E>Q>W combo will automatically proc Thunderlord’s. The goal of this mastery page is to snowball the game out of control early. Thunderlord’s gives you that early game kill pressure.

Option 2: Reliable extended trade DPS/late game team fighting

Cunning:

Tier 1: Wanderer: The 3% out of combat movement speed allows you to move around the map easier to gank and clear your jungle faster. Ezreal does enough damage to where you do not need Savagery.

Tier 2: Runic Affinity: Buffs from monsters last 15% longer. This is imperative to have because Ezreal has zero CC in his kit and relies on red buff during the early game. The longer you have red buff the longer you can gank effectively.

Tier 3: Merciless: The 3% increased damage on low health targets helps you burn through that last bit of health and secure kills. This entire build is about snowballing quickly, the mana regen from the jungle items in combination with blue buff make Meditation null.

Tier 4: Greenfather’s Gift: Deals 3% of target current health as magic damage after exiting a bush. This mastery is extremely useful for the extra damage it provides on a gank.

Ferocity:

Tier 1: Fury: 4% increased attack speed will help you clear your jungle camps faster and help you apply red buff to the enemy laner you are ganking.

Tier 2: Fresh Blood: You are looking to deal as much damage as you can during the early game. Fresh Blood does an extra 10 damage on your first auto attack on an enemy champion. Every bit counts!

Tier 3: (1/5) Vampirism: The .4% life steal adds just enough to your sustain that you can clear your jungle camps safely.

(4/5) Natural Talent: Gives you free AD and AP as you level up. The .4% life steal is worth more for the early game clear than the extra 2 AD and 3 AP you get for going (5/5).

Tier 4: Double Edge Sword: Gives you 3% increased damage while you take 1.5% increased damage. The main goal of jungle Ezreal is to snowball the game. You want as many % damage increases as you can get. If you kite effectively you will not even take the 1.5% increased damage when ganking.

Tier 5: Battering Blows: The 7% armor penetration will allow you to deal more damage to enemy champions. The majority of your damage will come from auto attacks so have armor penetration is a must!

Keystone:

Fervor of Battle: This keystone gives you more damage the longer that you are in combat. This mastery is only better than Thunderlord’s if you will not be able to burst down the enemy laners and ganks will be long trades. Fervor of Battle works well against tanks or into a lane that has a low amount of CC so that you can get stacks up and increased damage. Fervor will be better than Thunderlord’s in the late game because during team fights you will be able to keep max stacks (around 36 AD) for the duration of a team fight.

Abilities:

Passive: Rising Spell Force

Ezreal gains 10/12/14% bonus at attack speed for six seconds every time he lands one of his abilities. Ezreal will gain multiple stacks from his ability if it hits multiple targets. The attack speed scales at levels 1/7/13 and stacks up to five times. Managing this passive is the key to making jungle Ezreal work. You have to use Ezreal’s abilities to keep a constant five stacks up while clearing the jungle. You can use the long range of Ezreal's Q in combination with the gap closing on his E to keep the passive at five stacks while you clear.

Q: Mystic Shot (Cooldown: 6.5/6/5.5/5/4.5 Seconds)

Ezreal fires a bolt of energy in a line dealing 35/55/75/95/115+(110% AD)+(40% AP) physical damage to the first target hit. This ability will apply on hit effects and will decrease the cooldown on all of Ezreal’s abilities by 1.5 seconds if it successfully hits an enemy. You will rank up this skill first, taking points in it at levels 1/4/5/7/9. This is Ezreal’s bread and butter. Weaving this spell in between his auto attacks allow you to pull off some crazy damage. A key thing to remember with this spell is that it will decrease your ability cooldowns. When you have 40% CDR and max rank Q at level 9 you can fire off a Mystic Shot every second if you hit an enemy champion. This will quickly decrease the cooldown for your E ability allowing you to easily escape ganks and kite enemy champions. You have to land this skill shot early game to get a successful gank. The early game damage combined with the slow from red buff makes it easy to get a kill during the early stages of the game. Mystic Shot will apply the slowing field from Iceborn Gauntlet as well as the extra damage from Trinity Force!

W: Essence Flux (Cooldown: 9 Seconds)

Ezreal fires a wave of energy in a line that deals 70/115/160/205/250(+80% AP) magic damage to enemy champions hit and gives all allies struck 20/25/30/35/40 % bonus attack speed for five seconds. This ability does not do damage to monsters! This is the main move that differentiates between a skilled Ezreal player and a mediocre Ezreal player, Ezreal can cast Essence Flux and quickly cast his E ability to gain the attack speed bonus. This combo allows Ezreal to clear his jungle quickly and can quickly turn around bad situations. Do not underestimate the importance of mastering when you can W>E for the attack speed bonus! 20% free attack speed is a game changer! You will max this ability last but pick up its first rank at level 3.

Buffing yourself with E>W combo:

Buffing allies' attack speed with W:

E: Arcane Shift (Cooldown: 19/17.5/16/14.5/13 Seconds)

Ezreal blinks to a target location dealing 75/125/175/225/275+(50% bonus AD)+(75% AP) magic damage to the nearest enemy. This skill is Ezreal’s get out of jail free card. It allows you to quickly create or close distances between Ezreal and enemy champions. The only bad thing about this spell is that youcan not totally control where the damage goes. The one good thing about using this on jungle Ezreal is that the buff camps, dragon, and baron do not have extra minions around them. This allows you to focus the damage from Arcane Shift onto them and quickly burn them down. Also, you can wait for the enemy champion to not be near the minion wave on a gank to guarantee that Arcane Shift hits them over a minion. You will max this move second to lower the cooldown and gain the much-needed mobility.

R: Trueshot Barrage (Cooldown: 120 Seconds)

After gathering energy for one second Ezreal releases an energy projectile in a target direction dealing 350/500/650+(100% bonus AD)+(90% AP) magic damage to enemies it passes through. Each enemy hit reduces damage taken by 10% for a maximum of 30% damage reduction. This ability is global. Great Ezreal players can use it to snipe away enemy champions, buffs, dragons, and Barons. You can also use it to push waves on the other side of the map. The only way to truly master this ability is to play Ezreal and get a good feel for the speed of the projectile. After that, you will be able to make stealing a dragon or baron look easy!

Key Point

One of the most important things to remember about Ezreal is that he is squishy and has no CC. You have to rely on red buff/items to pull off successful ganks! Ezreal also does massive damage to targets that are chasing him. Be sure to always pay attention to how much damage you are dealing to people trying to run you down. You can always turn things around if they overextend!

Items

Starting Items:

Hunter’s Machete and 3 Health potions:

Hunter’s Machete gives you 10% life steal to jungle monsters. Ezreal has no built in sustain so you have to get it from your items. Ezreal also has no AoE wave clear to get the sustain from Hunter’s Talisman. You need the three health potions early to safely clear the jungle. One of the reasons I love Ezreal jungle is the diversity of his builds. You can build him to fit the situation of the game. We will go into detail about when to choose what item to increase your chances of success!

Skirmisher’s Sabre vs Stalker’s Blade:

Skirmisher’s Saber: (Smite can now be used on Champions marking them for four seconds and revealing them. Your basic attacks will deal bonus true damage over three seconds and reduce their damage to you by 20%.) This option will make you surprisingly tanky and able to win most 1v1 situations against another jungler. The 20% damage reduction will allow you to not get instantly burst down by enemy assassins! You will want to go Skirmisher’s Sabre when against bursty enemy team compositions.

Stalker’s Blade: (Smite can be cast on enemy champions doing reduced true damage and stealing 20% of their movement speed for two seconds.) This option is ideal if you are having trouble pulling off ganks. The slow will be just enough to guarantee a kill. I would suggest going Stalker’s Blade until you get a good feel for how to properly gank as jungle Ezreal.

Overall Skirmisher’s Saber will be your primary go to for jungle items!

Jungle Enchantment Bloodrazor vs Warrior:

Bloodrazor: (50% attack speed and auto attacks deal 4% of target’s maximum health in bonus physical damage.) Ezreal’s passive combined with Bloodrazor will allow you to shred through tanks and do an insane amount of DPS. Late game Ezreal will have 2.1 attack speed with all of his attack speed bonuses applied. Bloodrazor is best against tanky teams or if your team has a lot of peel.

Warrior: (+60 attack damage and +10% CDR.) This item is the best for trying to snowball the early game. It gives you an insane amount of burst at early levels. The CDR is also useful for assisting you with your jungle clear. This item is best for when you know you will need to gank your lanes constantly and not be able to sit back and farm. Warrior will fall off in DPS compared to Bloodrazor late game but the early advantage you can get your team from an early purchase is more than worth it!

Berserker’s Greaves vs Ninja Tabi:

Berserker’s Greaves: (+ 35% attack speed.) This item will allow you to reach max attack speed with T3/Bloodrazor/BotRK in your inventory. It is best to go this route when the enemy team is tank heavy and your team has a lot of peel.

Ninja Tabi: (+30 armor and blocks 10% of damage from basic attacks.) Ninja Tabi with the bonus armor and 10% damage reduction from basic attacks will make you surprisingly tanky! The 10% damage reduction works on jungle monsters so you can stay in the jungle and farm longer. Ninja Tabi will also give you enough armor to duel well with any AD jungler or laner. Ninja Tabi is a must against any AD heavy team or AD assassin.

Blade of the Ruined King:

(+40 attack damage, +25% attack speed, and +12% life steal. Auto attacks deal bonus damage equal to 8% of the targets current health.) Can activate to deal 100 damage and steal 25% movement speed from the target for 3 seconds. The main thing about Ezreal that a lot of players forget is that he has huge attack speed bonuses. This item will allow you to shred through opponents! The life steal will make your jungle clear easier and ganks more successful. This is the one of the two “must have” items for jungle Ezreal. You will want to build it second!

Trinity Force vs Iceborn Gauntlet:

Trinity Force: (+250 Health, +250 Mana, +25 attack damage, +40% attack speed, +20% CDR, and +5% movement speed. Gives you the passives Rage: Auto attacks will increase movement speed by 10 and killing the target will give you 30 bonus movement speed and Spellblade: After using an ability your next basic attack will deal 200% bonus damage based off your base AD.) This item is the ultimate snowball item for Ezreal. It gives way more DPS than Iceborn Gauntlet and will allow you to hit like a truck. The Spellblade passive will be applied with your Q due to it proccing on-hit effects. This will give you a lot of damage from a large distance. The bonus movement speed will allow you to kite or chase down enemies. The only downside to this item is that it is expensive at 3733 gold. You will want to purchase Trinity Force if the enemy team does not have a lot of AD damage dealers, your team has a lot of wave clear, or you do not need to give the midlane blue buff.

Iceborn Gauntlet: (+65 armor, +20% CDR, and +500 Mana. Spellblade: The next basic attack after using a spell will deal bonus physical damage up to 100% base attack damage in an area and create an icy zone for 2 seconds slowing enemy champions by 30%.) This item has a lot less DPS than Trinity Force but provides AoE wave clear for Ezreal and allows you to permanently slow enemy champions in the late game. The cooldown for the slow is the same as Ezreal's Q at 1.5 seconds. You will want to purchase Iceborn Gauntlet against heavy AD teams, your team needs wave clear, or you are falling behind. The item is a lot cheaper than Trinity Force at 2700 gold.

Guardian Angel:

(+40 attack damage and +30 armor. Upon taking lethal damage you enter a stasis for 4 seconds and restore 50% of base health and 30% of maximum mana.) This item is the only other “must have” item for jungle Ezreal. You will have to buy it whenever Baron becomes the top priority on the map. As a jungler, you have the primary way to secure Baron with Smite. Your death could cause the end of the game without the threat of a Smite steal to ward the enemy team off of baron.

Example build:

Situational Items

The Black Cleaver:

Only buy this item if the enemy team is bursting you down and you need more health. The movement speed on-hit will not stack with Trinity Force, so only buy this item when you go the Iceborn Gauntlet route.

Mortal Reminder vs Lord Dominik’s Regard:

Mortal Reminder is best against teams with a lot of sustain such as life steal, a healing support, or health regen. Lord Dominik’s is best if the enemy team is ridiculously tanky. Mortal Reminder is the better option in most situations as Grievous Wounds is really underrated.

Mercurial Scimitar:

If you find that you are getting CCed to death and are not able to survive team fights, Mercurial Scimitar is well worth the gold.

Early Game:

Ezreal jungle excels at early game ganks. You will want to start at your bottom side buff for the strong leash! If you are on the blue side, you will want to gank immediately after finishing red buff. Tell your laner beforehand so that they do not push out the wave. You will easily get the enemy mid laner to use their flash with a quick E>Q engage on the enemy mid laner. The enemy mid laner will always be level one when starting on the blue side so you will have the level advantage! If you are on the red side, you will want to go to red buff immediately after finishing blue buff. You can choose to gank mid lane or top lane after finishing red buff on this side. You can also go for an invade onto the enemy blue if the enemy jungler does not have a safe clear.

Mid Game:

Focus on securing objectives like dragon and pushing down any remaining towers. Do not underestimate how fast you and a laner can take a tower with Essence Flux and red buff! Push your team’s vision lines into the enemy side of the map and begin stealing enemy jungle camps. You will be able to do this safely by utilizing Arcane Shift to quickly get over walls and around the map. Play the team fights like you are an ADC. Do not overextend and focus on putting out strong DPS.

Champions you need to be careful of!

Lee Sin: This guy has some insane early level damage, good jungle clear, and can stick to you like glue. Your best option is to just ban the blind monk. He will make your life too difficult.

Master Yi: Master Yi is almost as painful as Lee Sin but not ban worthy. Most people do not play him and you have better early level ganks. Do not try to 1v1 him in the jungle unless you have a strong lead because you will not be able to kite him with his ultimate and Alpha Strike to gap close.

Elise: She will out-damage you early. You have to dodge her Cocoon to even think about fighting her 1v1. She is not as bad as Yi or Lee Sin because all she has to close on you is Cocoon and Repel, so after that, she is easy to kite.

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