One of the changes introduced in patch 10.6 was with the item, ‘Death’s Dance’. While the AD stats within the item were lowered, armor and MR stats were added to the item as well, and although many marksman champions started to build the item and became stronger, one of the champions that benefited the most from this change was Ezreal. 

The LCK is currently being played in the 10.11 patch, and with Varus being permabanned, Ezreal’s been a highly contested pick. Ezreal's win rate in solo queue currently sitting at 51.92% with a 42.67% pick rate. His performance in the LCK, however, did not seem to properly reflect his performance in solo queue, as it sits at a mere 20% win rate with a 3-12 W/L record. This abysmal win rate attributes to teams picking Ezreal as an answer to Aphelios, but in reality, he struggled hard against the champion designed by those with 200 years of experience.

So why does it seem to especially struggle against Aphelios? There isn’t a cookie cutter reasaon to this question, but there have been some interesting answers. Jin “Mystic” Seong-jun, the bot laner for Afreeca Freecs, gave his thoughts on why that’s the case. He stated in a post-match interview, “I think both champions (Ezreal and Aphelios) have different power spikes. As long as you don’t fight Ezreal when he hits his power spike, Aphelios definitely feels stronger, given that both team comps have similar power levels.”

Mystic’s answer definitely has a point. One of the reasons why Ezreal’s strong at the moment is because of how fast he hits his power spike with gold-efficient items. His power spike comes at the completion of 2 items, Muranmana (fully stacked) and Iceborn Gauntlet, which is usually completed at around the 25 minute mark. However, with Aphelios, his power spike comes later. With the completion of three items, Infinity Edge, Essence Reaver, and Runaan’s Hurricane, and alongside the fact that he levels up his stats (Attack Damage, Attack Speed, and Bonus Armor Penetration), rather than his abilities, Aphelios definitely outscales Ezreal.

There’s no doubt that Ezreal’s strong at the moment, as Ezreal’s pro play performance in other regions have been vastly different from that of the LCK. In the LPL, he sits at a 61% win rate with 25-16 W/L record. Data shows that games in the LPL end a lot faster than games in the LCK, so it can be derived that the LPL utilizes Ezreal's power spike to push their lead a lot better than the LCK. With week 2 just around the corner, only time will tell whether or not Ezreal will start performing better, or continue to suffer in the LCK.

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