Ezreal is still on top with a 90 percent pick/banrate and a 54 percent winrate

We’re nearing the end of the preseason, and Ezreal is still crushing the bot lane meta with a 54 percent winrate and nearly 90 percent pick/banrate according to League of Legends stats site OP.gg.

Don’t get us wrong, he’s still much more balanced than he was at the beginning of the preseason with his 58 percent winrate and 27 percent pickrate, but he’s still not quite down to earth with the rest of the game’s ADCs. Riot has been nerfing him consistently, and it simply isn’t hurting him enough.

In Patch 7.24, the AD ratio on his Q was lowered. This was simply a reversal of the buff he was given in Patch 7.17. Now that he was OP, he definitely didn’t need it anymore. He was nerfed again immediately after in Patch 7.24b, too. There, his attack speed growth per level was nerfed from 2.8 percent to 1.5 percent. These nerfs have certainly rained on his parade a bit, but he’s still running rampant, and that leaves us with one more question—what else can be done?

It seems as though the Kleptomancy rune is the only reason Ezreal is able to succeed as an ADC so much more than he did before the preseason, but the rune itself isn’t performing well enough on any other champion to justify a large nerf. That leaves Ezreal the target of any potential nerf, and he’s already been brought down twice, but to no avail.

To avoid a Kleptomancy nerf in the future, Ezreal’s Q seems to be the most obvious possible nerf recipient. It’s difficult to nerf its damage too much, seeing as it’s Ezreal’s primary source of damage and nerfing it that way may be overkill, but perhaps its cooldown could be knocked down a peg or two—especially during the early game.

If Riot did choose to lower the Q’s damage outright, though, changing his W to something more impactful to make up for it would also be a good option. His W has long been a faux ability, one that has barely any impact on fighting and farming, and this may be a good excuse for Riot to give it some attention and turn it into a proper ability.

Either way, it’s clear something needs to happen, or we’re going to see a lot of Ezreal when the new season rolls around next month.