Full Build Friday - Ekko, the Boy Who Shattered Time
- bjacobt1
- 32 minutes ago
- 13 min read
I originally intended for this to be another wholly Starfinder build, but after completely building out Ekko, it didn't feel right to me so I had to go back and give it another try. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
Hope you'll do me a favor and take a sec to check out the video on the build!
If you have the time to listen to me whine about Ekko from League of Legends, let's get into it!
EKKO, THE BOY WHO SHATTERED TIME
SOURCE League of Legends
BUILD GOALS
o A prodigy from the streets of Zaun, Ekko invented the Z-Drive to manipulate and warp time as a means to save others
o Ekko is a melee assassin who wields a crystal clock hand like a club as a weapon
o The Z-Drive Resonance passive causes Ekko’s attacks and damaging abilities to place stacks on foes. The third stack consumes all of them to deal damage and grant Ekko movement speed
o Timewinder launches a temporal grenade in a direction that damages enemies hit, slowing them, before snapping back to Ekko and dealing damage again
o Passively, Parallel Convergence causes Ekko’s attacks to deal damage to low health targets. Activating it creates a slowing area that Ekko can enter to stun enemies within while gaining a shield
o With Phase Dive, Ekko dashes in a direction, empowering his next attack with extra range, damage, and an additional blink towards the target
o Upon gaining Chronobreak, an afterimage of Ekko begins to follow him, tracking where he was 4 seconds ago. When activated, this heals Ekko and causes him to dash to his afterimage and deal damage
o Ekko in Legends of Runeterra has Quick Attack and creates cards that let him see upcoming cards in the deck and draw them
Summary of Goals: Ekko’s abilities feel highly disparate, but keeping in mind that they are all some form of time manipulation helps a little bit. He hastens himself, can slow or stun foes, and can flash backwards in time to save himself from a perilous position. Some ability to see into the future is handy, and I’m looking for a solid mix of magic and martial might, but this build might end up leaning more one way than the other.
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Versatile Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence
o Ancestry Feat: Natural Ambition
o General Feat: Fleet
Background: Time Traveler
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence
o Skill Increase: Engineering Lore (T), Underworld Lore (T), Zaun Lore (T)
Class & Subclass: Eldritch Trickster Rogue – Witchwarper Dedication (Precog)
o Class Ability Boost: +Intelligence
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (T), Arcana (T), Athletics (T), Crafting (T), Deception (T), Intimidation (T), Occultism (T), Performance (T), Piloting (T), Society (T), Stealth (T), Survival (T), Thievery (T)
o Class Feat: Nimble Dodge, Tumble Behind
o Skill Feat: Improvise Tool
o Spell Repertoire: Cantrips – injury echo, telekinetic projectile
o Gear: baton, hoverboard, second skin
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +1, Dex +3, Con +0, Int +4, Wis +1, Cha +0)
For this build, I heavily considered using the samsaran ancestry and thought about using the past lives to represent all the other timelines that he’s experienced. I still personally like this idea, but it isn’t great for the build, which ends up being a little MAD, and I was further talked out of it by folks on the MM Discord. I settled on human, which is actually decently handy and provides us with the Natural Ambition feat. We’ll save the effects of that for later as first we have to look at the time traveler background, which is based on how he hops through time. This gives him a nice free action that grants him quickened for an extra Stride, resembling the speed from his Z-Drive Resonance. The lore skills also all feel pretty appropriate to him though you’ll likely end up swapping out Zaun Lore for something more relevant. That leaves us with his class, which ended up being rogue after some deliberation. However, we’re then going to start mixing things up. Because while the rogue has been remastered, the eldritch trickster racket never technically was (which does actually mean that it’s supposedly still good) and through that, we tap into the Witchwarper Dedication – a Starfinder option! He does take some more classical rogue feats, gaining both Nimble Dodge and Tumble Behind. The latter is a reaction that could easily be flavored as him reacting to an attack he’s already seen from his time traveling whereas Tumble Behind has some resemblance to the bouncing about he does as part of his Phase Dive, letting him attack from unconventional angles. Given that Ekko built much of his gear, he’ll be taking a number of Crafting skill feats and will start off with Improvise Tool, given the limited resources of Zaun.
His gear is pretty basic, but one point I do want to mention is that the Starfinder GM Core actually introduced the hoverboard as a vehicle, and following his demonstration in Arcane, I had to include it!
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Minor Magic (time sense, warp step)
o Skill Feat: Tech Crafting
o Skill Increase: Crafting (E)
o Gear: ring of discretion
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Feat: Magical Crafting
o Skill Increase: Occultism (E)
o Gear: tactical baton, stalk goggles, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Basic Distortion – Anchoring Strike
o Skill Feat: Inventor
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (E)
o Gear: bracelet of dashing, tactical baton, necklace of knives, ring of discretion
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence (Str +2, Dex +4, Con +1, Int +4.5, Wis +1, Cha +0)
o Ancestry Feat: Confident Actualization
o Skill Feat: Quick Repair
o Skill Increase: Piloting (E)
o Gear: advanced baton, bracelet of dashing, crafter’s eyepiece, necklace of knives, stalk goggles, ring of discretion
As evidenced by his use of the eldritch trickster racket, he will be making use of considerable magic and thus grabs Minor Magic. Through this, he gains time sense and warp step, picking a pair of spells that don’t rely on attack rolls or saves since they would use a lower attack bonus and DC. The latter of these two spells is another good speed boost for his Z-Drive Resonance. He then returns to the witchwarper archetype for Basic Distortion to gain Anchoring Strike, which will be important for combining his combat capabilities with anchoring trait so that he can maintain his quantum field. He goes heavy into Crafting for his skill feats, gaining Magical and Tech Crafting alike before obviously picking up Inventor given his own creations. Ekko is a melee combatant and while he has some means to evade damage, such as Nimble Dodge, the addition of Toughness in his build will help increase his survivability. Reaching back to Anchoring Strike from this block, I want to mention that I like fortune effects in this build where I can fit them in. They can serve to represent Ekko rewinding time for a better go at these things and one of these options comes in the form of Confident Actualization, an ancestry feat that he can fit in this block.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Basic Warp Spell
o Skill Feat: Quick Jump
o Skill Increase: Athletics (E)
o Gear: tactical second skin, advanced baton, speed suspension, bracelet of dashing, necklace of knives, Jack’s tattered cape
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Feat: Express Driver
o Skill Increase: Crafting (M)
o Gear: schematic scanner, tactical second skin, lesser boots of free running, advanced baton, bracelet of dashing, charlatan’s gloves
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Basic Warp Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Stunt Maneuver
o Skill Increase: Occultism (M)
o Spell Repertoire: 1st – fleet step; 2nd – temporal bullets; 3rd – time’s edge
o Gear: boots of bounding, clandestine cloak, schematic scanner, tactical second skin, advanced baton, tasset of flexibility
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Cooperative Nature
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (M)
o Gear: advanced second skin, boots of bounding, wand of time jump, schematic scanner, cardiac accelerator, advanced baton
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +2, Dex +4.5, Con +2, Int +5, Wis +1, Cha +1)
o Class Feat: Advanced Distortion – Spellsurge Ammo
o Skill Feat: Power Slide
o Skill Increase: Athletics (M), Computers (T)
o Gear: greater charlatan’s gloves, advanced second skin, Cordelia’s construct key, boots of bounding, schematic scanner, advanced baton
This is going to be one of those builds that is almost entirely archetype as we continue the trend with Basic Warp Spell. With the precog paradox, Ekko gains warp time, which can give him the temporary Hit Points associated with the shield from his Parallel Convergence or even the healing of his Chronobreak. Basic Warp Spellcasting is a little bit set-up – while I like fleet step for Ekko’s own speed boosts, temporal bullets is used simply because it’s a time-based spell, and time’s edge is a line spell. This is notable in an attempt to represent his Timewinder as it travels out before snapping back in a line, which is difficult to represent. Following the acquisition of that feat, he can use Advanced Distortion to gain Spellsurge Ammo. This siphons magic from spells to empower his Strikes, resembling the increased damage that comes from his Z-Drive Resonance. For skill feats, which are always plentiful for rogues, he starts with Quick Jump and slips in Kip Up. These help him act faster in a round and play into his general athleticism and limber nature. Outside of that, he focuses on Piloting skill feats to better control and maneuver his faithful hoverboard. After all the tricks he pulls off with it in Arcane, Stunt Maneuver felt like a must while Express Drive and Power Slide help his speed. Even outside of his hoverboard, Ekko has some very solid mobility that I’ve tried to factor in with Fleet and continue to explore with Feather Step. Then, League is a team-based game and Ekko leads a whole gang in Arcane, which lends to the inclusion of Cooperative Nature as one of his ancestry feats.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Feat: Push It
o Skill Increase: Piloting (M)
o Gear: superior baton, greater charlatan’s gloves, thunderblast slippers, advanced second skin, boots of bounding, wand of time jump
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Expert Warp Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Slippery Prey
o Skill Increase: Thievery (E)
o Spell Repertoire: 4th – tortoise and the hare
o Gear: superior second skin, superior baton, charlatan’s cape, greater charlatan’s gloves, shock module, Cordelia’s construct key
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Inner Wellspring
o Skill Feat: Steady Balance
o Skill Increase: Thievery (M)
o Gear: elite baton, superior second skin, wand of stagnate time, charlatan’s cape, greater charlatan’s gloves, thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Quantum Breadth
o Skill Feat: Cat Fall
o Skill Increase: Stealth (E)
o Spell Repertoire: 5th – blink charge
o Gear: propulsive boots, elite baton, greater Cordelia’s construct key, superior second skin, charlatan’s cape, tactical cloaking skin
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +3, Dex +5, Con +2, Int +5.5, Wis +2, Cha +1)
o General Feat: Diehard
o Skill Feat: Craft Anything
o Skill Increase: Crafting (L)
o Gear: elite second skin, propulsive boots, superior null space chamber, elite baton, ring of maniacal devices, wand of stagnate time
Expert Warp Spellcasting starts getting us some better spells as we grab tortoise and the hair – slowing enemies while also making Ekko faster – and blink charge. This is great for his Phase Dive, including a dash and a Strike with some extra damage on it. He also uses Quantum Breadth to add more spells to his repertoire so that he has a wider range of options to use with his Spellsurge Ammo. This block has a bit more of a focus on Acrobatics skill feats with a special mention going to Steady Balance given his ability to stay on his board even in stressed situations. Push It is another great way to make use of his hoverboard, letting him drive it faster to avoid authorities or chase down other troublemakers. Craft Anything takes advantage of his legendary Crafting and feels important given his characterization as an inventor. Moving into his general feats, Fast Recovery will actually be fun for a spell I’ve got coming up in the next block, and then Diehard is a natural for a character in League but especially for Ekko after all that he’s gone through. While Ekko only has a single focus spell for the time being, I have him take the Inner Wellspring feat so that he can regain a Focus Point once per day. For now, this will let him double dip into warp time, but that won’t be the only focus spell he’s getting.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Advanced Distortion – Advanced Warp
o Skill Feat: Wary Disarmament
o Skill Increase: Occultism (L)
o Spell Repertoire: 4th – weight of ages; 6th – mislead
o Gear: tactical shock module, elite second skin, superior null space chamber, propulsive boots, elite baton, greater Cordelia’s construct key
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Heroic Presence
o Skill Feat: Quick Unlock
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (L)
o Gear: ultimate baton, tactical shock module, advanced akashic lens, elite second skin, propulsive boots, superior null space chamber
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Master Warp Spellcasting
o Skill Feat: Wall Jump
o Skill Increase: Athletics (L)
o Spell Repertoire: 5th – stagnate time; 7th – time beacon
o Gear: cloak of swiftness, ultimate baton, quicklock upgrade, tactical shock module, elite second skin, greater boots of bounding
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Skill Increase: Piloting (L)
o Gear: ultimate second skin, cloak of swiftness, chronomancer staff, ultimate baton, greater thunderblast slippers, tactical shock module
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Constitution, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str +4, Dex +5, Con +3 Int +6, Wis +2, Cha +2)
o Class Feat: Advanced Distortion – Greater Warp
o Skill Feat: Swift Sneak
o Skill Increase: Nature (T), Stealth (M)
o Spell Repertoire: 6th – cast into time; 8th – moment of renewal
o Gear: paragon baton, ultimate second skin, mercurial mantle, chronomancer staff, quicklock upgrade, amplifying aeon stone
He takes Advanced Distortion twice in this block, both times to gain more warp spells from his chosen paradox. The first is accelerate, which grants him the quickened condition for a minute. Obviously, this is very similar to haste but is on a focus spell rather than being constrained to a spell slot. At the same level that he gains this, he also gains mislead as a spell, which I mostly took to reference his afterimage – though you could also consider illusory creature or phantasmal protagonist to create a similar sort of idea. Those honestly have a far greater impact than his afterimage does in-game, but he doesn’t really have a way to reflect otherwise. He follows that up with time beacon¸ which is actually one of the best spells to represent his Chronobreak. However, the duration of time beacon is far too short. It’s a single action to cast the spell, but then Ekko only has two actions left to his turn before he decides to snap back in time. His final Advanced Distortion grants him Greater Warp, and he takes this in place of any capstone feat so that he can gain time loop. Affecting up to 5 creatures in his quantum field, it is too fantastic a fit not to be used for the stunning effect of his Parallel Convergence. With the last level, he also gains moment of renewal, which will be useful for healing him and allows him to get some extra use out of Fast Recovery.
He gets a bit of an eclectic mix here when it comes to his skill feats. His initial association with Vi and Powder’s gang as well as his own inventiveness led to the inclusion of Wary Disarmament and Quick Unlock whereas Swift Sneak just feels right for a rogue. With his general feat, Incredible Initiative will help him strike first since his LoR card has the ‘Quick Attack.’ I seriously debated about using Persistent Actualization as his final ancestry feat, but I really liked Heroic Presence for the temporary HP it provides to represent the shield of his Parallel Convergence.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: In a free archetype game, Ekko actually gets the chance to pick up some rogue feats, such as Magical Trickster, Skirmish Strike, and feats that provide him with a movement and a Strike, such as Ambushing Knockdown. I would also absolutely strive to find a way to include chronoskimmer in his options. This archetype feels like it’s almost tailor made for Ekko, but the precog witchwarper and its spells helped to suit some of his more unusual abilities. Some callouts from chronoskimmer include Reversing Charge, Superimpose Time Duplicates, Escape Timeline, and Reset the Past.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Ekko, the Boy Who Shattered Time, is a versatile human rogue of the eldritch trickster racket and a background as a time traveler. Delving into the Crafting skill, especially feats such as Inventor, and then adding in a witchwarper archetype all about manipulating time is a great way to cover his invention of the time-distorting Z-Drive. However, by using rogue as the base class, we can better represent his melee nature as an assassin. The sneak attack of this very class, as well as Spellsurge Ammo from his archetype, gives him the enhanced damage of his Z-Drive Resonance whereas the speed boost will have to come from the likes of fleet step, Bend Time ability, and similar effects. Representing the initial launch followed by the snap back of the Timewinder is honestly difficult, but at least time’s edge is a line effect with some sort of debilitating effect – except it sickens instead of slows creatures. He does have some slowing means, ranging from spells to the Debilitating Strike itself, but they aren’t coming from this particular spell. The area of his Parallel Convergence comes from the witchwarper’s quantum field though stagnate time might work better for the slowing area. However, we will need that quantum field for time loop to stun the enemies whereas warp time and Heroic Presence give him the shield of this effect. As for his Phase Dive, we just need a simple blink charge to represent that – and getting one that’s a little simpler is a real boon because his ult isn’t easy either. The best pick I found is time beacon but it’s a very limited amount of time and his heal will have to come from moment of renewal unless he finds another healing option. Incredible Initiative is a nice nod towards the Quick Attack of his Legends of Runeterra card whereas a few fortune effects are a great way to flavor his predictions of things to come.
Teeming with techno talent, this troublemaking teen twists and turns time to tune his tactics ‘til he’s taking out teeming terrors and transgressors that trespass on his turf.
Please let me know what you think and what other builds you'd like to see!
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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