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So you're up against Ashe. Pay attention to her bow, as it will change colour when she has 5 stacks of focus and her Ranger's Focus is off cooldown, giving her significantly increased damage and attack speed for 5 seconds when activated. Stay behind your minion line to prevent being Volleyed. Remember that she can scout brushes from a distance with Hawkshot, foiling ganks. Lastly, try to save your Flash to avoid Enchanted Crystal Arrow; ECA is her only form of hard CC, so escaping it can often mean surviving if you Flash out of range of her autos. When versing Ashe, running away while she is shooting you without shooting back will just punish you due to her slow.
Caitlyn
Caitlyn is a high ranged ADC with a sort of steroid via Headshot. My most unfortunate experience with her was laning against her, hanging around on 150ish health during the early levels, pre6; she just killed me straight away with a Headshot-infused auto. Her Yordle Snap Traps can be deadly, snaring you in place for her to follow up with 90 Caliber Net + Piltover Peacemaker. After this combo, if you're low enough, she'll net the kill with Ace in the Hole. Remember her Q has a windup time, so there is no excuse to get hit by it if you're constantly watching.
Corki
Corki is a hybrid carry, who relies significantly on his magic damage abilities to harass opponents. Keep moving in lane, as Corki will attempt to harass you with Phosphorus Bomb, and his Missile Barrage at level 6. He can be difficult to pin down with his long range gap-closer Valkyrie.
Draven
Draven brings high damage at only 50 less range than Ashe while his Spinning Axes are active, and his CC skill shot Stand Aside and speed boost Blood Rush allow him to quickly close the distance to a target. It is best to only try to fight him head on while your 5 stack Ranger's Focus is active, to match his high damage.
Ezreal
Ezreal is a high mobility, high poke champion. He relies on hitting you, your ally, or a minion with his abilities in order to proc his passive Rising Spell Force and give him increased attack speed. Try to stand behind your minions so it is difficult for him to land Mystic Shot. Try and use Enchanted Crystal Arrow after he has used Arcane Shift, as he will be lacking escapes and be forced to either Flash or get hit.
Graves
Graves is a heavy burst damage carry. His combo of Quickdraw, Buckshot and Collateral Damage coupled with any sort of support CC/damage increase often results in a kill. He is also innately tanky due to True Grit, so it is hard to lower his health. Lastly, Smoke Screen is often used to confuse those trying to gank, or to hinder anyone who tries to flee - the lack of vision completely screws up any initiation or follow up.
Kog'Maw
Kog'Maw is a hyper carry and deals tremendous damage mid and late game. He is easy to gank with his lack of mobility, relying on his Void Ooze to slow enemies. However, he has incredible range while Bio-Arcane Barrage is active, and will attempt to poke you down during this time. Keep moving in lane, as Kog will attempt to hit you with Living Artillery; if you are hit by this ability, sight is granted to the enemy team, meaning he can keep landing them on you if his prediction skills are good enough.
Miss Fortune
Miss Fortune has some early game damage and high AoE damage with Bullet Time as it can apply debuffs such as The Black Cleaver to the entire enemy team. She has high out of combat mobility due to Strut and can catch up to fleeing enemies, but lacks mobility in combat. When facing a Miss Fortune, use ECA to cancel her ultimate. If your ult isn't up when she uses hers, don't run *backwards* through her ult, but to the side to get out of the AoE effect.
Sivir
Like Miss Fortune, Sivir is often chosen for her utility. Her ultimate, On The Hunt is a massive boost to nearby allied movement, making her a superb tower pusher when coupled with Ricochet that can clear minion waves very fast. Her Boomerang Blade is often underestimated; getting hit once on the cast, and then again on the return can deal heaps of damage to an enemy champion. Lastly, her "bread and butter" ability is Spell Shield; this allows Sivir to mitigate ECA or Volley, so always use ECA after Sivir has popped her Spell Shield.
Tristana
Tristana is a hyper carry with a poor power curve. She has some decent harass early game with her abilities, but as these fall off as the game progresses, she needs to get to late game to reach her full potential. With her passive Draw a Bead, her end game range is among the highest in the game, and her team fight mobility via Rocket Jump is enormous, which resets on kills or assists. Unless she is coupled with an aggressive support, she will be content to farm all game until she can deal incredible amounts of damage from afar later on in the game. She tends to push the lane with Explosive Shot, which will leave her open to ganks. Her ultimate, Buster Shot can be used offensively (to push enemies closer to her team) or defensively (to push an enemy into their team).
Twitch
Twitch relies heavily on auto-attacks and his Venom Cask to poison you so he can use Expunge to apply large damage or harass. It's best to use your slow to kite. Be wary for when he leaves your vision because his stealth can let him get in close and do a lot of damage. Volley can hit an invisible twitch and give away where he is hiding. Be careful of Twitch's ultimate giving him increased damage and extremely high range.
Varus
Varus' ultimate, Chain of Corruption is a fantastic initiation, similar to Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow. If you or your ally is hit by it, ensure you don't stick together, move in separate directions. Hail of Arrows is similar to Kog's slime trail, or MF's round of bullets - they're more often used for utility, as in slowing an enemy champion from fleeing or chasing, rather than for damage. Watch out for Piercing Arrow, like Cait's Piltover Peacemaker, you have fair warning when Varus will attempt to snipe you with this, as he will often try to increase its range and damage by drawing it out.
Vayne
Vayne is a hyper carry, a champion who scales incredibly hard with items. She shreds health bars due to her % true damage Silver Bolts, and has a targetted knockback / stun. When versus a Vayne, do not stand near any walls, as she will Final Hour, Tumble into position and then pin you down with Condemn, getting off a Silver Bolts proc; this, followed with Ignite will often result in an early kill. If you see her activate Final Hour and Tumble towards you for the invisibility, RUN. It is an obvious sign a gank is incoming, or that their support has the ability catch you out of position for a kill.
Lucian
Lucian is a harass heavy ADC who uses skill shots to trigger his passive for two attacks. His short range dashes can allow him to get in close or dodge your ultimate. However he has 100 less range than Ashe letting you auto-attack him when he wants to farm creeps.
Jinx
Jinx can match and surpass Ashe's range by using Switcheroo (which also provides her an AoE attack) meaning you start with a level playing field. She also has a long-range skill shot to harass. However, she lacks any active mobility, making her very vulnerable to ganks and initiation with Enchanted Crystal Arrow, and will not be able to escape your slow from Frost Shot. However, if she scores a kill or destroy a tower, she gains a massive movespeed boost and will outrun your slow easily. It's best to remain behind creeps to avoid harass and only initiate while Ranger's Focus is ready. When you are low on life, beware of Jinx's global range ultimate doing greater damage.
Quinn
Quinn's lower range and little harass in the form of abilities gives Ashe an advantage in lane. However, you must be careful of her hard engage where she can bring a blind from Blinding Assault and move into range of you with Vault.
Kalista
Like Twitch, Kalista can apply stacking damage if you let her get close. Should she land Pierce on you or many auto-attacks, be wary of Rend which is a powerful slow and nuke. If you are within range of Kalista it is difficult to escape thanks to her passive [[Martial Poise]], which lets her ignore your slow from [[Frost Shot]]. She relies on being with her Oathsworn partner to use her ultimate, making her formidable when they are together, but vulnerable when she is alone.
Jhin
Kai'Sa
In lane the match-up is even. However, once she's 6 and has a few items, watch out.
Xayah
Aphelios
Senna
Samira
Janna
Janna's shield not only protects Ashe, but gives her a massive amount of AD. Her ult, Q and W are all great peels for Ashe.
Alistar
Perfect for knocking up, knocking away and tanking for you. No heal.
Morgana
Brilliant spell shield and snare. Tormented Soil does nothing for you, but Soul Shackles can pin enemies in place for you to AA.
Leona
She Qs in, stuns, and then Rs if necessary, rooting the opposition in place.
Braum
With Ashe's Q, it's easy to get stacks for Braum's stun.
Zilean
Not great early, but once he's got R, he's going to be saving you. But the revive is only as good as your positioning.
Annie
Low initial synergy due to Annie's necessity to build up stacks for a stun. But later great for her engages.
Bard
A great option if you're a fan of miscommunication.
Brand
Strong damage, but hardly any utility for you beyond his stun. But this is a powerhouse damage lane.
Lulu
Great shield, movement speed boost, polymorph on enemies and life-saving ultimate - only con is she needs to stick to you.
Nami
Excellent knock-up, a heal for you that damages enemies, movement speed boost + on-hit effects and an ultimate that can engage or disengage.
Rakan
A little too distracting on screen though.
Sona
Good poke, nice heals/shield, movement speed boost, but Crescendo's where it's at.
Soraka
Her silence + possible snare is perfect for disabling opponents for a follow up ECA. Her heal and ult will keep you healthy.
Tahm Kench
Great for keeping you safe, but not as great for engages.
Taric
Taric's strength is his ability for teamwork, but if you've got some random playing him as your support, there can be issues.
Thresh
While his pull can bring the danger to you, his lantern can drag you away from it.
Vel'Koz
Volley, knock-up, ECA, his ult = enemy deaths.
Zyra
Like Brand, a lot of damage potential, but no utility to you (no shield, heal etc).
Yuumi
Pretty annoying.
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Janna
Janna's shield not only protects Ashe, but gives her a massive amount of AD. Her ult, Q and W are all great peels for Ashe.
Alistar
Perfect for knocking up, knocking away and tanking for you. No heal.
Morgana
Brilliant spell shield and snare. Tormented Soil does nothing for you, but Soul Shackles can pin enemies in place for you to AA.
Leona
She Qs in, stuns, and then Rs if necessary, rooting the opposition in place.
Braum
With Ashe's Q, it's easy to get stacks for Braum's stun.
Zilean
Not great early, but once he's got R, he's going to be saving you. But the revive is only as good as your positioning.
Annie
Low initial synergy due to Annie's necessity to build up stacks for a stun. But later great for her engages.
Bard
A great option if you're a fan of miscommunication.
Brand
Strong damage, but hardly any utility for you beyond his stun. But this is a powerhouse damage lane.
Lulu
Great shield, movement speed boost, polymorph on enemies and life-saving ultimate - only con is she needs to stick to you.
Nami
Excellent knock-up, a heal for you that damages enemies, movement speed boost + on-hit effects and an ultimate that can engage or disengage.
Rakan
A little too distracting on screen though.
Sona
Good poke, nice heals/shield, movement speed boost, but Crescendo's where it's at.
Soraka
Her silence + possible snare is perfect for disabling opponents for a follow up ECA. Her heal and ult will keep you healthy.
Tahm Kench
Great for keeping you safe, but not as great for engages.
Taric
Taric's strength is his ability for teamwork, but if you've got some random playing him as your support, there can be issues.
Thresh
While his pull can bring the danger to you, his lantern can drag you away from it.
Vel'Koz
Volley, knock-up, ECA, his ult = enemy deaths.
Zyra
Like Brand, a lot of damage potential, but no utility to you (no shield, heal etc).
Greetings MOBAFire! I'm jhoijhoi, a casual Ashe player since Season One in 2009, making 2020 the 11th year of playing League. Ashe was the first champion I unlocked and I have played hundreds of games as her through many Seasons, multiple Elos and Game Modes. I'm Level 7 Mastery of Ashe, with over 100 000 points. I play League sporadically, whenever I have time, so while I cannot claim to know the flavour of the month picks, bans and buys, I do know my Ashe.
Ashe was my go-to ADC. She is team composition dependent and can be super powerful in global comps. Ashe’s greatest asset is her ability to initiate ganks, skirmishes and teamfights with Enchanted Crystal Arrow, but this comes at the cost of low mobility and few defensive abilities. These pitfalls are what I seek to address with runes, summoner spells and items when I play.
Ashe's Strengths
+ Can initiate fights at range + Frost Shot allows you to easily kite and chase + Volley provides waveclear and poke + Strong level 1 with Frost Shot and Volley + Crits grant extra slow on AAs + Long autoattack range
Ashe can abuse an autoattack range advantage over most marksmen and poke safely with Volley. Proper positioning for Volley and timing on Ranger's Focus-empowered autoattacks grants Ashe a powerful early game. Ashe's initiations with Enchanted Crystal Arrow turn teamfights around. Overall, Ashe has a fairly straightforward set of abilities and a responsive autoattack, making her a good choice for players new to the marksman role. I highly recommend starting with her as her kit gives you a great understanding of map awareness due to Hawkshot and ECA combo + her lack of innate escapes makes you more conscious of the environment around you.
Ashe's Weaknesses
- No escape mechanism and low mobility/movement speed - Ranger's Focus needs to be stacked up - Low damage output without abilities - Volley can be blocked by minions or tanks - Enchanted Crystal Arrow can be dodged or blocked, and has a low skill floor, but high skill ceiling
Ashe’s low mobility and lack of escape mechanisms, only further exacerbated by her squishiness, are her biggest weaknesses. Where many marksmen have abilities to reposition themselves, Ashe must rely only on slows to keep assassins and bruisers away. She relies on auto-attacks to kill enemy champions, not abilities. And when Ashe’s abilities come into play, her combos are predictable, making it difficult to surprise or outplay opponents. Landing Enchanted Crystal Arrow requires skill: it can win games or be completely useless.
Guide Contents
This is a Marksman Ashe guide for duo-bot lane, Summoner's Rift. This guide will cover runes, summoner spells, ability sequencing and ADC tactics and gameplay. Items will be discussed in-depth, as will the potential competition bot lane. In short, this guide aims to cover as much as possible about playing Ashe bot lane.
Good luck of the Fields of Justice, Summoners! ❤❤❤jhoijhoi
Ashe’s Allies & Foes
Ashe synergises well with some champions and is countered by others. Below is a brief guide of which types of champions would be ideal in your team composition, and the types of champions who can prove difficult opponents for Ashe on the Fields of Justice.
Synergy
Ashe relies on landing Enchanted Crystal Arrow to catch someone out of position. Any champion who can capitalise on a long range stun + slow on the surrounding enemies is a good pick with Ashe. Similar to most traditional AD carries, Ashe has little to no burst damage. Instead, Ashe relies more on chasing and kiting her foes with Frost Shot and harassing with Volley (and dealing sustained damage with Ranger's Focus), thus Ashe is best off with a support who can help protect her in lane and help her reach the power spike of level 6 without being punished too hard. That isn't to say that if your support Leona goes in, don't follow, because Ashe can still hit hard pre6.
Counter
Ashe can be countered in many different ways. Any sort of CC or multiple CC that disrupts Ashe OR her allies protecting her is a good counter. Junglers and top laners who can bypass Ashe's line of protection spell trouble for Ashe; they can get to Ashe and then displace her/damage her. Supports who can negate the effect of ECA (like Tahm Kench's Devour) are a frustrating match-up and I can't count the number of times Yasuo has wall'd me.
Get Out of Jail Free Cards
Summoner Spells are extra abilities that give you various advantages in game. Marksmen traditionally pick Summoner Spells that have a wide range of utility. Other than the two primary picks below, Ashe could also take Cleanse if against team compositions with tonnes of CC. Though, if you do find yourself in a game without Cleanse and you desperately need it, you can purchase a Quicksilver Sash.
Flash
Flash is vital on Ashe in order to stay alive in early engages and late game team fights as it is an incredible positioning tool. It has a myriad of uses: create a gap between you and a bruiser or assassin; dodge dangerous CC spells; retreat over walls; secure kills. Frankly, without Flash, Ashe is vulnerable, so play cautiously when the spell is on cooldown.
Heal
Heal is a strong defensive summoner spell to take on Marksman due to its low cooldown and added utility in the form of a short-duration speed buff. Heal can also be used to bait out your opponents. Since Heal affects both you and one other champion, it’s quite powerful in 2v2 bot lanes and retains its efficiency in team fights. Ensure you track the enemy ADC's use of Heal throughout the game so you know when you're the one being baited.
Teleport
In team comps where mobility is key, Teleport runs the gauntlet in winning games - if your whole team can get to the fight every 6 minutes, you have the upperhand. Veteran League players will fondly remember the Ashe Enchanted Crystal Arrow up midlane and TP to turret, whaling on the enemy Caitlyn. Teleport is otherwise an unorthodox pick for ADC Ashe bot lane.
Exhaust
Supports can often be seen taking Heal if they spec Revitalize, meaning their shields and heals are stronger. Due to Heal's drawbacks of being 50% less effective if a summoner has been Healed recently, it's not wise to grab Heal on both ADC and support. Exhaust gives you the incredible control of crippling your opponent early, middle or late game. It can be used to escape situations, protect yourself or allies, or initiate. Exhaust is a niche pick.
Optimising Stats
Runes are divided into five paths: Domination, Inspiration, Precision, Resolve and Sorcery, with each path containing a keystone, greater runes and lesser runes. As you level up towards 30, you can pick a primary and secondary rune path with valuable rune effects, in addition to bonus hard stats of adaptive damage (AD/AP), flat health, magic resist and armour shards. Runes can completely synergise with your champion's strengths, cover areas of weakness or increase the utility of items/mechanics in the game. Below are some rune choices that suit Ashe.
Recommended Pathways
Ashe's primary role as a marksman is to deal damage via Volley and Ranger's Focus-infused auto-attacks. Increased attack speed and projectile animation with Lethal Tempo maximises last hitting potential in lane and stacks Ranger's Focus faster. Ashe is a mana-hungry champion and building up your maximum mana with Presence of Mind per takedown throughout the game is a strong strategy. Speaking of takedowns, Coup de Grace is great for dealing more damage to lower health enemies, in addition to gaining extra AD per takedown. With takedown bonuses, you're looking to snowball. The other viable options include: Legend: Bloodline for sustain when you have a non-heal/shield support coupled with Overheal.
The Inspiration path grants two specifically important creative tool/rule bending bonuses: Biscuit Delivery and Approach Velocity. Biscuit Delivery is a neat way of staying sustained in lane and is effectively worth 4x 50g (cost of Health Potions) + bonus mana and max mana increases. Approach Velocity means you can ult someone from base and then run to where they're sitting stunned or (more likely), ult someone in lane and close the gap and stick to them as they try and escape. The bonus movement speed will also proc on any enemy you slow with Volley or an auto-attack. Alternatively, Magical Footwear is a free 300g item at 10 minutes (or even earlier if you get any kills or assists before then).
The Sorcery tree has some interesting runes, and although you may automatically associate "sorcery" to casters, there are points to be spent here that will increase an ADC's DPS and for Ashe, address her mana problems. Manaflow Band is perfect for Ashe's constant casting of Volley and even Ranger's Focus, but most importantly enabling more ECAs throughout the game due to increased mana regen late game. Transcendence means gaining an extra 10% increased CDR by level 10 resulting in a reduced cooldown of your ultimate, Enchanted Crystal Arrow, which can turn the tides of the game. If you hit the CDR cap, the extra CDR becomes AD, so furthers Ashe's damage.
Alternative Pathways
As established earlier in this guide, Ashe isn't a burst damage champion, so you can ramp up your damage via this path. Cheap Shot is perfect for Ashe, giving her bonus true damage every 4 seconds, dependent on whether the enemy has been slowed prior. In other words, auto-attack once (or Volley) and then auto-attack again to gain some chip damage. This is a potent rune early game, as late game you're only dealing 30 extra true damage every 4 seconds. The four Hunter runes all have suitable uses based on takedowns but I'd only recommend these two on Ashe: Relentless Hunter for the movement speed and Ultimate Hunter for the CDR. Word or warning however, "unique takedowns" means that you can only have 5 total stacks.
Marksmen are renowned for being somewhat squishy early game. Ashe is especially vulnerable due to lacking an escape mechanism. To beef up our ADC and improve her overall survivability, you could spec some points here. Top up your early-game survivability with Second Wind which gives you a little bit of health regen after getting damaged by an enemy. The only other rune I'd be tempted to run in this tree is Shield Bash which makes you even tankier and deal a bit more damage when shielded by a support.
Flat Stats
In addition to the runes with bonuses, you can select three flat stats and Ashe benefits from Attack Speed, CDR and Adaptive Damage. Attack speed will result in easier last hitting and stacking of Ranger's Focus. Flat adaptive damage means more damage to creeps and champions. Flat armour is useful against the auto-attacks of the enemy ADC and support, as well as physical damage abilities (like Nasus Siphoning Strike for example). Lastly, CDR allows for more ECAs, which increase Ashe's offensive and defensive capabilities. I recommend attack speed, adaptive force and armour for bot lane.
Ability Skilling Order
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
W
Q
W
E
W
R
W
Q
W
Q
R
Q
Q
E
E
R
E
E
Frost Shot
Frost Shot is Ashe's passive. It grants Ashe an on-hit slow that is more powerful as she levels up, and changes how she critically strikes. Instead of a % chance to crit, she deals 10% + her crit chance (times 1.5 with IE) additional damage to targets affected by Frost Shot.
Ranger’s Focus
Ranger's Focus grants Ashe stacks of Focus with each basic attack. When she has 4 stacks of Focus, she can activate this skill. Consuming all stacks of Focus grants a boost of attack speed and additional damage for 4 seconds. Her attacks become a flurry of arrows, applying on-hit attacks only once, but on-attack effects multiple times. This is your primary sustained offensive steroid and should be maxed second.
Volley
Volley is a cone AoE ability that deals physical damage and applies Frost Shot. The cooldown lowers significantly with level along with a minor damage increase. The arrows of this ability can only deal damage once to a target, but can hit a target multiple times, so a large target such as Cho’Gath can block Volley for his teammates. This should be maxed first.
Hawkshot
Hawkshot is an ability to reveals parts of the map despite fog of war. It should be maxed last since the cooldown reduction is not significant. It does have a travel time as it traverses the map, but reveals everything along the way temporarily, and has global range. When using Hawkshot, aim to cover the whole map unless you need lingering vision of a certain area, such as when identifying key locations in the jungle to grant vision and thus knowledge of the enemy jungler’s route - this information can prevent lanes from being ganked and save lives. It is important to grab Hawkshot 2nd as Ashe is extremely vulnerable pre-6 and a likely target for ganks.
Enchanted Crystal Arrow
Enchanted Crystal Arrow is a skill-shot stun that can travel map-wide. The further you are from the target, the longer the duration of the stun - this mechanic essentially rewards Ashe players who can time and aim ECA across great distances. Please do note that landing map-wide stuns requires practice. Max ECA as soon as possible for the damage and lowered cooldown.
Early Game Items
ON SPAWN
The standard starting items to buy on any ADC on Summoner's Rift consists of these three core items: Stealth Ward, Doran's Blade and Health Potion. The Stealth Ward grants you vision bot lane; learn to juggle warding brush with your support. When your ward or your support's ward dies, ping it and replace it or place a new one somewhere else. There will be times when there is no vision due to imperfect timing, but if you learn to juggle who's placing a ward when, you have better vision bot lane. After level 9 swap it out for a Farsight Alteration. Doran's Blade increases your damage, boosts your health and gives you sustain via life steal. Attacking minions or enemies in lane, when equipped with a Doran's Blade will result in small amounts of health regen. The first Health Potion can be used in many different scenarios early game and will be covered further in the gameplay section. Also recall that if you've taken Biscuit Delivery as a rune, you will receive periodic baked goods to sustain you in lane.
EARLY DAMAGE & MOBILITY
On first recall you should ideally be able to afford a Long Sword and Boots. That’s not to say you should aim to remain in lane until then - if you are on low health and getting zoned, that’s a key time to recall. Long Sword will increase the damage of your auto attack Frost Shot, Ranger's Focus and Volley. If you are low on cash (eg: forced to recall early, missing significant amounts of last hits, naturally backed due to wave reset) purchase just Boots to get back to lane faster and save up your currency for next recall. Also, a good rule of thumb is to keep a Health Potion in your inventory until you leave bot lane.
EARLY SUSTAIN
Sustain is king. Bilgewater, built from Vampiric Scepter, grants you a slight attack damage boost (increasing damage of Frost Shot, Ranger's Focus and Volley), but it's the life steal and active slow that will help you trade in lane. The building components are cheap and the item path is useful. Berserker's Greaves provide marksmen with attack speed and movement speed and early game are integral to moving between base, lane, jungle and river. Recurve Bow grants you a sizable step towards the attack speed you need to deal more damage per second, due also to the extra 15 damage per hit.
Upgraded Items
SUSTAIN & ATTACK SPEED Blade of the Ruined King is useful against health-stacking enemies. Its active slow is as good as Ashe's Frost Shot at level 12 - but what is useful is the instant health heal upon using the active. BotRK can be very strong, as it provides a nice amount of everything an ADC needs. Not to mention that empowered Q Ranger's Focus applies BotRK's 8% current health damage for each arrow of flurry. This item is a great first Legendary item for ADC Ashe.
ATTACK SPEED & CRITICAL STRIKE Ashe performs through auto-attacking. One way to amp your auto-attack damage on Ashe is through critical strike and attack speed. Zeal upgrades Runaan's Hurricane giving Ashe strong waveclear due to its ability to hit multiple targets and on-hit damage. In terms of teamfights, Runaan's also distributes on-hits (such as Ashe's Frost Shot). Kraken Slayer and Runaan's will ensure that she crits on half of her auto attacks, increasing her DPS. Kraken Slayer is the Mythic Item for Ashe and combos well with her attack speed and crit focus.
Late Game Buys
SURVIVABILITY Quicksilver Sash into Mercurial Scimitar, serves as an offensive and defensive item: it grants damage, crit and magic resistance and a Cleanse that removes most debuffs. This is easily one of the best defensive/offensive items on Ashe coupled with another crit item. Besides Mercurial Scimitar, you could grab GA or Maw. Buy a defensive item that best counters your biggest weakness. Maw of Malmortius protects you against tonnes of magic damage (giving you a shield that absorbs damage). Guardian Angel is an item favoured for it's flat armour defense and AD B. F. Sword boost built from easily obtainable components. It is bought for its unique passive that causes you to revive upon death, which can give you or your team the extra time needed to finish a fight or flee. Not to mention the awesome once-off active hourglass Stopwatch if used before the final item is complete.
Trinket Upgrades
Ashe has great map vision with Hawkshot. This does not mean she should forsake the utility of her trinket. Farsight Alteration will greatly increase your team's sustained vision of the map, granting vision at a huge range instantaneously and leaving a 1HP ward for ongoing vision. It is very useful for scouting brush before entering it, and for checking Dragon and Baron to make sure they’re not being taken by the enemy team.
Elixirs
Elixirs are a temporary power spike. If you’re looking for a boost in damage for the next teamfight, or if the game drags on long enough for you to become full build, purchase an Elixir of Wrath. Keep in mind that elixirs only last 3 minutes and cost 500g, so you need to weigh the benefits of spending 500g when it might delay your full build (obviously no longer matters at full build). Elixir of Wrath grants you an attack damage buff and 15% damage dealt returned as HP for 3 minutes.
Loading Screen
As the game is loading, check to see what you'll be up against. In the above image, you can see that I'll be facing Kalista+ Bard bot lane, that mid will be a match up of Cassiopeia and Riven, top lane is Vladimir vs Alistar and the junglers are Jax and Lee Sin. Simply knowing where each champion will be informs you of what could occur bot lane. Is there a Karthus? Watch out for when he reaches level 6 and don't let yourself get low. Was that a jungle Rengar? He's got a lot of burst and favours lane ganks through brush. Mainly though, take the time to look at who'll be bot lane.
Before Minions Spawn
As soon as the game starts, purchase your Doran's Blade, Health Potion and Stealth Ward from the shop. Allocate your first skill point into Volley. Head to the strongest jungle buff closest to bot lane; if you're on Blue Side you'll be walking to Red Buff - if you're on Purple Side, you'll be walking to Blue Buff. Blue Side typically hangs around the brush surrounding Red, or in the tri-brush joining river to jungle bot lane. Purple Side hangs just on the edge of the river/entrance to allied jungle in front of Dragon. What you're doing is providing vision for your team - when you are standing in these areas, you are guarding your jungler and giving him advanced warning of an invade.
Minions will spawn before jungle camps, but it'll take some time for them to reach the lane so no experience or gold is lost if you hang around the jungle in the first 2 minutes of the game. Thus, you and your support should help the jungler get the camp's health (Blue or Red) down low. The jungler will typically Smite the camp to last hit. Help with only a few auto attacks (~3) and a Volley before heading to lane. Make sure you don’t stay too long and miss a minion or two in lane!
Getting to Lane & CSing
Regardless if you're on Purple side, don't walk through brush or river to get to lane; if on Blue side, you may have to walk through tri-brush, but use caution and don’t walk through river to lane. In general, try and take the safe route there, taking into account the information on the screen (can you see enemy bot lane?). Once you get to the lane, you have two options:
1. Harass the enemy with a Frost Shot-infused auto and/or Volley
2. Last hitting (CSing)
If the enemy is within range, tag them an auto. As Ashe's auto-attacks apply a slow, she is rewarded greatly for harassing enemies. If they're not in range (or behind minions so a Volley would be ineffective), start auto-attacking the minions, but ensure you get the last hit when the creep is on low health. Landing the killing blow on an enemy minion or neutral monster not only awards you Experience and Gold, vital towards buying items and levelling up, but also allows you to farm safely without unintentionally pushing your lane. When you auto-attack your lane without deliberation you tend to kill your minions faster than the enemy team (unless they also do the same thing). This can lead to you pushing the lane towards the enemy tower, which isn't necessarily safe if you don't have vision of the enemy team. Last hitting as the ADC is incredibly important. At the beginning of the game, you want to kill as many minions as possible, as early as possible.
Exceptions to the rule: If your support has a Relic Shield charge up, allow them to last hit the siege (these start spawning on wave 3) or melee minions, as they grant more gold. Communicate with your support before laning phase as to what minions they want to last hit with the Relic, tell them to ping which ones they want to take and when they ping them let them have it.
Level 1: Volley & Rushing Level 2
The first few minutes in lane are essential. Both sides will be competing to get to level 2 first, as this is a considerable power spike for many duo lanes - the ADC traditionally gains access to two damage abilities and the support will now have two CCs or a sustain. To get to level 2, you need to auto-attack the minions as much as possible to speed up the experience gain (ensuring you get the last hits also, for the gold). Ashe's all-in at level 2 isn't the best, so if the enemy ADC successfully pushes the lane and gets to level 2 first, back up and be wary as this is a crucial time where the enemy will attempt to push their level advantage.
Ashe's level 1 ability does a lot of AoE damage. Volley is Ashe’s primary damage ability, her form of waveclear and her harass tool. Volley’s range exceeds Ashe’s autoattack range, so it can be used to poke more safely from a distance. However, remember that Ashe has a relatively low mana pool and poor mana regeneration, so don't spam Volley too often and keep your mana bar at a minimum of 60 mana (though preferably 100). Keep in mind that Volley can be blocked by minions, monsters and champions. Lastly, multiple Volley arrows cannot hit the same target. In the picture above you can see how far Volley reaches and how the arrows separate in distance the further they travel.
Let’s take a second here to talk about the difference between auto-attacks and targeted attacks and how orb walking and kiting go hand-in-hand. Orb walking refers to attacking something, moving, attacking and then moving - rinse and repeat. Specifically, attacking and then immediately moving; this cancels the full attack animation. Ashe's attack animation consists of drawing back the bow, firing and winding down. By moving straight away after the arrow hits the target, Ashe does not complete her full animation, meaning she does not have the wind-down animation that prevents her from another attack. Animation cancelling/orb-walking is different to auto-attacking, as auto’ing refers to right clicking a target and letting the command continue indefinitely, that is Ashe will continue to attack automatically (hence auto-attack) and complete a full cycle of her attack animation each time.
What's all this got to do with Frost Shot? Ashe's passive, Frost Shot, applies a slow to her auto-attacks, making Ashe the Queen of Kiting. In general, kiting refers to attacking an enemy with ranged attacks or abilities while maintaining a safe distance via orb walking when pursuing/chasing (offensive) or fleeing (defensive). Kiting originated from the analogy of flying a kite, where the attacking champion (the person) holds the target (the kite) at a safe distance (the string). This feat is often performed by ranged champions against enemy melee champions. While kiting, the ranged champion makes use of their superior range, mobility and/or CC to damage the enemy champion without taking damage themselves.
Level 2: Ranger’s Focus
Ranger's Focus is Ashe's Q ability. Put simply, it's a steroid that you can access after you gain 4 stacks through auto-attacking. When activated at four stacks, Ashe gains an attack speed boost and increased damage for her autos. Stacks are gained by auto-attacks only.
In the below video you can see me use a combination of Volley and Ranger's Focus to kill bot lane and the ganking Rengar just as we were hitting Level 3. Pay attention to how I'm constantly moving to keep up/ahead of the enemy and use Heal to assist my ally.
Scratch Damage & Minion Aggro
425
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700
The above gives you an indication of the ranges of ADCs at level 18, without taking into account abilities or items. Generally, it is easier for Ashe to poke opponents of shorter ranges. So how to poke? An ADC will always move towards a low health minion to get the last hit. You can abuse this mechanic by waiting for the enemy ADC to go in to last hit, and hit them with an auto-attack. When the enemy ADC fires a projectile, they will not be able to fire another one until the last hit is complete, meaning this is the safest time for you to get in some scratch damage. A natural response to being attacked is to back away from the source of the damage, hence missing CS. If you keep this scratch damage up, the enemy ADC will get lower and lower in health, and you'll establish lane dominance.
Keep in mind that you will be at risk of receiving scratch damage too. When one of the enemy minions is low and you're going in for the last hit, he will auto you. To avoid this from happening, try and position yourself behind allied minions and some distance from the enemies. This will not always be possible, but try and minimise the risk of being hurt. If you are tagged with scratch damage, kill the minion and then auto-attack the enemy. Use Volley straight away to prevent the enemies from being able to retaliate. If the support goes in on you, tag them with a Frost Shot imbued auto-attack and walk backwards, out of their range.
So the theory of scratch damage is not a technique that exists in isolation from the rest of the game. In the lane with you are enemy minions who will switch their focus to you when you attack their allies. Early game 12-25 damage doesn't sound like much, but turn that into a whole wave of minions autoing you and you've lost half your health by not paying attention. To quantify minion aggro: 6 melee minions = 3 caster minions (the ranged ones) = 1 cannon minion = the equivalent of a Pickaxe of damage. With this knowledge, you can attempt to position yourself in locations that cause as little minion aggro to yourself as possible, but maximum minion aggro to the enemy, so when they retaliate, 4-6 minions will rain fire on them.
Take for example, the below video. Caitlyn gets greedy and sacrifices herself to take down my support, Brand. Doing so, she walks directly into/past enemy minions that deal a lot of damage to her. Watch also how, despite being 2v1 and with Exhaust, I know I can get these two kills - I know that my minions will back me up.
Level 3: Hawkshot
Once you hit level 3: allocate a point into Hawkshot. Hawkshot functions primarily as a tool for gaining vision in lane bushes and checking the river or tribush for the enemy jungler. Some junglers have the capacity to gank at level 2/3, but most will have cleared the jungle once and recalled to buy an upgraded jungle item.
Hawkshot's long cooldown make it less than ideal for general map vision, so use it only if you need vision of the target area immediately. You can use Hawkshot to reveal an area of the map ahead of your support (or another teammate) that wants to place a ward there. Checking the area with Hawkshot first reduces the likelihood of your teammate getting caught and killed trying to ward. You can also use Hawkshot to check enemy jungle camps to check their progress. Below is an image of some of the common Hawkshot paths I aim for, with the revealed camps listed. In general, I try to provide as much information to my team as possible. If they know that Blue and Wolves are gone on enemy side, that narrows down the places where the jungler can be.
User Interface
So far I've covered a few aspects of gameplay that I'd like to discuss a little further with this chapter about tacit knowledge; the stuff you inherently pick up as you play the game, but when pointed out seem so obvious, despite how much they impact on your gameplay.
::Bounty Count:: This indicator will give you an at-a-glance understanding of how fed the enemy champion is. This is now visible when you press TAB and shows you how much gold will be rewarded upon shutdown.
::Champion Level& Experience:: As per the level 2 rush, watching the experience gain of your enemies is an absolute necessity bot lane. Knowing your opponent and when they unlock their power spikes is key to a steadier laning experience.
::Health Bar:: Look very closely at the bar. You'll notice that there are little blocks inside. Each block represents 100 HP. While all health bars are the same size, the little blocks are different and tell you how much health the champion is actually on.
::Mana (or Resource) Bar:: Watch yours, your ally's and the enemy's. Ally has no mana? Don't rely on them for cc/damage/healing/shielding in a fight. Enemy ADC has no mana? Now they can't utilise any escape or cc abilities. You have no mana? The enemy will see this and may try to engage on you.
::Cooldowns:: Take note of when summoner spells or abilities are on cool down. If enemy Janna's shield has just disappeared, attack, as it won't be up for another 10 seconds. Exhaust just been used? It's down for 210 seconds. Inform your jungler when the enemy bot lane uses summoner spells.
Level 6: ECA & Early-Mid Game
If you do not hit level 6 first, be very cautious of the enemy bot lane. Like the level 2 power spike, level 6 is when ultimates are unlocked, ranging from AoE stuns to damage amplification to global heals. As you are in a duo lane, top and mid lane have most likely already hit 6, so you have to have a lot of respect for potential interference from other lanes. Solo laners reach level 6 around the time duo laners are level 4. This is because Experience is split between nearby champions, so solo laners get a lot more experience than each of the duo laners. So keep an eye out and if bot lane gets level 6 before you do, back right off to a safe distance from your opponents. You want to be a proactive player and reactive player - by this I mean you want to be able to predict plays and then react if they do happen. Put yourself in your opponent's shoes and guess what they would do - see yourself on low health? Guess what, the enemy sees that too. Anticipating trouble means you can force a fight to go the way you want - don't let yourself ever fight under their terms if you can help it.
If you hit 6 first (or if you've backed up into a favourable position that is on your terms), be ready to engage. Skill a point into Enchanted Crystal Arrow and aim your cursor at the target who you’ve determined is the most valuable to disable. For instance, against a Soraka lane, killing Soraka is more beneficial as it allows you then to zone the enemy ADC, not just that, but Soraka can only heal allies, no herself. However, consider Janna - ulting Janna will not result in a kill, as once out of the stun, Janna will shield the ADC, not herself. You need to be prepared to capitalise on your stun landing - this means knowing your support can follow up with more CC and damage, and actually following up your engage with Volley and auto attacks.
How do you aim ECA? It is a skillshot, so it relies a lot on your prediction skills and whether the enemy team has vision of you/whether you're telegraphing your your intent to ECA. In fact, ECA is often more successful if fired in the opponent's Fog of War. I want to talk a little about landing ECA. You're playing Ashe and you will feel a lot of pressure to land your ults. In fact, the chat will be alive with "Ashe has ult, let's go" or "Ashe, ult!". Firstly, don't just shoot blindly into the fog of war. Analyse the field, and as airy-fairy as this sounds, follow your instincts. Hesitating on firing an Ashe arrow can cost you the teamfight. In a worst case scenario, you score a field goal with your arrow, best case scenario you hit the target. Once you get a feel for how long it takes ECA to travel across certain distances, the ability to time and successfully hit targets will feel natural to you, it just takes practice. Please be aware that champions have multiple methods of evading ECA, so if an ally lands CC, you need to follow up immediately.
If your ECA doesn't hit a target, clear the current minion wave and recall. A quick way to clear a minion wave is to use Volley on as many minions as possible and push up to the enemy tower, so your minions are also destroyed. Recalling after using your ult is a safe option, as you're far more vulnerable when ECA is on cooldown. Ideally, that was your first recall and now you have a few nice items as per recommended in the item chapter of this guide. Your ability to last hit will now be easier, due to increased damage, so if you've been last hitting poorly, now's the time to make up. The enemy ADC will also have a few items, so be wary of that - for instance, as soon as Vayne builds Bilgewater Cutlass she becomes a lot more of a threat, lethal - or consider a Draven with a BF Sword and empowered Q.
Jungle Ganks & You
The jungler can opt to snowball top or mid, or go bottom lane. Often getting a kill bot is difficult for a jungler due to the disengage and healing abilities of the support (the odds of winning a 2v1 fight is better than that of a 3v2); all dependant on the lane, of course. If you are bot with a Janna, and the enemy is Kalista + Blitzcrank, it’s likely that a gank from your Elise could result in Kalista getting double buffs - this is only one example of when an allied jungler won’t swing by. However, keep your eyes open - just because allied jungle hasn't swung past bot doesn't mean the enemy jungler won't. Also, don't forget that midlane or toplane are often champions who can visit your lane.
Reacting to a gank? Being aggressive in lane often means you are pushed to the enemy tower, leaving you susceptible to ganks. Suppose you've been ganked, despite Hawkshot and Stealth Wards; use Enchanted Crystal Arrow to disengage if needed (ECA is vital to laning, as it’s hard to stay in lane without it), followed by Volley (this is also the procedure for starting a coordinated gank). If you are successfully ganked and start losing your lane, don't despair; it is now the time to ask for help. Sometimes your jungler can camp your lane and put some pressure on the enemies, or your mid lane can come and gank a few times. Before you ask, assess the situation. By pressing TAB you may notice that mid lane is being snowballed by the jungler, so it’d be more favourable if they continued to do that and ignore your lane. If you've lost lane, that means the enemy bot lane is stronger than you - this is not an ideal circumstance for a jungle with little items and valuable buffs to gank. If worst comes to worst and your tower is about to die, let the tower fall and try and recover under your Tier Two Turret.
In the below video I'm top lane versus a Senna. She started acting a little more aggressive and I felt a gank coming on. Hecarim emerged soon after and I had to blow Flash and Heal to get away. Allied Mundo arrived and we turned the gank around.
Jungle Farming
Depending on whether you are on Purple or Blue side, you can grab Gromp/Krugs on your way to lane or during waves if you have been zoned away from the lane too much; killing jungle camps gives you an increase in experience and gold, meaning you will hit levels faster. Practise this in a custom game with a friend before trying it yourself in a normal, to gauge the amount of damage you/your support can take. Once you have some lifesteal, you can tank the minions yourself. As Ashe is ranged, you can stand is certain positions where the monster won't be able to reach you, but will keep trying to get to you, meaning you actually take no damage - practising in a custom game will reveal these spots to you.
In general, do not attempt to farm jungle minions when the enemy lane is pushed to your tower and your support is with you - jungle minions take longer to kill and can soak up a lot of time as well as damaging you/your support and meanwhile, your tower is being chipped. (Not to mention that your jungler needs to the farm) An exception to this rule is if you are in a 1v2 lane (for whatever reason, your support is roaming or died etc) and you will get tower dived if you are alone under tower - it's safer to farm the jungle until your support returns. While lane minions are better, dying is worse! As you progress through the game, and leave your lane, jungle farming becomes more and more important; the extra gold and experience can mean everything in a teamfight.
Team Objective: Dragon
Around about now you should be taking/have taken Dragon as a team. If you're bot lane, push the wave to the enemy tower to ensure they're preoccupied with the minions. Ensure the ramp to Dragon is warded, or any other entry/exit points that are of concern. Only attempt Dragon if your Jungler has Smite, elsewise risk it being stolen by the enemy team. Keep in mind if your jungler has called you to come help with dragon it is okay to leave the minion wave regardless of how much gold/experience you may lose; Dragon is very important objective for your team you want to help your jungler get it whenever you can!
In the below video Dragon has spawned and as we had successfully taken the previous Dragon and Ornn was bot, I thought we could go for it again. Unfortunately, we didn't have our jungler and the area was warded. I did try to pull Dragon out, but Ornn wasn't on the same page. Basically though, the main thing I wanted to show in this clip is don't give up!
Positioning & Targeting
Where you stand and who you attack during a teamfight can make or break a game. You are an ADC, thus you are squishy and susceptible to being targeted. As such, the enemies that are going to be closest to you are those that are tanky enough to get close. These champions include junglers such as Maokai, top laners like Irelia, tanky mids like Swain, hard engagers like Malphite or Morgana and assassins like LeBlanc and Zed. Realistically, you ain't getting anywhere close to what you may consider a “priority target”, so just fire away at whatever is feasible. Try to remain behind your team (your team will naturally be your first line of defense), but shoot anything that's close to you. There's no such thing as a "wrong target" (besides Rammus, who is always the wrong target); unless you have the opportunity to target someone squishy, you're going to need to take down their front line first. To clarify, take down the biggest immediate threat to you. What does that mean?
1. Are they on your face and dealing damage? If yes, this is who you should be targeting.
2. Are they primarily CC with no damage? If yes, you should be ignoring them.
3. Are they the closest target and it’s not safe to go after anyone else? If yes, target them.
Compositional Awareness - Champions & Items
This melds with the above. In addition to sticking behind your team so they can peel easier for you, you need to keep in mind, at all times, the enemy team composition in terms of champions and items.
CHAMPIONS: Champion picks will dictate who to target, who to avoid and how to position yourself in a teamfight. For instance, if they have an Amumu, Malphite, Morgana - anyone with multi-target AoE CC - do not clump up with your team. If they have a Lee Sin, Tristana, Miss Fortune - just standing behind allies is a chance for these champions to hurt you. Lastly, Zilean - ensure that if you're targeting a low health enemy, that they have not been Zilean ulted.
Items: Press TAB to view an overall summary of ally and enemy purchases, summoner spells, CS and KDA. Having a working knowledge of the items the enemy has will improve your teamfighting. Enemy Lissandra has a Zhonya's Hourglass? Now you know she'll be untargetable twice in the upcoming teamfight. Janna has a Mikael's Blessing? Okay, so now that she's used it to Cleanse your Enchanted Crystal Arrow from her ADC, it's on cooldown for 3 minutes - ideally wait for your ECA to be back up and engage again. Someone has a Thornmail and they are constantly on your face? Looks like you need to ramp up your life steal, or buy some MR.
Teamfighting
Ashe is a great initiator if an enemy champion lets themselves become out of position - or even when you're a long way from the fight, you can contribute. Fire your Enchanted Crystal Arrow - aim for a place that has a high chance of hitting someone, the important part is that it needs to hit, not who it hits. If they're grouped up, the AoE slow will hit them all, effectively CCing them anyway. And if you've hit a tank - all the better, now he can't CC your team.
Once your ECA has landed, wait for your team to follow up with some more CC, then go in yourself. Spam Volley from a distance. As per the above section, positioning, start auto-attacking whatever enemy champion is closest. Of course if there is a lower health enemy, you can try to get them down first, but there are several factors to consider:
1) Are they a threat? If the low health enemy is a support who has used all their offensive/defensive abilities and is merely fleeing the fight, don't be fooled into chasing them for the kill. You are the ADC. YOU deal the consistent damage over time the teamfight requires. If you go off chasing a non-threatening target when the rest of your team is engaged in battle, you're going to have a bad time in chat ("wtf noob ashe where were u in teamfite¿") AND lose the teamfight.
2) Do they have resistances? This is a common thing to see during teamfights. The enemy tank gets low, so everyone focuses him. Hint - that's what they want. Sometimes people get carried away trying to kill a low health enemy, even going to the effort of flashing after them or whatever. Stop doing that. Be intelligent. Yes, eliminating an enemy to make it 5v4 is great - but not at the cost of letting the rest of the enemy team whale on you. The time it takes for you to kill a low health tank with resistances is actually LONGER than the time it'd take for you to switch focus and nail the enemy support/adc/mid.
3) Can they beat you? The last thing to consider before going off to take down a low health enemy. Low health means nothing on Zed, Evelynn, Sion, Aatrox - certain champions are renowned for being able to duel at low health. Keep this in mind. [/td][/table][/columns]
Ashes to Ashes
by jhoijhoi OCE: jhoijhoilion
Special thanks to PsiGuard, utopus, Roxil, Warlemming and Patchness.
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... And that’s all she wrote!
Whelp, that's about it. The rest is up to you. I hope that you enjoyed reading my 10th iteration of this guide. I really enjoyed updating this guide for this season and look forward to playing some League these school holidays. This guide has come a long way since my first ever guide many years ago.
Please feel free to leave a comment or question in the discussion section of this guide, or personal message me. I'll respond as soon as possible.
While I am continuously updating the content of my Ashe guide and my Guide to Making a Guide, I will not be updating or writing any new guides. Thanks for reading Ashes to Ashes and supporting me for all these years!
Good luck of the Fields of Justice, Summoners! ❤❤❤jhoijhoi
Ashes to Ashes
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