A solo queue guide of the reworked Ashe post 5.12
Today we will be taking a look at the strengths of Ashe after her rework as well as a general guide to playing her in a competitive envir
Two Patches of Fame
Prior to Ashe’s rework I pitched her as a strong pick for the meta. After her rework, which you can view here, she was immediately played in Week 1 of the NA and EU LCS in which she was available in her reworked state.
In patch 5.11 Ashe received balance changes to her Hawkshot (E), reduced base damages on her Volley (W), and made it so Ranger’s Focus (Q) does not trigger on attack against turrets. The damage reduction on Volley reduced Ashe’s early game laning strength and the change to Ranger’s Focus gave Ashe some distinction from Jinx when taking towers. Both of these changes significantly weakened Ashe for what seemed like her 15 minutes of fame after her rework.
While 5.11’s changes weakened Ashe, 5.12 came perhaps on of the most significant nerfs to Ashe’s viability. The context for the nerf are displayed below.
This nerf was the final nail in the coffin as Ashe would not make an appearance for the rest of the season following this patch. Without immediate access to Ranger’s Focus Ashe is required to build her stacks prior to engaging for an ideal fight. Ashe has more incentive to auto attack often and push the lane in order to keep her damage threat consistent after this change to Ranger’s Focus.
The Current State of Ashe
Data courtesy of LoLKing
Ashe currently holds an unimpressive win rate of around 50% with small amounts of variability. Ashe held a similar win rate prior to her rework. This similarity in win rates have led some to believe that the most recent nerfs to the stacking function of Ranger’s Focus will cause Ashe to fade into back into obscurity but I believe that Ashe is in a balanced state at our current patch of 5.14.
I believe that Ashe is at a fair state of play and a strong pick. Her early game poke was weakened and the damage threat decreased with the change to Ranger’s Focus stacks but these were all fair changes due to Ashe’s good scaling and the inherent power Ashe possesses when reaching five stacks. One major change 5.12 introduced was how Ashe has to play around her stacks in teamfights.
Laning Phase
Ashe has one of the strongest level twos of any marksman. With the ability to keep her enemies at arm’s length she can stay out of reach from a number of other marksman range of abilities. Able to kite incoming supports or pursue shorter ranged marksman, Ashe’s level two power is something to enforce with impunity.
Starting with Volley allows Ashe to push against other marksman at level 1 as well as rush towards a level 2 faster than she would with Ranger’s Focus. While Ranger’s Focus is a powerful ability it is unreliable and the equivalent of not having an ability until you reach five stacks. Therefore Volley is prioritized over Ranger’s Focus.
Due to the reworked Volley Ashe’s arrows are easily blocked by enemy units. To land Volley on the maximum amount of enemies you want to cast it on a wide line of minions. This will mean that you need to cast Volley while standing parallel to the wave or in an angle which allows your Volley to hit both front and back lines of minions as displayed below.
Utilize your range over shorter ranged marksman when they move forward to last hit. Playing with a support with powerful engage or CC can force enemies to focus on retreating rather than fighting. When enemy laners do retaliate one can prioritize kiting the engager with Volley and stacking up Ranger’s Focus. Once stacked you can fire back with your flurry of arrows.
The green dots represent hawkshot locations.
Now that Hawkshot works on an ammo mechanic Ashe can additionally provide vision for her team during the laning phase. This also helps Ashe players make decisions to play more aggressively or defensively based on whether or not she spots the jungler. If the enemy lane has pushed up, it is a wise choice to Hawkshot the bushes in lane before engaging.
The Arrow
Pink ward represents a 2.25 second stun and the red circle represents a maximum duration stun.
In a post regarding the distance to stun duration ratio on Ashe’s Enchanted Crystal Arrow a Rioter clarifies the distance required to achieve the maximum stun duration. 2800 units of travel will give you an additional 2.5 second stun duration. Thus 2800/2.5=1120 units per 1.25 additional second of stun. Ashe’s Volley range is measured at 1200 units. Thus roughly two lengths of Volley will give you a 3.5 second stun and an arrow landing at Volley’s max range will give you roughly 2.25 seconds of stun.
Post Laning Phase
When it comes to team-fights Ashe benefits more from being the team that starts an objective like Baron Nashor and Dragon. Should the enemy engage onto Ashe’s team she has immediate access to Ranger’s Focus due to accumulating stacks while attacking the neutral objectives.
Chances are high that there will be a tank or two that holds a deep prejudice towards your HP bar and wants to see it gone. Due to the likelihood of tanks diving you it is important that you assess whether you will be using your arrow defensively or offensively.
It is well known that Ashe is one of the greatest initiators in the game due to her Enchanted Crystal Arrow. There will be moments in which you will be highly tempted to use it to start a fight or make a play, catching someone out of position. As the game develops it is important for you to distinguish the importance of both uses of your ultimate.
When you use your ultimate to earn a kill you are forfeiting a defensive tool. Due to Ashe’s low mobility and her propensity for being valuable target in team fights it is up to the player to make the choice of holding the arrow for self peel.
Against champions such as Vi, Rengar, Hecarim, Xin Zhao, and many other fighters it may prove more valuable to save the ultimate for personal defense.
1v1s against another marksman
Miss Fortune is both out of mana and out of position making this an easy kill.
Unsurprisingly Ashe is more often at a disadvantage when dueling marksman alone without preparing her Ranger’s Focus. Extra care is needed when dueling an enemy marksman with an IE as the critical strikes can quickly turn the tide. However with the use of a well placed Enchanted Crystal Arrow Ashe can chase down and kill many marksman or force the use of summoner spells.
Image courtesy of LoL King
Corki: Able to poke Corki and outrange him for the early duration of the laning phase, Ashe is able to start with an advantage and the opportunity to keep it.
Ezreal: While standing behind minions Ezreal is unable to land his primary damage ability against Ashe. Meanwhile Ashe is able to take favorable trades with the potential to force Ezreal to farm with his Mystic Shot (Q).
Graves: Greatly outranging Graves, Ashe is able to keep Graves in her damage range while remaining fairly out of reach. Should Graves dash in with Quickdraw (E) Ashe has the option to kite back or to pursue with her slows and her stun.
Kog’maw: Prone to punishment when Bio-Arcane Barrage is down and being shoved in during the early game, Ashe can abuse Kog’maw’s short range in intervals. Once Ashe has access to her ultimate Kog’maw is even more vulnerable due to his lack of escape tools.
Caitlyn: Prior to level 6 this matchup is fairly even but as both marksman gain usage of their ultimates Ashe has more kill opportunities than Caitlyn can answer with.
Jinx: Jinx is a strong, well rounded marksman but her primary weakness against Ashe is her lack of escape tools. Once Ashe reaches level 6 Jinx is liable to be engaged on and killed.
Kalista: Kalista can neither poke nor trade autos with Ashe as Ranger’s Focus keep her slowed and out of auto attack range. Like many other marksman, Ashe has the advantage at level 6, being able to open with her ultimate and engaging on Kalista whilst remaining out of range.
Miss Fortune: Ashe should avoid being poked with Double Up (Q) as often as possible. Using Vampiric Scepter allows Ashe to remain topped off while in lane even against Miss Fortune’s harass. With Ashe’s range she is able to deal damage onto Miss Fortune while reserving her ultimate for canceling Miss Fortune’s should the need arise.
Sivir: Some would assume that Sivir has the best chance laning against Ashe but Sivir does not fare much better than other marksman. Being outranged by Ashe, Sivir has to resort to using Boomerang Blade (Q) or Ricochet (W) to proc her passive or land damage on Ashe. While Sivir has the ability to block Ashe’s arrow with her spell shield, Sivir has to make this choice while being hailed with Volley. Should Sivir ever opt to spell shield a Volley she is then primed for being stunned with an arrow and if she does not spell shield the Volley she is liable to be whittled down.
Tristana: Tristana has a strong level 6 with the high base damage on her ultimate as well as having an option to jump into range for the use of her abilities. These qualities make Tristana a fairly strong laner against Ashe but is still vulnerable to harass prior to level 6.
Vayne: Vayne is unable to deal any damage unless she is within auto attack range. With this in mind Ashe’s primary goal is to keep far enough from Vayne that she cannot retaliate. Once Ashe has reached level 6 she has the option of being the aggressor and initiating onto Vayne or the defender as Ashe quickly stunts Vayne’s aggression should she choose to Tumble (Q) in or use Final Hour (R ). Should Vayne ever find Ashe alone and without her Enchanted Crystal Arrow it will be a one sided fight due to the length of time Ashe will be dueling without her Empowered Ranger's Focus.
The Build (IE or BT?)
Ashe was played 7 times in the NA LCS, four times by CLG, three of which Doublelift built BloodThirster. Although C9’s Sneaky would follow suit, Doublelift was the first one to build BloodThirster on Ashe. This comes off as a bit odd as Ashe has traditionally prioritized Infinity Edge first even during the high points in BloodThirster history.
Ashe’s new passive scales off of critical chance, increasing the appeal in finishing Infinity Edge first as many other marksman are doing. The secret is in the details as a closer look at Ranger’s Focus reveals that it applies all on-attack effects. This means that Ashe additionally benefits from lifesteal while her Ranger’s Focus is empowered. The debate of IE or BT comes down to preference and personal trials. Having tried both IE and BT I must say I prefer BT due to the sustain it provides as well as the ability to keep pushing on after a fight has ended. Ashe’s may find themselves low on HP after fights and unable to pursue objectives without putting themselves in a high risk situation.
It is also important to note that the IE passive, which increases critical damage from 200% to 250% acts as 50% critical chance, when incorporated into Ashe’s passive procs acts as if it were additional critical chance.
Ex: 110% damage + (20% critical chance from IE + 50% from IE passive)=180% damage once Frost Shots is proc’d.
Due to this interaction between Frost Shots and IE it does not provide as much damage in critical strikes as IE normally would on other marksman. This is a considerable factor when considering IE or BT.
For an attack speed item I prefer Phantom Dancer over Statikk Shiv as Phantom Dancer provides more critical chance adding to the damage Ashe’s passive will deal. Last Whisper as a third item is standard on marksman and is a top priority after completing an attack speed item.
Defensive Items and CDR
From here Ashe’s build can vary greatly depending on the situation. Magic resist items can vary from Banshee’s Veil, Spirit Visage, or Quicksilver Sash. Spirit Visage provides additional sustain when you lifesteal in fights and the CDR is beneficial for a lower cooldown on Ranger’s Focus and Enchanted Crystal arrow.
On the topic of CDR, Ionian Boots of Lucidity is a quick source of CDR against teams that possess the ability clear waves or stall out the game.
The opposing team possesses large amounts of poke in the form of Ezreal, Nidalee, and Varus. In addition to their poke there are Teemo shrooms which can whittle down Ashe’s team and force them to think twice about engaging. Against such a weak team-fighting composition Ashe wants to force fights as often as possible. Landing an Enchanted Crystal Arrow allows Ashe’s team to follow up and destroy the target. In situations such as this the more frequently Ashe can land an arrow on a target the more objectives and leads her team can take, making CDR more valuable.
Assassins
Rengar is the nemesis of any marksman, able to shut down marksman with high damage and at unpredictable times. It is important for Ashe players to play and buy items accordingly when facing the Pride Stalker.
Without an escape Ashe has to rely on her stun and flash to get her away from Rengar. In many situations Distortion enchantment will be a crucial buy as you can use it in conjunction with your ultimate. With any luck you will be able to escape Rengar’s grasp and your team can focus down your would be killer. Due to the multiple angles in which Rengar can attack, buying a pink ward or an upgraded vision totem and placing it behind you can give you more time to react to Rengar’s attack.
Nocturne is a trickier problem to deal with as his spell shield creates counterplay issues with his ability to engage you. Having Quicksilver Sash can help here as you can continually slow and kite him once you are able to break his fear teather. Similar to our plan to escape Rengar you will want to buy Distortion enchantment and flash away from Nocturne once his ultimate has landed him on top of you, flashing earlier will pull his destination to your new location. Ashe can then fire a Volley to bait Nocturne’s spell shield, once his spell shield is down you can fire an Enchanted Crystal arrow to make room to create some distance between the two of you.
Xin Zhao is the persistent problem as he tenaciously pursues Ashe with his Audacious Charge (E) coupled with his CC threat from Three Talon Strike (Q). Xin Zhao’s pressure primarily comes from either his damage or his CC threat. Xin Zhao is able to obtain lower cooldowns as the game progresses, allowing him to repeated use his charge to slow you. If Xin Zhao is unable to bring you down himself, he is at least able to keep you down long enough for his teammates to move onto targeting you.
As we have done against the aforementioned champions Ashe will have to buy Distortion enchantment so that she is able to flash away from Xin Zhao and his friends. Blade of the Ruined King is a beneficial item against Xin Zhao as it allows you to steal his movement speed and increase your kiting efforts. In my experience the most effective solution is to simply keep him at arm's length or become too strong for him to deal with you alone.
Conclusion
Ashe is a flexible marksman, able to fill the role of an intiator, provide poke, and provide high DPS in addition to having many favorable matchups. While Ashe's main weakness is her lack of escape tools there are ways to play around this as Ashe can provide vision on command and peel for herself. Playing a safe laning phase and being smart with your aggression is the key to getting out of the laning phase in a good state. While Ashe has seen no competitive play after patch 5.12 she is still a strong pick contrary to what her win rate.
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