In League of Legends (LoL), attack damage carry (ADC) like Ashe plays a very specialised role, as her kit is tailored for initiating fights and hunting down opponents. Ashe’s Approach Velocity, which gives her 15% Movement Speed towards enemies she impairs, makes it ideal for an ADC who engages and sets up team fights.
How to play
In League of Legends, Ashe is a dragon lane champion who specialises in dealing damage to the opposing team with her attacks. Compared to the other AD carriers, Ashe doesn’t deal much damage. However, she has a distinct style of play that makes her an excellent choice for team fights.
Her skills employ many slows and stun to manage the crowd. She can use her ultimate Enchanted Crystal Arrow to take out the enemies and then follow that up with her Volley, Ranger’s Focus, and Frost Shot to slow them down with auto-attacks.
Abilities and skills
Ashe is an excellent champion because of what she can offer to her team. In addition to a powerful ultimate, she has a built-in Farsight Alteration, which displays an area and places an extremely fragile ward up to 4000 units away from the item’s owner. Don’t underestimate Ashe’s damage just because she has a lot of utility in her kit.
Frost Shot
Her passive skill attacks and damaging abilities slow down the targets they hit for a short period. Frost Shot slows down foes, making them more vulnerable to attacks. Critical hits from Ashe do not deliver any additional damage. Instead, Frost Shot’s slowness is increased.
She isn’t the finest in terms of damage, but she’s excellent at crowd control and assisting your team in killing the enemy.
Ranger’s Focus
With Ranger Focus Ashe can store two Focus while this skill is inactive and her attacks add a second Focus stack to the metre. Additionally, stacking Ranger’s Focus up to six times the maximum allows Ashe to deal a significant amount of damage. The Ranger’s Focus auto-attack reset is also one of the useful features in Ashe’s arsenal.
Volley
Ashe deals physical damage and slows foes with a swarm of five arrows shot in a cone. Keep in mind that enemy minions and monsters can block the arrows allowing enemy champions to avoid being damaged by Ashe’s Volley skill.
Volley’s area of impact is small at first, but you can use it to annoy enemies in the laning phase. When the ability’s level increases, the area of effect expands dramatically, making it an excellent weapon for pinning down enemies.
Make sure to use Volley first before heading into a fight so that your passive will deal additional damage when you auto-attack.
Hawkshot
When used, a hawk spirit is summoned and sent flying through the air, revealing the position of any nearby opponents for a short time. As long as it’s still flying, you can recast Hawkshot as it explodes. Units caught in the explosion are revealed for a longer time.
This is a perfect way to help your team see the big picture, especially in the late game. Use this ability on red or blue buff enemies in the early game so you can tell your team where the jungle is.
Aside from revealing enemies, you can also utilise Hawkshot to inspect the surrounding area and avoid getting caught.
Enchanted Crystal Arrow
To stun and deal magic damage to the first champion she hits, Ashe fires a crystal ice arrow. The duration of the stun increases as the player travels further, reaching 3.5 seconds.
This skill is considered the best ADC utility spell in the game. This is because its lengthy stun can impact anywhere on the map. Ashe’s strength is primarily due to this, and using Enchanted Crystal Arrow’s stun can change the outcome of a team battle.
Runes and items
During the laning phase, Ashe’s combination relies on short exchanges, and Hail of Blades fits the bill perfectly. Thanks to Hail of Blades, you can include more automatic attacks in your combination. Cheap Shot and Approach Velocity are two must-have runes for her kit because they complement it nicely.
Prioritise Shieldbow and Wits End in her item build. Use Wits End if your opponent’s team possesses at least two AP champions. Using a Shieldbow if your opponent’s squad is primarily AD heavy is recommended. For an extra on-hit, you’ll get Rageblade as your third item.
Early game
Ashe’s early game is consistently underestimated. People tend to overlook her ability to make good lane trades because of her range. Ashe can walk away from a bad trade. It’s important to remember that if you’re Ashe, you’ll have to deal with the counter-engage as well. To avoid getting caught up in a counter-engage, push with trades and then make sure you don’t back down.
Ashe should be used to get an early push, and your minions will block all-ins from the opposition. Once your minions have gone under your enemy’s tower, out of the enemy’s tower, use your range to poke them out and your health advantage to freeze the wave. These are the best ways to deal with an under-towered enemy. Due to the difference in HP, your lane opponent will be unable to engage.
Mid and late game
Team fights and siege towers can be fought after the laning phase is over. When taking down fortress towers, use your range, but keep an eye out for opponent engagers. Even though Ashe is a skilled hero, she lacks mobility and escape tools. However, once you’ve got the feel of her gameplay, it will be easy for you to dominate fights.
Ashe’s ultimate is a great way to kick off team fights. There is a temptation to try and catch the opposing carry, but it’s best to go for the closest target since not everyone can hit Ashe’s arrows like a pro. Thanks to her slow effect, even assassins and bruisers will be no match for Ashe. With that, you can then proceed to the Nexus, the main goal of the game, unhindered.
Tips to play Ashe effectively
Despite her arsenal of CC and utility spells, Ashe still lacks escape tools. Be careful while roaming around if you don’t know where your enemies are and your ultimate is on cooldown. Playing it safe is preferable to risking your life in the hands of your enemy.
Enchanted Crystal Arrow can be used from a long distance. Once it hits an enemy, it will be stunned for a long time. It’s an advantage at zoning out foes and making them believe their escape options are closed off.
In addition, Ashe is a formidable opponent of other hyper carriers such as Jinx, Vayne, and Kog’Maw. She is vulnerable to ADCs with many bursts, like Lucian or Jhin. However, Ashe works well with most support champions, especially Thresh or Leona, who have good engagement tools. Ashe can also help CC-lock enemies and prevent them from escaping when teamed with these champions.
Overall, Ashe is an excellent champion for both newbie and professional players alike. She has a ton of CCs in her toolkit that can assist and secure kills to help achieve goals for the team. Due to her versatile abilities, Ashe can do anything on the League of Legends battlefield. If you want to master Ashe, learning from your mistakes is the best way to get a hand on her abilities and gameplay.