It is the third edition of LoLNews Champion Guides, and today, we are taking a look at another different champion archetype. Like Sona, this champion has been a veteran of the League of Legends scene, being one of the first champions ever released in the game. Doubling both as a sniper and a supportive presence, we have Ashe, the Frost Archer.
Ashe, The Frost Archer
Ashe is a Marksman who plays similar to a support. Her kit starts with the passive, Frost Shot. Each of her attacks inflicts a slow effect on enemies, and attacking enemies slowed by the passive will proc additional damage. This ability scales with critical strike damage and percentage, both in frost damage and slow amount. Her next ability is Ranger’s Focus, which allows her to save up stacks with every successful attack on an enemy. Upon hitting five stacks, Ashe can activate this ability and change her auto-attack into a barrage of arrows. She has more tools in enhancing her frosted attacks in the form of Volley, an active ability which shoots ice arrows in a cone. The Frost Archer’s third ability is often overlooked, but it can prove to be one of the most useful in her kit: Hawkshot. With this global range ability, she sends a hawk spirit towards any location in the map, which for a short time, reveals not only the targeted area, but also its entire flight path. This also helps set up her ultimate ability, Enchanted Crystal Arrow. This ability shoots a large arrow that likewise ignores terrain and structures, crashing into the first enemy champion in its path and stunning them for a period of time.
Summary of Her Playstyle
When a League player hears of the word “Marksman”, he would think of ranged sharpshooters, mowing down the enemy lines with ease if left unchecked. They pack a whole lot of punch in them and pick off the enemies one by one behind the protection of their ever-faithful allies. Ashe is not a champion that can be accurately described in that role. Instead of being the big source of insane damage, Ashe is the provider of various disables and utility to help her team. That is not to say that Ashe cannot pack a punch. Ashe can hurt, but what sets her apart from the competition in bot lane is her various ways of helping the team out besides damage output.
Ashe’s kit fully solidifies her role as a marksman who can control the battle and keep enemies at bay. She lacks mobility, but she more than makes up for it with several tools that would aid her in protecting herself in lane. All of her attacks have a way of slowing down approaching enemies, and Volley would make sure to spread her chilling arrows across several enemies. A properly timed Hawkshot can spell a big difference in helping the team anticipate ganks. Her ultimate ability is not only a strong initiate tool, but also one that can be used as an emergency escape mechanism should she be able to predict incoming attackers.
Miscellaneous Tips:
- Ashe is severely lacking in the mobility aspect of a champion. Make sure to be careful and choose your battles wisely.
- Ashe does not have the ability to perform regular critical strikes. However, critical strike is still a key stat for her, as critical stats increase the effectiveness of her passive, which scales into each hit from her Ranger’s Focus as well.
- Key items would include Infinity Edge, as it provides ample damage to supplement Ashe’s lack of direct power. It also provides powerful critical stats that would prove to be a lot of help.
- The Frost Archer is relatively immobile as a champion. Only trouble awaits should an enemy manage to get into melee distance. Take care of your positioning at all times even in the midst of battle.
- Frost Arrows and Volley make Ashe excellent at chasedown or kiting situations. One good shot with Volley would help a speeding team catch up to a target enemy.
- Volley also applies the frost debuff. An important thing to keep in mind when fighting is to open up with a Volley shot to immediately receive the increased damage from your passive. Successful Volley hits on multiple targets also speed up the charging process for Ranger’s Focus.
- Take advantage of Enchanted Crystal Arrow’s range and long stun to set up skirmishes and team fights. As an initiation tool, a perfectly-timed arrow at an important target can win an otherwise unwinnable fight.
- Hawkshot would reveal the targeted area for a short period of time. You can use this to your advantage by targeting key spots such as the red/blue buffs in order to help your team keep tabs on the possible position of the enemy jungler.
It will be no mistake to call Ashe the queen of utility marksmen. Besides her use in the battlefield, Ashe is also a good choice for players wanting to learn the mechanics of the game. She has a good attack animation for practicing last hitting, and her kit encourages learning a bit more about the fundamentals of the game, such as positioning, smart trades, and vision control. At the hands of a great player, Ashe may not be the strongest marksman in terms of flat damage output, but she could be the most useful in terms of what she can bring to the team overall.
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