Carry Time: An Ashe Guide

I’m back with yet another Carry Time guide, this time featuring Ashe, the Frost Archer. Ashe was the very first champion I ever played when I started playing League of Legends and I really enjoy playing her. She is capable of getting a lot of gold due to her E ability and is great at farming. Ashe also has good CC utility, which is definitely needed in a lot of team fight situations. However, she isn’t utilized a lot in ranked games or tournament play due to her being extremely squishy with low movement speed and no escape tactics. Despite those downsides, she is still a powerful force on Summoner’s Rift and this guide will show you all you need to know about Ashe.

 

Pros/Cons and Why You Should Play Ashe

Pros: Ashe has an incredible amount of CC due to her Frost Shot and Volley abilities, which apply a slow to her enemies. Those abilities can help you deal a lot more damage in a shorter amount of time, plus it will help you secure kills easier. Ashe also has a great initiation tool with her ultimate ability, Enchanted Crystal Arrow, which stuns, slows and deals damage to enemies hit or around the area of impact. Landing a successful ultimate as Ashe can turn the tide of fights and dissuade enemies from pushing the lane.

Her Hawkshot ability acts as a scouting tool, revealing vision of an area for five seconds, similar to the Clairvoyance summoner spell. If you are not sure where an enemy is or could be, that ability can definitely help you out, although it has a long cooldown early on. Ashe is also capable of generating a lot of gold with the passive on Hawkshot, which grants her an extra 3 gold whenever she last hits a minion or takes down a turret. That means if you are good at CS-ing as Ashe, you can get ahead quite quickly and have an advantage over your enemy ADC.

Cons: Ashe suffers from incredibly slow movement speed early on and combined with the fact that she is squishy and lacks a built-in escape, she can get bursted down quite quickly. You really need to use Hawkshot to your advantage and focus on last-hitting minions so you can get ahead and thus build items to help your survivability as Ashe. If you are a new player, you may find that Enchanted Crystal Arrow is quite hard to land on enemies. Just focus on your map awareness and your mechanics. When and where to use it is a problem that should be remedied over time.

 

Why Should You Play Ashe?

Her CC and kiting abilities are top-notch and can definitely hit enemies hard. Once you build a bit of attack speed on Ashe, her pushing and last-hitting ability with Volley are unparalleled. If your team is grouping for an objective such as baron, you can save a ward and use Ashe’s Hawkshot instead as it acts as a great scouting tool to see where enemies may be. On the other end of the spectrum, if the enemy team is pushing a lane or heading to dragon or baron, Ashe is able to stop them right in their tracks, stopping them from going further. Other champions like Ezreal, Karthus and Jinx have global abilities that deal a lot of damage which is great but what is amazing about Ashe’s is that, yes, it deals damage, but it also stuns and slows enemies. I think that is more useful overall than a lot of other champion’s ultimates. Ashe can definitely make an impact in team fights and in lane with her kit.

 

Runes

Marks- Attack Damage x9- These are a standard choice for most ADC champions. They are great on Ashe as she is already great at pushing and killing minions and the extra damage makes her job easier. You will need a lot of extra damage so you can punish your enemies in lane and Attack Damage marks are perfect for that.

Seals- Armor x9- If you want to survive in lane against your enemy ADC or another high damage champion, you need these. Ashe is already squishy enough as it is, so equipping Armor seals will help a little bit towards solving that problem as it helps you absorb damage dealt by enemies.

Glyphs- Magic Resist x9- In addition to supports with poking ability like Sona and Annie, some ADC oriented champions like Kog’Maw and Tristana scale off magic damage, so these glyphs act as great protection against all the damage your enemies put out.

Quintessences- Lifesteal x3 or Lifesteal x2 Attack Damage x1- Having sustain in lane as Ashe is easy when you have Lifesteal quintessences equipped. Even though it is a small amount, it really does help. If you start off with a Doran’s Blade on Ashe, Lifesteal quintessences work together with the item to help you regain health quickly. Alternatively, if you have trouble last-hitting minions early on in lane, equipping one Attack Damage quintessence can help out with that.

Masteries

 21/9/0 masteries are the typical choice for most ADC champions and is what I choose to use when I play Ashe. A lot of stats in the Offense mastery tree add even more damage-inducing capability to Ashe like Brute Force, Havoc and Warlord, so be sure to add points to those. Fury and Frenzy give out extra attack speed, and on Ashe that is extremely valuable when it comes to her CS-ing ability. When it comes to the Defense mastery tree, be sure to put points in stats that give you extra health like Veteran’s Scar and Juggernaut. Ashe is extremely squishy early on and having increased health can help her out a lot.

 

Summoner Spells

Barrier and Flash are the best choices on Ashe. In a trade situation, you can surprise your enemy by popping Barrier at an opportune time and bait them into dying. Barrier also gives you a decent amount of survivability and helps you survive in situations where you would normally get killed. Flash is a must-have on Ashe in my opinion. She doesn’t have a built-in escape in her kit, so Flash is extremely useful when playing her if you need to get away from a bad situation. Flash can also help close the gap and help you finish off enemies that would normally get away.

 

Abilities

Focus (Passive) - This passive builds stacks and when Ashe reaches 100 stacks, her next basic attack will critically strike. Make sure you save the critical strike for an enemy champion and not a minion, especially when your opponent has low health, as Focus can help you finish them off. Focus also synergizes really well with Statikk Shiv, so make you build that on Ashe. When combined with Focus, you will have awesome, hard-hitting attacks throughout the game.

Frost Shot (Q) - When toggled on, Frost Shot can slow your enemies up to 35% for 2 seconds. Frost Shot can help Ashe kite approaching enemies and also close the gap on enemies you want to kill. This ability costs 8 mana every time Ashe uses it, so be wary about spamming it as your mana can get drained quickly without you realizing it. Like Focus’s critical strike attack, make sure you save Frost Shot and use it only on enemy champions, as it useless on laning minions: slowing them won’t do you much good. Frost Shot is awesome as it applies a slow to Ashe’s Volley ability, even when it isn’t toggled on. Make sure to build a lot of damage oriented items on Ashe so you can get the most out of the amazing slow this ability gives when used in combination with Volley.

Volley (W) - This ability is absolutely amazing and for clearing minions quickly. You can harass enemies by using this ability and since this applies Frost Shot’s slow without having to toggle it on, you can save mana that way. While Volley deals a bunch of damage to enemies and acts as a great offensive attack, you can also use it defensively on Ashe. If you are running away from a fight with low health and an enemy is approaching, you can turn around and use Volley to slow down champions. If you are a more aggressive player, spamming Volley and relentlessly poking and harassing enemies in lane can keep them from wanting to approach, forcing them to play more passively and giving you an advantage.

Hawkshot (E) - Hawkshot basically acts as a substitute for Clairvoyance, and in some situations negates the need to buy a ward as it can be used as a scouting tool by revealing an area of the map for 5 seconds. Considering its usefulness, it has a pretty low cooldown, so make sure to use it as much as possible as you can gain map control and know where your enemies are. If you are chasing after an enemy that has low health and is getting away, Ashe can use Hawkshot to see what direction (s)he is going. Also, if you suspect an enemy jungler is coming in for a gank, you save a ward and use Hawkshot to spot them instead. The best part of Hawkshot, in my opinion, is its passive, which grants Ashe an extra 3 gold when she kills a minion or takes down a tower. If you are a beginner League of Legends player, Ashe is a good champion to practice last-hitting minions and CS-ing with, as you want to be able to gain the advantage of having that extra gold. Make sure to last hit minions as much as possible so you can be ahead of your enemy ADC in lane.

Enchanted Crystal Arrow (R) - Enchanted Crystal Arrow has a variety of different uses, believe it or not. Its primary use is to stop enemies in their tracks so you can rush in and deal tons of damage before they even have a chance to respond. It can also save Ashe and/or her allies by stunning enemies and preventing them from moving further, allowing your team to escape. One situation in which I like to use Ashe’s ultimate is when there is a baron or dragon fight going on. The enemy team will be attacking said objective, and my team will be in a bush nearby waiting to strike. I then use Enchanted Crystal Arrow to stun all surrounding enemies so my team can go in and annihilate them. This is a great initiation tool and can turn the tide of fights, so make sure to practise playing Ashe so you can get the hang of using Enchanted Crystal Arrow and how to correctly land it. You can tell the difference between an inexperienced Ashe player and a seasoned Ashe player by seeing how they use her ultimate ability. Having an ability that can stun, slow AND deal damage is pretty amazing and is definitely one of the best ultimates in the game when used correctly.

 

Items/Build

This is my typical full build for Ashe. If you are really desperate to overcome Ashe’s early movement speed problem, then feel free to rush Berserker’s Greaves. The extra little bit of attack speed helps her out with her already amazing wave-clearing ability. Infinity Edge is an excellent first build for ADC champions, especially Ashe. This items provides critical strike damage as well as flat attack damage, allowing Ashe’s attacks to hit even harder than they already do. The critical strike chance of Infinity Edge in particular works extremely well with her Focus passive ability, which allows her basic attacks to critically strike when Focus reaches 100 stacks. When you combine Focus and Infinity Edge, Ashe can become a terror.

After building Infinity Edge, I then like to add Statikk Shiv to my inventory. It actually works a lot like Ashe’s Focus passive, except when it reaches its 100 charges, it deals magic damage to up to 4 targets. However, the damage can still critically strike, but only if the initial attack did, so be sure to time your attacks correctly so you can get the most out of Statikk Shiv. Statikk Shiv also gives Ashe a great amount of movement and attack speed, which is desperately needed on her. Since this builds out of Avarice Blade, you gain a lot of extra gold when using it, especially when combined with Hawkshot’s passive. This makes last-hitting even more important on Ashe, so practise last-hitting and overall game mechanics so you can understand when items really come into play and help you out.

I then like to build Bloodthirster. I normally rush this as my first item on the other ADC champions I play, but I think Infinity Edge and Statikk Shiv are important items to get early on. If you are playing Ashe, a Vampiric Scepter (which builds into Bloodthirster) should be one of your first item pick-ups. It gives you a ton of sustain in lane early on and when you fully build into Bloodthirster, a great amount of damage is combined with the lifesteal to make for an item that you definitely need to buy for Ashe. She is quite squishy and since she doesn’t have an escape, she can get poked down easily and you will need to use the lifesteal on this item to get yourself back to full health. Bloodthirster is an essential item to have in your inventory.

Last Whisper is also a great pick up. It gives Ashe a good amount of damage, plus it provides her with 35% armor penetration, which is great against tanky enemy champions that build a ton of armor. Combined with the damage of Bloodthirster and the critical strike chance of Infinity Edge, Statikk Shiv and the Focus passive, Ashe can shred through enemies late game, so be sure to buy this item as it works really well in the later stages of the game.

The last defensive item is pretty much a toss-up between Mercurial Scimitar, Banshee’s Veil and Guardian Angel. I personally like to pick up Guardian Angel most of the time, as it essentially grants you an extra life. You can get bursted down fast and die but when the Guardian Angel passive kicks in, you revive and then can just lifesteal back to full health. Guardian Angel is great if the enemy team is focusing you down a lot, as it gives you a lot of insurance. If you are playing as Ashe and are against a lot of AP oriented champions like Kassadin or LeBlanc for example, Banshee’s Veil is an essential item. It gives a decent amount of health, magic resist and mana but most importantly it grants you a spell shield which is able to block an enemy ability. Ashe is already a squishy enough champion as it is and being hit by a barrage of spells isn’t fun as her health will dwindle down quickly. Banshee’s Veil is a great defense against that. Mercurial Scimitar is basically Cleanse in item form, so if there are a lot of CC heavy champions on the other team that keep on targeting you, Mercurial Scimitar can definitely come in handy. Plus, it builds out of BF Sword, so it gives you a lot of extra damage as well.

 

 

Ashe is an amazing and deadly champion once you learn how to master her and her abilities. She can push waves and CS quickly, deal lots of damage and dish out a good amount of CC, so she has it all. Ashe is extremely deadly early, mid and late game and is an absolute terror on Summoner’s Rift. I hope this guild helped you guys understand Ashe a little bit better and turned you onto the idea of using her in game!