Let me preface with this: This is just my opinion. Nothing more, nothing less.

So ashe is (I believe) one of the first and original champs, and from what I know it's one of "those" champs that everyone owns (450 ip OP) / is familiar with, thinks they're pro at, and don't really think about it. Also, in my experience people don't play as much ashe anymore, because lots consider her to be outshined by the top 3 corki/ezreal/graves constantly picked in tournaments, with mobility, steroids, great farming, damage, laning phase. I'll admit this is kind of true. With no escapes, being more item/team/support reliant, and seemingly not doing as much damage, and generally forced into playing like a pussy, it could be annoying to play her.

BUT: Because she's fun, has a unique/interesting skillset (well you could make that argument for any champion I guess), and...is fun. It's just in soloqueue and even tournament play, she requires a certain team comp to shine (some examples are double ap/initiation, cc, other team has 1/2 bruisers with no hard gap closers like udyr/cho), where ezreal/corki/graves can just take flash/ignite and faceroll lane, snowball and carry. Ashe is even more support/team/item oriented/reliant than other ad's and so can be tough in soloqueue.

Some of this will be common knowledge (like item builds) to many people, but some subtleties in some sections may help. Wrote it because a few friends at lower elos requested, so if you like, just take a single thing away and it helps your game, I'll be content.

An emphasis: These thoughts are more soloqueue oriented. May skew things a little compared to tournies or competitive play (but I think generally the concepts are similar).

EDIT: With the slight nerfs to the holy trinity of AD carries Corki, Ezreal and Graves, that indirectly makes ashe just that more viable.

basically, ashe isn't played nearly as much as other ad's for good reasons i guess, even lots of top AD players I talk to don't play ashe as much and I want ashe to be more played/viable sooo yeah. So consider playing her, dawgs.

I also want to add: A great way to improve your game (obviously) is to watch top players. I never did this but recently I've dropped my ego a bit and started, and i've learned. In my opinion, Azubu Blaze's Captain Jack, is the best AD carry I've ever seen so far in virtually every way (positioning, cs, etc), but other players are also great. whether its NA, Europe Korea China or w/e, it's a good idea to watch top tournies/games and players to see what they do.
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Remember gentlemen: QUALITY > QUANTITY. 10 hours of playing =/= 10 hours of genuine improvement and learning and pwning.

So in the context of this game: I'm a 2100 ELO rated player in the North American Server, IGN: AceHighRiver .

basically, I know a bit more about this game than a lot of the players that play this game, and a bit more mechanically sound. That's about it. Also for emphasis: I fail a lot of games too (you'd know if you see me in games), I feed, I miss arrows, I play for fun and chill and lose a lot too (i ain't no pro), but I win more than I lose with ashe, so that's enough, right?

I didn't think I'd ever write something like a guide for a video game, but at the request of my friends/other players and maybe at the thought of helping some beginners (if you're a good player, chances are this guide will be obvious/common sense)...here we go.

EDITbusy and reduced gameplay these days

So here's just a few thoughts on some of ashe's strengths, weaknesses, situations, etc. This list is by no means conclusive.


-Insane, godlike initiation (the ability to start a teamfight...basically whenever you want to)
-Basically a perma-slow.
^Counters bruisers without a hard gap closer. Someone like can spend all of a teamfight standing still and doing nothing.
-These two above lead to: lots of cc, which not all ad's have, and which offers insane utility.
-Good at catching people off where soloqueue is basically league of throws/getting caught
-The sounds of her autos and skills are amazing, crystal-like and makes her more fun to play.
-Great at kiting/poking
-Scales well into late game.
-Fun to play (IMO)


-No built in escape for repositioning, reliant on summoners/team to peel a lot
-Relatively Weak early/midgame, and usually rather difficult laning phase generally forcing you to play passively and farm
-Barely any damage until items. Like, the enemy taric can prob 1v1 me early game. dafuq.
-No steroid skill makes it hard to 1v1 other ad's without lots of items
-More item-reliant, support-reliant and team-reliant than lots of other ad's. Easier for a graves or ezreal to carry in soloqueue honestly, than an ashe, esp early/midgame.
-Difficult to deal with hard gap closers/assassins like / , ex: needs a to peel for effectiveness.
-Relies heavily on positioning.


-I feel like it and want to (the most important reason). Play her because you want to, and you like to. if not don't play her. Simple. We play a video game because it's fun, right? to enjoy ourselves.

andthen...

-Enemy team doesn't have too many assassins/Gap closers/godlike CC.
-Conversely, if the enemy team has melee bruisers like Udyr, Singed, Cho, Shyv.
-Need great initiation.
-Double AP comp like ken/vlad, dunno, in my experience works well. Possibly teh AOE, while they nuke/disrupt/zhonyas you kill everything from the back.


-I don't feel like playing her.
-The phaggot above me calls "AD BOT OR FEED" and instalocks heimer.
-The enemy team has many slows/CC and I need a repositioning skill like Corki's Valkyrie (for example: vs ult).
-Need more damage early/midgame
-My support is blitz or leona.
-Another AD would fit better.

21/0/9 is what I go on ashe. On most of the other ad's I go 21/9/0 for laning, but ashe has weak laning anyways and that 9 points in defensive doesn't impact the trades that it would on a corki/graves; I've tried, and I prefer utility. and most of the time I play passive/farm and look for opportunities like ganks to secure kills or zone the enemies, and volley is my primary source of damage early game, and thus...I like mana regen and utility.

I've tried 21/9/0 and it works too, you're tankier in lane but mana regen is really important on ashe because of volley.

The buff mastery isn't completely necessary as you often won't get blue and even red, so something like 21/2/7 with 2 points in Hardiness/Summoner's Resolve (if taking cleanse) can work too.

It's personal preference, but the 21 in offense cannot be compromised. Capiche?

(Rather) standard ad runes. AD for last hitting, armor for laning, and flat mr/mr per level depending on preference. I like mr per level because of the lategame stats but flat mr works vs strong magic damage early game such as trist, sona/leona, or jungle fiddlesticks.

Mana regen per level seals are viable too as ashe once again benefits a lot from mana regeneration due to her skillset, I've also tried health per level but I think armor seals are superior for trades/early game, or someone like graves can burst me even faster.

Flat AD marks for last hitting, but armor penetration is also an option.

For quints: I use flat AD once again for last hitting, but lifesteal quints are also solid as often bloodthirster is a last item on ashe, making every lifesteal count and help. Movement speed quints are also a consideration, as ashe benefits a lot from mobility.

I don't have many rune pages but if I could afford it I'd try the ones listed above depending on the situation.

is a must on most champs for obvious reasons and moreso on ashe because she lacks a built-in escape. This isn't debatable.

This is where things get interesting. 99% of the time I go one of the two summoners (other than flash): /
From what I've seen, many people don't take on ashe. I do in many of my games because ashe has no built in escapes and the mobility is invaluable in kiting.
is honestly rather useless laning phase compared to and etc as it doesn't do much in trades bot lane, and if the jungler/enemy support like taric flash everything on you early, you will likely die if you don't position properly.



Where excels is teamfights and mid-lategame where the mobility that ashe really needs allows me to dodge many, many skillshots, kite 1v5 and carry a teamfight. Pop ghost, dodge 's rupture, bind, while kiting so he can't move. I've literally won teamfights by myself (with teammates as meat shields) at lower ELO's with ghost on and superior kiting. also excels in splitpushing. If you're bot alone pushing tower, and 2 enemies come to you, you're likely dead. If I have ghost run I'm able to run away after taking a tower/farming and my team might be able to baron on the other side, or push another lane and you'll survive.


The reason isn't seen much IMO and not highly recommended is because in tournament play/coordinated matches where people are more likely to play solid/op champs with cc and make less mistakes, ghost is less effective and something like heal/cleanse might work out better. In soloqueue I think ghost es #1, plus it's the most FUN spell to use on ashe IMO. Ghost is definitely viable on ashe in soloqueue, and probably in some tournament/competitive situations.


Found an example of where ghost can excel in kiting/mobility and dodging/escaping. Credit to player Aphromoo. (also notice the amazing support?)

If the enemy team has lots of cc like , or lots of slows, I take instead.
Examples of times I pick is when I see on the other team:



Other summoners:
- Definitely viable, helps with laning phase and rather strong lategame, I just rarely take heal on AD carries because I feel like cleanse/ghost are better, and with many aggressive AD's taking ignite, the effectiveness of heal is not as much. And isn't really my style.
- Viable as well. Usually supports take this now though, and I think it's only useful when they have hard gap closing bruisers like Irelia who dive you, as ashe shouldn't be close range anyways.
- For an aggressive lane, if you want to go for more kills early on and if you have a more aggressive jungler/support such as lee sin/taric, it's a good option. The problem is after laning phase and in teamfight stage not having cleanse/ghost could hurt you until QSS/defensive item as you're vulnerable to cc/dying faster. still viable.
- For splitpushing and getting to lane faster. I don't recommend it usually.

Any other ones not listed, aren't really optimal.

While out of combat, Ashe's critical strike chance increases by 3/6/9/12/15/18% every 3 seconds, removed after next attack. Focus will now display a buff showing how much extra crit chance Ashe has


Kind of useful level 1 for invades/defending invades, doing double golems bot/getting that volley + auto hit level 1 vs the enemy ad/support if you can manage it. So if your team wants to invade, or defend against an invade by camping a brush, position in the middle/back and try to aim as many as possible with volley + auto the enemy that your team lands cc on, and it'll likely end up being first blood.

Other than that I can't think of many uses, maybe once you have IE it's a guaranteed crit first hit at a champ so that extra increase in guaranteed damage helps.



Toggle: Ashe's basic attacks slow her target's movement speed by 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35% for 2 seconds.

Cost 8mana per attack
Range 600


Best. Turn it on in teamfights for obvious reasons. Turn it off when last hitting or attacking minions for obvious reasons. This is the reason why ashe counters lots of bruisers, guarantees kills/teamfights/even a victory if just ONE person gets caught as they can't escape. Kite Kite...and kite. Stay in the back and kite. This drains a lot of mana early game, more than you think as it stacks up rather quickly so watch out and just manage wisely.





Ashe fires 7 arrows in a cone dealing attack damage + 40 / 50 / 60 / 70 / 80. Volley also applies Frost Shot.

Cooldown 20 / 16 / 12 / 8 / 4seconds
Cost 60mana
Range 600


Good skill and main source of damage early/midgame. Great at poking and this skill is the reason you can at least lane, if blitz rushes at you, you volley auto and back off behind your minions. and continually poke until jungler comes. I find myself using this skill defensively a lot, when enemies run at you/your teammates volley them to deter their MS. It's annoying as hell and this + your Q is why people cry in chat "GTFO ASHE SO ANNOYING DAMN I HOPE YOU DIE" Also good for poking while a tower siege with baron, as an example.

This is the reason why meditation and mana regen/blue buff is good on ashe, I mean you shouldn't take it over your AP carry but it isn't bad on you because of the pokes. Early game its constant usage drains mana so once again manage it, especially at level 6 when you need to coordinate ganks with your ult and need mana for ult as well.

One last thing I want to emphasize: use of volley can make or break a lane.





Passive: Ashe gains 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 extra gold whenever she kills any unit.

Active: Ashe animates a Hawk to scout for her, revealing terrain as it flies toward target location.

Cooldown 20seconds
Range 6000


Get at least one point at 2 or 4, great for scouting at dragon/baron -> sniping arrows to start a teamfight and catching someone.

Not that bad, gives that little bit of extra gold for faster items that ashe desperately needs, and the scouting can save games. Make sure to scout before facechecking (you shouldn't be facechecking period, though, except in rare cases).



Fires a large arrow in a straight line. If it hits an enemy champion, it will stun that champion for up to 3.5 seconds, based on the distance the arrow traveled, and deal 250 / 425 / 600 (+100% of ability power) magic damage. Additionally, surrounding units take half the damage and are slowed for 3 seconds.

Cooldown 100/90/80 seconds
Cost 150 mana
Range 20000


Godlike initiation, and with this you basically control when to start a teamfight. Try not to hesitate and if you see an opportunity, go for it, Who cares if you miss, I miss a crapload of my arrows but I hit some good ones too. If you miss try to back off until it's up again before a teamfight.

Other tips:
-When you recall from bot, if your mid has lots of cc/burst, jungler's nearby, basically if you can help your mid, snipe an arrow at their mid, the angle makes it easier to land and it'll get your mid/jungler a kill allowing for a possible dragon/mid tower. Same goes for top, but harder to land. The reason to snipe at base is because it's easier to land than when I'm in bot lane where wards/angle will make it highly likely to miss.

-If your teammates are teamfighting on the other side of the map, or ganking, snipe. I've turned 3v3's at top into wins because of arrows.

-Try to hit their ap/ad carry. If they don't have qss or a pro janna or the likes, they'll die and you can end the game if it's lategame.

-You don't always have to use it in the beginning of a teamfight; sometimes if your team has good initiators it can be better to save it.

Basically DON'T WORRY ABOUT MISSING AND JUST SHOOT. (*insert sexual innuendo and undertones here)

R > W > Q > E. R is self-explanatory.

I max W because it's the main source of damage early on and need the CDR which is rather low when maxed by level 9; it's ashe's bread and butter skill. Then I usually max Q beacuse of the utility of slow in ganks and teamfights. I've tried maxing E and while I get a bit more gold I don't have the same amount of utility in teamfights and end up missing kills/losing teamfights. If the laning phase looks like it'll drag on for a long time or if the game seems like it'll get to extreme lategame, then getting a few more points in E might be a good idea.

In general, though I find this order to be best.

Starting items should be /, I can't think of any time where I would deviate from this.

Then I usually go: , unless i can afford straight, preferably with vamp scepter.

Quick note about ; I've seen many players go as many as 3 dorans or wriggles, and I don't agree with this because ad carries (esp ashe) are very reliant on items, and 2 dorans is almost 1k gold that you're going to delay your Infinity Edge. 2 dorans max imo, I usually get one for laning and a vamp scepter but otherwise I go zerker's and core items asap, I think getting your core items asap on AD carries is the most important, it's your job to dish out as much damage as possible while staying alive. If the enemy ad has 3doran pickaxe, vs your IE/zeal, the contributions of these AD's will be vastly different. This doesn't mean I'm against doran's, but just watch out on how you manage your gold/farm and if you don't capitalize on dorans early and during laning phase you'll fall behind.

I get first almost always on ashe, because she relies a lot on autos and the crit is good. Other ad's like graves I go , and going BT first isn't a bad idea either. It's personal preference, I like rushing BT too, esp on other ad's (like the Koreans) but I think IE is the superior choice to rush on ashe.

Then it depends. If the enemy team has lots of tanks stacking armor early like Malph, WW, I'll go -> , If they have more squishies I go first before LW, if they have suppression/morde/lots of cc who flash dives me every fight I go /.


In general:
if they have no suppression champs and have champs like or even , I actually get banshees quite a bit now after QSS nerf and still amazing choice.


if they have suppression or so much HARD, CHAINED and massive CC that cleanse alone isn't enough. Examples:


if they have strong bruisers that need to dive you to win a teamfight like or . GA vs Veil is dependent on each game, generally I look at their AP carry their team, our team comp (Do we have Yorick? Janna? then I might go Veil), How close is the game to ending (if it's really late or if this one teamfight will decide the game, I'll probably go GA), do they have a poke comp or not (if they do, I'll go veil); all these factors before deciding.

It really depends, just make sure to get (or ), aka ONE CORE ITEM first before ANYTHING else. Or you won't do damage. (Don't try to be that guy who thinks he's smart and rushes QSS as first item)

Everything matters and you have to think/look at your team/enemy team/the situation. Little things like whether you have a janna support (allowing you to get more ad items and less defense as she offers more protection), or whether their ap mid is 6-0 and you need a negatron asap, all these things are situational and matter.

So to recap, generally:


->

and one of in either order



these: >

Also are important before teamfights if you can afford it, as long as you can capitalize on it. I generally get green elixir after IE + zeal before a teamfight if I can afford it, and both of them after IE/PD/LW. but once again...it depends.

EDIT: an early is also not a bad idea, but don't finish . When i need more mobility or just feel like going zeal first I'll do it and then go

This section is what I think about supports (in relation to ashe).

Generally, I play passive farm with ashe early/midgame and laning phase and cautiously seek an opportunity. If I want to win, that is. Other times I'll go aggro because I don't feel like being a pussy or because I just don't care, and end up throwing and going 0-4.


My favorite support with ashe (and one of my favorite supports overall) by far, it isn't even comparable. The extra damage from shield when volley + autoing their support/ad is noticeable, not to mention the protection when they harass/jungler comes. More importantly, during teamfights she is one of the best at protecting the ad carry, when the enemy dives me or something, ULT and GG. Clutch shields have saved me many, many times, as well as howling gale. Her weakness, obviously is that she lacks sustain laning phase but she still synergizes really well with ashe, and she can assist in ganks with cc offensively / use cc defensively/dat movespeed, and so on. Get an early vamp scepter if having trouble with sustain. Note though, if your support is really bad at janna the laning phase won't be fun. If your 5thpick says "I CANT SUPPORT WTF" just tell him to go soraka.

Another support I like with ashe, this lane is the definition of passive farm, scale well into lategame. Must farm well in this lane, try not to die, gradually poke them down and look for an opportunity to kill with jungler at 6, or just to wear them out and send them back to miss cs. Soraka's heal is negligible early so if they have for example, both of you need to stay back early levels. (I die a lot because I don't do this. Don't be like me.) Weaknesses are this lane is a prime target for ganks, I mean how hard is it to gank ashe/soraka? And it's harder to make plays when behind with a soraka. Definitely get IE asap, and in this lane you can neglect a vamp scepter.

Good support with ashe. If he goes the standard-max-w route, the armor bonus will help you survive and win trades. If you're getting shit on in lane, he can max/put more points in heal and go defensive. His stun can both be offensive in securing kills in ganks and defensive in disengaging the enemy. Later in teamfights with his stun alone + arrow can win teamfights. Overall a solid support. The stun is really one of the best support skills in the game IMO.

Another awesome support, blood boil es real op and at level 9 it's amazing. The MS and AS allows for better kiting, last hitting, and mobility both in teamfights/laning phase. Can try the Arrow + Absolute Zero combo at 6+, and nunu also excels in perma iceballing the enemy for success in ganks, iceball also helps in peeling off their bruisers off you in teamfights, or offensively going on their ad. Laning phase though this lane will be rather weak early because of lack of sustain and damage. Get an early vamp scepter.

Not the best synergy, because blitz is aggressive but ashe is weaker than most ad's early so the trades will likely go against you. Blitz excels past laning phase and can carry games in soloqueue just with hooks, so still never really a bad pick. Blitz should, in most cases, play the role of disengaging their support/ad's aggression off you and protecting you, play a more defensive role and then going aggressive with ganks/help. Good combo at 6, possible to go for kills then. Get an early vamp scepter if you have trouble with sustain (likely).

Similar to blitz, there are better choices. If my team picks leona I'd rather go corki/graves instead of ashe for better chances of dominating my lane earlier. Once again like blitz, she can make sure you don't die if the enemy engages on you with her cc, playing a disengaging role early; makes great plays later in teamfights/ganks. Not the best support with ashe. Make it alive by levels 6+ while farming the best as you can. One note though, if they enemy support is a , leona is a great choice because of her disengage, whereas someone like can't help you as much if you get hooked.

I rarely get a support Lulu, let alone experience this lane much, but from the few times I've had a lulu support, the ones that are good...are ridiculous. The damage/poke is great, protection, cc, and the bait at 6 is all great as a support. I'd take a pro Lulu over any other support when I'm playing ashe, maybe second to Janna.

This lane is great as well. Similar to soraka but more offensive/utility at 6, more kill potential and cc. Solid choice with ashe as well. But, I prefer soraka or taric instead.

Almost forgot Ali since he's always banned now and I never see him in games anymore. He's a solid champ period, offers insane CC so you don't die, while being offensive if need be with ganks, is amazing at initiating too in teamfights/ganks. And has a bit of heal for sustain. Great support too if you can take him. in terms of LANING I think there are better choices.

Basically it's personal preference. I prefer , but it depends on the playstyle. you can't really force someone to a particular support so whichever support you lane with make sure you look at the situation and their support/ad as well and decide how you'll play the lane.

Oh and, watch out for the enemy supports: . From my experience they give me the most trouble coupled with an aggressive ad like , especially if my support sucks. I take almost always vs leona (because of her ult), and often vs taric. Make sure you support wards the bush and try to dodge their skillshots, as if you get caught with one you might get 100-0'd. aka, raped.

So AD matchups, basically: you lose most of them head on and full engagement during laning phase. The general idea is to poke while farming. This section is rather speculative and situational because it highly depends on skill and the support (makes a big difference), but in general, if I had to make a few comments.



Not that bad of a lane as people think, in my experience. The phosphorus bomb/Q poke is annoying but with janna shield timings/sustain it's manageable. Also, if he comes at you volley auto him because his range isn't the best and he'll take quite a bit of damage, esp early levels. Like early levels before corki hits 4-6 ashe can do fairly well vs corki. Eventually he'll start outdamaging you really fast so back to farming, but corki isn't really too bad if I poke with volley and make him use pots. goal is to stay even in/have more cs as ashe outscales corki IMO late, primarily because of range/utility. I like janna/nunu vs corki. Possible to kill at higher levels.

Annoying as hell, if cait's good and with a champ like nunu there's little chance of winning this lane. Farm as best as you can, take a sustain support if possible, call for ganks. Utilizing volley is key here; try to poke her/their support when they try to harass, usage of volley will make or break this lane. Ashe outscales cait overall late, I believe. Hard to kill, esp if cait takes cleanse.

Rarely see him /played against him but from what I know draven is amazing early/mid so just farm and play passive and outscale him later on, he has no escapes either so easy target later. Hard lane. Ganks help as he has no escapes.

Could be real easy or extremely difficult depending on the skill level. If they're skilled with an aggressive support, it's going to be a hard lane. poke with volley as much as you can(the bulk of damage I do vs ezreal's comes from volley and I've actually won vs ezreals hard solely because of good volleys, see the theme here? Good pokes/volley are what allow me to win/do well in lane phase), once again keeping up with cs is the goal.

One note: I don't like vs ezreal (esp if ezreal is with , which he often is) because of the combined magic damage he dishes out, his mobility to easily catch up to soraka, which all soraka can do to react is w. I like here. You scale harder late so farm, get kills if possible, and it isn't the worst lane. Difficult to kill without ganks.

If I had to pick, I would say I hate this champ the most when I play ashe I guess. Like, dafuq. Too tanky, too much burst, wave clear, attack speed/reposition, smokescreen when I try to last hit at my tower. FFS. Vs Graves I actually prefer instead of , as an example, because sustain is important vs graves (as often he pushes/harasses real hard) and all of graves's attacks are physical meaning soraka's W is somewhat mitigating. once again goal is to farm and hopefully some ganks occur past 6. Hard to kill if graves is good. hard lane.

Don't see many sivir's in NA but should be an okay lane. Farm equally, try to dodge boomerangs (rush zerker's/vamp IMO), and watch the spell shield baits into arrow and etc. Possible to kill if you land arrow and watch spell shield timing.

Also strong early game. Need to watch out for the rocket jump + ignite + explosive shot combo at 2. If she hits level 2 before you, back the hell off until you're 2 as well. volley if she tries to jump. Around midgame actually you're better than her and more useful, as trist's weakest point is midgame. If possible don't take vs trist, as trist does lots of magic damage/heal reduction/gap closing, are better because they have cc and can completely nullify a jump, for example. Also, taking might be a good idea vs trist, esp as she often comes with an aggressive support like taric. Hard to kill unless you bait her jump.

Difficult lane in general, but depends on skill level. With arrow I've destroyed urgot lanes with right amount of poke beforehand. Watch out for the Swap at 6 + jungler, as you'll probably die if that happens. Sustain is important in this lane and I prefer vs urgot. Passive farm is okay as you scale a LOT harder than urgot. I'd make a after IE or IE zeal, maybe IE PD. I actually hate graves more than urgot.

Don't have much, if any experience in this matchup. Wasn't that bad from what I know. I think might be good here, not sure.

One of the very few AD's, that ashe pretty much straight up beats in lane. Vayne is weak and has short range, I like with ashe VS vayne because the shield + volley + auto = half or more of vayne's hp = gone, + the CC ensures ganks. is also very good vs vayne because of iceball. would be my final preference. Vs vayne you actually want to play aggressive depending on the situation obviously, but generally I poke/damage vayne as much as possible. It's easier to win in cs and destroy this lane than other ones, so go for kills when possible, relatively easier to kill. You have to do something because Vayne's a hypercarry and will shit on you late and outscale you.

Also an AD that isn't really strong early game. Similar to vayne it's possible to poke as much as possible and try to make him back/miss cs. Harder to kill than vayne if he plays passive because of his range but on the good side you will probably farm well too as kog isn't too threatening early. Kog scales really really well late too so beware.

rarely see mf too nowadays, basically amazing laning phase and falls off after, + no escapes. At 6 easy ganks with arrows and outscale her late. Passive farm's ok.

Ok so once again keep in mind these are General guidelines, I've had times where I've gone full aggro on graves and destroyed him 4-0 as ashe, and times where a vayne went 3-0 on me because it was a doublelift smurf. So just adjust.

when I'm ashe are:

Obvious reasons. No repositioning skill on ashe which means one hook = game over.

Assassin op. even if you react fast and flash away you'll likely die/lost a lot of HP if she lands combo on you (which isn't hard).

He can shut down ad carries by going kamikaze mode, flash exhausting (the exhaust hurts especially) you and if you're out of position you'll die 100%, esp with the ult. Need to position/peel properly vs karth.

the bane of ad carries in general, but worse for ashe because if she doesn't have flash she's 100% dead if malph lands ult. Try not to get hit by the ult /get banshees and maybe GA.

hate ryze period when I play all ad's. Tanky, scales godlike into late, can 1v1 any ad carries well into late, hard to kill (esp due to frozen heart), one snare = you die especially if his team is anywhere near.

one of the most annoying bruisers because of her quick gap closer and tankiness/burst potential, out of position and i can get 100 to 0'd np.

The gap closers/combo does quite a bit of damage, worse for ashe because if j4 ults if you don't have a janna or something you're forced to flash.

ult is devastating vs ashe because corki can just Valkyrie away as an example; ashe...can't. If I don't have a or a team who knows how to peel, I'm blowing one or two of my summoners or I'm dead.

Annoying ganks laning phase, in teamfights not too bad actually.

I could be missing some but this is generally the worst for ashe for me.
are terrible for ashe as well, but I didn't include them because they're not as viable in higher level play, they're rarely picked from what I see, and they have more weaknesses then the currently commonly picked champs (bad scaling, weaknesses to cc, no escape etc).



:
This is just, when it gets to teamfight stage, and provided I have necessary items like QSS, I prefer to see the following champs.


(basically bruisers without hard gap closers without their flash, they cant touch you mid-lategame ish if you position properly, unless they flash dive everything for mild success)

Also non-mobile AP carries with no escape like make it easier to land arrows/guarantee kills once you hit them, whereas someone like is harder to kill.

Enemy ad's without escape like . Squishy champions like that can be instabursted with arrow. Champs that you can disable their ults with arrow, like .

Just some examples where ashe (basically, arrow) helps a lot.

Farm. That's your #1 goal. CS alone will carry games into 1500-ish ELO in my experience, as I've played on my friends' accounts around there and below and cs is a big problem. You'll have more items purely through gold income and do more damage, and it improves mechanics. It's rather easy to last hit on ashe, but the problem is often you're facing vs aggressive ad/support who will try to trade/kill/zone you and so might get harder to cs. Cs with volley if you have to (2-3 creeps about to die at the same time), the volley+auto combo is great for cs.

Generally, it's better to play passive and poke them down with volley + autos as ashe has pretty good range. I know it sucks to play like a pussy, but a lot of times you have no choice. The key word is poke. Volley + autos poke do a lot more than you think, and killing is possible. What you don't want is a full on engage from full health, you'll lose. Better to wear them down, then go for a kill with your jungler. This is important. Poke and slowly wear them down, make them go b and miss cs or die. Not full on engage, if they try to full engage, back off/stay out of range.

Always keep note of their support/ad, like if it's , stay further back and dodge her E, and poke her if she tries to come at you. Utilize Volley well. Can make or break a lane. Back if you have to, and get asap imo, use if you have to, better to stay in lane and get cs then to not buy pots and get forced out of lane. Use hawkshot basically whenever it's up to check for their jungler.

Basically: poke, keep up with cs and try not to die. It's harder than it sounds, but it's also easier than it sounds.

Ashe still isn't that strong until you get . So farm and keep up/dominate cs as usual, at this point you can coordinate ganks with ult with jungler/support/mid. Use your ult whenever you can profitably, it can lead to kills/dragon and start snowballing. By now is when you should be taking the outer towers. Take bot tower if you can, generally when I have IE or almost there I want to take bot tower except a few situations. Don't 1v1 champs unless you know you can win.

This is also a great time to catch people in skirmishes/teamfights. It could be a good time to group as well. See that at wraiths just a bit extended? ULT, force drag/take mid tower. Snowball. Arrow is deadly at this point because it'll net kills and allow your team to push for objectives.

My personal preference for objectives in importance are: Mid tower > Top Tower > Bot Tower > Dragon (excluding baron), simply because I believe towers/pushing wins games, and losing mid tower is especially devastating as it allows for roams/4-5 man dives at bot and snowballing. Taking towers also makes it that much easier for your team to take map control.

Baron's also an option but only if safe/fed. Generally, taking towers is THE major goal at this point.

One note; when kills are exchanged at this point (even early game), ask yourself if it's worth it. You dying for the enemy soraka is not worth it. You and the enemy 0-10 trading is probably not worth it. Basically, your role is becoming more and more important so watch these trades in kills/summoner spells and etc that happen and always try to benefit from them.

One of the strongest points for ashe, because if you land an arrow on their ap carry/ad and they don't have QSS/react fast, the game's over. Or at the very least, you can baron/push and take inhib(s). You also are at the point of maximum scaling; once you have (and/or more) you can shred almost anyone. Stay with your team, don't get caught (I've gotten caught quite a bit and it usually leads to us losing the game), as not having an AD in a teamfight or even the AD being crippled will likely lead to a teamfight loss, and even a game loss. Make sure you're there at the start of every teamfight. At this point whenever teamfights occur you should be the most important role/most damage, and at least some of your team should be peeling you (and you should be the last one to die).

Watch for arrow opportunities, group/stay with your team (I'd say not grouping is one of the biggest reasons for losing/throwing games, I've also come back from games when the other team doesn't group and gives free baron and goes in one by one and gets aced). Teamfight properly, elixir up, position, and that's about it.

Your role as an AD carry is to deal as much damage as possible while staying alive. Autoattack everything that comes at you, stay next to your support(unless your support is like, Leona who prefers to dive their AD/AP instead), and make sure you're present from the beginning when a teamfight starts because even 3-4 seconds of an AD carry not dealing damage can easily cause a loss.

As ashe, you also have the possible role of no other AD, that of an initiator. If you see their AP/Ad out of position don't hesitate. However, if your team has or who can initiate better, then you might consider saving an arrow until their ap/ad uses flash/QSS and aim properly after a teamfight breaks out to guarantee kills.

positioning is #1. so make sure to position in the back. When grouped you should never be in the front (I'm guilty of this and have died many times trying to be rambo), especially when they have the likes of who can flash ult you.

Stay in the back. (it's hard, I know), I know how much you want to be rambo go in front and kill their ad/ap but only do so if it's safe/they're extended. Target whoever's coming at you.

Keeping track of whether the enemy champions used their or ult will help a lot, as it can make you play more aggressive. Just think in general, and play more, and eventually the experience will help and eventually you start thinking stuff like "Leona will ult about now, and I'm safe from Lee because ali is in front of me," and improve in fights.

I'd recommend to watch some high elo AD players or tournaments on positioning. it helps (I need to do this more).

So I've added a few short clips of myself playing ashe; all these clips are during laning phase and shows certain different concepts I've talked about in this guide. I just recently got LoLreplay and other video programs so I don't have too many clips of myself and actually had to figure this out; eventually I'll edit and may add some more stuff.


This clip shows why I don't like leona with ashe. Leonas tend to be aggressive, and here at level 2 she goes in for the kill on sivir. The problem is, 1) there are too many creeps against us, 2) ashe is weak early game (most important point, you see how sivir does more damage than I do), 3) sivir took ignite and I took cleanse. So leona ends up getting killed and the lane already doesn't look good. In coordinated play this might work (and it gets better at higher levels with blitz/leona), but I've never seen this player before in my life so sometimes you can't help it. If we opted for passive farm instead, it would have been better.


complete reversal of the first video, where we're both level 9 (same game). Nunu tries to do the zoning on me like he did early game; it's less effective as I have more items and can dish out a lot of damage/poke to him and with leona's damage/tankiness/cc it's an easy burst as he was too extended. Then followup for a double kill in lane.


Same game again, showing a successful gank this time. This is where leona shines, as she flash cc'd sivir making her pop her spell shield and I waited until then to arrow for the chained CC. If I had a soraka for example, a double kill would've been unlikely. (Still though, I don't like leona with ashe).

Now then for some footages of other great ashe players (or at least in these clips), some teamfight and more in-depth, overall plays:


This is the footage from IEM World Championship 2012 between Fnatic vs Millenium, two top European teams then. Fnatic Lamia, the AD carry, plays ashe here excellently in a teamfight and gets a boss pentakill in this teamfight. A couple things to be noticed here:
-Ashe arrow is what initiates/signals the start of the teamfight, and provides the catalyst for kennen and the others to go in. Landing arrows once again, and controlling when a teamfight breaks out is huge.

-Ashe is positioned in the back even before a teamfight erupts, just incase he gets flash ulted (as he has heal in this game and no QSS/banshees yet). He stays in the back and dodges galio's flash ult, because he is out of range and allows him to dps and not get caught by these CC skills.

-Ashe hits whatever is closest to him and does not extend deep in. When it is safe to do so though, he switches the target from skarner to Corki/Janna as they are lower health and more threatening.

-The support (nunu) stays close to ashe, bloodboils ashe, iceballs whoever tries to get to ashe and then Ults when Millenium tries to get to ashe. Solid protection/play and why Nunu's a great support with ashe.

-Ashe pokes and stays mobile in a fight and kites; doesn't stand still, and flashes away when the enemies get close.

-Ashe is not the first or the second one to die in the teamfight.

-Because ashe stood in the back, and the other team already blew their summoners/ults, ashe and nunu were able to essentially 2v5 at the end with kiting.

-What I don't like here is the 3 on ashe, it's strong for laning phase but delays your core build so much, I mean he's on a pro team so, it's just my opinion.



Found another great game, Semifinal of IEM Hanover between M5 and CLG.

-Notice the double AP comp that scales well late and works well with ashe, Vlad/Kennen, along with NOC for godlike initiation. Ashe arrows in teamfights and vlad kennen goes in with zhonyas/aoe disrupting the whole CLG team while Genja kites everything that comes at him from the back.

-Amazing janna support that protects ashe in teamfights and makes it really difficult to kill ashe, as well as to escape from ashe once caught. great example of why Janna is my #1 favorite support with ashe.

-It's really difficult for ashe to die with a janna and proper positioning, Genja had 1 death despite the team losing for most of the duration of the game.

-Notice how M5 picked ashe vs and , who are basically useless and very ineffective lategame vs ashe. See how ashe kites from the back in teamfights and Hotshot/Saint are just trying to move and can't do anything but get kited to death unless they flash dive (which still is ineffective). So that leaves only Ahri who has to solo kill Ashe (because Noc/ken are diving doublelift and Cait has to stay far back too), and that won't happen with a Janna mid-lategame.

-Arrow op for catching people, and M5 maximized it. Hotshot getting caught at Top and bot repeatedly was one of the reasons that allowed M5 to keep farming and come back as they had a superior lategame. (they were initially losing). If you're losing or it's dead even and you've taken towers, go group a bit and try to pick people off.

-Same thing here with the 3 (what's with these pros and dorans)took longer to come back and do damage because he gets his IE/PD later, where having IE a couple minutes earlier might have allowed M5 to come back faster. once again my opinion (in general I don't like more than 1 doran) since Genja is a better player than I am.

So my first guide, ended up being really lengthy, spent like 2+ hours on it. This is just a compilation of my thoughts on ashe, get to play her and you might play her differently which is fine.

This game isn't really the most difficult, and playing ashe isn't really groundbreakingly difficult. But ironically, this is why little things such as knowing when to cs/push, to kill them or not, to trade summoners/save them, to trade kills, to position in which place, are important and game-changing. A lot of this guide is probably obvious, but you'll be surprised how little people actually implement them. (Including me at times.)


Well then, enjoy your day.

-AceHighRiver