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Recommended Items
Spells:
Exhaust
Flash
Items
Ability Order
Frost Shot (PASSIVE)
Ashe Passive Ability
To do
-
•Get better line dividers and improve formatting.
•Add pictures/videos showing stuff. e.g. Ward locations, places to aim arrows...
•Make a FAQ section.
•Complete the matchups section
•Play a game using Support Ashe in a Ranked game. I've been holding this off because some people can have... Overdramatic reactions to unconventional champion picks.
Hi there, and welcome to my first ever guide! Some of you may know me as "that dumb support who made our team lose the game". For those of you who haven't gotten a chance to see me, I'm monkeyboyinc, a low Gold Support main. While I may not be the best player in the world, I'm still confident enough in my abilities to try new things, such as Support Ashe. So bear with me, and I'll explain to you why Support Ashe is a viable choice. More importantly, I'll explain what the other guides and videos get wrong. So sit back, pour yourself a cuppa and read on!
In today's metagame, Ashe is a pretty rare pick. After all, she has no escape outside of Flash and no attack steroid. Heck, two of her skills don't provide any damage whatsoever. As a global skillshot junkie, this saddens me greatly. Like it or not, Ashe is a niche pick. However, there is one part of Ashe's skillset that left me particularly perplexed. Her passive, Focus, is an ability which just doesn't fit the Marksman playstyle.
With this in mind, I decided to try out Ashe as a support champion, as she can make full use of her passive in this role. Predictably, it went terribly. I, however, didn't give up. After my third game, I created a custom item set for support Ashe and everything started to fall into place. Since then, I've had over fifty games with the Frost Archer in the support role, and I'm still not bored of her unique playstyle.
I hope that after seeing this guide, some of you will find as much success with Ashe Support as I have.
Oh and yes, I am a bit wordy in this guide. Sorry.
With this in mind, I decided to try out Ashe as a support champion, as she can make full use of her passive in this role. Predictably, it went terribly. I, however, didn't give up. After my third game, I created a custom item set for support Ashe and everything started to fall into place. Since then, I've had over fifty games with the Frost Archer in the support role, and I'm still not bored of her unique playstyle.
I hope that after seeing this guide, some of you will find as much success with Ashe Support as I have.
Oh and yes, I am a bit wordy in this guide. Sorry.
Most guides, at this point, have a Pros/Cons chapter. They're look somethign like this:
There. It looked neat and stuff, but let's be honest: It doesn't really give much detail. If that short table was enough for you, feel free to skip ahead. Otherwise, I'm going to go into detail about what Ashe brings to the table that other supports don't.
Ashe is the only AD support in the game. At first, that may seem like a flaw, since everyone takes at least a few flat Armour Runes. However, once you begin to think about what this actually entails, it quickly becomes a Support Ashe's true defining feature.
Warning: lots of text:
TLDR: Ashe is one hell of a early game support.
This is much less wordier than the last point, mainly because it's more of an instantly recognisable advantage. Enchanted Crystal Arrow is quite possibly the single most satisfying ultimate in the game. It stuns and deals decent damage to the first target it hits, and slows everyone around it for three seconds. Easily just as useful as Leona's ultimate. However, the real reason this ultimate is so great is because of the global range.
By taking Ashe into battle as a support, you've automatically increased your team's presence on the map. If a fight breaks out in your/their jungle, you can help your jungler win the battle with a well placed 3 second stun. If your midlaner has their own ultimate ready, you can give them an opening to initiate by firing your arrow to mid lane. Some of you may be shaking your heads at this point, complaining that the arrow is impossible to land from that range. Really though, that's simply due to your lack of experience. Keep practising, and you may discover just how amazing of an ability this is.
I think this one is actually kinda self-explanatory, really. You press Q and your opponent is slowed by your auto attacks. It's not as strong as other guides make it out to be, but it's still pretty great.
Oh and also your E is Clairvoyance. 'Nuff said.
Ashe has a rather low base HP. This isn't much of a problem, since most AP supports have low base HP's too. Sightstone will help rectify this somewhat, except my guide advises you build Sightone quite late. Just be careful when around a Leona and be on the lookout for ganks at all times, okay?
Pre-6, Ashe works best as part of an aggressive poke lane. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, Sustain lanes beat poke lanes by virtue of being able to shrug off whatever poke you throw at them. Worse yet, any damage they do to you, you can't heal back without a health potion.
If you find yourself up against a sustain lane, you better be careful about taking damage. If you let up on the harassment after a trade, they'll be able to recover whereas you won't.
Yeah, I know I wrote a big wall of text about the benefits of being an AD support, but one must also consider the fact that in today's meta, an All AD team is very possible to have, accidentally or otherwise. If you find your team has an excessive of Attack damage, I highly recommend you choose a different champion instead. Having three or more auto-attack based champs with no AP anywhere is just /begging/ for the entire enemy team to buy Thornmail.
Yeah, it happens. Lots of people are very hesitant to play with a Ashe Support. Be prepared for marksmen to quit the lobby the moment you join, and be prepared to get kicked by the team captains.
My personal highscore is 12 consecutive kicks!
Pros + Has good early game poke + Can transition into the role of a second ADC + Her Q, Frost Shot makes her autoattacks permaslow + Her Global skillshot ult, Enchanted Crystal Arrow is amazing + Is quite possibly the only AD Support in the game. |
Cons - Rather squishy - Is given a very hard time by Sustain lanes - Is Autoattack based.; Thornmail might give you a hard time. - If you're in Team Builder, you will have trouble finding a team that will accept you. |
There. It looked neat and stuff, but let's be honest: It doesn't really give much detail. If that short table was enough for you, feel free to skip ahead. Otherwise, I'm going to go into detail about what Ashe brings to the table that other supports don't.
The Positives
Ashe is the only AD support in the game. At first, that may seem like a flaw, since everyone takes at least a few flat Armour Runes. However, once you begin to think about what this actually entails, it quickly becomes a Support Ashe's true defining feature.
Warning: lots of text:
Spoiler: Click to view
TLDR: Ashe is one hell of a early game support.
This is much less wordier than the last point, mainly because it's more of an instantly recognisable advantage. Enchanted Crystal Arrow is quite possibly the single most satisfying ultimate in the game. It stuns and deals decent damage to the first target it hits, and slows everyone around it for three seconds. Easily just as useful as Leona's ultimate. However, the real reason this ultimate is so great is because of the global range.
By taking Ashe into battle as a support, you've automatically increased your team's presence on the map. If a fight breaks out in your/their jungle, you can help your jungler win the battle with a well placed 3 second stun. If your midlaner has their own ultimate ready, you can give them an opening to initiate by firing your arrow to mid lane. Some of you may be shaking your heads at this point, complaining that the arrow is impossible to land from that range. Really though, that's simply due to your lack of experience. Keep practising, and you may discover just how amazing of an ability this is.
I think this one is actually kinda self-explanatory, really. You press Q and your opponent is slowed by your auto attacks. It's not as strong as other guides make it out to be, but it's still pretty great.
Oh and also your E is Clairvoyance. 'Nuff said.
The Negatives
Ashe has a rather low base HP. This isn't much of a problem, since most AP supports have low base HP's too. Sightstone will help rectify this somewhat, except my guide advises you build Sightone quite late. Just be careful when around a Leona and be on the lookout for ganks at all times, okay?
Pre-6, Ashe works best as part of an aggressive poke lane. Unfortunately, as everyone knows, Sustain lanes beat poke lanes by virtue of being able to shrug off whatever poke you throw at them. Worse yet, any damage they do to you, you can't heal back without a health potion.
If you find yourself up against a sustain lane, you better be careful about taking damage. If you let up on the harassment after a trade, they'll be able to recover whereas you won't.
Yeah, I know I wrote a big wall of text about the benefits of being an AD support, but one must also consider the fact that in today's meta, an All AD team is very possible to have, accidentally or otherwise. If you find your team has an excessive of Attack damage, I highly recommend you choose a different champion instead. Having three or more auto-attack based champs with no AP anywhere is just /begging/ for the entire enemy team to buy Thornmail.
Yeah, it happens. Lots of people are very hesitant to play with a Ashe Support. Be prepared for marksmen to quit the lobby the moment you join, and be prepared to get kicked by the team captains.
My personal highscore is 12 consecutive kicks!
What not to do
First of all, what you should not have as your rune page is this:
Runes
Yes, I am well aware that Siv HD ran 48 Crit damage. People seem intent on reminding me of that fact in 30% of the games I play. But there are two important reasons why you should not do this.
1: You are not Siv HD. Sib HD is an extremely skilled player who was playing in a premade team of 5 against random people in a Normal game. Odds are, you probably aren't.
2: Ashe's passive has changed since Siv HD made his video.
Back then, Focus gained stacks every second while not attacking. Whenever she did attack, however many stacks she had was her Critical Strike chance. Since it was entirely possible to waste the passive by attacking before 100 stacks and not getting a Crit, it encouraged you to wait.
With her remade passive, this is no longer the case. Ashe should be attacking as frequently as possible, hence the AD marks. Most of her attacks will not be Critical Strikes, so sacrificing all early game gold and armour just isn't worth the increase in burst damage from the Crits.
Instead, do this:
Runes
This rune page gives you everything you need for a good laning phase. The Gold/10 runes means that you have another source of income, since you'll be leaving creeps to the ADC. The Armour and Magic Resist is fairly self-explanatory, I feel. And finally, the AD gives that extra edge to your power; your poke hurts more, your potential in a fight is higher, and if you find yourself in lane alone, last hitting creeps is easier.
I anticipate that my masteries will be the second most controversial part of this guide. This is due to the fact that many of my mastery choices have other options which are debatably better than the ones I use. For this reason, you should decide for yourself which ones are really worth using over the others.
The most controversial part of the guide, of course, is the part where I play Ashe Support.
The most controversial part of the guide, of course, is the part where I play Ashe Support.
OFFENCE
Given that you want to do damage early, I tend to sink 9 points into the Offence tree in order to gain access to
Martial Mastery
. Naturally, that entails pumping another three points into
Brute Force
and another five points somewhere among the tier 1/2 Masteries. The only viable choices here are
Double-Edged Sword
,
Fury
, Sorcery and
Expose Weakness
. Personally, I like to put four points into Sorcery and one point into Fury . Having the 5% CDR from Sorcery means I can start the game with 10% CDR with help from Intelligence . Shaving 10 seconds off my ult's cooldown makes quite the difference. I put the remaining point into Fury instead of Expose Weakness because I feel as though giving my teammate 1% bonus damage from hitting an enemy with my W is a bit overly specific. You could put the point into Double-Edged Sword though, if you'd prefer it. It's really up to you. |
DEFENCE
As you can probably tell, I don't bother with the Defence Masteries at all. That isn't to say that there's not any good options available. I just feel as though points can be spent better in other places. If you simply must dip into the Defence tree, I'd suggest getting Block and/or Recovery . Enchanted Armor is useless on Ashe. Despite what the comments section on a different Ashe Support guide says, Ashe is not a tank. Tough Skin is equally useless. If you're an insane person who wants to spend more than 4 points, Unyielding and Veteran's Scars are both good choices. I'd lean a bit more towards Unyielding , personally. |
UTILITY
The Utility tree is what I find to the the most useful tree, personally. There is just so many different perks you can get from it. As with the other two trees, nothing I say here is absolute. Feel free to improvise! I take Phasewalker because recalling one second quicker means you can return to lane one second sooner. Also, it can save your life when recalling in the brush. The Fleet of Foot points are there in order to help me stick to enemies that little bit better. I held off putting three points into it so that I had a point left over for Wanderer , which is the same but better, except it doesn't work outside of combat. I get three points of mana regen to help ensure I never need to worry about it, and so that I can get Strength of Spirit . This mastery is like Recover from the Defensive tree, but better in every way. Greed , Scavenger , Wealth and Bandit are all amazing choices, Bandit especially. You can earn loads of gold from auto attacking enemies, which is exactly what an Ashe support should be doing anyway. Finally, I got Intelligence to bring my CDR up to 10%, because . I tried running Inspiration for a while, but I'm unsure if it even works. I've never seen my EXP go up ever, even when waiting next to a higher leveled champion. *Shrug* |
Let's be realistic. There's only two spells that can go here.
Exhaust is a must have for supports. Not only does it slow enemies, but it also cripples their damage and their attack speed! Even better, as of Patch 4.13, it lowers the target enemy's armour! This is a spell you should take 95% of the time. | Flash, AKA, that yellow thing that shows up no less than ten times on the loading screen. Instant repositioning in great, no matter what champion you are! Since Ashe lacks an escape of her own, you'd have to be an absolute teapot in order to not take this spell. |
Other options
If you're against a heavy sustain lane (Read; Soraka), you might consider taking this. Otherwise, I'd give it a miss. |
If your ADC is a greedy bastard who took Ignite, you should probably take Heal in order to save his arse. |
A rather underrated choice, Smite is seeing more and more use as of late in the LCS due to a recent shift in the meta. Consider bringing Revive along too should you plan to utilise this. |
PassiveFocus |
Description:
If Ashe has not attacked in the last 3 seconds, she gains 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 Focus stacks per second. At 100 stacks, Ashe will critically strike on her next basic attack. Thereafter, Focus stacks will reset to an amount equal to her critical strike chance.
Ashe's passive is an amazing tool for an support. As she's not going to be attack minions most of the time, she will be gaining stacks all throughout laning. Each time your focus hits 100, you should try to tag the squishier of your lane opponents with an arrow. Hit W to fire a Volley at them while you're at it, for extra damage!. At level 1, this combo can easily do 180 damage to your enemy, and it only costs 60 mana! Tips
|
QFrost Shot |
Description:
Ashe enchants her basic attacks with ice, slowing her targets for 2 seconds.
This skill is Ashe's defining trait, the one which everyone knows. When Q is toggled on, Ashe's arrows gain a slowing effect, starting at 15% at level 1 and increasing by 5% per level afterwards. Since you won't be farming when playing support, you can basically just leave this skill turned on the entire time. 8 Mana a shot isn't a problem, especially considering Ancient Coin gives mana regeneration. This skill is great for fights where the enemies start to turn and run. You can just focus your attacks on them to slow them so your teammates can murderfy them. However, this skill is definitely not supposed to be maxed first. I'll go into a bit more detail after I cover Volley but for now, just max it out second. Tips
|
WVolley |
Description:
Ashe fires 7 arrows in a cone, dealing physical damage to each target hit. Volley also applies the current rank of Frost Shot to each target hit
Volley is such a great skill. What more can I say? It has a massive range, is very hard to dodge, slows the opponent and deals more damage than an auto attack. Take a point at level 1 and max it first. Frost Shot or Volley? Some guides recommend that you max Frost Shot first and then this later. The logic behind this is that Frost shot becomes a 35% slow at level 5, while Volley only gains +40 damage. Using a Level 2 volley will still apply this slow to everyone it hits, so by maxing Frost Shot first, you are increasing the power of this skill too. At first glance, this seems pretty convincing. After all, +10 damage per level up really doesn't seem like it's worth the price. Upon further examination though, this argument falls apart. At level 1, Volley has an enormous cooldown, 16 seconds. Each additional level you put into it decreases the cooldown by a massive 3 seconds, meaning that this skill will only have a 4 second cooldown at Level 5, a 75% decrease. Say a 2 vs 2 fight breaks out in bot lane at level 9. At this point, you'll either have Level 5 in Frost Shot and Level 2 in Volley, or you'll have Level 5 in Volley and Level 2 in Frost Shot. Let's look at the first situation. Since the enemy you should be focusing as also an ADC, a 35 percent slow won't really affect them very much. Slowing the enemy has zero effect on their damage output. Sure, they can't escape or chase you, but you haven't really got anything that gives you the edge you need to win, save for Ashe's ultimate, Enchanted Crystal Arrow. If you were to have maxed out Volley first though, you would certainly have the advantage needed to win the fight. Each volley shot would deal 80+100% of your AD, making each Volley almost equivalent to two auto attacks. Not only that, but you would be able to use it once every 4 seconds, instead of once every 13 seconds like in the previous example. In the time it took to do 50+100%AD damage in the previous example, you will have done 240+300%AD of damage to the enemy. Possibly even to both enemies, since it's an AoE spell. Sure, the enemy has more potential to escape, but they have much less potential to win the fight. Besides, Enchanted Crystal Arrow proves you with good damage, a hefty 3 second slow and a stun that's guaranteed to last at least 1 second. In short, Death is the best form of CC and you should help apply it with Volley. Tips
|
EHawkshot |
Description:
Ashe animates a hawk to scout for her, granting sight for 2 seconds as it flies towards a target location. Hawkshot grants a 1000-radius area of sight for 5 seconds when it reaches its destination. In addition, Ashe passively gains 3 extra gold whenever she kills a unit
This is probably the most understated of all of Ashe's skills. The passive part is largely ineffective as a support, as she'll be gaining gold from minions her team-mates kill thanks to Ancient Coin. However, the active ability is much more useful than most people think. Due to Hawkshot, Ashe almost never needs to facecheck a brush. Not only that, but it can provide vision in key areas during intense situations. Say your adc is Vayne, and they just activated their ult. Odds are, she's going to Condemn an enemy into the outer wall, if this fight is happening at bot lane. Using Hawkshot, your Vayne doesn't need to worry about accidentally hitting the enemy into an unwarded brush, as this skill will give you vision into the brush. Overall, this is a surprisingly useful tool. Take a point at level 3/4 and max it last. Tips
|
Starting Items
These items provide everything you need in order to keep you going until your first recall. The Ancient Coin provides mana regen, a small amount of HP regen and most importantly, gold! The health potions, meanwhile, means you can heal up after a trade. Since you're relying mainly on auto attacks for damage, the enemy should be at a real mana disadvantage after the trade. |
|
Spellthief's Edge
|
First buys
This is the place where I feel that other builds start to screw up. Of these three items, the Pickaxe is definitely the most important. I highly recommend you buy this before the other two items. The reason why Ashe Support is so effective during early game is due to the high ammount of damage she's able to output. Unfortunately, that damage starts to fall off hard as laning continues, as the base health of the enemy champions starts getting higher and higher. By buying an early pickaxe, Ashe will be able to continue outputting a decent amount of damage until laning ends. If you don't build a damage item like this nice and early, you'll just end up turning into a tickle Ashe, like the other builds have you do. As for the Boots and Nomad's Medallion both these items are just plain good buys. I'd prioritise the Medallion over boots most of the time, but you're free to buy things in whatever order you wish. Heck, sometimes I just plain skip the Medallion altogether if a better option opens up (Such as having enough to buy a powerful item earlier than expected.). Just don't forgot to keep buying wards. Wards save lives, kids! |
What happens next?
By now, the laning phase is probably near its end, if not already. Because of this, you simply must buy a Sightstone. As the support, your teammates will be relying on you to provide vision of key areas. Because of this, the Sightstone is an essential buy. You should also consider swapping out your Stealth Ward for a Sweeping Lens. Now that you have a sightstone, the Warding Totem is basically obsolete. With the Sweeping Lens, you can start denying your enemies vision of the map, giving your team an advantage in map control. |
Final core items
|
Infinity EdgeThe reason for buying the Infinity Edge is to give Ashe enough damage to make an actual difference in a fight. Otherwise, you run the risk of ending up with the infamously useless Tickle Ashe. |
Divergent Builds
OFFENSIVE ITEMS
|
Statikk Shiv |
|
Phantom Dancer |
|
Trinity Force |
|
Last Whisper |
|
TheBlackCleaver |
|
Spirit of the Elder LizardAt the price of 2000 gold, this is a cheap item. While it's not incredibly powerful, it does give some attack damage, and a bit of CDR. However, the true reason you buy this item is for the True damage. Ashe's W, Volley, deals physical damage, meaning that every target hit is burned for 14+2*{level} damage. If for some reason, the enemy team has lots of armour without much HP, this item can be a very useful buy. Unfortunately, since this is technically a gold income item, you can't own both this and the Talisman of ascension at the same time. If you sold your Ancient Coin in order to get a super-early BF Sword or something, this can be a worthwhile pickup. Otherwise, it's extremely situational. |
|
Runaan's Hurricane-Every Tickle Ashe ever. Seriously, I just don't get these guys. Ashe barely ever runs out of mana in teamfights anyway, even when she's spamming her Volley. Her Volley, I should mention, is very capable of applying a 35% slow to three enemies at once. I guess maybe if you also had Black Cleaver and BotrK, it miiiiight be worth it? I dunno. All I know is, there's never been a single time where I thought to myself, "Boy, I sure need even more slowing potential" as Ashe. Ignore it. |
|
Executioner's Calling |
SUPPORTIVE ITEMS
Talisman of Ascension |
Talisman of AscensionMore importantly, the active is amazing. Since Ashe doesn't have a built-in escape, this item can really help her survivability, and the survivability of her team-mates too! Not only that, but it was be used to engage too! Fire off an Enchanted Crystal Arrow onto the enemy of your choice, then pop the speed boost so your fighters can run into the enemy's back-line! |
Face of the mountain |
Face of the mountain |
|
Frost Queen's Claim |
Zeke's herald |
Zeke'sHerald |
|
Mikael'sCrucible |
|
Ruby sightsone |
TRINKETS
When it comes to Trinkets I feel there's not really any choice that is better than the other. While it is generally agreed that starting with Stealth Ward and swapping out for Sweeping Lens upon buying a Sightstone is a good idea, the trinket you end the game with will vary greatly. On one hand, you could upgrade the Stealth Ward so that it can place Pink Wards. This is useful if you want to control objectives. On the other hand, you could upgrade the Sweeping Lens to give true sight around you, which is very useful for teamfighting against champions with stealth, and is also better at clearing out wards. If you actually want to have fun though, go with the Scrying Orb. There is simply nothing more satisfying that tagging an enemy with the orb and hitting him with an Enchanted Crystal Arrow. I've gotten kills on out of position carries in the jungle that way before. It works. Finally, if the game has been dragging on for ages, you could sell your Sightstone and upgrade your Warding Totem to the Greater Stealth Totem. It's risky, since you'd have less vision, but that extra inventory slot could buy something that gives you the edge needed to win. |
Below are a list of champions you're likely to come up against in lane. This list is by no means exhaustive yet, but it should give you a general idea as to what's a tough lane and what isn't. Keep in mind that there's three main things you should think about when it comes to an opponent:
|
AlistarSpoiler: Click to view
|
|
CaitlynSpoiler: Click to view
|
LeonaSpoiler: Click to view
|
LuluSpoiler: Click to view
|
SonaSpoiler: Click to view
|
VayneSpoiler: Click to view
|
As this is my first ever guide, I have quite a few people I wish to thank.
First and foremost, thank you to Riot Games and the entire League of Legends community. Without you guys, I wouldn't be playing this game at all.
Thank you Mobafire.com, for being my #1 go-to place for tips and guides when playing League.
Thank you jhoijhoi. Not only has your guide to writing guides been a massive help, but your old Nasus Guide was the first guide I had ever used.
Thank you leagueoflegends.wikia.com, for covering so many details so comprehensively. You were a much-used resource while coming up with this playstyle.
Thank you Siv HD, for making people think I'm a Siv HD fanboy trying to copy his tactics.
Thank you everyone who I have ever played Support Ashe with and lost. Your sacrifice was not in vain.
Finally, thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any suggestions, queries or spot any glaring errors, don't hessitate to share your thoughts!
First and foremost, thank you to Riot Games and the entire League of Legends community. Without you guys, I wouldn't be playing this game at all.
Thank you Mobafire.com, for being my #1 go-to place for tips and guides when playing League.
Thank you jhoijhoi. Not only has your guide to writing guides been a massive help, but your old Nasus Guide was the first guide I had ever used.
Thank you leagueoflegends.wikia.com, for covering so many details so comprehensively. You were a much-used resource while coming up with this playstyle.
Thank you Siv HD, for making people think I'm a Siv HD fanboy trying to copy his tactics.
Thank you everyone who I have ever played Support Ashe with and lost. Your sacrifice was not in vain.
Finally, thank you for taking the time to read this. If you have any suggestions, queries or spot any glaring errors, don't hessitate to share your thoughts!
~mbi
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