How does Ashe's passive fit with her role?

MXXIV·2/21/2015, 3:21:23 PM·86 votes·6,823 views

Recently my girlfriend wanted me to duel her as Ashe vs Ashe. I don't like ADC role and the last time I played Ashe was the tutorial because after tutorial I thought Ashe is just for noobs (well she definitelly isn't).

What kinda surprised me was her passive. It actually motivates you NOT TO ATTACK, while most other champions have various passives that proc by attacking (Caitlin's headshot, Vayne's rings...). Can some regular Ashe player explain me how is this passive properly used?

153 Comments

BakedLotion2/21/2015, 3:46:07 PM54 votes

It's to make her weak as fuck cause she doesnt make LCSBIGPLAYS

Sirsir2/21/2015, 3:59:05 PM37 votes

Its old and not well thought out

Kitten of Evil2/21/2015, 4:46:47 PM11 votes

I get the "it's for kiting/poking" argument, but it seems like whoever designed it forgot that ADCs are constantly trying to CS. There's very limited opportunity to sit back and store passive charges without missing CS. You also don't want to waste your 100 stacks on a minion, since it takes considerably longer than (say) Cait's passive to stack.

flibitydoo2/21/2015, 5:10:48 PM11 votes

I think it's there because Tryndamere also has a crit chance passive and for thematic reasons (since the two are a married couple in the lore) they both have similar passives.

Sort of like how Draven used to have a bleed passive to match his big brother Darius.

GuiltyGecko2/21/2015, 8:44:14 PM10 votes

I get the feeling that a lot of non-Ashe players are offering their insight, which is fine, but probably aren't using the passive correctly. Granted, I am a support main, but I play Ashe whenever I have to ADC.

After you hit level 2, you should NOT be constantly pushing the wave as Ashe. That means you should not be constantly auto attacking. Between waves, and between waiting to last hit your passive will go up. Depending on how much action there is in the lane, you should have a crit available every 2-3 minion waves. This crit + W combo can easily set your opponents back. You know how so many high level ADC players run 1 crit rune? Well Ashe has that one crit rune built in, and it's more consistent and frequent. Late game, your first shot with statikk shiv will always get the bonus damage since your first shot will always crit.

Personally I like her passive as it adds a lot of damage to her laning phase if you know how to take advantage of it. Does it fit her role? I think that depends on how you define ADC. If you think ADC's are supposed to be just like Cait and auto push lane all day then sure, Ashe's passive isn't for you, but her passive does add variety to the ADC role overall.

WhiskerWow2/21/2015, 5:10:43 PM9 votes

item 3069 Play crit-damage support c-A$HE, profit. Seriously though, it's just for a little extra burst when you fight, it's not that useful. Ashe

Reikken2/21/2015, 4:09:51 PM9 votes

Ashe is a poke/kite/support champ sneak in shots when you can, and back off when it's not safe

Stacona2/21/2015, 8:27:42 PM8 votes

Her passive is thematically correct, she lies in wait, focus her aim, and then lands a lethal blow on her opponent as a long bow archer

Lavaniel2/21/2015, 9:13:09 PM7 votes

As an Ashe main, I like her passive. Sure it could use a few tweaks. But what makes it great is that when the enemy is trying to steal your red buff, stand in the bush, with most of your team, and when they get close, volley and auto-attack. Bam! Either half or 3 quarters of your health is gone. No other ADC is capable of that quick burst. Plus a guaranteed crit if your freezing lane? Perfect. Ashe is easy to pick up, hard to master. I just can't play her right now because her models are messing up my machine (really, weird glitch where my duo buddy and I get stuck together).

LankPants2/21/2015, 10:38:55 PM4 votes

To be honest I don't mind her passive. It helps to improve her early game a little, without it she just wouldn't be a threat early game, with it a smart Ashe can use her passive to bully the enemies off a couple of CS every few waves early game.

I do find it fairly lackluster late game though. It increases the damage of her first auto by around 25% compared to other ADCs with the same crit chance built up, it's a little bit higher if you have SS. In short it does almost nothing. IMO there are two ways you could increase the impact of Ashe's passive while keeping it mostly the same.

You can chose to increase the effects of the individual crits by making the passive deal 200/225/250% critical damage at levels 1/7/13. Or alternately you can increase the frequency of the crits by allowing the passive to start stacking in combat after level 11, allowing her multiple passive crits in one teamfight.

XxxLumberJackxxX2/21/2015, 9:03:18 PM4 votes

This thread is a veiled brag that OP has a gf. Or the whole thread is a lie.

Darmonic2/21/2015, 10:44:48 PM4 votes

They should just change her passive so she gets increased crit chance on champions that are slowed.

Call it, Frost bite... easy.

Aegis Meliae2/21/2015, 9:37:19 PM4 votes

Season One, one of the original 40 champions. Jump to now, Season 5. Over 80 champions later, several of which have had complete kit re-works and have bounced in and out of viability, Ashe is mostly untouched and still completely viable.

If 5 seasons of lurking around the forums has taught me anything, people always like to claim Ashe needs buffs. Well, ok, maybe people actually asked for nerfs back in Season 1. Perma-slow on champions like Udyr when mobility meant "can run really fast" caused some complaints. But constantly over the years I've seen people ask for buffs/changes to Ashe.

And those changes never happen. Yet Ashe is still doing fine. To use a term that these boards seem to understand, she has a 50% or better win-rate almost constantly. Hmm... odd how these things almost seem like they might be related to each other.

Bah, I don't really know why I'm bothering to post this. Basically, just a bit sick of people constantly bringing up the same ideas over and over. Especially since the vast majority of us don't have a clue how balancing works (so maybe we should keep our thoughts to ourselves). Having played hundreds of games with Ashe doesn't help keep me from getting frustrated at these threads either. She's not the strongest, but certainly not the weakest. And that's fine.

(I guess I'm also worried that one day ya'll will finally talk Riot into buffing her, then she'll get nerfs later on. Or worse yet, complete overhaul and then no longer feels like Ashe.)

Hyrum Graff2/22/2015, 2:33:54 AM3 votes

Ashe main here.

It incentives you to freeze the lane. If you're careful, you can let it build up to 95 and then AA constantly to hold it there. When your supp lands cc or an engage happens you'll get a free crit and auto-win the trade unless you or your supp messes up horribly. Note: because Ashe likes to freeze because of this, I prefer to play her in a solo lane.

It's also useful for jts great synnergy with shiv, to start off any fight with some crit aoe.

In normal play, the final place it's useful is lvl1 in lane. If you can get it on the enemy adc song with a volley, you can put them on the defensive until their first buy.

Finally, it's useful if you want to play my cheeze assassin ashe:

Ashe item 3031 item 3087 item 3035 item 3078 item 3172 item 3142

straight4free2/22/2015, 2:36:07 AM3 votes

It gives her an advantage in every skirmish. It motivates you with the "yes, I can go in a fight that Kassadin who has 400 health left, because I know I have a crit in his face with my first aa.

I don't think her passive needs much change. The game around her is just too hostile to immobile carries, especially ones who rely solely on a slow to stay alive.

Rhyto2/21/2015, 11:47:52 PM3 votes

It's not really great and its really only useful in the timing of utilizing her ult. If you miss her ult you pretty much can't do anything without having to deal with cc, stealth, etc. champions who can shut her down quite quickly. Her Volley is effective in ARAMs but other than that its really focusing on the ult to utilize the passive better. She's certainly troubling to use sometimes when you have players that can outmaneuver her skills in which is why she isn't used much lately.

Pros: Slow CC, Great Engage, Free Vision, Gold per LA on minions Cons: No escape, Heavily reliant on team (I haven't seen a lot of Ashes' perform well alone.), Low AA Range

I'm sure there's more but I'd rather not post such heavy details.

She isn't the best ADC to use and while she can be effective against weak comps and if good players can just somehow win a lane easily against meta champs I wouldn't really recommend her unless you've had plenty of experience with her.

TrentBatNA2/22/2015, 1:36:38 PM2 votes

It's to make sure that she has a useless passive late game when you are constantly attacking, since you can only be strong if you have high mobility

Ariaflux2/21/2015, 4:26:39 PM2 votes

Think of it another way: even when she's not attacking, her damage on the opponent is increasing.

DeusVult2/21/2015, 11:47:56 PM2 votes

If used properly, you can get a few stacks in between farm and then land that auto-crit on your lane opponent. Kinda helps with her lack of poke/damage steroid. However, its outdated and anti-intuitive. I'd prefer to see her get a stacking mechanic that ups her damage when attacking the same target. But Riot will never do that, because they believe its bad to give an ADC utility and damage, even though that ADC is immobile.

yet then they release Kalista

Quepha2/22/2015, 12:02:46 AM1 votes

it doesn't motivate you to not attack, it just gives you a boost at the start of fights and reduces the penalty you take from not attacking (because you are moving aka when you are kiting) it's still very much better to attack an enemy when you have an opportunity to even if it stops your passive from going up.