Champion update review for Ashe: the Frost Archer
Ashe's rework is up on the PBE, so as an Ashe player I'll be breaking down her new kit for anyone interested
Passive: Frost shot: Ashe's current Q has been moved to her passive, removing the mana cost but delaying the full slow amount until level 16, delaying it by only a few levels compared to the old leveling order of W then Q. Overall this is a positive change and is in line with Ashe's late game scaling.
The second portion of this ability further contributes to the consistency Ashe has in damage dealt, instead of gaining crit chance, all of Ashes basic attacks will deal bonus damage(to slowed enemies) based on her critical strike chance. The scaling is currently 1:1, but with a 10% base, so 15% crit chance will grant 15% extra damage, the bonus damage from the IE passive seems to add an additional 50% of the current bonus, meaning IE on its own will grant 30% extra damage, making IE a very pronounced power spike for the laning phase.
Q: Rangers Focus: I'm just going to start by saying that this ability will probably not be released in it's current form, since it is incredibly broken and is the best steroid in the game hands down. At rank 5 it grants 60% attack speed for 4 seconds, and if you have 5 stacks of focus from slowing enemies(stacks on minions) your basic attacks will deal extra damage based on total AD. The amount of damage it currently deals is will probably be reduced as even at early levels it is a very effective trading tool, the other issue is that the bonus damage seems to effect structures, making Ashe shred turrets with amazing speed. The other portion of this that may cause problems is that this allows Ashe to instantly stack black cleaver on a target, I'm not certain if this also applies to on hit effects or if it's unique to black cleaver, but it allows Ashe to build Black Cleaver in place of Last whisper with very few downsides, and makes her incredibly effective at shredding tanks.
W: Volley: has less of a cool down at early levels and costs less mana but deals less base damage, it still scales with 100% total AD but the wider hitbox on each arrow means that harassing with it through the minion wave will be quite difficult and you likely won't hit as many targets in team fights with it. The ability to keep enemies slowed even after they escape from vision or check bushes will remain but it will be harder to use it to kite multiple enemies. This is likely going to be leveled second now as Q is a more effective option for trading in lane or securing objectives. This also reduces Ashes wave clear, meaning she may be more vulnerable to getting pushed in during the laning phase.
E: Hawkshot: Now stores 2 charges, has a short cool down between charge use, similar to smite, now has global range even at level 1. This grants an amazing amount of vision now and is a massive utility buff. No longer grants passive gold, so it will be more difficult to recover from a CS deficit than before.
R: Enchanted Crystal Arrow: pretty much unchanged but may slow slightly less for targets surrounding the main target hit, not sure if the slow for surrounding enemies is based on the slow from Frost shot or if it's separate.
