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Support Ashe -- Don't hate me

Orbv·10/3/2014, 3:03:06 PM·15 votes·2,280 views

So I recently played support Ashe yesterday. I called it from the start the minute I saw the enemy team choose Thresh. I just got bombarded with 'OMFG PLEASE NO", "AFK", "Choose a real support or dodge queue". Keep in mind that every other position was called and I told them that it wasn't my first time doing it, I've done it multiple times with success in Normal. The twitch jungle was just icing on the cake.

Every lane won, and we eventually were just able to push every lane to inhibitors. But at the end of the game, the team was like "lucky top and mid won or else bot would lost it for us"....It's as if arrows across the map securing a kill for Rumble twice and Syndra once wasn't helpful.

Point: Why do people hate Ashe as adc AND support? She offers so much utility against non healing support comps.

32 Comments

Deep Terror Nami10/3/2014, 3:07:57 PM9 votes

Guaranteed consistent slow, global stun, long range vision, plus ranged harass? Not your typical support, but still not bad. Lots of fun too, and honestly, (support main) Ashe ADC's have been the best ADC I've worked with.

Lumus Avatar10/3/2014, 3:05:59 PM6 votes

I love Ashe

MrBuffington10/3/2014, 3:35:57 PM3 votes

Ashe is just not meta, which is why people don't like her. It's pretty silly, if you play her well you can beat any bandwagon Lucian player out there, same is true for any champion. She's pretty devastating as a poke support imo (guarunteed crits and AoE harrass + perma slows, not to mention her ult lets her initiate from anywhere on the map, I've stolen dragons with it).

Basically she's not bad, but she's generally outclassed by other champions in most situations. Caitlyn has longer range and better zone control with her traps, in addition to mobility that Ashe lacks, which is pretty huge in the mobility meta. The global engage is pretty nice, but engages have tended to fall on Support or Top/Jungle, where supports like Nami also have long range engage and disengage, in addition to a lot more utility.

There's also the stereotype that she's a beginner champion, similar to how people hate on Annie/Ryze mid, Garen top, etc, even though they can be pretty powerful if played well and in the right situation.

BeastlyNig10/3/2014, 11:02:19 PM3 votes

How do you build ashe support?

Sir ArmaMalum10/3/2014, 3:29:03 PM3 votes

I find it a lot of fun myself. I usually manage to do that once or twice with friends, works most of the time barring a jungle camp.

However, it is not a comfortable pick for randoms for 2 reasons.

  1. They more than likely have not used it or seen it done with any success prior, if they had seen it at all. It's rare you will find someone who has seen it consistently do well, so there's going to be a stigma.

  2. It's not as reliable as normal supports. Ashe, even support, is squishy with no real escapes and one hard cc (even if it is the longest duration in the game with some distance). Obviously a good Ashe support will still be better than a bad, say, Thresh. But in this world of flash, blinks and dashes on almost every champ the one main thing you get out of Ashe (constant, reliable slow) simply doesn't do as much.

Have you tried Team Builder? It's always a good tool for champs in rarely seen roles.

EdgarÅllanPwn10/3/2014, 4:20:37 PM2 votes

It's not ashe support. Bad players trick themselves into believing the meta is required to win....but the meta is more like a "best circumstances" guide. Its not guranateed. Its not fact. It's not 100%. Player skill, enemy inexperience, team composition, team synergy, ability to take objectives, laning knowledge and trade knowledge are all parts of the game.

Now was this normals? Because if so then that's even worse because its ...normals. I could see getting irritated in ranked, only if i used na.op.gg to find out that person trying to "break the meta' was a consistent feeder and had a low win rate. But if i look and the dude seems to have a clue what he's doing then i won't say a word because you need to trust your teammates.

But really its sad to hear kids cry about the meta in normals when i carry with adc ahri ffs.

q3X9adPeHS10/3/2014, 3:22:23 PM2 votes

I tried Ashe support but I wasn't a fan, for a few reason:

  1. When arrow is on cooldown you have little peel for your carries. Sure you have a slow, that's not gonna do too much against gap closer popular picks like Khazix, Leesin etc.

  2. Your harass is weak as you can't afford to build a meaningful amount of ad.

I think it tends to either work quite well, or very horribly :P It depends on your team. If you're behind, an Ashe support isn't going to turn any tides, but if you're even/slightly ahead, it can work out okay. I just think there are better picks. If you take her for the stun, why not a Morgana/Zyra who have skillshot roots on much lower cooldowns? With build in utility/harass included.

TL;DR - I'm not saying its the worst support idea in the world, but there are just better alternatives :) Well done on trying new stuff though I'm always a fan of breaking the meta.

RookPusher10/3/2014, 4:11:39 PM1 votes

The biggest issue I see with her is that she's squishy. At least when she's ADC the point is to keep her safe. But I support often and honestly, a good support (imo) bully's physically. Ashe brings a great kit certainly, but if the enemy team decides to go in for the kill, there's not much she's going to be able to do about it. I think when we look at something like Ashe support it's too easy to fall into the trap of the dummy-enemy.

They're going to have their own CC, their own flash, their own steroids, and I feel like once Ult's are up and in use, never mind when CDR comes into play, she operates far more efficiently. You'd need to have a really early game. So maybe she works with Draven or someone who's going to blow people up early. But it's the same concept as support Pantheon. Go in for the early snowball and if it fails, come up with some new strat.

AbodyHUN66610/3/2014, 3:52:59 PM1 votes

Ashe as and adc is considered predictable and weak versus mobile initiators. You can rarely see them using the ult properly to initiate a fight, they either miss it trying to secure a kill or shoot it point blank. Also she trades some of ther lategame damage for the slows and utility and has quite a weak passive. About support ashe I think people just don't want to take risks with strategies tat they don't know is working

ShadowKnight122410/3/2014, 10:56:44 PM1 votes

One day, when I have IP to spare, I will build an entire rune page with [+ Crit Damage] runes and go Support Ashe, so I can basically do one autoattack every few seconds that is much like a Karma poke but undodgeable and mana-free. I will start Spellthief's Edge, then get Sightstone, boots, then get a single selfish item (IE) and then build traditional support items (Locket, Twin Shadows, Mikael's, whatever's needed).

BastionKross10/3/2014, 3:24:04 PM1 votes

Well, she's the only support other than GP that could conceivably build a item 3050 and not feel bad about it. What gold item do you take? item 3303 would work well with volleys, but the AP probably won't do much for Ashe outside of her ult, as well as item 3092 active being redundant with Ashe. item 3301 would give nice sustain to volley more, but with less gold income.

ButtersBBG10/4/2014, 8:38:21 AM1 votes

#FixAshe

She needs either a small rework, or a complete rework. Either that, or some kind of buff somewhere.

HeadCrusher10/4/2014, 9:11:19 AM1 votes

I played Support Ashe once (But my lane partner wasn't an ADC..it was a Warwick) and we completely roflstomped the enemy bot lane....10/10 do recommend.

RagnarokChu10/4/2014, 1:35:35 PM1 votes

Okay you can play Ashe support all you want and you can be good at it, but people mistake "not meta' for "optimal'.

Renekton top may not be "meta" right now but it is still a complete beast.

Ashe support isn't meta or optimal (nor that good anyway), recognize that and try to play your best in the game to impress your allies anyway. But in the end all you have is someone that kinda slows well with an global ulti, your better off playing Ashe mid and making her another carry. Which isn't meta but still optimal.

Teridax6810/4/2014, 7:38:59 PM1 votes

Ashe is an extremely niche champion (not a bad thing at all) who's very dependent on a good comp to function properly, which is why in SoloQ people tend to see her as weak. Although she is by no means bad and offers a ton of utility, parts of her kit are outdated (her perma-slow is weak against gapclosers) and her extreme squishiness makes the laning phase extremely unstable when she's either a marksman or a support. If you can play her confidently without putting yourself or your lane partner at risk, don't be afraid to try her out.

Lstrike10/6/2014, 1:57:21 PM1 votes

You can get away with Ashe support in low elo.. and it would work pretty good too.. cuz low elo players dont know how to punish but imo, Ashe is like a inferior version of Sona with no sustain..