Ashe is out of date; if she gets Reworked...

Dear Boards > Gameplay & Balance,

I've recently returned to LoL and am slowly re-familiarizing myself with all the game's roles. I've currently done earned the teambuilder icons for Mage and Marksmen, but while playing for the Marksmen icon I noticed Ashe hadn't changed at all in spite of all the discussions involving the possibility of her being reworked. While that is fine ( I actually like Ashe as is ) I notice she's starting to fall behind even with her high win rate which I believe stems from the fact many of today's high level players don't play with her and those that do gain an edge because of that fact. Thus the reason of my post: I want to share what I'd want to see in a rework in case Ashe is ever reworked. Before we get into everything I want you all to know two things: I understand not all of my ideas ( which are ROUGH ideas ) will be used and I'm looking for feedback on this; feel free to leave your feedback on my ideas/how you would change Ashe.

I want to start off by saying her stats strike me as decent without needing many tweaks ( aside from a small drop in her late game damage ) if any; what should be getting the most attention is her kit's utility. Ashe has always struck me as a damage/utility hybrid; the "pick-up truck" of the Marksmen so to speak which is somewhat supported by the fact Ashe's secondary "attribute" is "support" which you can verify by clicking on her profile in-game and viewing the "overview" tab. Riot's biggest task would be re-balancing her stats and utility to meet today's standards. What I'm thinking is, as somebody who is primarily a Marksmen, Ashe should be turned into a champion focused on early-game damage with moderate damage and high utility in the late/end-game.

Focus, her passive... I'll start off discussing what I'd like to see done with Focus, her passive ability. For those not familiar with Ashe you should know that Focus is something she builds up when not in combat; giving her a guaranteed critical strike when her Focus stacks cap at 100 stacks in a somewhat similar fashion to the Static Shiv. My first thought is we change how Focus stacks themselves work, 1 stack becomes a 1% chance to critically hit and scoring a critical hit through the use of your stacks ( not the % given by items ) would consume said stacks. My second thought is that her Focus should build during combat: As she focuses more on fighting her Focus would build; a feature which would be nice given Ashe is primarily played by new-players who often need some encouragement to get them into a fight. Ashe would loose stacks after not fighting for five seconds at the rate she currently gains them.

Frost Shot, her Q... Currently her ability, Frost Shot, allows Ashe's basic attacks to apply a stack that slows her foes by 15/20/25/30/35% for two seconds. While 35% isn't anything to sneeze at I've been told it can be completely shrugged off through the right item build. In addition to this many champions ( I can recall three off the top of my head ) have much stronger slows: Jinx has a 30/40/50/60/70% slow with Zap! while Kog'Maw and Kalista have a 20/28/36/44/52% and 25/30/35/40/45% slow. As a champion who is heavily focused on utility ( she has another slow and a stun in her current kit I'll touch on later ) I feel Frost Shot either needs an increase its slow% and/or damage or the ability to root if X number of hits are landed. I feel better about the first option as allowing her Frost Shot to stun would feel cheap/recycled given the current states of Braum, Skarner, etc.

I feel Increasing Frost Shot's slow to 15/25/35/45/55% would put her with in a similar tier to other utility-based champions/utility-friendly champions like Jinx without overpowering them given my original thought of her late game being centered around her utility and a moderate damage output. I understand players and Riot could be a bit hesitant to give Ashe that much slow but thankfully I have an alternative idea that could also be considered: Frost Shot keeps the current 15/20/25/30/35% slow but deals 30/40/50/60/70 magic damage ( number can be adjusted ) per hit. Before you panic over the magic damage numbers, remember the current numbers of her skill Volley. It is also safe to say that if Frost Shot were to receive the damage boost it would need an increased mana cost to balance it out.

Volley, her W... Volley needs minimal retooling; as is the skill fires 7 arrows in a cone for 40/50/60/70/80 (+100% Attack Damage) physical damage and mimics the slow from Frost Shot. If I were doing the rework the skill would be an AoE mimic of Frost Shot: If Frost Shot dealt a 15/25/35/45/55% Volley would deal 100% basic attack damage and the slow but if Frost Shot dealt a 15/20/25/30/35% slow and 30/40/50/60/70 magic damage per hit Volley would do likewise.

Hawk Shot, her E... This skill, while still useful, needs a lot of TLC. Ashe's info page on the website incorrectly says she passively gains 3 gold whenever she kills a unit in addition to "1/2/3/4/5 gold retrieved" total. The truth of this skill is she only gains 3 gold per kill no matter what level the skill is while the active component allows Ashe to fire an arrow 2500/3250/4000/4750/5500 range away and expose the area it detonates in for 5 seconds. My thinking is we rework the Hawk Shot active component to be similar to ( but not a copy of ) Kalista's Sentinel.

My thinking is Ashe would aim her bow and fire an arrow with a bit of meat tired to it toward a target location. Upon landing a Hawk would circle the arrow for five laps ( each lap taking 5 seconds to complete ) before snatching the arrow/meat and flying off. If a foe were to step into the hawk's field of vision the hawk would screech ( alerting Ashe and her team mates ) and attack/slow the foe until the foe left the circle at which point the hawk would fly away. The gold passive of Hawk Shot would be removed.

Enchanted Crystal Arrow, her R... Ashe's most recognizable skill by far; it allows her to launch an arrow across the map that deals 250/425/600 (+100% Ability Power) magic damage AND stuns for up to 3.5 seconds based on how far the arrow flew. Enemies caught in the blast take up to 50% of the damage dealt to the actual target and are slowed by 50% for about three seconds. While the ability is nice I want to change it into something more befitting of an ADC; working with her identity as a utility Marksmen.

My thinking is we make it a combination of Volley and Hawkshot: The range of Hawkshot but the AoE of Volley. What I propose is that Ashe would arc a volley into the air, flying over walls/shields ( think of it like a Mortar vs a Cannon: Mortars lob over walls while Cannons fire through them ) and landing in an area. There would be a global sound upon using her ult: the sound of her arrows whistling in the air; you would also see shadows of her arrows on the ground in a green circle ( think Pantheon's ult ) that indicates where her arrows will hit. The 7 arrows would, upon hitting a target, stun them for 1 second and arrows that didn't hit a target would leave a patch of frost around where the arrow hit for 3 seconds that would slow a foe for two seconds based on the level of Ashe's Frost Shot. I'm thinking being hit with an arrow would do 100/150/200 ( +150% Bonus Attack Damage ) and stepping on frost would deal the bonus damage of Volley ( see above ) over time.

***TL;DR: ***

• Focus, her passive, would build during combat; every 1 focus stack would be a 1% chance to land a critical hit separate from the % given by items.
• Frost Shot, her Q, would either have the slow increased to 15/25/35/45/55% or keep it's current 15/20/25/30/35% slow and deal either matching magic damage or damage that scales with ability power in some way.
• Volley, her W, would mimic Frost Shot.
• Hawk Shot loses the gold passive, allows Ashe to fire a baited arrow 2500/3250/4000/4750/5500 distance which a hawk would circle for 5 laps, each lap taking 5 seconds. Foes who get close to the arrow cause the hawk to screech, alerting Ashe/her team, and the foe is attacked and slowed by the hawk until they leave the area at which point the hawk vanishes. *Enchanted Crystal Arrow gets renamed, shares the range of Hawk Shot and arcs 7 arrows over walls/shields. A green circle shows the landing area of the 7 arrows and a whistling sound signals Ashe's ult has been used; arrows hitting a foe stun them for 1 second while arrows hitting the ground leave a patch of frost that slows anybody who steps on it for the same value as Ashe's Frost Shot. An arrow would do 100/150/200 ( +150% Bonus Attack Damage ) and stepping on frost would deal the bonus damage of Volley ( see above ) over time.

I know these ideas are rough; but they are not meant to be the final result. As stated above I simply wanted to share some things I'd like to see in an Ashe rework: improved utility; and this is simply something I would submit to the PBE if I were a Riot Employee. That said, I'm not a Riot Employee and I don't know everything so this is why I'm asking for feedback. I know Ashe is not currently being reworked, but as said above I feel one might happen eventually and I just wanted to get my thoughts out there before it happened.

Thanks for reading if you took the time;

Aidan McCary

P.S: Ashe's info page ( http://gameinfo.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/game-info/champions/ashe/ ) has incorrect data for Hawk Shot and is missing her Marauder Skin. If a Riot employee is reading this, please update her page.