The Ashe change. The hidden nerf.

My story on this game starts back this time last year, my first champion? Ashe. Since that time, i have mained her excessively proving to be my strongest champion in terms of my understanding of mechanical damage; in short, i knew how much damage i could surprise with, how powerful the frost is and how underestimated i really was.

So when i heard of an Ashe rework, i was rather excited; scared, but excited. As the information came, i actually thought this would have been a welcomed change for me, an upgrade on some blandish skills as you were, i positive step forward. What has greeted me however is a sad reality.

Now i'm not going to say that all of what has happened is the reason because the powerful irony of the situation is, the one thing that people wanted changed is the one thing that actually made her strong. That's right, the crit passive/damage.

My Ashe build in inspiration of her passive was a special one, runes in crit damage, more AD with less AD defense. The poke was enough, the slow punished and the crit loaded with her range did the work. One of the most balanced ADC's in terms of laning presence. She had it, because you could not make mistakes against her, or you'd know about it

her passive was what set her apart, to come back into lane, or to wait in ambush of a bush, the damage you'd deal would be great, you'd win the duel for sure, because you made sure you knew how......

So what now? Well, you may have noticed that Ashe no longer crits, AT ALL... But she does i hear you say?... She does in her own way correct... But only in a way that straps her from her almost random chance of high damage for a more even progressive damage.... Problem? you don't have enough time... You have no escape, no real cc and in turn, no damage. Her new Q even has an animation resulting in a kiting issue. Least not forget the nerf on the slow, which now builds up over the course of the game; but Ashe needed the lane phase feed... Without it, she's nothing more than a target.

Her core strength; much like with any ADC, her crits have been shattered and with a weaker slow, kiting is less effective, the burst potential is no longer there...

As someone who has loved Ashe for 1+ year, with almost 300+ games in her name, it's sad to say that honestly, she has certainly been nerfed...