Do you think Ashe might be better off if her Frost Shot were a limited-duration steroid?

darkdill·5/27/2014, 7:47:01 PM·7 votes·1,997 views

I was looking at a thread that suggested making Volibear's ult and Kog'Maw's W a toggle, but obviously making them that way would cause severe imbalances. In looking at the idea, though, I had a thought: What if Ashe's Frost Shot weren't a toggle, but a temporary attacking steroid?

Would this enable Ashe to have more power? Or does it conflict with her game design?

This isn't to suggest that Riot actually make such a change. It's merely theorycrafting.

EDIT: Nice, we got Riot's attention. Now to show an example of what I think could work. Remember, numbers are just theoretical, and can easily be adjusted.

Passive: Adds a 15/20/25/30/35% slow to Volley.

Active: For the next 6 seconds, Ashe's basic attacks slow enemies by 30/35/40/45/50% for 2 seconds. During this time, Volley's slow is also increased to 30/35/40/45/50%. The passive effect is disabled while Frost Shot is on cooldown.

16/15/14/13/12 second cooldown.

Sure, you could almost get that permaslow back if you have 40% CDR, but is that really wise on Ashe? That's a matter of debate and circumstance.

17 Comments

RiotRiot Sotere5/29/2014, 8:10:38 AM8 votes

I have never given this any thought. Glad you brought it up. I don't think it conflicts with her design and I don't know that it would modify her overall power level. The question that I'd focus on is whether it makes her better and more enjoyable.

My very quick impression on that is Ashe, as is, is one of our more appropriately mana gated champions. I always struggle, and on occasion run out of mana, due to my careless use of Frost Shot. Even being pretty experienced with her this is a problem but as a newer player weaving Frost Shot was a challenging venture.

So what would we gain by changing this into an ability with a meaningful CD? Along my line of thought above, it may be more simple to use. Ashe players may appreciate the slow more if it were condensed into a shorter period of time. There would be one decision per ~10 seconds, as opposed to many. Opponents may recognize that there is a window of opportunity to play around. Concerns of being perma-kited by Ashe (although they're not incredibly prevalent) would be a thing of the past. Ashe's cadence and skill rotation would also be changed.

There are definitely some potential gains. However, the costs are the opposite of above: players may miss the technical expertise of toggling between autos, may long for more decision points, and may appreciate and have mastered her present cadence so that changing it would be disruptive. I couldn't tell you which is better offhand but I do enjoy the theorycrafting. Thanks! :)

Mandaari5/29/2014, 7:16:40 PM2 votes

Ashe is and always has been my favorite ADC for almost 5 years now. I don't think this is the right area to address her power. There's a reason people tunnel vision her passive and hawkshot. Also, her base stats are absolutely awful.

Managing her mana and Q toggle is a core part of her kit IMO. I'd be furious to see that go.

Silverthane5/27/2014, 9:12:56 PM1 votes

idk an ashe who max's the dmg steroid with built in crit shot sounds like tons of dmg early.

Beartic5/28/2014, 5:51:10 PM1 votes

I think the problem with Ashe is that her E is kind of useless. If it did damage like Corki q it would be much better. Perhaps if her w was some kind of steroid instead of gold that would be better. As far as i know Ashe is the only marksmen that dose not have some kind of steroid.

Hinagiku335/30/2014, 2:00:45 AM1 votes

I feel like this would make Ashe more boring. I like the skill of toggling and mana actually mattering - leaving Frost Shot on too long can easily screw you out of being able to use Enchanted Crystal Arrow in a pinch, which seems like a reasonable weakness/choice-point.

Ashe also doesn't have a lot in the way of tools. What the heck is she going to do when her Q is on cooldown? Her E has a cooldown on-par with some ultimates and her ultimate has a big cooldown and needs to be used very wisely. About all she could do is Volley to proc the slow once and hope it's enough...which is doubtful as Ashe has extremely poor base movement speed and no mobility in her kit.

Honestly, without some pretty major changes to her kit, I see this as just making Ashe very weak without really giving her any positive benefit.