Support Ashe Guide

Painted Celt·Apr 12, 2015·19 votes·3,449 views

Hey, everyone. Here is a short guide on how to play support Ashe with some detail on why it is a powerful option.

Masteries: 9/0/21 On the Offense tree, you will want to be sure to pick up Expose Weakness and Martial Mastery. On the Utility tree, you will want Scavenger, Culinary Master, and you will NEED Bandit.

Abilities: You will want to start with Volley and level it up when possible (except when you can level/unlock your ultimate). You should get Frost Shot at level 2 and consider it a second priority to level up. You will want just one point in Hawkshot for most of the game since you won't be CS'ing and therefore won't be utilizing the gold bonus much. You will definitely want Enchanted Crystal Arrow at level 6 and will want to level it up every chance that you get.

Start: + x 4 + Spellthief is the best support item on Ashe despite her poor AP scaling (only adds damage to her ult). You should consider the Spellthief a throwaway item, like a Doran's item, and you should not upgrade it since you will sell it around mid-game. Spellthief with Bandit provides a steady laning income from your poking. Spellthief procs also add quite a bit of damage to your poking early on and Volley can proc Spellthief multiple times. You will want to carefully watch your passive ability, Focus, to know when is a good opportunity to trade damage (your passive can help you win almost any trade). If your opponent has poor trading, then you should poke them relentlessly and zone them from getting CS.

Laning: + + + + + Picking up an early Brutalizer will keep your poking painful to the enemy team and will allow you to continue to poke them out of the lane (and hopefully rack up some assists/kills). Whether or not you get a Sightstone is up to your discretion; if you don't, then you will want to get some wards until you can upgrade your trinket. Your Hawkshot can help somewhat with vision. You can also bush-check with Volley, since it will proc spellthief and grant 5g if it hits an enemy.

Mid-game: + + + + + You will want to finish a Zeke's Herald ASAP. Zeke's Herald is simply a wonderful item for Ashe support as you will fully benefit from all of the stats it provides while granting your team an incredible aura buff. With Brutalizer, Zeke's Herald, and a Stinger, you will already have 40% CDR taken care of as well. CDR will mean more ultimates (48 seconds CD at 40% CDR and max rank is insane) and more Volleys. Your ultimate will do just as much as support Ashe as it would as ADC Ashe, since it doesn't scale with AD/Crit anyways. In my experience, hitting level 6 will nearly guarantee a kill or double kill for your side thanks to the incredible engagement power of Enchanted Crystal Arrow. Make sure to upgrade your trinket and to encourage your teammates to upgrade theirs as well.

Final: + + + + + + + I find it rare to reach a full build, but Black Cleaver and Zeke's Herald will greatly amplify your team's damage on their own. Don't be afraid to start taking some CS after laning is over, since you will scale well enough for it to be a good investment for your team. Always focus the same target as your ADC so that you can use Black Cleaver to shred their armor. Try to Volley multiple enemies, as this will allow your Black Cleaver and Expose Weakness mastery to really soften the enemy team. Always be careful of your positioning and make the most of the movement speed in this build to kite. You should have no problem closing out games since your double marksmen comp should give you an advantage in sieging/teamfighting while your ultimate will let you pick off lone enemies. If the game does drag on, then finishing your build with an Infinity Edge and Phantom Dancer (or Statikk Shiv) will let you scale up almost like a second ADC while still still providing excellent utility to your team.

I hope you enjoyed reading this guide! If you decide to try out Ashe support, be sure to post and let me know how it went. If you are already a fan of Ashe support, please post and share some of your experiences!

-Painted Celt (Sam)

24 Comments

Saint ArcherApr 12, 20158 votes

the fact that you didn't put sightstone into this makes me want to tell you never to play support ever again.

rampaging poetApr 12, 20154 votes

An upgraded yellow trinket is almost as good for less than half the cost, and Hawkshot can be used for a further burst of vision. With the difference in cost you could buy six stealth wards and a vision ward, and if that can't provide enough vision until you hit nine I don't think a sightstone would have either. This build also recommends Zeke's Herald so you're also buying a health item already. You're only missing out on having an extra Sweeping Lens for objective control and get an extra item slot in return.

Painted CeltApr 12, 20153 votes

I mentioned in the guide that you can buy a Sighstone as support Ashe. It's really a matter of personal preference since there are reasons for and against each option. If you want to get a Sightstone as support Ashe, then you will probably want to get 10% CDR through either runes or masteries and forsake the Stinger/Zephyr in the build.

If you don't want to get a Sightstone as support Ashe, then there are some tricks that I mentioned in the original post that will help you get vision on objectives and avoid walking into ambushes. In addition to the wards from your trinket, Ashe has Hawkshot and can brush-check with Volley (the +5g from Spellthief makes it really obvious if an enemy is hiding). It does help a lot if you can get a couple teammates to upgrade their trinkets - I can often convince them to do so by mentioning how the gold cost of the trinket upgrade compares to the gold value of the stats I am buying them via Zeke's aura.

rampaging poetApr 12, 20152 votes

Interesting. I hadn't thought of getting Zephyr on support Ashe because it's an expensive item that mostly adds damage without extra utility, but I forgot about the 10% CDR. I've been getting Hurricane for better teamfight presence and picking up a CDR defensive item, but doubling down as a second ADC with armour shred to help the primary ADC chunk targets even faster sounds interesting. I forgot about Zeke's entirely but it's actually really good on AD supports. I'll try this next game.

Do you think that will still be efficient after the upcoming Black Cleaver changes go through? Taking Zeke's, Zephyr, and nuCleaver will overcap CDR by 10%. It will build out of Phage instead of Brutilizer, which is a much worse rush for support Ashe because it has less damage and lacks armour penetration. I still see Black Cleaver as good item for support Ashe, but I don't know if it will be rushable or synergize properly with the rest of the build.

Painted CeltApr 12, 20153 votes

You are absolutely correct about Zephyr's cost being prohibitive, which is why I hold onto just the Stinger until I have finished Black Cleaver and Zeke's Herald. The Stinger will complete your 40% CDR without needing to immediately upgrade it. When you are ready to finish the Zephyr, Ashe does benefit from everything it offers and it makes her really hard to catch/escape.

If the upcoming Black Cleaver change goes through, I will drop Zephyr from my build and just get Zeke's Herald and Black Cleaver for 40% CDR. I'm not entirely certain what I would replace Zephyr's slot with, but a Runaan's Hurricane or Last Whisper sounds possible.

junglerboy16Apr 13, 20151 votes

A statikk Shiv would actually be a good last item, or like in my post, getting an early tear and building a late game Muramana could also work well.

junglerboy16Apr 12, 20152 votes

When I play Ashe support, I always build item 3042 item 3050 item 2045 item 3303 (sold once I need the slot) item 3071 item 3031 + item 1001 of choice. I hadn't ever thought of getting the item 3361 instead, since I like being able to sweep the enemy support's wards, but that could work if I knew they weren't warding well. if I didn't get sightstone, I'd probably buy the item 3046 for more DPS.

I like that you get that as support Ashe you're job is to be aggressively poking in lane but then transition into a second ADC by farming up (E's gold passive is great for catching up like that). Zephyr is actually a rather overrated item in my opinion, and I normally don't get it anymore, because tenacity isn't that great if you aren't in range to be hit by it initially, and my support masteries already have 10 CDR from the get go, which makes that a little redundant. personally, the early tear start works wonders on support Ashe, because I can poke infinitely, always have frost shot on, and never worry about mana. Then, in late game it turns into a strong damage item that lets you deal crazy amounts of DPS with ease.

item 3071 won't really be that good of an item on support Ashe after the next patch though since they are nerfing the AD and removing the flat penetration. It could turn out pretty great though because it will have the rage passive on it and can get higher levels of armor shred for better late game utility, but I wouldn't ever build it or its components early anymore.

Saint ArcherApr 12, 20152 votes

no it's not almost as good. because you buy sighstone, and you have more than 2 charges and you control when the charges come back up. and buying it allows you to get a sweeping lense. there is a reason why every single high elo support and professional support does it this way. so you don't just "get vision" you get vision and deny them vision. also, unless you're doing it wrong, you should be warding more than 6 sight and 1 vision+2 charges at a time over the course of a game. 3/3 at almost all times. once again, there is a reason why every high elo and professional support does it this way, it's far superior than just upgrading your yellow trinket.

rampaging poetApr 12, 20152 votes

Note to anyone else reading this: MONSTER ZERo's post appears to be in response to my comment below: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/tips-tricks/JuotKzbI-support-ashe-guide?comment=00030000

The trinket recharges over time so there's no chance of running out of wards if you're away from base too long. With the recent buffs, it also recharges fast enough to have 3/3 wards placed at all times. It's not quite as good for giving a burst of coverage (eg dropping three wards in and around Baron or Dragon before a fight), but if you plan to place 1-2 wards at a time to cover important objectives or keep vision of nearby jungle areas while pushing it works great.

The six wards and a pink wasn't intended to cover the whole game, just the difference between getting your Sightstone at first back and your first back after level 9 for the trinket upgrade. I don't know of the top off my head exactly how long that takes, but if it's less than ~9 minutes (keeping two places warded continuously plus a pink somewhere) you actually come out ahead in gold by getting the trinket instead of the sightstone. You lose out on the HP from the sightstone, but you free up an item slot. Heck, if you're really fed or your ADC decided to buy a ward or two (NOT A TERRIBLE CHOICE) you personally might come out ahead even counting the gold value of the health the Sightstone provides. In season 4 I would have agreed with you, but the trinkets have gotten much better since then.

That said, I agree that the loss of a second sweeper on the team hurts your ability to deny the enemy vision. It's definitely a situational pick. I wouldn't say that the yellow trinket is flat-out better than buying a Sightstone. However, in the context of this particular build which already has bonus health from Zeke's and BC, and on a champion that scales best with high AD and Crit, the extra item slot is arguably worth more than the health and denial of vision. As long as someone on the team has an upgraded sweeper your team can still deny vision of important objectives. If your jungler refuses to build Sweeping Lens for whatever reason then definitely get the Sightstone and a Sweeping Lens yourself.

PS: If you want to continue this discussion, I would prefer you reply to my reply instead of to the topic. If I hadn't gone back to the thread I would never have known you replied to me at all. That also makes it easier for others to see what you're responding to.

origionaApr 13, 20152 votes

Wow, we build support ashe very similarly, pretty awesome. I've seen some people go coin or other things but spellthiefs is by far the best item since it adds 10 damage on your autos/volley and manaregen really helps your lane while giving really good gold gen and yea of course never upgrade it. Zekes/black cleaver also great although I don't like to build cleaver unless the team is very heavy ad but zekes I always get. I go a more heavy support/tanky build since I feel like I die too easy otherwise and your damage doesnt scale up fast enough to be too relevant with the tanks right now so being tanky is safer and easier to get your utility out but 40% cdr is 100% necessary no matter the build and it looks like you recognize that :p

BD WiltonApr 12, 20151 votes

The hardest part is the sustain, also having less of a frontline. Live or die by the Ashe arrow. Also prepare to be flamed for not going Sightstone

IcyPepperApr 12, 20152 votes

Anyone who would flame for that better be buying wards every recall and upgrading their trinket the SECOND they turn level 9.

Otherwise they're reinforcing a dumb vision double standard. -_-

DEmperor95Apr 13, 20151 votes

What Runes do you use?

Painted CeltApr 13, 20151 votes

I am currently using flat armor quints & seals, flat AD marks, and scaling magic resist glyphs. I'm not entirely convinced my rune setup is ideal, but it seems to work well enough. The large amount of flat armor makes sure that I win trades against the enemy ADC and makes it so that I can afford to take a little bit of minion aggro in order to zone them from CS. The flat AD makes my Focus passive's crits hurt more and increases my Volley poke damage. As for the scaling MR glyphs, they are mostly to make me a little safer from getting bursted by the enemy APC after laning or if they roam. Flat MR is probably better against a lot of lane matchups where the enemy support has good magic damage poke (Annie support for example). Like I said, I am not 100% convinced my current rune setup is ideal though, which is why I didn't add it to the guide.

M4nTiCoR3Apr 13, 20151 votes

I've played many variations of support Ashe since like season 3. The one I like to troll atm I call cA$hse. it usually goes something like this...

All the gold masteries in utility...buscit and Lifesteal too.

1 crit mark...rest Damage gold seals with some AR AR Glyphs Gold quints

Spellthief + Biscuits on 1st buy at 800 head back and buy Avirce blade

This gives you crazy income, over 10+ GP10 from runes and items, poke gold from Spellthief and bandit, and bonus farm when your alone in lane through Hawkshot and Bling Blade.

Rush into Zekes+boots ASAP

Sell spell thief once it's paid for itself and profit usually replacing it with sight stone...hold bling blade as long as possible upgrading late game into Ghostblade for tower pushing and objective control with the active, or Static Shiv for mobility and wave clear.

The rest of the build is dictated by game. I've used just about everything from a full support style on hit debuff er with hydra...to a full ADC with IE and PD and LW.

MrBexyApr 13, 20151 votes

"The rest of the build is dictated by game. I've used just about everything from a full support style on hit debuff er with hydra...to a full ADC with IE and PD and LW."

You mean hurricane? Also, you wouldn't happen to be a fan of NSP, would you? :P

M4nTiCoR3Apr 13, 20151 votes

Sorry hurricane is indeed what I meant. As for NSP...I'm drawing a blank. What is NSP?

MrBexyApr 18, 20151 votes

Ah, NSP is a youtube channel called Ninja Sex Party. They do comedy music lol. They've got some pretty funny stuff on there XD

Also, as a side note, the singer is one of the people on Game Grumps, if you know what that is.

M4nTiCoR3Apr 13, 20151 votes

Have a feeling NSP has something to do with a refence to my name. It's actually just a refence to the mythical beast and was a fun way I could spell it. Had a ranked team a few years ago that used all mythical beasts for our names.

AspynnApr 13, 20151 votes

I kind of felt like what you were going to say was just this:

DON'T

Overall though nice guide. I honestly really like that you DIDN'T advise using sightstone. I feel like it is definitely necessary at higher levels of play but it does the job just fine at lower elos (especially with a sight skill) I feel like the trinket upgrades could really open the door for full damage supports, I'm a big fan of full ap mages as supports. (Syndra, Orianna, Caitlyn, (YES I SAID CAITLYN) Lissandra, Zyra, Elise, Cass etc.) I don't feel like support Ashe is really that great but hey, I'm always up for off-meta supports and I've played support Ashe a few times. One huge downside though is the expense of all of the items that she requires to do well, as well as her mana management, especially as a support.

IcyPepperApr 13, 20151 votes

I honestly really like that you DIDN'T advise using sightstone.

OP clearly did say

Whether or not you get a Sightstone is up to your discretion; if you don't, then you will want to get some wards until you can upgrade your trinket.

I just don't get it sometimes. If sightstone is so damn important, then why don't people buy as many wards as they're supposed to? Hell, even the adc should buy the occasional pink and green, yet people refuse to. I keep hearing sightstone sightstone sightstone, but people will argue until they're blue about the responsibility of buying wards.

OP did say to buy wards, which a support should be allowed to do instead of buying wards. As long as there's vision, there's vision. No item should be forced on anyone, especially if nobody does the same thing for something as basic as wards (it's kind of a double standard, people speak up about sightstone but never force anybody to buy wards).