How do I play Ashe? (and ADC in general)

Command Grompt·1/12/2015, 6:53:31 AM·3 votes·5,269 views

A bit of backstory, I got Queen Ashe from a mystery gift from my friend and would like to use her as my ADC main. My ADC ability is pretty bad though, and I would like to improve. I've already played a few games with her, usually with bad scores like 7/10/6.

How do you build her?

Do I poke a lot in laning phase or play safe and farm?

After taking down a tower and dragon, what should I do?

What should I do if I'm behind and my tower was already taken?

How do I position myself in fights, especially in the jungle?

How much CS should I have at x minutes?

How and when should I use my ult?

I know she's not too viable, especially with mobile champions at the top, but I still want to get good at her. Thanks to anyone who'd help an ADC noob! Ashe

EDIT: Wow guys! Thanks for all the help! I'll be sure to use your advice the next time I play Ashe. TYVM!

10 Comments

Episodes1/13/2015, 12:51:47 PM5 votes

DPS : (Damage per second) peel : (Help, defending, protecting) position : (Staying at a certain location) freeze : (Its what the name is, just pausing/slowing/freezing something >.>)

First off what I want to say is Ashe is currently low in her state at the moment because she has lower dps than other carries

IN LANE

But then again it's not the ADC at fault but with support that changes everything in lane.

For example,

Ashe + Leona VS Graves + Leona (If you're playing a normal blind pick)

This match up is on Graves's favor because of the amount of dps he does

(You get the point)

Alright, enough examples

For your questions

  1. "How do you build her?"

  2. Since she doesn't have much DPS and she's basically like a utility champion, you're forced to build her DPS from pure scratch in lane.

item 3086 >> item 3093 >> item 3087 FIRST (The active is super good with her passive)

item 1001 >> item 3006 >> SECOND

item 1038 >> item 1037 >> item 1018 >> item 3031 THIRD

item 1037 >> item 1036 >> item 3035 FOURTH

item 1038 >> item 1053 >> item 3072 FIFTH

But there's other situations that make the build change like.

item 3031 first item 3153 second item 3252 third item 3035 fourth item 3072 fifth item 3046 sixth

  1. (Against Vayne Caitlyn Kalista Twitch ) etc.

The defensive item is very important if you don't get enough peel.

item 3102 (Is a good item overall because of the passive spell shield against people like) Annie Blitzcrank Morgana TwistedFate Ahri Syndra

who can single you out in one spell basically.

(Also a good counter to item 3128 )

item 3143

(lol, just don't)

There are many defensive items that can replace Randuin's Omen and are very more effective than this.

and also you're Ashe, no one can really get close to you since your kit is all slows and stuns..

item 3075

If it gets to the point that you lose duels 1v1 against that one Marksman even if you're full 6 items.

It's time to get weird.

The magic damage and armor Thornmail provides is surely a guarantee win on your side.

(and maybe a summoner spell would help too summoner 7 summoner 21 summoner 14) Kappa

item 3026 item 3157 item 3139 The "WE NEED THE ADC ALIVE TO WIN" Starter Pack

With one of these, you might need to position yourself a little more careful since you practically have a second life if you get singled out.

item 3026

Second life, what more can you need?

item 3157

lol

item 3139

(It's damage AND cleanse... use wisely!)


  1. "Do I poke a lot in laning phase or play safe and farm?"

(Ima just copy/paste what I just said on a previous botlane help thread)

There are 4 stages during the lane phase,

The first stage is the early level 2 rush, which determines who gets the easy snowball route.

You're guaranteed to get some summoner spells out of them or first blood.

The second stage is the "I MIGHT GET GANKED" phase.

So you gotta really be careful on how you treat the lane minions,

There's a certain way you need to keep them so that it doesn't shove to their side or shove too fast to your side.

and at the same time you need to harass the enemy support/adc whenever they get near your attack range.

and then you have to manually coordinate your left hand to a certain degree of which needs to be divided by Pi jk

There's certain times when you don't poke, and that's when Sona's Q is on the enemy adc, or Nami E or, Janna E OR, Braum PASSIVE IS ON YOU. . . but yeah.

(You'll get used to it, easier done than said)

The THIRD stage of the lane phase is when one side has the advantage of the other, (This is when it all comes down to bullying off both the enemy ADC and Support to back)

THIS IS WHEN YOU DRAGON WITH YOUR TEAM

The FOURTH stage is when it all comes down to take the enemies turret and group fast to push down either mid or some other lane to the point when its a one sided win.

le fin


  1. "After taking down a tower and dragon, what should I do?"

("The FOURTH stage is when it all comes down to take the enemies turret and group fast to push down either mid or some other lane to the point when its a one sided win.")


  1. What should I do if I'm behind and my tower was already taken?

Well, that's when you usually just freeze the lane at your 2nd tier tower.

yeah, i'm not gonna explain on how to Freeze a lane in text so here's a video of it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uthpZ_R_6_g


  1. "How do I position myself in fights, especially in the jungle?"

Excuse me, the jungle? what

First off you don't have a team fight in the jungle since it's too clumped and very little space so you get cced/focused on the fastest since you're isolated in a very tight space.

So try and do avoid fighting in the jungle as Ashe.

You position yourself away from their gap closers, attack the nearest thing on sight, (without getting cc chained of course) your ultimate is the key to your victory. ETC


  1. "How much CS should I have at x minutes?"

You know, there's times when you miss creeps, but for a legit reason.

So try and not miss any creeps during lane phase, it's very crucial since you need the gold for your items.

but do not put all your time and energy into getting 100 cs at 10 minutes. . .

because that's very unlikely and will probably get you killed in lane phase since you have no items other than a item 1075.

  1. "How and when should I use my ult?"

You need to examine the situation and determine likely moves of your opponents. Where are the minions they want to get last hits on? Are they engaged with your allies? Does it look like they're about to run away because their lane is pushed into your tower and they're scared of a gank? Knowing the behavioral patterns of the player as he moves the champion (gained from observation) helps, as well as how much he can or cannot maneuver around.

Also, your friends in the lane can help ensure the arrow hits by you pinging exactly where the arrow is going. Or if you ping the enemy champ you just shot the arrow at while the champ is still standing there, your allies can position themselves to encourage that champ to stay there (whether that be by moving back so as not to scare the enemy away or moving forward and 'baiting' that champ into a fight).

If the lane is evenly matched or your allies are behind, many enemy champs will just stand in place and fight with one of your allies if your ally is in their attack range. Most enemy champs that are engaged in an even exchange fight with one of your allies in that lane won't even notice the arrow coming. Additionally, if the target is about to move away from where you pinged, an ally can use a stun or snare to get the enemy champ to not move (although this usually encourages an enemy to move as soon as the enemy is able to do so, so it has to be used well).

It also helps to fire arrows into duo lanes. Duo lanes often mean that you can fire an arrow in a way that will ensure at last one champ gets hit.

Another option is to shoot the thing from closer up. You don't need to spam your ult arrow from fountain for a hail mary chance to hit just because it's free, and you don't always need to fire an arrow into a lane you're not in.


Hope this helped in some way~~

Source : I main the ADC role and I'm currently Diamond IV in Solo Q

if you have any more questions ask me in game

ign: detroitsHERO

P.S : Don't forget to always buy a item 2140 when you're full items!

Byrnes1/12/2015, 7:24:35 AM2 votes

As a person who has played over 4k games with Ashe over three accounts, here are my takes on her that make her different from other adc play (I'm sorry, I would love to type up a small how-to-adc guide, but my friends are already rolling their eyes waiting for me to play).

To me Ashe is not an adc. Is she built for AD? Yes. Is her main source of usefulness from AAing? Yes. Does she carry? ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. To me, she is what I call a team enhancer. What I mean by this is that yeah she puts out damage, yeah she can hurt, but her main existence is based around utility. This is similar to Karma or Orianna mid. She is best when you have a strong carry bruiser top, such as Darius or Pantheon. If you peel for them and protect them as if you were their support, you will win. When I play her, we constantly joke that I'm bot lane's support because I go out of my way to play the role like a farming-support and almost never pick up any kills. And yet, looking over all my recorded stats (yay for excel) she is my most consistent champion with the top kda, winrate, farm, and gold.

How to build her is up to you! You likely have an idea of what is "right" for adcs, I go very classic on her (and basically just her). What I mean is, my optimal build for her (before trading out end game items) is:

Ashe summoner 4summoner 21 item 3252 item 3031item 3153 item 3046 item 3035 item 3072

You just sort of follow your team around W'ing groups of 'em and then Q'ing whoever is threatening you or Pantheon (example). Plus that ultimate. Mmmm. If you can get good to entering a fight by using your ultimate down mid lane as they start a fight without you, you will be a God.

You should expect to crit and crit hard, but remember there is a reason Ashe is not a top 5 adc. Or anywhere on the list. You are not built for straight damage. You are built for kiting. So don't pretend to be the other, or it will hurt. Like all utility champions there is a time and a place for all of them, if your team needs a hard adc Ashe is not it!

AwesomeChad1/12/2015, 9:23:24 PM1 votes

[{quoted}](name=Command Grompt,realm=NA,application-id=WEuoGbmp,discussion-id=qai8LETF,comment-id=,timestamp=2015-01-12T06:53:31.730+0000)

A bit of backstory, I got Queen Ashe from a mystery gift from my friend and would like to use her as my ADC main. My ADC ability is pretty bad though, and I would like to improve. I've already played a few games with her, usually with bad scores like 7/10/6.

How do you build her?

Do I poke a lot in laning phase or play safe and farm?

After taking down a tower and dragon, what should I do?

What should I do if I'm behind and my tower was already taken?

How do I position myself in fights, especially in the jungle?

How much CS should I have at x minutes?

How and when should I use my ult?

I know she's not too viable, especially with mobile champions at the top, but I still want to get good at her. Thanks to anyone who'd help an ADC noob! Ashe

How do you build her?

Just build a standard ADC build: Start>Dorans blade full build: Infinity edge >Berzerker boots > Static Shiv > Bloodthirster > Last whisperer > Banshee's Veil/Guardian's Angel This is the most optimal build on Ashe because she lacks dmg in her skill kit compared to other adcs so you're trying build as much AD as you can to make up for that in her autoattacks.

Do I poke a lot in laning phase or play safe and farm?

Poke. Always look to poke because theres 2 advantages ashe has in laning phase:

  1. She has 600 attack range , the second highest base attack range of any other adc. Most other adcs have 550 attack range or else so you can abuse this.
  2. Her W deals pretty decent dmg mostly in the early game so use it to trade. Also, when you're looking to trade, autoattack before you cast W because this will maximize the dmg you deal in trades.

After taking down a tower and dragon, what should I do?

Just depends on what objectives are up in the game. After laning phase ends, look to group up with your team. Ashe is good for initiating teamfights because of her ult so you definitely want to take advantage of that.

What should I do if I'm behind and my tower was already taken?

Try to farm and avoid fighting the enemy if you know they're much stronger than you UNLESS your allies come to fight with you. Fall back to your second turret if its too dangerous to farm out without a turret near you. Be sure to constantly check your minimap so you can group up with your teammates if they need you. should be enough gold for a B.F. Sword 100 cs @ 10 mins 200 cs @ 20 mins

How and when should I use my ult?

Like i mentioned above, ashe is good at initiating teamfights because of her ult. If you're in laning phase, use your ult when your jungler or any other ally ganks your lane to initiate on the enemy. In teamfights, use your ult at the beginning of teamfights to lock down the enemy.

KailaTime1/12/2015, 9:33:00 PM1 votes

One HUGE tip that my Platinum buddy branded into my head, is so go into a Custom Game, by yourself and just practice CS You should have 100 by 10 mins. That makes a HUGE difference, do that A LOT.

Majidesuka1/12/2015, 11:55:56 PM1 votes

Also some minor tidbits, mid-game/late-game teamfights be able to position yourself at a safe distance and stay within a decent range where you can abuse fog-of-war or not get instantly dived by bruisers/ap bursts. Optimal start would be with a fully charged passive first shot. Also Ashe is literally the champion you would like to use to learn how kite with her Q while her E is great at scouting and the bonus gold she get per CS kill does stack up after a while into the game(it's small but it still counts for something). After that, it comes to practice and trial-and-error.

BakedLotion1/12/2015, 11:56:52 PM1 votes

i think item 3087 is WAY better than pd for ashe.

FantasySniper1/13/2015, 3:20:51 AM1 votes

item 3035 item 3031 item 3087 item 3508 item 3006

SS is better than PD because of her passive. ER benefits her the most out of the lifesteal choices, spamming her poke and having her ultimate up more often is great. Defensive final items are the usual; BT, BV, GA, MercScim. Usual build path for ADCs: IE first, Zeal + BG, so on and so forth.

Use her [W] to trade better, it's another free AA that's multi-projectile. You're going to be doing a lot of farming, your kill potential is minimal before 6 and your passive makes CS-ing slightly more beneficial. If your tower has been taken, have your team collapse on the approaching enemies or go mid and help them take the tower. If the enemy went mid, you need to, too. Position yourself while keeping in mind that you have no escape and will only be able to handle a single target at a time. That means stick behind the front line, don't overextend, and let your team help peel for you. In the jungle, it's basically the same, except you'll need to be a lot more aware of enemies trying to sneak around.

Sirin Gioro1/13/2015, 3:54:18 AM1 votes

Hi I am a filthy bot lane main who plays support and ADC equally trying to help you but I rarely play Ashe. This is really long and I apologize lol, I won't make a TL;DR because I'm lazy

  1. IE > Statikk / PD (you can also sell statikk for PD late game for tower pushing/more AS) > boots > if enemy team has more armor, buy last whisper; if enemy team has no armor or little, buy bloodthirser > defensive item
  • What defensive item to build? a) Banshee's Veil - The enemy team has 2 or more AP; enemy team has good pick comp/potential like Thresh/Blitz hook, Morgana bind that will kill you if you're not aware (BUY THIS ITEM IF YOU'RE BAD AT DODGING HOOKS/BIND/CC ABILITY SKILLSHOTS) b) Guardian Angel - Really good passive. I usually buy this because it gives me second life. But if enemy team has hard engage, I wouldn't buy this. E.G.: you get ulted by Warwick and their team deletes you instantly and there is nothing you can do in teamfights, making it a 4v5 and after you revive your teammates are dead and you get aced and you might potentially lose the game. c) Quicksilver Slash - Good against Zed/suppression/hard engage. Really good. Like oh my god seriously though. Mercurial Scimitar (completed item of QSS) gives you 50 extra attack damage as well. d) Randuin's Omen - You're against full AD team. Seriously, don't buy this. Your tank/jungler/tank support probably buys this anyways. Eew. Seriously.

  • Youmuu's, Statikk, or PD? a) Youmuu's - if you already won your lane/ahead, and you would like to duel; or you are an AD caster. Like Graves. Jayce but he's not REALLY an ADC. Draven. Buy this only if you want to 1v1 someone as an ADC. b) Statikk - For better waveclear and the passive is really strong, a really cost-efficient item. Not that much attack speed but has magic damage. Good if your team lacks magic damage. c) PD - usually for late game, or if you already have good waveclear as an ADC (Graves, Caitlyn, Ashe), you can get this but this is an expensive item. Usually I sell my statikk shiv/youmuu's for PD.

  1. Ashe is famous for "lose lane win game". She loses lane to almost everyone. You are also immobile, but superb late game. If there is an open door (your Thresh hooks the enemy ADC? your Nami double bubbles enemy bot laners? your Morgana binds the support?), go for it. I would suggest not playing TOO aggressive as Ashe as she is extremely immobile and the tides of the fight might get turned by an early jungle gank. I play Graves and when I go really aggressive, the enemy jungler would "surprise, motherfucker" me immediately after doing their double buff. But Graves has a dash, which makes him not really vulnerable to ganks but he is still vulnerable. I kite enemy bot laners using everything I have to get out of there. Play safe. But go in when there is an opening. Ward @ 3:30 to make sure enemy jungler will not be messing around with the tempo of your lane.

  2. After taking dragon/tower-

a) Are you low HP? Back. b) Are you healthy (HP) and do you have enough mana? Tell your mid laner you're going to rotate mid to apply pressure, possibly taking a free tower as well. c) Do you think you can take mid tower (enemy mid tower is less than half HP? Enemy mid lane has recalled?) Rotate mid but if you're really low HP then just back.

  1. I'm having a hard time dealing with this too. Usually, I just farm up and cry for jungle ganks. And (ask my support to) ward mid river/our jungle entrance so that the enemy jungler don't surprise motherfucker me. If your jungler comes to help you and maybe one of the bot laner has died/has to recall and you guys are still healthy, then PUSHHHH (it's a boy. haha... lol... aight)

  2. You have 600 range. Stand behind your tanks and deal damage. If an assassin jumps at you, use your arrow and stun them (if you have that). Save your flash for escapes (when assassin jumps on you).

  3. I usually have 70~80 cs @ 6-ish minutes, but what I'm sure is that you should always get >100 CS @ 15 minutes.

  4. Use your ult for engage or for when an assassin jumps on you like Kha'Zix. Your ult is a really good engage but it's your only escape.

TL;DR: lol no

Hope that helps!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Vesarixx2/3/2015, 4:34:38 PM1 votes

Ashe has a low base AD and per level scaling, but her attack speed base and per level is really good among ADC, what this means is that she has extremely good item scaling, you can go a standard tank shred ADC build like item 3031 item 3046 item 3035 item 3006 item 3153 or an attack speed focused build item 3031 item 3087 item 3035 item 3006 item 3046

If you get behind build item 3093 and focus on farm, This item combined with Ashes E passive makes it easier to come back than most ADC, and you can still influence fights while staying safe with your long range and ult. I had a game a while ago where I had a pretty bad early laning phase but came back and ended up getting a pentakill and completing the frelyord quest(kill Sejuani and you get an ice crown for the rest of the game)

Max W to focus on trading back damage or Q if you can range leash your opponents, remember you have no escapes so positioning is key and you may want to save your Ult either for self peel or key targets, saving it for the Jayce allowed me to get a penta in this game http://matchhistory.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/#match-details/NA1/1716448198/210905750?tab=overview

item 3252 getting this enchantment at some point in the game is also pretty helpful.

The Chin1/12/2015, 7:28:24 AM1 votes

Do the AA crit build

item 3031 item 3006 item 3046 item 3035 item 3072 and a defensive 6th item

eitheritem 3102 item 3026 item 3143 item 3139 decide based on who's strong on the enemy team

With Ashe you definitely want to poke a lot. Spam your W, and hit people with auto's when they're out of position.

If you take the enemy bot tower then shove a wave and roam mid.

If they take your tower just group until the wave is pushed to your 2nd tower, then go down and get the farm, then group up again.

You should probably look up a guide on ADC teamfight positioning, they'll explain it better than I can

A good CS goal is to have more than your opponent

Use your ult if you're about to die, to engage a fight, or to peel for yourself.

Happy huntin' :)