So Cash Industries

If you play League of Legends, then you most likely hate Ashe and her ultimate. What most people don’t realize is the majority of the Ashe players out there fire her Enchanted Crystal Arrow (of broken justice) at point blank, meaning very short stun times. You can avoid this easily by strafing a lot, bringing Cleanse, or wearing a Banshee’s Veil. I have proven that an Ashe that utilizes distance gets the most kills. Since the length of the stun increases with the distance that the arrow travels, you get the most stun time from very far away. As far away as the spawn area.

Now most people avoid playing Ashe because she is considered an easy/newbie character. While others use her simply because she’s in rotation and she’s extremely powerful. I started League of Legends playing Corki, then Master Yi, then Tryndamere, then Katarina, then Alistar, then Malphite, then Cho’gath, then Veigar and then finally… ASHE. (because I was asked to by my friends) I wasn’t horrible at the other champions. I actually looked into builds to bring out the best in their abilities, chose appropriate summoner spells, masteries etc. Of course, it wasn’t till recently that we had runes and after that the games changed slightly. After learning Ashe, I continued trying other characters like Evelynn, Twitch, Rammus, Annie, Amumu, Fiddlesticks and Kassadin, in that order. Based on what character I want to play as, I will change my masteries before the match to suite one of these characters. I only have two rune builds right now which I juggle between characters. One is for AP per level and the other is ability cooldown. I choose the cooldown one for Ashe and with all Tier 3 runes I’ve brought her ultimate’s cooldown to almost under 50 seconds. That’s spam-happy for me. As I said before, too many Ashe players use their ultimate at point blank and although that can sometimes be good for a gank (I do it too at times), I prefer to fire mega-stun missiles across the level.

After several games of practice (and I DO NOT mean practice matches because it is far too easy to hit the computer) you should be able to narrow hot spots to get brilliant stuns. For some video footage of what I do, check my Youtube here: http://www.youtube.com/user/rockmanneo12

Looking at Ashe’s abilities:

Frost Shot: you use when an enemy is fleeing to slow their escape. Contrary to popular belief this effect is like a weak poison and can get a last hit seconds after they escape. Get this up second.

Volley: Used for farming minions, slowing enemies, and pissing everyone off, especially in the early game. Get this up first.

Plentiful Bounty: USELESS, get this last when there is nothing else to level.

Enchanted Crystal Arrow: Whenever given the opportunity to level this, DO SO. Can be used to kill enemies with low health, whether they be hiding on a tower, recalling in a bush or anywhere on the fucking map. Time your shot, help ganks, and then grief the QQers.

Ashe is cheap to unlock in both Riot points and Influence points. She is effective in any situation against even her worst pairings. She also has a nifty skin.

Build:

Here’s a link to my complete build. Including Runes. Just click the image. At the bottom I will explain how to get the most out of it, and why I choose what I do.

#1 Regrowth Pendant

• +22.5 Health Regen per 5 sec +10 Mana Regen per 5 sec Passive: Gain an additional 5 Gold every 10 seconds.
• Build this first, then sell for Banshee’s Veil Later. This item is only a good choice because of health Regen early game + gold!

#2 Boots of Swiftness

• UNIQUE Passive: Enhanced Movement 3

#3 Sword of the Occult

• +10 Attack Damage UNIQUE Passive: Your champion gains 2 damage and +2% critical damage per stack, receiving 2 stacks for a kill or 1 stack for an assist. This effect can stack 20 times; you lose a third of your stacks if you die. At 20 stacks, your champion’s movement speed is increased 15%.
• Note: This only comes in handy if you are actually getting kills/assisting in kills + NOT DIEING

#3 Alt: Phantom Dancer

• +45% Attack Speed +30% Critical Strike +20% Dodge Chance +12% Movement Speed
• Get Zeal first, then move on to Last Whisper, then finish Phantom Dancer. If you choose this instead you will almost never get enough money for Infinity Edge afterwards so you might just want to get Black Cleaver.

#4 Banshee's Veil

#5 Last Whisper

• +20 Attack Damage +40% Attack Speed UNIQUE Passive: Attacks penetrate 40% of the defender’s armor.

#6 Infinity Edge

• +80 Attack Damage +20% Critical Strike UNIQUE Passive: Critical hits now deal 250% damage instead of 200%.

#7 Black Cleaver

• +75 Attack Damage Passive: Physical attacks reduce your target’s Armor by 12 for 5 seconds, (maximum 5 stacks).
• This is your endgame item that you won’t always have time or money to build.

UPDATE: I noticed myself that sometimes you just can’t get kills due to too many tanks or healers and I discovered that swapping the sword of the occult for the Phantom Dancer is wonderful. Hell with that much movement speed you’ll be all over the place and could get the sword of the occult later on. If you like that idea better than put phantom dancer in for #3 and if you can live without it, forget the Banshee’s Veil till later and go straight for the Infinity Edge.

Summoner Spells:

• Teleport: After 4 seconds, teleports your champion to target friendly minion or turret.
• Exhaust: Blinds the Target (100% miss chance) and slows its movement speed by 40% for 3 seconds.
  

Runes: (Assuming you are lvl30)

• Greater Mark of Desolation x9
  
• Greater Seal of Focus x9
• Greater Glyph of Celerity x9
• Greater Quintessence of Celerity x3

Totals: 17.46 Armor penetration & 17.73% Cooldown Reduction at lvl18

Masteries: (21/0/9)

Offense:

• Deadliness (3): Increase your Champions Critical Strike Chance by 2.00%.
• Cripple (1): Improves your Exhaust spell to also reduce the target’s armor and magic resistance by 25 for the duration, and increases its duration by .5 seconds.
• Sorcery (4): Reduces the cooldown of your champion’s abilities by 3.00%.
• Alacrity (4): Increases your champion’s attack rate by 4%.
• Archaic Knowledge (1): Your magical spells penetrate 15% of target’s magic resistance.
• Sunder (3): Your physical attacks pierce 6 of the target’s armor.
• Brute Force (1): Increases your champions attack damage by 1.
• Lethality (3): Increase your champion’s critical strike damage by 10.00%.
• Havoc (1): Increase your physical damage and magic damage by 5%.

Utility:

• Spatial Accuracy (1): Reduces the Delay on your teleport spell by 0.5 seconds, and reduces it’s cooldown by 5 seconds.
• Perseverance (3): Increases your total health and mana regeneration by 4%.
• Awareness (4): Increases the amount of experience your champion gains by 5.0%.
• Expanded Mind (1): Increases your champion’s mana by 1.25% of your maximum mana.

Summary:

I focus on Cooldown reduction because I aim to make use of Ashe’s ultimate. Whoops.. made an Ashe joke. With all the cooldown reduction, your Crystal arrow cools down around 60 seconds. I’ve seen mine lower than that but this is just an estimate after doing the math. The armor penetration runes and masteries add to your effective damage throughout the game.  Regardless if you’re in a lane with Ashe or soloing mid, you can be an effective killer. Be aggressive early game, keep them off your minions by firing at them when they are in range. You want to learn Volley first to annoy the shit out of them + effectively killing all their minions. Don’t let anyone sneak up on you, pay attention to the minmap. Learn Frost shot second to slow their escape and make it easier to get the first kill. I’ve gotten the first blood many times with this, or at least the second blood. Max Volley first, then Frost Arrow, then Crystal Arrow BEFORE ever putting a single point in Plentiful Bounty. It’s honestly a worthless skill to me.

When attacking, try to save volley for last hit. I don’t use my Crystal Arrow to steal last hits like so many do. I will sometimes use it to kill someone recalling in the woods or on a tower. most of the time I use it from across the map for MAXIMUM stun time. As soon as i fire it, I teleport to the nearest friendly in that area. So just as my arrow hits them, I am there to *CRIPPLE*, then *FROST ARROW*, then *VOOLLEEEEHHH!!!*. = KILL +1

Sword of the Occult only helps you IF you get kills or assist in them. Which is why I get it early game. I almost always get a few early assists. By mid game I will have enough stacks to get the movement speed bonus and I’ll be all over the place. Usually this combination helps me escape a lot easier as well as gank. If you are quick enough with your Crystal Arrow, Teleport, Cripple (exhaust), and 1,2 Frost Arrow, then Volley; THEN you should be able to easily execute a Ryze with full health, same level as you, on a tower. Just an example.

Banshee’s Veil will help you more than you know, especially endgame. Needless to say I’ve laughed at so many dumb Blitzcranks that would try to grab me when it’s up or other Ashe’s who fire their Crystal arrow at point blank range. It works on just about anything.

End Game LoL’s

Occasionally I have found myself at endgame with tons of money but not enough for Infinity Edge but not enough time to continue saving for it. If this happens you should have your boots, Last Whisper, and Phantom Dancer at least because you do not always need Banshee’s Veil but if you have it, that’s fine. So you could either go ahead with Black Cleaver for yet even MORE Armor penetration or go for some other funny options. I put this info down here instead of up in the build area because it is purely out of choice in your game strategy OR out of humor.

Example 1:

Stark's Fervor

• +20% Attack Speed UNIQUE Aura: Gives nearby allied Champions 20% Lifesteal, 25% Attack Speed, and 30 Health per 5 seconds regenerated. Reduces the Armor of nearby enemy champions by 25.
• Reason: I know Bloodthirster can benefit yourself but by endgame you are with your other team mates and having this is funny because everyone around you will be lifestealing. It’s even funnier if you have a Shaco on your team with the build that includes this item because the effect will stack from both of you.

Example 2:

Wit's End

• +40% Attack Speed +30 Magic Resistance UNIQUE Passive: Physical Attacks remove up to 42 mana from the target and deal additional damage equal to the amount of mana removed.
• Reason: Wonderful when the enemy team is fully of mana batteries like Ryze and Twisted Fate.

Example 3:

Sword of the Divine

• +55% Attack Speed UNIQUE Passive: Every fourth attack deals 100 extra Magic Damage. UNIQUE Active: Your attacks cannot be dodged and you gain 30 Armor Penetration for 5 sec.
• Reason: To better destroy armor tanks and anyone who gives you trouble. Probably the best choice actually.

Stay smart, stay cautious, and ultimately, STAY FROSTY!

(And don’t forget to yell “VOOLLEEHHH!!“, every time you do)