Hey guys, this will be my first guide on Ashe, so first I'm going to tell you why you should listen to me. Well I'm not exactly that high of an ELO, actually I'm just in the 1400's but I believe that to be because a lot of games I simply don't try hard and play some troll characters (revive pantheon, jungle akali, etc) as I simply don't care that much about ranked as much as some others(since a lot of times I am matched with trolls anyway). However when I do care about my matches I tend to win more often than not.

I used to main Ashe in my normals, and now when my team requires an AD carry in ranked I often pick her because of how used to her mechanics I have gotten. Here are my stats (I know only 16 games is a small sample, but considering they are all ranked I think it's a decent indicator)
By pierrerenard at 2011-07-11

I have played Ashe in many different ways with many different builds and I believe this to be the most effective because it gets rid of her weaknesses (low mana pool and movement speed) as well as accentuating her strengths (utility, damage, attack speed).

Ashe's role in the team is to dish out as much damage as possible while staying in the back of the fight and making sure she doesn't get too threatened. The team's responsibility is typically to make sure Ashe does not get killed and allow her to dish out that damage. She is once of the strongest carries in the game because she has a lot of utility in addition to her raw damage, she is capable to chain slowing their team and her ultimate is game-breaking, capable of surprising enemies from halfway across the map as well as initiating a teamfight or changing the flow of a teamfight.

I'd just like to give credit out to Chaox because this guide is following his basic principles on Ashe.

Pros
- long range
- decent attack speed
- easy to farm with
- chain slows
- low cooldowns
- one of the most gamebreaking ultimates in the game
- great damage once inifinity edge is built
- only gets stronger and stronger as the game progresses

Cons
- squishy
- slow movement speed
- weak early game

RUNES

Greater Mark of Desolation
The Greater marks of desolation are pretty staple on any champion whose main job is to do physical damage to a character.


Considering that Ashe does not easily recuperate mana, I find these runes very useful for her to be able to use her volley effectively in lane for both harrassing as well as farming.


These runes give her extra attack speed which significantly help her early game as well as lategame. It allows her to have more presence in teamfights and a lot of Ashe players prefer the cdr but I prefer the attack speed runes because the cdr only benefit her volley and ultimates, whilst the as runes make her more powerful in teamfights, towerfights and just benefit her overall.

Greater Quintessence of Desolation
These quints are good on Ashe as they help deal extra damage, not much more to explain...

MASTERIES
http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/mastery-tree-planner#&tree1=3-0-0-1-0-4-0-0-3-1-3-0-0-0&tree2=0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0&tree3=0-3-0-1-4-0-1-2-1-0-2-1-0-0-0

The reason why I go for a 15/0/15 mastery setup and not 21/0/9 setup is because this setup gives more consistency and relies less on crit chance but more on your positioning and movement in fights. If you go the 21/0/9 route then you will usually get lower cooldowns and higher magic pen, but tbh this is quite useless on Ashe since she doesn't need any magic pen and your champions cooldowns are already ridiculously low.

This way, your movement speed is also boosted so you don't need to buy boots of swiftness to be able to run away, it also allows you to have the upgraded ghost AND flash which is crucial for your survivability throughout the game.

Doran's Blade
OR
Doran's Blade + 3x Health Potion
You either want to start the game off with boots+3 pots or a dorans blade. I usually start the game off with a dorans blade if I am laning with a healer (Soraka, Taric, Sona, Kayle, Alistar). Otherwise if I'm laning with let's say Janna or Blitzcrank I will get boots+3pots, if for some reason I go to a solo lane I will also usually go boots+3 pots.

(OPTIONAL)
Doran's Blade + maybe another Doran's Blade (never more than 3 total)
Sometimes, but not always, it is a good option to buy another 1 or 2 doran's blades depending on how the game is going. If you for some reason had to recall or died early before you can get your bf sword then maybe you should get those doran's to help your early game. Also sometimes you somehow got an early kill and want to take advantage of that early lead, well then go ahead and grab taht extra doran's blade. If I go boots first then it is usually a good idea to pick up a doran's blade just for the extra hp. Don't be afraid to sell your doran's blades later if you need to buy a luxury/lategame item or run out of slots.

B. F. Sword
This is the first item you want to get as soon as you can, buy it as soon as you are able to. It is crucial in order to deal more harrass power as well as last hit creeps easier.

Infinity Edge
Once you have farmed a bit more you want to get your IE as soon as possible because this is the item that allows you to deal a significant amount of damage to your enemies and pretty much 4 shot squishies. You really want to get your IE before 23 minutes (no matter your score), if it comes after 23 minutes then you need to learn to farm properly because it means you have absolutely no idea how to farm.

After you have built your IE, this is where you can start to diversify your build a little bitm usually I like to get my berserkers greaves first and then it depends on enemy team comp though. If the enemy team has even one tank who is building armor then I usually rush for my last whisper, otherwise if the enemy is simply full of squishies then I rush for my zeal to get that extra attack speed, sometimes if the enemy team is filled with AP damage, then I rush banshees veil after my infinity edge, it really depends on the situation here.

Berserker's Greaves
Gives extra movement speed and attack speed which help greatly at this point, along with frost arrow, nobody will be able to run away from you.

Last Whisper
The last whisper is INCREDIBLE value for money, it makes sure you deal high damage to everyone on the other team including tanks and stacks well with your crit passive. A lot of people say go for Black Cleaver after IE, except that item is simply too expensive and means you won't be able to buy other items later, so I think that going for Black Cleaver is WRONG unless you are incredibly highly fed.

Zeal
Zeal is a very good midgame item because it gives you extra movement speed, attack speed and crit chance which pairs so well with IE and LW. With this item you can kite enemies like a boss. A lot of people say that you should upgrade straight to a phantom dancer but I don't really think that the additional upgrades are immediately worth that much extra gold. I think that for Ashe, Phantom Dancer is a situational and lategame item.

Banshee's Veil
Banshee's Veil is the staple defensive item on all carries because it has good MR, good HP boost and can prevent one spell from hitting you every 45 seconds (which is quite huge). If you're starting to die really easily then definitely build this item before your zeal or LW.

Guardian Angel
It is a rare case when I get a Guardian Angel on Ashe, but sometimes, the enemy team lacks any good AP and the majority of the damage comes from AD players, so this is what will save you in these instances. It is also a great lategame item that will give you a second life, so I get this if the game tends to go on for a terribly long time 45+minutes or if the enemy lacks any good AP dmg.

Madred's Bloodrazor
Another item that I very rarely get on Ashe, this is typically another lategame item that is very good however it is so expensive and the items I already bought already make do enough damage that I usually don't need this. However, if the enemy team is stacking armor at lategame, then this item will mean you can continue to keep doing amazing damage.

Phantom Dancer
Usually I don't need to upgrade my zeal to a phantom dancer because I already have enough attack speed and movement speed with my items, runes and mastery set up, but sometimes, you are simply raping your enemy and this item will help you rape them even harder!

Elixir of Agility
People rarely get elixir's but they can really help out if you need to gain an edge. Whenever I feel like there might be a fight that could decide the game, then I get an elixir if I have enough money.

Elixir of Fortitude
Another elixir that works well on Ashe, always go for the agility elixir first though.

Sight Ward
If you are serious about winning the game, then you will buy wards for yourself at a minimum and for your team if you think they are idiots who will overextend. Since Ashe is squishy and doesn't have any good escape abilities, always keep the river area warded during the laning phase so you can safely push, if you don't have a ward, then absolutely do not push past the river.

There's really only three options here and one of them NEED to be an escape ability.

These options are
1. Flash
2. Ghost
3. Exhaust

I prefer to go Flash/Ghost everytime because it means you have an extra way to save your own life. However, if my team does not have a single exhaust then sometimes I will pick it just because having an exhaust on your team is always good to shut down their AD champions. Use Exhaust on Melee AD champions first (tryndamere, Xin Zhao, irelia) but if none of them are there then use it against the other AD carry or to chase/run away.

I find ignite to be useless on Ashe because you don't really do burst damage so if you want to finish somebody off then it shouldn't be hard to just right click them rather than wait for one of your spells (volley for example) to come up and finish him off. I also don't see teleport as useful because unlike a bruiser Ashe needs to be in a good position to be able to dish out damage, if she teleports into a bad position in a teamfight then that's a dead Ashe and the best use of teleport for Ashe would be to teleport back to lane after going back to base or dying... which shouldn't happen too often hopefully.

EARLY GAME
Early game you will simply be focusing on farming and getting as many minion kills as possible, only fight the enemy if he overextends or if you got a clear advantage over him because in most cases you will simply end up losing exhanges early on. A note about Early Game lane partner's is that you should always try and get a support to babysit with at bottom lane. This is just so important for Ashe and AD carries in general, but especially Ashe because of how weak she is early game. Personally my favorite lane partners with Ashe are Soraka and Sona because this gives you infinite lane sustainability and you can pretty much free farm while slowly whittling down your opponents hp, the reason why bottom lane is the duo lane is because this way you get to control dragon. Laning with a non-support character is bad for Ashe because this means that she is going to lose many creep kills and hence not be able to be as effective late game. If your team doesn't have a support character, then you will either have to try and get a solo lane or compete for creep kills with whoever you are laning with.

MID GAME
Mid game you're going still going to be farming but also use your crystal arrow to help out with ganks. If your team engages in a teamfight then stay in the back. By this point you should have your infinity edge so you can dish out some good damage, harrass your enemy whenever you have the chance and then when you think you can finish them off, arrow and go in for the kill.

LATE GAME
This is where you should be dishing out huge amounts of damage and they will want to kill you asap. Don't let them kill you by staying at the back of your team with a support supporting you. You are the main damage to turrets so whenever you have the opportunity take them down while your team keeps them off you. Time your crystal arrows right to win fights.


General gameplay tips
- NEVER facecheck
- When first joining lane, go try and hit your enemy before you farm because you get a nice crit attack bonus which could set the tone of your lane (I know I said farm and don't be aggressive, but this is the one time when you can be very agressive early game)
- Spam volley in teamfights, stay at the back, don't necessarily focus their carries, just make sure not to die and continuously bring down enemies
- Know how to position yourself, learn to kite, learn to chase
- if there is a teamfight, always stay behind your team, if you are focused you will die in one second.