Greetings, summoner. Searching for a guide about Ashe-The Frost Archer, that will help you make a decent and viable build, that needs no astronomical amounts of gold and will label you as "Attention! Dangerous Archer approaching" through out the whole game toward your enemies? Bored of playing games at which, you will farm and farm and farm, in order for late game to arrive at which you will be the "God of the Battlefield", but everytime that time comes, the games seems to end and all you got is...some boring farm? If yes, then Welcome! You came to the right place. As soon as you ready, allow me to introduce you to my guide.

Those changes, apply on the following attributes

Runes


With the arrival of Season 3, the whole 'Penetration' system has changed. Percentage penetration applies first now, with flat pen being calculated afterwards and not first. That means, stacking percentage penetration while already having boosted flat penetration, won't result having the effectiveness of your stacked flat pen reduced. Keeping that in mind, it is now more effecient to have both AD and Armor penetration runes, since there are lots of items you can acquire, that will boost both those stats during your game. So...you no longer need armor penetration Quints, use Attack Damage runes instead.

Summoner spells As about your summoner spells, shall remain intact. As your second spell though, it would be wise if you used the new spell 'Barrier'.
That spell allows you to ignore up to a specific ammount of damage for 2 seconds. Sounds similar to , only that the ammount of damage you ignore cannot be halved by Grievious Wounds, which happens when you use under that effect.

(Young summoner)-Hmmm...looks like a decent spell, but why would I want to use it over ?

(Asten)-Both spells are good, but can help you survive and not die instantly by an enemy's huge burst damage. Also, as Ashe, you tend to be a lot squishy, with health lower than average during the whole game. Barier Barier can aid you, against your low health and resistances.

Okay, first of all, let's start with some hot stuff...the runes you are going to use.

Marks and Quints --> Those NEED to be armor penetration. Along with +6 armor pen provided by masteries, you start with 31 flat armor penetration and 10% percentage armor penetration. That's really really good against anyone early-mid game and anyone but tanks throughout the whole game.

Now, you must be asking yourselves... "I'll be damned, no attack damage runes at all?"
Yes, gentelmen. There is NO need for early ad bonus, since:

1.--> At level 1, you are not going to hunt so hard your enemies and EVEN if you do so, they will probably have those famous flat armor seals runes, in which case your damage will be reduced sensibly, in which case armor pen would do the job, since you ingore their armor.

2.--> Ashe attacks with autoattacks (100% of your ad before damage reduction(NO bonus ad scaling there))
Ashe's damaging spell "Volley" benefits from 100% of your Ad(No bonus AD scaling there as well)

3.--> At league of legends, people can stack lots of armor with no cap...can also stack lots of attack damage, since there are MANY items that grant armor and attack damage.
BUT, there are only FEW items that grant armor pen, so by choosing armor pen runes, you have the chance to buy as much attack damage as you want.



As about Magic Resist per level Glyphs, the reason is well known. Very few champs that cause MAGIC DAMAGE can hurt you badly early game (Cassiopeia, for example).
It would be rather preferred to pick magic resist per level, since the champs with MAGIC DAMAGE, will be able to hurt you bad mid to late game, and some magic resistance at that point through your glyphs, will be something needed.

As about the seals, health per level seals add some needed health to your life pool, by mid to late game.

-Any questions?

(Summoner)- Why don't you pick flat armor seals? You are pretty squishy, especially early game.

(Me)-The only reason no armor seals had been chosen, is that by early game, you have the +6 from masteries, but ALSO, any champ that will deal physical damage to you, will have to get into your range. If he does, with the aid of your armor pen runes and AD granting items, you should make sure you get them killed, before they kill you or leave your range. If they are ranged, they will probably be as squishy as you early game. If they are melee, the reason the will try to attack you, is probably some early armor the managed to get. That means, they depend on their armor to give them enough time to kill you, providing low damage against your hits. But since you have armor pen, you counter their counter. In the case you still notice you are getting TONS of physical damage early game and can't attack back, then feel free to pick flat armor seals.

Are we done?

(Summoner)- What about critical damage runes? Since you're AD carry and depend on critical hits to kill, why don't you make them hurt some more? Your early game critical hits will get good benefit also.(Ashe's Passive)

(Me)- Nice question and nice idea. Additional critical strike damage along with 10% from masteries and 50% from your Infinity Edge, will make your auto attacks truly devastating LATE GAME. The only flaw with that is, how to get there. You see, you may be devastating late game, but EARLY to MID game, you will be doing NO damage, when only depending on Ashe's passive or the +25% critical chance Infinity Edge provides. Keeping in mind the item costs a lot, you will find yourself doing good damage with the first arrow (Ashe's Passive) and any REALLY LUCKY critical hits, you may score with 25% critical chance.

As about the masteries, it's all focused on damage and some valuable early game bonus on armor and magic resist. Also a small buff on health for late game (+81). As Ashe, you are there to kill, not to walk around, proud that you can endure tons of hits. So, no need to invest any more on the defensive tree.

When the matter comes to the order you are going to learn your skills, as Ashe, my opinion is as follows:

Since early to mid game, you will be against 1 enemy or 2 in your fights, you are going to need some increased burst damage and maybe lock them down with some good slow.

That's why, you shall learn the skill "Volley" at level ONE and max it by level 9.
Each rank lowers its cooldown sensibly and it's large range and angle of effect, allows you to hurt your enemy from a distance. It also makes good burst damage as a "Critical attack-Volley-auto attack" when you want to hurt an enemy bad.

As about your Q spell, the frost, that is realy important, as it will make your auto attacks to slow your enemy for enough time for you to catch up with him. You NEED to learn that skill at level 2 and max it second.

Now, as about your E spell, hawkshot, that skill is really good, as it grants you vision of any spot you wish that lies within a specific radius away from you. You MUST learn that skill at level 4, if the enemy team has a jungler, or whenever this skill is the only one that can be upgraded. (Strongly reccomended you pick that skill at level 4, no matter what)

Now, the frozen arrow, is your ulti. You will learn that skill at level 6 and upgrade it whenever possible.
That is a REALLY nice skill for ulti, as it stuns the first champion it encounters, upon impact and slows any unit around the target. The stun's duration depends on the time your arrow travelled and the damage is medium.
First of all, it's a global skill, which means you can aid your teammates from a distance. Notice that the projectiles speed is moderate though, so it may be a bit tricky to score a hit at really distant targets.
This skill is best used to initiate a team fight, as if you place yourself correctly, you can hit their support/mage/AD carry that stay behind their tanks at teamfights. That way, you can start hurting them, without having to chase them.

Secondly, this skill is a good addition to your burst damage "AA-R-AA-W", mainly for early to mid game, since ulti's damage is MAGIC, and you penetration no magic resist.
By late game, you must NOT depend at your ulti for damage AT ALL, only for it's nice stun.

Summoner spells may seem of low importance, but what you will choose can turn the whole game, when used correctly from the AD CARRY.

The summoner spell, known as "Ignite", is a really good choice for you.
Upon igniting someone, you will notice flames growin out of him. That has as result, them suffering TRUE damage over time and also, you reduce their healing capabilities by 50%.

As about the damaging portion of the spell, it's some damage addition, when you want to make sure you will kill your target, as it is true damage, which means it completely ignores enemy's defences.

Now, as about the healing reduction debuff, that is REALLY important.
Since your role is to kill, you may sometimes find yourself against enemies with REALLY high hp regeneration (Mundo/Voli while passive), really good Spellvamp (Fiddlesticks/Swain and others) or HIGH Lifesteal (Most AD carries by mid to late game).

That's when YOU show up, you ignite them, slow them with your Q and burst them down quietly.

As about your second slot at summoner spells, I personally choose the summoner spell-Flash.
It can be used to get out of unfortunate situations (1vs5 into the baron's lair, after he got slain...), can be used to close the gap between fleeing enemies OR can be used to quickly reposition yourself in order for you to cast your ulti and stun valuable enemies, which were earlier protected by their allies).


Alternatives here, exist only for the spell "Flash". Ignite is your core spell, you don't wanna sacrifise it.

So... possible alternatives:

--> Ghost: This is slightly good against any melee, since you can run away from them, but still keep them locked in range with your Q. But, I don't really reccomend that spell over Flash.

--> Cleanse: This summoner spell is not bad for you. People are going to try and disable you for good at fights. You should not let them do that. If they managed to plant some hard disable on you, use Cleanse and you should be fine against most of their disables.

--> Exhaust: That spell is not really bad, since it can aid for you to score some nice early game kills. It can also turn out good against some melee enemy that tries to put you down. Apart from that, your Q at full rank is a good enough slow. Also, you are ranged, so not need to get close to the enemy in order to apply the Exhaust

WHAT YOU SHALL NOT GET:


Heal--> This spell is going to help you 1% of the times you use it, if the enemy is decent.
Since you are AD CARRY and quite SQUISHY, the health it replenishes will be lost in milisecs, since you have no amazing defences.


Teleport--> Anywhere you might teleport at, for combat purposes, will give the enemy enough time to realise you are coming, since the spell's channel time. That spell might only be viable for combat purposes, if there is some ward placed into a nice spot, that allows you to show up behind the enemy's front lines in a teamfight, maybe. But, you can almost do the same thing with flash, but more efficiently.

The main idea before the items you will be purchasing, have to be nice damage output at early -mid game, that maxes out to a godlike level, at late game.

For that reason:

Your first item is going to be our favourite "Doran's Blade". Nice AD boost, nice health buff as long as some lifesteal to support you up.

The second item on the list, is no other but "Berserker Greaves" of course. You now have better speed and can attack faster, which is why you are supposed to do.

Here to boost your early game, comes the "Brutalizer" item. Nice flat armor pen that synergizes well with the one you get by your runes, nice AD boost and some valuable cooldown reduction, so that you can spam your spells more.

(Summoner)-Wait!, what?! Brutalizer?

(Me)-Of course, my friend. Everyone knows that champions like Ashe depend on critical hits to cause tons of damage. But, till you make it, having nice critical strike chance, additional critical damage and nice AD to benefit from critical hits, you will have to use your spells and AUTO ATTACKS to kill. At that point, your auto attacks will REALLY hurt, along with your W of course.

(Summoner)-Okay...I guess.

(Me) *Clears throat*

Now, that you have nice armor pen and good AD, you will work on getting your AD to reach high levels. Two B.F. Swords shall do the job. Now, to boost your AD even more and get some lifesteal as well, you will upgrade one of the swords into the "Bloodthrister" sword and give it the blood it thirsts for quickly (Fully stack the sword)

This point, is the point during which your damage's sources change a bit.
You will have to introduce the critical hit, as a source of damage. That's why you upgrade the second B.F. Sword into the Infinity Edge. You know do really good damage with your spells and auto attacks, and get really DEADLY, in case you score any critical hits with your 25% critical chance.

In order now to fully adapt to the "Critical hit dominance" prototype, you are going to buy the following item..."Phantom Dancer".

That will boost your critical chance sensibly, your attack speed and will give you some nice movement speed bonus to counter your low base movement speed.

(You now sell your doran's blade, to make the slot available for a new item)

By this momement, you are scoring critical hits with a nice chance (55%), you can do good damage even if you don't critical hit, and your W hurts a lot. You may notice though that some of the enemies are stacking a statistic, a statistick that hurts, when stacked a lot. It's name?...Armor. When an enemy has LOTS of that, it will take for you almost TWICE the time to kill him, than if the exact same enemy had low armor. You realise you will need some extra help against that kind of enemies. Don't worry, here to aid you comes the amazing "Last Whisper". And guess what, he only wants ~2200 gold to join you at the fight.
This item, grants you some nice additional AD, but it also grants you 40% additional percentage armor penetration. (46% when stacked together with your 10% armor pen from masteries). That is REALLY good, since now, you can ignore 46% of the enemy's armor. Yes, means you will no longer have a big problem taking down those heavily armored enemies.

At this point, you are ALL good with your AD...all good with your Critical chance...ALL good with your lifesteal...and ALL good with your armor penetration. But now, in fights, you will focusing ONLY on critical hits to kill your enemies, which proc lifesteal. Damage from your W is still good, but not the most important source of damage. In fights, you will be hitting the enemy, enemy will hit you, and the thing that keeps you alive is your lifesteal. You cause a lot of damage?...you heal for lots of damage. As you can see now, your..."Currency" in battle, is your own Hp. Enemy gets some...you get some back (through lifesteal) and what shall not happen, is you to loose all your health and reach zero.

First of all, you now sell the brutalizer you had early bought, making space for only ONE more item. Now, that item could be an additional Bloodthirster, so that you will be more effecient when trading hp.(Loosing on hits...regaining when causing a hit)

When against champions that cause good damage per sec, you will survive, since they won't be able to make all your hp vanish in half a sec, and any you lost, you will gain back through lifesteal. BUT, if you find yourself against many DPS enemies or others with really high BURST damage, having a LOW health pool will result at you dying almost instantly, as you won't be able to lifesteal health back to you. (Since you will be dead)

So, a MORE effecient choice for your last item slot, would be something that expands your maximum health, so that you can survive HUGE bursts and heal yourself through Lifesteal, while spreading out disaster. An item that can REALLY make that happen, is the armor "Warmogs". With that fully stacked, your additional health from masteries and runes applied on your base health, you can reach 3200+ health, when your base one is only 1800.

Now, a good alternative to this last item, can sometimes be "Banshee's Veil". It's best used when the enemy team has REALLY POWERFUL magic damage dealers and bursters, since it grants some nice ammount of magic resist, small but nice health buff and a shield that blocks single negative spells cast on your champion. The shield refreshes every 45 secs, which means you will only use that shield once per teamfight.

Pros and Cons of Ashe, when she is applied this specific build.


Pros

-Deals GOOD damage throughout the whole game
-Can focus any target and kill any target.
(You will still prefer squishes over tanks, though)
-Not really squishy afterall
(nice health late game and means provided by the build that can get you there)
-You still can do good at any lane.(Mid or bot is to be preferred)
-Ingite is not a huge counter on you
(since 20% lifesteal becomes 10 and you have enough health to support
you during the ignite's duration)


Cons


-Your early game low armor, forces you to be MORE careful at fights
-Needs to focus down quickly enemies that deal magic damage that scales with your
maximum health, especially late game. (For exampleMagic dps
Warwick <3)

(Summoners)- Is this guide over yet?

(Me)-Yes, fellow summoners, the guide is now over. Today, during this time you devoted to read this guide, ancient ABANDONED and forgotten knowledge had been provided to you. I hope you all keep that knowledge balanced in you and not get overgreedy.

(Summoners)- Okay..yea.

(Me)-You now are ready to spread dominance around the fields of justice. Go now, summoners. Give 'em hell.

(Summoners)- Wha...?

(Me)- *Clears throat* I mean...enjoy your time at the fields of justice, with plently of fun, respect towards each other and endless co operation and nice team fights;).

(Summoners)-...(Gone 5 minutes now)