League of Legends: Learning the Fundamentals of ADC Through Ashe

ADC, known in League of Legends as attack damage carry is usually played by marksmen in the bottom lane in-game. It is regarded to be one of the most technical roles because it is the main source of constant damage on the team, therefore making it the priority target to slay.

ADC is one of the only roles in League of Legends where you are not someone trying to make a play happen. Instead, you are trying to survive for as long as possible, to ensure that you deal the maximum amount of damage possible.

Typically ADCs usually are extremely squishy and lack large amounts of mobility (some however do have mobility). Therefore positioning is extremely important, as well as having a high enough level of skill be to able to kite.

Though the role can be extremely complex, the role can be extremely rewarding as you have control over the damage output of your team in a fight. Therefore learning this role can be really enjoyable and beneficial to any league player.

Why Play Ashe?

When learning how to play ADC, Ashe is one of the best champions to pick. Other marksmen such as Vayne, Kai’sa, Ezreal, and Lucian provide similar characteristics to Ashe, however, none of them teaches the fundamentals of the role like she does.

When describing the fundamentals of the role, it is all about positioning, and staying alive. Though Ashe does not have a dash or a true escape, she provides other tools that allow her to survive in combat. Additionally, the lack of a dash or a blink allows you to learn how to position properly in a team fight, as you will be punished for it if you don’t.

In addition to this, one of the main fundamentals of League of Legends is map awareness and tracking the enemy team. Ashe is arguably the best marksmen at teaching this skill to newer players Additionally, the skill of map awareness translates into objective awareness, which is a fundamental aspect of the game.

Ashe also provides large amounts of utility and crowd control which ensures that you will always be useful, unlike other AD carries who struggle when behind.

Frost Shot

Frost Shot is Ashe’s passive and it makes it so that her basic attacks and her abilities apply “frost” to enemies which slows them. The second part of the passive also makes it so that she cannot critically strike with her basic attacks, instead if an attack were to critically strike, it would increase the slow amount.

The slow on every auto attack makes it so that if Ashe were to fall behind in-game and lack damage, she would still provide crowd control which will impact team fights regardless of damage. This can be extremely useful when chasing opponents or escaping them.

Frost Shot also allows you to have an easier time kiting opponents. As they are chasing you, every time you hit an auto-attack on them they are slowed, reducing your chances of getting caught. The highest skilled Ashe players can completely avoid being caught by enemies through their ability to kite.

Here is a video of the 2017 World Champion, Park “Ruler” Jae-hyuk kiting on Ashe. Though extremely technical, you can see how he uses his auto attacks and abilities to move to slow the enemies while he moves back. Which allows him to stall long enough for his team to back him up.

Though having an escape ability on a champion would save you in many situations, Ashe teaches you the fundamentals of ADC by giving you the tools to learn how to kite effectively.

Ranger’s Focus

Ranger’s Focus is Ashe’s Q ability. When inactive, for every auto attack you do, you gain a stack of focus (up to four stacks). When Ashe reaches four stacks, she may activate this ability. When activated, Ashe gains an attack speed bonus and each auto-attack fires five arrows. This is the ability that you want to max out second

This ability teaches the fundamentals of constantly auto-attacking enemies, as you are rewarded for doing so. When you constantly hit enemies, you are ultimately dealing the most damage. which is a fundamental part of playing ADC.

Volley

Volley is Ashe’s W ability. When activated she fires a cone of arrows towards the direction you are aiming. These arrows do damage only to the first target struck. An enemy can also be hit by multiple, but they will only take damage from the first one they were hit by. This is also the ability that you would want to max out first

Volley is Ashe’s main poke ability and her main damage ability. In the lane, you will want to use this to harass the enemy champion.

The arrows will also apply frost to the enemy hit. This means that they will be slowed when hit by the arrow. When kiting or chasing an enemy, if you need to reset the slow, you could also shoot your volley out towards them.

Hawkshot

Hawkshot is Ashe’s “E” ability and allows for her to send out a scouting hawk anywhere on the map, revealing the path and the destination. The destination will continue to be revealed for a total of 5 seconds. This is also the ability you would want to max out last.

This ability allows you to scout out areas where you do not have vision and specifically allows you to track the enemy Jungler. This can be extremely useful in determining how aggressive you can play in the lane. In addition to this, if you and your support are out of wards, you can check bushes with Hawkshot and the river to scout for ganks.

Later in the game, you can also use Hawkshot to scout major objectives such as baron or dragon if you do not have vision of them. In lower levels of play, these objectives might not be warded by your team, and in higher levels of play, the wards might have been swept out.

You can also aid your Jungler in tracking the enemy Jungler, or allow them to see if they can steal any enemy camps.

Hawkshot teaches you the fundamentals of being aware of the map, which ultimately translates into objective control. It would also allow you to develop the basics of team play and communication skills through being able to scout the enemy’s side of the map and track the enemy Jungler.

Enchanted Crystal Arrow

Enchanted Crystal Arrow is Ashe’s “R” or ultimate ability. Using this ability fires a gigantic arrow in the direction that you are aiming. When the arrow is flying, it grants vision of the path. On impact with an enemy champion, it stuns them for 1-3 seconds, based on the distance that the arrow has followed (as well as granting vision of them for one second). Like any other ultimate, level it up whenever you can.

This ability can act as the primary engage option for a team. When you want to start a fight, Ashe can shoot the arrow, and stun and enemy champion. This would allow the rest of your team to follow up on the opportunity.

The arrow can also be used as a form of self peel. As previously stated, the ADC is the main target. As the other 5 enemy champions are coming after you, you can stun them by shooting the arrow. However keep in mind that the short the distance travelled, the shorter the stun.

This ability ensures that Ashe will always have a purpose on a team. It provides a large amount of CC and is extremely useful at disengaging or engaging in team fights. Though not recommended (because you have Hawkshot), you can also use this ability to get vision of objectives.

The fundamental aspect of League that this ability teaches is preparing for a team fight. As will be used as the primary engage tool in most team compositions, this ability teaches you how to brace for team fights.

Conclusion

Ashe is a very strong champion at all levels of play. She teaches the fundamentals of ADC, while also providing large amounts of utility.

Ashe allows the player to grow their skills by forcefully teaching them how to position (as she has no escape ability), while also granting them skills to learn how to kite. Additionally, her Hawkshot and Enchanted Crystal Arrow abilities provide assets to a team, that no other champion in her class can provide.

The large amounts of crowd control that Ashe provides to a team is unmatched by any other ADC, which makes her an impactful and unique pick.

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