Ashe - the frost Archer.

This guide focuses on getting a very high DPS Ashe, with focus on effective early game farming, ganking and level dominance. 

Let's look at the abilities that Ashe has:

This first skill is essentially a free frozen mallet for Ashe(which is why getting a FM on her is not a good idea and generally a waste of gold). It allows Ashe to chase, harass and prevent enemy heroes from escaping. Toggle it before attempting a gank, and fire away. Don't use this skill to kill creeps, it does not provide extra damage, just a slow.

OK, this skill seriously rocks. It is essentially an AoE nuke, that applies slow. Hit W, aim in the direction you want the arrows to go, and enjoy the carnage. This skill has multiple uses:

1)Effective farming tool. In early game, don't hesitate to use this skill to finish 2 or more creeps with one shot, as Volley deals 150% damage, so your chance of last hitting goes up by a lot. Midgame and late-game this skill clears creep waves in 1 shot.

2) A spammable nuke to get the extra damage that finishes off enemies. When chasing enemy champions, Ashe alternates between firing her frost shot and volley on cooldown, thus making sure that the enemy champion(s) is(are) constantly slowed and increase the DPS output.

3)A very effective escape skill. Use it to help your team mates flee, to escape team fights that did not go in your favour, and so on. It is a very effective skill to stop enemy champions from stopping you due to the slow, the extra damage, and the mass effect. 

Very boring skill. This provides you extra gold when you kill a unit. Kind of useful, but not as much as your other skills. Level this up last.

Arguably one of the coolest ultimates in this game. If you have played DotA, then this is like Miranas' arrow on steroids. It is much easier to aim, as it goes through creeps and hits only champions, plus it has infinite range. Yes, you can fire it from your base to the other side of the map.

An added bonus of this skill is the fact that it has a very short cooldown, only 75 seconds. With my build, you will be able to spam the arrow on cooldown, providing multiple killing opportunities. Later in this guide we will discuss how to aim Ashes' ultimate and chain combo her other skills to bring down enemy champions.

Ashes' passive champion skill, is not as cool as what other heroes have (Anivias' ressurection, for example), but still provides extra hurt, especially late game. Essentially, this skill lets Ashe reach a 100% crit chance on her next attack if she does not attack for a while. 


Recommended Runes

I do not have runes available, yet, but go for crit chance, attack damage, and attack speed, in this order.

Recommended Summoner spells

Nothing fancy here, go for the 21/0/9 build that most have. If you are levelling up, focus on your utility tree first (HP/MP regen, EXP gain, time spent dead) and then put points into the first tree.

Recommended Item Build
Start with Regrowrth Pendant.
Upgrade it to Philosophers Stone ASAP
Boots of Swiftness
The Black Cleaver
Infinity Edge
(roll your face on the keyboard to win if you got this far)
Banshees' veil
(any other high dps items)

I will explain later in the game when, how, and why to pick these items for Ashe. 

[b]Ability levelling guide[b]
Alternate between Volley and Frost shot before level 6. After level 6, give priority to your ultimate and Volley. Level up plentiful bounty only after you have maxed out the other skills.

Summoner Spells

Heal and Teleport. Feel free to swap the heal for flash if you are confident in yourself. Teleport is used for constant in-combat presence.
The Game

Start by buying the regrowrth pendant and ask for the solo lane in the middle. The pendant is your first item because it provides a high HP regen, which allows you to stay in the lane for much longer, harass the enemy, and even follow the enemies and neglecting the creep hits that you take.

Try to position yourself either behind your creeps, or right behind and to the left or right of your creeps. This is an optimal position, as it allows your volley to hit all the enemy creeps and possible the enemy champions.

At this point of the game, your goal is to last-hit the creeps, use your volley sparingly to finish off 2+ creeps with low hp, and harass the enemy, but only as the last priority. You need to farm exactly 640 gold for the philosophers' stone. 

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT NOT TO DIE AT THIS STAGE OF THE GAME. Ashe needs farming and items in order to dominate, so don't die and delay your item progress. The regrowth pendant allows you to modestly harass the enemy, tank up a few creep kills, but do not overdo it, you are very squishy.

Use volley when needed to prevent the enemy champion from chasing you, to slow creep progress to your tower and to last hit them. 

Once you have 640 gold(this should happen before you reach level 6 and before the 4-6 minute mark, depending on your last-hitting and farming abilities), teleport to your base, buy the philosophers' stone and teleport back to your lane. 

With the philosophers stone, you can start playing more agressively. Volley can be used more often, because of your mana regen, and the bonus 5gp5s will help you to build your other items. 

Don't be afraid to volley the enemy champion and follow up with your Frost shot to drive him away and to his tower. You want to bully him out and let you farm, and possibly kill him if you can. At this stage it is very hard, because your DPS is low, your movement speed is low, and the only bonus you have is the HP/MP regen. Use it well.

Once you hit level 6, you have your ulti ready. It costs 150 mana, so from now, be careful with your volley, so that you ALWAYS have enough mana to cast your ulti, if needed.

The ultimate is best used by stepping about 1 Volley range away from the creep fights and waiting for the enemy champion. Usually, they will move around, making it hard for you to aim the arrow. But, if you watch closely, every enemy tries to farm and last hit your creep. In order to attack, they need to stay still. It is in this moment that you can target them and release your ultimate. The hitbox on the arrow is pretty big, so aiming SLIGHTLY below or above the enemy will still ensure a hit. At level 6, the arrow will hit for 300 damage (bar armour reduction) and, from this distance, provide a 3'ish second stun. 

Right after you release your arrow, move into the range and volley the stunned enemy. Keep hitting him with your Frozen shot. At this point, the enemy will either die or attempt to run away due to the very low hp. Chase them, but do not tower dive. You are too fragile. At best, you got yourself a kill. Worst case scenario is that you sent your enemy to base, letting you free-farm. 

A general rule of thumb, is that if the enemy is around 600ish HP, you can take him down with your combination of ultimate, volley, and frost shot. So watch their help, and if you have a chance, take them out.

Farming for the boots of Swiftness is your top priority still, so focus on farming. If you've driven your enemy out of the lane, or they went to the base, you can either farm your lane, or go top or bottom and initiate a gank on your enemies. It's your call. No one expects you to come gank this early, but your team mates will be happy if you help them get a kill and ease the pressure on the lane. If you decide to gank, finish off the enemy creep wave first, and THEN go top or bottom. This way, the enemy will have a harder time figuring where you are.

By far, the best ganking spot is in the bushes right at the end of the river adjacent to the top and bottom lane. You can hide yourself in there, and wait for your moment. The procedure is still the same: examine when the enemy champion stands still and attempts to farm or last-hit a creep. At this moment, fire your ultimate, get in the range fast to fire a volley, and follow with frost shots for the kill. Your team mates will be helping you, and, as long as you hit the enemy with the ultimate, your chances of getting a kill are high.

Once you have 1050 gold, teleport home and get your boots of swiftness. This provides you with mobility, which increases your ganking and harassing abilities. Continue farming the middle lane, using the same harassing techniques described above. Your goal is to dominate the enemy by harassing him, by outmaneouvering him with your volley and frozen shot, and to to last-hit the enemy creeps to farm.

Your next item is B.F. sword, which costs 1850. Generally, as soon as I have the required amount of money, I tele back, and get the sword. It provides +50 damage, which now let's you farm more comfortable and if you pursue your enemy, the extra damage makes sure they feel the pain. 

Remember to use your ultimate often. The cooldown on it is low, just 75 seconds. Use it to simply nuke your lane enemy, or, if you are creative, shoot it from the middle lane either to the top or bottom lane. You will be surprised how often you will hit with it and how many ganking opportunities it will provide.

Your goal is now to finish the Black Cleaver. Get it ASAP. Once you do, breathe out. Your butter-cookie items are now complete. You have high mobility from your boots, hp/mp regen for farming from the stone, and high-damage armor reducing shots from the black cleaver. You hurt a lot now, so don't be afraid to auto-attack enemy champions and chase them down with your volley/frozen shot combo. The damage is now painful even for the HP-stacking tanks. 

By this time, mid game will begin. At this point, team fights are more frequent. Gank attempts are also common. Your role now is to balance between farming for your Infinity Edge and disrupting the enemy. Try to setup ganks top and bottom via the same procedure: take position in the bush, wait till the enemy is still for a second or two, fire your ultimate, get in range to hit with your volley, and follow up with frost shot and volley on cooldown. 

If you're doing it right, you will notice that the enemy is underleveled, underfarmed and has poor map control. Your team will be relatively secure, and continuous ganks will ensure dominance.

At this point, don't hesitate to assist your mates in defending towers. Your volley ensures that creeps are cleared out fast, and have your ultimate ready for a quick-counter-gank. Use it when your enemy tower-dives, when they are low on hp, or when your team mates are near you and are ready to gank.

You can also attack towers directly now, because your damage is respectable and you can bring them down relatively quick.

One thing to understand: Do not EVER try to tank with ashe. You will die very very fast. In teamfights, you will die very fast if you will be focused. Thus, always stay behind your melee fighters. In team fights, you should be slightly behind the center of the action, firing volleys and frozen shots, to make the enemies miserable. 

Often you will find yourself in a situation, where both teams are moving around, afraid to initiate, and turtling by the towers. In this case, you can do two things. Either initiate the fight with an arrow if you think you have balls, or go somewhere to farm. You can even kill neutrals. Look out for the golem that gives you the mana buff. It allows you to spam volley much more often.

You should finish your infinity edge ASAP. With this item, the enemy really will fear you. You hit fast, and you hit hard, and you crit. A lot. Also, your ultimate,when maxed out, will deal a pretty insane 700 damage, plus a stun. On squishy heroes, like twitch, teemo, Katarina and such, this ensures a kill. On tanks, it will most likely make them flee, which will result in their death, since your volley and frost shots ensure that you can chase them faster than they can run. 

Just remember that in teamfights, your position is not at the front, heading the cavalry, but at the back, where you can volley and frost shot away. Let your tank soak up the damage, it's his job. Your job is to kill enemies fast. 

In case that you are loosing a team fight and your team is fleeing, your mates will be relying on you to slow down the enemies with your volley and frozen shots. Just run with your team, and fire volleys at the chasing enemies to ensure a succesful escape. Often, it will be possible to retaliate by firing your ultimate, and reversing the tables. 

Your goal will be to be mobile, apply as much slow as possible in every situation and dps the enemies down. 

At this rate, stay with your team to kill towers, push the lane, kill baron and dominate the map. You can farm for your Banshees' Veil, this item will give you extra protection by negating one enemy spell every 30 seconds. 

In pushes, don't hesitate to shoot the towers. You DPS fast and hard. Remember how the tower AI works: As long as you hit the tower or enemy creeps, you won't be targeted unless there are friendly creeps around you. If you target an enemy champion, the tower will start attacking you. Thus, don't be afraid to hit the tower when the creeps clash and continue doing that even as your wave has onle 2-3 creeps left. But be wary of targetting the enemy champions, as this will make the tower focus you.

At this rate, you will soon be pushing the base of the enemy, forcing them to make mistakes, or straight out kill them in team fights thanks to your ultimate, your slow, and your high DPS. Take out towers and inhibitors as the situation allows. Win.

This is more or less it. This is my first guide, so I have attempted to help other players understand how Ashe levels, farms, ganks and stays alive. I hope it has worked for you. 

Again, to recapitulate:

1)Early game is focused on farming, with possible harassing when possible

2)Mid-game is a balance between farming and ganking.

3)End game is rolling your face on the keyboard and winning due to DPS and crits.

4)In team fights, you stay behind, you shoot volley on cooldown, and DPS your targets with the frozen shots. 

5)Fire your ultimate when you can predict that the enemy is still for 1-2 seconds. If you are far away from a major teamfight, fire your ultimate in the direction of the fight. Even if you are not there, you can participate due to the infinite range of your ultimate arrow.

6) Your general role is being a fast, mobile assasin with slowing abilities and fast DPS.


This is about it. Thanks for reading, hope it helps you enjoy this hero as much as I do.