As Riot battles Marksmen Support Meta, Ashe is on the changing block as the new update for her has been revealed.
The meta is often the defining part of League of Legends. It determines how players play the game in a given season. A major part of it is determined by how Riot updates preseason and in-season games. This allows players to explore new updates and find strong champions to climb Solo Queue. Pro play also comes into account as they are often more prepared to use a pick as efficiently as possible.
However, in these situations, some champions emerge that are too strong. The meta often determines what type of champions they are. This season, it has mostly been Marksmen Supports. We had a detailed article on why this trend occurred a while back. Since then, there have been Support Item changes to combat the phenomenon.
One of those strong champions in the Support Role is Ashe. She has been a nuisance in Solo Queue, but Ashe is too strong in pro play. So Riot is coming down on it. Here is what we know about the upcoming Ashe changes.
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Ashe Changes Patch 13.5
Spideraxe revealed the Ashe changes as Riot Phreak posted them on Reddit. Here they are as follows:
- Base Stats:
- Base Health: 640 >>> 600.
- Health Growth: 101 >>> 105.
- Attack Damage Growth: 2.95 >>> 3.25.
- Q – Ranger’s Focus:
- No Longer Requires Focus To Cast.
- Cooldown: 10 seconds.
- Attack Speed: 25-55% >>> 25-45%.
- Total Damage: 105-125% total AD >>> 105-145% total AD.
- W – Volley:
- Cooldown: 18-4 seconds >>> 18-6 seconds.
- R – Enchanted Crystal Arrow:
- Cooldown: 80/70/60 seconds >>> 100/80/60 seconds.
Riot Phreak also shared context on why these changes are going about. According to him, Ashe is not that strong in Solo Queue, but she is oppressive in pro play. In almost all the leagues, Ashe is almost 100% presence in drafts, and that’s unhealthy. The aim of these changes is not to make Support Ashe obsolete but to make her prone to being countered.
Essentially, Riot is trying to nerf Support Ashe while keeping ADC Ashe relatively strong. The changes to her Q, in particular, will make Ashe more viable in the ADC role. All this will help ADC Ashe flourish while nerfing the annoying Support Ashe.
Spectral’s Sickle already got a nerf, so nerfing the individual champions in the Marksmen Support Category is the next choice. So, nerfing the cooldown on her W and R will essentially make her weaker as a lane bully and long-range engager.
Some may wonder why she was not nerfed further. This could probably be due to Riot buffing Melee Engage Supports in the recent patches, and they expect those champions to have more priority and punish the immobile Support Ashe.
In totality, these look like solid changes where Riot Phreak may have struck a balance between nerfing Support Ashe and keeping ADC Ashe viable. We will have to see how this pans out in the live servers once it is released with Patch 13.5.
