Riot kan ikke beskyldes for at lægge på den lade side, når det kommer til deres mange champions i League of Legends. Og nu har de rettet deres fokus imod en af de ældste helte, nemlig den bue og pil-bærende Ashe. Efter godt seks år med selv samme kit, som spillet blev lanceret med, er hun nu klar til en større opdatering, der bliver rullet ud med patch 5.9, som vi skrev om tidligere i dag.

We’re not rebuilding her from the ground up, but we have made some pretty meaningful changes to her abilities all intended to solidify Ashe as League’s premier utility carry. Finally, we’re also sliding in a couple of small tweaks to give her opponents more ways to play against her. - Riot.

Herunder kan de se en beskrivelserne af ændringerne samt direkte links til en kort video, der viser dem i aktion.

Passive: [NEW] Frost Shot - VIDEO

  • Ashe slows whoever she damages with her basic attacks and abilities.
  • Ashe's basic attacks always deal bonus damage to slowed targets, replacing her ability to critically strike. Bonus damage increases with her critical strike chance.

Q: [NEW] Ranger’s Focus - VIDEO

  • Passive: Ashe gains a stack of Focus whenever she slows an enemy, up to a cap of five stacks.
  • Active: Ashe gains a small amount of attack speed and applies a heavier Frost Shot slow for a few seconds. If Ashe has fully stacked her Focus, she also fires out a fast salvo of arrows with every basic attack for the ability’s duration.

W: Volley - VIDEO

  • Ashe nocks several arrows on her bow before firing them simultaneously in a large cone before her. Each arrow deals damage and slows its victim.
  • [NEW] Ashe fires more arrows than before. Targets are more likely to be hit by multiple arrows, but they'll only take damage from one.

E: Hawkshot - VIDEO

  • Ashe commands her hawk to scout out an area. The hawk travels slowly, revealing areas it passes as it heads towards the target direction. Once the hawk reaches its destination, it hovers for a few seconds, revealing all non-stealthed units, even in brush.
  • [NEW] Hawkshot now has a global range. Ashe can store up to 2 Hawkshots for quick use, too.

R: Enchanted Crystal Arrow - VIDEO

  • Ashe fires a huge ice missile in a target direction, damaging and stunning the first enemy champion it hits, with the stun duration dependant on the distance the missile travels. Enchanted Crystal Arrow also damages and slows all neutral and enemy targets surrounding its victim.

Riot har forsøgt at gøre Ashe mere underholdende at spille med og mere engagerende i kampene. Målet har været at gøre hende til utility marksman med effektiv crowd control. 

Frost Shot, for instance, was a pretty dull ability: you either had the ability on and slowed your targets while slowly losing mana, or you didn’t. At the same time, we really liked the idea of Ashe as a kind of utility marksman, someone who brings unrivalled crowd control and vision to games compared to other champs in her class. So we moved Frost Shot to her passive, simultaneously kicking her old toggle to the side while opening up her Q for something new. Ranger’s Focus fills the gap, providing Ashe with incentives for staying in combat (versus her old passive, which literally rewarded you for not attacking), and giving her a decent spike in damage when she handles her Focus stacks effectively. - Riot.

Du kan læse mere om Ashe og ændringerne på den officielle side. Hun bliver rullet ud i PBE (Public Beta Environment) allerede i dag.