How to play Ashe ADC like C9 Berserker in League of Legends season 13

C9 Berserker
C9 Berserker's style of playing Ashe as an ADC has proved to be deadly in teamfights (Image via Riot Games - League of Legends)

The ADC meta in League of Legends has certainly changed a lot over the past few years. What was originally a role where players could succeed with any champion if they won the laning phase and scaled properly has become one where players are entirely dependent on specialized combinations, making them crucial winning conditions in professional play.

One of these particular bot lane pairings comprises of Ashe and Heimerdinger. It first garnered popularity at the 2022 League of Legends World Championship when it defeated the potent duos of Lucian/Nami, Zeri/Yuumi, and Sivir/Yuumi that previously ruled the global League of Legends meta.

Although Ashe and Heimerdinger struggled to find widespread use individually, these two champions produced one of the most poke-oriented combos together, forcing enemies to either stay back or teleport back to base.

Since then, this powerful combo has been developed further to take advantage of their complementary abilities to simultaneously slow and immobilize multiple enemy champions in League of Legends.


Berserker's ADC Ashe build in League of Legends is a one of a kind build for lethal teamfights

Ravenous Hydra is the key to Berserker's ADC Ashe build (Screengrab via League of Legends)
Ravenous Hydra is the key to Berserker's ADC Ashe build (Screengrab via League of Legends)

While the strongest League of Legends build for Heimerdinger is still the Rylai Crystal Scepter rush, many players are currently opting for Ashe as their ADC in favor of more supportive builds. Although Ashe no longer sustains significant damage as a result, she's become trickier to deal with or approach safely.

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Despite this new build's lack of success in professional play so far, reigning LCS champion Kim "Berserker" Min-cheol from Cloud9 went for this pick in the very first game of the 2023 LCS Spring Split and managed to defeat 100T, just like he did before to win the championship back in September.

However, in doing so, Berserker abandoned his usual role as C9's kill leader and teamed up with Zven as a playmaker with a plethora of cross-map ultimates.

Given below is a detailed explanation of the brand new Ashe ADC build, which is likely to thwart almost every opposing League of Legends strategy, but does require great teamwork to really shine.


ADC Ashe runes

Berserker's Ashe ADC runes (Screengrab via League of Legends)
Berserker's Ashe ADC runes (Screengrab via League of Legends)

Domination

Hail of Blades - Hail of Blades has emerged as the top keystone for Ashe players who are planning to build Imperial Mandate to ensure that she still has plenty of attack speed, whether it's in the Support or ADC role.

Considering that Ashe's basic attacks slow down the targets that they hit, this attribute is extremely crucial for her. As a result, the temporary advantage provided by Hail of Blades for attacking an enemy repeatedly will deal large amounts of damage that they definitely wouldn't expect.

Taste of Blood - Ashe's slows allow her to continuously deal damage to enemies from a safe distance, making Taste of Blood an effective option to heal herself instead of using health potions.

Since Ashe doesn't have any built-in escape mechanisms, players should keep an eye out for incoming crowd control while launching a flurry of attacks at an enemy champion.

Zombie Ward - Although this rune limits Ashe's ability to use other, more offensive choices, it does increase her role as a secondary support without requiring her to actively place wards.

Ultimate Hunter - One of the game's most potent teamfight-starting moves is Ashe's ultimate (Enchanted Crystal Arrow). With Ultimate Hunter, Ashe receives ultimate haste for eliminating (or assisting in eliminating) distinctive opponents.

When this is coupled with Ability Haste, her build's items will reduce the cooldown of Enchanted Crystal Arrow from 65 seconds to around 25 seconds.

Inspiration

Biscuit Delivery - Ashe, like many other ADCs, struggles with high mana costs. She needs as many methods as possible to keep her mana level high, and Biscuit Delivery is the perfect way to achieve this throughout the laning phase, as she'll want to use her Q and W as frequently as possible.

Approach Velocity - This specific rune is one of the finest options for League of Legends players to guarantee that Ashe, regardless of how they choose to build her, will be strong before the game even begins.

Since Ashe can slow down adversaries almost entirely with her kit, she won't be able to walk away from them without using up valuable mobility spells.

Bonuses: +10% attack speed, +9 adaptive force, +6 armor.


ADC Ashe build Items

Berserker's Ashe ADC build items (Screengrab via League of Legends)
Berserker's Ashe ADC build items (Screengrab via League of Legends)

Players familiar with Ashe's support gameplay will notice that the discussed ADC Ashe build is almost the same, with the exception of one additional item: Ravenous Hydra.

This legendary item, which was heavily buffed (and then nerfed) during the preseason, has gained popularity among a number of ADCs because of its useful Ability Haste and its Cleave passive. Ravenous Hydra also ensures that League of Legends' Frost Archer always has some AD in her arsenal.

Players should remember that this Ashe build is not particularly meant for dealing a lot of damage outside of the laning phase. Instead, she becomes a valuable teammate, regardless of where she is on the Rift thanks to the incredibly short cooldown of her abilities.

The most crucial aspect of this build is making sure to do more than just keep the opponents' waves of minions at bay while playing the lane. Because of this, League of Legends players should first spend their money on a Tear of the Goddess and the components of Ravenous Hydra, which should be their very first completed item.

Although Berserker couldn’t reach the full build in his recent League of Legends LCS game, a Manamune is required if the game goes too long.

Ashe transforms into an ultimate machine whenever players successfully complete their Imperial Mandate as their second item, being able to spray arrows across the map with what appears to be no cooldown. However, just because Ashe is capable of firing these arrows so quickly doesn't mean that she should.

After applying the debuffs from the Imperial Mandate, nearly every ultimate used by Berserker effectively began a teamfight from a distance or immobilized an opponent who was attempting to flee while his teammates took advantage of the situation.

Berserker constantly slowed foes and processed his items while he wasn't using his ultimate, creating numerous opportunities for his team to profit from it.

As seen in Berserker's recent game alongside Zven who opted for Heimerdinger, the ADC Ashe build can stop teams from engaging in front-to-back teamfighting and, more importantly, drive enemies away from important objectives.

Players should keep in mind that even though they're building Ashe like a Support, they're still playing her in the ADC position and will need to CS as quickly as possible to obtain these expensive items.

They should also be aware of how much this build differs from a typical League of Legends Ashe ADC build before they opt for it. It's far more difficult to solo-carry a game with this build as it's focused on teamwork.

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