~On the second week of Ash(e) Month, my true love gave to me . . . one Frost Archer!~
Not sure if I’d call it true love, but I’ll still give you guys this build I came up with! I’m having fun with this idea though I did completely rebuild a different Ash just last night because I had a new idea that I think works out better. Not much else new has happened, so I’ll go into the usual spiel. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in an attempt to fit the character. These choices might not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
Let's get into the build for Ashe from League of Legends!
ASHE, THE FROST ARCHER
CHARACTER Ashe
SOURCE League of Legends
GOALS
o Hailing from the frigid realm of the Freljord in Runeterra, Ashe is an Iceborne who possesses a magical connection to her homeland and is able to wield True Ice
o Following the death of her mother and the near annihilation of her tribe, Ashe found and claimed a bow of True Ice wielded by her legendary ancestor, which she used to avenge her mother’s death
o She became a protector of scattered folks and adopted them as full members of her new tribe, causing tall tales to grow around her, which she leveraged to form alliances with other tribes
o As the leader of the Avarosans who many believe has a great destiny in store, she must try to meet their expectations while fending off the violent Winter’s Claw, led by her old playmate Sejuani
o Her Frost Shot passive applies a slow to enemies and increases damage she deals to frosted enemies while critical strikes increase the potency of her slow rather than increasing her damage
o Ranger’s Focus has a passive effect that causes her to gain focus as she attacks, which she can activate to increase her attack speed and unleash a flurry of arrows
o With the Volley ability, Ashe launches a volley of arrows in a cone
o Hawkshot allows Ashe to send out a hawk spirit towards a target location to grant her sight along its path and in its destination
o Finally, Ashe can fire an Enchanted Frost Arrow a vast distance to damage and stun a target
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Wintertouched Human
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence
o Ancestry Feat: Natural Ambition
Background: Tall-Tale
o Ability Boosts: +Charisma, +Dexterity
o Skills: Performance (trained)
o Background Feat: Impressive Performance
Class & Subclass: Starlit Span Magus
o Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o Skills: Acrobatics (trained), Arcana (trained), Athletics (trained), Diplomacy (trained), Survival (trained)
o Class Feat: Familiar
o Spellbook: Cantrips – bullhorn, light, message, produce flame, ray of frost, read aura, tanglefoot, telekinetic projectile;1st – admonishing ray, magic weapon, shocking grasp, snowball
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str 10, Dex 18, Con 10, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 14)
The natural resilience to the cold possessed by the Iceborn is well-reflected through the wintertouched heritage of the human. Given how Ashe is using the legends of Avarosa and her own epxloits to gather around her, the tall-tale background seemed appropriate even if she isn’t getting a ton of use out of the skill and background feat it grants. Looking through the classes, I initially considered ranger with the intent of picking up the Eldritch Archer Dedication down the line, but talking with a friend convinced me that starlit span magus was a better starting point for her. While she admittedly doesn’t get the static bonus on her shots from Arcane Cascade, shooting star is a good starting point to achieve the effects of her Hawkshot with Natural Ambition securing her a Familiar to represent the actual hawk spirit.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Archer Dedication
o Skill Feat: Forager
o Gear: everburning torch
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (expert)
o Gear: +1 longbow, everburning torch, genealogy mask
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Expansive Spellstrike
o Skill Feat: Bon Mot
o Gear: coyote cloak, +1 longbow, flask of fellowship, everburning torch
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 12, Dex 19, Con 10, Int 16, Wis 12, Cha 16)
o Ancestry Feat: Cooperative Nature
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (trained), Survival (expert)
o Gear: +1 striking longbow, coyote cloak, golden legion epaulets, flask of fellowship, everburning torch, genealogy mask
Despite the inclusion of the starlit span hybrid study, magus doesn’t have quite the range combat capabilities she needs, leading to the picking up of Archer Dedication. This doesn’t provide her with anything initially, but will grant her the bow’s critical specialization down the line, which builds into the idea of her pinning and slowing foes down. Expansive Spellstrike opens up the list of what she can use, but most importantly will allow her to Spellstrike with paralyze, which allows her to ‘freeze’ a creature, as per her Enchanted Frost Arrow. While Forager helps her better provide for her tribe, Bon Mot doesn’t have an immediately obvious usage and doesn’t seem exactly right for her. However, its main use is going to come from the fact that paralyze is a Will save and successfully getting Bon Mot off will allow her to, in theory, us paralyze more consistently. The fact that Bon Mot uses Diplomacy works nicely for a character that wants to unite the Freljord through peaceful means, and the Cooperative Nature ancestry feat plays into that a bit as well.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Double Shot
o Skill Feat: Group Impression
o Gear: +1 leather armor, +1 striking longbow, hunter’s arrowhead, coyote cloak, flask of fellowship, necklace of knives
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Toughness
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (master)
o Gear: endless grimoire, +1 leather armor, diplomat’s badge, +1 striking longbow, coyote cloak, golden legion epaulets
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Triple Shot
o Skill Feat: Connections
o Gear: boots of bounding, endless grimoire, crown of the companion, +1 leather armor, +1 striking longbow, hunter’s arrowhead
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Multitalented – Ranger Dedication/Cooperative Soul
o Skill Increase: Nature (trained), Survival (master)
o Gear: +1 resilient leather armor, boots of bounding, ring of sustenance, endless grimoire, diplomat’s badge, +1 striking longbow
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Charisma (Str 14, Dex 20, Con 10, Int 18, Wis 12, Cha 18)
o Class Feat: Basic Hunter’s Trick - Gravity Weapon/Runic Impression
o Skill Feat: Terrain Expertise - Arctic
o Skill Increase: Society (trained)
o Gear: greater coyote cloak, +1 resilient leather armor, frost weapon rune, boots of bounding, endless grimoire, +1 striking composite longbow
While it doesn’t quite match up with the speed of Ranger’s Focus, Double Shot and the subsequent Triple Shot allow her to get off shots rapidly at a lesser penalty. On the skill side of things, Group Impression allows her to appear to other tribes and bands of her cause. Connections represents the alliances she’s made with other powerful members of the Freljord, including her political marriage to Tryndamere. Finally, Terrain Expertise – Arctic allows her to better navigate and adapt to her homeland.
At 9th level, I found myself slightly torn on which way to go with the build. Personally, I find myself preferring the Multitalented ancestry to gain the Ranger Dedication, but it leads down a path that some might not like as much. As such, I will be offering a second set of options that I suggest going forward. Anything to the left of the slash will be my suggestion for builds using Multitalented while anything listed to the right will be a build that skips it. And the very next level is one of the biggest splits in my mind. Using Basic Hunter’s Trick to pick up Gravity Weapon provides her with a nice flat bonus to damage while Runic Impression can ensure that she has an ice bow for pretty much every single combat.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Lead Climber
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: +2 striking composite longbow, greater coyote cloak, stole of civility, +1 resilient leather armor, boots of bounding, ring of sustenance
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Advanced Hunter’s Trick - Far Shot/Conflux Focus
o Skill Feat: Wilderness Spotter - Arctic
o Gear: +2 resilient leather armor, +2 striking composite longbow, greater endless grimoire, greater coyote cloak, frost weapon rune, lover’s gloves
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Cooperative Soul/Group Aid
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (expert)
o Gear: +2 greater striking composite longbow, +2 resilient leather armor, hopeful weapon rune, greater endless grimoire, greater coyote cloak, stole of civility
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Runic Impression/Hasted Assault
o Skill Feat: Shameless Request
o Gear: boots of speed, +2 greater striking composite longbow, ring of climbing, +2 resilient leather armor, greater endless grimoire, ring of wizardry (type II)
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 16, Dex 21, Con 10, Int 19, Wis 14, Cha 18)
o General Feat: Canny Acumen – Perception
o Skill Increase: Diplomacy (legendary)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient leather armor, boots of speed, spell-storing weapon rune, +2 greater striking composite longbow, hopeful weapon rune, greater goggles of night
In picking up Basic Hunter’s Trick, Ashe qualifies for the Advanced Hunter’s Trick, which allows her to grab Far Shot, doubling the range increments of her weapons to reflect that her Enchanted Frost Arrow is a global ability. Alternatively, Conflux Focus allows her to use her focus spells more freely in combat and regenerate the focus easier. With that out of the way, Runic Impression is a good grab to grant her those frost weapons. Hasted Assault is less based on any of her specific abilities aside from the rapid-fire attacks that she unleashes with Ranger’s Focus. Following the same vein, this is a good opportunity to grab the Cooperative Soul she might have missed out on earlier or Group Aid if she has that, both filling a similar aspect of the character.
Lead Climber plays into both the mountains that seem to make up much of the Freljord as well as her focus on working together with her people. Shameless Request isn’t exactly reflective of anything to Ashe’s character, but with the focus on Diplomacy, it seemed a good grab. While there is a way to gain master Perception with a ranger archetype feat, I didn’t want to sacrifice a class feat for it, so while Canny Acumen takes a few levels to get it there, it works. The idea behind using it is playing into Hawkshot simply increasing Ashe’s awareness.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Conflux Focus/Striker’s Scroll
o Skill Feat: Legendary Negotiation
o Gear: greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather armor, major endless grimoire, boots of speed, +2 greater striking composite longbow, ring of wizardry (type III)
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Heroic Presence
o Skill Increase: Survival (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking composite longbow, greater frost weapon rune, dragonscale amulet, +2 greater resilient leather armor, boots of speed, spell-storing weapon rune
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Multishot Stance
o Skill Feat: Legendary Survivalist
o Gear: anklets of alacrity, +3 greater striking composite longbow, speed weapon rune, greater frost weapon rune, +2 greater resilient leather armor, major endless grimoire
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Intimidation (master)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient leather armor, anklets of alacrity, greater daredevil boots, +3 greater striking composite longbow, greater frost weapon rune, dragonscale amulet
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str 18, Dex 22, Con 10, Int 20, Wis 16, Cha 18)
o Class Feat: Supreme Spellstrike
o Skill Feat: Legendary Guide
o Skill Increase: Stealth (trained)
o Gear: +3 major striking composite longbow, +3 greater resilient leather armor, mercurial mantle, greater daredevil boots, greater talisman cord, orange prism aeon stone
Ashe takes Conflux Focus for the same reason described earlier or can take Striker’s Scroll mostly to increase her options for her spells. Multishot Stance helps further play into Ranger’s Focus, improving the effectiveness of Double and Triple Shot, while Supreme Spellstrike allows her to be permanently hasted, nullifying the need for Hasted Assault in her build and allowing it to be retrained if she has it. Legendary Negotiation continues to build into the focus on Diplomacy that Ashe has. Her final skill feats focus more on her aspect of a survivor while still allowing her to aid her allies while doing so. Heroic Presence simply feels appropriate for a character regarded as a ‘legend’ even if it, once again, isn’t particularly reflective of her kit.
CONCLUSION
Ashe’s Iceborn lineage is reflected through her wintertouched heritage with her focus on Diplomacy and group tactics playing into her method and desire to unite the Freljord. Her leverage of the stories of Avarosa and using those legends to build her tribe work well with the tall-tale background as well as the Connections skill feat it gives her access to. Adding the frost weapon rune to her weapon at least gives the chance of slowing enemies, as per Frost Shot, as does several of the cold-based Spellstrikes that she can unleash. Feats such as Double Shot, Triple Shot, and Multishot Stance work for her Ranger’s Focus while shooting star and her familiar fit well with her Hawkshot. Unfortunately, there isn’t a cold-based spell that entirely freezes the target, meaning that paralyze with Expansive Spellstrike is in need of some reflavoring to work for her Enchanted Frost Arrow, its great distance being achieved with the Far Shot feat from her Ranger Dedication. Finally, Volley is the hardest ability to replicate using the magus. The best method I found for doing so is using Expansive Spellstrike with the cone of cold spell. Overall, I prefer the idea of using magus for the idea of Ashe, but believe that ranger could have worked well for the concept.
Be sure to lemme know what you think of the build!
If you want to join in on the discussion of these builds and the ones I do for monsters or just hang out with a bunch of fellow TTRPG nerd, check out the Discord server. We also have a Twitter where we try to post teasers for the blog and are trying to get some milestones made up for. Next Friday, we're going to outer space to find our next Ash!
Until next time, have a fantastic Friday!
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