Mar 082012
Ashe, the Frost Archer
Ashe, the Frost Archer is one of the classic original champions; this means that her skin roster is quite varied while at the same time represents the several stages of past skin development. There are simple re-colours, major re-models and full re-models to choose from. Her skins are not only varied in the amount of work they have but also in concepts. The visual upgrade brought many aesthetic changes to Ashe, though some things changes other stayed the same. If you want to know more to better choose how to outfit League of Legends’ prime archer, check this skin review.
Freljord Ashe
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| Category: | Regular |
| Price: | 520 RP |
| Concept: | Ashe dressed in white clothes with blonde hair. |
| Model: | New textures for Ashe’s clothes, hair, bow, quiver and arrows. |
| Particles: | New white particles for Frost Shot, Volley and Enchanted Crystal Arrow. |
| Animations: | No new animations. |
| Sounds: | No new sounds. |
| Splash Art: | Freljord Ashe’s splash art is quite good but leaves the feeling that with the great technique used more could’ve been achieved. The background offers a great panoramic view of the Freljordian landscape. However, it’s mostly empty and the few trees that are visible a little more than a stroke of the brush. Ashe looks great, shooting an arrow, but without context it ends up being just a pose. Nevertheless, the delicate delineation of her dress, the well placed reflections and the flying of her locks make for an outstanding portrayal. Fleljord Ashe is a good piece but it leaves the feeling that it can be excellent but, sadly, isn’t. |
| Rating: |  |
| Conclusion: | The splash art is much more impressive than the skin itself. That’s not to say that Freljord Ashe looks bad, because the new colours suit her rather well. However, while Freljord Ashe’s colours make it visually stand apart from Classic Ashe, there isn’t anything else. Except for inconsistencies, as her in-game quiver is coloured in Classic’s brown while it’s depicted white in the splash art. Therefore, Freljord Ashe may only appeal to those that want to see Ashe blonde and dressed in pristine snow white. Overall, it’s just a re-texture, a good and simple one; recommended for dedicated Ashe fans. |
Sherwood Forest Ashe
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| Category: | Regular |
| Price: | 520 RP |
| Concept: | Ashe dressed in green with brown boots and a wood bow. |
| Model: | New textures for Ashe’s clothes, bow, quiver and arrows. |
| Particles: | New light green particles for Frost Shot, Volley and Enchanted Crystal Arrow. |
| Animations: | No new animations. |
| Sounds: | No new sounds. |
| Splash Art: | The splash art does much more than clearly represent Ashe’s three-dimensional look. This piece shows Ashe in action, offering a dynamic setting, a dramatic pose and all of it at a believable level. The background is as relevant in the piece as is Ashe. The excellent lighting, the abundance of tones and the reflections bring the woods to life. Ashe portrayal is awesome, not only does she shine with the sunlight but her clothes show different kinds of folds, reflections and textures according to the material. Sherwood Forest Ashe is a great piece with a quality few others can equal; definitely one of League of Legends’ best. |
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| Conclusion: | This skin is an alternate colour scheme for Ashe and nothing else. While differences with Classic Ashe do exist they aren’t very pronounced. If you want more green and brown on Ashe it delivers; but that’s all. Sherwood Forest Ashe is just a simple re-texture and better suited for dedicated Ashe fans. |
Woad Ashe
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| Category: | Regular |
| Price: | 520 RP |
| Concept: | Ashe resembling a Pict archer. |
| Model: | New model for Ashe, and her bow. New textures for her quiver and arrows. |
| Particles: | New light green particles for Frost Shot, Volley and Enchanted Crystal Arrow. |
| Animations: | No new animations. |
| Sounds: | No new sounds. |
| Splash Art: | Woad Ashe is piece that looks simple at a glance but that has lot in display. The background is well displayed even showing the texture of the tree’s bark. The sunlight reaches Ashe through the trees and makes her quiver and hair glow. Ashe is very nicely portrayed, from the complex arrangement of her locks to the seams of her trousers. Special mention deserves the inclined angle at which the piece is painted which provides a peculiar perspective of the scene. Woad Ashe may appear simple but it’s a splash art with a lot of detail and stands proudly among League of Legends’ best. |
| Rating: | |
| Conclusion: | Woad Ashe is almost a full re-model of Ashe but what really makes it interesting is how different it makes her look. Not only does the new style fit her but it is also well done. The complexity of her clothes and equipment work in tandem with the tattooed skin to provide a distinctly unique and appealing Celtic archer appearance. On top of that, the light green particles round up the colour theme. For this price, there’s absolutely no reason for any Ashe fan to skip Woad Ashe. If you aren’t a fan but want a cheap and nice skin for Ashe, Woad Ashe is the one for you. |
Queen Ashe
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| Category: | Regular |
| Price: | 975 RP |
| Concept: | Ashe wears a queen’s dress and crown while wielding an engraved bow. |
| Model: | New model for Ashe and her bow. New texture for her quiver and arrows. |
| Particles: | New white particles for Frost Shot, Volley and Enchanted Crystal Arrow. |
| Animations: | No new animations. |
| Sounds: | No new sounds. |
| Splash Art: | Queen Ashe is a magnificent depiction of Ashe where she eclipses all other parts of the piece; which is both a good and a bad thing. On the one hand, the background is rather good: an ice fortress with surrounding mountains. On the other hand, there’s a clear difference in quality between background and foreground. Furthermore, the background is effective but definitely simpler that Ashe. She looks amazing thanks to awesome shading and excellent use of reflections. Moreover, while she does pose it shows a natural stance for her which is greatly improved by the flowing hair and dress. All things considered, Queen Ashe provides an incredibly good portrayal of Ashe but a frame that leaves a little to be desired. |
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| Conclusion: | Queen Ashe is an elegant skin that marries a good concept with a good execution. A dress can be considered impractical for an archer but there’s no doubt that Ashe looks delightful in it. The new model is very elaborate and has nice detailed textures that show folds and embroidery. Moreover, as Ashe walks the dress clearly shows her steps and trails behind her; which adds a sense of elegance to her movement. From the engraved bow to the lavishly decorated dress, Queen Ashe is a very good looking skin that clearly elevates Ashe’s look; the white particles are just icing on the cake. Few champions can look majestic, Queen Ashe is one of them. |
Amethyst Ashe
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| Category: | Regular |
| Price: | 975 RP |
| Concept: | Ashe puts on an amethyst engraved armour and wields a complex reflex bow to shoot arrows with gem tips. |
| Model: | New model for Ashe, her bow and arrows. |
| Particles: | New light purple particles for Frost Shot, Volley and Enchanted Crystal Arrow. |
| Animations: | No new animations. |
| Sounds: | No new sounds. |
| Splash Art: | This piece is a very nice representation of Ashe that suffers from a few inconsistencies. To start with, the gem background is detailed without taking relevance from Ashe. Her amethyst armour is nicely drawn with good use of lighting to reinforce the gem’s dim glow. The arrows new design isn’t portrayed well but the bow is well depicted even though the perspective makes it look a little small. All things considered, a good piece that could’ve been much better. |
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| Conclusion: | Amethyst Ashe is quite a change for Ashe: short hair, body armour, reflex bow, small quiver and gem-tipped arrows. This skin changes everything and, fortunately, the changes are also pleasing to look at. Ashe’s amethyst based look puts the gems at the forefront without overloading the design. Moreover, the new particles provide a nice finishing touch to the amethyst theme. The balance between looks and realism may be subjective but the conclusion is that Amethyst Ashe is a great skin for Ashe players. |
Conclusion
Ashe’s skins represent the several stages of skin development in League of Legends’ and their quality is directly tied to them; at least in this case. Earlier skin changes like Freljord Ashe and Sherwood Forest Ashe are simple and may interest only dedicated fans.
Woad Ashe is a nice compromise between cost and detail while Queen Ashe provides a nice and well executed concept and Amethyst Ashe offer the most complex changes. Thus, the recommendation follows a similar trend: if you want detailed and sharp looks for Ashe, there’s nothing better than Amethyst Ashe.
Queen Ashe is a nice and elegant alternative though it’s concept isn’t as radical; in comparison to other skins. Woad Ashe is also recommended as it offers a very distinct and nice look for Ashe at an affordable price.
Amethyst should be 5 stars. It’s an amazing skin.
When she receives her purple particles her rating will inevitably raise.
According to the soon-to-be release Darius patch, this review would need a rework also… Maybe.
Definitely maybe? New Ashe, new review; choices: to update or not to update…
I would say “update”… But that is entirely your choice, obviously.
If you want a look at the skins before release in action, here they are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk6tXILYrWQ
Amethyst Ashe appears to include some particle changes.
More than an update it’s a new review that we’ll gladly do. Of course the idea of throwing away a full article isn’t exactly appealing.
Indeed, Amethyst Ashe is receiving new purple particles due to fan demand. Unfortunately, I don’t think that the idea of making Enchanted Crystal Arrow freeze enemies got enough fan support.
That would have been amazing, but at least Ashe got improvements rather than… you know… nothing at all. (like Soraka)
I’ll be waiting for that new review for Ashe. Keep it up!
Here it is. Hope you enjoy it!
While Enchanted Crystal Arrow doesn’t freeze enemies at least it looks quite pretty now. The changes to Frost Shot and Volley are also nice.
I particularly like Queen Ashe, mainly because her walking animation doesn’t look like a washing machine just spinning left and right, (like with Divine Soraka).
While many people say that her default skin is the best out of the lot, i really enjoy Queen Ashe personally.
Woaf ashe looks awesome too, it’s a nice detail that her arrows in normal auto-attack look like wooden arrows.
The skins’ re-textured arrows are very nice, though in the actual auto-attack they all look the same. Still it’s a nice touch.
Queen Ashe is a skin that stands apart because of the dress: it completely changes the way Ashe looks. While now Divine Soraka may not compare to Queen Ashe both skins are quite special because of this.
On the topic of Woad Ashe, it was good and now it’s even better. Now she looks more aboriginal and less like a dark elf which helps the overall style of the game be unique. It’s certainly a very well thought and executed skin.
Divine Soraka does not compare to Queen Ashe “for now” at least, since apparently Riot is remodeling Soraka now. They even said they might release a new skin for Soraka and everything, i do hope that’s true.
Back on-topic: Woad Ashe reminds me to Sivir but with bow and arrow, which is awesome. And i agree, Woad Ashe is a well executed skin all things considered.
Indeed, Morello confirmed that the Soraka visual upgrade would include a new skin as well.
We agree that both Woad Ashe and Huntress Sivir share a distinct and well executed aboriginal theme.
Too bad that Huntress Sivir is somewhat hard to get. Hard in a sense that the pack it comes with it is not really impressive.
The Gamer’s Choice pack, as the other bundles, are worth purchasing only for new players. The more champions unlocked the less benefit they provide.
Therefore, we agree that seasoned players won’t find them very appealing.
I really appreciate this post. I¡¦ve been looking all over for this!
Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You’ve made my day! Thx again
Glad that you like it, it’s gratifying to know.
‘woad ashe resembles a tattooed aboriginal archer’
… that’s not what a woad is! a woad is scottish!
We agree with that, woad is used for the Scottish Picts. Still, the look of the skin resembles a tattooed aboriginal or native; which, in a way, is what the Picts were.
Have a League of Legends Wallpaper blog. You can check it http://xguides.de/league-of-legends/league-of-legends-ashe-top-10-wallpaper-skins.html
Nice blog format, plus there are some interesting wallpapers.
The particles are actually different colors for all of these skins now. Sherwood and Woad are green and Freljord and Queen are white.
We’ll have to check that then, thanks for the information.
Does her ultimate have any changes in her other skins except in the Amethyst one. If so please tell me cuz I dont see them. Might be from my graphics.
Yes, her ultimate, Enchanted Crystal Arrow, gets a faint colour change just like Frost Shot and Volley. The colour of the new particles is white with a soft colour hue; except when it’s just white. The difference is definitely subtle but it’s there.
I apologise for writing here about other champ than Ashe but my all time fav Sejuani has no skins review yet and i agree because her skins are quite dissapointing. I do really want to buy one of them. Can you reccomend me which and explain why and are there any changes in her spells in any of the skins Sej has?
No problem, as distant relatives Ashe shouldn’t mind.
The reason we haven’t reviewed Sejuani isn’t due to the quality of the skins but rather due to requests and seasonal events.
Sabretusk Sejuani has a distinct tribal style while Darkrider Sejuani has a darker and more serious look. As far as we know neither of her release skins alter the look of her abilities. Therefore, the ice powers work better with Darkrider’s theme rather than Sabretusk; though the former looks a bit monochromatic.
Regardless, both skins look reasonably good and you should consider how much you like the concepts and the executions. As more skins will eventually come be sure that you like the skin enough to use it even after new releases.
Feel free to ask any further questions you may have.
First off, I want to thank you for these very good skin reviews, I always read them before any skin purchase I make!
However, I couldn’t help but notice a small mistake about Woad Ashe. ‘Ashe resembles a tattoed aboriginal archer.’ This is definitely not true. Woad is a reference to the typical blue dye (based on the woad plant), used for tattoos by Celtic tribes in ancient times. Celtic warriors wore these tattoos to intimidate foes in battle. Woad Ashe looks in my opinion very similar to the depiction of Guinevere (Keira Knightley) as a Celtic archer in the movie King Arthur (2004). Here you can see picture: http://fr.web.img6.acsta.net/r_640_600/b_1_d6d6d6/medias/nmedia/18/35/25/49/18381623.jpg
A little remark, but I felt the need to point this out.
Woops I see that someone already made a remark about this. While I understand you see ‘aboriginal’ more like ‘native’, I think Woad Ashe’s esthetics have very little in common with Aboriginal esthetics: dark skin with white or light colored tattoos vs Ashes pale skin and blue tattoos, very different clothing etc…
Not at all, glad that you find the reviews useful.
Truth be told Woad Ashe has a clear Pict archer look that should be explicitly noted instead of using more general terminology. We agree that the review should expose it as clearly as possible and so we have updated it.
Thanks for the notice.