Today’s patch included some widespread (and pretty severe, in some cases) nerfs for many of the champions we saw used and abused in the Season One Championship at Dreamhack. One champion was not only notably absent from the nerf list, but also notably present and incredibly victorious at the tourney: Ashe. Ashe played in a whopping 17 games at Dreamhack, only bested by Nunu and Janna at 18 a piece. Ashe’s team won 13 of the 17 games in which she appeared, boasting a 76 percent win percentage. I’d like to think we’re beyond the point that we call that luck. Is she overdue for a nerf?

My own opinion is yes. After the nerfs doled out to champions like Miss Fortune and Vayne and the Last Whisper changes that rocked Tristana, Ashe somehow retained an extremely powerful skillset. The majority of her strength is obviously caught up in Enchanted Crystal Arrow. That one skill allows her to contribute incredible utility long before the other ranged carries really start to shine. When you factor in the free CV she gets every 60 seconds, it’s tough to see how she’s escaped the nerf bat.

I actually think she remains unnerfed for the same reason she is so strong – most of her power is in her ult. Change that skill the wrong way and suddenly she’s below Tristana in terms of team utility – no escape mechanism, poor early game damage aside from her level 1 crit, and a fairly mediocre gold multiplier. I do think she could use a bit of a cooldown increase on her ult while they figure out something else to do with it.

In case you missed it, some friendly player made an awesome spreadsheet breaking down all of the Champions, Summoner Spells, players, and raw data from Dreamhack and shared it as a Google Document. Check it out when you have a chance – you might find someone on the list worth checking out.