The competition in the bot lane is among the highest it has ever been in the LCS, not only thanks to the plethora of talent in both the ADC and support roles but thanks to a handful of champions that possess high early-snowball potential—with one outlier.
Ashe has appeared in 70 of the 75 LCS games played during the 2023 Spring Split, boasting a 93.3-percent pick/ban rate according to League of Legends site Oracle’s Elixir, which is likely only to increase in the final week of competition. This follows trends internationally both in solo queue and professional play that have resulted in Ashe, among other ADCs, seeing major success as supports due to their poke.
Of these 70 games, Ashe has only been picked a total of 11 times, appearing nine times as a support and twice as an ADC. Nearly every team in the LCS has been given the chance to bring the champion onto the Rift, though despite how powerful the pick has become, it only won five of the support games it appeared in and one ADC game.
Ashe’s resurgence in the meta began around last year’s World Championship, where it primarily appeared as an ADC in the hands of T1 Gumayusi and DRX Deft in a bot lane duo with Heimerdinger. But players also began testing the waters of Ashe as a support, where she can easily slow enemies from afar while also providing map-wide vision and crowd control, ultimately leading the champion to become more popular in this unconventional role.
Ashe received substantial nerfs to her support power in League Patch 13.5, which is the update that the final week of the LCS is expected to be played on. Specifically, the damage of her W has decreased and the cooldown of her ultimate has increased, which may impact her presence in the North American professional scene—though simultaneous buffs to her Q may keep her in the scene back as an ADC.
The final week of the 2023 LCS Spring Split is set to begin this Wednesday, March 15, where the playing field for the upcoming Spring Playoffs will be cemented. Currently, a certain star ADC player on a team tied for first place boasts the highest KDA in the league, who himself found success on an Ashe game.
