I think the important thing on an Ashe/Taric combo is that your support knows how Ashe works, and adjusts their own play accordingly.
I think Taric is actually a very strong combo for Ashe not for his aggressive abilities, but his defensive ones; he’s still a sustaining support (something that’s always good for a more passive lane), and if he holds onto his stun, it’s an amazing zoning tool. Ashe has no escapes, as previously noted, and needs her team to be able to thwart engages onto her; a Taric stun will stop most engagements in their tracks, and give Ashe the time she needs to back off a bit and get to work with her incredible kiting abilities.

While Ashe/Taric does have some aggressive options (like the Dazzle + AA + Volley + AA combo Patrick mentions), I think it works even better of the Taric is saving those stuns and simply providing a wall between the enemy carry and Ashe. The combination of Dazzle and Hawkshot makes the lane incredibly hard to gank.

I’m in full agreement with Blitz and Leona being poor choices, though, simply because their stuns require an engagement at the same time (Blitz is pulling them in, Leona is diving in herself). Ashe simply can’t do enough to follow up on that, and it can easily turn in the opponent’s favor. I consider Taric to be an exception because his own CC doesn’t actually require him to engage at all, it can be used defensively as peeling tools while still allowing for initiation when needed.
Similarly with Alistar; an Alistar/Ashe combo would need to switch up, going from Headbutt>Pulverize combos (which Ashe can’t effectively follow up on) to Pulverize>Headbutt combos, providing the Ashe with both sustain and incredible peeling power. Once you reach the teamfights, you also have the synergy of Ashe and Alistar’s initiation and CC.

Ashe/Taric is actually a good lane. Taric helps Ashe take advantage of her early control. You can get a lot of free harass with AA + Volley + AA off the stun. Plus, if Aphromoo says it’s good, it’s probably true.

@ChefoSLR
It does, thank you.

I’m excited for olaf to take up one of the hard counter spots in every guide in the series

Hey, since this is a series (and lightblind said you worked hard on it) i thought maybe i would give you my thoughts & feelings (constructive criticism i guess?) when reading this! Idk, this is just my opinion.

1. The colors and such were more of a distraction than clarity. Often times when trying to read the “harass” section i kept getting distracted by the blue text and would read them despite it being irrelevant out of context. Similarly, the coloring of the champs weren’t especially helpful either, but could be ok i guess, but there is no real reason to emphasize them when their names alone don’t really mean much – maybe if they were in a section called “counters” then highlighting the names graves, trist, etc. would be good but just in the section of “harass and lane control” their names didnt really mean much. You should only use colors and bolding if you want someones eyes to read that when skimming or if its something that is important to the section, maybe like if in the harass and lane control you put “because of ashes [b]long range and volley she is very strong at poking[/b].” this is something good to draw your eye to because it summarizes the section and you can build off of that.

2. Secondly, tying in a bit to the last part of that is that your points arent very well made. I know personally ashe has weak survivability but you never explicitly said she has weak survivability once in that section, you only said she needs her team to back her up. You lead with “[survivability is] part of the reason why ashe stepped down from her throne in s2″ but you didnt say what about her survivability. You should front-load your points a bit more. This is supposed to be a strengths / weaknesses kinda thing, you should tell me that she is weak in this area THEN justify why. this means as im reading why she is weak i can figure out how this actually works in play: “ok, he says she has no escape and no way to dodge skillshots but good CC so this means I will need to play back and use my positioning to escape danger and kite more than the normal AD carry”. Also, frontloading your points will lead to better experience for people who will just skim your article (which we know happens), and you can even use color/bolded text to emphasize this!

3. the format is odd and kinda lends itself to weak reading. It is supposed to be about strengths and weaknesses based on several sets of points but there is no tie in between each point and then there is no real introduction to the character either. there is no kinda statement here which says “What makes ashe special?” which i think should be a focus-point given that it is a compare-contrast type article. I was just waiting for some summary line that said something like “ashe is a slow and low dmg but long range ADC with lots of CC. She excels at poking in lane but is also very fragile. however, her ult is her trademark ability that gives her the ability to initiate fights – something no other AD has!” or something.. Instead, all of your insight into her character comes in janky peices which leads me at the end knowing roughly how she is in certain aspects but not what she excels at as a whole or her real pros & cons. Instead, I would give maybe a bit of an intro into what her characters role is and design theme (not art theme) and then roll into the pros and cons. Also, i would add an own section with the synergies / counterpicks and add reasonable justification for those cause i think its worth it. and then instead talk about good teams / bad teams / specific champs in the “when should i pick ashe” phase (eg talk about olaf cause i think he hard counters her, as you did!)

4. I think the subjects for the “pros and cons” (CS, harass and lane control, farm under tower, etc.) were a bit off the mark. I think these points are a bit excessive and can be wrapped up a bit better. I think you can make 1 point instead of 3 (cs, harass, tower farm) about her lane phase. These points which you make about CSing and farming under tower are valid points, but i think they can be touched on in the terms of “laning” and while all 3 of these points touched on laning with ashe there was no real good talk about HOW to actually play ashe in lane (whether it be aggressive and pokey or back and farmy or pushing or just playing passive and waiting for gank cause with arrow she is good with ganks). Also, for making this a series these points are not always going to be that important or different for each carry, is farming under tower that variant of a topic ? i only see a few really good at farming under tower (urgot, vayne, ez or something) and 1 really bad (trist), rest are just medium. Creating an individual pros and cons list in context of laning might be good to articulate the points you are trying to make, like “pro: she has long AA range and a spammable spell, this makes her have strong harassment potential!” or “con: she is weak at last hitting under tower, so try not to get pinned under tower!” or “pro: due to her ult and slow from Q she is GREAT with ganks!” or “con: she has low base damage and no steroid spell but high range so its tough to last hit with her, but once you get it down you can be safe while doing it!” etc. – i feel these points are the same content you were trying to express, but bring it in a clear manner!
Also, due to this list of pros/cons that you made, i think you missed out talking about one of the very important points about ashe as a carry, which is her low teamfight damage. you say she is “spectacular in extended match” but i think it is important to say she is good at CC but not with dmg, instead you have to kite more and you become more item dependent for damage as you have no strong steroid. etc etc. I think this misses one of the accurate comparisons between the AD carries, something that makes each carry kinda unique is how much damage they bring to teamfight, how much mobility (or how much protection they need), and how much utility (cc/buffs). kinda like how often they can hit, how hard they hit when they can, and if they bring anything else other than hitting.

idk i probably wrote more than the article lol but yea thats what i thought it is a cool series though and i hope you continue with it ! im glad someone is giving detailed analysis on what they think of ADCarries ! its cool to read!

First off, I want to say that this is a nice guide. Useful for beginners, as well as people who are more experienced but need some more tips, and I look forward to the rest of these guides. I do have a question though: Can you explain why you think Taric is a bad pick to support Ashe with? I feel like he’s one of the more useful picks for Ashe to just sit in lane and farm; although he can be played offensively, I’ve always seen him as being very strong on the defensive end. He gives her a bit more survivability with his Shatter, which you’ve mentioned is an issue with her, plus he packs a stun to help disengage when the enemy commits (further helping her survivability), or follow up when she ultis (level 6+ in lane; can be used for more disengage, or killing power). Plus he has the heal, for even further survivability (clutch heals), or sustain in lane.

Really nico guide! I can’t wait to see Cait guide, excellent job !

Ashe has 600 Range, not 650!