[GameSpot] - Apex Legends Ash Guide: Abilities, Best Combos, Tips And Tricks

[343iBot]

Apex Legends Escape is the battle royale game's 11th season, introducing the 19th playable character: Dr. Ashleigh "Ash" Reid. Ash is an offensive legend, having abilities geared towards combat. Similar to Octane and Revenant, Ash is suited towards aggressive play, spearheading her squad's push against enemy squads to deal major damage. Having information-gathering abilities, Ash can technically fill your squad's recon role in a pinch, as well.

Below, we go over everything we know about playing as Ash, including her abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. We also detail which legends best pair with Ash, and also offer a few tips and tricks for playing as the described "incisive instigator." Remember: If you want to play as Ash, you'll need to buy her from Apex Legends' in-game store. You can unlock Ash for 12,000 Legend Tokens (which you earn by playing and leveling up in Apex Legends) or 750 Apex Coins (which you can earn by completing Season 11's premium battle pass track or buy with real-world money).

Ash's Abilities And Class Skill

• Passive Ability: Marked For Death - Ash's map shows the location of recent deathboxes and marks surviving attackers.
• Tactical Ability: Arc Snare - Throw a spinning snare that damages and tethers the first enemy that gets too close.
• Ultimate Ability: Phase Breach - Tear open a one-way portal to a targeted location that's also usable by allies and enemies.

As an offensive legend, Ash doesn't possess a class skill.

Ash's Strengths And Weaknesses

Ash's abilities are inspired by Titanfall 2's Titans, specifically Northstar and Ronin. Both Titans feature weak defense but incredible movement capabilities and attack power, making them strong hit-and-run tacticians. Ash is the same, skewing more towards Ronin to specialize in quickly moving on enemy squads, hitting hard at close-range, and then getting out of the firefight to get a lay of the land before attacking again.

Ash is a strong hunter. Her passive ability allows her to quickly figure out where fights are happening so that she and her squad can third-party. And if she's late to the fight, that same passive allows her to figure out where the lingering survivors have wandered off to. In a way, Marked For Death makes Ash a strong substitute for recon legends--if your squad is looking for someone to help map out where to go next in order to find a fight or avoid one, Ash's passive ability can somewhat fulfill the role. Her ultimate ability can be used to more quickly move her squad about the map too, similar to Pathfinder and Valkyrie's ultimate abilities. She's not as good at reconnaissance as an actual recon character, but she makes up for it by being ideally suited for going on the attack once a squad has been found.

Though she's an offensive legend, none of Ash's abilities are especially geared towards dealing damage. If anything, they're tied to her role as a hunter--they help her close the distance on foes to then deal damage with grenades and firearms. Though Arc Snare does deal damage to those caught in its tether, it's far more useful as a means of slowing an enemy down long enough for Phase Breach to close the distance.

Phase Breach is Ash's strongest ability, but it's also a weakness for her too. The sound the ability makes is loud and leaves behind a noticeable scar in the fabric of reality for a short time--if any squad is within the vicinity, they'll know an Ash is nearby and be able to track her down fairly easily. And as capable as Ash is at close-range, she does not possess any abilities that make her a viable threat at mid- to long-range. Keep her at a distance and there's not much she can do to turn the odds in her favor. Phase Breach goes a decent distance but not enough to close on a sniper that has Ash in their sights.

Best Pairings With Ash's Abilities

Ash pairs exceptionally well with her fellow simulacrum, Revenant. The two can use both of their respective ultimate abilities to account for the other's weaknesses, aggressively moving on enemy squads by teleporting into their midst as shadows. At close range, the two can use their tactical abilities in tandem to disorient enemy players.

Arc Snare can be brutally effective when paired with legend abilities that are geared towards dealing damage. Slowing down and pinning an opponent so they can't get away from Gibraltar, Bangalore, Caustic, Rampart, Horizon, or Fuse's ultimate abilities is an easy way of ensuring your squad delivers some solid hits. Arc Snare can be used in tandem with faster legends to chase down enemies as well--use it to trap a foe long enough for a fellow Wraith, Octane, or Pathfinder to use their tactical abilities to move up.

As a hunter, Ash pairs well with recon characters that are geared towards tracking enemy squads. A quick use of Marked For Death can give your allied Bloodhound or Crypto a starting point for where to go in order to track down an enemy squad.

Given the one-way nature of Ash's Phase Breach, it's an ideal way of setting up a combo ambush too. Get into the thick of a fight and then "run away" with her ultimate ability towards where your squad's Caustic has laid traps or Wattson has put down fences. If the enemy tries to follow you, they'll stumble into your trap with no means of easily getting away as the portal will close behind them.

Best Counters To Ash's Abilities

As a close-range specialist, Ash is at her best when she's ambushing and pushing on an enemy squad. Her skill set lends itself to having a similar mindset to playing Octane, in that you're constantly spearheading your squad's offensive and encouraging forward momentum at a breakneck pace towards the next fight. This makes her a dangerous threat, but also quite easy to punish.

Similar to Wraith's Dimensional Rift, Ash's Phase Breach makes a loud sound when it's used. And unlike Wraith's ultimate ability, Ash's is one-way so there's no way for her to retreat if enemies notice that sound and react in time for things to go sideways for her. Any legend that can apply damage to a spot or deny an area can punish an Ash going through her Phase Breach--that means Gibraltar, Bangalore, Caustic, Wattson, Crypto, Rampart, Horizon, Fuse, and Valkyrie can all counter her. Heck, even a well-placed thermite grenade can do so.

And granted, strategies change and evolve over time, but if players treat Ash's Phase Breach in any way like similar legend abilities, most folks likely won't immediately follow Ash through the portal unless they're trying to get away from something. They'll let her go through first and then follow a second after ensuring it's safe to do so. So even if you can't punish the Ash before she gets through, putting damage on the portal will likely catch her allies or potentially even convince her allies to not follow her, leaving her alone and vulnerable.

Revenant is a pretty strong counter to Ash as well, given his Silence can stop her in her tracks once she's close enough to effectively use her abilities. And since Ash excels at getting the jump on enemies, anyone who is tough to surprise--namely Crypto and Seer--are strong counters to her as well.

It's also worth calling out that once an Ash starts tracking someone, that squad gets alerted that an Ash is on their trail. And as scary as that is, it also provides plenty of advanced warning that someone is potentially coming to wherever you happen to be standing at that moment. With the right setup, you can lay in wait and ambush the Ash that's on your trail.

Tips & Tricks For Ash

• You don't actually have to hit a legend with Ash's Arc Snare for it to work--toss it into the ground or a wall and it will remain for several seconds as a trap for the first enemy legend that happens to wander by.
• Though an offensive legend, Ash's abilities can be used defensively in a pinch as a means of escape. Toss down Arc Snare and then move away from it and follow-up with Phase Breach--that gives you and your squad an escape while also leaving a tether behind to slow down one of your potential pursuers.
• Arc Snare travels in a straight line so it can be used to tether legends that traditionally take to the skies to escape--use it to knock down and pin Pathfinder, Octane, Horizon, and Valkyrie.
• Ash can only use her passive ability on each deathbox once but if you happen to stumble upon a downed squad, she can get the location of their killers three different times by scanning each box. Wait a bit between each scan to try and get a general idea of whether the squad you're tracking is staying put or moving in a certain direction.
• Ash has one of the fastest cooldowns in terms of her tactical ability so don't be afraid to use it often. Her ultimate ability's charge rate is also on the fast side but remember to use it wisely given it's quite loud.
• Phase Breach only remains open for several seconds--it's no Dimensional Rift, which remains open for a while. Just keep that in mind when deciding how to use it to move you and your allies.

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