Why can ashe build ult while BOB is up?

If you were unaware, when Ashe uses BOB she continues to build ult charge from her primary and her CDs. In the time bob is up she can build him up again to about 50% is she hits all the shots (without a pocket). I think this is similar to the situation with widow when she used to build infrasight during her own infrasight. Not only does BOB add another person to the team with 1200hp but its also an auto-turret.

I haven’t had much of a problem with this when Ashe has no pocket. but many people like to pocket Ashe as mercy which will usually build BOB about once per team fight. This can be troublesome for people in Lower elo I’m sure though because bob technically makes a fight 6v7 or makes a 6v5 a 6v6 again.

So, to be clear I think BOB ult generation rate is fine as is, but Ashe shouldn’t build 50% while BOB is still up

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Same reason Wrecking Ball can charge it with his mines out. It’s largely arbitrary but balance wise fine. Low ranked Ashes aren’t hitting many shots anyway.

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I’ve always found this to be an odd design choice given that other heroes can’t build ult during the duration of their ult, with some really obvious ones being Ana and Orisa, but I assumed the ability to build up ult charge is part of the balance of BOB.

On its own, BOB isn’t as extraordinarily strong as other ultimates are, given how counterable he is, combined with Ashe’s kit basically being focused around dynamite whenever she doesn’t have BOB. The balance to make BOB come back the much quicker is what gives him utility, given you can expend him solely to stall or to get a single pick. It’s very rare that I ever use BOB with the thought of getting a 3-4k out of him, I use him almost entirely for utility, like a 45 second cooldown ability.

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You make a good point as Ive gotten Mines multiple times in a team fight, or at least once per team fight in a few games. But I still feel that the space it denies is way stronger than even Mines deny since it has such a long range and high damage. This can be a pretty big problem depending on your comp because sometimes you are running low damage heroes or short range heroes who cant do much about it. I know counter picking is part of the game but you cant go back to spawn and swap mid team fight on point A volskaya def. If you do go back to spawn well we mostly know what that means lol

(then theres also the whole otp thingy or whatever)

Bob and mines are so situational ultimates( gargabes) from 2250SR and above, but below They are such broken ultimates. I wonder about your rank ??

In low elo Ashes are really ineffective at using dynamite to build ult and miss often. At higher elo Bob gets shut down very easily

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Because arbitrarily nerfing a hero just because you don’t like the way they are designed is a poor way to balance.

Just about every hero in the game purposefully cannot charge their ult while it is active for balance purposes. But if Ashe followed suit, that would somehow be bad balance and would clearly just be an attempt at an arbitrary nerf done solely because one doesn’t like her.

You guys are a lot of fun :upside_down_face:

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I average about 33-3.4 on my alt 3.1 on this account. Still low but higher than what I started at. the ultimate isnt broken in my rank but having an extra hero every fight can be strong in a solo q environment

(maybe im just in that perfect balance of being bad enough to get rekt by ashe idk)

And you haven’t given any reason as to why a nerf is warranted. The fact that this hero doesn’t get picked at all by the pros should tell you something. But it doesn’t. Because arbitrarily nerfing a hero because you don’t like them sounds like a good policy to you.

Like I mentioned, keep in mind that widow was designed originally where she got sights while using them. That was her initial design and I think that Ashe, like widow, needs a few more iterations on her current kit/design. Im not asking for a nerf Im asking for a reason of why she does and what it would change if she didn’t.

(read the whole post all my reasons are listed there btw)

If you take away her charging her ult during BOB without also changing her ult charge requirements, then you are straight up nerfing her.

If you take away her ult and simultaneously give her a smaller ult charge requirement, then her ult charge time will be much more inconsistent depending on when she ults and how long Bob lives. (i.e., if she ults in the middle of the fight and nobody kills Bob… maybe he’s shielded or slept instead… then she won’t be gaining charge for a large chunk of the fight. On the other hand, if he’s killed immediately then she’ll gain a lot of ult charge in what’s otherwise the same fight. And then, if she uses him for zoning or point presence, she might not miss any noticeable ult charge at all.)

I mean, you can say that the above is all fine, and maybe it is. However, having Bob prevent Ashe from gaining ult charge definitely creates considerations where the enemy team might want to not kill Bob, as well as a lot of odd considerations for Ashe and when she wants to use Bob (and for her team and how much they want to heal or otherwise protect Bob).

It would make Bob stronger at higher Elo though: if you compensate her ult charge requirement for not charging during Bob, then at an Elo where Bob is almost instantly killed that’s essentially reducing her ult charge time. The reverse for low Elo of course.

Anyway. I don’t think it’s any big deal. As long as ult charge requirement is tuned to a hero’s ult charge mechanics, it’s still balanced. I think the way it is now creates fewer weird little timing considerations on ult economy that would only matter at the GM/pro level, where she basically doesn’t exist anyway.

You can argue either way whether those weird little timing considerations are good or bad… they do move the skill ceiling up, but on the other hand, they’re weird little timing considerations that don’t really mesh with the normal flow of the game. Unless she starts getting played at the highest levels though it doesn’t even matter.

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This was actually a great insight on how it would affect the game overall. I appreciate the in depth response and you make a really solid point that I cant even argue with and that is leaving BOB so Ashe wont get ult charge during that period of time especially if you have the advantage of staying out of the LOS of BOB due to bad placement or misplacement in general. Since bob is such an inconsistent ultimate at the current time I think people would definitely abuse that in higher elo although it would also force ashe players to use BOB in more impactful ways, but then again it could only have so much impact the higher you go up the ranked ladder.

B.O.B. does so little damage and is shut down soooo easily that it doesn’t really matter.