Ashe is an American outlaw and leader of the Deadlock Gang, a band of arms-trafficking criminals She does this alongside her sidekick B.O.B., a large mustachioed robot whose name stands for Big Omnic Butler.

Around the same time, project lead Geoff Goodman was interested in introducing a new playable character into the game, and seeing her lever action rifle took a liking to the idea.

While she was popular with many fans upon release, some drew issue with the lack of black female characters in the game, and saw Ashe as a disregard for those concerns.

When developing Reunion, an animated short for the Overwatch franchise, project director Jason Hill wanted to explore the "Deadlock" gang the character Cassidy had previously belonged to.

He approached storyboard artist Mio del Rosario with the concept of the leader being "female with this big brim hat, and this long duster, and a lever-action rifle".

In addition, her bodyguard would be an omnic, a type of robot within the Overwatch universe, but Hill wanted it to look different from those normally shown to illustrate that they came in "should be able to come in all shapes and sizes" and make him appear large.

This invoked the feeling that I wanted", praising the emphasis on her commanding presence being drawn front and center, while her large mustached bodyguard loomed in the background.

[3] They started instead taking elements from her previous designs and working them into her finalized appearance,[1] with a focus on giving her class with a menacing edge to set her apart from Cassidy.

Artist Ben Zhang also helped develop tech concepts for her character, which the team felt solidified her better into Overwatch's setting.

Upon seeing the early storyboards for Reunion they were impressed with Ashe's design, and felt her weapon, a lever-action rifle, would be fun to make for the game.

[7] Hill was receptive to the idea, stating he had originally only intended to include Ashe in possibly future comic books related to the game.

Her weapons consist of a gold engraved lever action rifle with a notched stock, and a sawed-off double barrel shotgun.

[3] Her design was changed slightly for Overwatch 2, giving her a full opened jacket with red accents and an armored vest underneath.

His outfit consists of an open sleeveless biker jacket with a fur collar, a small bowler hat atop his head, grey pants with leather chaps, black boots, metal pads covering his knees, and the gang's logo drawn on his left bicep.

[12] Like other Overwatch characters, Ashe received skins, unlockable cosmetic items to change her in-game appearance.

[13] Two notable skins for the duo include the "Mobster" and "Safari" sets, which were meant to tie into their thematic elements, emphasizing Ashe's imagery of her as the leader with B.O.B.

[15] Elizabeth Caledonia "Calamity" Ashe, typically referred to by her last name, is a woman from Texas introduced in November 2018 to the first-person shooter Overwatch.

[19] As they grow in prominence, she convinces other gangs in the American Southwest to either collaborate or not interfere with each other, and becomes a legendary outlaw through her increasingly elaborate crimes.

In it, Ashe and her gang cause a train crash, and begin looting the contents which include multiple grenades and a large white egg-shaped crate.

[22] In Overwatch, Ashe is classified as a "Damage" class character, designed to provide a more offensive role in team compositions.

[37] Retrieving her family's rifle from her former home, she returns to the gang and asks them to help rescue Cassidy, though Frankie and Julian are wary about taking on the Diamondbacks.

During a meeting with a rival gang in Las Vegas, the city is attacked by Null Sector, a group of militant omnics claiming to "liberate" them.

[45] Described by Elijah Beahm of The Escapist as "basically a gun-toting Lorelai Gilmore",[46] the character has received mixed reception.

was also warmly received, described as an incredible addition to the game that "stole the show" during Ashe's reveal at Blizzcon 2018,[9][50][51] with fans quickly wanting him playable as a standalone character according to Kyle LeClair of Hardcore Gamer.

She also felt that a "rich white girl playing criminal dress-up" was too common trope in media and "not any more progressive just because she is a woman".

She lamented that while the character should have been a celebrated addition to the game, instead she felt like a possible decline in the quality of Blizzard's creative process.

[55] In contrast, TheGamer's editor-in-chief Stacey Henley voiced her approval of the character, calling her wry and romantic while noting her own affinity for westerns and the aesthetic of cowboy stories, adding that "Ashe leans into these tropes brilliantly".

[56] Meanwhile, Cass Marshall of Polygon argued that her appearance was meant to be a counter to Cassidy's, and while her original design featured heavy amounts of red and brown, they felt it shifted over to "sharp, distinct whites" to this end.

"[49] Beahm stated that while he felt her debut for the game itself was bland, her portrayal in Deadlock Rebels added considerable nuance to her.

Describing her as an "imposing, charismatic leader" in the characterization, he enjoyed her empathy towards her gang and found it made her endearing despite her portrayal as an antagonist, and ultimately called it "an inspired evolution of Ashe".