Hello lads and welcome to my thorough Yasuo guide which is my second in Mobafire. Here you can learn everything about the Unforgiven. He has been my favourite champion since his PBE release. Regarding myself, I have been playing League since pre-season 2. My main account in EUNE server, Zheng, got permabanned due to constant flame and that's definitely not cool. I deserved it I guess. The highest division I have ever reached has been Diamond 3 in season 6. As soon as I climbed there, Riot shut me down. Now I am here with great mood , however, to ensure that each one of you can leave this page with satisfaction. Remember that there are notes everywhere, do not forget to check them out. Let's go.

Yasuo is a sustained damage fighter who can be played on mid or top. His damage output relies almost exclusively on basic attacks and Steel Tempest's spam, while he can swiftly dash around the map via his Sweeping Blade. His Wind Wall can block game-changing projectiles and his ultimate Last Breath offers him decent utility. They key in his kit, however, is his passive, Way of the Wanderer. Apart from the shield, Yasuo's critical strike chance is doubled and by purchasing such items, he can dish out insane amounts of damage. Yasuo's potential is great and if you manage to master him, you will be able to solo carry your games. In high elo play, things get harder for sure, but Yasuo is fearsome everywhere.

Pros

+ Excellent duelist + High mobility + Great outplay potential + Late game beast + Respectable CC + Resistant to harass

Cons

+ Item dependant + No in-build sustain + Relatively squishy + Hard to master + Weak in some matchups + Vulnerable to CC

Flash is always essential for Yasuo. It can help him escape/chase, mostly by blinking through walls, dodge projectiles in case Wind Wall is on cooldown and it's needed for a good surprise combo we will speak about later.

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Ignite increases your kill potential throughout the game, especially early on. It can also help you take down enemies whose survivability lies on healing. Most usual choice for second spell.

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Teleport is more suited for toplaners, however you can get it on mid as well. Use it to return faster in lane, split-pushing, secure objectives or gank your allies. In short, improve your map presence.

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Exhaust can help you survive deadly attacks and it's crucial for some matchups. It also increases your dueling potential.

So basically: > > >

This is the most common ability sequence for Yasuo as he can dash around more frequently in lane. The damage increase in Sweeping Blade is also better for early game than Steel Tempest's as you are not going to crit that much. Concering thε frequency of the dashes, the CD of Sweeping Blade is not only reduced with each rank, but Yasuo himself can dash to the same target more often. So his sticking power is increased immensely.
However, as I mentioned in the notes, Yasuo's skill sequence is far more complex than you might think. This happens because using your dashes most of the time exposes you and some opponents can punish you really hard. Especially if you are not an experienced Yasuo, you might find yourself in a terrible position and get yourself killed. A safer, viable of course, laning phase would be maxing your Steel Tempest first instead. In that way. you can farm easier from a distance.
Another thing I would like to point out is that choosing Sweeping Blade at level 1 against some opponents might give you the chance of inflicting a lot of damage or even killing them if you play with the proper aggression. This tactic could be applied to champions without any escape or dueling capabilities at first level. Katarina and Karthus are fair examples.
Finally, you do not always have to unlock Wind Wall such early (level 3). In some matchups against champions without projectile abilities, especially if they are melee, you would prefer to give some points to Sweeping Blade. If you face such a matchup and the enemy jungler lacks projectile abilities/attacks as well, you can even take Wind Wall after you max out your Sweeping Blade.

These simple runes are in my opinion the best for our Yasuo.
First of all, I want to make it clear that attack speed or critical strike chance runes are terrible. People get them on Yasuo in order to reduce his Steel Tempest's cooldown and obviously get a good amount of crit, respectively. This is so wrong. Both of these shall be capped as soon as we get our first items. As a result, these runes will be pretty much useless. Talking about the crit ones, completely wasted.
Moreover, I generally prefer flat AD over armor pen. If you want to swap some AD marks with some armor pen ones, whatever. Just keep some flat AD in your rune page.
Lifesteal quints aren't that good after the nerfs. You will get a maximum lifesteal of 4.5%. And your early flat AD, since you rush PD or Statikk will be pathetic. Besides, most of the time you anyways get more than one Lifesteal item due to the fact that both Maw of Malmortius and Mercurial Scimitar are defensive items for you that offer lifesteal, too. You do not need that lifesteal.
Concerning scaling armor seals or scaling MR glyphs, they are fine. You can do as you like. However, you need more tankiness early and the lack of defensive stats will be perceptible.
Scaling health runes are good from what I have read, but I have never used them myself.

If you haven't read the relevant notes at the beginning of the guide, it's time to do it. I don't need to analayse anything except your offensive and defensive item pool. You are going to select a total number of 5 items from both pools, most of the time consisting of 3 and 2 respectively. The item build is depended on how well you are doing in the specific game, the enemy team composition, the direct matchup in lane and your teammates. As you can see, there are plenty of factors and apparently, I can't suggest what to build in every single situation. That's YOUR job. I am here to explain why these items are good for Yasuo. Let's begin.

Phantom Dancer is the ideal item for increasing your dueling potential and while near enemy champions the movement speed bonus is the highest among all items (12%). It's 50g cheaper than Shiv and you also ignore unit collision. This can help you come closer to monsters in jungle and pass through the wall with your dash.

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Statikk Shiv, the rival of PD, offers 10% less attack speed and in case of duels, its less good. Nonetheless, since its passive can crit, it helps Yasuo burst squishy targets and clear creep waves easier. Yasuo can also stack the passive fast, due to his good mobility. Keep in mind that late game PD is more beneficial than Shiv.

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A core item on Yasuo. Infinity Edge ensures 100% critical strike chance after you get PD or Shiv and your crits hurt considerably more. After its purchase, your power spike is godlike.

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A sick lifesteal item, Bloodthirster grants you raw stats and also overheals you, adding a second shield to your weaponry.

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Buy BotRK instead of BT only if you are being kited and enemy team consists of at least 2 tank/semi-tank champions who rely on HP to do their job. Try not to pair Blade with Greaves, as your attack speed shall be too much.

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Do they build a lot of HP and armor and you feel like you deal no damage at all? You've got Lord Dominik's Regards. Now you can shred them, especially if combined with BotRK and the bonus armor penentration of your ultimate. There are no tanks.

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Do they build a lot of armor or/and rely on healing abilities? Remind them how mortal they truly are with this item. You can also purchase an early Executioner's Calling and finish the item later if it's all about healing.

The magic damage absorbing shield and the 40 MR of this item can be the reason you are not dead, yet. You can buy Hexdrinker early and finish the item later on. It's all about dealing with mages or magic damage assassins.

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If you suffer from hard CC, QSS's active is your savior. Rush it as soon as you get PD/Shiv and late game you can finish it into Scimitar. The other stats are more than likeable, too.

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Sterak's gage provides health and extra damage based on your base AD. The damage bonus is increased in case you are bursted and you also get a shield. Yasuo's base AD is average, but the tankiness offered is pretty good against bursty champs.

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50 armor and 50 health are nice stats, but the thing you like in this item is its passive. You gain a good movement speed bonus which is lost only if you attack. You can therefore gain flow stacks and E faster. Collect 100 momentum stacks before attacking to maximise the damage and slow on the target.

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If you are against a team comp with strong engage and magic damage spells, go for Veil (+70 MR, too). Remember to stay back so you don't lose the shield by any low-threat poke spell because the shield refreshes kinda hard.

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Cheap item, with both armor and MR stats, but you buy it because of its passive. It's overrated in my opinion, as its CD is 5 mins and 30% of HP for you is meh. If you are really rich, you can sell it when the passive is on CD and buy something else.

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A bad omen for the enemy carry and anyone else who builds attack speed and critical strike chance items. The passive can help you stick to targets or escape and the raw stats of 60 armor and 500 HP are good, too.

Way of the Wanderer: Intent: Yasuo's critical strike chance is doubled, but his critical strikes deal 90% damage, reduced to 75% damage on Steel Tempest.
Resolve: Yasuo generates 1% of his maximum Flow for every 59 / 52 / 46 units he travels by any means, requiring a total of 5900 / 5200 / 4600 units travelled to obtain maximum Flow. At maximum Flow, the next instance of champion or monster damage against Yasuo consumes all of his Flow and shields him for 100 - 510 (based on level) damage for up to 1 second.

• After 333.33 AD (or 266.67 AD if Yasuo has purchased Infinity Edge) critically striking basic attacks will do more damage than critically striking Steel Tempest due to the 25% damage penalty.
• In lane, when you have just lost your shield, move around at the backline to regain your flow and nullify any imminent poke.
• Keep an eye on your flow bar and try to exploit it as much as you can. Using Last Breath generates maximum Flow instantly.
• Yasuo is notorious for his doubled critical strike chance. Rush this stat as you are going to become really scary. 100% with 2 items *****es!
  

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Steel Tempest: Yasuo thrusts his sword forward, dealing physical damage to all enemies in a line. Steel Tempest can critically strike and will apply on-hit effects to the first enemy hit. Hitting an enemy grants Gathering Storm for 10 seconds. At 2 stacks, Yasuo's next Steel Tempest is empowered and will consume all stacks. Empowered Steel Tempest unleashes a whirlwind that travels an extended distance, dealing the same damage and knocking airborne all enemies hit.

• In lane, use this ability to safely farm minions from a distance, harass the enemy laner or get some Gathering Storm stacks to set up a gank or a better trade.
• Missing a Steel Tempest could cost you a kill. Learn its range and try to predict enemy movement.
• Sometimes, using the bread and butter Sweeping Blade and Steel Tempest combo will not guarantee a successful Steel Tempest strike. By practicing, you will get used to the mechanic and learn when you should Q after completing the dash. However, it mostly happens when you are too close to the target (keep in mind that Sweeping Blade's distance is fixed).
• Normal cast range: 475, Whirlwind range: 900, Circle range: 375
• Steel Tempest is counted as a basic attack. Therefore, its cooldown cannot be reduced by CDR.
• To unexpectedly kill an enemy champion low on health, you can Sweeping Blade + Steel Tempest and while Yasuo is performing the circle attack animation, use Flash quickly. If possible, do it while you have your whirlwind ready so you can land one autoattack in case it's needed.
  

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Wind Wall: Yasuo creates a gust of wind that travels forward to form a wall in front of him, which blocks all enemy projectiles with the exception of turret attacks.

• The wall grants sight over a small area. You can use it to reveal targets behind some walls and dash through them with your Sweeping Blade.
• A good wind wall can save you or a teammate from a lethal projectile. Keep it for the right moment.
• Never forget that it travels 400 units forward.
• When dueling ranged opponents and they are really close to you, try moving through and around the wall, stick to it. Hitting them at the same time might result in an unexpected win - or loss prevent.
• When you have pushed the lane and your opponent tries to last hit under turret, use the wall to prevent him from farming the ranged creeps and deny him gold.
• Wind Wall can be used to freeze the lane. While you are being attacked by a group of ranged creeps, cast it to block their attacks and stay still behind it until your creep wave arrives.
  

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Sweeping Blade: Yasuo dashes a fixed distance in the direction of the target enemy, dealing magic damage and marking them briefly. Each cast increases the next dash's base damage by 25% for 5 seconds, up to 50% bonus damage. Yasuo cannot use Sweeping Blade on a marked enemy.

• Yasuo will generate ~7% of Yasuo's maximum flow innately as Flow-generation is based on distance traveled.
• All hard CC effects will stop the dash.
• Yasuo's dueling potential relies heavily on his dashes. He can actually briefly recede from a fight while dashing through minions, regaining his shield and his Gathering Storm stacks. And then he comes back to end the duel, victorious. All these in a number of seconds.
• Sweeping Blade is unaffected by CDR (How much lower CD could it have?).
• Use this ability to dodge skillshots, pass through walls and cancel your autoattack/Q animations.
• The speed of the dash scales with Yasuo's bonus movement speed (including buffs from allies). Being slowed doesn't reduce the base speed, but negates the bonus speed.
  

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Last Breath: Yasuo blinks to the nearest visible airborne enemy champion to the cursor, instantly generating maximum Flow. Upon arriving, he suspends all nearby airborne enemies for 1 second and deals physical damage. For the next 15 seconds, Yasuo ignores 50% of his targets' bonus armor. Casting Last Breath clears all stacks of Gathering Storm Gathering Storm.

• Last Breath will attempt to position Yasuo outside the range of a nearby enemy turret if he initiates the ability on an enemy standing close to one.
• Bonus armor refers specifically to armor granted through: runes, masteries, items, auras/buffs and champion abilities and it applies before flat armor penetration.
• Targets suspended by Last Breath cannot be displaced any further until the ability is completed.
• If you are in really close range with an airborne target, you can first autoattack him and then use Last Breath. This could make the difference between a kill and a Flash. You can also use Q or E just at the time you land, before the target reacts.
• Remember that your damage output against the targets after the cast is significantly increased with the bonus armor penentration.
• Use it in the right moment and try to combo with your team as well as you can.
• You can use your empowered Steel Tempest and before the animation ends use Last Breath to an already airborne target. That way, the whirlwind will start travelling as soon as you reach the target and hit enemies it couldn't reach before. Hard trick though.
  

Coming soon!

Coming soon!

Well, that's it guys. I provided you with a lot of stuff and I hope you find it cool. Don't hesitate leaving any questions, recommendations, corrections or anything else in the comments. Good luck on the Rift!