I am a huge fan of Yasuo, and have written a mid guide for him. In fact, I believe he should be played in mid, always. So why...? The answer is simple. Every jungle Yasuo guide I see requires him to hit with his third Steel Tempest to do any damage. In addition, they are all glass cannon, relying on his Way of the Wanderer passive to survive encounters. I thought this silly, and a friend of mine, Roh Rollback, agreed. So I challenged myself on how to make a tank Yasuo, able to handle jungle and combat, without necessarily giving up what makes Yasuo a good champion altogether. This is what we came up with. Though not tanky enough for some of the powerful AP champions, this build can still handle a lot, especially turrets and other AD champions.

My runes for Yasuo are very typical. I use Greater Quintessences of Movement Speed, helping his mobility for both the Flow aspect of Way of the Wanderer and helping him gank other lanes. The Greater Glyphs of Magic Resistance give him a suitable tankiness for no build. I chose the Greater Seals of Scaling Attack Damage to help with his power potential. Lastly, I chose the Greater Marks of Attack Speed. These help reduce the cooldown of Steel Tempest, and gives his autoattacks a little more oomph. Against jungle monsters, this means a faster clear, thus, more ganks and more money.

Frenzy is a must. Yasuo's Way of the Wanderer makes critical strikes happen far too often for this to be passed over.

The 5 mastery points in defense help primarily jungle. The Tough Skin and Bladed Armor makes it harder for the jungle monsters to knock Yasuo down, which is always good. The Enchanted Armor helps Yasuo be tougher in combat, allowing for more tankiness with little effort.

The other points I chose for movement, since Yasuo relies on it, and Scout . Sight is everything, and the Scout mastery really helps with that.

This is where I get the most questions. Everyone really seems to believe that his Steel Tempest is the only way to deal damage. This is not so. Sweeping Blade has an extremely low cooldown and can double its damage if juggled properly. I start with this, since it is so quick. I also use a particular pattern that greatly helps. I first target one of the side minions forBlue Buff or Red Buff. After dashing, I auto attack Blue or Red themselves. I dash to the other minion, auto-attacking the minions once, usually killing both. Then I dash through Blue and Red, stacking the brunt of the damage on them, finishing them with smite. I take surprisingly little damage this way, and still clear camp quickly.

A video demonstrating this will be up soon. Please be patient.

At level 2, I focus Steel Tempest. I add it to the combo above to quickly clear camps. Since Steel Tempest is also a great initiation, I max it out first, taking Last Breath when I can.

Sadly, Wind Wall seems best as an escape utility, and doesn't require more than one point early game. I max this last.

In the jungle, Smite is priceless. It dishes out some serious damage quickly. At early levels, this is about a fourth of a big minions hp. That's too good to pass up, unless you really don't need it. Yasuo, no matter how good, needs this boost. Only in jungle is this necessary. If you play a top Yasuo, I recommend Barrier. It helps take a bit more damage, and can be the difference between life and death.

The other spell should always be Flash. It is too good at escaping or initiating combat, and gets you out of tough spots, like Jarvan IV's ultimate.

A map will be up soon, please bear until then!

Because of the fact that Yasuo doesn't use mana, and his abilities have low cooldowns, I prefer to go take the Lizard Elder first. His buff helps deal extra damage, speeding up clear times greatly. After that, since I am on that side, I take the Wraith camp, the one next to mid lane. Crossing mid, I then take wolves. Rounding it off, I aim at Ancient Golem and his buff. If I have enough health, I take on the new Wight camp, just for a little extra gold, before recalling or ganking. Dragon is possible with both buffs at level 9, though this is a tad risky solo. Remember what I said in the skills section, and that Yasuo's Sweeping Blade can go through jungle walls. Sight helps in the major camps, and prevents people from sneaking up on you, so don't skimp on wards.

Team Compilation is still important. Janna is a great one, but don't forget Vi, Malphite, Jarvan IV, Cho'Gath, and Nami. Knockups are common, and a well placed one can wreck a team.


Champions without knockups go well with Yasuo too. These are usually champions with low health and high damage, like Teemo or Twitch. Yasuo's Wind Wall helps them wreck others, so don't forget about them either.

This is the most important section. A good build makes or breaks a game, and this one will likely be ridiculed, especially in the beginning. The key item is Avarice Blade. This one item replace the jungle items in farming, netting you some serious gold. After that, focus on Vampiric Scepter. The lifesteal will replace the health gain from your Hunter's Machete, which you can now sell. It may be a slightly slower start, but it is better in the long run. If you decided to just go top, then start with Brawler's Gloves, so that avarice blade is finished faster. Round out with the Boots.

After that, Sightstone may be the next important thing to buy. With sight throughout jungle, you can Sweeping Blade through the walls, making your clear time drop drastically. The added health is also useful to tank a little more, allowing you to farm more. Add to it the Bilgewater Cutlass, further increasing how long you can jungle/farm. When possible, get the B. F. Sword to be able to put the hurt on your enemies. Building it fully into Infinity Edge isn't a bad idea. After that, go Warmog's Armor. Once you do that, finish your Atma's Impaler so that you get the most AD you can out of it. Mercury's Treads should only be rushed if there is either a high amount of crowd control or many AP champions. The Blade of the Ruined King should be one of the last items to finish. Even though it is an amazing item, the goal is to be a secondary tank, so build it near the end, when damage is the key to winning.

Please note that what you buy, in what order, is up to whomever you face. Experience is more precious than gold on the Fields of Justice.

So there it is. This was the best I could come up with. Since your critical chance is lower than usual Yasuo builds, the damage is a little on the low end. But through it all, Yasuo can also tank, which may prove more difficult to handle than some glass cannon.

Thanks to Riot, for making this game.
Thanks jhoijhoi, for putting the encoding to make this guide.
Thanks Maintained, for showing me jhoijhoi's guide.
Thanks to Roh Rollback, who helped me think of this guide and create it, given I broke my hand.
Most importantly, thank you, for sticking with me.

Good luck, and may the bacon be with you.