My name is Kihyun Lee, Kyriaos in-game. I'm 19 right now, and I'm currently playing with summoner names kyriaos doom s10 (previous name: aesirinn), Kyriaos (previous name: WayoftheDumbesst), and NOOOO WORRIES. I have over 1.5 million mastery points on my accounts and I peaked at 717 LP in NA Challenger. During my Season 9 peak with Yasuo ADC, I had an average KDA ratio of 3.3.1 with a 70% win rate. Hopefully, my guide will shed light on the mentality and techniques that got me to Challenger with Yasuo ADC.

Strong mobility and outplay potential in certain situations.

Variety of builds, such as bruiser, tanky builds, burst damage, lifesteal, etc.
Comfort factors (no mana, Wind Wall, certain abilities, low cooldowns, passive shield for trading, easy waveclear, auto-attack resets for csing…).

Always pushed in early, reducing probability of being camped like mid Yasuo and allowing Yasuo to take more favorable fights close to his tower with lots of enemy minions for mobility.

Less likely to get hard countered by picks than mid Yasuo, ADCs are almost always easier to lane against than mid champions.

Squishy and low base stats make him weak early, so strong early game ADCs and supports can pop him.

Demands familiarity and absolute mastery over moveset to play at a high level.
Very long Wind Wall cooldown and no mobility without enemy minions make Yasuo susceptible to deaths if engaged upon.

Yasuo ADC is always underleveled in comparison to the laners that Yasuo mid usually faces. Without survivability items, even a fed Yasuo ADC can be popped in teamfights or lose a duel against an enemy top laner in a side lane. Yasuo has to use his R wisely, know his limits in any fight, and work around enemy CC, his Wind Wall, and setups by his team to survive and win.

Risky pick. Having a melee bot with 4 other melee champions can be seriously detrimental if the enemy team has peel and ranged champions. Additionally, picking Yasuo ADC early can lead to hard counters. Renekton bot, Exhaust Maokai, Darius, and Sett support are examples from some of my games that counter Yasuo ADC hard and lead to an extremely difficult laning phase and therefore an extremely difficult game. Often, two scenarios happen: You either deal absolutely no damage because you got behind early for whatever reason (bad support pick with me, champion counters, bad early fights in the jungle, camp by an enemy jungler that ganks a Yasuo effectively, such as Rek’Sai, Olaf, or Eve), and the enemy ADC gets to play the game with basically no lane opponent. The second: You get ahead in the lane and carry while the enemy ADC can’t do much but avoid me and try to farm.

Gauge how the enemy bot laners play in the early levels. Sacrificing the early CS and not interacting early often makes ADCs more confident poking and walking further up, making them not expect your engage and the damage from your power spikes.

If the enemy bot lane starts to sit very far back and no longer attempts to fight or CS, look for deep wards in the tribush and enemy jungle, take scuttle crab, or roam/shadow mid. There’s no point of sitting bot waiting for the wave to push back.

Ping frequently and let your support know when you want to engage, when you think the enemy jungler is trying to gank, and when you want to leave the lane. Also, ping when the enemy bot lane is missing and has priority, or for ganks if the enemy bot lane is repeatedly pushing you into your tower without being able to punish them (for example, if they are a strong early game bot lane such as Draven & Alistar).
Utilize the Yasuo mechanics of E + Q + R and E + Q + Flash in any scenario where they are optimal.

While getting a lead in the lane is very doable with Yasuo ADC, be mindful that you are still squishy and it is hard to escape when you are pushing. Yasuo ADC can snowball harder than Yasuo in solo lanes because he can punish harder and get more kills in bot lane, but he can also get behind even faster because of his lower levels and bot lane being a longer lane with more ganking options.

Mistake #1 – Being aggressive in the early game without a clear advantage, particularly early levels. Yasuo ADC can lose half health from walking up to take one cs level 1 with an enemy ADC ready to punish you. This can happen even more frequently with a melee support who can’t trade for you. Sometimes, you have to give up the whole first wave. Health is much more important than CS early in this lane, as you need to be healthy for an engage at level 3 or beyond. Letting them push to you early protects you from early ganks and helps the jungler to gank early for you as well, which would be extremely helpful for someone with the snowball capabilities of Yasuo ADC.



Mistake #2 – Not playing patiently. As mentioned, Yasuo ADC is even squishier than Yasuo mid because of his lower levels. Therefore, it’s hard to make solo plays and duel enemy solo laners. Take advantage of ally engages or knockups. It’s better to be patient than risky when you have a lead from laning phase. If you die too many times as Yasuo ADC, you can easily end up being 3 or 4 levels down to solo laners. Work towards your two/three items to enter carry mode.



Mistake #3 – Not communicating. If you’re playing Yasuo ADC, do not expect your support and team to know exactly what you want. You are playing a melee ADC who works quite differently from a conventional ADC. You engage at different times, play safer at different times, and are stronger and weaker than regular ADCs at different times. Ping when you want to engage, let your team know the enemy bot lane has priority early and can roam, and ping to solo farm side lanes. Both your team and the enemy team probably do not have that much experience with Yasuo ADC. Let your team be the one that is more familiar with you and can work around your ultimate and power spikes.

Play Video
Here's a helpful video introducing the Airblade, Beyblade, and Keyblade.

W + E + Q Combo
You can cast any other spell with Wind Wall (W + Q or W + E), but W + E + Q is used a lot. Using this combo sets up two situations: the enemy either throws an important ability such as a stun or slow when you are decently far away and can easily react to it with Wind Wall, or the enemy holds onto the ability until you are close enough to E (Sweeping Blade) and throw W and E-Q to cover yourself as you dash onto them. It’s much more difficult for the opponent to gauge where a dashing Yasuo will end up (in front or behind), so the W + E + Q combo helps to protect Yasuo from abilities as he dashes in.

The classic Yasuo combo known as Airblade has many pros. To pull it off, you E + Q any target and use R (Last Breath) immediately after your Q.

Make sure you have utilized the majority of the length of the knockup, so the enemy is knocked up for a longer time,
You get another Q off onto the opponent with Airblade, dealing extra damage to your target and in a circle around you where you end up after you ult and getting another Q stack.
If you kill the target(s) you used Last Breath on with the extra Q from Airblade, the ultimate animation cancels early and you can move and cast spells again, which can be essential in fights.
Style points.

The other classic Yasuo mechanic known as Beyblade is primarily used as a tool to catch opponents off guard. Most players can Flash, dash, or blink a tornado or E + Q. However, it is practically impossible to react to an E + Q + Flash. Performed properly, the E-Q-Flash is far too fast to react to. The E + Q + Flash can also be used in a more advanced manner to reposition your E + Q to get your Q damage off quicker or hit a specific target or targets. For example, if you are getting 2v1ed with Flash up, but a tornado will not be able to knock both opponents up and you are not in a position to just E + Q and hit both, you can E (Sweeping Blade) one champion or a minion and Q + Flash into the position where the Q circle will hit both. To get your Q damage off quicker, you can cast the Q + Flash as fast as possible when your E starts. Typically, E + Q + Flash is used when you use the full length of your E to cover more distance in total after you flash. However, you can use the Q + Flash long before the full length of your E. More skilled opponents can Flash/dodge your E + Q. However, if you E and Q + Flash onto them, you can catch them with it before they can avoid it.

Keyblade is beyblading and then airblading opponents. It is the most difficult Yasuo combo to execute. It takes plenty of Practice Tool for mastery, so there's no need to be frustrated in not being able to pull it off initally. This combo is extremely optimal and can straight up one-shot important squishy targets without any chance for them to react. In the late-game with a couple items, Yasuo can completely dominate the fight with a Keyblade on squishies and seal the win for his team.

Playing Yasuo as ADC is not what you are going to expect. As written in the typical mistakes section, you restrain yourself from wanting to get CS and sacrifice early minions as much as necessary to keep yourself healthy for an engage at level 2 or 3.

A Yasuo ADC lane will not have priority early. You fully expect and let the enemy push into your tower for multiple waves. Do your best to let your team know that you do not have priority and ping to let your support know when you want to engage at later levels. Play around your early power spikes of Wind Wall, Berserker’s Greaves, and R to get as much of a lead as you can early. This will propel you in the mid and late stages of the game.

The mid game is typically the most dangerous time of the game for Yasuo. As Yasuo, you are currently trying to finish your Infinity Edge and will not have any survivability items that will protect you besides your passive (Way of the Wanderer). Because of this, Yasuo is weaker than many other champions in the game, such as bruisers like Renekton, Olaf, Fiora, and Jax. Play this part of the game patiently. Look for safe farming in the side lanes, take advantage of fights where there is a good knockup or setup, and group with teammates when you do not see where enemies are. It is possible to not be able to get Infinity Edge until 23 or 24 minutes if Yasuo dies several times in the mid game. Try to avoid getting behind and avoid risky plays at this time.



Split-pushing – As mentioned, farm side lanes to get your items, and fully push a sidelane when you have 3 items. This is when you can push waves the fastest and will be stronger than a good amount of other champions. Getting solo experience in side waves after the laning phase is over is good to catch up to higher level enemy solo laners who can beat you 1v1.



Objective control – Once Yasuo hits level 6, you are able to contribute a good amount to objective fights with his ultimate (Last Breath) being AoE damage, CC, and good range. For the first Dragon, just look for a knockup on the squishy/isolated targets or to engage onto whoever your team is going after while throwing W (Wind Wall) to protect allies. If the enemy does an early Dragon before you hit level 6, you most likely can’t help with that because you will still be pushed under the tower. After 6, you usually have constant lane priority and can rotate first. Making picks or baits around objectives is also easy because of your instant follow-up with R. Your Wind Wall and tornados are also effective in clustered fights around objectives.

Yasuo reaches his peak in the later part of mid game and late game. He now has his core items for crit/damage and is building towards survivability items. You will deal a large amount of damage and it is becoming harder for enemies to kill you with your third and fourth items at play. You also now have E maxed and Q capped, and your ultimate has a 55-second cooldown. You can push waves extremely quickly, and win against almost any squishy champion. You can now survive, kite, and cut down frontliners. This part of the game is when you typically go for the most (and potentially riskier) plays that can secure you Baron or enemy inner turrets. Look for hard engages and knockups by your team and chase down enemies in lanes where outer turrets have fallen. This is the perfect time to utilize Yasuo’s strengths and ultimately win the game.

Yasuo ADC is unlike any other pick in the game. It demands practice and mastery to pull off at the highest level, but I can confidently say that being able to get high kills and leading the team to victory in any elo can be done through this guide and putting in enough games. There is nothing more exciting than constantly dashing in and dueling in bot lane, accumulating a lead, and then tearing through the rest of the enemies with your core items completed. It's a risky pick, but it can be stronger than any other ADC in the right game in the right hands.