Hello, my summoner name is SirThirtySix, and here's a guide on playing Yasuo updated for Season 5 (approximately patch 5.2). With the newest jungle changes, Yasuo's viability has increased as jungler to the point where, with a smart team and moderate to strong mechanics, he can in fact excel in many situations. Obviously, he needs to first be considered for his contribution to the team and not just his ability to remain relevant in the jungle. If your team needs more durability or cc for example, he may not be a strong pick. Make sure to take these things into consideration first, but those aside, he is in my opinion a now moderate to strong pick in the jungle. Please read the following notes sections for additional helpful info such as clear/camp order, leveling notes, and item buy notes as well. If you feel you know the champion, jungle, items, and the overall meta game fairly well, a lot of the info can be skipped, but it's there for those that could find it helpful and I recommend reading it to get you a head start into this champion-role combination.

Here I just wanted to add info on the various rune choices.

Marks: Flat attack damage marks are universally useful and ensure a good clear.

Seals: As opposed to seals for lane, flat armor seals are more efficient for early survival in the jungle.

Glyphs: Scaling magic resist glyphs are, in my opinion, the best option for glyphs although these can be changed.

Quintessences: The Life Steal Quints are good for early sustain in the jungle. These are probably the most variable of the runes, and honestly I think many substitutes are viable here.

Here I'm going to add an explanation on the core items of the build. NOTE: Keep in mind that general knowledge on the use of each item is often more important than any notes I could put here.

Starting Items: Of course, these starting items are extremely standard to any jungler. I do take warding totem over some other choices because it is the simplest to use against counter-jungling attempts which are most likely your biggest threat early game.

Stalker's Blade-Devourer: The Stalker's Blade is in most situations the best choice for Yasuo jungle. Early on you'll be focused on farming so the Trailblazer may seem like a good choice, but the active on enemy champions during ganks later on is much more valuable and as you should be picking up Devourer, you can't switch between the two later on. Devourer is a good choice because once you have it and with each item afterward, your clear speed for camps goes up immensely, and, as a mainly auto-attack based champion that synergizes well with attack speed, you will be able to make the most out of this enchantment. The alternative, Warrior enchant, is also somewhat viable, but the cooldown reduction is mostly wasted on Yasuo and you lose out on late game strength which is what you should be building for.

Statikk Shiv: This is a standard core item on Yasuo. After getting this item, especially with your ultimate, your ability to gank is strong enough to make it worth your time outside of a sure thing.

Berserker's Greaves: These are your best options for boots. Picking up base boots before finishing your Shiv is a good option in some situations. Upgrading them to tier two boots either before, while, or just after building Infinity Edge however, is essential. As for enchants, don't focus on these early on, and late game the decision should be made based on the circumstance.

Infinity Edge: Another essential item. At this point, you should be able to deal nearly any champion and once this item is completed, fighting enemy champions should become the main priority, and stacking Devourer on jungle camps should become secondary.

Trinity Force: Oh man, you need this. Oh boy do you need this. At first, I was personally aggravated about the Infinity Edge change to 20% crit chance as it threw off a timeless core set of items. However, after trying out various late-game builds, I found that having a Trinity Force is extremely strong. It provides you with 100% crit chance, which applies to the bonus damage on its own procs. This, combined with he other various perks and general stats about the item make it a strong pickup. While the item is expensive, and the mana and ability power are wasted, the strength of the item in the late game once you're able to purchase it is incredible. Debatably, if you were to leave off one damage item, this would probably be it, just because the others are also pretty essential, but if you can afford to have this over another defensive item, it is a great choice.

Here I'll detail the choice in lifesteal items and the rationale behind some alternative items that may or may not be listed in the build section. Of course, when to build these items (either in what order or whether to build them at all) should be decided based on a game-to-game basis. NOTE: Keep in mind that general knowledge on the use of each item is often more important than any notes I could put here.

The Bloodthirster: When ahead, this item is fantastic. Over a BotRK, this items flat ad is very punishing. Building it for sustain before the Tri-Force is generally a good idea, but if you feel you don't need it, building part or all of the Tri-Force first can be a good choice too.

Blade of the Ruined King: This item is your best alternative for a lifesteal item. In 99% of situations, either this or The Bloodthirster is the optimal choice, and one or the other is very often important. Choose this one over The Bloodthirster in two situations: when behind, or when your team has little or no knock-up synergy. It is the optimal choice in these situations for the additional attack speed in order to setup your own knockup. Also, the active and on-hit effect are strong against the frontline of many teams allowing you to more effectively play defensively by holding off their more durable champions.

Last Whisper: An often debated item for Yasuo builds both in and out of the jungle, I find it to be unnecessary here. Late game, especially with a Trinity Force, your immense damage before resistances, on top of the armor pen from your ultimate, should be more than sufficient to deal with all but the tankiest/heavily armored of champions. Early game, armor is a good counter to Yasuo, but the magic damage from Devourer stacks and the Shiv proc are a good supplement, and in most cases your opponents shouldn't have enough armor to shut you out completely to begin with. However, if a heavily armored champion is giving you or your team a lot of trouble, or especially if one of these champions (like Thresh or Rammus) gets ahead, then this item can still be a strong buy.

Banshee's Veil: For most ad champions, their damage is either melee or projectile based. So, late game you should be able to fight other melee ad on at least an equal footing, and ranged you should be able to play around much of their kit with the windwall. Due to this, ap casters are often a bigger threat to you and make magic resist the more essential defensive stat. Between the two usually best choices (this and Spirit Visage), this one is very often the better choice of the two because of the problems that hard cc poses to your champion which can be blocked by the spell shield.

Spirit Visage: This item would be picked for the increase to lifesteal effects; however, because you aren't building much of a health pool, this isn't worth it over the spell shield from a Banshee's Veil.

Mercurial Scimitar: Against heavy cc teams, this item could be considered, although often the Banshee's Veil is still a stronger choice for the extra health to increase your general survivability a little more.

Randuin's Omen: Against heavily ad-focused teams, your defensive item could be a Randuin's Omen. Whether built in place of a Banshee's Veil or necessitated by a fed/strong ad-based opponent, among all the armor items, this is a strong pick on Yasuo. Of course if you're forced to build an armor item then the situation is already unique enough to consider alternatives (mainly a Sunfire Cape), but often this is a good option.

Zhonya's Hourglass/Zz'Rot Portal: When ahead, these are always strong options for style and entertainment points.

Depending on which side you start, the order will be slightly different. The normal start is at Red buff (despite the current meta of starting at a secondary camp, i.e. Krugs or Gromp, Yasuo still gets the best results starting directly at the Red buff). Assuming a normal start, this order should apply. However, for a start at Gromp, putting a point into windwall can be put off until level four in place of a second point in Q for better clears as the point of the the windwall otherwise is for a better take of the Gromp camp, but you won't have it for that if you start there anyways so it can be put off. Assuming a normal start however this is nearly always the optimal skill sequence.

This section should be pretty self explanatory. For nearly all junglers, Flash and Smite are essential. Note: read the Quick Camp Note section below for a blurb on securing objectives in addition to using Smite.

Early on, Yasuo is able to take Dragon fairly early by mitigating some of its auto-attack damage with his windwall (this is also an important aspect of efficiently taking the Gromp camp). Also, at Baron and Dragon when unnecessary, it is extremely useful to use the windwall to block any incoming enemy projectiles that would seek to harass your team or steal the objective.

Generally the most efficient route is Red>Raptors>Blue>Gromp for the first clear. Despite the recent meta of starting at Krugs/Gromp as opposed to directly at the Red/Blue buff respectively, for an optimal first clear, Yasuo actually benefits more from starting directly at Red buff if you use your Smite to restore some health early. The alternate-side clear order can and should be used in certain situations and is Gromp>Blue>Raptors>Red. After this you may or may not be able to keep taking camps after the Red buff, but backing here is usually a good choice. For your first back, you should aim to afford at least the Stalker's Blade in case you should need the Smite effect, and additionally you could hope for either boots, a dagger, and then any assortment of consumables that would be useful. After your first clear, just mind your buff timers and prioritize farming over ganking unless the situation calls for it. Early on, your ganks won't be very effective, so farming is often the best use of your time. Donating Blue buff to your mid-laner when they aren't behind (or especially if they're ahead) is often a good choice as you don't utilize it very well, especially if you make up for the lost gold/xp by holding any given lane for a period of time or with an early successful kill/gank. Because of your ability to block dragon auto-attacks with your windwall (and as of the most recent patch, you're able to dodge some by timing your E correctly as well) Yasuo is able to take the dragon fairly early, although exactly when is variable and should be determined on a game to game basis. Once you have your ultimate, ganking lanes with knockup synergy is especially beneficial and the chances of a successful gank are quite sizeable and should be well considered. Late game, remember to keep clearing camps to stack Devourer, and you should be very strong unless highly countered by the enemy team's composition.

Compared to most meta-jungles at the moment, Yasuo occupies a somewhat unique position. He operates mainly as a damage-heavy jungle as opposed to a tank or even a bruiser. However, like many other assassin-type jungles like Shaco and Lee Sin, he doesn't become powerful until he has farmed a fair amount, meaning he loses out on early game pressure. However I think that this is made up for by his late-game presence. In addition, once you have enough items to be fairly strong, whether people are still laning or teamfights and skirmishes are occurring, you are a strong presence for your side. Because of this however, he is one of the junglers more vulnerable to early counter-jungling, although this is somewhat made up for by the fact that he often starts at Red, whcih throws off the more common routes for this to occur. All in all, I feel he can be a strong pick as a jungler in some team compositions and it is extremely enjoyable, just as in lane, just to play Yasuo regardless of the position.
Rules of Nature