WELCOME TO MY FIRST EVER GUIDE.

I run a slightly unique version of Yasuo so bear with me. Yasuo and all of his abilities play like a big boy version of Yi, much like Darius is a tougher version of Garen. Most of this builds irregular aspects lie in his runes, and early game build. both of which will be explained in this guide. despite this being my first build, I have had a lot of training with Yasuo on the PBE and ive used this frequently on PBE. if you have any suggestions please let me know. also to anyone that may be a grammar nazi reading this guide, since its quite a long guide id like to inform you that i said "forget grammar" halfway through (mostly just with capitalization).

Now the runes of Yasuo are pretty easy to understand, however in case of confusion i will go over each of them
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Marks

His marks are probably the easiest to understand.

Crit chance: because of his passive, crit chance runes INSTANTLY become more valuable than any other marks and may quite often win you some early game trades along with his q. late game, it closes the 90% crit chance from his items to 99.9% to make it extremely rare for you to not crit. i only invest 5 because any more would waste it for less than one % crit chance

Crit Damage: A negative point of yasuo is that his crits do 10% less damage, the goal of using these marks is to average it out, making it so that his crits do 13% more, neutralizing the nerfing early game effects of his passive, while giving you a tiny bit more to work with

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SEALS

Attack Speed: Heres where most question this guide. Who would put AS in seals? well if you think about it, it really isnt that bad. since all the marks are currently occupied in smoothing out yasuos rough areas in crit striking, we simply need AS more. considering the fact that most mids are AP, you dont really need any defensive seals since he is such a powerhouse snowballing killer mid-late game. this actually helps his early game, since it not only gives him faster attack speed but reduces his CD on his q significantly making it much easier to land as many pokes and q'nados as possible.

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Magic resist: Pretty simple, probably the most easiest to understand of the runes. you go mid, you get early game magic resist. makes yasuo mid tanky and makes it easier to take out the APC in a team fight. why not MR at level 18 runes? because if yasuo gets to level 18, your team wins automatically because yasuo is fed.

The only offensive masteries i think are worth explaining is double bladed sword. i personally dont like it for yasuo since hes so squishy early game that adding onto the damage he gets just puts you at a disadvantage for some minuscule late game boost

I got 9 utility in yasuo mainly for the movement speed. since this build is all about getting you to late game mildly unharmed, the alchemist helps you with your sustain and to a tiny degree so does the lifesteal. the movement speed is the big thing though since it lets you hit your passive slightly more. since it wont activate unless you have a full bar you need it to charge as fast as possible. Summoners insight works great here too, because the more you can teleport the more you can split push, surprise gank or simply fix a screw up and need to protect tower FAST.

This section is more of a Q and A for his item builds

Q: why not dorans start?
A: dorans is alright for defensive, however brawlers is not only twice as gold efficient but it also saves you gold from selling it and you want to get as much gold to get shiv as possible. shiv is an automatic game changer

Q: why build into arvace blade instead of zeal?
A: while zeal has better stats, its the same reason as above. getting a gold advantage on the opponent. with yasuos Q and E he is a ridiculous last hitter and everyone that spends months on end trying to perfect last hitting is instantly put to shame by this mindless ability to just farm. because of that, ABs passives give you significantly more gold while you still have 20% (29.9% with runes) crit chance to work with

Q: Why is Hydra in the defensive and Bloodthirster in offensive.
A: the answer is simple. If you master my offensive build, you will easily be able to clear minions monsters and champions by the time you buy this weapon, so radial damage is almost pointless with your q and e able to hit most opponents.

Q: Randuins? I thought the point of yasuo was to go full power and nuke everywhere
A: Dont worry, even with one less attack item slot he nukes just fine. you just buy this item to somewhat cover the squishyness of this champ since its a persistent issue. it helps his suitability in team fights which means pentas

Q: Isnt Phantom Dancer better than shiv for yasuo because of his passive?
A: Normally, yes. but with my runes, PD would hit the cap of Crit chance, which is sacrificing shivs amazing passive (that stacks well with yasuos shield) for a meager .01%, not to mention shiv has an extra % of movement speed and despite having less AS, your Q still ends with a 1 second cooldown

Probably the thing im going to hear about most of this build is the spells, but ive tested it and found yasuo is so much better with TP.

my reasons for this is that ignite or exhaust are kinda useless on such a good pursuit champ that basic nukes like crazy. late game you wont even use them. teleport is useful the entire game. when i mid, im always scared to leave lane because i dont want to lose farm against my enemy since APCs are the worst to get farm fed. it makes me want to stay with low HP and gets me killed. with TP i can recal, get my damages and return before they were even gone, or get a kill buy items then TP and push tower before they even respawn.

Late game it takes a completely different role. as yasuo you are basically covering the whole map, ganking as much as the jungler or slit pushing since his wave clear is currently rivaled only by sivir. if there is a teamfight or a 2v2/2v3 that you know your team wont win, just teleport in there, and watch them run away or kill them if they stay. teleport is useful the entire game and helps you have total map domination.

Pros:

Most OP passive in the game, runes, masteries and items alike build on this to make an annoying late game and a terrifying late game snowball.

great mobility

short cooldowns

third strike q gives plenty of openings

amazing last hitting abilities

destroys ranged champs fed or not, baron, dragon, lizard ect

NO MANA MID!

CONS:

Early game is incredibly hard

squishy

melee mid

hard to aim q under pressure

Ult can be difficult to use

Passive: His passive speaks for itself. its utterly amazing. the shield sucks early game, but late game you will be lucky to use it all in the time its active unless you are ganked

Q: people really need to know this ability is like a blade. its an extension of the champion himself. its hardly an ability, its more of a basic attack that can hit Jax. early game and mid game its great for dueling because when timed right, it seems like it doubles your attack speed. its your bread and butter ability and if you cant seem to master it, go play another champ like volibear.

W: in a nutshell, its like Jax's dodge, but against ranged champs. it can make or break fights against jungle ganks or plain laning. even melee mids normally have some form of ranged ability. for example, against akali you can cripple her burst by blocking her marks and taking her down before it comes off cooldown. it can block at least 50% of the ults in game and can change any teamfighht. great for effortlessly taking down dragons, or if there is no use for it, just place it between your minions and their caster/ tank. you dont have mana, use it whenever possible!

E: here is what i mean about being a yi big boy ability. its exactly like alpha strike. you use it for either catching up with champs or last hitting minions. the more you use it the more damage it does, so if timed you, you can last hit then after 3-4 of them you can explode early-mid game in lane by suddenly attacking with your e and q and w if needed.

ULT: here is where most people dislike yasuo because its so hard to set up. thats just cause they cant hit their q. its an amazing ability, that just makes you have to work for it a little before letting you reap its rewards. it basically turns yasuo into an anti tank with 10 seconds of armor pen, taking out any top champ tanks like malphite darius or riven. if they lane mid with you, than you can shred through their armor at level 6. on anyone else, it just makes them take a bit more damage, which can 3 shot almost all ADCs and APCs, which are the only hope for your team. best part of it is, it can hit the entire team and its free damages as well as a second for your q to cooldown so you can instantly launch it afterwards to wreck whoever is unfortunate enough to get hit by it, and finally its almost always available

Farming with yasuo is pretty simple. you w the caster minions to prevent them from damaging your wave, giving you an edge (and possibly blocking the mid from doing anything) AA until a minion gets low and if safe (and by that i mean you wont dash into tower range or right where the enemy mid will want you) use your e to make sure you get the kill when your AA doesnt. if not safe then q is the next best thing. use it for last hitting or poking whenever its off cooldown, its third stack can damage an entire wave which only helps you and gives you more options for farming.

go out of your way to ruin anyone that isnt the tank.
basically eat all of the tops friends for stacks of q, then use ult.

An alternative to this for late game is poke minions with q, then initiate with ult, and magically get a triple kill from the burst.

Basically everything mentioned above, in fact 90% if this guide isnt how to play yasuo, its how to survive early game, since playing late game yasuo is possibly the most braindead thing you can do in league. i run in i get kill, i get more kills, try and stop me.

early game you want to pick up brawlers and two HP pots. with your masteries the pots will give you more sustain than dorans ever will, while the brawlers added on with your runes gives you 20% crit chance at the very beginning of the game giving you some breathing room until level three.

after level three yasuos game remains fairly simple. turret hug and last hit when you can. under no circumstances do you pass the half way mark on your lane unless the champ isnt there or is dead. yasuo is too vulnerable for jungle ganks early game. it also allows you to be a constant wall since you have no mana where as most mids do. if you are very good with yasuo and have shiv by level 5, then you can be more gutsy, however its better off waiting until you are level 4 in your q before pushing lane. by then you will be able to take most mid champs, for anyone else, there is your ult.

By now you should be able to duel the other mid and generally do a good job unless its ryze and he constantly initiates. in mid game however what you want to do is hit and run minions. wait for minions to be close to death for last hitting dashes and always run. this will make it so your passive is up so often that you become incredibly hard to kill, not to mention it helps nuke with shiv + q pokes. look out for opponents initiating or making stupid choices and throw down a wall to block then counter.

Yasuo is the kind of mid that is better served pushing all lanes a little bit, rather than push one lane really badly (makes you almost impossible to jungle gank also.)if their mid is dead you are better off running to bot or top after finishing off minions and ganking whenever possible. the kill or asist money will help you get the items you need, and it helps your entire team push.

with yasuos W he can even take red buff, or dragon. anyone with yasuo on their team should take dragon as much as possible even at low level. with three people you can take dragon right at the beginning of mid game.

to summarize this, you are very fearsome but you need to pick your battles carefully

if you need a guide on how to late game yasuo, chances are you probably suck with him. if you survive early game and mid game, you simply become a monster by the time you start building Bloodthirster. by the time you are building randuins, there should be few champs that can take you (assuming you havent fed all early game or your teammates havent fed their lanes. typically yasuo stands a chance against even fed opponents)
in a brewing team fight poke at minions or jungle creeps and launch a q'nado, if you only hit one person just wait for the next one unless the other team goes to initiate. if so then take your ult on that one person and try to do better next time. q the second you land, it will be on cooldown. e away to get out of the middle of everything they got. and just pick people off with your team. from this point on split push. take out waves, then teleport to the opposite lane to push there if you think there will be a gank. it will confuse them and waste their time while you take their turrets.

take baron, solo dragon, but most of all. instill fear

Thats all i really have to say about yasuo besides the fact that its only a matter of days before they nerf him in every patch to come in season 4 like they did to poor rammus and his taunt. remember this is my first guide so if its too long or missing something or i forgot to explain something, let me know.