Hello everyone,
My name if FyshinaTux, and I would like to thank you all for visiting my first guide. As such there is no fancy formatting yet so please bear with me. I'd also like to say that, while this guide/buildpath may seem unconventional, I explain my thoughts as to why I feel it's the best way to play Yasuo, please read through and give it some thought before just downvoting it because it's different.

Thanks again for visiting, please enjoy your stay.

Given that Yasuo is still a relatively new champion, some things in this guide are still under evaluation (namely runes and build order (full build still remains largely the same for the time being.))

ALTERATION

Yasuo doesn't appear to need quite as much tankiness as I originally thought, adjusted itemization options to account for more build paths and less tankiness.

Ok, so let's start with the obvious.

Max E first?

The reasoning, is that Q simply isn't worth lvling until the end. Getting it from Rank 1 to Rank 5 gives it a total of 50 Base Damage, and a CD Reduction from 5 seconds at rank 1, to 4 seconds at rank 5. Almost 100% of the damage from his Q as the game goes on, is in the 100% total AD scaling, and any on-hit affects you have.

The reason his Q CD gets so short (appears to rather) as you level it first, is because 99% of players rush a Statikk Shiv on him. The Attack Speed from the Shiv lowers his Q CD, not actually putting ranks into it.

That being said, let's compare Q to E.

His Q base damage rank 1 is 20, rank 5 is 100.
His E base damage rank 1 is 70, rank 5 is 150.

So maxing E first gives you 50 more damage (base) once it's rank 5, as opposed to maxing Q first.

Additionally, if you stack E's (E consecutive targets within 5 seconds of each other), the damage on the next E increases by 25%, up to a cap of 100%.

This now gives maxing E 150 base damage MORE than maxing Q (once E makes it to rank 5).

If you use E properly, it makes an EXCELLENT harass tool early game.

(my personal preference is to max Q last since maxing it gives SOO little.)

Which leads us into the next obvious question...

Hybrid Pen on an AD?

The reasoning here, is that his E does magic damage, as does the Statikk Shiv Proc. Combined, that's 400 damage at a rank 5 E, or 490 (10% reduced crit damage) if the Shiv proc Crits. Hybrid Pen runes help out TREMENDOUSLY with his early game harass, both before AND after the Shiv.

With the maxing of E first, simply walking in range to Q then walking out won't really harass for much of anything. So how do you do it? (then again, maxing Q doesn't do much harass either until you get some damage/crit items)

Harass

Early game, as well all know, is crucial in determining how the rest of the game will go. They way you win early game is through CS'ing and Harassing. Harassing either enough to push the enemy out of lane so they miss CS and exp, or so they're low enough for you to move in for a killing blow.

The preferred method of harassing with this particular build path, is to E 4 minions (remember you have 5 seconds between E's to maintain the stacks, that's up to 20 seconds of prep time if you want) to get the E stacks up for maximum damage, the E the enemy champion, follow with an auto/Q or both, then E'ing out to a minion (if you took all 20 seconds setting up then you shouldn't have issues finding the target to E away to).

Your passive shield should help mitigate most of their counter harass (you shouldn't be in range for counter harass long enough for them to do much anyway), while you just hit them for a lot more, effectively winning the trade (if executed properly.)

Once you get max rank E, as well as your Shiv, you should be hitting them for nearly half their HP with one round of harass (obviously, depending on the champion) allowing you to either bully them out of lane, waste gold buying pots, or setup for a nice jungler gank.

I was wrong with my initial thoughts on just how much tankiness Yasuo actually needs, but after some more testing I've come to the conclusion that the options in the build path above cover the tankiness he needs rather well.

The reason you NEED to get some manner of tankiness on Yasuo, is because if he gets caught out, stunned, or any manner of CC really, he's likely going to be dead without something to dash to that isn't the enemy team. That being said, what are the options?

Health

If used properly, Yasuo's passive shield should mitigate the need to build too much HP. I've found that the HP from a Frozen Mallet is more than enough in most cases (when combined with some manner of resists, my preference being GA.) That said, the HP options don't pack the "super tank" feel of going warmogs+randuinn's+banshee's.

Frozen Mallet - If you absolutely need to stop dying (the passive slow proc is also nice for that little extra sticking power after a teamfight.)

Locket of the Iron Solari - Good "all-rounder" for Yasuo. Gives a modest amount of HP, some Armor and MR, and has a nice shield active to help your team out in teamfights as well (works great when paired with a GA.)

Black Cleaver - Great item if you're really getting ahead and want extra damage/don't need the extra tankiness of Frozen Mallet/Locket.

Resists

There isn't much to say for Armor, since most of the armor items give copious amounts of Health along with the Armor, Frozen Heart and Thornmail are the only two aside from Atma's Impaler that don't give HP, and Frozen Heart is a complete waste of the Mana, which leaves Thornmail.

So for Armor, the only real option I'm seeing is Thornmail. (or GA, but that's more of an all-rounder.)

Maw of Malmortius - Great item for MR (also has a nice shield when you get low (only works on magic damage though :( ) and some extra damage.

Banshee's Veil - Passive shield is nice for prolonging the activation of your passive, good item if you need to get REALLY tanky against Magic Damage.

Guardian Angel - Great all-round defense item for Yasuo, the resists aid his passive immensely, and who doesn't want a second chance every 5 minutes?

Thanks again for spending the time to check out my first guide. I'm sure I probably missed something somewhere, if I did, hopefully I gave you enough information to fill in those blanks until I can get around to making an update.

Again I implore you to actually give this a shot before you downvote it. Any advice on "pretty"ing up my guide is MORE than appreciated.

Happy Summoning ^_^

7 Jan 14

Altered the items/Runes setup. Adjusted guide contents accordingly.