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Runes: standard 12.10
1
2
3
4
Precision
Resolve
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+15-140 HP (lvls 1-18)
Spells:
1
2
3
Standard
Flash
Teleport
Recommended Items
Items
Threats & Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Akshan
Dshield + Red Pot. Nearly unwinnable early. Give up farm but stay in xp range. He can 100 to 0 you if you overextend. If he doesnt get ahead early he falls off really hard and you outscale him.
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Champion Build Guide
Introduction
Hello everyone! My name is Samu and this is my Yone Top guide! I have been playing the game since S11, I started out paying support and mid, and transitioned to Toplane a couple months after the start of S12.
While I might not be the highest ranked I have put in a lot of time into learning to play Yone in the toplane and I believe I have a decent amount on knowledge on how to play him now. In this guide I am going to try and explain everything I have learned this far. I will try and keep the guide updated as new patches roll out and as I gain a deeper understanding of the champ, the matchups etc...
While I might not be the highest ranked I have put in a lot of time into learning to play Yone in the toplane and I believe I have a decent amount on knowledge on how to play him now. In this guide I am going to try and explain everything I have learned this far. I will try and keep the guide updated as new patches roll out and as I gain a deeper understanding of the champ, the matchups etc...
Why play Yone top?
Yone is fun top play while at the same time having an incredibly high skill ceiling.
Arguably Yone has some very bad matchups top, but I believe with enough experience and learning he can be one of the strongest toplaners in the game.
Playing Yone means learning something new every game, there are so many ways to play fights and matchups, you will always learn something new.
Arguably Yone has some very bad matchups top, but I believe with enough experience and learning he can be one of the strongest toplaners in the game.
Playing Yone means learning something new every game, there are so many ways to play fights and matchups, you will always learn something new.
Pros and cons
PROS
+ Can carry games + Manaless champion with low cooldowns + Strong abilities like ![]() ![]() + Mixed damage + High skill ceiling + Scales well + Very mobile Yone is a high damage champion, your mixed damage makes it hard to itemize against you, especially earlygame. You have no mana and you Q is very spammable, having virtually no cooldown lategame. You have one of the stronges trading abilities in the game ![]() ![]() |
CONS
- Squishy af - Get fed or feed - Can be countered easly both with champions and playstyle. - Feels bad when behind - Weak earlygame - Very item reliant - Needs setup to be effective in teamfights When playing Yone, you are basically playing a melee adc, this means your earlygame can be lackluster. You are very item dependent, until boots and Shieldbow you are weak. If you fall behind you are next to useless. You need setup and some level of coordination to be effective in teamfights, especially with your ![]() |
Summoner Spells
Code:
Flash![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Teleport![]() |
Exhaust![]() ![]() |
Ignite![]() ![]() ![]() |
Runes
Lethal Tempo |
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Triumph |
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Legend: Alacrity |
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Legend: Tenacity |
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Legend: Bloodline |
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Last Stand |
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Bone Plating |
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Second Wind |
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Conditioning |
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Overgrowth |
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Revitalize |
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Unflinching |
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Abilites
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Way of the Hunter (Passive) |
Yone's crit chance is increased by 2.5 times but his crit strikes deal 10% less damage. Yone's auto attacks alternate between a normal one and a 50% physical and 50% magic damage one. For every 1% crit strike chance over 100% Yone gains 0.4 AD. Yone's passive is incredibly srong and allows you to have 100% crit change at 2 items, paired with ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
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Mortal Steel (Q) RANGE: 475/950 COOLDOWN: 4 - 1.33 (based on bonus attack speed) CAST TIME: .4 - 0.133 (based on bonus attack speed) |
Yone thrusts his sword forward dealing physical damage and gaining a stack of Gathering storm for 6 seconds if he hits an enemy. At 2 stacks of Gathering Storm, the next use of this ability causes Yone to consume all stacks, dash forward and knock up anemies hit for .75 seconds. This is you main damage tool, it becomes very spammable lategame, it is crucial that you use it efficiently, right as it comes off cooldown when trading. It is a skillshot, hitting it isn't very hard but make sure to practice being able to reliably hit your Qs when trading, while moving and on moving targets, otherwise you will miss out on a lot of damage. While your Q is on coodlown it is very important that you "sneak" autattacks on your target to maximize damage. Practice lasthitting with your Q at max range (with the tip of it), this is incredibly important during laning phase, as it makes it way harder for your lane opponent to engage or poke you. Your Q3 is your main engage and disengage tool, you want to have it up as much a possible to have an escape and to pressure your opponent, always prefer to lasthit with Q over autoattacks. Learn to reliably combo with your Q3, ![]() ![]() |
- Q applies on hit effects like
Blade of the Ruined King and can critically strike.
- Q stacks
Lethal Tempo
- Q3 knocks up enemies parallel to you as well, if they are near enough.
- Q The shield is increased with how many enemies you hit, in teamfights you can get quite a big shield by using W on 2 or more enemies. This is very useful if you manage to ult multiple opponents.
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Soul Unbound (E) RANGE: 300 (initial dash) MARK DAMAGE: 25/27.5/30/32.5/35% of damage dealt COOLDOWN: 22/19/16/13/10 |
Yone dashes,leaving behind hs body, Yone gains 10-30% ramping movement speed and is ghosted, for 5 seconds or until the ability is recasted Yone's attacks and abilities mark the target hit by them, at the moment the ability ends or is recasted, Yone returns to his bod and the mark is consumed, dealing an extra percentage of the damage dealt as true damage. Yone's E is his strongest ability, and his main trading tool. You E+Q3 combo is your main engage tool. The extra true damage allows you to trade with more ease and to execute enemies. The movement speed you gain allows you to kite enemies. You can use the initial dash to dodge abilities like Camille's ![]() Your E allows for esier tower dives, with it's recast getting you out of danger. Keep in mind that your E is not an escape tool and if used incorretly, you will get chain cc'd once you return to your body. |
- The mark on top of enemy champions will change in color if the mark detonation will execute them.
- Your initial dash can go through some terrain, like Drake and Baron pit walls.
- Ignite doesn't count towords your mark detonation damage.
- You can often use you initial dash to dodge a key ability and then commit to a big trade while in your spirit form to win trades.
- Once casted, you can't be affected by cc, similar to your
Soul Unbound recast, you can use this to your advatage to "cleanse" some disabling effects.
- There is a very small window of time betweeen your Q3 knockup and ult were enemies can
Flash out.
- If used at the very end of the duration of your
Soul Unbound spirit form, your R will extended the duration of the spirit form itself, you can use this if you need a bit more damage to finish off someone and your E is about to run out.
Items
I go into detail on every viable item on Yone in the "Items" tab right at the start of the guide, this is just a summary of the main items you are going to build.
Starting items










There are some matchups were both






Boots












Core Items




















Standard Items











Situational Items





















Pre game
There are some things to keep in mind before the game even starts.
Blindpicking Yone can be very bad, especially in higher elos, people will punish you quite hard with picks like
Rengar or
Akshan. I suggest you have a reliable pick you can blind.
Not every draft fits a Yone top, your team might need and AP toplaner, keep that in mind. Other that that, picking Yone into a team with no cc is also not ideal, you really want someone with hard cc like
Diana,
Nautilus to enable you, especially in teamfights.
During draft, try and analyze your composition and the enemy composition, think of how you are going to play your laning phase, your mid game and lategame. Try and find what your role is going to be, are you going to be weakside? are you going to be the only AD champion? Can you outscale your opponent? Pose yourself all these questions and more and try to find a gameplan.
I suggest you do your runes manually every game, analyze your matchup and their top-jungle duo and adjust your runes. By **** this you will build a good knowledge on your runes and your preferences, feel free to exeperiment with different runes within reason.
Blindpicking Yone can be very bad, especially in higher elos, people will punish you quite hard with picks like


Not every draft fits a Yone top, your team might need and AP toplaner, keep that in mind. Other that that, picking Yone into a team with no cc is also not ideal, you really want someone with hard cc like


During draft, try and analyze your composition and the enemy composition, think of how you are going to play your laning phase, your mid game and lategame. Try and find what your role is going to be, are you going to be weakside? are you going to be the only AD champion? Can you outscale your opponent? Pose yourself all these questions and more and try to find a gameplan.
I suggest you do your runes manually every game, analyze your matchup and their top-jungle duo and adjust your runes. By **** this you will build a good knowledge on your runes and your preferences, feel free to exeperiment with different runes within reason.
Laning Phase
In the early game and laning phase, your job as Yone is to not die on repeat.
Altough since the
Lethal Tempo rework, Yone's laning phase has gotten stronger, he still is one of the weakest laners in the game. Standard bruisers will **** on you with their sustain, burst and engage. It is very important that you dont fall behind during laning phase. Matchup and champion knowledge is crucial on Yone.
Your gameplan will vary from matchup to matchup, in some cases you can play more aggressive and in others you will have to be defensive. Overall, ranged champions and bruisers will beat you early. You should be able to beat most tanks fairly easily.
Against bruisers, you can usually contest farm level 1, be extremely careful of their level 2, as you dont want to get chunked and be divable at level 3 or have to take a bad reset. Play safe until level 3, you dont want them crashing the wave if possible.
It is almost always good to look for a freeze, at higer elos people will stop mindlessly pushing every wave into you, and will contest freezes, especially if the know they are stronger, so you might have a harder time.
From level 3 onwards you can start looking for trades with
Soul Unbound, matchup knowledge is impotant, as you need to be able to identify their cooldowns correctly and decide how and when you are going to trade with your opponent.
Against ranged matchups, you can't really walk up to the wave level 1 or you will get chunked, try and sneak farm with max range
Mortal Steel and soak xp. From level 2 you will have an easier time farming thanks to your
Spirit Cleave shield. From level 3 onwards you can look for trades, in most ranged matchups, if you manage to get on top of them, you have a good chance to win the trade.
Dont look for roams to often, prefer farm and freezing over roams, you will basically never have prio for scuttle.
Setting up ganks is pretty easy, look to have your Q3 up when your jungler approaches, so you can Q3 your opponent and ult him. Dont always use your
Soul Unbound first, sometimes it is best to keep it, especially against mobile champions or if your jungler lacks cc, to chase someone if the dont immediatly die.
Altough since the

Your gameplan will vary from matchup to matchup, in some cases you can play more aggressive and in others you will have to be defensive. Overall, ranged champions and bruisers will beat you early. You should be able to beat most tanks fairly easily.
Against bruisers, you can usually contest farm level 1, be extremely careful of their level 2, as you dont want to get chunked and be divable at level 3 or have to take a bad reset. Play safe until level 3, you dont want them crashing the wave if possible.
It is almost always good to look for a freeze, at higer elos people will stop mindlessly pushing every wave into you, and will contest freezes, especially if the know they are stronger, so you might have a harder time.
From level 3 onwards you can start looking for trades with

Against ranged matchups, you can't really walk up to the wave level 1 or you will get chunked, try and sneak farm with max range


Dont look for roams to often, prefer farm and freezing over roams, you will basically never have prio for scuttle.
Setting up ganks is pretty easy, look to have your Q3 up when your jungler approaches, so you can Q3 your opponent and ult him. Dont always use your

Mid Game
Midgame starts when tower plating falls and the first tier 1 towers are taken, so somewhere around 15 minutes.
Midgame is also where your macro skills start to matter, make sure you rotate corretly, track the enemy team's position, track vision control and summoner spells.
It is your job to sit in the sidelane opposing the next objective if your tp is up, if it isnt up make sure to rotate in time.
You are not afraid to 1v1 in sidelanes, you can duel most champs if you aren't behind, just make sure not to get collapsed on.
If you have a lead, push lanes, take jungle camps and get vision. Take tier 2 tower if it's safe to do so. Always look to tp for objectives or fights and snowball your lead. Yone is a very resource hungy champion, funnel as much gold as possible into yourslef, so you can hit your spikes.
If you are behind you will have a harder time playing Yone, you need to look for proactive plays to get you back into the game, look for skirmishes with someone on your team that is ahead. Look for picks on weak meambers of the enemy team, like the adc or support. If your whole team is behind, look to flip objectives.
Midgame is also where your macro skills start to matter, make sure you rotate corretly, track the enemy team's position, track vision control and summoner spells.
It is your job to sit in the sidelane opposing the next objective if your tp is up, if it isnt up make sure to rotate in time.
You are not afraid to 1v1 in sidelanes, you can duel most champs if you aren't behind, just make sure not to get collapsed on.
If you have a lead, push lanes, take jungle camps and get vision. Take tier 2 tower if it's safe to do so. Always look to tp for objectives or fights and snowball your lead. Yone is a very resource hungy champion, funnel as much gold as possible into yourslef, so you can hit your spikes.
If you are behind you will have a harder time playing Yone, you need to look for proactive plays to get you back into the game, look for skirmishes with someone on your team that is ahead. Look for picks on weak meambers of the enemy team, like the adc or support. If your whole team is behind, look to flip objectives.
Late game
Lategame you are very strong, you can win almost every 1v1 and you are a monster in teamfights, look to force objectives like
Baron Nashor
and close out the game.
When tamfighting in the lategame, patience is key, a lot of players just E+R someone at the start of the fight, which is exactly what you dont want to do. Wait for the enemy team to use some important cooldowns and wait for your team to get a good engage and then strike with your
Fate Sealed.
Depending on your comp you may want to either play front to back or look for a flank. In the lategame it is very important that your decision making is on point, as one bad teamfight might lose you the game. Always adress the situation and try to find the best play.

When tamfighting in the lategame, patience is key, a lot of players just E+R someone at the start of the fight, which is exactly what you dont want to do. Wait for the enemy team to use some important cooldowns and wait for your team to get a good engage and then strike with your

Depending on your comp you may want to either play front to back or look for a flank. In the lategame it is very important that your decision making is on point, as one bad teamfight might lose you the game. Always adress the situation and try to find the best play.
Post Game
After the game ends, regardelss if it was a win or not, try and think about what you did well and what you did wrong, find something you can improve on.
Critical thinking and self criticism are very important if you are looking to improve.
Try to not blame your teammates, only focus on what is in your control. Keep a good mental,and dont rage queue.
Critical thinking and self criticism are very important if you are looking to improve.
Try to not blame your teammates, only focus on what is in your control. Keep a good mental,and dont rage queue.
Resources
Here are some useful resources that may help you improve further.
Yone page on LoL Wiki for in depth stats:
https://leagueoflegends.fandom.com/wiki/Yone/LoL
Yone subreddit, good to ask questions:
https://www.reddit.com/r/YoneMains/
Some high elo Yone players, watching their streams and vods can be extremely useful:
Dzukill: https://www.twitch.tv/dzukill
Tempest: https://www.twitch.tv/tempest
WildSamu
Yone Guide
[12.11] in depth Yone Top guide!
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