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Make sure you windwall her E. She will be elusive because of her R, so make sure to go in if you can kill her rapidly. Be careful when dashing not to get hit by the charm. The lane will probably push for her all game.
Akali
She can be a pain to kill because of her shroud. However, if you play safe she won't be able to instantly kill you. You wall can block her E and Q. Don't try to play too aggressive against akali.
Annie
Her W and R are not blocked by the wall, so you can't dash on her. This makes annie hard to deal with ; this matchup is worse than most of other mages matchups.
Azir
A good azir can poke yasuo when he tries to get cs or dash, so be careful against him. His R makes him really hard to kill during laning phase, and you will need to build sustain against him.
Brand
Dodge his Q and stay away for his E, and this matchup is pretty easy.
Cassiopeia
Her W will prevent yasuo from ulting her and dashing out, so try to get out of it as fast as you can. If you dodge her Q, you will be able to winwall her E and win trades.
Corki
Pretty easy matchup, as you can block most of his damage. Be careful of the package damage.
Diana
You can windwall her Q and trade her early on. If she snowballs, she will be really hard to kill and will oneshot you, so don't try to play too aggressive.
Ekko
The matchup is pretty even if you can block his Q. You can trade him early on. Try to avoid dashing in his W.
Fizz
Most of the time a skill matchup that requires less skill for Fizz. His E makes him much more elusive than you in the early game. You will lose trades in the early game. Your R cannot block the fish ; instead, the fish stops at the beggining of your W.
Galio
Yasuo can be a great counterpick to galio as you deal AD damage. However, don't be surprised by the amount of damage Galio can deal in the early to mid game ; you can't take a lot of trades early if he hits his abilities. Try to poke him rapidly with your Q through the wave.
Gangplank
A very situational matchup. You lose early game very hard, so don't try to play aggressive. When you scale, you can 1v1 him pretty easly.
Gragas
A situational matchup. Gragas wins trades if he hits his E, you can block the cast of his Q and his R explodes on your wall ; knocking back allies just before it.
Gwen
Yasuo can be a great pick into gwen - especially toplane. Be careful not to take too many bad trades, she will be able to cut you down - literally.
Heimerdinger
A situational matchup. You can destroy his turrets and avoid most of his damage ; be careful when dashing in as he can throw a devastating E.
Irelia
If you can scale, the matchup is easy. You can block her E and R, so you can deny her dashing in most of the time. She will outdamage you very hard early on.
Karthus
His lack of mobility will be his demise.
Kassadin
Don't let him scale too hard. You will have to play aggressive to win as you deal AD damage. Your wall can only block his Q, so you don't get too confident.
Katarina
A very easy matchup if you are good with Yasuo ; you need to be confident or you will lose. You can block her Q and R, so she won't be able to kill you instantly. Try to freeze the wave and take a long trade against her.
Kayle
You can block most of her damage.
LeBlanc
She will be able to kill you very fast even in the early game, so don't play this matchup aggro early on. Freeze your wave under tower. Your wall can block her E and Q but not her W.
Lucian
He will be a pain until you pass early game. Play safe and calm under your tower and scale ; you can kill him after you get a few items. Your wall can't block his Q but blocks his R.
Lux
You can block her three basic abilities, so this matchup is pretty easy. Try to avoid her Q at all costs. A good lux won't be so easy to kill, so try to out-cs her and scale.
Malzahar
An old counter to yasuo ; don't get silenced by his Q. Rush shieldbow and QSS. If you can, try to push hard.
Neeko
You can't stand behind your wave because she will stun you with her E. You can block most of her damage but her third auto is not blocked by your wall.
Orianna
She can trade you early game because of her autos. You can't block the ball ; instead it gets stopped at the beggining of it, so she can shockwave you without a problem.
Pantheon
A counterpick to Yasuo as he deals a lot of damage early and can point and click stun you. Try to play as passive as you can ; dodge his Q. You can buy tabbis and phantom dance if you feel insecure about your lane.
Qiyana
Don't try to play too aggro as she can kill you very fast. Play passive and scale ; you won't be able to match her roaming potential. You can block her R and Q (but not the added effects of it).
Renekton
The worst matchup for yasuo mid. He can dive you level 4. There is absolutely nothing to do but to concieve waves and playing safe.
Darius
The OG counter of yasuo top. You can't trade him at any point in the game. Avoid picking yasuo if you see Darius on the enemy team.
Rumble
Because of his shield and unblockable Q, he will be able to outdamage you in the early game and poke you in the early game with his E. You will have to rush MR if he goes pen, don't pick yasuo into rumble.
Ryze
You can block his burst with your wall, which makes this matchup is easy. Note that his W will do a lot of damage late game and is unblockable.
Senna
If you're playing botlane : her autos won't be blocked by your wall, don't try to avoid her damage with your W.
Seraphine
Easy matchup as you can block most of her kit. Don't dash into her E.
Sylas
Skill matchup ; he will be able to trade you back. You can block his R and E with your wall, but won't block his Q. Try to avoid long trades with him in the early game.
Syndra
Yasuo can be a great pick into Syndra : you can block her R as well as stopping her balls at the beggining of your wall. However, a good Syndra will be tough to fight in the early game. Try to avoid getting hit by her Q and freeze the wave. Don't dash directly into her if she has her E.
Taliyah
Her W makes dashing into her quite a challenge. You can block her Q.
Talon
He can oneshot you at level 4. You can block his E but it will only block a tiny portion of his whole burst. On top of that, he will have more roam potential. Avoid picking Yasuo into talon.
Twisted Fate
You can block all of his kit with your W, which makes duelling him very easy. Don't let him snowball the whole map ; avoid freezing too hard and try to match his pressure.
Tristana
A very popular cheese pick ; you cannot match her pressure early and she has a good late game. Try to play very passive until you get your W and block her E. She can use R at level 6 if your try to dash directly into her.
Varus
A popular cheese pick mid. You can block all of damage, even his E, with your wall. He will poke you at early levels ; scale and kill him after you get a few items.
Veigar
Veigar's E makes this matchup harder than it seems ; you have to dodge his cage at all costs with your E and R. On top of that, you can't block his W. But most of the time, you can kill him if you hit your R on him.
Vel'Koz
A good matchup for Yasuo as you can block his Q, W as well as his E. However, you can't block his R. Be careful when going in : the trade back may be hard to deal with.
Anivia
A good anivia will make you game a living hell. Early game, you can't kill her in her passive because of your lack of burst, and when she gets 6, she will zone you out very hard as well as dealing a lot of damage. Note that you can block her Q and E.
Viego
A counter of Yasuo mid. He can outdamage you very hard, and his R makes him unstopabble, meaning you cannot use your R on him. Play safe and try to scale up.
Viktor
Viktor is hard to deal with because of his W and R that silences you ; he can deny your engage very easly. Additionnaly, you cannot block his Q auto. Try to stack a big wave to dash out of his E.
Vladimir
You may be able to trade with Vladimir early, but if you're not able to shut him down hard, he will outscale you very hard. You can't block his Q,E or R but you can block his W.
Xin Zhao
A cheese pick ; you outscale him really hard but his kit is plain stupid at early levels.
Xerath
A quite easy mage matchup. However, you have to dodge most of his kit as you cannot block his Q, W and R.
Yasuo
Your worst nemesis is actually you : one of the best tips for playing Yasuo is to not outplay yourself by trying to force plays.
Yone
A skill matchup that is favored for Yone. A very aggressive lane on both sides. The one that gets an advantage can smash the other very hard. You can block the projectile of his Q but not Yone dashing in.
Zed
A skill matchup that favors a good Zed, as Yasuo is quite squichy. You can trade with him early on but be very careful at level 6. Try to match his impact on the map. You can block his Q and his W simply stops at your wall.
Ziggs
An easy mage matchup. Note that Ziggs can disengage pretty easly with his W and E. You can block his Q, E and W but not his R.
Zoe
You can block her E and Q but her autos go through your wall, meaning she gets a lot of free damage on you in the laning phase. Most of the time, it's a scaling matchup. If you knock her up during her R, she will remain knockup when she comes back and you can ult her.
Cho'Gath
It is a difficult for Yasuo, as his W silences you and denies you from dashing into him. It can be a good counter to Yasuo mid if you're able to hit your Q and W on target.
Malphite
Alistar
Azir
Blitzcrank
Braum
Cho'Gath
Darius
Diana
Her knockup is very fast, press R when you see her dashing in.
Draven
Fizz
Galio
Gnar
Gragas
Hecarim
Jarvan IV
Jayce
Kayn
Red form
Lee Sin
Lulu
Maokai
Mordekaiser
Nami
Nautilus
Nunu & Willump
Orianna
Ornn
Poppy
Pyke
Qiyana
Quinn
Rakan
Rammus
ok
Rek'Sai
Rell
Riven
Sejuani
Sett
Singed
Sion
Swain
Sylas
Syndra
Taliyah
Tristana
Thresh
Trundle
Very short knockup with his E, be ready for it.
Urgot
Vayne
Vel'Koz
Vi
Viktor
Wukong
Xin Zhao
Zac
Ziggs
Zyra
Synergies
IdealStrongOkLowNone
Malphite
Alistar
Azir
Blitzcrank
Braum
Cho'Gath
Darius
Diana
Her knockup is very fast, press R when you see her dashing in.
Hello, my name is Lot of Wind and I'm a Yasuomain from EUW with over 800k points. I have been playing the game since 2018 and i became a mid main in season 10. My elo is currently gold 1 so this guide will not focus on high elo ; instead my build will be damage oriented to climb lower elos. I do have a lot of experience at playing Yasuo and midlane ; thus, this is is meant to be a detailled guide for begginers as well as players seeking to improve at playing this champion.
This champion differentiates from others midlaners because of a few reasons, making him challenging as well as thrilling to play :
- He is a DPS melee AD carry played midlane
- He has very low to nonexistent cooldowns on his abilities
- Most of his abilities synergy with each other and have advanced mechanics
- One of his abilities neglects any projectile thrown at him
That being said, playing Yasuo at his full potential is extremly rewarding and fun. The skill floor for this champion may not the be the most high, but his skill ceiling is off limits. But playing him requires good individual mechanics, and most importantly good game knowledge ; macro and micro.
Pros and cons
To have better image of what is Yasuo, here is a list of his pros and cons :
PROS
-High DPS
-A lot of mobility in the right conditions
-Has always a room to outplay in most situations
-Is strong at every stage of the game
-Can block any projectile
-Is very fun to play and has a satisfying learning curve
CONS
-Squichy and vulnerable to assassins
-Denied by CC and slows
-Can be frustrating to play without a good mindset
-Not a lot of room for individual mistakes
-Hard to play during the first few games
An overview of the champion
This part will summarize how Yasuo genuinely plays, as well as giving a short recap of what his abilities do ; these will be detailled in other sections. If you're wondering what's going on inside the head of a Yasuo main, here are my thoughts on the champion.
Yasuo is a melee AD carry : his passive, Way of the Wanderer, gives him 2.5 the amout of crit chance he builds, which means he's going to build marksman items. His damage output relies on his autos and his Q, Steel Tempest, that is considered like an improved basic attack acting like a skillshot. Yasuo wants to dash into the enemy team to kill the enemy carries. He can archieve this with his E, Sweeping Blade, an ability with a very short cooldown, that allows him to dash onto any enemy or neutral monster.
In addition, Steel Tempest adds CC to his kit in the form a tornado that knocks up enemies hit once Yasuo uses his Q twice in a row. It means that during laning phase, you need to be aware of how many times you or the enemy Yasuo has used his Q. Once the tornado is stacked up, Yasuo will try to dash in for a deadly trade during laning phase or a decisive engage during teamfights. Once the tornado hits, he uses his R, Last Breath, that allows him to blink next to his target and damage it. This ultimate works with any form of knockup ; this is where Yasuo's synergies with allies come from as they can be the one applying the CC.
In the laning phase, Yasuo wants to take short trades by dashing in and out. His kit once again helps him as his passive, Way of the Wanderer, giving him a free shield that activates with any form of damage except tower shots and minion aggro.
Apart of his mobility and CC, Yasuo's outplay potential comes from his W, Wind Wall, that summons a wall of wind blocking any projectile going through it. Against mages and marksmen, Yasuo wants to play around this ability to neglect their damage. However, it has a long cooldown so the use of this ability is crucial for Yasuo and his enemies.
Considering all of his abilities, Yasuo has one of the best duelling potentials against most ranged matchups in the game, making him occasionally a great splitpusher. In addition, to use his kit at maximum efficiency, basic wave management is required.
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