I started playing league at the very end of season 3, and my first season I placed in was gold. When yasuo was released i literally only played yasuo. I non-stopped played him, no matter how many times people would call me out in pregame lobbies because i'm playing a "trash tier" champion. Eventually i hit diamond at the end of season 4 soon after yasuo's release, and soon he became the new hype. Literally everyone who was riding the yasuo hate train, started banning him because he was op. However, season 5 came, and hit this champ with a massive amount of nerfs, and many lost faith in this champion, Many see a yasuo pick and think damn its gg we lost, or say stuff like "yasuo is science"(some korean meme) but i'm here to remind you all why this champion deserves a lot more credit than he's given.

I almost always start doran blade 1 hp pot when playing yasuo. The small amount of lifesteal from blade and your runes should give you enough sustain for quite awhile, I tend not to get any lifesteal until i finished shiv and ie since those 2 items give such a huge power spike, and this set up allows you to have lifesteal while not having to spend a 800g on lifesteal until you already have your mid - late game power spike.

First Back: If i am going even or losing lane i buy avarice immediately, and farm up until i have enough for shiv, if i am winning lane i would start zeal instead, and then farm until shiv.

Next Buy: This really depends how fed you are. If you are sitting on 1550g then you should rush ie as soon as posible and buy bf sword, however, if you aren't as fed, then beserker's is a good alternative.

After you have IE Shiv: These are the 2 big items you really need, after this its your choice of preference whether you feel you need more dmg, lifesteal, or survivability.
I personally rush bt after since with boots and shiv i have maxed cdr on my q, and having the bt shield on top of your passive shield makes you deceitfully tanky. only time i wouldn't rush bt is if they are a team of tanks with a lot of armor, then i would go for a botrk

Which ever skill you get first is highly dependent on the other mid lane. First I would check to see if they have mr. Since yasuo is an ad mid, most people like to max armor runes and run 0 mr runes, which gives you a significant advantage level 1 if you start e. Next i would think if i am able to e to this champ without getting punished too hard. Almost every melee champ will out harass you if you try to do this cheese to them level 1, (riven, panth, fiora, ect.) Although the skill you start with varies, i think maxing e is much better than maxing q.

Pros of maxing q: more damage on your q's and tornados +20 dmg per point
Pros of maxing e: more base damage, lower cdr, and lower cdr to recast it on something you have casted before

It would make sense to max q since that's pretty much where all yasuo's damage comes from, however the benefits from maxing e greatly outweigh the benefits of maxing q imo. For example, when you have a static shiv and you don't want waste a charge on cs, csing with e can makes it so you have that charge ready for your next basic, but it can be pretty annoying to cs with this e considering how long its cdr is at level 1 and the little damage it does. Which a small reason to max this first. Also, it makes dodging skillshots in lane almost effortless, you can just be csing with your e, and the person you are laning versus would have no idea if you are going in, or if you re just csing.

Only time i would run exhaust is if i'm vs zed, riven, or fiora

Otherwise i would run ignite every time if i'm mid lane, or teleport if i'm top

Pros:
-insane mid-late game(only if you farm right)
-strong level 2
-the huge spike from 2 items can throw some people off, and you can take advantage of them not expecting you to do so much damage(especially when you are feeding 0-3-0 but farm well enough to get these items)
-good synergy with many meta champs(sej, grag, janna, ect.)
-Wind Wall (this move is op)
-Sweeping blade has insane mobility potential if used right
-Never Picked or Banned anymore
-Wind wall (cause this is seriously op)
-mana-less


Cons:
-Very team reliant/Does noticeably better with a team centered around him(not saying if you pick yas into a team with 0 knock ups, you are going to lose, but when he has a malphite, wukong, or pretty much any other aoe knock up, he shines much brighter
-Extremely item dependent post 6
-His hard counters are some really hard counters
-Has a habit of being camped by most junglers(especially the moments you don't have flash, expect some high quality camping)
-Very high skill cap
-Have to be able to farm to have any impact, if you can't cs at least averagely, you are going to do significantly less since he is so item dependent
-Very low mobility if you have nothing to e through

A cheesy strategy i use is to try and hit 2 before your opponent. If you are able to hit 2 while they are 1, you can force a flash from them almost guaranteed. Yasuo's level 2 is actually extremely cheesy if you play it right(including versus every hard counter) If you do this, sometimes you can even get fb when going versus champs such as fiora, or annie, both whom i would consider to be a hard counter. Lastly its important to farm over anything else as yasuo, roam if you know you can get a kill, but only if you are almost 100% certain that you aren't missing cs for nothing. There are countless of games where i start 0-0-0 the entire laning phase, and my teams would call me useless and tell me to pay attention to the map and all the other stuff salty people say, but as soon as 20 minutes comes and i have shiv ie, we start winning fights, and eventually the game since this is such a huge power spike, and it definitely throws the other team off with the amount of damage you are able to do with shiv ie at 20 minutes

Very important to ward!!! Not only just to know if you are getting ganked,but since you usually play the afk farm game until around 16-20 minutes, your mid laner is most likely going to roam and gank your bot and top. Having 200 cs by 20 minutes can't do much for you when you have a katarina that gets 5+ kills just off roaming. A large portion of the games I lose currently is because of this issue, and i can't stress enough how important even one pink ward can be.

AFK farming does not make you useless:
Just because you are afk farming doesn't mean you have 0 pressure, So many times I see people complain about how someone afk farming is doing nothing and has no presence. Its very important to know how to afk farm, such as whether or not to freeze lane, or push it and get jungle camps. If you freeze your lane, you can almost always expect your lane to roam, which is why wards are so important. When you notice your lane is missing, you have to push that almost immediately to tower to force someone to come mid, and after u push that wave you can either (a) get the tower if your lane and jungler are present somewhere else
(b) go farm ravens
(c) go farm wolves
(d) go farm the other teams jungle(need deep wards for this!!!)
If you are farming flawlessly you should have a shiv around 8-10 minutes, and a ie around 20-25. So despite being 0-0-0, you are prbably going to be doing the most damage in the game at this point are going to probably be doing the most damage at this time, this is where you really have to take advantage of your spike and start trying force 1v1's 1v2's or even 1v3's

Its good to win lane, however, if you are able to go even in cs, your late game is better than most mids, so although harassing and killing them is important and will put you ahead earlier, your main focus should really be on getting every last hit.

In a 5v5 you are never the one to go in first! Very few exceptions such as hitting a 5 man knock up or something along those lines, otherwise it is typically not worth it. In most fights you have to play like an adc, hitting whoever is around you with only a few times where would you go in to try to kill the carries. Play like a adc! One time I even had a vi on my team, and she would go in 1v5 and ult a carry and be like, "yo man, yas where was the ult?" -___- Don't feel like you HAVE to ult just because someone on your team burned flash for a knock up or in my case vi went in and ulted someone. Most of the times the other team is just waiting for you to pop in in the middle of all of them, and would jump you the moment you go in. What is important to do every team fight is to stick close to your adc. Know if you get initiated on, your ad is there to dish out the damage and back you up when you are being focused and vice versa. Wall anything important but just know you use it to save you and your adc primarily. Your tanks and support have enough hp and resistance they shouldn't need your peel, and even if they did, it would still be better to use it for you and the adc

Things on your mind in the teamfight are:

-What do they have that my wall can block(blocking anything with your wall is a plus, but being able to block an ult is game changing) especially in the midst of everyone teamfighting, and the other team see an ult animation go off just for it to disappear and hear me say face the wind
-is any of their carries isolated from any big threats(how easy can you get to them)
-does your ad need peel?
-what hard cc on their team was used, and what do they have available(try and avoid whoever still has their cc, or wall it when you see it coming)
-Its important to know who to focus, but don't risk overextending in order to focus them, it is much better to be hitting tanks and then work your way to the back line rather than trying to e through everyone trying to rush them as fast as possible(this build is all damage, you aren't tanky)
-Lastly the hardest thing to decide as a yasuo player is whether or not it is worth it to ult.(in fights remember you get a large amount of armor pen just by ulting so it is not necessary to be ulting carries everyfight. However this with build, ulting a carry almost means you will kill them 100%. So the hardest thing about this is, is it better to ult after hitting a tank for the armor pen, or is it more worth to ult the carry who you will most likely 1 shot. There isn't a simple answer for this since both situations can be right. Its all up to the yasuo's judgement to decide whether to ult the tank for armor pen, and still be on the outskirts of the fight, or to ult the carry in the middle of the fight and be stuck in the middle of everything after hopefully killing whoever you ulted

Yasuo Plays:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lv-bDfZqhFg


The link above is some clips of yasuo i have got in diamond elo ranked games. Some tricks and tips shown in the video are: AA cancels, wall jumps, examples of the perfect opportunities to go in on a ult.

When you have shiv, try to farm using only your e, that way, whenever you auto or q anyone, they take that static passive every time you hit them, and it make sure you don't push your lane