out. I'm not a high ranking player and my stats aren't insane, but that is from large amounts of testing and learning. I now believe that I have found out everything there is to know about this champion and have pretty much "Mastered" him. I hope this guide helps you to become a better Yasuo player and mid-laner in general. If you need further explanation of something, message me.

with a large skill cap that can carry teams easily with the right pilot. He works best with another form of knock-up on the team for helping him with his ult so that he doesn't have to prep his 3rd Q Steel Tempest constantly before fights.

Pros:

High burst damage
Able to trade easily with shield
High mobility
Very "sticky"
Can block projectiles
Tank shredder

Cons:

Can't escape without something to jump to
Squishy
Ult doesn't do a lot of damage
Requires team comp for best results
Has to religiously follow most of item build

type of rune page and alter it to give 5% crit chance. The reasoning for this is that once I have built a Statikk Shiv and Infinity Edge, I'm at 90% crit and this extra 5% in the masteries (4.6% rounds up I believe) gives me 100% total. (Yasuo's passive giving you double crit for everything)

lol, read into the abilities if you need explanation.

E Sweeping Blade for the mobility, then W Wind Wall if you are against a ranged champ (if you are against a melle champ, wait til lvl 4 so it will be used against junglers/roamers), after this max out your Q as fast as possible , then your E, then you W, and of course max your R Steel Tempest at every opportunity (6/11/16).

Steel Tempest hurricane + ult for a sick combo on escaping/unsuspecting enemies.

listed are the best, forget what anyone else says. The reasoning behind my items are: Statikk Shiv = 40 attack speed and 20% crit, Infinity Edge = 25% crit, Berserker's Greaves = 20 attack speed. So this leaves you with 60 attack speed and (After Yasuo's passive Way of the Wanderer) 90% crit chance. This means that with the runes I named, you will have 100% crit chance. Yasuo's Q maxes out at 55 attack speed, which means that after 55 attack speed it no longer shortens the cooldown of his Q (60 attack speed is the closest I could get to 55 and is the most efficient.

and the way to decide which to build is this: Build Bloodthirster if you get fed early game and want to snowball into an unstoppable force very fast/or if the opposing team isn't grouping (like if laning phase goes on for a long time). Build Ravenous Hydra for every other situation, it is an amazing item for Yasuo, seeing as how his Q applies on-hit effects and it destroys people in teamfights, it allows you to split-push better then other champion in the game (With your E-Q-Hydra active combo), plus Ravenous Hydra is amazing for Heimerdinger/ Zyra type matchups.

and they should be built in order of how the game is going at that moment. If you are fed and built Bloodthirster, then you should build Guardian Angel next because it is dumb for someone to get fed and then not build some defense. If you are that fed and not in Cardboard V, then people will know to target you, and they will quickly shut you down over and over. This will lead to you throwing hard, because you will lose Bloodthirster stacks, give shutdown gold, and waste time being dead. After you build Guardian Angel grab another defense item like Banshee's Veil or Thornmail depending on who is fed/annoying.

absolute best that gives the most power and effectiveness.

(Not listed here are Teemo Pantheon Kha'Zix because they aren't average mid laners, but they are a difficult match-up normally)

Hard:

Kayle is an annoying match up because of her Righteous Fury which allows her to pop your shield constantly and harass hard. For her you have 2 options, just build a Doran's Shield and safely farm while waiting for ganks, or take the manly option and buy a Doran's Blade like normal and just harass her back every time she tries to poke you (if you are skilled, then this will work)

Leblanc is annoying because of her insane mobility, she can easily maneuver around your wind wall and nuke you with damage. So your best option for this match-up is to build Doran's Blade and realize that you are more powerful then her, balls up, and out trade her until she dies.

Malzahar is the most difficult lane in my opinion, because your wind wall literally stops nothing he has, except autoattacks. So for this lane I believe that waiting on ganks is the best option, but build Doran's Blade so that you have enough damage for when ganks come to kill him. The Doran's Shield is not a good option here. Try to build a quicksilver sash for this match-up to get out of his ult. Good-luck.

Akali is probably the most annoying match up, just because it's Akali, she is a hyper carry like Yasuo. So regardless of how bad she might be doing, if you give her just like 3 kills, she instantly is in a position to carry again, and she is hard to build against since she is hybrid. You will beat her in lane, but if she roams, push hard or roam with her (waste no time) and call mia a million times. Start Doran's Blade for trade potential.

Diana is a hard match up just because she can capitalize on mistakes so easily. Never dive her, and just try to keep her pushed out of lane with hard pokes. Start Doran's Blade and stand close to your wall when you throw it, so her Crescent Strike will not hit you by curving around the wall.

Mordekaiser is a surprising annoying match-up, he does large amounts of damage and is very tanky. The best plan of action against him is to work off of your shield as much as possible. Dash around like a madman and hit him with 4-stack Sweeping Blade+ Steel Tempest combos to out trade him. Doran's Blade start.

Vladimir is a hard one because of his sustain and ability to just puddle and dodge your hurricane. Against him, my best advice is to build Doran's Blade and try to wind wall his Tides of Blood and out poke him with your short cooldowns.

Medium:
All of these champions are just even match-ups where skill/outplaying is completely what determines who wins lane.



Easy:
Everyone else.

your jungler starts red or blue. If the case is a jungler that starts blue, then you stand on the backside of the wall and throw your Q when the buff spawns, then go to lane and catch the first minion kill (which should easily be possible if you time it right). Yasuo is a melle champion so that is why he is like Kassadin/ Zed/ect. and just throws his Q. If the case is a jungler that starts red, then just guard blue for him since it would take too long to go around and leash then run back to lane (Yasuo's Q doesn't go far enough to reach red over the back wall).

possible with your Q because you will want to constantly throw your hurricane at the enemy for ranged poke. Yasuo has one of the best trade potentials in the game, so if someone tried to 1v1 you at level 1-2, go fight them and if you hit your Q's then you should win the fight. Plus I normally go all in at 1v1 2 with Yasuo because of this trade potential. Once you get 800 gold, go buy the Avarice Blade because of it's passive that gives you gold, which means that once you get back to lane with it, you will snowball faster then your laning opponent from the bonus gold. Once at level 6 you should start roaming if you are winning your lane (especially if you have teammates with movement displacement).


Teamfights: For teamfights you need to realize that you are an amazing powerhouse, but you are still a squishy assassin. So once a teamfight begins, try to stay out of the opening damage/ults and then make your way toward picking off the carries (to get to them use your dash/movement displacement+ult).

Catching people out of place: This is your main power since Yasuo is a very very sticky champion, and once he catches you out, you are probably dead. He can dash to you/minions to keep up with you, or just walk behind you using only Q to kill/constantly knock you up. It is like having a Tryndamere on you, there is no escape.

Farming: Yasuo has one of the easiest farming capabilities in the game. You can push a lane as fast as it would take to walk down the lane. All you do is E+Q combo and wipe out the whole wave, while still moving forward, which makes him a great split-pusher if you have Ravenous Hydra. Also for early game, his Q and E make it very easy to catch every cs, I average about 90 something cs by 10 minutes easily.

Camps: Dragon/Baron/any camp that fires projectiles can be blocked off with your wind-wall, remember this to save you or your team from some unnecessary damage.

Will add videos/pics later if I get enough public interest for it. Here is my current stats as of 02/26/14, and once again, these aren't amazing just because of so much testing and practice.