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Recommended Items
Runes:
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+65 Base Health
Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Items
Ability Order
Way of the Wanderer (PASSIVE)
Yasuo Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Camille
Dangerous. You can windwall the first part of her Hookshot, not only denying her the stun and damage on you but also denying her the bonus attack speed. Tabis is a really good item against her. She does deal a good chunk of flat true damage with her Q so picking up health in the long run is necessary. She can dodge your tornado with her ult so keep that in mind. Look to proc her passive then back off, wait until it wears off then look to go back in. Make sure to dash back out before she can cast her 2nd Q on you. ALWAYS keep your tornado and NEVER cast it right when you can post-6. You have to mindgame her with your tornado since missing it and not being able to ult will most likely result in your death. The only counterplay to her ultimate is her death. As mentioned before pick up a ton of health since her balanced Q easily does around 1K true damage late game.
Alistar
Alistar
Champion Build Guide
Pros
+ Hypercarry + Topnotch scaling + Very high DPS + Very high outplay potential + Fun to play + Very mobile + Game changing ultimate + Very strong passive + Wind Wall can turn fights + Very low cooldowns + Easy CSing + Always room for improvement + Very versatile + Great synergy with lots of champions like Malphite + Great snowball potential + Most rewarding champion to master (https://imgur.com/a/Lj93d) Yasuo is a mobile hypercarry and a melee AD skirmisher. He has a very high and consistent damage output thanks to his passive Way of the Wanderer, his low CD Q Steel Tempest, which can also critically strike and his 50% bonus armor penetration from his R Last Breath. He is really mobile due to his E Sweeping Blade, which is on a very low CD and his R Last Breath. His W Wind Wall let's him block crucial ranged projectiles or auto-attacks and can even save allies. Thanks to all of those abilities Yasuo has one of the highest outplay potentials in the entire game. He has a game-changing ultimate Last Breath. His skill-curve is the highest in the game, so putting games into him, when he is in a decent spot, will increase the players winrate on Yasuo over possibly 200+ games. |
Cons
- Super weak against CC - Very squishy - Not "pick-up and play" - Feast or Famine - Extremely negative stigma - Extremely hard to master - Super unforgiving - Has to know matchups - Super prone to ganks - Item reliant - Skillshot reliant - Weak mid-game - Easy to mess up - Easy to shutdown - Becomes dead weight if he falls behind - Is either underpowered or overpowered, rarely in a balanced spot Even though Yasuo has some great pros, he also has quite some cons. He is very squishy, CC is extremely effective against him and he is overall a very unforgiving and hard champion to pull off. His mid-game is among the worst out of all champions due to his expensive core items and unreliable ultimate Last Breath. It's super easy to mess up playing Yasuo. The player is required to put thought behind his actions when playing Yasuo. His pushing nature and the fact that it's easy to overextend as Yasuo, combined with the fact that Yasuo has no direct escape in lane, makes him especially vulnerable to ganks. Most junglers know that and will, therefore, gank Yasuo often. Once Yasuo falls behind / gets shut down, he will become dead weight to his team. |
Way of the Wanderer [Passive]: This passive has 2 parts and is one of the main reasons why Yasuo scales extremely hard into the late game. It is, objectively seen, one of the stronger passives in the game. Let's talk about "Intent" first. Building 50% crit will give you 100% crit thanks to this passive. However Yasuo's AA's deal 90% damage on-crit and Steel Tempest deals 90% on-crit. That makes Yasuo's AA's deal 180% AD damage on-crit and Steel Tempest deal 180% AD on-crit. Mixing in AA's inbetween using Steel Tempest is crucial to maximize your DPS. The second part is "Resolve". Yasuo's 2nd bar is replaced with "Flow". Yasuo generates a Flow stack for every 59 / 52 / 46 units he travels by any means. At 「 5900 / 5200 / 4600 units traveled 」 and upon taking champion or monster damage, Yasuo consumes all Flow to shield himself for 100 - 510 (based on level) for up to 1 second. Because of this you have to always keep moving to refresh your shield. Tower shots and minion damage won't trigger the shield but if the shield get's triggered by a monster or champion first and you take damage from towers or minions within that 1 second he shield will consume that damage. Getting shielded by a Janna or Lulu will consume their shield first before consuming the shield from Way of the Wanderer. Same goes for Bloodthirster and basically any other shield. It gets consumed first before the shield from Way of the Wanderer gets triggered. This is huge, especially for late game fights and should not be overlooked. |
Steel Tempest [Q]: Yasuo's bread and butter ability. It's Yasuo's waveclear, a big part of his damage and his only way of poking/harassing people in lane. Aside from normal AA's that is. Without proper usage of this ability Yasuo won't be able to use his ultimate Last Breath on his own, will have drastically weaker trades and all-ins. Because Steel Tempest has a cast time it can be interrupted by CC during that time. The cast time ranges from 0.54 - 0.18 seconds depending on how much additional attack speed Yasuo has. If Yasuo's Q CD is 1.33 seconds then Yasuo's Q will also have a cast time of 0.18 seconds. You want to be using this ability to trade and farm in lane. Against melees you can use Steel Tempest to poke them through the minion wave, which won't draw minion aggro. Against ranged opponents Steel Tempest will often allow you to farm without getting poked too much since the range is pretty big. |
Wind Wall [W]: A very valuable ability. This ability blocks any enemy projectiles from both sides. It's instant cast, meaning that Wind Wall starts blocking projectiles on-cast (despite not being fully formed). It also grants sight over a small area. It's important that you learn to manage this ability as best as you can. Depending in which situation you are you have to use it at a certain time in a certain position. Example: a fed enemy Miss Fortune opposes a big threat to your team. A teamfight is about to happen. Their 0/6/2 Ezreal jungle throws a Q at you. Don't use your windwall for that. Save it for Miss Fortune's Bullet Time, so you can save your team and yourself from getting wiped. It's necessary that you know which projectiles get blocked by Wind Wall. Look at the chapter "Interactions with Wind Wall" for that. |
Sweeping Blade [E]: Yasuo's main engage and escape tool. The speed at which Yasuo performs Sweeping Blade is 0.55 seconds, given that he has no boots and is not affected by any slows. The more movement speed Yasuo has, the faster Yasuo dashes when using Sweeping Blade. But the same goes for slows. The slower Yasuo is the slower his dash will be when using Sweeping Blade. Sweeping Blade will generate 7.5 Way of the Wanderer Flow stacks per cast. Yasuo will stop mid-dash if he is immobilized by crowd control effects during Sweeping Blade. Yasuo can use Sweeping Blade's fixed dash distance to go through walls both before and after hitting his target (provided his proximity to the wall and/or target allows it). Dashing walls is covered in the first video of "Yasuo Mechanics". |
Last Breath [R]: This is often used as an ability to finish people off. But it's actually a way for Yasuo to CC chain champs, a way to reposition himself, a way to deal potential AOE damage, a way to instantly refill the shield from Way of the Wanderer and a tool to make his Steel Tempest and AA's stronger by providing him 50% bonus armor penetration on his critical strikes. Using Last Breath early in fights is often better than waiting for that "perfect" moment. It will greatly increase Yasuo's damage against people who have additional armor. It doesn't matter if Yasuo uses this to fight somebody who only has Ninja Tabi. Since his critical strikes will make it so that those Ninja Tabi only grant 10+ additional armor against Yasuo. Normally Yasuo loses all "Gathering Storm" stacks from Steel Tempest after using Last Breath. However with certain tricks (which are covered in the "Yasuo Mechanics" chapter) Yasuo is able to have one stack of "Gathering Storm" even after using Last Breath. Also noteworthy are these points: Last Breath's area of effect when suspending enemies increases per rank. Last Breath will attempt to position Yasuo outside enemy turret range when blinking to an enemy standing close to one (does not apply to Nexus Obelisk). Last Breath's damage and bonus armor penetration do not interact with each other. Last Breath's bonus armor penetration applies before Lethality. Suspended enemies are immune to further displacements during Last Breath's animation time. Casting right after the triggering displacement(s) will overwrite the latter's duration (whether shorter/longer) to Last Breath's animation time (durations will not stack) Casting right before suspended enemies land will make them remain airborne for Last Breath's animation time (durations will stack) Enemies who displace themselves (example: Let's Bounce!, Satchel Charge or blast cone) cannot be targeted by Last Breath. |
Primary Path
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Doran's Blade
This is what you want to start with in 90% of the games. It gives 8 AD, which makes last hitting easier and amplifies the damage from your abilities. It also grants you 80 health which is great to make you overall tankier and especially useful against flat true damage dealers like Irelia or Darius. Also grants 3% lifesteal which can be used by Steel Tempest as well.
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Doran's Shield
You only want to start with this item when you're up against heavy poke lanes, such as Pantheon or Jayce. It gives very nice regen and a passive which helps with last hitting. It's sort of like an alternate version of Second Wind. Only exception is that Doran's Shield will always perform the same no matter how much HP you're missing unlike Second Wind.
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Phantom Dancer
A core item and simultaneously the best item you can buy on Yasuo. Period. You get double the value out of the 30% critical strike chance thanks to Way of the Wanderer, CDR for Steel Tempest thanks to the massive 45% attack speed it provides, some nice MS and 2 passives that will make your dueling much stronger. A big power spike for Yasuo. A must have.
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Infinity Edge
Another core item. Combining Infinity Edge + Phantom Dancer will give you 100%critical strike chance thanks to Way of the Wanderer and convert 10% of your critical strikes into True Damage. It also guarantees you 50% bonus armor penetration after using Last Breath. By far the largest power spike for Yasuo. |
Berserker's Greaves
These boots used to be very situational and only really good when ahead or snowballing. But now they are the go-to boots on Yasuo since Zeal took a hit and isn't worth buying first anymore.
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Mercury's Treads
CC is one of the biggest threats to any champion who relies on his mobility. Yasuo is one of those champions. Get these boots when you are up against a comp with lots of CC. It cuts nearly 1/3 of the CC duration down, which can and will save your life. However keep in mind that there are certain types of CC which don't get reduced by tenacity.
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Ninja Tabi
These work (most of the time) well into hard AD matchups, AD poke matchups or against heavy AD comps. Given how strong lethality items are right now and how strong AD assassins like Rengar, Zed or Kha'Zix are, these boots will help you a little bit against them. Since Duskblade of Draktharr is still the go-to assassin item Ninja Tabi are excellent boots to give you some form of counterplay, without having to compromise your build too much.
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Blade of the Ruined King
I love this item. Generally you want to buy this item if the enemy stacks a lot of health.Don't buy this item thinking that it's only against tanks. It's not. I find myself buying this item very often when playing against bruisers which stack a lot of health like Shyvana or Jax for example. This item just has it all. A good chunk of AD, a nice portion of attack speed, lifesteal and an active that can either save your *** or let you chase somebody. This is generally the first item you want to buy when you have to deal with tanky people. Lord Dominik's Regards and Mortal Reminder are generally inefficient items to buy on Yasuo since Last Breath already gives him 50% bonus armor penetration. |
Frozen Mallet
A very popular item on Yasuo and for a good reason. Frozen Mallet allows you to kite people or run them down with the slow. It allows for picks and it makes it easier to land Steel Tempest. Along with the 30 AD it gives a fat amount of 700 HP which is very useful to make you more tanky overall and especially useful when you're dealing with champions who deal a lot of flat true damage like Darius or against Conqueror users. Generally get this when you want to force a lead or want to make picks. Or you can just get it when you're very behind so that you can offer your team some utility by providing them constant slows.
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Maw of Malmortius
An offensive-defensive option to deal with AP threats. Generally you want to pick up the Hexdrinker component against most AP matchups and then work into Phantom Dancer> Infinity Edge. Depending on how much magic damage the other comp has you want to upgrade the Hexdrinker to a full Maw of Malmortius either directly after the core items or hold onto the Hexdrinker and upgrade it later. People underestimate the power of a Maw of Malmortius. Don't let the last thing in your inventory be the Hexdrinker.
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The Bloodthirster
The definition of a luxury item. This item is one of the most expensive items in the entire game. Get this item when you're looking for big damage and lifesteal. Bloodthirster is best when used against a squishy comp and when you're ahead/snowballing. Buying Bloodthirster when the enemy team is stacking a lot of health is inefficient. In that case buying Blade of the Ruined King makes more sense. Bloodthirster has excellent synergy with Overheal. So consider taking it when you plan on going Bloodthirster.
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Guardian Angel
Chances are if you didn't feed your *** off people want to take you down. Guardian Angel gives you another chance should you mess up. Get this item when you are a big source of damage for your team and can't afford to die.
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Mercurial Scimitar
The only time you should get this item is when you're against no counterplay CC. Example for this would be Malzahar's Nether Grasp or Lissandra's Frozen Tomb. From a pure damage perspective it gets outclassed by items like Bloodthirster but the Quicksilver Sash component is too valuable to give up.
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Death's Dance
The name of this item can be taking quite literal. It's basically an item that lets you live long enough to endure burst that would've otherwise killed you already, letting you "dance" at the edge of death and heal up with physical damage you deal to keep living. This item is best against super high physical damage burst such as from a Zed, Kha'Zix or Rengar. Death's Dance gives you pseudo tankiness and lets you keep up the glass cannon "facade" without getting bursted 100-0 in an instant. Ravenous Hunter is a good rune to combine with Death's Dance.
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Sterak's Gage
The change to this item's passive made it more viable on Yasuo since Last Breath and Sweeping Blade benefit from it now. It's a great item after Phantom Dancer if in need for more survivability or when behind. Regardless if behind, even or ahead this item is great on Yasuo. It helps out with burst and gives some tenacity too.
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The Black Cleaver
A very underrated item on Yasuo. This is a good item to buy when your team is heavy AD and the enemy team is stacking a lot of armor. Yasuo can stack Black Cleaver really quickly on multiple people. The passive makes you even more mobile and the armor shred is basically always useful. The CDR is kinda wasted but it makes up for it in terms of utility, tankiness and damage.
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Lord Dominik's Regards
It's inefficient to buy this item on Yasuo. Last Breath already gives him 50%bonus armor penetration, which should be enough. However if you encounter insane armor stacking ( Rammus, Malphite or against multiple tanks) you can consider buying this one. You gain a total of 67,5% bonus armor penetration after using Last Breath. You should consider buying Blade of the Ruined King first before thinking about buying Lord Dominik's Regards. |
Mortal Reminder
Just like with Lord Dominik's Regards it's inefficient to buy this item on Yasuo. It's only good if you encounter insane armor stacking ( Rammus, Malphite or against multiple tanks) coupled with healing that's causing too much problems example: Vladimir and Soraka. Then it does makes sense to buy Mortal Reminder on Yasuo. It's not a good item to counter/fight champions like Irelia, Warwick or Fiora. In that case a Thornmail is a much better choice of an item. Just like Lord Dominik's Regards you gain a total of 67,5% bonus armor penetration after using Last Breath.
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Trinity Force
Not a good item on Yasuo but it has its place. If you want to splitpush hard you can consider buying this item. The reason why it's not a great item for Yasuo is because it has a lot of wasted stats such as the mana and the CDR it provides. It used to be a core item when it still gave critical strike chance. On the bright side though Yasuo is able to proc the Sheen as soon as it comes off CD with Steel Tempest. Just make sure you don't hit anything with Steel Tempest first so the Sheen proc doesn't get consumed.
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Randuin's Omen
The big daddy armor item against people who deal fat crit damage such as Jhin,Vayne, Tristana or even Gangplank. It's a good item against fed/late game ADC's or a must have item when against 2+ people who deal crits. Example: Master Yi Jungle and Tristana ADC. |
Thornmail
The main reason you should get this item for is for the effect "Grievous Wound". This is simply the best item to deal with champions who are AA based and heal for stupid amounts. Prime examples for which this item is godly against are: Fiora, Irelia or Warwick. It's much more beneficial to buy Thornmail instead of Mortal Reminder in such cases. Thornmail makes you tankier and provides a 15% cripple, which will further decrease the amount of sustain such champions as listed above bring to the table.
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Spirit Visage
It only makes sense to buy this item when you have lifesteal or another big source of healing, such as Soraka. It makes you much tankier than a Maw of Malmortius does due to the health and additonal MR it provides. You should only look to get this when you can greatly benefit from the passive and tankiness. Otherwise a Maw of Malmortius is just straight up better.
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Dead Man's Plate
Pretty straightforward item. It offers less defense compared to other armor items but it offers you even more mobility, a tiny bit of damage with the proc and a tiny bit of CC with the 1 second slow. If you have the need for more mobility and solid defense against physical damage Dead Man's Plate is a good buy.
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Statikk Shiv
This item is inferior to Phantom Dancer in almost every aspect. What Statikk Shivoffers you though is great burst (especially after getting Infinity Edge) and superior waveclear. The thing is that the waveclear from the Statikk Shiv proc can limit your mobility if you decide to Sweeping Blade + Steel Tempest on the wave since you will one shot the caster creeps. This is only a good item to get when you have other reliable knockups on your team and wanna wombo combo for huge damage. Example: Alistar support and Malphite top. |
Elixir of Wrath
Not much to say here other than to only get this when you're either full build or the game deciding fight is about to happen.
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Elixir of Iron
It's only worth buying this against CC heavy comps. Also only get this when you're full build or the game deciding fight is about to go down.
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In-depth Ability info: http://leagueoflegends.wikia.com/wiki/Yasuo
"Yasuo Mechanics" 1st video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7sOA4h68RSeK8Ug8UuzMkQ
"Yasuo Mechanics" 2nd video: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVydDABIOqOZBvQ8T3-lZbQ
Interactions with Wind Wall: https://www.reddit.com/r/YasuoMains/comments/5041i5/collective_yasuo_windwall_interactions/
Interactions with Last Breath: https://www.reddit.com/r/YasuoMains/comments/52id7r/collective_yasuo_ultimate_interactions/
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