Welcome to my first guide! Since the new preseason has just started, I've decided to make a short guide which includes what I like to build and what rune page and masteries that I use for my favourite champion:

Pros

• Strong Early Game - Yasuo's kit allows you to play really aggressive early, stacking up which can lead to a early kill.

• Very Strong Mid-Game - Once you get 100% Crit after buying Statikk Shiv and Cloak of Agility, you should be able to 1v1 anyone, which can lead to you further snowballing.

• Extremely mobile - with your E ability allowing you to dash to opponents and through minions to reach them.

Cons

• Hard to master - you need to be able to use your E + Q combo correctly whilst also auto attacking straight after or before, using your W correctly to block projectiles and aiming your third stack on your Q so you can lead up with your ultimate.

• Easy to fall behind - If you die early and suffer in lane for the rest of the game, it's pretty hard to come back. To counterbalance this, getting vision around your lane by placing Vision Wards is key. This will allow you to farm properly and keep yourself safe from ganks if you watch them.

• Item Dependent - if you don't farm correctly then you cannot purchase your snowballing items; Statikk Shiv > Infinity Edge

• Immobile - Only when you are not near any minions. Without any entities around, you cannot use your E ability to your advantage. Therefore waiting for the next wave is recommended.

Since Yasuo came out, the rune page that has been changed multiple times over the several seasons. Now with the newest patch when playing as Yasuo you can now use the following:

• Greater Mark of Attack Damage: Instead of running critical chance like last season, you can now run straight flat attack damage.

• Greater Seal of Scaling Health: Mixed build between both health and armor, this is what I like to run because of compositions I play against. Instead of this, you can run flat armor or flat scaling health.

• Greater Seal of Armor: Mixed build between both health and armor, this is what I like to run because of compositions I play against. Instead of this, you can run flat armor or flat scaling health.

• Greater Glyph of Scaling Magic Resist: Once again, useful against teams with mixed damage, you won't see too many teams that are flat out AD or AP. There's always going to be that mixed damage team composition every now and then.

• Greater Quintessence of Attack Damage: Running flat damage quintessences is now better than running a critical chance quintessence and something else.

With the new season, we have been given new masteries to play around with. Below is the two mastery pages that I believe are the best for Yasuo in this current patch:



For this mastery page, you want to put 18 points into Ferocity.

• Choosing Fury over Sorcery is necessary because gives you better scaling for your Q cool-down (which is calculated by how much attack speed you have) and for your auto attacks.

• Feast is useful for laning phase, but can swapped for Double Edged Sword if the enemy team does not have a lot of burst or burst that can be nullified by other team members

• Vampirism is better than Natural Talent because it offers way more; Lifesteal/SpellVamp > A few AD and AP at lvl 18.

• Both Bounty Hunter and Oppressor are useful. Bounty Hunter is good if you roam a lot and get kills on different champions. While Oppressor is useful for team fights and solo lane kills. Both are very useful and unique, so it's hard to choose between these two. The guide lists choosing Bounty Hunter , but here I recommend that you make the choice yourselves, because you know what you are capable of achieving.

• Battering Blows gives armor penetration which is better than Piercing Thoughts which instead gives magic penetration. In reality, Yasuo needs armor penetration more than magic penetration because the most damage he deals is attack damage.

• Currently Warlord's Bloodlust works very well with the 100% critical strike Yasuo build. This is because it heals you for 15% of the damage dealt by your critical strikes and also grants you 20% increased attack speed which synergies with your Q ability. Therefore, once you achieve your Statikk Shiv and Cloak of Agility, you will be healing for 15% of the damage dealt by your critical strikes. The other two keystones, Fervor of Battle and Deathfire Touch are not as useful, so it is recommended that you choose Warlord's Bloodlust when you play Yasuo. (This may be nerfed in future patches)

Secondly, you want to put 12 points into Cunning.

• Wanderer is decent and overall better than Savagery because it allows you roam around the map, secure farm faster and gank faster. While on the other hand, Savagery gives up to 5 extra damage on minions and monsters which isn't really that necessary.

• Secret Stash lengthens the duration of your potions and additionally grants you 20 health upon using it. Runic Affinity is not as efficient because it only increases the time of buffs obtained from jungle monsters and epic monsters. You're not playing Yasuo as a jungler, you're playing him as a mid or top laner.

• Merciless makes you deal 5% increased damage to champions below 40% health, while Meditation gives you regenerate missing mana which is not viable for Yasuo because he does not use mana.

• Lastly, Dangerous Game restores 5% of your missing health when you get a kill or assist. This is very useful all game, so picking it over Bandit is a definite.

I have not experimented enough with this page, therefore I can't have a complete opinion on it.

Starting Items

• Doran's Blade Start:

Choose the Doran's Blade start if you want to play aggressive and dominate your lane.

• Cull Start:

Choose the Cull start if you believe you can farm well enough in your lane, so then you can minimize the time spent getting 100 stacks.

Early Game

• First Back:

Picking up a Vision Ward is necessary in this new patch, and has always been. Remember to spare some gold if you have any after buying the core items.

Mid-Game

• Core Items:

It is necessary for you to build Statikk Shiv then Infinity Edge.

• Trinity Force instead of Infinity Edge:

Trinity Force is really good against team compositions who can kite you heavily and lock you down. If you're playing against a team composition who you can easily get onto, then Infinity Edge is recommended.

• Choose a Lifesteal Item:

You have the choice to choose between either Bloodthirster or Blade of the Ruined King. Both offer pretty decent stats, it is recommended that you choose Bloodthirster if you are fighting long fights or ranged champions with poke. Blade of the Ruined King on the other hand is useful when you are against enemy teams who have gap closers, build hit-point items or generally are tanky.

• Choose your Boots:

Depending on the enemy team composition, if you want more magic resist and tenacity, then pick Mercury's Treads. This is recommended if you are against hard CC compositions, or if you want to hit things faster and do more damage, choose Berserker's Greaves.

Late-Game

• Pick Two of the following:

For aggressive options, choose Lord Dominik's Regards against enemy teams that stack hit point items or are generally tanky or choose Mortal Reminder when against teams who self-heal a lot, regenerate hit points or heal from items such as Hextech Gunblade or Bloodthirster.

For defensive options, Guardian Angel is all round useful against any type of enemy team composition, specially if you are getting heavily bursted. Another option is to build Randuin's Omen against enemy teams who run attack speed or ad damage items. Lastly, both Banshee's Veil and Maw of Malmortius are useful against enemies who deal magic damage. While Banshee's Veil gives you a one hit spell shield, it can be useful against enemy Mages who have CC for example Twisted Fate's W Gold Card. On the other hand, Maw of Malmortius is useful is the enemy team has magic burst damage or constant magic damage.

• Full Build:

This is the standard full build that I would recommend against most enemy team compositions.
Note that this build is staple, therefore it is recommended that you should try out different items when you get to the Pick Two part of the build. Always remember that your core items are not to be changed, they're recommended because they simply make you overpowered.

At Level 1, it's wise to choose Q first if you're against someone who can constantly push the wave towards your tower, it's also useful if you can hit a minion and the enemy laner at the same time if they are melee. Choosing E over Q also has its perks. It allows you to be mobile, while dashing into your opponent and slapping them with a auto.

Following the guide that is presented above, you want to max Q and E evenly if your wave isn't being majorly pushed, honestly when you get your core items it doesn't really matter what you max first, just don't waste those points in your W. Rank 1 is totally fine until late game, unless you're against a Mage with poke or CC (Twisted Fate), then maybe put another point in so the CD is shorter.

• Flash is a standard, it's useful on every champion in the game. It can allow you to escape from ganks, finish off a opponent and even juke while running away! (Don't fail flash like I do)

• Ignite is very useful while playing both top and mid lane, it allows you to combo a opponent with your deadly auto attacks and abilities to end up with a easy kill for you.

• Teleport is somewhat useful when playing top lane, it can allow you to completely change a fight on the other side of the map if you teleport in and help that is. It can also be used to get back to lane and clear the wave. It's not as important as the other two in this NEW S6 meta.

• Exhaust is a choice for players who are either laning against another AD champion who relies on quick burst; for example Zed. After he uses his ultimate, you can use Exhaust on him and pretty much there goes his entire damage potential. Exhaust can be a early game changing spell which can really help you win a 1v1 against your opponent, it can also be used for catching out opponents who are on the run because it applies a very strong slow.

-will be added-

Farming with Yasuo is pretty self explanatory. Last hitting creeps, and use your E + Q combo to clear the wave is key when split pushing or generally just pushing the wave. Note you can use Yasuo's Q to effectively farm the lane by pointing it straight down a approaching minion wave. Once you get Statikk Shiv, using your Q on a incoming wave will obliterate the first few incoming minions, allowing you to then hard push the lane. In conclusion, Yasuo can easily push a wave once Statikk Shiv is bought, which allows you to power farm towards your core items such as Infinity Edge and Bloodthirster.

First created on November 15th 2015.
Image in the introduction made by Gwydiion on DeviantArt.
Many thanks to jhoijhoi's guide which has greatly affected my bbcode skills. Her guide is very informative and useful!