Yasuo Build Guide by FoxwoodGaming

Introduction

Pros / Cons

Pros

+ Non-mana reliant + VERY short cooldowns + Versatile champion + His passive allows for more poke damage with less risk + Strong roaming ganks + Scales immensely into mid and late game + Excellent kit that can potentially carry your team and win games + Peel important targets with Steel Tempest and Last Breath combo

One of the greatest aspects of Yasuo is just the straight-up fact that he does not use mana or any resource to cast his abilities. This is important because this drastically reduces the amount of time in between each ability used and each teamfight, and allows abilities to be able to be casted in rapid succession because of his short cooldowns as well. As previously stated, Yasuo is a swiss-army-knife champion that makes him such a versatile champion with a great kit that allows him to dominate middle lane, top lane, and even the jungle in rare, but possible cases. His passive, Way of the Wanderer, is what makes Yasuo such a strong lane opponent if underestimated. It allows Yasuo to be able to take a little bit more damage while poking at the enemy laner, and what allows him to stand somewhat of a chance against ranged mages in the middle lane. After middle lane is pushed (assuming Yasuo is played in the mid lane), his kit allows him to roam around to assist other lanes quite easily, especially with the use of Sweeping Blade. He is able to risk the amount of time not farming in order to help other lanes because of how fast he can navigate through the river. Speaking of his kit, it is so well developed that it can help potentially carrying the team and winning the game. However, the most important aspect of his kit is that it allows him to pick off specific targets to win team fights. With the third charge of Steel Tempest, (assuming you hit the correct target), his ultimate, Last Breath allows him to temporarily hold in place the priority target, exposing it for the rest of your team to engage upon. Doing so will also make their job easier because of how much damage your ult can do to the priority target.

Cons

+ Not a beginner's champion + One of the most important aspects of his kit is skillshot reliant + VERY difficult to learn, let alone master + Somewhat difficult early game + A deep understanding of proper positioning is needed + A proper knowledge of Wind Wall is needed to get the most out of it's use

There is a huge reason why Yasuo is an expensive champion to buy in the store: He's NOT a beginner's champion! He takes a lot of skill to play, tons of knowledge of League of Legends in general, and experience in order to play him properly. The most important aspect of his kit is entirely skillshot reliant. Not being able to hit the last charge of your Steel Tempest will make you utterly useless. If you are not able to aim skillshots in general, there is absolutely no point in playing Yasuo at all. Because of the difficulty of Yasuo and his kit, he is a difficult champion to get the hang of, and even more difficult to master. Even I have to say that I have not mastered him yet because of how difficult it can be in certain scenarios to play him. A big drawback of his kit is that he has a difficult early game, especially when playing in the middle lane. The middle lane is often controlled by the ranged mages, which can severely set you back if you are not focused on farming minions for gold. Something worth pointing out is the fact that depending on how you use Wind Wall, it can become a great asset to your team depending on how you position it. When it comes to protecting your ADC from ranged attacks or protecting your team from dying while retreating from a failed teamfight, it can help drastically turn the tables around in favor of you and your team. However, this takes careful coordination, fast reflexes, and being able to determine the proper placement for your Wind Wall, as it is easy to waste it in an attempt to save your team. This is what makes Yasuo such a difficult champion to learn, let alone master. TLDR; If you haven't played League of Legends long enough, LEAVE THIS GUIDE AND PLAY AN EASIER CHAMPION.

Skill Order

> > >

As with all ultimates, we prioritize Last Breath over all of our abilities. Concerning his main abilities, we want to max out Steel Tempest as soon as possible since it is our primary source of damage in early to mid game. We do not want to max out Sweeping Blade first because doing so will only increase the amount of AP damage it deals. When playing as Yasuo, our source of damage does not come from Sweeping Blade, and should come from basic attacks, Steel Tempest, and active items such as Blade of the Ruined King. Maxing out Wind Wall does not do much other than increase the width of it slightly, so we prioritize this last. The main reason why we take Wind Wall at level 4 instead of level 3 is the fact that around level 2, when you put a point into Sweeping Blade, and depending on the lane matchup, is when you can start poking hard against your opponent. By taking an extra point into Steel Tempest early, it allows us to deal a little bit more damage which can make a HUGE difference when leaving the enemy backing with 12 health left, or securing a kill! However, if you do not feel comfortable being matched up against a ranged champion, then take a point of Wind Wall at level 3. It does not really matter, but it is always a personal preference.

Skill Explanation

Way of the Wanderer
// Intent: Yasuo's critical strike chance is doubled, but the damage dealt by his critical strikes is reduced by 10%.

Resolve: Yasuo gains Flow as he moves – the faster he moves, the faster his Flow meter fills. When full, Yasuo activates a brief shield after taking damage from enemy champions or monsters.



// This passive is what allows Yasuo to be able to stand a chance against ranged mages when fighting in the middle lane. Not many people realize the power of Yasuo's passive and often overlook the fact that it can block a lot of damage early game when being harassed, or when trying to trade some damage. One thing to remember as Yasuo you should not stop moving for any reason! Keep the flow bar up so that enemy ganks nor enemy harassment hurt so much. When ready to poke, make sure your flow is completely filled, and do your thing.

The second aspect of Yasuo's passive is what makes him such a strong fighter. It is important that we do not miss out on any potential damage we could be dealing in teamfights or in lane, which is why this build is revolved around Phantom Dancer rather than Statikk Shiv. Keep in mind that Critical Strike Chance percentage does not exceed over 100%, so be wary about buying other items that build Critical Strike Chance, because it would be utterly useless. However with this build, the chance goes to 110%, but without Infinity Edge, it would only remain 70% Critical Strike Chance. One thing to remember is to take advantage of this passive and to put it to use whenever possible. Keep this in mind in the back of your head while playing, and you should do fine!

Steel Tempest
// FIRST AND SECOND CAST: Yasuo thrusts forward with his sword, dealing 20/40/60/80/100 (+1.0 per attack damage) physical damage to all enemies in a line. Successfully landing Steel Tempest grants Yasuo Gathering Storm stacks for 10 seconds.

THIRD CAST: The third stack of Gathering Storm causes Steel Tempest to send out a whirlwind that travels in a line of 900 range and sends all enemies caught Airborne. This whirlwind deals 20/40/60/80/100 (+1.0 per attack damage) physical damage to everyone hit.

If Yasuo casts Steel Tempest during Sweeping Blade, the ability strikes all enemies immediately around him, having a radius of 375 instead.

Steel tempest can critical strike and apply on hit effects for the first 475 range. The ability is also unaffected by cooldown reduction, instead, the cooldown and cast time is reduced by Yasuo's attack speed.



// This is essentially Yasuo's "bread-and-butter" ability that you will be using constantly during the laning phase and in team fights. It is an essential ability that is used for farming minions and to deal tons of damage. One thing that many people overlook is the fact that this ability is a ranged ability! Yasuo thrusts his sword out forwards to deal damage, which extends to around 475 range, which is a lot! If you are being too harassed, then it is important to last hit minions with this ability from a reasonable distance as to not fall behind in CS.

Another thing that people sometimes forget not as much, but still overlook sometimes is the fact that cooldown reduction does NOT reduce the cooldown of this ability. Instead, it is reduced via attack speed. This is why we do not use cooldown reduction glyphs in our rune page because it is not worth reducing the cooldown of Wind Wall or Sweeping Blade, because those can easily scale in CDR during mid or late game.


One last note to point out is the fact that at a certain point in between mid and late game is when the damage of this ability and your basic attacks even out, and even later deal more damage than Steel Tempest. So around thirty minutes is when you should be focusing on using your basic attacks to deal damage while primarily using Steel Tempest to stack up Gathering Storm and using Last Breath, but still doing damage, because we do not want to miss out on any damage opportunities whatsoever.

Wind Wall
// Active: Yasuo creates a wall of wind with a width of 300/350/400/450/500, that slowly drifts forward for 3,75 seconds. The wall blocks all enemy projectiles except tower hits.



// In a nutshell: If you can use this efficiently, this ability with win you games! It blocks ALL enemy projectiles and spells such as Ahri's Orb of Deception, Jinx's Super Mega Death Rocket!, and Ashe's Enchanted Crystal Arrow.

This ability should be used in the early game to protect you from ranged mage projectiles and sometimes ranged jungle abilities to protect you from ganks.
Another good use of Wind Wall is to put your opponent behind in farm (assuming it is a ranged opponent).

One of the best uses of Wind Wall is to escape from unsuccessful teamfights. In this case, throw a wall in front of you (NOT BEHIND YOU), and run past it. Not many people know this, but Wind Wall blocks all enemy projectiles from BOTH sides of the wall. Throwing a wall in front of you is more efficient than turning around and casting because you do not have to stop running while casting in front of you, when casting behind you stops your run animation for a brief millisecond.
Sweeping Blade
// Yasuo dashes a fixed distance through an enemy, dealing 70/90/110/130/150 (+0.6 per ability power) magic damage and marking them briefly. If Yasuo uses Sweeping Blade multiple times in succession, the ability deals extra 25% damage with a 50% bonus maximum. When sweeping blade is cast on a target, the target will get marked for 10/9/8/7/6 seconds. Yasuo cannot use Sweeping Blade on an enemy that's already been marked.



// Sweeping Blade can be used in so many different ways depending on the situation. It can be used as a gap closer to chase straggling champions running away. This ability is also used to harass your lane opponent by dashing to an enemy minion, use Steel Tempest to deal damage, and use Sweeping Blade again to escape. Often times this is done so fast to the point where the enemy has very little time to react. I often do this in quick succession to deal tons of damage at one time while keeping in mind the importance to farm at the same time.

This is something that people often overlook: Use [steel tempest]] while the Sweeping Blade animation is still active to deal an Area of Effect ability. If you are not the best at aiming the third charge of your Steel Tempest, a good thing to do is to dash to the enemy champion (with the last charge of Steel Tempest ready) and use Steel Tempest to knockup all surrounding enemies. This will guarantee a knock up on the enemy as long as it is safe for you to get close to him/her.
Last Breath
// Yasuo gains maximum Flow, and teleports to a nearby Airborne enemy champion. Upon arrival, he suspends all airborne units within a 400-radius of his target in the air for 1 second while 200/300/400 (+1.5 per bonus attack damage) physical damage them. Once he lands, Yasuo gains 50% armor penetration against his enemy's bonus armor for 15 seconds.

Casting Last Breath will reset the chain on Steel Tempest.



// "This ability is very hard to land and can completely change the whole game. The most important thing about this ability is that after Yasuo lands, he gains 50% armor penetration for 15 seconds. This is very good in team fights and great for killing multiple people. When an enemy is knocked up, there will be white lines as shown below. When the white lines appear that means the target is airborne and you can ult of this. You need to know when to ult and when not to ult, because once you press R, there is no canceling, and you could have just ulted yourself into a terrible situation. You also have to remember that even though you see the white lines in the air, sometimes you are not in range to Last Breath. In a 1v1, if you are close to the enemy and you have your third Steel Tempest you can Sweeping Blade onto them while pressing q to knock them up no matter what. This ensures that you can ult and is very good if you are close to the enemy. Whenever you Steel Tempest tornado into multiple people, make sure you wait to ult until every person is knocked up, because if you press r too soon, you will only Last Breath one person. Keep in mind that Last Breath can be cast off of another team mate's knock-up, and there are many champions who have this ability. One very important thing to know is when you knock up someone with Steel Tempest you can do one auto attack while they are still in the air, and then Last Breath. This maximizes your damage output and can be the difference between killing them and not killing them. A trick I like to do when trying to kill someone is I ignite them while I'm in the air for Last Breath to ensure I get the kill."
-Heavenly Dolphin
Direct quote from: (http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/in-depth-yasuo-guide-mid-top-5-10-419121#chapter3)