Hey guys, season 8 starting with a lot of new things. No more runes, no more masteries but a mix between those 2.
This brings new gameplay styles on every champ and also highlights skill of a player.
Yasuo had already a lot of different play style, tank, off tank, dps, assassin...
With this new season we're gonna learn the game from the beginning again so this means we have to learn how to play with a new yasuo as well.
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The pretention of this guide is to be a unavoidable tutorial for everyone who wants to main Yasuo.
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i'm a diamond player, and started to spam yasuo since the 6.8 patch, and actually have somtething like 250 K points.
This champ is the only one i can play 10 time in a row without bing bored. And **** those who say yasuo is a balanced champ, they probably never really played him.
Yasuo is a champ that can be played mid and top. So let's see the difference between these two options, because yes, it is a totally different gameplay.
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If this guide somehow helped you, this would be really nice of you to vote for it ! :)
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Strengths Fier Fier Fier Fier Weaknesses

+ One of the best champ when you reach lvl 3, Strong kit + Great powerspike when you reach your core build and lvl 11 + Really strong late game with the 100% crit from passive + Good synergy with champ which have a bump Bonus play maker, can win a teamfight with a good engage, strong about carrying a game, lots of combo Fier ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Fier Fier Fier - Weak phase mid game until you get your core build - Really hard to master - mix between fighter and assassin, yasuo is a squishy champion - Really REALLY weak against controls

Yasuo

Simply one of the strongest champion of the league.
His mobility, his scalling, his kit...

Yasuo is a bruiser AD, who works like a master yi mixed with Malphite.
let me explain this.
His kit and item path mean he is a high dps, squishy with a hard engage potential .

To play as yasuo, you need to know your powerspikes, know when you can engage, or when you can't.
Yasuo mains are often considered as "typical random yasuo" because the way from beginner to master is long and hard.
i'm seeing too often yasuo player who are good at mechanics, good at building but who don't know their champion in depht.

When you play yasuo you need to be 100% focus, lucid and keep calm.
Before any engage, any trade, you need to plan what's going to happen before it happens. you need to know how your mates are going to react to your engage and how your ennemies will react as well.

Playing yasuo doesn't consist in dashing everywhere, casting spells randomly and dps the first ennemy who's on your way.
See the minions waves as ways to go in and go out and where you can move freely so think twice before you use your Dash.

When you play him, you gotta assimilate all the enemies Controls, and have an eye on every champions that are facing you. When you'll be able to do this you'll know how to move, how to use your windwall and when it's time to make a bloodshed. ;)

Hey i didn't say it would be easy..

Top Lane

This is the lane where i prefer to play yasuo, first of all, the toplane is way longer than midlane, you can easily have a situation where two waves of minions are fighting in the center, and another wave is on its way. Why does that matter ? because yasuo is a champion who has Offensive phases and defensive phases. and simply E through minions lets you get some more seconds in a trade, where you can stack back your q spell,and channel your shield.
Yasuo has a lot of mobility, so you can make a fight last, to give the time to your jungler to counter gank for exemple.


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Build Path Starter : , Rush Core items --> Standard Top Lane: , Almost every game will start like that. Good against almost every composition. Tank Killer : , I use it when i know this will be a split push game, and i will have to face a full tank champion who's gonna build armor. Good when you have full ad team because the ennemies are gonna build armor. Also a good choice when the ennemy team is a bit too tanky. Further on the build Once you've got your core build, it is time to choose which game you're gonna have. Tank, Offtank or Dps. filler Tank items , , , , , If you chose to go for a full teamfight build orientation, the Maw of Malmortius against rude AP burst is a good choice. You can also get another Tank item. The Dead Man's Plate and the Frozen Mallet are useful to get a great amount of resistance HP or Armor and mobility. Useful if you feel like you're getting kited too much. The Randuin's Omen goes well against a strong Ad carry composition with critics and attack speed like Vayne or Jinx. Get the Spirit Visage if you prefer the tankiness instead of the resistance and dmg that could give you the Maw of Malmortius. This items goes well with any life steal based build. filler Filler : , , I would recommend to get as last item the Guardian Angel, that brings armor, magic resist and a awesome passive in late game. You can also get another Tank item from the section above. filler Life Steal : , , Life steal items are still good, but only if you see that your team isn't good for teamfighting compared to your ennemy team. In this case you'll favorite a splitpush gameplay. Then you can pick up either Bloodthirster, or Mercurial Scimitar if they have a lot of hard CC, or Blade of the Ruined King if they have Heavy tank that you can easily kite in 1v1. Boots : , Let's see the choice of the boots. You shall get the Boots early in the game to get the mobility needed for yasuo and his passive. If there is a majority of Ad Champions, it's clear that you are gonna take the Ninja Tabi, but if you see many control spells, you can chose to swap to the Mercury's Treads instead. If there is a majority of Ap champions, you will anyway get the Mercury's Treads. filler Full stuff example fillerfillerfillerfiller

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First rune path f il f il Brings you damage bonus on trades. f il f il Lethality and magic pen after using a dash. f il f il gives you vision for the lane or to set up a split push. f il f il Heal on ability damage. Your q spell is your most important dps source so this is not a bad choice. f il Second rune path f il f il or or f il chose on of these 3 last depending on your matchup.

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... Flash The MUST HAVE summoner spell as Yasuo. Can save your *** a few time in game, especially in early phase where you yasuo is the most vulnerable. Also, the strenght of yasuo is somehow the element of surprise, so flash helps you this way, either with a simple flash in, or with one of the combo you can use. Teleport As a toplaner, you need teleportation to bring a map pressure everywhere. As a splitpusher, it's especially more important.

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Laning Gameplay until level 6, when you and your opponent still have the same starting build, yasuo is stronger, ( not true on specific matchups), your kit and low cd on spells gives you advantage. it is in very early game that you can take advantage on the lane. unfortunately, once the opponent went back, is lvl 6, and still 0/0/0, you shall enter in a passive phase, farm, punish errors but i don't think trading is a really good idea, or only if your advantage is clear ! Toplaners are usually really strong at this moment of the game, and yasuo isn't strong without the core build cause you are in lack of critics. Once you get your Corebuild, the lane phase is over or nearly. now the party begins, enjoy your dmg, but keep in mind that you stay a squishy, so play smartly and don't go in stupidly. Leveling Lvl 1 : Don't push, only last hit with distance. at the second wave, charge your q spell with one stack. When the second wave arrives, rush a melee minion and kill him, you're close to get lvl 2 now. Lvl 2 : Hit another Q spell and do ctrl+E as fast as possible. Now use Sweeping Blade to go on your opponent, and E+Q him to knock him up ! if you did it good, you shall be lvl 2 and he might still be lvl 1. Play with the bushes to cancel the minion's focus, and cancel the trade when your opponent gets lvl 2. simply E back on the minions if you didn't have the opportunity to kill him. 1st back : You shouldn't back to base unless you have enough gold to get Zeal. Don't hesitate to take Health Potion and a Vision Ward. LVL 6 : Now that you've got your ultimate, use it in lane in an offensive way only when you have vision or information of the jungler, midlaner, and support. Your ultimate is the best way to trade the champions of the toplane. You gain 50% bonus armor penetration for the next 15 seconds so helps to overpass the tankiness. 80 seconds of cooldown is a lot, so i prefer keep my ult ready when i'm in trouble on the lane because for a gank from your jungler, is lethal for the ennemy, and a gank from the other jungler can result in a double kill with a good temporisation under the tower if you get dived. LVL 16 : Your ultimate has maximum 30 second cooldown now, don't hesitate to use it everytime you can. Fier ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Fier Late Game Gameplay I consider it's late game for yasuo once you've got your corebuild. So There are 2 yasuo's build top lane, so that means there are also 2 yasuo's gameplay as well. Splitpush duelist : Yasuo's kit makes him a good splitpusher, just like tryndamere's gameplay, you will push the opposite lane from your teammates, they are bot ? Hard push top. They are mid, you can chose to push Bot or top then. But only do this if you have your teleport ready, then if your team gets engaged, recall to them. This gameplay forces the ennemy team to send someone defend cause you push simply way too fast, allowing your team to go in a teamfight with an advantage. And the build you take makes you strong enough to destroy anyone who dares defend alone against you. Fier Offtank: You fill the role of tank. So that means you shall use your kit to peel for the carries. Think smartly, and find which one of your carries deals the most damage and stay around him, and focus anyone who plans to rush him. Your ultimate Last Breath is a good temporisation because you lock the target for a minimum of 1 second, and if you use the Airblade, you can extend it with a second knock up after your ultimate.

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Fier Darius simply outdamages you, so you cannot win a 1v1 if he does not make any mistake. His passive deal dmg, but he can forget it for one second, once you're getting pushed under your tower and have darius's passive on you (little blood drop), charge your q spell and wait ready with your tornado, if he gets into tower's range, simply E -> Q him, he will get attacked by the tower. Another tip if he manages to grab you, E on minions in the direction of his tower, while charging your q spell, once tornado is ready, E -> Q him and go back to your tower while is is knocked up. Maokai 's passive heals him for a maximum hp % every 5 spells casted near him. As yasuo, don't farm with your E or your Q spell, this is gonna make him sustain. If you fight you can dodge his knock up with a random wind wall when you feel the right time. The cd of this knock up is 8 sec at first rank. Irelia Sorry, there is not much to say about this champ, her kit simply counters yasuo, the only tips i can give with my experience is that you shall take Grasp of the Undying keystone, and when you want to throw to her your tornado to link your ult, be sure that she doesn't have her stun yet, cause if she does it, you simply can't ult. Shen To lane against shen, you have to play on his Spirit's Refuge's cooldown. If you trade, disengage if he casts his zone, you won't get a worth trade in it. When you're both 6, try to always keep a stack of q spell active, then if you see him ultying a mate, cancel the teleportation while knocking him up.

Mid Lane

Yasuo is a strong midlaner, especially against champions who have to get near minions to farm, against distance range champions it is a bit more difficult. The strenght of yasuo mid is your dodge potential. Most of the midlaner got a burst dmg phase, and it's almost every time a burst coming from projectile spells or small AOE spells. Your Wind Wall can block the projectiles, and your Sweeping Blade can dodge the AOE spells. If you dodge the burst phase, you can simply free trade your opponent with a Auto attack dual, and as an AD champion against an AP champion, i swear you win.

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Laning Gameplay We can classify the midlaners in 3 categories. Katarina, talon, zed, diana, akali, ekko... In this first case, you can freely trade without need to go too far away on the lane and set yourself in danger from a gank. Those champs need to farm without range, so they're in range for a poke with your Steel Tempest. Just take care that you don't push too much the wave with it otherwise you will have to go deeper on the lane. The problem of those matchups, is that they are champions with brutal burst, that's why i play with exhaust on the lane agaisnt them. Lux, ahri, twisted fate, morgana Against this kind of champions, who have a kit based on a skillshot or a projectile spell, it's quite easy to get advantage, but adopt the offensive/defensive strategy, trade when your shield is up or close to be, when you know you ain't gonna be ganked, and be sure to cancel or dodge this or those spells with either your Wind Wall or your Sweeping Blade on a minion swain, vladimir, malzahar, xerath, ryze, lissandra This kind of champion, can give you a really bad time middle lane, you shall stay on a defensive posture during the lane phase, just farm peacefully, and ask a support from your jungler or support. Their dps is based on large AOE spells, sustain dmg, or spells that are not projectiles. This kind of dmg counters yasuo the most in my opinion. That's why i may somtimes play with a teleport.

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Build Path Starter : Doran's Blade, Health Potion Rush Core Build --> Like on the top lane, i use 2 different core build on yasuo. Heavy Ad Mid Phantom Dancer, Infinity Edge . The same starter as the splitpush duelist build top lane, the difference is that you might not go with resistance items after this. This build needs raw damage, to take down any target in a short moment. It needs a team composition that has a engage force or follow up potential. You might need life steal so Bloodthirster is a good item because it brings tankiness by stealing a great amount of life with every auto attack and Q spell Steel Tempest. I would then take a bruiser item that brings resistance and damage at the same time. Depending on the ennemy team, take Maw of Malmortius or Sterak's Gage, even Dead Man's Plate and Spirit Visage are good items in this build. As a last item i often take the Guardian Angel, magic resist and armor + a second life for a team fight in late game, you can't say no as yasuo. Boots : I usually take the Mercury's Treads because the tenacity is important for yasuo who needs to go in deeply when he fights. But if you see that the ennemy team is mostly AD, then go for Ninja Tabi. Fier Mid Bruiser Phantom Dancer, Trinity Force . This starter uses the power of the trinity rework, with a good tankiness / dmg powerspike. The attack speed from the Stinger is always good to take, The Sheen procs very often with some nice extra dmg, and the Phage gives you the movespeed and a good resistance buff. after the core build rush, you can take already your life steal item if you see that your damage are correct. Chose between Bloodthirster for a greater amount of lifesteal and raw dmg, or Blade of the Ruined King for a better duelist potential. If you suffer of a lack of dmg after your corebuild, you can take before your lifesteal item the Infinity Edge. I would then take a bruiser item that brings resistance and damage at the same time. Depending on the ennemy team, take Maw of Malmortius or Sterak's Gage, even Dead Man's Plate and Spirit Visage are good items in this build. As a last item i often take the Guardian Angel, magic resist and armor + a second life for a team fight in late game, you can't say no as yasuo. Boots : I usually take the Mercury's Treads because the tenacity is important for yasuo who needs to go in deeply when he fights. But if you see that the ennemy team is mostly AD, then go for Ninja Tabi. Statikk Shiv can replace the Phantom dancer in the corebuild of a midlaner yasuo. I would use it only if your team is full AD and you know the ennemy team is gonna build a lot of armor. It's also viable if you plan a split push game because the ennemy team has just a way better team fight composition than yours. filler Full stuff example fillerfillerfillerfiller

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First rune path f il f il Brings you damage bonus on trades. f il f il Lethality and magic pen after using a dash. f il f il gives you vision for the lane or to set up a split push. f il f il Heal on ability damage. Your q spell is your most important dps source so this is not a bad choice. f il Second rune path f il f il or or f il chose on of these 3 last depending on your matchup.

Flash
The MUST HAVE summoner spell as Yasuo. Can save your *** a few time in game, especially in early phase where you yasuo is the most vulnerable. Also, the strenght of yasuo is somehow the element of surprise, so flash helps you this way, either with a simple flash in, or with one of the combo you can use.

Teleport
Useful in the red matchup. You can get advantage with gold and experience, by not losing time with going back to the base too much. Also gives you map pressure everywhere.

Ignite
Useful in the Yellow matchup. You have serious advantage there, so you can easily snowball with the ignite.

Exhaust
Useful in the Green Matchup. If you exhaust the champ during the burst phase, you reduce the dmg, and reduces his armor and magic resist. I don't see a better spell for a duelist champion.

Cleanse
Viable summoner spell when you're against a team that has got many many Controls. If you lane up against a veigar for exemple. Getting gank, you don't have flash and are inside his Event Horizon, then cleanse could be a good summoner. This summoner is easily replacable by Mercurial Scimitar

flashed tornadofillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfi Difficulty : ⭐
This trick is useful when you want to surprise your opponent, and you know he has the possibility to dodge your tornado (flash, dash...) the time to react is way shorter and you can gain from this.
there is a casting time when you throw your tornado, just like lee sin kick flash, instead of flash and then throw your tornado.
simply cast your q spell as if you want to throw your tornado into a direction, but during the animation, you use flash to get closer and the tornado will be send from the position you now are after flash.
Q --> flash
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This is a simple trick, useful to gain 0.5 sec during a fight. If you have to cast your to dodge an incoming projectile but also want to attack, simply use W then Q fast. The q spell animation will be cancelled by the casting animation of windwall instead of losing time with casting both.
W + Q
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this is a hard one, took me a while to learn how to use it. Imagine you have a low opponent in front of you, and you want to quickly engage and surprise without letting him any chance to react.
Yasuo's airstrike works with the E linked with the 3rd q spell + ultimate.
So this one is a bit different in the execution, and way harder.
You have minions in front of you, and your opponent is behind them, but you can't directly E on him, your 3rd q spell is ready. You will dash on a minion but while half way, you will cast your q spell and at the same time flash to your opponent and then use your ultime on the knockup.
here is a short video that shows it.

Flashed airstrike
the video's credit does not belong to me

E --> Q + flash
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This trick consists in having a tornado ready after having cast your ultimate on a first tornado. This is the best optimisation for Q spell, and allows you to link 2 bumps in a short time.
To do so, you will need to be at your Q spell cooldown cap, (let me remind you that this cd, depends on yasuo's attack speed) that is 1.33 sec.
So, imagine you send a first tornado to your opponents, you hit, you will (if you can) E on them instantly, and use the E+Q, so that means you already are at 1 stack, then you can ultimate on your knockup, and once you go back on the floor, cast another q spell, means you are at 2 stacks and can send another tornado in 1.33 sec.
BUT, the secret of this technique, is that you don't have to EQ on them directly, there is an exploitation of animation that allows you to EQ on whatever you want, and then instantly R, the dmg provided from your EQ, will be dealt where your ultimate is right away before you start your ultimate animation. This is kinda complicate to understand so i will show you a video from the one who created this trick.
the video's credit does not belong to me.
Quote : having 1.33 cd on q spell isn't necessary, but then you have to execute it in order to be able to EQ fast enough to link it with your ultimate

Airblade

3Q --> E+Q+R --> Q --> 3Q

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Vision WallfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfiDifficulty :⭐ Fier If you don't have ward to Use the Sweeping blade trick, you can still get vision by casting your Wind Wall against the wall to get vision. Fier ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Fier Sweeping Blade TricksfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfillerfifillerDifficulty :⭐⭐⭐ Fier Gromp In the other way. You can use a ward to get vision and be able to use Sweeping Blade Fier wraiths You can basically use Sweeping Blade on any wraiths, this is just a pic to show the orientation needed to dash through the wall In the other way Fier Red / Blue Buff This works on blue and red buff since they almost have the same hitbox and area. Fier wolfes Fier golems works in the other way but is harder

Passive

Yasuo's passive is one of the most interesting of the game. Yasuo's critical strike chance is doubled, but his Critical strike deal 90% damage, reduced to 75% damage on Steel Tempest
Zeal -> 20 % critic -> 40 % critic
The second party of the passive is the fact that yasuo chanels a shield while he moves. When the stacks reach 100, he creates a shield that blocks for one second 100 dmg lvl 1 and 510 lvl 18.
What's important to know, is that the distance made while dashing with your Sweeping Blade counts. That's why the mobility brought by maxing this spell is important.
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Steel Tempest
Yasuo's q spell is his first source of damage. It counts like an autoattack, what means it can critical strike, apply red buff, sheen and all other items wich have an effect affecting the auto attacks.
Second thing to know, is that the cooldown of this spells doesn't depend of cooldown reduction. The only way to reduces the cooldown of Steel Tempest, is the amount of attack speed. That's why We go for a 29% attack speed rune page + Fury masteries.
Another thing to know, is that as this spell is considered as an auto attack, if you're hit by a control spell, you'll miss your Q spell.
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Wind Wall
I don't think there is a lot to say about this spell as everyone know what it does.
First, this spell brings vision if it's casts near a wall.
Then, There is a little trick with the Steel Tempest animation. You can see it in the combos section if you didn't already see it.
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Sweeping Blade
What people usually don't know about this spell, is that the distance travelled with it is always the same. Only the speed changes, scaling with yasuo's movement speed. Which means that if you cast it on a target near your, you will arrive outrange of Q spell with a E Q combo. which also mean that you can go through walls by casting it on a target that is near to this wall.
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Last Breath
Used on knocked up targets. You usually think that knock up always come from your team, but if you think for a second, you can know that drakes knock up everyone that's near them when they get engaged. Same thing for baron Nashor who has a spell that knocks up ennemies.
The spell in itself isn't awesome, what's important is the bonus that it gives to yasuo after been casted. Yasuo gains 50% Armor bonus penetration, which make a BIG difference on a duel. carries usually have about 70 armor bonus with their runes, masteries and items. If you ignore 50% of it (35 armor bonus left instead of 70 makes a difference).
That's why you musn't be scared when you see that a trade will be very close, because after your ultimate, the dps will be totally different.

]You've reached the end ! if you guys want me to do some more chapters about different tricks or combo, let me know in the comment and i will try to make it for you !

If you wanna know more about the frozen mallet build, and a indepth explanation, go check this ! :) http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/frozen-mallet-top-based-on-pro-ranked-games-487614