If you're reading this guide it means you're probably trying to play what I find to be one of the most challenging, yet fun champion in the League of Legends.

Yasuo, to me, is by far the hardest champion I've played in the League. The amount of dedication it takes to really make this champion shine is something you have to commit to, not just expect to happen. In the hands of someone better than I he can be brutal, and in the hands of someone inexperienced he can be ineffective. Well from my time playing Yasuo, I believe I have a basic mid lane page that most will enjoy.

In this build, I try to make the most of all the core things Yasuo needs to buy, build, or focus on during the game. Everything is geared towards getting you the BEST possible advantage while using the least amount of resources or items slots, while still protecting yourself. So please, enjoy the read, and I hope you take something useful out of it.

2x Flat attack damage Quint
1x Attack speed quint

6x Flat attack damage marks
3x Attack speed marks

2x Attack speed seals
7x Flat armor seals

9x Flat magic resist Glyphs

With this rune page I have a flat 10 attack damage, flat 10% attack speed, and the some pretty decent armor and magic resist bonuses. Attack damage and attack speed have synergy because you attack more and you hit harder. Something Yasuo likes to do, except really damn fast and really damn hard.

My thought process on this page was to get the most out of the limited runes I had. I've tried full damage, movement quints, all attack speed marks, but this setup allows me to show my lane opponent I will hit back, and I will hit harder and faster than you can.

My masteries are geared towards maximizing on everything that Yasuo wants from his kit.

Attack speed, Damage, criticals, damage. Everything I need to push myself over that edge.

Probably the most crucial thing this build is the 5 points in fury. I take full advantage of a mastery that give me the 5% attack speed to my 10% attack speed in runes. It's amazing and I recommend the full 4 points. On Yasuo you can safely consider attack speed as an option when building.

Yasuo has a really low base damage, so I make up for it by raising it by 10 from runes. So we already start at 60 rather than 50, pretty good right?

Masteries that increase our AD my a percentage or a flat amount are amazing and should be maxed immediately.

Frenzy is a great mastery for Yasuo, since crit is already a core fundamental to his kit.

The items I have listed as a core, are my interpretation of effectively making use of everything I've been working towards.

upwards of 300+ damage

Defensive items that cover all my faults

Effective use of an item slot.

Effective use of an item slow for me, on Yasuo, seems to be something I find crucial to building the champion. I want to have the best possible advantage while wasting the least amount of resources, time, effort, etc etc. By rushing shiv I feel confident to fight without damage. By rushing Bloodthirster I feel that I can stay in fights longer and focus on helping my team take someone down. These two basic and simple ways of play are in my opinion great for new players to focus on, and for experienced players to fall back on when they feel overwhelmed

The skill sequence listed above, capitalizes on everything Yasuo can do for his team, and himself.

Rushing Steel Tempest will net that max cooldown, max damage output, and get you that oomf in slap fights.

By switching between windwall and sweeping blade until winwall had 3 ranks is so I can support my team rather than rush damage. It keeps me from tunneling onto kills, and focus more of the fight itself. A point put into wind wall is not a point wasted EVER, so don't ever feel like you're lacking something. Instead you've opted to block more ranged attacks for your team.

Sweeping blade I max before Wind wall so as to increase damage output, and the responsiveness of the ability. Even at 0.5 seconds of a cool down I find it still doesn't keep up to my racing pace of wanting to go gung ho crazy dash master.

Pros:

Strong late game
A real powerhouse in the hands of a master
Can poke consistently
Offers amazing team play and cohesion
Tempers kill focused players


Cons:

Weak Early game
Very unforgiving when mistakes are made
Straight damage build will not work
Must have the ability to not be overwhelmed with team fight skill spams
Must be able to read your opponent to the letter
Pinpoint accuracy, timings, and escape/engage plans
Must master your own knockup
Needs other team members to work with him

Early game is probably where Yasuo is at his weakest. You'll be forced to take Steel Tempest to last hit with it's small range, but mastering this will allow you successfully survive the laning phase. In addition to Steel Tempest, all of Yasuo's basic skills: Steel Tempest, Wind Wall, and Sweeping Blade are essential to surviving your lane.

Good things to practice in lane are:
Learning Steel Tempest's effective range, what's the farthest I can last hit from so I'm safe?
Spamming Wind Wall to block literally any ranged attack, if you don't spam block you won't build the reaction time needed mid and late game.
Sweeping blade, Sweeping Blade is probably something most players will forget about when they tunnel vision onto an enemy champion. Early game I've countered many a jungle gank by simply just using sweeping blade. An excellent habit to form would be to plan a route before you dash in, entry and exit plan. Examples would be stacking Sweeping blade 4 times on minons, and using the champion as your exit route.

Yasuo is about thinking ahead and reading your opponent, once you get comfortable with this you'll see you're confidence in fighting go up drastically.

Yasuo's champion spotlight mentions that he has an all in kill combo. Prime q, dash q combo, knockup ulti combo, finish with a q and they should be dead. Generally this works 99% of the time if you've been planning accordingly. Learning how to execute this combo is your first challenge. Learning when to use, and how to use this combo is something else entirely.

Tips
When you can start doing the mid game kill combo, Always Always Always try to plan your combo EXACTLY how you want it to play out. If you're thinking about the entry and exit plan you won't need to worry about the kill. It's all about the entry and exit, If you all in someone and get ganked right as you start to ult and it's not going to kill the target, then you WILL die.

Ways to deal with getting ganked mid combo are to completely forget about killing your target all together, in this situation you are against two players rather than 1, and now you have to manage 8 different abilities rather than 4.

The secret to successfully turning a gank around with yasuo is to always be looking at your dash options. Take a breath, and just focus on dodging everything you can. If you die that's alright, just practice that continuous movement. It's harder to kill a moving target.

Here you will probably have rushed your Bloodthirster, or Statikk Shiv. Bloodthirster allows for more sustain and damage buildup, while Shiv allows for more all in race against the clock fights.

Try to keep your lane warded, being squishy and having almost no escape except by means of enemy positions you need get every advantage you can take.

Gauge your opponent, you've survived to the point where you the player can start having some fun with this champion, and if you've been reading your opponent, then you will have a great time in lane.

Take a look at the champion your facing and learn what abilities you need to block or dodge with wind wall, sweeping blade. Then focus on what your opponent wants to do next. If they're trying to spam you with high damage high cooldown abilities, then wind wall and dash poke them.

If your pushing too hard, then I recommend backing off and taking wraith camp. You'll give yourself xp, gold, and by the time you finish they'll have frantically pushed the lane back.

Late game as Yasuo you want to be in the middle of your team, hitting whoever gets in your face to stack steel tempest as fast as possible. When you get the knockup, aim to get pressure off your team. Diving into the back line will only get you killed, and your team can get them them safer than you can.

Last breath is used mostly as a carry diving tool, which if used like this will result in you looking at a death timer for the rest of the game. Instead provide peels for whoever is being targeted on your team. Last breath's power comes from the massive bonus armor pen buff, not the damage.

So late game it's not about instagibbing the enemy team. It's about using the tornado as a tool to help your team win the fights, rather than you trying to go rambo with 10 hp into the enemy team. If you play late game like this, you'll win more often, and will keep yourself from tunnel visioning on getting kills, rather than securing kills for the team.

How to work with your team

Don't rush every situation like you need to knock someone up, or you have to be in the front of the fight. Being squishy and melee ranged means you need to let your team take the hits.

The pro is that you get to sit back and plan your dashes and q's

The con is that if you mess up you just got your team killed for making that one mistake.

There's a reason he's the unforgiven, because if you fail you take everyone down with you.

Talk with people in the pregame lobby, ask humbly for someone to lock in a knock up, and then tell them you'll have their back in fights. Even if they don't get to play who they want for the game, they'll feel better knowing you have their back when they face rush into 5 members of the enemy team so you can ult. In addition to working with the person who helps you, ask your team to have aoe cc to follow up after you go in with say a malphite. If you two are looking to bullrush the team with a knockup the rest of your team needs time to catch up and collect on these engages, so asking for sona or leona doesn't hurt.

If you really, really, really, really want to get better with this champion.

Stop being a selfish little kill ***** and think about the team.

If you plan on playing Yasuo, you WILL run into animosity.

Lock Yasuo in, and humbly request a knockup. People are willing to work with, and enjoy seeing the benefit of working together. When Yasuo has the ability to follow up on a malphite or a vi, it's like an act of trust in that person's ability to play their champion. If they had your back and locked in a knockup, talk to them about how you want the plan to go down when they knock someone up for you. They don't want to dive in without anyone backing them up, so you have to tell them that you have their back. They'll be more confident in diving in and getting you that ulti to shred face.

This is my first guide, I'm getting used to all the buttons and ways to build a guide.

I'll keep an eye out for feedback and ideas that may help with the build. Also as I get more comfortable with the guide setup I'll come back and edit this page out for better flow and consistency with the reader. For now just leave a comment and I'll read and consider all options suggested.