Yasuo/Strategy

Gameplay
's a sustained damage fighter with high mobility, strong utility and damage output that ramps up the longer he survives in combat. The tradeoff here comes in the form of low damage during Yasuo's early game.

Mid Lane
Yasuo's early game fragility makes him a champion best suited for the shortest lane on Summoner's Rift: mid. He farms safest here, concentrating on building up his experience and gold as he itemizes his way to domination. But even though Yasuo is at his weakest in the early game, his strength and mobility still has the potential to surprise his enemies. Yasuo can use to last-hit from a relatively safe distance, and if he needs to secure backline minion gold, quick consecutive casts of  send him dashing to and from, with  shield absorbing some of the inevitable incoming damage. Yasuo can use as a handy escape during gank attempts, too: if he's caught between the enemy melee and caster minions, using the ability to dash back towards his own turret should help dissuade all but the most stubborn of junglers from pursuing.

And when the winds change direction, careful timing turns Yasuo into a deadly accomplice in friendly gank attempts. Stacking properly and using  to toss his enemy skywards means initiation from the jungle is a relatively simple matter, and once the enemy's caught, Yasuo uses  to dash in and get to work. critical strike boost help Yasuo's attacks sting, while if he's unlocked Last Breath, the additional damage and crowd control makes kills all the more likely.

Teamfights
A melee monster with damage that increases the longer teamfights last, Yasuo's first priority is to stack while weathering the enemy team's initial onslaught. This is where Wind Wall comes into its own. Carefully positioning the wall between the enemy front and back lines allows Yasuo to engage on the less threatening tanks and bruisers, generating stacks with liberal use of. Once the third cast is ready, Yasuo repeatedly uses to rush through the entire enemy line and position himself beside or behind the enemy squishies. A final casts them skyward, opening up, a lethal ability for anyone caught in the whirlwind. Enemies that manage to juke away from Yasuo's whirlwind aren't necessarily safe from : any knock-up abilities can be chained with Yasuo's ult, making him hugely synergistic with champions like, and. Once he's landed, Yasuo's huge bonus armor penetration buff, combined with the critical strike bonus from, makes short work of even the most resilient of tanks.

Skill usage

 * strength as a fighter and assassin lies in his unique kit of power and utility, with his granting him early game protection and immense late game power, mobility from, the potential of his notorious , and the teamfight potential of his . However, he is fairly item dependent for damage and is not very durable as his kit emphasizes avoiding damage entirely rather than taking it.
 * Not only that, several of his skills require good timing and need precise usage, thus it's easy to make misplays with . And plus, he is mainly a bruiser-assassin. This means he is not a pure assassin and thus, his damage isn't too much of an assassin's burst and is more sustained when compared (thus, most situations where he can burst someone like an assassin doesn't occur too often). And like most assassins, going all-in requires solid timing and positioning.
 * Regarding his misplay potential, all of his abilities can also be baited, such as certain champions being able to pop his passive's shield with ease for example.
 * doubles your total Critical Strike chance, giving an advantage during the late game.
 * shields from incoming attacks for a short time, but only when his Flow bar is filled. Use this to your advantage when trading during the early game as most (if not all) of the damage you take will be nullified.
 * However, it can be baited by smart players and/or champions that act as powerful counters alike. Be very mindful of this and be sure to know when to engage a target.
 * Since has no cost and has very short cooldown, it is a great tool for harassing and last hitting in lane.
 * Be very careful; this ability's range is very narrow, and it's quick cast by default. Missing with it can especially be costly in most direct confrontations, and mistiming by using it too early it may cause a very-needed basic attack to be cancelled during a duel. This can also be very true if Yasuo is not spaced properly to gauge well-enough of when and if he can consistently land it. Normal skill-shot reactions would apply much better for the third cast however, depending on the player's preference, skill and adjustment. Other than that, if one is often missing due to its narrow range and nature as a skillshot on third cast, the  proc for it is a viable substitute mentioned below.
 * You can use while  is on cooldown (1 sec or less) and can activate it while it is on cooldown.It doesn't make you cast  faster or bypass the cooldown since there is still the travel time from.
 * During the late game, may also deal less damage than your basic attacks if you have enough critical strike chance built, due to the 25% damage penalty on the ability's critical strike damage. Be wary of this so you can focus more on ensured basic attacks landing as opposed to an unwarranted  cast.
 * and can be used to cancel your auto-attack animation.
 * is best used when there are nearby minions, for the following reasons:
 * It deals more damage for each successive target.
 * It allows for quick juking, closing or escaping. Do not be afraid to use it to last hit someone in a duel when you can.
 * Using during  will still allow you to move during the casting animation. Make sure to know where to walk/run to midst-attack, so you can safely harass or assault your opponent just after your combo. But be sure to space this correctly; using this combo can result in the AoE  missing certain targets mainly if you dashed past them too far with.
 * However, it has a great weakness in that this form of mobility offered from it is heavily situational, and dependent on position. It's possible to dash the wrong way past your target, as well as get interrupted by any form of crowd control. It also does not provide a form of invulnerability, a staple for most bruiser-assassins.
 * blocks all projectiles that hit it, not necessarily only from the direction that you cast it. Circling around the wall while against a ranged champion is a great way to block all of their damage.
 * is also able to block and the  attacks, making it a great ability to use against them.
 * doesn't block, , and  (with her  activated) auto attacks. Despite all four champions having ranged attacks, they aren't projectiles.
 * can only be used when an enemy champion is airborne. However, the knock-up isn't limited to third  cast allies abilities can be used as well.
 * The full list of skills that allow to use  is in the skills description on the champions main page. Be forewarned that the knock-up MUST come from one of your allies abilities or yours. Any self-inflicted knock-up ability used by enemy champions WILL NOT allow 's usage (e.g.  knock-up).
 * The blink has a long range, you can make use of it as a gap closer.
 * There is actually a short amount of time that is able to use  after the airborne target has landed. All enemies hit will be knocked-up for another 1.5 seconds. Keep in mind that this is an extremely short amount of time, perhaps .1 seconds or less and is not very reliable unless mentioned in the extra tips for the ultimate below.
 * is still targetable, and can be killed while using . Your Flow shield, however, fully regenerates upon cast, allowing you to survive some burst that comes your way.
 * applies the damage as smashes his enemies to the ground. If he is killed before the ability is finished, no damage will be applied.
 * Remember that some abilities such as can be used to initiate  even though it's not normally considered a knock-up. Make sure you know all of your ally champion's abilities that you can initiate  with to give you more opportunities and potentially surprise opponents.
 * can apply the following tricks with his ultimate, along with other tips tying into its timing as well:
 * Regarding the aforementioned small amount of time a target is airborne from his whirlwind, he can land a basic attack for some extra damage if needed if he spaces the cast times of his knock-up during his ultimate, via simply waiting for his target to almost land before using said ultimate. Given his nature as a melee DPS auto-attacker, this works quite well (but it's often best applied if any knock-up occurs at a close enough range).
 * , especially if he uses his own knock-up to initiate the ult, can wait till any form of knock up (especially those that can linger, like his at third cast with targets in a row for example) is almost done as the opponent hits the ground (just like with landing an extra basic attack as mentioned above) can enable  to have  ready not only sooner, but even during the animation of his ultimate (and thus  can be cast during that time), allowing him to rack up even more damage on his chosen target (especially if there's enough attack speed to reduce  cooldown).
 * This would not apply however, if a knock-up (especially from his teammates) allows the moment for his ult to be available, where he may not have even cast in the first place (and thus it would usually not be on cooldown at in that scenario). Either way, this means he can cast  during his ult regardless.
 * Beware, once and his target(s) land from his ultimate, it's very important to know where to aim his abilities or any of his incoming/planned actions. For example, it's possible to land from  and prepare to land  when landing next to the target, only to aim it the wrong way during a decisive moment. Because of this, it's not always a suggestion to press the offense after, and "running-and-tagging" with his ult's activation can sometimes be the better option, especially if you need to return later for a possible clean up during a teamfight.
 * The aforementioned patience can also tie into waiting till he or his team actually launches his correct target, which is a very important note. Any first knocked up target can blink to right away with his ultimate, but any other targets soon-to-be-launched if  uses  too early will not be hit, causing him to potentially waste his ult's burst damage and cause a misplaying engage.
 * Tying into the above, is it also possible for to use his ultimate at an incorrect time, mainly against a prepared enemy team ready to focus him and shut him down. Along with him still being targetable during the ult as mentioned above, it's often best to save  for when a kill is sure to be secured or when you can simply use enough of the armor penetration buff as you safely get away for a repositioning moment. Misusing  (especially if used on any possible knock up out of temptation) can easily lead to it being baited and  to be dragged closer to the enemy team, warranting a punishing situation.

Build usage

 * is usually played as a solo laner, mid or top. Alternatively, he can be the AD carry bot lane or the jungler, but neither is recommended due to the difficulties and his current squishiness. As a damage source for his team, can quickly become lethal by purchasing crit chance, attack damage and attack speed.
 * However, remember to have some form of defensive bypass in his builds or setups (via runes) if needed, such as armor penetration. Otherwise constant critical strikes' damage won't go anywhere past if the opposition is very tanky (especially early in the game if he hasn't gotten enough items). This is important since his attack damage stat scaling (not his ability's ratios, his actual attack damage stat) and his overall attack speed stat are very low, making him over-reliant on critical chance and thus, some setups, champions and items can block out most of his damage completely if he does not have any other beneficial stats to bypass that.
 * Because will double his crit chance and his  may crit, every item that provides crit becomes more gold efficient in his hands than any other item in the game.
 * /,  and six GMarks (2).png Greater Marks of Critical Chance will total 100% but at a cost of 6300 gold. Because is built from, this is the fastest path possible due to the bonus gold generation.
 * , /, and a simple would also cap out your crit chance, but is not suggested.
 * However, as mentioned above with his weak base stats and his over-reliance on high critical chance, as tempting as it is to max it out, one must not forget other stats to fall back on to make sure can put out as much consistent damage as possible without needing to rely on critical chance a lot, with stats such as life steal, and especially armor penetration and/or more raw damage being absolutely key, especially against more tanky forms of opposition.
 * has major synergy with (Q) by providing crit chance, attack speed and the lightning passive. The crit chance is doubled to 40% through  and the  can crit. The attack speed reduces the cooldown and Shiv charges itself on-hit. Finally, when the Shiv is fully charged,  can also activate the lightning proc.
 * What's more, it also helps due to the aforementioned 25% critical strike damage penalty on, since can potentially increase its damage or at least keep it up to par with Yasuo's basic attacks on crit.
 * is usually rushed in many games. Every aspect of it fits perfectly and is highly recommended. Once a player learns the range of his,  makes  an extremely hard champion to lane against due to his extreme harassment abilities with the lightning proc passive providing solid burst, and the movement speed provided that allows him to be on the frequent move outside of his , as well as being able to build up his Flow shield better.
 * Because of this, there are times where with enough raw damage and other stats such as armor penetration from runes, masteries and builds all alike, / would mainly considered merely a bonus on him in that situation, especially if he has other items that provide more beneficial raw damage with, such as having , and/or . Knowing this can be crucial to help  with other stats, such as tankiness. / is also generally quite expensive, so there are times building it may take a lot of time while cheaper and more beneficial items can be brought instead to achieve similar damage.
 * This can also work in a more notable inverse, via having more raw damage builds without if he has enough attack speed/attack damage from his setups (runes and masteries for his builds), but this provides more risk due to how good the -derivatives are on him when rushed.
 * reaches maximum cooldown reduction upon reaching 60% bonus attack speed. With just a and, the ability caps down to a 1.33 second cooldown. Therefore, some players prefer getting other boots instead, such as , , or  and get the rest of their attack speed from  or.
 * A very niche option in terms of boots tends to be, for they provide him with much more movement speed needed to roam and build up even more Flow, but they have more better usage outside of battle as opposed to 1 v 1 and teamfights alike.
 * While has many low cooldown abilities, making  easy to proc, it cannot crit, the mana is wasted, and the AP is nearly useless. Thus it, and, are generally not recommended, in favor of higher Crit, AD, or AS items (such as ). However, it compared to other  derivatives instead provides attack damage, a powerful movement speed passive to help chase down targets and to build up his shield with (as well as to kite), and some HP for durability. The Spellblade passive is also much more easier to consistently proc compared to 's passive; the latter requires constant movement and attacking in order to build up with rewarding mixed-damage crit burst, while the former only requires a single spell cast with a very low cooldown, with Spellblade even working with  via on-hit effects (and also covering for the 25% critical strike damage reduction on it just as well as  can).
 * Also on a plus side, having a build with both and  allows  to achieve a powerful on-hit boost from both items' passives, which may or may not leave room for /. However, if that is the case, other stats such as tankiness, life steal and/or armor penetration can also be greatly considered. However, if all three are built, then 100% crit chance can easily be rushed without runes, but at a cost it takes up more item space needed for other types of items.
 * is also an excellent item on Yasuo for its splitpushing potential; and/or  can always proc Spellblade after every 3 seconds or so allowing him to not only deal extra damage to lane minions consistently, but to also take down enemy structures very fast by consistently having Spellblade up to deal extra damage to towers and adding in the DPS Yasuo has built.
 * could be used instead of to reach the 100% crit chance cap and have more attack speed. However, the lighting proc is usually extremely important for a better burst due to 's higher crit damage penalty. Also, the passive is not necessary as Yasuo already has a lot of mobility and can move through minions using.
 * Cooldown Reduction is generally less valuable stat on, since  is reduced by attack speed and cannot be reduced. However, it can still be useful since  and  have no cost but fair cooldowns.
 * Reducing the cooldown of can be quite powerful if your teammates can regularly launch people airborne.
 * Since does a lot of auto-attack damage (including his Q), life steal from, , or , would be very good to have.
 * has only 5 more AD than but gives a  more worth of lifesteal making it an excellent item for dueling as well as allowing you to build a shield on top of your  one.
 * is slightly less offensive, but allow for very quick wave clearing, and a stronger burst with its active. Note that the splash damage does not crit.
 * Both of the above items are mainly to be built if has enough attack speed from his  plus another minor attack speed item like  or.
 * will do the least damage out of the 3 (unless you have 4000+ HP targets), but has a good active ability that can be useful for chasing or escaping, as well as providing attack speed that is great for his overall DPS nature.
 * This is mainly built if does not have  or any other attack speed item other than only a -derivative (especially ). This is especially important since this can allow him to make room for any of his other raw damage items, especially since his -derivative can provide just enough critical chance, as / from that point on is mainly a bonus. Items such as another life steal item or an armor penetration item can be enough damage for, as well as moving onto getting tanky if needed once he has enough damage.
 * Due to him being susceptible to crowd control, either (more defensive) or  (more of a glass cannon) are recommended.
 * can also be very valuable, especially against a heavy magic team.
 * Due to potentially high physical damage, armor shred/armor penetration from  and/or  would be a very good idea. The former is often very good for most raw damage builds or the player seeks to peel defenses with his powerful sustained damage (as well as make it a part of his more tankier builds due to the HP), while the latter is often used for his general overall damage builds. Both are very good together in a raw damage build however.
 * isn't a common item, but when built with another solid crit-based item, can easily make use of the cooldown reduction (just like with ) for his  and, as well as more importantly, give him defensive bypass with armor penetration. The most rewarding aspect is its active, where Yasuo can easily use it to chase down/run away from targets, and output damage at a much faster rate (especially with better  spams), to towers and enemy champions in duels alike.
 * But to lack of high raw damage, it's best built with any setup via runes (and/or masteries) that gives a lot more raw damage as opposed to tons of crit (only runes compared to masteries give crit chance however).
 * However, if either or the aforementioned  are built alongside  and /,  can easily reach 100% crit without any runes. This isn't always considered due to how much Yasuo needs other items for other stats, but at the same time this works great for most glass cannon builds.
 * is potentially exploitable by because his Q costs nothing, does not require a target, and has a cooldown lower than the stack expiration. This allows  to keep 8 stacks perpetually. However, he does not make very good use of the AP.
 * can greatly reduce vulnerability to being burst down and allow  time to engage.
 * is another valuable magic resist item favored for its good attack damage stats, decent shield, and most of all its passive can allow some clutching damage spikes when he's low on HP in many 1 v 1 situations, especially if they involve him having enough attack speed to duke it out.
 * Due to current nerfs since 4.18, he's a lot more squishy and requires more skill to safely harass with depending on his matchups and the skill of the player. Despite the damage sacrifice done, rushing tanky items on him to sit on in lane can be very effective to ensure he lives long enough during his transition from early game to mid game. Due to his bruiser/fighter nature, do not be afraid to rush tanky items in-lane first before getting his main damage items (that is if you feel you'll fall behind), as opposed to often rushing core damage items like most assassins do.
 * is one of the best tanky items to build on Yasuo, especially if one already has to cover for magic resist along with another magic resist item. However,  can also be a more risky but viable niche option, due to the passive allowing for much better sustained damage potential during any fight, a teamfight or 1 v 1 alike.
 * as usual is a very common pick for most champions of a carry-nature, especially of the melee DPS variety. It's passive can easily allow to thrive more in fights and finish a clean up, as well as force the enemy team into killing him in order to waste some of their more valuable resources once Yasuo revives, which is the gameplan for many a GA-builder.

Countering

 * Since he relies heavily on critical attacks, is an ideal mastery to take.
 * And also because of this, early game, he also relies heavily on his crit for his overall damage output due to his lower scaling attack damage and and his lower early attack speed stats. Armor is a very good stat to mitigate most of his damage if he hasn't rushed any armor penetration yet or has yet to land his ult for the armor penetration buff, especially if he's only gotten critical chance items with no extra damage early on the game.
 * can be potentially devastating to Mages and Marksmen alike. Champions that can quickly reposition themselves through or around the wall (such as, , , etc) can largely nullify it.
 * Be very careful about using global projectile ultimates such as and  when  is in the vicinity. Only use them when you know  is on cooldown or  isn't near the target. This also goes for initiation abilities such as, , or.
 * blocks many skillshots and targeted abilities, but it does not block instantaneous abilities like, "overhead" abilities like , and terrain-based abilities like . Knowing what can bypass his can give you a great advantage.
 * has a narrow hitbox on the first two casts, but the tornado on the third cast has deceptively long range as a skillshot. Dodge to the side to avoid the knockup, or stay very far away just to run out of its total range.
 * can generate a very strong shield as levels up, but it lasts for a very brief duration. Treat it like a  and pop it with one of your lesser abilities before fully engaging on.
 * only works against bonus armor; building health instead can mitigate the effect of his ultimate.
 * The problem with building health, though, is that Yasuo will build.
 * Some Yasuo players give up on building and instead buy more lifesteal and rely on  to deal with enemies that stack armor. You can take advantage of this; dodge any knockups that the enemy team may have, and build Randuin's Omen.
 * Like any Marksman or ADC, focusing with hard CC can make him very easy to kill. His  can also be interrupted with hard CC. If your aim is good, don't be afraid to launch your CC at him while he's dashing. This is especially true because  can't use  mid-dash.
 * While a capable fighter/bruiser or assassin on his own, kit makes him one of the most team composition-reliant champions in the League. Take note of his allies to gauge just how much of a threat  will be.
 * As a melee ADC with an ability that scales based on Attack Speed as the center of his kit, items like  and  can have a big impact on  damage output.
 * On top of being dependent on Attack Speed, is considered an auto attack and therefore procs . This will allow him to receive massive amount of recoil due to the dependency of his damage output on.
 * Randuin's Omen is even more of a counter to Yasuo now that it reduces critical strike damage, despite having less armor and less HP. This is because Yasuo already naturally suffers a reduction penalty on his critical strikes, with Randuin's Omen (and potentially also Reinforced Armor) you can reduce the damage done by his critical strikes by a considerable amount. Because of this, Randuin's Omen can reduce Yasuo's dueling potential by a lot.