Yasuo needs to be nerfed (and here's exactly how!)
I've made similar suggestions in comments, but no one has either cared or taken direct interest in suggesting anything better so hear me out (it's a long post):
all of these "gut yasuo" posts are the proper outrage to the new crit systems and rito has made some clear oversights with said issues. however, inherent in the word "gut" lies the problem. you call for things like taking away double crit, removing his sheild or cutting his damage or mobility drastically. however, if misallocations of mechanics are enough warrant a gutting, then pretty much every mechanically intensive champion would be gutted, along with kog maw, tristana, jinx, kassadin, master yi, nasus and veigar.
Taking a look at what yasuo's abilities do, his abilities are -in a nutshell- based around his movement and crit, gutting those too hard or denying the core draw can upset a player base (just ask old karma mains). what most people seem to hone in on is his passive. some say it's two passives in one. they're wrong. it's technically four passives: charging, sheild, crit buff and crit nerf. to add to that, the only level scaling parts of his passive are the first two, which isn't necessarily wrong, just not enough. by giving yasuo so many passives from the start, it provides him with terrifying pre-mid and late game potential, which he only makes up for by being intermittently vulnerable. with practice and skill, players can make this vulnerability miniscule and take advantage of yasuo's consistently high output, putting the game out of balance, especially with these item buffs, changes and additions.
what's important to note with yasuo is his power spikes, which he technically has three major ones: static shiv gold, level six, and complementary crit item gold. rito has left the best time for him to be stopped at before his first spike. this isn't a bad thing, but if he's going to be held to this, they need to do one thing that both complicates yasuo while simultaneously make him very easy to balance: they need to keep, but reallocate and scale his overloaded passives.
What do I mean by reallocating and scaling his passives? I mean that the initial passives should only ever gain relevance as yasuo levels up abilities. here's an example of what I'd change to make yasuo make difficult tactical decisions that effect his strategy.
passives: resolve: yasuo has flow, that when reaches maximum allows a sheild like normal starting with 1% every 60 units, the passive doesn't scale up the sheild nor recharge. Impatience: double crit stays, however before yasuo ranks up abilities, his crits deal a reduced 40% damage (compared to the flat 10%) which his passive does not change.
q: scales 55%/60%/65%/70%/75% reduction with rank (practicing the skill itself only yields normal results, but it helps hone ones you neglect) passive: discipline (or intent if you want to name it that): yasuo hones his skills with each rank of q and his auto attack crit reduction scales from rank one to rank 5 38%/35%/30%/22%/10%
w: now consumes a maximum of 100 flow to produce a windwall, if he has less than 100. (on a side note if the balance requires, there could be a minimum flow requirement, but I'm leaving it at anywhere between 0 and 100 flow for now or even creating a deficit of flow that he has to walk out, and if you really wanted to gut this, then have the ability block enemy and ally projectiles including yasuo's) passive: tranquility: yasuo clears his mind with each rank of w and his maximum flow increases to 150/225/300/400/510 flow
e: unchanged active passive: conviction: yasuo searches for a meaning to press on with each rank of e, increasing the rate 1% of max flow is achieved by 59/57/55/52/48 units
r: possible change: after his active, his armor penetration or time of armor pen buff can scale up with rank, but his ult is supposed to be game changing.
Reasoning: from these changes, yasuo's late game power is preserved and through the game, his power scales exponentially depending on what skill he chooses to max first. more importantly, it tells a story about yasuo, giving him more character than: "he's an unforgiven samurai." instead showing him grow from an impatient, but none the less skilled grasshopper, displeased by the world, as he makes choices through the game, learning how to cope with the loss of his brother, growing to become a better, though not necessarily perfect, person through discipline, tranquility and conviction.
As for how this effects gameplay, he's going to be weaker early game, though still impactful without crit. at early levels, yasuo will likely get his first three abilities and depending on the match up, must choose a path to walk. once he makes that choice, he's going to have to commit to it for a while to get the full benefits and the power-spike once he maxes it.
in the realm of q, yasuo's itemization will still hurt you at lower ranks, but will significantly fall off in comparison to regular adcs if he doesn't rank it up. by investing points into q, yasuo is sacrificing his protection from burst and his mobility, but to benefit from all three, he has to master one first (or be a jack of all trades master of none if you're weird). in the realm of w, the active change forces him to choose between protection from burst or protection from poke, in the passive, it attaches his protection from burst to his ability rank. in the realm of e, the attachment of the flow refill passive builds up the frequency he can be protected and how much he can make up for using his w as well as giving him his mobility.
overall, Yasuo is inherently overloaded, and this may add to that. but overloaded isn't necessarily a bad thing, for making these changes allows for riot to see what people are abusing, look at the numbers and change the scaling to more appropriately fit him as a late game melee carry fighter or assassin. by having yasuo players invest in a playstyle depending on the situation and punish them for being uncommitted to a path, it not only allows for more counterplay, mastery and meaningful decisions, but it gives the yasuo player a connection to the champion and breaths life into yasuo as a person who comes to accept and learn from his mistakes over the course of the game. a change like this could really improve the depth of this game and even subtly promote growth from toxic players (I'm not guaranteeing miracles here though). some may hate these changes, but I feel they both fit his theme and can be healthy for the game if properly integrated, as if he ends up being too weak or too strong, we can look at a specific area to buff or nerf respectively. this isn't a one and done, this is a nit and grit accessibility suggestion for rioters on the balance team.
TL;DR?: minor rework Yasuo to make ability ranking choice relevant. Also f** you if you skipped to here with no intention of reading, I spent a lot of time appealing to logos ethos and pathos on my wall of text. you probably missed some key details. this is more comprehensive than a dumb circle jerk.
post writing thoughts: an addition that could sell the lore even more is to have yasuo say a quote upon leveling up an ability for example leveling up q could have him talking through practicing being content with his progress at first and by rank five confident in his ability "practice of technique of one kind can hone another", w could have him trying to clear his mind, being annoyed at first, then by rank five having an epiphany or something like "maybe it's okay to let go", e could start by questioning if he has a reason, but when he ranks the fifth time, says with conviction "If I give up, who's going to remember my brother?"
edit: I'd apreciate some feedback and up/downvoting if you can spare the time.
