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Serious question, how do you deal with yasuo as a mage?

Iamgeyer·8/10/2018, 2:35:42 PM·38 votes·14,103 views

I genuinely don't understand. It feels like there's no possible way to punish him in lane, then he out scales you. Against zed/fizz/lb you can at least shove then punish them or roam after you shove, but against yasuo shoving isn't an option. You have to burn everything off of cool down on the wave to match his shove.

If he wants to play aggressive I see nothing I can do. He can hold his windwall until I try to stun him, so I essentially don't have a stun, and he can engage whenever he wants if I'm in lane, so I'm forced to play super far back. He also wins almost every 1v1 mid unless you're playing an assassin, then it turns into a skill matchup.

People say "bait out the windwall", but don't recognize that unless the yasuo mispositions horribly him burning windwall will never matter. He will realistically never windwall anything but cc, so he can simply a) back off for 20 seconds or b) engage on you with your key cc down for a guaranteed kill.

Zhonyas also doesn't do jack because he does insnae dps, so hell just kill you after you exit zhonyas. The armor does nothing against conquerer+his ult passive.

I played yasuo to mastery 7 and still don't know his weakness. Literally the only thing that sucked was getting ganked, but I can't control my jungler.

Maybe I'm just garbage. Maybe I'm just plat trash who can't see basic concepts. If so, please tell me what I'm missing.

60 Comments

Malak8/10/2018, 3:23:30 PM22 votes

mage as a class is insanely diverse. You have stuff like swain, then stuff like twisted fate, and then stuff like xerath and so on. All completely different.

also plat isn't trash, and you're silver 5

Jungle Pennywise8/10/2018, 3:09:20 PM13 votes

Honestly, it's not even the Windwall that's an issue on Yasuo, it's literally just his shield. Using a range advantage to poke him doesn't do much since his shield can eat two autos or an ability at level 1 and he can have it back up in 5-8 seconds by just pacing.

It makes a window to trade him very difficult to find since, if you do commit to a trade, you automatically start 2 autos or 1 ability down in damage when he gets on top of you and when he does, he deals more DPS than any champion in the game pre-6 simply due to Q spam. So if he dives on you while he's at 30% HP, if he has his shield, he can probably kill you from full before you can even get down his last 200 HP.

I played Yasuo for about 10 games and won 8 of them hard carrying. I don't even play melee champs hardly and I'm only Gold. I really couldn't tell you his weakness' either. If you play like you have a brain stem and don't overcommit to every fight, you can kinda win by just stat-checking the enemy in 1v1's. The enemy team can't actually do anything and the only way you can lose is if you actively make a mistake. He pretty much prints LP and players who main him are probably a whole tier above where they should realistically be if they mained any other champion. Yasuo mains go ahead and flame me. Lol.

Now, with that said, there are things you can do that can force a Yasuo player to make mistakes or at least keep him from affecting the game outside of your lane.

Most Yasuo players sub-Diamond are extremely aggressive, which is not how he should be played all of the time. If you're playing a mage, you need to just back off of the wave. Do not walk up and let him dash through minions to you or you'll lose half of your HP putting you in an easy kill range for him on his next trade. If this happens, back off the wave entirely. Sit under tower. 100% chance if you're at 50% HP with Yasuo, he'll wait for his shield and as soon as it's up and you step into range he'll flash > dash > auto > Q > ignite and you die every time unless you're running barrier, which you won't be because you should probably be running exhaust for him.

Rule #1 about a Yasuo in lane as a mage is to just not fight him. There is no situation you actively win a 1v1 without him misplaying extremely badly. Your goal needs to be vision control and keeping the wave off of your tower. Use your abilities to clear minion waves and get deep vision in the river and enemy jungle. Your job is to contain the Yasuo. Not feed him any kills by playing like an absolute bitch unless your jungle ganks.

Don't try to deny him CS, he'll take it anyways and then punish you for trying. Don't try to trade with him, he'll punish you for trying. Roaming is difficult against a Yasuo because he clears waves very fast, so either be smart about it or he'll punish you for trying.

Get as much CS as you can without putting yourself at risk for a trade or all-in. Ping like a fucking lunatic if he leaves lane and always keep pink wards stocked in your inventory to keep in river. If you're playing super safe, then Yasuo is going to want to just shove in the wave and roam. You can only keep the wave pushed with abilities for so long before you run out of mana. Yasuo might not be able to beat you in shoving waves, but he will definitely outlast you and when he does, you need to have vision down to see where he tries to roam to.

If he can't pick up kills in his own lane then he's going to be looking for kills in other lanes. Your job is to deny him getting fed. Yasuo relies on getting fed in the laning phase to have a reasonable impact on the game.

Now, you are going to be about as useful as Yasuo is to the game if you successfully deny him kills and roams. If you get fed, you're lucky, but just expect that you won't. Fortunately for you, though, mages have utility where as Yasuo is all damage. It is not unreasonable to build an ancient coin or something like that on your first back. Just something so you have some more gold transitioning into the mid game. You're not going to be very aggressive anyways so building damage is kind of just yet.

So yeah, the best counter to Yasuo is to avoid him and ping your team so they know to avoid him as well. It's pretty sad that the only counterplay to him is to not get near him, but what can you do. It's not like Riot's actually going to rework him.

So good luck in your games.

DW Diana8/10/2018, 2:59:19 PM9 votes

The trick to playing a Mage into Yasuo is scaling, positioning and bullying. Scaling: As a Malzahar main I know I outscale him, so I'm aiming to just not let him get fed. I will tell my jungler to leave me under my tower, and ensure Yasuo cannot roam/kill me. Positioning: I play around the tower range so if he DOES come in to attack me, he'll get a tower shot for his trouble I always rush boots; mobility is key, and use my ward to spot out tower dives early. Bullying: So I know I outscale him, and so I take runes/build items that will allow me to do maximum damage without being at risk. Corrupting Pot start with Timewarp Tonic is a great way to do this, adding Summon Aery (or Electrocute once 8.16 comes out), and scorch give me some fantastic early poke from relative safety. An early back for a Dark Seal is also a strong option, though I tend to get a tear then rush Rylais as the shield from Serephs will be invaluable, the mana sustain from tear is cheap and strong, and getting Rylais will give me much better trading (especially if you are running cheap shot!)

Final thing that is underrated but REALLY useful is Barrier. Yasuo will often use ignite when tower-diving you and trust it to finish the job. Barrier is not a heal effect and therefore is unaffected by ignites healing reduction. It also scales off AP which, if you are going the Serephs build, you will have a LOT of (Serephs gives malz about 140AP).

Yasuo is an aggressive champion. It used to be his greatest weakness against Malzahar as Yasuo players would often underestimate Malzahar's oppressiveness and early damage. Now however, with the nerfs Malz has received over the last year (including the reworked W from 2017), Malzahar cannot trade in this way and therefore must sit under tower and farm up, waiting for the moment the yasuo attempts to dive him and then look to survive/counter him. While this is a crappy reversal for a champion designed to counter someone like Yasuo, it by no means leaves him unable to contend. The alternative is, as always, to ban Yasuo. Personally I'd rather ban something more difficult for Malzahar to deal with like Ahri.

Beatrice falls8/10/2018, 2:42:36 PM5 votes

Tbh whenever I see a Yasuo, I either go Kayle (braindead counter) or Malzahar and just waveclear behind my turret without trying to harass, I just ignore him and help other lanes instead. Other than that, shrugs

Oleandervine8/10/2018, 6:45:14 PM5 votes

You pray he either passes out drunk at his keyboard, or that his mom makes him come down for dinner and he AFKs.

Gary4208/10/2018, 9:46:35 PM4 votes

You don't, literally all you're allowed to do is try your hardest to hold out long enough for your jungler or HOPEFULLY your fed botlane to come camp you.

You have 0 ability or chance to actually take Yasuo on 1v1, he has every tool needed to beat you handed to him on a golden diamond-encrusted platter while you have to struggle to do the slightest thing to inconvenience him.

Phieldworker8/10/2018, 4:31:29 PM2 votes

https://youtu.be/GhALMCGyGPc

This is a video I live by when it comes to playing against people like Zed Yasuo or other high mobility mid laners.

I think the lost important thing is make sure you have a way to return to our tower before they can even get any damage off. Don’t push too hard because you don’t usually have the mobility to get away.

Giga Baboon8/11/2018, 1:50:34 PM2 votes

Yasuo teaches a master class in game design, because you literally have 0 agency as a mage player vs yasuo

You ever want to go into game design kids, learn from certainlyT and never do what he does

Cptn Han SoloQ8/11/2018, 2:31:35 PM2 votes

A 3 way system.

Step 1: If u see a Yasuo do not pick a mage. Step 2: If Yasuo get's locked in after u already picked a mage, dodge the game. Step 3: Actually fck step 1 and 2, just permaban the fcker.

mack91128/10/2018, 6:19:01 PM2 votes

I personally play velnoz and never really have a problem against a Yas player except when he is well you know better than me but I understand to appreciate that and learn from it.

rayzo8/11/2018, 4:18:06 AM2 votes

Cry
Ban him and cry anyway because the enemy team has

Poske8/10/2018, 4:20:27 PM2 votes

His E travels fixed distance. So essentialy you shouldnt have problem hitting him

Look if you struggle aiming moving target you generaly suck at games. You just match yasuo hyperactivity with your mouse He cant windwall while he is dashing. Abuse it

I wouldnt reccomend picking ori into him, I wouldnt reccomend ryze for a silver player.. your champion pool is meh

You are also silver 5 not "plat trash"

Thefrostyviking8/11/2018, 1:05:12 PM1 votes

Long story short, most mages get crapped on by a Yasuo who knows his things.

You simply do not beat him unless he goofs off.

Having skimmed through the comments, i´ll tell my thoughts on the 3 mentioned by you sir OP.

TF does not win lane, rather you should just try to push and farm as best you can and hit 6 quickly to get a good roam off before he scales up enough to quickly take towers.

With a small lead you´ll be able to shove him back and keep roaming, but not beat him because he counters you in a 1v1 much too hard.

Ahri struggles because he knows he can just sit on windwall but you can at least poke him, i´d personally try to ward a side of midlane so i have good vision off it then stand next to but a slight bit away the minions on that side.

Early boots+upgrade are recommended for the extra speed helps you kite him, and Ahri in this regard is well off due to her ability to speed up if you land things nicely.

Good thing about ahri is that she quickly becomes able to clear waves fast and roam around so use that, if you get a lead you´ll be strong enough to beat him 1v1 if he blows windwall for any reason when you have stuff up.

Lux can be the least risky but also potentially the most rewarding here i think, you can poke his shield down fairly easily and if he shows and sign of wanting to dash towards you its easy to just drop E on the ground infront of you and where he is going.

Many Yasou will actually W here on reflex thinking you are about to throw it right at them, and then keep going towards you before they realize where you actually planted it.

If he gets stupid and dashes in on that he´ll be slowed and you can just detonate it and Q-AA him, if he doesnt windwall then you leave the E and just keep backing up and detonate it when he is about to leave it.

As Lux you wont waveclear as well but you can also play safe and stay back without losing too much for it, your teamfights can be really good.

But fundamentally Yasou is to mages what Irelia is to marksmen, someone you generally should never try to 1v1 post some point.

Sirsir8/11/2018, 1:13:10 PM1 votes

If you're a siege mage you're hard countered. It happens. Play passive and farm, hes gonna outscale, but you can still be useful if you don't feed.

You could play Malz, Diana, Vlad etc, or ban him

Tobykachu8/11/2018, 2:49:40 PM1 votes

Honestly the best advice I can give you, for the majority of mages, is play safe and wait/hope he outplays himself (I know this isn't ideal advice). He uses his wind wall at a bad time? Now's your chance to try and land some poke. He wastes all of his dashes and then dashes on top of you? Try to all in him then. He goes aggressive when your jungler is here? Try to kill him then. Apart from that, he's got way too many tools in his kit that completely invalidate a severe number of the roster.

Bisaknosp8/11/2018, 8:53:15 PM1 votes

ban him and pray he gets reworked/deleted

RainXBlade8/12/2018, 3:27:20 AM1 votes

Hope that the Yasuo is a braindead Bronze V player that goes 0/10.

BobaFlautist8/10/2018, 7:43:17 PM1 votes

Lose lane, win game, I've found. Yas is weai to jungle pressure too. Just sit super back, cede farm, and grab stopwatch/zhonya's for when he lands his tornado. Sometimes I just straight up build item 3047 item 1031 item 3157 against him to reduce the kill pressure.

Arcane Blue Boi8/10/2018, 9:36:25 PM1 votes

you dont have to deal with yasuo if you permaban him

FilDaFunk8/10/2018, 9:37:41 PM1 votes

In a teamfight, mages tend to be very powerful with their control spells. I tend to just try to avoid feeding him (doesn't always work) and hope my team can follow up on my control spells.

Whitneyz Miltank8/10/2018, 9:41:18 PM1 votes

The main idea of Yasuo's gameplay is that he is given the tools a champion needs to outplay other champions. More specifically, his (conditionally) insane mobility that he can utilize in order to render skillshots useless, and his Windwall mechanic that allows him to deal with targeted (and not targeted) projectiles as well. The more unreliable your champion's kit is, the more likely you are going to struggle against Yasuo. And that leads to: pick a champion with a kit that is extremely reliable, meaning that it has few skillshots and focuses on targeted spells, or instant cast AoE abilities, especially ones that come with CC as well. Prime examples of this are: Annie Lissandra Malzahar .

Annie Annie sucks against mages that outrange her, aka quite frankly the majority of them, but she excels against melee & mobile champions. Her stun is a giant zoning tool against any of them, and the fact that she can reliably stun Yasuo anytime he tries to get close with her W (because its unaffected by windwall) makes it easy for Annie to disengage or engage Yasuo (having the ability to reliably disengage Yasuo is the absolute most important thing you can do as a mage during the laning phase against Yasuo). It's also worth nothing that Annie's stun is NOT consumed if it is interrupted by her Q'ing into the windwall. Basically, Annie's extremely simple and reliable kit doesn't give room for Yasuo to outplay her.

Lissandra is similar to Annie in the sense that she's packed with short ranges and instant cast, reliable CC. Lissandra can reliably disengage Yasuo with her instant cast root W ability, and also has a point and click stun to further lock down Yasuo. or a free Zhonya. Getting your E blocked by windwall is kind of harsh tho.

I don't personally play Malzahar, but once again: reliable point and click VERY HARD CC that doesn't give much room for Yasuo to outplay.

Child of the Pit8/10/2018, 10:41:53 PM1 votes

What kind of mage, there are some mages that counter him, some that he counters, you must specify

KlydeFrog8/11/2018, 1:31:22 AM1 votes

Play cass. Windwall doesn't block her q

Cosnirak8/11/2018, 1:43:53 AM1 votes

The primary problem is that with minions around he beats most mages at nearly everything and when they aren't around he can just walk away and wait for the next wave. With minions there he effectively matches or outranges most mages, thus removing the one potential advantage they have on him. His dps is way higher than any mage's during lane. His sustain easily shrugs off most poke unless he repeatedly screws up massively. Essentially you cannot win lane against him 1v1. Either your jg gets some good ganks on him or you both farm and play it safe and try to either out roam or out team fight him later.

Burns Master8/11/2018, 2:46:46 AM1 votes

Cassiopeia and Swain are my usual answers to Yasuo.

Vladimir at times too.

Yasuo is annoying to play against anyways no matter who you are IMO. With Conqueror he literally has a solution to every type of class. Surprised how people feed on him at times.

I Smell Pizza8/11/2018, 4:27:44 AM1 votes

Ban him

AkoyPinoy8/11/2018, 5:49:13 AM1 votes

For mages that struggle against yasuo, you basically just want to turn the early game into a farm lane. Yasuo does not roam that well, so it should be pretty easy to warn your team of his ganks. Your objective is to keep the same level as him while keeping up your cs. After this, you want to win through teamfights by being a larger presence than him through utility or sheer damage. Or you can focus on him by waiting for him to use his windwall against your teammates or when he leaves its protection; which leaves him vulnerable.

Playing champions like Lux, Tf, Ahri, or Xerath, you want to start clearing the wave before they even crash. This gives you the opportunity to match his push or even push faster than him. This allows you "roam" and use your ult to help side lanes. If you're playing someone with little waveclear and bad roaming potential, you can hope for a jungle gank or don't pick that champ against Yasuo.

Noor Sakata8/11/2018, 11:58:28 AM1 votes

Yasuo to be good in lane , he has to push and prevent you from farming , but he gets really easy to gank