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Ideas to change Yasuo from a former Yasuo lover.

TW Bunny·1/14/2018, 6:13:27 PM·1 votes·406 views

Hello,

First, I'm sorry if there is any grammar mistake here, I'm not a native English speaker, so I'll try my best. Before I start, I'm making this very clear : I don't hate Yasuo, in fact I used to love him a lot. And I want to love him again. I find that there is issues with the way Yasuo currently works, even though it's from my perspective. You can agree or disagree. It's an actual attemp to change Yasuo to the way he was back then, which is I think the best way Yasuo can ever be. I mean by that, make Yasuo an actual DPS, and not Tanksuo.

I'm currently a Riven player with 950k mastery points ranked Platinum 3. The reason I write this post is to give some ideas in order to make Yasuo healthier to play against. Not by reworking him, but by changing the numbers on his kit. As Riven, I usually destroys Yasuo early game, and that's normal. Riven counters Yasuo, right? But for some reason, after a little while (usually 10 deaths) Yasuo starts destroying every single champion on the rift.

I'm making this a Riven issue, but it's actually a general issue. Yasuo is capable of carrying a game even though he died 10 times. I mean, if you get into the late game, it should be normal. But he does this when he has IE, Tabi and Phantom Dancer. The issue here is this : Tabis and Phantom Dancers passive stack. If you add to that a GA, it's even worse.

People usually complain about his E or W. That he has too much mobility, and he can negate A LOT of damage with his W from the ennemy for him and his team. That's not what I think is the issue.

Lets look at Yasuo's Q:

  • Steel Tempest : 20 / 45 / 70 / 95 / 120 (+ 100% AD).

There's an issue here. First, the base damage is quite high for a 1.33s cooldown spell that also can bump when it's stacked twice. But the biggest one here, is the ratio. It's 100% total AD. What I think it should be, at least, make it a bonus AD ratio. It would prevent Yasuo players to build things like Frozen Mallet that gives literally 700 HP. Increase the ratio if needed, but make it bonus AD. Base damage has to be tuned down though, so Yasuo doesn't actually become the best DPS in the game. That's, in my opinion, the reason why Yasuo is so hated by the community. His ability to deal damage while being incredibly tanky (in 1v1 I mean).

Second issue : Tabi and Phantom Dancer. Those two items give both 12% damage reduction. I'm not that good at math, but let's try, you'll tell me if I'm wrong somewhere.

Yasuo has 87.8 base armor at level 18, according to the League wiki. Add to that ninja tabi (+30) and GA (+30). Lets say Yasuo doesn't get the armor rune from the resolve tree. That makes Yasuo have 147.8 armor at level 18. IIRC, 147.8 armor equals to (100/(100+147.8)) damage reduction. Which is approximatively 60% damage reduction from armor only.

The formula for the taken damage is the following : Damage taken = Damage x (Damage reduction from armor). But Yasuo has Tabi + Phantom Dancer so the formula here is Damage taken = Damage x (Damage reduction from armor) x (Damage reduction from Tabis) + (Damage reduction from Phantom Dancer).

Lets say Yasuo is supposed to take 1000 damage. Then it is : Damage taken = 1000 x (1-0.6) x (1-0.10) x (1-0.12) = 316.8 damage taken.

Now I know that Tabis is only for auto attacks and Phantom Dancer is from all sources, but negating 683.2 damage from 1000 is incredible. Way too much for a champion that is supposed to be a melee ADC. He has his shield to protect him, lifesteal too and the windwall. He should not have that much damage reduction.

This is, in my humble opinion, the reason why Yasuo is hated more than he should be. Tabi and Phantom dancer are making him tilting to play against. Not his E, not his windwall which are his main strenghts. But this very combination of items, that gives him so much survavibility in 1v1's, even 1v2's. Who can say he never saw a Yasuo being 1/10 and somehow still carry the game without an issue? Who never faced a Yasuo that they destroyed just to see him instantly kill anyone when he has his Tabis, his Phantom Dancer and his IE.

So, lets recap :

Firstly, I think Yasuo's Q should have lower base damage, but that's only if his ratio is increased. But what I think is necessary, is making the 100% total AD ratio a Bonus AD ratio. That should prevent Yasuo from doing insane damage just with IE, Phantom Dancer and GA. He should come back to the old Yasuo, which was heavily damage oriented, instead of the current one. This should also make him less a carry when he's 0/10.

Secondly, Tabi and Phantom Dancer are too strong combined. Their passives should be unique, and not stackable (Along with Death Dance too).

Finally, you understand it. I would rather see a 10/0 Yasuo carrying a game by himself as a DPS champion, than a Tabi Phantom Dancer IE GA and Frozen Mallet Yasuo carrying from way behind. Yasuo is, and should be in my opinion, a DPS. Yes, I'm talking from a Riven player perspective who managed to make Yasuo go 0/4, but who was after unable to do anything to him (aswell as my team) after the 10 death mark. Yes I did mistakes in those games since I'm a Platinum 3 scrub, but I'm sure that if Yasuo was in his old state, we maybe could've won the game.

It is not a post where I complain about Yasuo and cry for a total nerf or for a delete of the champion. I'm genuinly trying to point out where Yasuo is too "cancer", and trying to make Yasuo a better champion to play, and to play against.

Let me hear your opinions, in a civilised manner. Thank you for reading me.

6 Comments

Shahamut1/14/2018, 6:50:14 PM1 votes

Yasuo has a weak/strong early game (mostly weak) based on matchup. His mid game is meh and his late game is strong. Yasuo comes back after 10 kills only if he gets a lot of farm and kill steals from his team.

Itemization works harder against Yasuo than it does for him. For example: as Riven let's say you buy 1 defensive item plus Tabi vs a Yasuo, say, Randuins Omen. Yasuo already does 10% reduced critical strike damage, Tabi reduces his damage another 10%, and Randuins reduces it another 20%. Yasuo could auto you for 1000 and only deal 600 damage before armor is applied, and slow his attack speed.

Yasuo is currently back to a slightly less than ok spot. I think around a 49% win rate. The only reason he will need major changes is if RIOT wants to see him in the LCS. For solo queue and regular play though, he's fine.

On a side note: even with a frozen mallet, Yasuo isn't very tanky. Even combined with phantom dancer and Tabi. He seems tanky mostly due to blood thirster in those late game duels. Tanksuo is dead (frozen force/PD, plus resist items) Once they took crit off of triforce, Yasuo had no other way to get 100% crit except IE for the last 20%. Ironically, that was also the only time he was popular in LCS play.