Let's talk Yasuo (Discussion)

Ahh Yasuo. Mr Permaban, everyone's worst nightmare whether on your team or the opposing one. Yasuo is a giant wildcard, being both hard to play yet ridiculously strong when played well.

Highlighting both strengths and weaknesses is important when discussing a champion, as otherwise you end up making any champion sound either under or overpowered. As such, let's go over them.

Strengths:

Great mobility when inside a creep wave. Tons of damage when ahead, due to double crit chance. Has multiple viable build paths. Hard counters several match ups (eg Lux). Snowballs like mad. Great utility in windwall, aoe knockups, and ultimate. As such, can contribute even when behind.

Weaknesses:

Gets hard countered in several match ups (eg Malphite). Susceptible to being flanked, as he cannot use his own minions to dash. Does little damage when behind, due to his crits dealing less damage than any other champion's crits. Squishy, relies on windwall, mobility, and passive shield to survive. While bruiser Yasuo is a thing, this still holds true.

With that behind us, let's talk about his current issues:

As of right now, Yasuo feels oppressive to play against. It feels like no matter how hard you shit on him in lane he always seems to comes back. And if he wins lane it's even worse.

To be honest though, all of these aren't a problem. If a Darius gets ahead, he's going to 1v5 your entire team. If a Nasus gets ahead he's going to 1v5 your entire team.

The problem with Yasuo isn't his damage, his mobility, his ultimate, or anything like that. His problem is that parts of his kit have zero counterplay, the most glaring example being his Wind Wall.

Wind Wall is an amazing spell, with almost ultimate level power. It hypothetically renders Yasuo, as well as his entire team, completely IMMUNE to ranged attacks and spells. On top of being immune, Wind Wall cannot be broken or played around in any way other than trying to run around it.

This is frankly the most unacceptable part of Yasuo's kit. Every single other shield or healing concept has counterplay, or a limit to their effectiveness. Kayle Ultimate renders one invulnerable, but still susceptible to CC. Morgana renders you spell immune, but breaks after a certain point of damage. All healing spells and abilities can be countered via grievous wounds. Even Braum, the closest in terms of ability to Yasuo's Wind Wall, has many limitation tied to his version of the spell, including that he takes the full effects of all skillshots, and still take damage even if its mitigated damage.

So why is it acceptable for Yasuo to have an INVINCIBLE shield that essentially makes ranged champions irrelevant? Nerfing Yasuo's stats is NOT the way to balance him. Removing parts of his kit like they did with Azir is also not the way to balance him. Inherently, Yasuo is a BALANCED and HEALTHY concept of a champion, based around mobility and skill. It is only when parts of his kit move away from outplay that he becomes unbearable.

My suggestion? Give Wind Wall a health bar. Make it absorb only X damage before fading away. I'm talking like 100 HP, going up by another 100 per rank.

In exchange, let it block tower shots and Baron attacks, while removing Yasuo's passive shield's ability to do so. Give Wind Wall that utility that it could never have before. Let Yasuo players make those hero dives. Wind Wall would only be able to absorb 1-2 tower shots before disappearing, and that would give Yasuo players a time limit to get in, get the kill, and get out. Yasuo's passive shield would only absorb champion damage, and nothing else.

What are your thoughts on the Unforgiven? Leave your comments and discuss.