Yasuo's and Akali's defensive measures are actually the least toxic part of their kits.

Note; this isn't a discussion on whether or not these champions are balanced. I wanted to talk about why boards' least favorite part of these kits is likely both the healthiest addition to their kits.

Since their inception, both of these champions have earned nothing but ire. They're frustrating to play against and snowball hard. Not surprising. What surprised me is when people talk about Yasuo and what makes him frustrating, they almost always go for the windwall. Windwall is a bit forgiving, and so people who say they don't like it for that reason, I get it. Every other complaint just raises more questions. It's like they forget the reason Windwall is frustrating isn't because it exists (i.e. Braum). It's frustrating because it's on Yasuo.

Yasuo's actual problem - Yasuo's actual problem is that, simply put, he has too many tools to shrug off damage. In order to make Yasuo "work", you need defensive measures. A lot of them. Yasuo was given a passively refreshing shield, a refresh on his ultimate, an absurd amount of mobility, and he'll usually take PD instead of Shiv, which was the intended item for him. As it stands he'll also get a Sterak's by 3rd item in some instances. Don't forget that his ulti moves him out of turret range if it's even remotely possible. The idea is to make him tanky enough he isn't reliant on being good at dodging/having minions so that he can just stick on you in teamfights.

It's like playing an assassin in s4, the point of DFG wasn't to superburst you. It was to make sure you popped even if you counterplayed a spell or two of mine.

The problem with both is that if the player can utilize the champion plus they have the tools, they can feel overwhelming to play against. You have a Yasuo jumping on you and there's next to nothing you can do if you don't land this CC and... Yasuo just windwalled it. The frustration is displaced onto windwall. Why? Because it counters your method of escape and it feels like there's nothing you can do against it. It is powerful, but, there are things you can do against it.

Windwall has a high CD. It's his only real defensive tool if he's being aggressed on. It can be walked through. Compare that to the low downtime on everything else in his kit, and it's pretty obvious that's the one tool he has you need to play around. He's annoying for sure because you have to play under the assumption that he'll dash up to you and combo you with his jungler at any time, but if you can cop a freeze and work around that he's at his most vulnerable since his only escape tool is one that's both obvious and outplayable.

It's also situational, and only protects him from certain types of attacks. Yes, these attacks are almost exclusively the type of attacks by midlaners, but Windwall does not stop everything you can throw at him.

With that in mind, Windwall is powerful, but that's because it should be. With the types of constraints on it, it makes sense for it to be strong when

TL;DR Yasuo's frustration comes from being reliant on being aggressive, but with too many tools that enable him. Windwall has the highest counterplay, highest downtime, and is one of the most unique concepts of that time. It definitely should not be what people hate the most.

If Yasuo's frustration is mobility coupled with an overabundance of defensive tools, Akali's is mobility coupled with an overabundance of offensive tools. From my personal perspective, I hate Akali because even though in lane there are spells you can bait out, once you get to level 6 she can use her spells in almost any order to eke out a disgusting amount of damage and overkill you from most ranges. Her most obnoxious feature is really just how much damage she packs in her final dash, Q, and passive that makes it possible for her to use the rest of her CC and mobility to approach you in almost any situation.

So where does her shroud fit in with this?

Akali's shroud enables her to get off potshots without you being able to retaliate. It's a frustrating, powerful ability for sure, but with the ability to walk away from it in lane, the high CD, and how slowly it pushes out, it's pretty easy to play around knowing that's when she wants to assert herself in lane.

Akali's W, like Yasuo's, is an enabler. The tool itself can be obnoxious, but it's does what any good gameplay tool does. It has highs and lows, when used right it's very powerful, when used wrong, it doesn't really do much for them. If you want to bother with anything on their kits trim down Akali's damage so she needs more than half her kit pre-11 to kill people, and try deal with how easily Yasuo can shrug off most damage.