Yasuo mini-rework concept
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Yasuo
Shield moved to W (active), consumes and scales with flow. Wind wall is only granted if Yasuo has full flow.
I'm one of those who bans Yasuo him every game. However, I also know Yasuo is really, really fun to play as, and I think we shouldn't change WHY a champion is fun to play except as a last resort. Rengar, Morde, and Cass mains will sympathize... and so should you, because Riot might rework your main(s) some day.
My biggest qualm with Yasuo is that there are few opportunities to go aggressive on him, particularly in lane. Get past his wind wall? Passive shield. Get past that? Dashes. And then for the couple of seconds he actually is vulnerable, he's holding on to his tornado and so you don't really want to fight him anyway. In theory, these are all long cooldowns and there's windows of weakness between them, but because Yasuo can push the wave so hard, he has plenty of time to get them all back up for almost every wave.
But, that's only if you're a ranged champ. If you're Kled and can just stat check Yasuo, it's a whole different story. It's Yas's turn to be frustrated, as his skills no longer really allow him to outplay you.
We can address both of these issues at once. Moving the shield to happen at the same time as Wind Wall means that there's an actual window of weakness to poke Yasuo or zone him off the minion wave. It adds counterplay to the wind wall by informing the opponent when it is available. It also encourages Yasuo to go aggro after wind walling an ability, instead of constantly using it to farm safely. Since it's really hard get full effectiveness out of both the wind wall AND the shield at the same time, we can buff the shield part, which is more effective vs champs that typically counter Yas. And finally, we're not taking any mechanics away from the Yasuo player or making them less fun to use. Arguably, an on-demand shield is MORE fun than one that's out of your control.
Passive - Way of the Wanderer
- [REMOVED] No more double passives: Resolve (the flow/shield passive)
W - Windshield
- [NEW] loljk: (Passive) Resolve -- Yasuo generates Flow stacks when he travels by any means.
- [NEW] Activating Windshield consumes all Flow and grants Yasuo a shield based on the amount consumed.
- You require more vespene gas: A Wind Wall is only created if Windshield is cast at full flow.
I do not claim this will fix ALL of his issues. I do think it will fix SOME of his issues, it is a relatively low-risk and resource-efficient (no new particles) change, and it adds a few more levers that the balance team could use to tune Yasuo going forward (flow generation & shield amount can scale with W rank, shield value could also get a bonus at full flow, etc).
's Passive, or something similar. You also just have to change his E to be a free dash that refund it's passive if hits a champion.