Yasuo: In preparation for my first post in the 'How to Beat X' series

HalcyonDweller··13 votes·869 views
Thinking of startin a "How to Beat" series for frustrating champions.

Hello!

I'm starting a "How to Beat X" series in which I analyze champions that players find frustrating or hard to play against and compile as much useful information and advice as I can for that.

This post will be about Yasuo.

Here are the rules:

  1. You can offer anything as advice, it can be items, playstyles, counterpicks, anything! (Just try to keep it helpful and stay on-topic.)
  2. Before you post an idea, please review the existing comments to see if it has already been suggested, if so then there's no need to make a redundant comment, just join the discussion under that comment!
  3. Be polite and constructive. You might not agree with others here, but that is no excuse to rank-shame them or dismiss their ideas. If you want to challenge their idea then provide constructive and polite counterarguments outlining why you don't think that works, or better yet outlining something else that you think works even better!

Note: to keep the post itself separate from my ideas, I'm going to add my own suggestions and ideas in the comments. Feel free to discuss them there.

20 Comments

DunkinNoobs3 votes

Looks like it's time to post my anti-Yasuo manifesto yet again.

There are a few tips that people already know about facing a Yasuo; poke his shield off with autos, he's weakest right after his tornado is gone, and he's weak to ganks. I'd like to go into more detail.

The key to beating a Yasuo in lane is proper minion management, and proper management is different depending on whether you're a ranged or melee champion. As a ranged champion, you want to keep the wave in 1 of 2 places depending on Yasuo's health relative to yours. If Yasuo is ahead or even, you want to keep the wave frozen a bit outside of your own tower, so that he has to go into tower range to order to hit you. You can basically do whatever you want to him if the wave is in this spot because you can simply retreat into tower range if he tries to go onto you. However, if you're ahead of him in health, you want to start a slow push, so you can poke him whenever he tries to CS and you'll have a buffer of minion support if he tries to all in you. In this case, he can't do much either.

For a melee champion, you want to slow push pretty much all the time. Yasuo is extremely vulnerable to being all inned by melee champions when he's trying to CS, and a good Yasuo will try to do a slow push of his own to discourage his opponent from attacking him. One important thing to understand is that while enemy minions are oftentimes Yasuo's best friends since he uses them to dash, they are also one of his biggest weaknesses since he's required to tank them in order to trade. If you can bait him into tanking alot of minions with some kind of defensive ability like an ori shield, you can very easily come out ahead in trades, provided you don't panic, keep autoing, and hit some extra free damage on him when he tries to get out.

Generally speaking, a Yasuo will always want the wave in 1 of 2 places. He either wants a slight minion advantage on his side so he can get free opportunities to poke with Q, but not so many more minions that the wave gets frozen outside the enemy tower. A good Yasuo will bait you into hitting minions with AOE abilities to push the wave back towards him if it starts to get too close to tower, allowing him to be aggressive again. The other position is for when Yasuo has a lead on his opponent; he will want to freeze outside of his tower, leaving a long trail of minions to dash through so he can all in you if you try to walk up to CS. The key to beating Yasuo is to keep the wave where you want it to be rather than the way he wants it to be, or there's not a whole lot you can do as alot of champions.

Other general tips for beating Yasuo include: Ask for ganks, an aggressive Yasuo player is very easy to bait and kill if he isn't strong enough to 1v2 already. Take exhaust as a combat summoner if your kill pressure on him is low, its a great way to neutralize his aggression in lane as well as neuter him in teamfights. If Yasuo misses his tornado, that is the time to be aggressive. His Q is on CD, he has no CC for a while, and his ult, by extension, is unavailable. And if Yasuo gets too aggressive in lane and messes up when trying to trade, all in him right then and there. If you get a lead against Yasuo, most champions will be able to zone him out heavily since he's a squishy melee only champion with no escape and no natural sustain.

And 1 final tip that almost no one knows about. Yasuo's ult is a suspension and not a knockup, which means it can be removed with QSS, Mikaels, Cleanse, Gangplanks orange, and Olaf's and Alistars ult. If you remove it, you can move immediately and will take no damage, but Yasuo will still be stuck in his ult animation until it is finished.

Sun Wu Ryuumoku1 votes

i add this : respect his lv1-2 ( depending on ur pick till lv4). This is for top lane.

HalcyonDweller2 votes

Most Yasuo's will use their Q as soon as it is off cooldown if they can in a fight to get to 3 stacks faster. Thus, during trading you can get a feel for how long of a cooldown it is on and juke it by sidestepping when you know he is about to try to hit you (specifically when he isn't dashing to you and using the AOE version).

Dope Solo2 votes

Yas is trash. Riot knows its a problem, has been for awhile and they even wrote a news item about it. Still, the trash has not been taken out and its stinking up the porch. Go figure.

HalcyonDweller6 votes

While I understand your sentiment, this is not helpful towards figuring out ways to play against Yasuo. You have come the the wrong thread to make comments like this one.

Dope Solo1 votes

The overwhelming solution of player choice in playing against yas is to ban him outright. For people playing unranked the game becomes a painful joke. My suggestion would be that Riot nerf his damage output outright 10%/week until he's no longer spamming pentakills and he's actually playable again. This should have been done already.

HalcyonDweller1 votes

Thank you for trying to contribute. However this thread is for discussing counterplay, not balance issues.

Dope Solo1 votes

I do midlaning against yas. I will say that the information about keeping him close to the turret is very helpful. Asides from that, I would say ignoring the yas and don't be too tempted to engage is also fine. If you're playing from the right distance, he'll probably resort to trying to knock you up with the tornado. If you avoid those, and manage to score some harass, eventually he'll wander off to bottom lane to get fed. Convincing your mates not to be suckered into feeding an OP is an entirely different problem. Don't engage the yas. If jg needs go bot for waveclear just keep it even. Eventually mid will push the turret enough to bring him back to lane or they may trade yas up for someone else. My most recent game played through this scenario but a lot of other things probably went right, we had good people, top held, etc.

But this isn't just a Yas problem. This is also in part, a hypermobility problem. Broken chars like Ahri, Akali and yas all have above average killing sprees for a reason, and not coincidentally, above average play rates.

Lady Hammerlock2 votes
  1. Bait out his wind wall. By either moving into a position where he'll think you're about to cast a spell, OR a low mana cost spell to just get it on CD.

  2. Try to get his passive shield down before trading. So he doesn't negate any damage from your combo/trade, also preferably avoid trading when his flow stacks are high so he doesn't get a shield mid trade.

  3. Minion control. Make sure that your wave little to no minions which would in turn reduce his mobility in lane, also watch what time minion waves spawn to see when he gets an extra set of dashes.

HudnofskiBleh2 votes

A champion that I've noticed people sleep on, specifically vs Yasuo, is Lissandra. The amount of easy to use CC in her kit allows her to punish any Yasuo who tries to get too aggressive. A lot of Yasuos will push the wave underneath tower. If you're lvl 6 on Lissandra, and considering the lack of escapes in Yasuo's kit, it'll be an easy kill if your Jungler comes to gank.

And come late game, Lissandra's CC can easily shut down a Yasuo who tries to dive your team.

Another thing I would like to say about Yasuo is that your team MUST focus him in team fights. Some people may think, "I need to focus the ADC, though." Well, Yasuo IS the AD Carry! He will melt your team if you don't remove him.

Do not clump up in a way that will allow him to ult you all in teamfights. You may think that this is obvious, but it happens quite a lot.

If I think of anything no one has said, I'll be back to post it.

Shahamut2 votes

Yasuo struggles vs burst and cc. Hence, for top lane, someone like Renketon (or heck if you are me, I play Skarner into him) Illaoi can beat Yasuo in lane since Yasuo is pretty squishy. One test of spirits hit and boom, he has to back out.

In mid lane, Annie is very good against him as long as you are careful not to just blow your abilities constantly. Use your point and click cc/burst and back off. Make sure you time this trade with your minion waves, so you aren't backing off into a traveling wave. Otherwise, he can close gap and trade back.

Kayle destroys Yasuo since her ranged attack cant be stopped by windwall. Her Q/passive/autos will shred a Yasuo and her ULT makes sure she wins close fights.

IbizaScop2 votes

step 1 : ban him

HalcyonDweller1 votes

When laning against him it is helpful to buy Ninja Tabi's early to even out the mobility disadvantage you have because of his ability to dash through minions.

This is not my own idea, but something I picked up from watching a streamer.

Source: (Solo Renekton Only)

NineTailedMystic1 votes

What about mids where sorcs are critical

KitSun91 votes

On most mids, even AP Mids I find that I can but ninjas early and get rid of them later.

HalcyonDweller1 votes

I should have specified, I meant for top lane, or for melee characters in general.

AirKingNeo1 votes

Rush Ninja Tabi and call over your jungler. Yasuo's Q gives him such a strong early game because he can reset his attack timer with it and it has a barely existent cooldown. Unless Yasuo overextends or misplays, he should beat you.

Basically, you're fucked most of the time.

AR URF1 votes

don't stand in a group of minions. and wait for him to throw out his third q. When he's level six and you can tell he's charging his q.

DunkinNoobs1 votes

Don't rush Tabis on mages ffs. Obviously rush them on top laners. Maybe rush them on AD assassins mid. Don't rush them on mages. Get Catalyst or Seekers rush if you're really feeling the pressure.

EndlessSorcerer1 votes

Even if you beat him in the laning phase, ensure you have someone on your team capable of dealing with his splitpush during the mid- and late-game. He's a fairly strong duelist so he can basically start playing like Tryndamere if he falls behind to farm and apply pressure.

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