Boards›Gameplay

My Yasuo Rework

General Veers·10/30/2014, 9:11:34 PM·3 votes·1,344 views

I'll leave discussions about whether or not Yasuo needs a rework to other threads; here I want to share my ideas for how he could be redone. My goals are to:

  1. Refocus kit around flow mechanic.
  2. Introduce build variety.
  3. Stay true to current identity.

Identity Yasuo is an aeromancer/swordsman. His skills are manaless, but revolve around a unique resource, Flow. His current kit is noted for its emphasis on swiftness, offense, defense, combos, and the knock up mechanic.

Key points of his lore: Yasuo is a champion with a strong sense of honour from the Freljord / Shurima Ionia. His swordsmanship is second only to his peerless mastery over the wind. He is on a quest of vengance/redemption after failing in his duties as a guardian.

My conclusions:

  1. Yasuo is as much a mage as he is a swordsman. His lore states he was one of the few students who mastered aeromancy.
  2. Yasuo is as much an aggressor as he is a defender. He is motivated by his failure as a guardian while defending his homeland from attack.

With these points in mind, I seek to reposition Yasuo as a multidisciplinary champion who can focus on building up those strengths that best match his team's needs. I will introduce strong scaling to all areas of his kit, including offense, defense, utility, and mobility. This strong scaling will be limited by build paths and his ability to generate Flow.

Build Paths: AD - Offense - Yasuo's primary damage stat. HP - Defense - Yasuo's shield/wall become stronger. AP - Defensive Utility - Yasuo has more flow, allowing him to maintain his defensive abilities for longer. His displacement abilities move farther. AS - Offensive Utility - ar/mr shred on ult, slow when in melee range. MS - Economy - Yasuo generates Flow faster

Passive: Aeromancer Yasuo fills a % of his Flow bar based on distance traveled (as on live). He fills a % of his Flow bar each time he hits an enemy with a basic attack or ability based on the damage dealt (small amount vs minions/monsters, larger vs champions/large monsters). Yasuo's Flow bar is divided into 4 segments (25% Flow each), and its total size scales with AP.

Q: Steel Tempest Press: Yasuo thrusts his sword forward, dealing physical damage (scaling with AD) to all enemies in a line.

Press and hold: Yasuo consumes a Flow Segment to charge and launch a tornado that travels in a line, damaging (scales strongly with AD and slightly with AP) and knocking up enemies it hits (duration scales with AP). Tornado's distance traveled scales with time charged.

Press during Sweeping Blade: Yasuo consumes a Flow Segment to deal physical damage (scaling strongly with AD and slightly with AP) to and slow (scaling with AP) enemy units in a 375-radius circle around him.

W: Wind Wall Passive: When at least 2 Flow Segments are filled, Yasuo gains a shield that persists until his flow is depleted. Shield grants crowd control reduction (scaling with HP) while its up. If Yasuo would take damage while shield is up, that damage is reduced (scaling with max HP) and Yasuo loses Flow (scaling inversely with HP).

Active: Yasuo consumes his remaining flow to create a gust of wind that travels forward to form a wall 400 units away from himself. The wall pushes enemies it collides with while traveling forward a small distance (scaling with AP). It pushes airborne enemies back twice as far. The wall has HP based on (flow consumed to make it)*(multiplier scaling with Yasuo's max HP). It nullifies the first non-minion/monster enemy projectile it encounters, and blocks further projectiles while its HP holds.

E: Sweeping Blade Costs 1 Flow segment. Has long cool down. Yasuo dashes in the direction of his cursor (up to 475 units +some distance that scales with AP). Enemies in the path take physical damage (scaling strongly with AD and slightly with AP) and are marked for a short time (scaling with HP). While the mark persists, each of Yasuo's basic attacks against that enemy apply a 1 second slow that increases with each reapplication. This ability's cooldown is reduced for each unmarked champion hit.

R: Last Breath If Yasuo has 2 or more Flow Segments, Yasuo begins consuming his Flow to grant a movement and attack speed buff to himself and nearby allies. The effect ends when Yasuo's Flow is depleted, or when toggled off.

If Yasuo has fewer than 2 Flow segments, Yasuo blinks to the nearest visible Airborne enemy champion to the cursor, instantly generating maximum Flow. Upon arriving, he suspends all airborne units within a 400-radius of his target in the air for 1 second, shredding their bonus Armour and Magic Resistance (scaling with his Attack Speed) for a short time.

Once he lands, Yasuo deals physical damage to all nearby units (scaling strongly with AD and slightly with AP)

8 Comments

Hero of skyloft10/30/2014, 9:29:38 PM2 votes

I like this, especially the windwall only blocking a specific amount of projectiles. One question, though. Do these flow segments have a flat amount to be considered a segment and as AP is scaled more segments are added, or are the segments independent of miniscule numbers, translating to 1 segment for every 20 or so AP?

Ryu the first10/30/2014, 9:50:28 PM2 votes

I actually really like this! I main him, and tbh this seems suitable as long as he gets some base health back xD. It would be awesome if this were put on the PBE, Riot!

DarthSpectrum10/30/2014, 10:44:40 PM2 votes

These changes are pretty nice.

I don't see the point of him scaling with AP though, as for most "hybrid" champions, it is more economical to concentrate on either AD or AP. Additionally, many AP item passives don't work will in a melee environment, it will be better if he his flow and wind wall operate independent of AP.

The changes on sweeping blade is alright, I personally would add a CD reduction for every enemy hit by the dash or perhaps increase the cost of subsequent dashes similar to that of void walk; since adding a CD on his main mobility skill will obviously make him a lot less mobile.

The ult changes are great, I would recommend though to just make the blink component a second cast. Let the first buff always consume 4 flow and expire by itself. Have it last 7 ~ 15 seconds (probably closer to 7), during which time he regenerate flow at a highly accelerated rate to allow spamming his charged up Q and E.

The function of the second cast remains the same as above.

GreenLore10/30/2014, 10:05:00 PM1 votes

I personally never saw Yasuos wind techniques as magic and more like anime sword-fighting techniques were you strike so fast/with a special technique,that you can manipulate the air,thus I think it'd be kinda weird to call him an aeromancer,so I'd say the name of his passive should change(or simply keep its name)