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Bronze Logic: Yasuo Nerfs.

a very bad nado·8/4/2016, 10:34:45 AM·5 votes·1,767 views

So today I decided to take the time to discuss a particular topic that people specifically from Bronze elo just don't seem to understand and it's basically that, Yasuo does NOT need nerfs whatsoever. He's fine where he currently is right now. It's just, the thing that's making him be perceived as "really overpowered" right now is his Frozen Force build. Now I know Riot are still going to nerf him in whatever way possible within the next couple of patches, however, I just wanted to take the time to make this thread and just express my initial thoughts and feelings about how hysterical it is the fact that, a lot of Bronze players think that Yasuo is just completely broken, needs a ton of nerfs and is way too overpowered.

Yasuo isn't "broken". He doesn't need nerfs and he certainly isn't "way too overpowered". It's just that, a lot of Bronze players are just so frickin bad and they don't know how to outplay a simple Yasuo. It's not rocket science or anything. There are a variety of ways in which you can counter a Yasuo, whether you're playing a melee type of champion or even a ranged type of champion. Either way, if you're one of those players who by the end of reading this entire thread still think Yasuo needs a shit ton of nerfs, I honestly think you deserve to stay stuck in Bronze. Like legit, I'm not saying this to be offensive or anything towards anyone, no, I'm just saying this because this is something that needs to be said.

If anything, let's go ahead and talk about the Frozen Force build itself. Now for those of you who didn't already know, the Frozen Force build was first introduced by a Challenger tier Yasuo main himself - Arkadata. The build consists primarily of 2 core items. Frozen Mallet and Trinity Force. Now, according to Riot, the problem here is that, Tank Yasuo just seems to be relatively strong right now. Tank Yasuo has actually been a bit of a thing for a few seasons now, however, it has only just become a popular build not too long ago and in fact, it has also increased Yasuo's win rate in the top lane. Tank Yasuo is only strong right now because of his immense sticking power on enemy targets. He's also strong because of his ult enabling him to stay pretty tanky while being able to 5-man ult.

Now what I don't understand here is that, if Tank Yasuo seems to be pretty strong right now because of the Frozen Force build, why don't Riot just slightly nerf Frozen Mallet? Like instead of doing something as absurd as decreasing the damage on Yasuo's Q for whatever rank, they could just slightly nerf Frozen Mallet and make it so that it applies a much less of a % of a slow to a target's Movement Speed or something along those lines. Because if anything, nerfing the damage on Yasuo's Q for whatever rank won't exactly solve this situation. It'll only just discourage Yasuo players out there from actually playing him because, well, he's just receiving some useless nerfs that aren't really doing him any good whatsoever.

In addition, if Tank Yasuo is so strong right now, why was the Frozen Force build introduced by Arkadata in the first place? I mean, if people had already introduced tank builds for champions such as Ekko, Fizz, Akali etc. then why in the hell would Arkadata want to introduce one for Yasuo? I mean I can understand if he just wanted people to try out the build and just see how it felt, however, it's pretty ironic how Arkadata introduced a tank build for Yasuo despite knowing that, when Tank Ekko and Tank Akali first became a thing back then, they turned out to be super strong. Now it's like, he introduces one for Yasuo, gets people to try it out, people (especially Bronzes) think that Yasuo in general is just absolutely completely broken so they instantly demand really big nerfs for him just because they don't know how to outplay one and then Arkadata randomly just starts posting ideas on some of the nerfs that Yasuo could receive. Like, hello? Arkadata? Are you okay? I get that you're a Challenger tier Yasuo main and all but come on dude, don't just say to people "Oh hey you should try out this build!" or whatever and then later on, as time goes, that build starts getting a lot more attention and a much more higher win rate in a a particular role and then you start saying, "Look, Yasuo's damage on his Q definitely needs to be reduced man." Like whaaat? Try to be more constructive with your criticism.

I mean I know that Riot still have yet to nerf Yasuo in whatever way possible, however, they shouldn't just directly nerf any of his abilities. They should just primarily focus on nerfing the elements to the Frozen Force build because that just seems a lot more logical as well as reasonable. Then again it's Riot, who knows what stupid trick they'll have up their sleeves this time.

Last but not least, I just wanted to make this completely clear for everyone who took the time and effort to read this entire thread. I am not a "biased Yasuo main". I only have Yasuo at mastery level 5 with only like 24,000 champion points. Look me up if you have to, my Summoner name is Zachawyyyy. That doesn't mean to say though that I'm an actual Yasuo main. I just enjoy playing him sometimes, whether it's in the top lane or in fact the mid lane. Neither am I actually biased. I looked at both the pros and cons of Tank Yasuo so, that doesn't really make me biased in any way.

33 Comments

Espy Psyche8/4/2016, 11:27:23 AM5 votes

Yasuo IS very strong right now, and probably SHOULD be nerfed. But hitting his Q isn't going to fix it. That's not where the problem with Yasuo lies.

His Sweeping Blade has a static CD from 0.5 seconds down to 0.1 and a separate on-target cooldown. What needs to happen to fix Yasuo is to increase the static CD to something like 1.5 seconds. This will slow him down, making it so that he can actually be hit by skillshots. Right now, he can't be hit by anything that isn't point and click because of his ridiculous mobility.

I'd also dramatically increase the cooldown of Last Breath at higher ranks. Right now it's 80/55/30. I would take it to something like 80/70/60 (maybe 80/65/50 at the lowest). For such an impactful ultimate, 30 seconds is far too low. Lux's Final Spark has 80/65/50, and it does nothing but damage and can miss. Yasuo can't miss his ult, and it carries AoE CC with it that can completely flip a teamfight.

I'm going to come back to this topic tonight and do a rework on Yasuo in the style of my previous Zed nerf when I have the time (I'm trying to go to work right now).

Nahui8/4/2016, 10:55:36 AM3 votes

If frozen mallet was a problem, we'd see it abused across the board. If one champion abuses it, nerf the champion. This is why yasuo is getting it.

Also, Riot doesn't balance around bronze. Your condescension with this is immature and really hurts your post. They balance plat+. You can't say "Lol L2P vs yasuo, that's all" when his win rate spikes with a particular build. That logic can be turned on any champion and any build and suddenly no more nerfs ever.

They'll nerf yasuo because he deserves it. They'll most likely buff ratios and nerf base which is perfectly fair on a champ like yasuo.

ImTheSideKick8/4/2016, 10:58:20 AM3 votes

takes no resources free shields free pen free crits long range poke so much mobility low cd's his ult

and worse of all (in my opinion anyways) a basic ability that blocks literally every thing from active items to auto's to freaking almost every ult in the game

yeah.... doesn't need a nerf at all

Yooba11/6/2016, 3:12:18 AM2 votes

Yasuo is the only reason these silver kids aren't challenger yet

Kinky Fizz8/4/2016, 10:45:17 AM1 votes

hello imo, you can't nerf an item because other champs use the same item and will get a nerf indirecty and theses champs don't actually need a nerf

Espy Psyche8/5/2016, 12:35:30 AM1 votes

I promised a full Yasuo nerf in the style of my Zed nerf. Here we go

Innate -- Way of the Wanderer:

Intent: Yasuo's critical strike chance is doubled, but his crits deal 90% damage.

Resolve: Yasuo generates 1% of his maximum flow per 59/52/46 units he travels by any means 2.8%/3.2%/3.6% of his maximum flow per quarter second spent in motion. At maximum flow, the next instance of champion or monster damage against Yasuo consumes all of his flow and shields him for 100-510 damage for up to 1 second.

Q -- Steel Tempest:

Active: Yasuo thrusts his sword forward, dealing 20/40/60/80/100 (+100% AD) physical damage in a line. Steel Tempest can critically strike for 75% bonus damage and applies on-hit effects to the first enemy hit. Hitting an enemy generates a stack of Gathering Storm for 10 seconds. At 2 stacks, Yasuo's next Steel Tempest is empowered and will consume all stacks.

Empowered: Steel Tempest unleashes a whirlwind that travels an extended distance, dealing the same damage and knocking airborne all enemies hit.

Yasuo can cast Steel Tempest during Sweeping Blade to change the area of effect to a circle around him, which does not benefit from Empowered's extended range.

The cooldown of Steel Tempest is reduced by 0.6% per 1% bonus attack speed, up to a maximum 66% reduction. Steel Tempest can be cast while moving.

Cooldown: 4 Stab range: 475 Whirlwind range: 900 800 Circle range: 375

W -- Wind Wall:

Cost: All current Flow.

Yasuo creates a gust of wind that travels to form a wall in front of him. The wall slowly drifts to 50 units in front of him and blocks all enemy projectiles except turret shots created by champions.

Range: 400 (the wall appears 400 units in front of Yasuo) Duration: 4 Wall width: 300/350/400/450/500

E -- Sweeping Blade: Yasuo dashes in a fixed distance in the direction of the target enemy and marks them, dealing 70/90/110/130/150 (+60% AP) magic physical damage. The speed of the dash scales with Yasuo's movement speed.

Each cast increases the next dash's base damage by 25% for 5 seconds, up to 50% bonus damage.

Yasuo cannot dash to a marked enemy.

On-Target Cooldown: 10/9/8/7/6 Static Cooldown: 0.5/0.4/0.3/0.2/0.1 1.5 Range: 475

R -- Last Breath: Yasuo blinks to the nearest visible Airborne enemy champion to the cursor, instantly generating maximum Flow. Upon arriving, he suspends all Airborne enemies for 1 second adds 1 second to the duration of all existing Airborne effects and deals 200/300/400 (+170% bonus AD) to all affected enemies.

For the next 15 10 seconds, Yasuo ignores 50% 30% of his target's bonus armor. Casting Last Breath clears all stacks of Gathering Storm.

Range: 1200 1000 Cooldown: 80/55/30 90/75/60

The goals of the rework is to not reduce the power of Yasuo but to make it less frustrating to play against and easier to counterplay. I'll break down each change.

Innate -- Resolve: The change to how Yasuo generates flow does not affect his flow generation in normal movement. However, it does reduce the flow he can gain by using E through minions constantly.

Q -- Steel Tempest: Steel Tempest can now be cast while moving, which mitigates some of the effect of the Resolve change, but Yasuo now can't cast it during Sweeping Blade. This changes the dynamics of last hitting under turret, forcing him to take a slightly more unsafe position to clear waves under tower.

W -- Wind Wall: The ability now drains all flow, reducing Yasuo's survivability in the middle of a fight slightly. He now also puts it straight out in front of him, not letting it move from him to the target. This means Yasuo can't block projectiles from right on top of him, allowing champions like Gragas or Braum to dive onto him and CC him.

E -- Sweeping Blade: The ability is now changed from magic damage to physical damage, increasing the effect of itemizing Armor against Yasuo. The ability now also can't be cast in total as often (same on-target CD), so Yasuo can't constantly dash in and out of the minions. This is to force him to use his Wind Wall to protect himself from skillshots instead of simply being immune due to so much mobility.

R -- Last Breath's does better CC now (since it's now a regular knockup instead of a suspension, it's not affected by CC reduction any more), but it has a longer cooldown. The meaningful cooldown means that if Yasuo uses the ultimate for a pick, he doesn't have it if a teamfight breaks out soon after. The duration and effect of the armor penetration at the end was reduced, but the up-front damage on the ability was increased.

The changes are to reduce Yasuo's ability to harass early and avoid incoming damage. This is what makes him irritating to fight -- his ability to avoid anything thrown at him. If he has actual risk in farming early, he can be kept down. If he has actual risk in fighting someone, he can be killed 1v1. He's still going to be extremely strong late game with ridiculous damage, but he'll have to skirmish on the outside to get his first two Qs, then throw the third and actually hit. He can't constantly E around the fight and be untouchable to most skills. He also can't just E into the enemy team for the sure-hit on the knockup to set up the ult -- he has to actually hit the skillshot tornado.

Hotaru is Waifu5/21/2017, 5:23:08 AM1 votes

i think that people want lee sin nerfed again is crazy i think hes in a good spot