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Yasuo, the more annoying than OP champion

Joxac·3/11/2014, 1:17:20 AM·1 votes·1,023 views

There's still some complaints about Yasuo's kit that are troubling summoners. The main concern is his mobility paired with strength. From the description of how Yasuo is (meant) to be played, he is a high risk high reward role. The mobility I believe is perfectly fine, it lets him move quickly across a team fight, yet it isn't an instant jump to carries such as Katarina shunpo or Diana / Akali ultimate. The problem as I've experienced isn't the mobility, it's his Steel Tempest. The combination of high AD ratio, applying on-hit effects, low cd that gets lower with Yasuo main attribute (attack speed), and ability to be effective cc on a third strike. Having it be a set up into his ultimate is perfectly fine, but Yasuo's ability to miss and have it back up within an extremely short amount of time make it a frightening move. There are a couple idea's I've considered that could be enough to effectively make yasuo the high risk high reward champion he was made to be without taking away his strength from his kit.

  1. A quick and temporary fix would be to just nerf his Steel Tempest scaling, or even make it do a flat amount of damage with no scaling. This would let lane opponents be able to take a hit or 2 while attempting to farm/harass through his passive shield.

  2. Steel Tempest can keep it's scaling, as it is essential to his kit, but no longer able to apply on hit effects. Yasuo is able to tear through fights and shred tanks even without activation of Last Breath simply because of Steel Tempest landing crits and giving Lifesteal in addition to his basic attacks.

  3. My final (and most preferred) thought for a change is to allow Steel Tempest to remain the same. However, on the third strike releasing the cyclone, Steel Tempest is put on an extended cooldown time. Typically it takes around 4-8 seconds to charge up the third strike, depending on item choice and points in the skill. Although it takes a decent time for the third strike, Yasuo is able to cast his other 2 charges within this time, enabling him to harass and keep dominance in lane. This idea of an extended cooldown is that when the 3rd strike is used, Steel tempest cannot be reactivated for another 10+ seconds. This gives Yasuo players a choice, they can either attempt to harass with the 3rd strike and go in with Last Breath, or to wait out the timer and be able to cast Steel Tempest 2 more times. As for lane opponents, if yasuo uses this 3rd strike, this is an opportunity to engage/harass/push and gain dominance in the lane.

The reason for this 3rd idea is because of the lack of window of opportunity on Yasuo. A lot of high risk champs have an ability that leaves them vulnerable if misused. Some examples are:

Katarina Bouncing Blades doesn't reach enemy champion so there will be no bonus damage, Death Lotus being interrupted

Akali Either not having an Essence of Shadow, or has run out of energy

Diana Missing her Crescent Strike/Using Lunar Rush on an unmarked enemy

To a lesser extent Khazix missing his initial jump and losing an amount of burst

These are a few examples of champions that must be played correctly and with precision in order to be effective. Yasuo has the potential to be just as deadly, however he is missing that window of opportunity to be vulnerable. As of his current state, he is less of high risk high reward and is leaning towards high reward for landing a spammable ability.

These are just my thoughts on how to improve and and change Yasuo to be a champion that takes more practice and skill to master as was his concept. None of it is completely necessary, as there are a few champs that can endure his harass and a few that could outburst him. It's just an idea, what does the community think?

7 Comments

Leshracc3/11/2014, 5:34:13 AM1 votes

I'm not entirely against this post, yes Yasuo can be annoying, but gets shredded just like any of your other examples by the exact same thing- hard CC. Also I'd like to point out that his "extra autoattack" in his Q is replacing other interesting abilities that could be in his kit, and accounts for a very large amount of his power if you can use it properly.

I'd also like to ask what you mean by your last little paragraph..Yasuo is an extremely high skill cap champion regardless of the fact that he ends up hitting as hard as any hyper carry late game. Just take some time to think about when you lane against a good Yas VS a bad one- A Yasuo who is going to bait your every skillshot with well-timed jukes around the lane before coming in for the kill. The problem is that people still aren't using CC properly or bringing enough to the table to deal with a 2-3 carry team. Take him into a 3s match and watch what a high CC team can do to you without Cleanse/QSS.

Yes I enjoy playing Yasuo, but it isn't because hes "OP" or a FOTM champion. I enjoy Yasuo because he stimulates my thought process on how to screw with the enemy in ways most other champions just don't. The more you play with him the more interesting things you can discover, the more viable builds you find, because items many people find unviable for builds (cough Calling cough) actually work really well on him and let you stay more situational while be relevant.

ChaosThief3/21/2014, 3:28:29 PM1 votes

The only changes I really think he needs(From PBE gameplay): Change his crit damage from 90-80%, maybe 75%, for double chance 10% reduction isn't much AT ALL. 2nd: ult damage lowered(by half? 35%? I don't think it's intended for tons of damage, just for diving in and armor pen really.