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Potential Idea for Yasuo Rework

Mrazhall·7/2/2017, 3:04:16 PM·4 votes·575 views

Preface: This was just a silly idea that I came up with. It will have no actual use or implication on the game, but it was fun to think up. If you want to see the latest and greatest, the second version, if you will, of this, please check here.

I love Yasuo's general idea and lore, his edginess and ability to keep killing whatever is in his path, until he dies. Yasuo's kit, as of now, revolves around being a high damaging, highly mobile, high sustain monster that destroys teamfights with his AOE CC. He is an assassin and a supreme teamfighter, all in one, and that should stop. He is described as the embodiment of cancer for most players, especially at lower ELOs, and I know that Riot is looking towards a rework, but I think I have some really good ideas for how his new kit should be. I think that his kit should revolve around being an assassin, where either his target dies, or he dies, and he has little means of escape, unlike his kit now where he can easily dash to his target, assassinate them, be quite healthy, and simply dash out. What I would like to see changed in Yasuo's kit is a removal of his CC and minimizing defense, but keeping his ability to make flashy outplays on the forefront, similar to Zed or Ekko, but with a completely different kit.

Assassins should not have the ability to hard-CC, and most of them don't. The ones that do (Shaco, Rengar, Fizz, Ekko, and LeBlanc) are considered some of the most BS champions in-game. That is why I think Yasuo's CC should be removed.

Secondly, most assassins do not have a flat-out defensive ability (flow-shield). Rengar has his W and empowered W and Ekko has his W. Again, considered some of the most annoying champions to deal with. Other champions with mobility spells to escape their opponents (Shaco, Akali, Zed, Fizz, Ekko, Kassadin, Katarina, LeBlanc, Kha'Zix, and Talon) are all very annoying to face against. They kill your ADC and then run away without a scratch. That requires a fair amount of skill and planning with most of them, but can still be very cancerous to deal with, nonetheless.

Because of these reasons, I believe Yasuo's kit needs a complete overhaul. No longer should he be the cancer that he is, but all of the "high-skill" Yasuo mains should have a right to brag about their outplays. While his theme of wind and being sticky (but not too slippery) should without a doubt remain the same, and the general idea of some abilities should stay, I think it is more worth rewriting each ability than explaining the changes. Let's begin!

Rework: Passive - Yasuo's critical strike chance is doubled, however his critical damage is lowered by 50% (No longer has flow-shield)

Q - Range: 400 Cooldown: 4 seconds at all ranks

  • After a 0.25 second delay, Yasuo thrusts his sword, dealing physical damage (equal to his total attack damage) to all enemies in the target direction. (The 0.25 second delay is from the previous 0.54-0.18 (based on bonus attack speed) delay, making his q very smooth at all points in the game and not just late. Yasuo's Q can no longer critically strike or apply on-hit effects.)
  • Yasuo's Q now does an additional 5% (+ 0.15% of critical strike chance (+15% at 100% critical strike chance)) of the enemy's maximum health as physical damage
  • Yasuo's Q marks the first target hit with Gathering Storm (mark lasts for 6 seconds unless Gathering Storm is applied to another champion in that time)

W - Cooldown: 12/11/10/9/8 seconds - Yasuo spins his blade in an arc above his head, bending the wind around it. All targets not marked with Gathering Storm (within the radius) are pushed back 500 units from Yasuo, taking 40/50/60/70/80 + 30% bonus AD damage as physical damage - Targets marked with Gathering Storm take double damage from Yasuo's W (400 unit range)

E - Range: 800 Cooldown: 10 seconds at all ranks

  • (similar to Illaoi's E in size, Leona's E in effect) Yasuo fires a linear skillshot of wind tendrils (only about 100 units thick) that latch onto the first enemy champion hit. Yasuo then pulls himself to the target champion (dash speed scales with bonus movement speed), dealing 60/70/80/90/100 + 40% bonus AD physical damage to the enemy champion on impact.
  • If Yasuo's Q is cast while Yasuo is traveling to his target with E, Yasuo spins with his sword on impact, damaging all enemies around him but only marking the target hit by his E with Gathering Storm (similar animation to current Yasuo E+Q)

R - STEEL TEMPEST - Range: 1000 Cooldown: 120/100/80 seconds

  • Yasuo dashes with his sword pointing forward a fixed 1000 units in a straight line towards the target marked with Gathering Storm, marking all enemies hit along the way with Steel Wind (speed of dash scales with movement speed). Width of dash damage is about 200 units. The targets marked with Steel Wind takes 150/250/400 physical damage (can critically strike - probability of crit is the same as crit chance)
  • Unique Passive: Enemies Marked with Steel Wind take an additional 50/75/100 magic damage on-hit (mark lasts 5 seconds)

Personally, I think this kit would be cool as hell and could make for some very sick plays. The numbers might have to change to make it balanced, but it basically takes out the CC and defensive aspects of Yasuo's kit to make Yasuo less strong in teamfights. His W still has some minor CC to allow him to assassinate his target easier without a big fat Gragas standing in front of the enemy ADC. Now, he also needs to land his Q directly onto his target to be able to use his ultimate ability on them. The Q mark combined with the W mark provides an excellent safeguard so he isn't able to just use his ultimate off any old knock-up, as he can currently. I think the changes would provide Yasuo with a lot of tools to look cool, have fun, and assassinate his target but at the same time increase the level of counterplay against him. Thank you for reading, and Riot please look into this!

22 Comments

IronwallJackson7/2/2017, 3:53:15 PM4 votes

What in the world is this kit and why do you insist on applying all of these different marks? Why did you completely alter his fast-paced play style? Why did you make his ultimate even more restrictive while taking away his tools to reach the back line? If he's still supposed to be a skirmisher, how is he supposed to kill tanks now? If he isn't a skirmisher anymore, what is he? Despite your earlier assertion, Yasuo isn't an assassin. All light fighters/melee carries/skirmishers are labeled fighter/assassin, but that's never been never really been an accurate description.

I have nothing but questions and none of them reflect positively on the direction of this design. I'm not even going to get into the numbers, because those are the least of what's problematic here.

Edit: By removing his multiple dashes, shield, wind wall, and ranged knockup, you've removed every safety net afforded to an already squishy champion and essentially turned Yasuo into either the least durable diver in the game or an assassin with awful team fighting, poor capacity to pick off priority targets, and zero means of escaping after an engage. What were you thinking?

Umbra Z7/2/2017, 3:25:26 PM2 votes

BORING! but balanced :/

DucksAreMagical7/2/2017, 3:37:21 PM1 votes

The Q is so stupidly broken, every 4 seconds you get to deal 15% of their maximum HP at level 7/8 if you farm and pick items correctly, That is ult level damage, fair enough it doesnt crit or apply on hit effects but that damage makes up for it too much.

As for the rest of the crit, it good apart from the wind tendrils it doesnt really work with Yasous lore but nice idea, ult is a bit wierd like a super owered version of his current E but with a long cd and can only jump to marked champions like Rek Sai ult?, apart fro dealling damage on the way, can you stun the yasou during his ult or does it just apply after the ult or is it like darius dunk, you cannot escape.