Yasuo

Hardly any champion asks more of the player holding them than Yasuo. Ranked at the top of the difficulty scale, this melee fighter-assassin operates in the top and mid lanes and turns raw mechanical precision into damage. His signature resource, Flow, builds up just from him moving around.

Way of the Wanderer raises his critical strike chance twice over and grants a shield while he is on the move, which lets him win short exchanges that foes struggle to punish. Steel Tempest drives his early game: a quick linear thrust that functions as a basic attack, and once Gathering Storm reaches two stacks, it sends out a whirlwind that lifts enemies into the air. Sweeping Blade links dashes across minions and champions alike, and if Steel Tempest is cast partway through a dash, it becomes a spinning slash. That combination is what produces the wave-riding, hard-to-predict movement that marks skilled Yasuo play.

Wind Wall is the tool that most reshapes a fight: a traveling barrier that stops every enemy projectile for four seconds, able to nullify an enemy marksman’s damage or a match-changing ultimate. Last Breath completes the kit by blinking him to any airborne enemy and holding everyone in the area who is airborne in place. In practice, Yasuo’s strength depends on his team’s knockups nearly as much as on his own.

Who should play him

Yasuo suits players who take satisfaction in winning through sheer execution: weaving dashes, timing tornadoes, and placing Wind Walls in fractions of a second. His drawbacks follow from the same design. With a 175 attack range and fairly thin defenses, every misstep gets punished, and a Yasuo stuck behind in gold and experience contributes little beyond his wall. With coordinated teammates, he fits well alongside knockup-heavy lineups that keep his ultimate fed.