League Of Legends: New Champion Yasuo Revealed

Riot Games has unveiled Yasuo, the Unforgiven, a sustain-focused melee fighter intended for Mid Lane.

Published on Nov 22, 2013

Hot on the heels of popular new champion Jinx, Riot Games has revealed Yasuo, the Unforgiven.
Yasuo is a melee fighter not unlike Master Yi whose damage output and sustain is designed to ramp up the longer he survives in a fight.
Riot Games has unveiled the new League Of Legends champion after previously teasing the lore of the character, who is looking to redeem himself after his brother had killed.
Most importantly, however, is Yasuo's new and - by the sounds of it - quite interesting skills:

League Of Legends New Champion, Yasuo

Passive: Way of the Wanderer
Yasuo's passive has two effects. 'Intent' doubles Yasuo's criticial strike chance while 'Resolve' fills Yasuo with a Flow meter, which fills as he moves.
Once the Flow meter is full Yasuo creates a brief shield after taking damage from an enemy Champion or monster.
This meter fills faster the faster Yasuo moves, meaning it ties into Yasuo's E ability, Sweeping Blade.
Q Ability: Steel Tempest
This ability has Yasuo thrust forward with his sword, dealing damage to all enemies in a line.
Landing the attack will also earn Yasuo a stack of Gathering Storm for a brief duration - suggesting the attack will need to be used fairly regularly.
Once three stacks of Gathering Storm has been built, Yasuo sends out a whirlwind that knocks up any enemies caught by the attack.
This is important since it also ties into Yasuo's Ultimate ability.
Additionally if Yasuo casts Steel Tempest during Sweeping Blade the ability strikes all enemies immediately around him.
W Ability: Wind Wall
This is Yasuo's main utility ability that creates a wall of wind that drifts forwards for a few seconds, blocking all enemy projectiles.
This ability also has a passive that enables Yasuo to build Flow meter faster when dashing (with Sweeping Blade).
E Ability: Sweeping Blade
This ability has Yasuo dash forward in a fixed distance, dealing damage to any enemies he passes through and marking them.
Sweeping Blade can be cast multiple times in succession and deals more damage with each activation, up to a cap.
Marked enemies cannot be affected by Sweeping Blade again, however.
R Ability: Last Breath
Using Yasuo's ultimate will teleport him to a nearby Airborne Champion - via Steel Tempest's Gathering Storm or other means - suspending them and any nearby Airborne enemies.
After landing Yasuo will gain significant armour penetration against his enemies' bonus armour.

Our Thoughts

According to Riot Games, Yasuo is intended for Mid Lane due to his weak early game.
It's great to see Riot Game experimenting with individual Champion playstyles - as with Jinx too - and Yasuo sounds like he could do well in the hands of an exceptional player.
The reliance on blocking attacks and short CC with knock-ups is an interesting playstyle, while his dashing ability gives him a good amount of mobility necessary in team fights.
We look forward to giving him a go. You can find out more over on the official League Of Legends website.