How to Counter Yasuo – Fear Not the Nodachi

Yasuo is one of the best laners in the game. Let him farm early and he will surely wreak havoc in the mid-late game. With his mobility, good damage and game-changing ultimate, you need to at least get even with him during the laning phase or better yet delay his power spike for as long as you can. Once he has his core items, his crits will hurt a lot! The problem is, he is really strong in lane. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have weaknesses. You need to understand the best Yasuo counter in order to win lane against him.

General Yasuo Counters

S4 LoL Counters

• Yasuo’s passive, Resolve, gives him a shield after taking damage when his Flow bar is full. This means that engaging him with a full Flow bar isn’t optimal, as some of your damage will get negated. Instead, autoattack him to proc his shield. The shield lasts only two seconds. When the shield is gone, it’s time for you to engage.
• Steel Tempest has three parts. His third cast of Steel Tempest sends out a whirlwind. You can count how many times he has used the skill so you can prepare to dodge the whirlwind.
• Try your best to dodge the whirlwind. Take note of the number of times your enemy has casted Steel Tempest and move laterally during the third cast. When you manage to dodge his CC, you take out a lot of his damage potential as he cannot use his ultimate. Take advantage when his whirlwind is down.
• Sweeping Blade gives Yasuo so much mobility. But you can work around this by fighting him when there are no minions or neutral monsters around. He cannot dash to the same target for a certain number of seconds, so this will severely limit his movements.
• Focus him in teamfights. Tell your team to burst Yasuo down as quickly as possible. He deals high damage when he already has his Statikk Shiv and Infinity Edge. Eliminating him right away will reduce the enemy team’s damage output by a lot.
• Yasuo can have problems with melee carries. This is why many prefer playing him in the middle lane. But if he plays top, consider picking the likes of Jax, Riven and Akali.
• Exhaust is so powerful against assassin champions. If you’re a support, or even mid, consider getting this summoner spell to reduce Yasuo’s damage and movement.

Yasuo Counter Picks

Kayle

A ranged Yasuo counter

Kayle is a great counter pick as she has the skill set to outplay him. Yes, Yasuo can Windwall Kayle’s Q, but her autoattacks with E goes through it. If he manages to pull off whirlwind + ult, Kayle can just activate her ultimate before she lands to negate all the damage. Harass him with autoattacks during the laning phase and keep in mind that your Q has a lower cooldown than his Windwall.

Soraka

One of the best Yasuo counters

Soraka is simply one of those champions that are really annoying to play against. Starcall goes through Windwall so those bananas will hurt a lot. She has excellent sustain with Astral Blessing, whereas Yasuo has no sustain without his Blade of the Ruined King. Soraka also has a silence which makes laning against her even more maddening.

Riven

A strong early game Yasuo counter

Riven has a very strong lane presence. She can deal tons of damage early game. Her mobility, shield and stun can give her a huge advantage over Yasuo when played correctly. This is largely a skill matchup. As Riven, you will want to punish him during the early levels. Use your Q to go in, stun, autoattack harass, then move out. It is also a good idea to use your ult while he is stunned so there’s no chance for him to block it with his W.

Jax

A snowbally Yasuo counter

Jax is also a good laner; the only problem he has is mana conservation. When playing against Yasuo, don’t just randomly use your E as it uses a lot of mana. When there are minions around, Yasuo can just dash through them to avoid your stun. Fight him when there are no minions or when he’s retreating. Autoattack + W deal tons of damage especially when you already have your ult passive. When you’re ahead of him, camp him repeatedly and snowball the game.

Akali

An assassin Yasuo counter

This is another skill matchup, but a good Akali can be a formidable Yasuo counter. You really wouldn’t have an advantage over Yasuo pre-6 because he will most likely just avoid you when you Q him. But when you already have Shadow Dance, you can start punishing him really hard. Use your Twilight Shroud wisely and try your best to dodge his whirlwind. Also remember that you will probably have more sustain early because of your Hextech Gunblade.