Introduction
Ever since their introduction to League of Legends both Yasuo and Yone have been League’s premier mid lane rivalry, so it was only natural for players to ask the big question: Is Yone or Yasuo Harder?
Today we’re going to try and cover this topic from multiple perspectives, we’ll cover which of these is harder to play at different ranks and how they differ in gameplay possibilities. By the end of this article you should have a clear idea of which champion you want to play and you will also know which one is harder.
Yasuo, The Unforgiven
Introduced back in season 4, Yasuo was a big deal back in the day. He was the first champion that really started deviating from what people commonly called “bruisers” and conventional carries. He had many things in common with fighters and assassins but he is most commonly described as one of the quintessential skirmishers of League of Legends.
Yasuo’s amazing mobility enabled him to do things no other champion could do before him; a lot of people called him overpowered and to be fair riot did tone him down significantly since his introduction.
Nowadays Yasuo is considered a difficult champion to play, his mechanics are both difficult and punishing for both playing versus him and playing as Yasuo. Because of this its not uncommon to see a Yasuo player either feeding or destroying his opponents.
Yone, The Unforgotten
If you didn’t notice before, Yone is Yasuo’s brother and his rival both in game and in the lore. Yone was introduced to League of Legends in Season 10. Some people say that he was introduced so people could actually play Yasuo because he was banned so much, whether that is true I leave up to your imagination.
If you thought that Yasuo was strong before, then think again. Yone is just as deadly as Yasuo and in fact he shares many gameplay mechanics with his brother. For example, his Q is very similar to Yasuo’s but instead of just launching a tornado on his third Q it includes a dash.
While at first you might think that Yone is Yasuo 2.0 the differences can be really big between them thanks to Yone’s Soul Unbound (his E). It makes him a completely different kind of champion.
The Differences Between Yone and Yasuo
To better structure this part of the article we’re going to separate Yasuo and Yone into different sections and then give them a rough estimate between 0 and 10 depending on how good they are at certain things
DPS
- Yone: 10
- Yasuo: 9
Damage Per Second is pretty self-explanatory. It’s different than burst damage as it mostly pertains to how much damage a champion can do given a lot of time, usually ADCs excel at this category.
For both Yasuo and Yone this is going to be one of their main strengths, as when they get enough attack speed to lower the cooldown of their Qs up to 1.3 seconds is when their DPS hits the dangerous region.
But the differences here are in the abilities.
For Yasuo he really has two abilities that enable him to do consistent damage in most games: his Q and his Ultimate, his E does damage but its almost non-existant so we’re not counting that.
In the case of Yone you can see that all of his abilities deal damage to the enemy unlike Yasuo. His E can deal up to 35% of post-mitigation damage back to the opponent and it also serves as his main disengage/engage tool.
When comparing these two champion’s DPS Yone comes out ahead so we’re giving Yone a 10 and Yasuo a 9 as he still deals amazing damage right up there with most ADCs.
Burst Damage
- Yone: 9
- Yasuo: 7
When it comes to burst damage both Yasuo and Yone will find themselves one shotting squishies as the game goes on but that doesn’t mean that their burst damage potential is the same. In most cases Yone also takes this category because his abilities don’t require as much setup as Yasuo’s do.
This means that for most games, Yone is going to be able to assassinate targets much more reliably and with way less effort and setup from their team, his ultimate is almost made for this, in contrast with Yasuo’s which requires either someone to set a knock-up up for him or he needs to land two Q’s to knock the enemies up himself.
Mobility
- Yone: 8
- Yasuo: 8
An essential part of both of these champions is their ability to move around the map quickly to create opportunities for themselves. This is a difficult section in which to choose a clear winner so I will go with a tie as both champions have their own strengths and disadvantages when it comes to mobility.
Yasuo in ideal conditions is probably the most agile champion in the game, as long as he has minions, monsters or enemy players to dash to he can move in ways that no one else can, but when these conditions are not met, he is a sitting duck and moves at average speed.
In the case of Yone, he’s got way less options for mobility but the ones he has are much more reliable if not more predictable. He’s got a dash like yasuo but he can only use it once or he has to charge it up again, his E can only move him forward and then telegraphs his location to everyone, and his ult which is his best engage tool is somewhat predictable and much shorter range than Yasuo’s R range.
Defense
- Yone: 5
- Yasuo: 7
This is the first section that Yasuo wins comfortably thanks to his ability to dodge skill shots with his E and his amazing Wind Wall.
While Yasuo does have a shield on his Spirit Cleave it needs to hit an enemy champion to activate and the amount isn’t really that high, furthermore his sustain is way more useful in laning situations and downtime between teamfights, it’s not really enough to make him harder to kill than most mages or assassins in the game.
Yasuo’s mobility when he has places to dash to is unparalleled, he can move in ways that are simply impossible for Yone. When we combine this with Yasuo’s Wind Wall we get a champion that is significantly harder to kill when compared to the average champion in League of Legends.
Utility
- Yone: 5
- Yasuo: 7
This is another big win for the Yasuo fans! While both champions are good enough to be played on most teams, there are some clear differences between them.
Yasuo is a champion that really benefits from team coordination, if you play Yasuo and one of your ally’s picks Malphite or even Alistar then your game is going to be that much easier for you and your team. The ability to use Last Breath from so far away is an integral way that enables such a strong DPS champion like Yasuo to still contribute to teamfights consistently even at the highest levels.
On the other hand, Yone is a much more of a self-reliant champion. While he obviously will benefit from proper team mates with enough crowd control, he doesn’t necessarily require them to help set up his ultimate unlike Yasuo, but the negative is that the entire team utility part of Yone is just not there!
Difficulty (Is Yone or Yasuo Harder)
- Yone: 7
- Yasuo: 10
Now we get to the best part, which one of these champions is the hardest? While some people who have only played Yone might think that Yasuo and Yone are similar and thus will conclude that both their skill floors and skill ceilings should be similar, this is not the case.
At the lowest ranks of League of Legends both of these champions struggle to even get a 50%-win rate, so we can comfortably say that both Yone and Yasuo are difficult champions to play, but that’s where the similarities end.
After we get to the intermediate level of play things start to look quite different and Yasuo will sit as the hardest one of the two and its not even close at the highest levels. Yasuo has a bunch of mechanics and combos that are straight up hard to execute, much less execute them in a difficult ranked match against people of the same skill as you, this is why Yasuo is considered the harder brother to play.
Yone in contrast doesn’t really have any advanced mechanics and he was probably developed with this in mind, they didn’t want more keyblades, beyblades and all those “bugs” which have remained (Riven is another example) so they created Yone, a simpler way to play.
Conclusion
While both champions are difficult to play, there are some clear differences between the two. If you’re looking for another champion to main then don’t let the supposed difficulty of either of these champions discourage you, with enough time and patience anyone can become decent at these guys.