Overview
Riot saw how much Yasuo was getting banned and realized the solution was to actually make a second Yasuo -- that’s Yone. The swordsmen brothers both offer a high mechanical fantasy for players who just want to outplay their enemies. Yone’s kit trades some of the long term sustain damage that Yasuo can provide for some more immediate burst, and the ability to just jump on any enemies at will makes him a deadly force to reckon with. Click here for the latest data on his best builds, including Runes, Items, Summoner Spells, and more.
Keys to Remember About Yone
Yone is a champion that loves skirmishing because he has multiple ways of jumping over walls and ledges -- use the fog of war in the jungle to your advantage to gain favorable engages on enemies, and then snap back with your Soul Unbound [E] to make a clean escape.
Yone's ultimate, like Yasuo's, can be thought of as a trigger for your team to start a fight thanks to it pulling enemies towards him and disrupting them. This means he can get value in fights even from bad spots, though he'll need his team to follow up with him.
Strengths
He has multiple options for getting onto people, which means he’s almost always going to do some damage in fights, thanks to Soul Unbound [E] allowing him to snap forward (and then backwards if he needs a path out). It’s a great ability in lane phase as it allows him to get a lot of free trades if he’s able to abuse timings where enemies either miss their abilities or use them on minions. And once he has access to Fate Sealed [R], he can convert the chunk damage into kills thanks to its great engage range. He’s a champion with a lot of damage without needing to completely sacrifice his safety in order to do it.
Weaknesses
He can be poked out early by enemies who are cognizant of his limits -- as long as they save abilities to trade against him, even if he can snap back with Soul Unbound [E], it’s fine as long as he’s chunked out, too. And once that ability is on cooldown, it’s going to be a lot harder for him to get much done. He also suffers if enemies are able to jump on him before he’s able to choose fights with his E -- it doesn’t help him get away, and if he’s forced to use his ultimate to escape, then he’s going to have a lot less pressure on the map.
Game Plan
Early Game: Learning when you can or can’t go in with Soul Unbound [E] is going to determine how good you are at Yone -- players who can maximize the ability to consistently win trades are going to make Yone feel very oppressive.
Mid Game: You have a lot of fight potential thanks to Fate Sealed [R], so don’t be afraid to look for fights at this point. Your E can be used even in tight corridors for a quick reposition (to dodge enemy abilities, for example), which makes him an excellent skirmisher.
Late Game: He should be looking to get onto squishy champions as much as possible -- this can often mean looking for flanks or approaching enemies from fog of war with your Soul Unbound [E].
