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Yone Champion Guide - Runes, Items, Tips & More

If you're in love with Yasuo - his brother, Yone should be right up your alley. Released in Patch 10.16, this reincarnated swordsman is on a mission to slice and dice his way through Runeterra to regain everything that he's once lost.

 

It's no secret that when designing Yone, the Riot development team has flexibility and versatility in mind. And Yone definitely lives up to those grandiose aspirations.

 

He works great anywhere you put him, dishes out damage like there's no tomorrow, and is relatively straightforward. With the combination of an assassin-like playstyle along with the survivability of a bruiser - Yone is a jack of all trades. However, when it comes to playing him well, the challenge lies in knowing where on the range you should land at any one given time - assassin or bruiser?

 

So, to help you wrap your head around Yone and even see some success with him in your own games - we've decided to put together this brief comprehensive guide to everything you'll need to know about the champion. From his abilities to the best runes and even some pro tips, we're going to go over all of the essentials to playing Yone well.

 

Let's dive right in!

 

A Quick Overview Of Yone's Abilities & Kit

As we mentioned earlier, Yone's kit incorporates two distinct playstyles into one. His kit is very diverse and allows him to make some incredibly viable plays in a wide array of different situations, making him a very useful pick in practically any game.

 

Below, we're going to take a closer look at "The Unforgotten's" ability kit.

 

Way Of The Hunter (Passive)

In a similar manner to Sett's right and left punch passive, Yone's passive also deals two different attacks.

 

Alternating between his two blades, every second attack he deals will do 50% magic damage rather than just pure physical like the rest of his attacks. However, unlike Sett, his passive doesn't have any sort of cooldown.

 

In addition to this, being Yasuo's older brother, Yone has inherited Yasuo's handy crit passive. Items that he builds will grant him 2x the critical chance. However, Yone will do 10% less damage to them per on-paper values.

 

Mortal Steel (Q)

Being Yasuo's older brother, Yone's Q is actually pretty similar. The mechanics of stacking up into an empowered Q are the same.

 

But when you get to the empowered version, things take a bit of a turn. On his third Q, Yone will release a wind-wave and dash towards the direction he's facing.

 

While this ability notably gives him a great deal of maneuverability - it's also his bread and butter when it comes to all things damage. Wave clear, high crit, and great sustain - every box is checked by his Q.

 

Spirit Cleave (W)

As much damage as any great champion can do - they should definitely have some form of a protective mechanic. And Yone's protective mechanic lies in his W.

 

When used, he will slash an area in front of him, with each enemy caught in the sweep taking damage based on their maximum health. Additionally, he is also awarded a shield for each enemy hit.

 

The trick to remember here is the fact that the W has a deceptively long range, so you can actually pick up stragglers at the end of an encounter, or even dive in on surprised enemies with your E while keeping yourself safe and comfy.

 

Soul Unbound (E)

Remember Ekko's ultimate? Despite being annoying, players have always had some respite in the fact that it was an ultimate, with an appropriately "special" cooldown to it.

 

Well, bad news - Yone's E is practically a copy-paste of Ekko's ultimate!

 

First off, Yone enters his "spirit form", giving him a decaying movement speed boost of 30%-10% for 5 seconds. During this, any damage he deals will be "stored" and repeated to the enemy at a rate of 25%-35% depending on the level of Soul Unbound.

 

And here's the sugar on top - his E also resets his Passive, so that's handy!

 

Fate Sealed (Ultimate / R)

If you like wombo-combo-style ultimates, you're in luck!

 

Yone's ultimate, Fate Sealed, involves him dashing in and hitting all enemies that he passes while also teleporting Yone behind the last enemy champion that he hits. In addition to this, all enemies hit are knocked up towards Yone.

 

In terms of synergy, this ultimate couples fantastically with Malphite, Jarvan, and even his brother, Yasuo.

 

Pro Tip: As much as this ultimate can be used as a damage and control tool in team fights, Yone can also use his ultimate to escape potentially sticky situations.

 

Yone’s Ability Level Order

When it comes to leveling up your abilities, you'll be looking to max your Q first, followed by E, R, and then finally W.

 

Generally, you'll want to get Q at levels 1,4,5,7, and 9 - while points into E should happen at levels 3,8,10,12 and 13. Get your R at the standard 6,11,16 milestones and fill up the remainder with your W after the mandatory 1 point into it at level 2.

What Are The Best Runes For Yone?

Thankfully, in terms of runes - there's nothing super challenging about Yone. You'll want to pick up a slightly tweaked version of the standard bruiser page, very close to what you'd run on Yasuo.

 

First and foremost, you'll want to get the Conqueror keystone from the Precision tree. This is then coupled with Legend: Alacrity (Tenacity is also viable), Last Stand, and Triumph. This selection provides a good bit of synergy with Yone's kit and is a solid all-around choice to allow you to opt for either of his two playstyles throughout the game.

 

For the secondaries, you'll want to pick up the Sorcery tree - choosing Nimbus Cloak and Gathering Storm for great damage output and fantastic mobility.

 

What Items Should You Build On Yone?

With most players throwing Yone into the good old mid lane crit corner of the roster, his items follow Yasuo's core build very closely, with a few possible situational tweaks.

 

Generally, you'll be looking to build the following items on Yone:

·     Dorans Blade

·     Berserker's Greaves

·     Phantom Dancer

·     Infinity Edge

·     Death's Dance (or Bloodthirster)

·     Guardian Anger (or Mortal Reminder)

·     Whichever item you didn't pick up earlier.

 

Closing Thoughts

While Yone may seem a little hard to grasp at first, especially due to his versatility - his 52.32% win rate shows that once you've wrapped your head around his essential mechanics, rune choices, and itemization, you'll be well on your way to dominating enemies with his "Yasuo++" playstyle.

 

We hope that today's guide has helped you get the hang of some of his basics and figure out what you should be building, and how you should be playing this champion.

 

Despite not making it into our list of the best champions to play in Patch 10.16, Yone is working his way into the META quickly. And with few patches coming out between now and Worlds, it's important that you don't lose track of your ranked progress.

 

If you find that you need a helping hand with your rank - our pro boosters have got you covered. Sign up and connect directly with one of our high-rank players who will help you get the rank you deserve quickly, efficiently, and affordably!