How to Counter Yone (6 Tips)

How to Play Against Yone

Yone is one of the latest champions to hit Summoners Rift. Yasuo’s brother was one of the most anticipated champions of the year and shocked the community with how unique but similar he was to his brother.

In this Mobalytics guide, we will discuss some ways you can handle “the unforgotten” champion called Yone. Take note that we will mostly be providing advice for lane Yone, but the information will work in all roles.

If you want to see which champions counter Yone or want to learn how to play him for yourself, check out Yone’s Champion Page where we have information for him in the Top, Jungle, Mid and in the Bottom lane.

1. Soul unbound will return him to his cast location

We all tunnel vision at times. It is one of the main reasons players die during the laning phase or get caught out of position. Unlike many champions, Yone has an ability that sends him back to his original cast location. His E can be used to gain or create distance, be used to all-in the enemy champion and escape sticky situations, but it ultimately always puts him back to where he started.

With this in mind, think twice before chasing him into the unknown as he may be trying to run to his Jungler or another ally to bait you in. Alternatively, he can use it to force you to overextend and move away from his cast location before quickly reactivating it to fly back to his original spot and escape via a different path with ease.

If he activates his E and you’re 100% sure you can kill him, don’t bother chasing him into the unknown. Wait for the timer to run out- which is 5 seconds after the initial cast, and kill him once he returns to his E.

Take note that if you’re able to lock him down with hard CC, he will be unable to reactivate his E and recast this ability. Locking him down with assistance from your team will make killing him easier.

2. Armor is your best friend

As Yone is a champion that builds AD items and deals predominantly AD damage, it’s important that you buy defensive items to tone down some of his damage output in team fights. In particular, you will need to invest in armor items if he is fed. It is important to note though that his abilities deal mixed damage- in particular, his W and Ultimate.

Obviously, the more armor you have, the harder it will be for Yone to kill you and your teammates. He will also need to adjust his build path accordingly and invest in armor penetration to break through your defensive stats to make killing you easier.

Additionally, as he will need to find time to buy this item, it will either delay his core power spike or at least make it really difficult for him to kill you until the mid or late game. Traditionally, Yone’s build is Phantom Dancer (or Shiv) followed by Infinity Edge. He doesn’t build any pen items until he’s almost full build.

Here’s a breakdown on defensive LoL items and when you should build them. Alternatively, you can head over to our champion pages to see what situational items your champion can buy.

3. Pick champions with CC tools

According to the Lol Wiki, one of Yone’s roles/playstyle is as an assassin, and one thing that all assassins struggle with is disengage and CC. Picking champions with CC is a good way of countering Yone as it will make it harder for him to go for aggressive plays and get in and out of skirmishes easily.

While we must keep in mind that Yone is incredibly mobile, you would be better off picking champions with easy to land CC rather than champions with CC that is hard to hit. For example, CC with small hitboxes like Ahri’s E would be harder to land in comparison to Lissandra’s W or R.

If you know which role Yone’s playing, try to adapt your champion pick to someone who is slightly tankier or who has CC abilities to increase your chances of beating him. Don’t pick champions who are squishy against him if you can help it.

4. Avoid grouping too closely

Yone’s Ultimate is pretty strong. It deals a considerable amount of mixed damage and can also CC the enemy. As it can hit and damage multiple champions at once, it’s important that you do not put yourself in a position where he is able to lock down your whole team. This can be achieved by not grouping too closely and putting yourself in chokepoints where your team would be grouped close together.

Avoid fighting in areas that force your team to be bunched close to one another. For example, avoid fighting inside the jungle as his Ultimate will cover the jungle path. Avoid fighting around the Dragon or Baron pit if Yone is nearby as your team will also be grouped together.

Instead, try to fight in the open or when Yone is not nearby. If your team can play slightly apart, it will make his Ultimate less effective as he will be unable to lock down your whole team. Splitting up slightly will make his Ultimate only effective against one or two champions which will provide time for your team to take him down.

5. Use your range advantage to bully him

As Yone is played in basically every role, it’s inevitable that he will be played against a ranged champion. Ranged champions can bully him down to make it very difficult for him to play aggressive and secure CS and farm.

To make it hard for Yone to be able to play aggressive or close the gap (with ease), you should try to harass him down with your basic attacks and abilities from a safe distance: while avoiding being overextended too much as he will still have strong all-in potential and may use your over-extended positioning to look for a turn around fight.

Good times to harass him are when:

• He walks forward trying to secure a last hit.
  • He will be more focused on auto-attacking the minion than looking to fight.
• When any of his abilities are on cooldown.
  • He will be unable to trade as effectively with you if you look to fight/ harass him when one of his abilities are down. When either of his main abilities are down could be the trigger for you to fight.

Avoid over-committing to harassing and poking Yone down though as he does have good turn around potential. Additionally, you shouldn’t try to harass him when there is a cannon minion in lane as the cannon minion will focus you as soon as you auto-attack him. This works for normal minions too. The more enemy minions the enemy has around them, the more damage you’ll take in return. Do not try to auto-attack the enemy Yone if there is a huge wave surrounding him.

Here’s a separate guide on how to master retaliation trading.

6. Ward your flanks

Yone is a strong skirmisher and will look to assassinate targets or get a surprise engage off to ensure he can deal damage and kill the squishier members of the enemy team. One way you can reduce the chances of him doing this is by warding your flanks when you’re attempting to team fight or when you’re sieging a tower.

Yone is an assassin and should be treated the same as the likes of Leblanc, Akali and Talon. Ensuring that your team has vision to the side of you as you siege an objective will give your team enough time to back away in case Yone shows himself and tries to flank your teammates.

Wards for sieging Mid tier 2 turret as blue team

When trying to take the Baron or Dragon when Yone is nearby (which isn’t recommended by the way), you need to stay as far away as possible from him and avoid getting too close to your allies so he is unable to get a good Ultimate off. Be prepared to disengage or reposition if Yone shows himself.

Here are some good warding locations where you can ward to help you spot him before it’s too late. If you want to know more about how to ward against assassins, check out our indepth complete warding guide for Season 10.

Conclusion

Yone can be easy to beat, you just need to stay at max distance at all times and avoid dying to him! We hope that some of these tips will help you throughout the game and help prevent him from being a handful in the later stages of the game. Remember, you should treat him as an assassin and avoid grouping too closely in team fights!

Watch live video from PicklePantsLOL on www.twitch.tv