Yunara is League of Legends’ newest champion. Yunara is the first traditional ADC we have seen in years. If you love playing traditional champions like Jinx, Lucian or Ezreal, then Yunara might be a champion that you want to pick up and learn.
In this Mobalytics article, we will be breaking down some beginner tips and tricks on how you can play Yunara in LoL. This beginner’s guide is aimed at ADC Yunara, as Riot has said that she will be an ADC. If you want to play her in a different role, then this guide may not be entirely applicable.
If you want to learn more tips and tricks, some being a bit more in-depth and specific, you should head over to Yunara’s champion page, where we have more information to help you learn Yunara in LoL.
Yunara Ability Breakdown
The first thing you need to do when you want to learn how to play any new champion (or new champion to you) is to understand what their abilities do and what tools they have in their kit. I would recommend reading about her abilities and trying her out in the practice tool before heading into a game, so you know what to expect.
Yunara’s Passive is Vow of the First Lands
Her crit strikes deal additional magic damage. This means if you crit the enemy, they will take additional damage. Building items and getting max crit on Yunara will make her Passive really powerful for you!
Yunara’s Q is Cultivation of Spirit
There are 2 parts to this ability. The Passive makes her autos deal additional damage, and she can stack her Q up to 8 times. Once it hits the 8-number mark, she can activate it, where she gets extra attack speed and her attacks spread to nearby enemies.
This is a great team-fighting and trading tool. You should get max stacks before looking for a trade. Make sure you’re constantly auto-attacking, as the stacks start disappearing if you don’t attack for 6 seconds.
Yunara’s W is Arc of Judgement/Arc of Ruin
Her W makes Yunara launch a bead that slows and damages enemies. It is a pretty useful tool, and it will be used aggressively when trying to trade with the enemy. You will usually unlock this ability at level 2, where you can use it to gain a health advantage over the enemy.
When she activates her Ultimate, her W becomes empowered, and instead, she fires a laser that damages enemies.
Yunara’s E is Kanmei’s Steps/Untouchable Shadow
Yunara’s E is a basic movement speed tool. She becomes ghosted and gains movement speed. However, when she activates her Ultimate, she dashes instead. When empowered, she can use her E to get over walls, but this doesn’t work when it is not in combination with her Ultimate!
Yunara’s Ultimate is Transcend One’s Self
When she activates her Ultimate, she becomes Trancended for 15 seconds, empowering all 3 of her abilities. We have already discussed her W and E, but her Q is essentially activated throughout the duration, so it is technically also empowered. The cool thing about this spell is that it also reduced the cooldown of her E by 50%, which allows her to gain distance, create distance and chase down the enemies!
As you can see, her kit is relatively straightforward to understand, but it can be pretty challenging to play against her if she is ahead or fed.
Best Yunara Runes and Build
So now you understand what each of her abilities do, you now need to pick the best runes and build the right items for her. As we have suggested, she needs crit, so she will be building predominantly items that provide her with crit strike as it synergises with her Passive.
She is also a great team fighter, and will want to deal damage to as many champions as once, so she basically wants Runaan’s Hurricane to make her stronger in team fights. You can get this Yunara build and the Rune Page imported directly into your client, keeping it up to date with her changes, by downloading the Mobalytics App.
Keep an Eye on Q Stacks
Yunara’s damage really comes from her basic attacks and her Q. When you activate your Q, it increases your damage output, which obviously makes it easier to get kills. My advice would be to always keep an eye on the number of stacks you have and try to keep auto-attacking so that you have a maximum or near-maximum number of stacks at any given time.
You will never want to start a skirmish (especially pre-6 and early on) without being able to activate your Q. You can keep refreshing the stacks just by auto-attacking, so you never need to activate it just because you have max stacks!
It is something to bear in mind when playing her, especially if you’re looking for that level 2 all-in.
Get Level 2 First
Getting as many stacks as you can at level 1 and then looking for the level 2 all-in could be highly beneficial and give you a significant health lead early on. Gaining this lead can force the enemy to blow Summoner Spells, recall or miss out on CS and XP.
What you need to do is make sure you have 7 or 8 stacks on your Q, get the level up and quickly level your W. Aim and land your W on the enemy so they are slowed, then activate your Q and chase them down with basic attacks.
To get level 2 first, you need to destroy the first minion wave (6 minions), followed by the 3 melee minions on the second wave. Try not to push too hard at level 1, so you have more time to chase the enemy down before they reach their tower.
Keep the Wave Closer Early
Yunara does have utility in her kit, but she is quite vulnerable, especially pre-,6 as she doesn’t have a dash like many other champions like Lucian or Ezreal, which leaves her vulnerable to all-ins and ganks.
I suggest keeping the minion wave closer to your side of the map early so you can have some additional protection from ganks and all-ins. Remember, she is quite squishy as she is an ADC, so having any form of added protection is key.
Yunara has great all-in potential, so if you keep the wave closer to your side of the map early, you can also chase the enemy down with your spells to gain health and kill leads.
Team Fighting Tips and Tricks
Yunara is a typical ADC; she is quite vulnerable and squishy. It is really important that you stick with your team during the mid and late game so you do not get caught out and die. While you will need to be farming the side waves and picking up gold, you need to stay with your team as much as you can.
Do not forget that she is amazing in team fights, so you really want to group with your team, as she shines particularly during these parts of the game. Activate your Ultimate as soon as the team fight starts and just dish out tons of damage on the enemy!
I would also advise potentially delaying the team fight if your Ultimate isn’t up. It does have quite a long cooldown, and you really need it in those team fights if you want to get your empowered abilities and have your basic attacks deal the most amount of damage.
In team fights, you’ll also want to be proactive with your E: just because you can use it aggressively, doesn’t mean you should as you could put yourself in a really bad position. Be prepared to use it defensively and to create distance between you and the enemy divers. Keeping them off you is key to your success.
In Conclusion
That’s about it for the complete basics to playing Yunara in League of Legends. We would like to remind you that this is intended to be a beginner’s guide, and it is not suitable for those with extensive experience playing her. It is more so for people who may have just unlocked her or want to give her a try!
We hope that this article will provide you with everything you need to know to play her for the first time in LoL! If you have any other tips to give your fellow Summoners, make sure you comment below!