League of Legends's next champion will be Yasuo the Unforgiven. Riot Games' announcement explains all of the abilities of this lone swordsman.
Yasuo uses his blade and wind magic to great effect in combat. He has low damage and is fairly squishy at first. However, as the match proceed, his power quickly ramps up.
He really shines in an extended teamfight. Sweeping Blade, a strike against a single target, deals extra damage if Yasuo uses it multiple times. He can also damage enemies in a line with a slashing attack called Steel Tempest. Once he's done Steel Tempest three times in a short period of time, he'll fire a whirlwind that knocks them airborne.
Once Yasuo's enemies are airborne, he can use his ultimate ability Last Breath to freeze them in mid-air temporarily while he dices them up. This ability also grants Yasuo a boost to his armor penetration, allowing him to take down even the most durable Champions.
"Enemies that manage to juke away from Yasuo's whirlwind aren't necessarily safe from Last Breath: any knock-up abilities can be chained with Yasuo's ult, making him hugely synergistic with champions like Cho'Gath, Malphite and Zyra," Riot Games says in their profile.
Yasuo's not without defensive abilities, though. His passive, Way of the Wanderer, provides him with a resource called Flow. His Flow builds the faster he moves and once it's maxed out, Yasuo can deploy a shield around himself. He can also protect allies from projectiles by creating a Wind Wall.
Riot introduced Yasuo in an interesting way. Last week they released a teaser trailer and journal entry from Yone, the older brother of Yasuo. Yone said that Yasuo had murdered an Elder he was charged with protecting, and now it was his duty to hunt him down. However, the biography of Yasuo released by Riot today revealed that he was a reckless bodyguard but didn't murder the Elder. Nonetheless, he fought and killed Yone when his brother found him. Apparently their "code of honor" dictated that they duel.
"Yasuo buried Yone under the rising sun, but could take no time to mourn. Others would be after him before long. His brother's revelation had given Yasuo newfound purpose; he now had the clue that would lead to the true killer. Swearing an oath, he gathered his belongings and, with one last look at Yone's grave, set out with the wind at his back."
While I'm sure a lot of LoL players could care less about the story, I like that Riot Games still shows commitment to presenting lore for each character. They always find interesting ways to reveal the backstories for these characters as well. For example, recent LoL addition Jinx got her own music video.
