PROJECT: Yasuo

First skin I ever bought for Yasuo and I still have it in rotation years later. PROJECT: Yasuo dropped back when the PROJECT line was just him, solo, no roster. August 31, 2014. Season 4. The concept hit different at the time because nobody was doing cyberpunk samurai in League yet. Riot basically built an entire skinline off this one skin’s back.

How PROJECT: Yasuo actually looks in game

The model swap is clean. Full cybernetic armor, visor over his face, red energy blade instead of the standard katana. Feels like a completely different character from base Yasuo. Not gonna lie, the silhouette reads more like some anime protagonist than a wandering ronin and thats kind of the point.

VFX got a full rework for an Epic. Q thrusts have that red-orange particle trail that cuts through teamfights visually. Steel Tempest stacks feel crispier with the tech overlay. The tornado on third Q specifically has this digital wind effect that I think still looks better than some newer 1350 skins manage. W windwall projects as a holographic barrier. Hard to describe but in a late-game teamfight where you’re peeling for your ADC, the wall reads super clearly against the chaos.

E dashes leave a short digital trail behind you. Nothing crazy but it tracks well when you’re spamming E through a minion wave to gap close. Been running this in Diamond for multiple seasons and the dash particles never feel like they obscure important information, which matters when you’re trying to track cooldowns mid-fight.

R is where it shines. Last Breath pulls them up and you get this full tech-samurai slash sequence with red energy. Played maybe 150 games on this skin last season and the ult still feels satisfying every time. (Random aside: I’ve had teammates compliment the ult animation in post-game chat more than once, which never happens with base.)

Recall animation is custom. Yasuo does this sword-draw meditation thing with holographic effects around him. Short, clean, fits the aesthetic. Voice lines stay base, no new VO. Standard for 1350 back in 2014.

The PROJECT line and where Yasuo fits

PROJECT as a skinline became massive. We got PROJECT: Fiora, Leona, Zed, Vayne, the list keeps growing. But Yasuo was the original. August 2014 release, before Riot even knew they had a full thematic on their hands. Charles ‘Yideth’ Liu handled the artwork and honestly the splash still holds up. The pose, the blade igniting, the cityscape backdrop. Could be wrong here but I think it set the visual template for every PROJECT splash that came after.

No chromas on this one. Zero. Which is surprising given how many skins in the PROJECT line eventually got chroma sets. Might be because the original colorway is so iconic they didnt want to mess with it. Red and black with steel grey accents. Classic.

1350 RP. Shop has it, permanent availability. For context, Yasuo has a massive skin catalog now. High Noon, Nightbringer, Spirit Blossom, True Damage. PROJECT competes against some heavy hitters in that lineup.

Should you buy PROJECT: Yasuo?

Real verdict: this skin aged well. Not perfectly, but well. The VFX hold up, the model is distinct, the recall is solid. Where it falls short compared to newer options is the lack of new voice lines and the slightly dated particle resolution if you zoom in. But in actual gameplay? In lane, in teamfights, splitpushing side lanes at 30 minutes? Looks great.

1350 RP feels fair for what you get. If you’re a Yasuo one-trick you probably already own this. If you’re picking up Yasuo and want one skin to start with, I’d say Nightbringer or Spirit Blossom edges it out in raw value. But PROJECT has that OG factor. Season 4 energy. The skin that launched an entire line.

Maybe just my experience but I see less of this skin in my games now than I used to. Last Tuesday in a ranked game my mid laner locked in PROJECT: Yasuo and it genuinely felt nostalgic. Most Yasuo mains I run into are on True Damage or Spirit Blossom these days. If you want something that stands out by not being the popular pick, PROJECT works. Skip it if you already own two or more Yasuo skins and dont main him. Worth it if he’s your go-to and you want the cyberpunk fantasy over the edgier alternatives. Top pick for Yasuo mains who’ve been around since the early seasons.