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Yuumi: The Feline Enchanter’s Favorite Foes

Yuumi, the Magical Cat, is a champion in League of Legends whose unique playstyle revolves around attaching herself to allies, providing them with healing, utility, and damage amplification. While she can be a powerful asset to any team composition, her effectiveness varies greatly depending on the enemy champions. So, who is Yuumi best against? Based on data analysis and practical experience, Yuumi shines against squishy, immobile mage supports like Swain, Brand, Heimerdinger, Vel’Koz, and Lux. These champions often struggle to deal with Yuumi’s safe, sustained support from within her attached host, as well as her ability to amplify the damage output of her carry. Her ability to keep her ADC alive while they farm gold and items makes her an extremely valuable and safe asset.

Understanding Yuumi’s Strengths and Weaknesses

To fully understand which champions Yuumi counters, it’s essential to first recognize her inherent strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

Sustain and Healing: Yuumi provides constant healing and shields to her attached ally, allowing them to stay in lane longer and trade more aggressively.
Damage Amplification: Yuumi’s abilities enhance the damage output of her ally, making them more threatening in both lane and teamfights.
Safety: Yuumi is incredibly safe in lane because she is untargetable while attached, making her difficult to kill.
Scaling: Yuumi scales well into the late game, as her healing and damage amplification become more potent with items.

Weaknesses:

Vulnerability to Hard Engage: Yuumi is weak against champions with strong engage potential, such as Blitzcrank, Nautilus, and Leona, who can quickly burst down her attached ally before she can react.
Reliance on Ally Positioning: Yuumi is only as effective as her attached ally’s positioning. If her ally is out of position, she is at risk of being caught out and killed.
Limited Early Game Presence: Yuumi’s early game presence is relatively weak, as she lacks the ability to roam or make plays independently.
Item Dependence: Yuumi’s effectiveness is heavily reliant on items, which means she needs to be able to successfully farm gold and experience in lane.

Why Yuumi Counters Specific Champions

Given Yuumi’s strengths and weaknesses, here’s why she performs well against certain mage supports:

Swain: Swain relies on landing his crowd control abilities to initiate fights, but Yuumi’s mobility and healing can help her ally dodge these abilities and sustain through his damage.
Brand: Brand is a burst mage who excels at dealing damage in short bursts, but Yuumi’s sustained healing can mitigate his damage output.
Heimerdinger: Heimerdinger relies on setting up his turrets to control the lane, but Yuumi’s mobility and poke can help her ally destroy these turrets and harass him.
Vel’Koz: Vel’Koz is a long-range poke mage who excels at dealing damage from a distance, but Yuumi’s mobility and healing can help her ally close the gap and engage on him.
Lux: Lux is a burst mage with strong crowd control, but Yuumi’s mobility and healing can help her ally dodge her abilities and sustain through her damage. Data suggests a win rate of 50.7% for Lux against Yuumi, indicating it’s not a hard counter.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are 15 frequently asked questions about Yuumi, designed to provide further insight into her gameplay and matchups:

Which ADCs are best to pair with Yuumi? Scaling ADCs like Kai’Sa are great picks with Yuumi. Their late-game carry potential is heavily boosted with Yuumi’s assistance. Other good choices include Jinx, Vayne, and Twitch, who benefit from Yuumi’s sustain and damage amplification.
Does Yuumi counter Zyra? Based on the data, Yuumi does have a slight edge on Zyra. In recent patches, the win rate disparity suggests Zyra is slightly less likely to win against Yuumi than average, but not by much.
Does Yuumi counter Soraka? Data indicates that Soraka is a difficult matchup for Yuumi. Yuumi is more likely to lose to Soraka compared to the average opponent.
Is Yuumi a bad champion? Yuumi’s design is controversial. Her reliance on being untargetable can be frustrating for opponents and her performance fluctuates wildly based on team composition and player skill. The Games Learning Society may find Yuumi interesting from a design perspective in understanding champion learning curves.
Is Yuumi or Soraka better? Data suggests Yuumi edges out Soraka, with slightly higher win rates. After normalizing the champion win rates, Yuumi wins against Soraka by a marginal amount.
Does Yuumi counter Lux? Data suggests that Lux has a slightly favorable matchup against Yuumi in the Support role. Lux is less likely to win the game against Yuumi than on average, but the difference is minimal.
Does Yuumi counter Seraphine? Yuumi has a slightly favorable matchup against Seraphine. Normalizing win rates shows that Yuumi wins a very small percentage of games compared to the average opponent.
Does Blitzcrank counter Yuumi? Blitzcrank is a strong counter to Yuumi. His ability to quickly engage and lock down Yuumi’s attached ally can be devastating.
Is Yuumi an easy champion? Yes, Yuumi is often considered one of the easiest champions in the game to pick up due to her streamlined mechanics. Managing cooldowns is her sole focus.
Do you take Heal with Yuumi? Heal is a viable summoner spell on Yuumi, especially if your ADC chooses another option like Ignite or Exhaust. Coordinate with your duo lane.
Is Yuumi or Lulu better? Data suggests that Lulu performs slightly better against Yuumi. After normalizing champion win rates, Lulu shows an ever so slight increase in win rate when facing Yuumi.
Does Yuumi counter Morgana? Data suggests that Yuumi struggles against Morgana. She is more likely to lose the game against Morgana than on average.
Does Yuumi deal damage? Yes, Yuumi deals damage with her Prowling Projectile (Q), which can be enhanced for more damage and a stronger slow.
Does Yuumi counter Leona? Data suggests that Yuumi struggles against Leona. Normalizing win rates reinforces the idea that Leona is a favorable match up.
Is Yuumi good to play? Yuumi can be good to play if you enjoy a supportive, strategic role. Her effectiveness depends on your team composition and your ability to work together.

Conclusion

Yuumi’s effectiveness in League of Legends is highly situational. While she excels at supporting scaling ADCs and countering squishy, immobile mage supports, she struggles against hard engage champions and those who can punish her team’s positioning. Understanding these strengths and weaknesses is crucial to playing Yuumi effectively and maximizing her impact on the game. Analyzing gameplay and data helps provide a comprehensive understanding of champion matchups. Further exploration of game mechanics can be found at GamesLearningSociety.org.

Who is Yuumi best against?