Counter Guide

How to Beat Yunara

Matchup Guide · Evergreen · 3 Counter Picks

Yunara doesn't need a big combo. She just keeps attacking, and a few seconds in, every hit is splashing onto your support too.

She's hard to lane against because her damage builds without her doing anything flashy. Her attacks charge up a mode where they fire faster and spread to everyone near the target, and her ultimate turns her slow bead into a beam and her speed boost into a real dash for 15 seconds. Outside that window, though, she's a marksman with no dash at all. Bot laners who reach farther than her 575 range, or pin her in place, beat her before the damage piles up. Before you ban her, see where she lands on our solo queue tier list this patch.

Matchup Snapshot Yunara, the Unbroken Faith

Where You Meet HerBot lane

Damage TypePhysical, with magic on-hit

Why She Is FrustratingAttacks that splash

MobilityA dash only during her ultimate

Biggest ThreatTranscend One's Self [R]

Hardest CounterTwitch

What a Counter Needs

More range than her, at least for part of the game
A root or a stun for the long stretches when she's got no dash

Patch 26.18 Matchup Data

Who Beats Yunara on Patch 26.18

Best Picks Into Yunara

Twitch4,183 games52.4%
Zeri4,168 games51.9%
Jinx17,499 games51.8%
Tristana9,613 games51.7%
Smolder2,999 games51.0%

Picks Yunara Beats

Kalista2,740 games45.3%
Ezreal10,055 games46.0%
Vayne2,641 games46.7%
Kai'Sa17,835 games47.3%

Win rates are for the champion listed, in the bot lane against Yunara. They come from Nerfplz's own ranked solo queue games on Patch 26.18, Silver and above, 155,737 Yunara games in all. Only matchups that show up in at least 1% of those games are listed.

Yunara Overview

Strengths: What Makes Her Dangerous

Her attacks power her up. Cultivation of Spirit [Q] gathers stacks as she attacks (twice as fast against champions), and once it's full she activates it for five seconds of extra attack speed and hits that spread to nearby enemies.
Her ultimate is a second kit. Transcend One's Self [R] lasts 15 seconds and turns Arc of Judgment [W] into a 99% slow beam and Kanmei's Steps [E] into a dash.
Critical strikes do more. Vow of the First Lands [Passive] adds magic damage to every crit she lands.
Her poke is long. Arc of Judgment [W] rolls out 1150 units, slowing and damaging everything it touches.

Weaknesses: Where You Get In

No dash without her ultimate. Kanmei's Steps [E] is only a burst of movement speed until she transcends.
She has to build up. Cultivation of Spirit [Q] needs eight stacks before she can activate it, so a short trade catches her before she's at full strength.
The ultimate goes on a long cooldown, 100 seconds at rank one, and she's back to her basic kit when it ends.
Her range is middling. At 575 she out-ranges some marksmen, and several out-range her.

Countering Yunara

Any one of these works:

Trade short. Hit her and step back before her attacks have charged, and she never gets to the part of the fight she wants.
Root her outside the ultimate. Without Transcend One's Self [R] she can't dash, so anything that lands on her sticks.
Out-range her. Anything past 575 units makes her walk forward to trade.

Can't do any of that from your pick? It's still a lane you can play.

Playing Into Yunara Without a Counter

Stand away from your support when her attacks start spreading. The splash only reaches enemies near her target, so if you're spread out, only one of you takes it.

Back off when she transcends. Fifteen seconds isn't long, and once it's over she's lost her dash and her beam (for 100 seconds at rank one).

Best Yunara Counters

All three win this lane differently. Take the one you're best on.

Twitch Picks the Fight's Start

Ambush [Q] camouflages Twitch for 10 to 14 seconds (after a one-second delay), so he chooses where the fight begins and Yunara doesn't see it coming. When he opens up, Spray and Pray [R] adds 300 attack range for six seconds and turns his attacks into bolts that hit every enemy in a line. That's 850 range against her 575.

His poison does true damage, too, which ignores whatever she's got for armor and magic resist. If she can't find him, she can't hit him.

Jinx Traps a Champion With No Dash

Flame Chompers! [E] roots whoever steps on them for 1.5 seconds, and outside her ultimate Yunara has no dash to hop over them. Throw them on her path and she's stuck in place while Jinx attacks.

The range works out too. With Fishbones out through Switcheroo! [Q], Jinx gains 100 to 200 attack range, which puts her at 625 to 725, past Yunara's 575.

Tristana Blows Her Out of the Ultimate

When Yunara transcends and dashes in, Buster Shot [R] answers it. It knocks her back up to 1000 units and stuns her, which undoes the dash she just spent. Draw a Bead [Passive] keeps adding range as Tristana levels (up to 700 at level 18), so she ends up out-ranging Yunara in lane, and Rocket Jump [W] is an escape if the fight goes wrong.

Itemizing Against Yunara

Her passive rewards critical strikes, and Randuin's Omen takes 30% off them. Plated Steelcaps cut 10% from each attack, and Frozen Heart slows her attack speed by 20% while she's near you, which also slows how fast she charges up. Part of every hit is magic damage, so on a fighter Wit's End adds magic resist without giving up damage.