Yunara Guide: Best Build, Runes & Tips (Patch 26.7)

Yunara is one of the most mechanically distinct ADCs in League of Legends. An Ionian warrior who sacrificed herself during the Darkin War and returned from the Spirit Realm centuries later, she combines traditional marksman auto-attack patterns with powerful magical abilities and an ultimate that completely transforms her kit. If you enjoy ADCs with escalating power states and late-game carry potential, Yunara is worth mastering in Patch 26.7.

Yunara's Abilities

Passive — Vow to the First Lands

Yunara's critical strikes deal bonus magic damage on top of their physical damage. This scales with critical strike items and makes her crits hit harder than most ADCs at equivalent gold — and harder to itemise against since enemies need both armor and magic resistance to mitigate her full output.

Q — Cultivation of Spirit

Yunara gains a stack of Unleash with every basic attack, plus two stacks when hitting a champion or landing a crit. At eight stacks, activate Q to enter an empowered state: her attacks gain bonus attack speed, increased on-hit damage, and splash to all enemies in a small area around her target. Against a champion, you reach max stacks in four autos. Stacks begin decaying after roughly six seconds without attacking, so avoid extended poke trades where you lose attack uptime.

W — Arc of Judgment

Yunara hurls a swirling prayer bead that damages and applies a 99% slow as it travels. At its endpoint the bead lingers and expands, threatening anyone who doesn't dodge it immediately. Critically, the bead passes through minions — the wave provides zero protection. Only terrain and projectile-blocking abilities like Yasuo's Wind Wall can stop it entirely. In Transcend state (from R), Arc of Judgment becomes Arc of Ruin: a beam of spirit magic that damages and slows everything in a line.

E — Kanmei's Steps

In its base form, E gives Yunara a quick burst of movement speed for repositioning, chasing, or dodging skillshots. Simple but effective. Under Transcend, E upgrades to Untouchable Shadows — a full dash — giving Yunara the mobility she otherwise lacks entirely outside of her ultimate window.

R — Transcend One's Self

Yunara's ultimate activates a Transcended state for several seconds, enhancing both her W and E simultaneously. W becomes a damaging line beam, E becomes a dash. Your two critical power spikes are level 2 — where W slow plus fully stacked Q can delete a bot lane before either opponent reacts — and level 6, where R makes you nearly impossible to chase while empowered.

Best Build for Yunara (Patch 26.7)

Item Build

• Kraken Slayer (first item) — Physical damage, attack speed, and true damage on every third hit. The core item that makes her crits and on-hit effects devastating against tankier targets
• Berserker's Greaves — Attack speed boots that accelerate Q stack generation and Lethal Tempo ramp
• Fiendhunter Bolts — 40% attack speed, 25% crit chance, 30 ultimate ability haste, and three guaranteed crits after casting R. Tailor-made for Yunara's ultimate-centric gameplan
• Infinity Edge — Amplifies crit damage significantly. The power spike that pushes Yunara from strong to terrifying in extended fights
• Lord Dominik's Regards — Armor penetration to cut through tanks who have scaled through the mid-game
• Immortal Shieldbow (flex slot) — Lifeline shield for matchups against burst assassins; swap out Lord Dominik's when needed

This build achieves a 50.2% win rate across over 89,000 matches in Emerald+. The synergy between Fiendhunter Bolts and Yunara's ultimate is particularly strong: activating R immediately gives you three guaranteed crits through the Opening Barrage passive, compounding with Infinity Edge's amplified crit damage for a devastating opening burst.

Runes

• Lethal Tempo (keystone) — Stacks attack speed through sustained fighting; combines beautifully with Q's empowered attack speed to compound her damage output
• Triumph — Gold and healing on takedowns, critical for surviving all-ins and chained teamfights
• Legend: Alacrity — Permanent attack speed for faster Q stacking in every fight
• Cut Down — Bonus damage against targets with more maximum HP, highly effective against front-line tanks
• Biscuit Delivery (secondary) — Sustains you through early laning before your first completed item
• Magical Footwear — Free Berserker's Greaves at 12 minutes, freeing early gold for core damage items

Summoner Spells and Skill Order

Take Flash and Barrier. Flash is non-negotiable for teamfight repositioning and gank escapes. Barrier provides a survivability window during all-ins — essential since Yunara has no defensive ability in her base kit. For skill order, max Q first for maximum DPS, then W for better poke reach, leaving E last as it gains most value from the R upgrade.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths

• Exceptional AoE teamfight damage during Q active — splash hits entire grouped enemy teams simultaneously
• Clear level 2 and level 6 power spikes create defined windows for aggressive play
• Passive magic damage on crits makes her harder to fully itemise against compared to pure physical ADCs
• Transcend state grants a dash on E, turning her into an elusive target during the critical fight window

Weaknesses

• No built-in dash or defensive ability outside of R — extremely gank-vulnerable in the early game
• Q stacks decay after six seconds of not attacking, forcing commitment in extended trades
• Hard CC counters her completely: Leona, Morgana, and Lissandra prevent her from using W to dodge key abilities
• Loses lane priority to long-range poke ADCs like Caitlyn and Ezreal before completing Kraken Slayer

Counters and Synergies

Hard Counters

• Twitch (33.9% win rate for Yunara) — Invisible approach bypasses her movement speed advantage; his poison DoT shreds her before she can stack Q
• Zeri (34.4% WR) — Outmobiles Yunara in base state, can dodge W bead reliably with her dash
• Sivir (34.9% WR) — Spellshield blocks W completely; AoE wave clear prevents Q splash from ramping on grouped targets

Best Support Synergies

• Nautilus — Hook into Depth Charge creates a long CC chain, giving Yunara all the time she needs to fully stack Q and unleash damage
• Leona — Zenith Blade plus Solar Flare keeps enemies immobile through her entire empowered Q window
• Alistar — Headbutt-Pulverize combo creates extended CC; his tankiness lets him stay in the splash zone alongside Yunara in teamfights

Tips for Climbing with Yunara

• Hit level 2 first in lane every game — Yunara's level 2 all-in with W slow into fully stacked Q can delete a bot lane before either opponent reacts
• Keep Q stacks active during sieges and skirmishes by auto-attacking minions between trades to reset the decay timer
• Save R for when you are already winning a fight, not as an escape tool — the Transcend dash is powerful, but the amplified W beam and stacked Q during a fight is the real payoff
• W travels through minions: don't hide behind the wave when Yunara throws it. Track the bead's trajectory and dodge sideways, or place yourself behind terrain
• In late-game teamfights, position near grouped enemies to maximise Q's splash area damage — one auto-attack effectively hits the entire enemy front line simultaneously