- •Passive: Root duration reduced.
- •Damage conversion ratio reworked; net sustained damage output decreased.
Y'bneth — Patch 1.63 Verdict
[BALANCE:adjusted] [Liquipedia RPL: S | Web: A | Web: B] Pro play (RPL 2026): 86 picks, 50.0% WR, 43.6% pick/ban rate. Note: pro meta may differ from ranked. Ranked A on zathong.com. Ranked B on metatierlist.com.
Y'bneth — Tank Guide
Key Insights
- Passive rewards prolonged contact, not hit-and-run play; stack it by staying in the fight, not flashing in and out.
- Q is a gap-closer with a slow or root on contact, use it to open the chase so W lands on an enemy who can no longer dodge.
- W is the primary CC anchor, a targeted root or AoE displacement; burn it on backline carries, never waste it on a tank.
- Once W is down you are effectively a body until it resets, back off secondary engages until the cooldown returns.
- Ultimate covers a large area with CC or knockup; open with Q or W to burn their escape first, then commit R to seal the kill.
Strengths
- Q, W, and R chain CC long enough for slow carries to convert kills.
- Stays tanky into late game; never becomes a speed bump.
- R directly breaks Murad/Nakroth dive sequences with AoE CC.
- Level-2 river all-in threatens kills before carries hit power spikes.
Weaknesses
- No self-peel; blind-angle dives from Nakroth or Butterfly bypass him.
- Misses cap his CC ceiling hard in a meta full of Murad and Keera.
- Zero split-push; siege phases punish teams that can't convert roam leads.
- Can't solo-carry when behind the way Maloch or Arduin can.
Matchups
Abilities
PNatural Affinity
Y'bneth recovers HP and gains increased movement speed when entering the bush.
1Wicked Thorns
Y'bneth deals damage to enemies in the indicated direction and slows them. After hitting enemies 5 times with any skill, this skill is enhanced to Redwood Rush.
2Branching Out
Deals damage and stuns in the indicated direction. If three or more enemies are hit, deals additional damage.
RNature's Realm
Y'bneth dashes and falls into a dormancy, gaining Iron Body, a shield, and creating a circle. Enemies within the circle are slowed. Y'bneth deals sustained damage to enemies within range. Hitting enemy heroes restores his HP. On the 8th strike against an enemy hero, they are stunned and pulled back.
Skill Order
Priority: R > Q > W| Skill | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Wicked Thorns | 1 | · | 3 | · | 5 | · | 7 | · | 9 | · | · | · | 13 | · | · |
| 2Branching Out | · | 2 | · | 4 | · | · | · | 8 | · | 10 | · | 12 | · | 14 | · |
| RNature's Realm | · | · | · | · | · | 6 | · | · | · | · | 11 | · | · | · | 15 |
Loadout
Golden Body
Protect
ProwessStandard Build
1
2
3
4
5
6Core Combos
Standard Roam Gank
12Use this as your default gank pattern in the river. Q closes the gap and applies the slow, the auto attack procs your passive, and W lands cleanly on an enemy who can no longer dodge it.
Full Teamfight Lock
12RSave this for objectives like Dragon or Abyssal Dragon. Q-into-W burns the enemy's escape option, and R lands on a grouped, CC'd cluster for maximum disruption.
Flicker Ult
RFlash partway through the R animation to reposition the AoE onto a fleeing backline. One of Y'bneth's highest-skill-expression plays and a big reason experienced opponents ban him.
Anti-Assassin Peel
21When an assassin dives your carry, W immediately to break their combo, auto to proc passive, then Q to chase them out before they can re-engage.
Expert Video Guide
Rov สอนเล่น Y'bneth ต้นไม้ของพ่อ แบบเข้าใจสกิล!! | เชี่ยว(เดี๋ยว)ชาญ Ep.11 — Specheaw สเปเชี่ยว
Gameplan
Y'bneth's first spike is level 4, with all three basics up and a full CC chain ready in the river without spending his ultimate. Force ganks hard here. His second spike is his first completed support-tank item, usually a defensive piece with a CC-amplifying or engage passive, which lets him walk into two or three enemies without retreating. He is weakest before level 4 and during any mid-game window where his ultimate is on cooldown in a long fight. Late game he stays relevant as a peel-and-engage anchor as long as his team follows up.
Early Game
Levels 1–6- →Start with a level-1 mage-lane brush ward and contest the enemy roam's pathing. Y'bneth wins most level-1 skirmishes if he gets the first auto in, so be the aggressor on coin flips.
- →Hit level 4 before the 3:00 mark by chaining two successful ganks or one gank plus a full river-camp clear, then immediately look for the Dragon as a follow-up objective.
- →Punish any overextended solo-lane mage or marksman who hasn't warded their flanks. Y'bneth's Q-W chain at level 4 is a free kill on anyone caught without a dash available.
Mid Game
Post Broken Spear- →Rotate to every Dragon and Abyssal Dragon contest with your ultimate up. Trading your R cooldown for a major objective is always the correct value play in Diamond+ lobbies.
- →Shadow your carry into sidelanes when they shove, not to farm, but to threaten any collapsing dive. One successful repel keeps your ADC relevant and the enemy jungler on the back foot.
- →If you've built a lead, use your CC chain to set up picks in the river brush rather than waiting for teamfights. Proactive vision and a solo W on a rotating support can swing the gold graph significantly.
Late Game
Teamfight phase- →In base-siege scenarios, sit on the outer edge of your backline rather than the front line. You want to intercept flanking assassins before they reach your carries, not charge into a fortified choke.
- →Save your ultimate exclusively for the fight that ends the game. Don't burn R on a pick when the enemy team is already down a member and a clean 4v5 is achievable without it.
- →Pick up a second CC-duration or tenacity item if the enemy team is stacking magic damage or grievous wounds. The late-game value of your CC chain depends entirely on surviving long enough to complete it.
Pro Tips
- →Check the enemy roam's position on the minimap before committing your W. If you've lost sight of them, they're almost certainly flanking. Burning W into a tank while the enemy support hooks your ADC is the single most common high-rank mistake Y'bneth players make.
- →Practice the Flicker-into-R timing in a custom lobby before taking it into ranked. The animation window is tight, and getting the repositioned AoE right is the difference between catching two enemies and catching zero.
- →Against a poke-heavy mage like Diao Chan or Natalya in the early river phase, hold your Q as a gap-closer specifically for their cooldown windows. The moment they've burned their key poke ability is the moment you walk up and force a fight.
- →In the late game, a Frost Cape or equivalent slow-field item extends Y'bneth's CC uptime a lot. The passive slow field means enemies who escape your W still can't run fast enough to avoid your team's follow-up, and many high-rank opponents won't respect that extended threat radius until it's too late.
Y'bneth is the right roam for Diamond-plus players who want to set pace with proactive CC rather than reactive peeling. He rewards map awareness and draft-reading over pure reflexes. The thing to master is CC sequencing: never burn W until the enemy's escape is confirmed gone, then commit R as the finishing blow on the engage rather than the opener. Assassin mains moving into tank will find him the most natural starting point, and tank mains will find his ceiling higher than his pick rate implies. If you're not getting banned, you're not playing him right.
Y'bneth — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Y'bneth good in the current ROV patch?+
Yes. Y'bneth is firmly S tier this patch on a 50% win rate across a 30.2% pick rate, so he performs at the top even under heavy play. The 13.4% ban rate confirms Diamond opponents fear him in good hands, and the dive-heavy meta is practically built for his zone-denial kit.
What is the best build for Y'bneth?+
Build for early durability with a CC-amplifying engage item: look for HP, armor or magic resist, and a passive that rewards entering fights. A Frost Cape-style slow field in the mid-to-late build extends his CC chain a lot. Check current top-build recommendations in-game, since item tuning shifts patch-to-patch on the Thai server.
How do you counter Y'bneth?+
Counter-draft a blink-escape assassin like Murad alongside a long-range engage roam like Riktor so Y'bneth is always reacting, not initiating. In-game, never group tightly enough to eat his ultimate AoE: spread at the 10-metre threshold around objective fights and force him onto single targets. True invulnerability frames (Murad R, Butterfly evasion) hard-counter his CC windows.
Is Y'bneth hard to play, or good for beginners?+
Medium. The basic roam-gank pattern is beginner-friendly, but getting S-tier value needs precise CC sequencing and a read on when to engage versus peel. Beginners find him frustrating because a missed skill-shot at the wrong moment has no safety net. Players with 50-plus ranked games on a tank roam climb fastest with him.