Master Yi, Master Of LoL
This is a great guide, and a successful way to play Yi. However, I hope that you guys take the time to try it out. Before we start, I would like to say that if you want this build to be successful, MAKE THE RUNE PAGE! More than others, the runepage changes this from a good build to a "holy shit I can't kill that bitch!" build. That said, if you have already read the above guide, then you might as well skip to the runes, items, and strat sections, as there isn't much difference in the guides other than that.
Stats
Health 444 (+86 / per level)
Mana 199 (+36 / per level)
Move Speed 330
Armor 16.3 (+3.7 / per level)
Spell Block 30 (+1.25 / per level)
Critical Strike 2.6 (+0.4 / per level)
Health Regen 1.35 (+0.13 / per level)
Mana Regen 0.8 (+0.05 / per level)
Range 100
Skills
Alpha Strike
Master Yi leaps across the battlefield with blinding speed, dealing magic damage to multiple units in his path with a chance to deal bonus magic damage to minions.
Master Yi leaps across the battlefield striking up to 4 enemies, dealing 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 (+1 per ability power) magic damage to each enemy with a 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60% chance to deal 400 bonus magic damage to minions.
Cooldown: 18 seconds
Cost: 90 / 105 / 120 / 135 / 150 Mana
Range 600
Meditate
Master Yi rejuvenates his body by focus of mind, restoring health and increasing his armor and magic resistance for a short time.
Master Yi channels, restoring 150 / 300 / 500 / 750 / 1,100 (+2 per ability power) health over 5 seconds. While channeling, Master Yi gains 30 armor and 30 magic resistance.
Cooldown: 45 seconds
Cost: 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160 Mana
Range: 20
Wuju Style
Master Yi becomes skilled in the art of Wuju, passively increasing the power of his physical attacks. Activating Wuju Style doubles the passive bonus damage for a short time, but the passive bonus is temporarily removed after the effect wears off.
Passive: increases physical damage by 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35.
Active: Master Yi can activate this ability to double its effectiveness for 10 seconds, but this removes the passive bonus until Wuju Style becomes available again.
Cooldown: 30 seconds
Cost: 40 Mana
Range: 20
Highlander
Master Yi moves with unparalleled agility, temporarily increasing Master Yi's movement and attack speeds as well as making him immune to all slowing effects. Additionally, killing a Champion refreshes all of Master Yi's cooldowns.
Increases Master Yi's movement speed by 30% and Attack Speed by 30 / 50 / 70%, and he becomes immune to all slowing effects for 6 / 9 / 12 seconds. Additionally, killing a champion refreshes all of Master Yi's cooldowns.
Cooldown: 75 seconds
Cost: 120 Mana
Range: 1
Double Strike
(passive): Master Yi's attacks twice every 7th attack.
Ability Guide
1. Alpha Strike
2. Wuju Style
3. Alpha Strike
4. Wuju Style
5. Alpha Strike
6. Highlander
7. Wuju Style
8. Wuju Style
9. Wuju Style
10. Alpha Strike
11. Highlander
12. Alpha Strike
13. Meditate...etc
Masteries
21 Offensive, 0 Defensive, 9 Utility
Offensive
Tier 1: 3/3 Deadliness, 1 Cripple(If you’re using Exhaust if not get Arch mage’s Savvy)
Tier 2: 3/4 Sorcery, 4/4Alacrity
Tier 3: 3/3 Sunder
Tier 4: 3/3 Brute Force
Tier 5: 3/3 Lethality
Tier 6: 1/1 Havic
Utility
Tier 1: 1/3 Good hands, 3/3 Perseverence
Tier 2: 4/4 Awareness
Tier 3: 1/2 Utility Mastery(Great Talent because you're always getting neutral buffs)
Runes
Red: Malice
Yellow: Malice
Blue: Malice
Quintessence: Malice
Summoner Spells
I use: 1) Teleport and 2) Exhaust
-If you are laning and you want to do good, you WILL take Teleport. This spell allows you to "never leave" your lane, which gives you more gold and experience then other heroes.
-Exhaust is great for Yi since he has no built-in slow. Often times it can seem like his attack speed is wasted since you are always chasing someone, but exhaust nullifies this better than other abilities.
You can use if you really want to: 1) Ghost, 2) Heal, 3) Ignite, 4) Rally, 5) Flash, 6)Cleanse
-Ghost is good, but I have found exhaust to be more useful since it keeps people from their turrets longer. As for the survivability part of ghost, you got your ultimate, right?
-Heal can be useful, but as stated above exhaust normally provides more benefit.
-Ignite is ok, but seems underpowered to me. Wouldn't you rather smack someone three more times rather than put a weak dot on them?
-Rally is the closest competitor only because it aids your team so much. However, Yi does not necessarily require a team to do good, so I normally rely on myself and do not pick this.
-Flash is ok, but it tends to give you less time to hit the enemy than ghost or exhaust. Also, the cooldown blows.
-I have yet to try Cleanse, but with you being immune to stuns when it really matters, I doubt it would make a big enough impact to be more valuable than another ability.
Item Build
0)Meki Pendant (390g) + 2 Health Potions (70g)
1)Chalice of Harmony (500g)
2)Rejuvenation Bead (250g)
3)Berserker's Greaves (920g)
4)Zeal (1195g)
5)Emblem of Valor (550g)
6)Cloak of Agility (880g)
7)Phantom Dancer (1320g)
8)B.F. Sword (1850)
9)Infinity Edge (2230g)
First off, I start a little differently than most by staying away from the Philo Stone, and instead choosing to go for the Chalice and the Bead. You tend to need more mana than health, and the bead is enough until you upgrade it later into the emblem. The fun begins whenever you get your phantom dancer. Remember that badass runebook you have? Well, you should have around 60% crit chance now, with 1.5-2.0 attack speed before your ultimate. Do you know how much damage that is? Alot. The Infinity edge is just icing on the cake after that.
Play Style
Early Game (Levels 1-5):
-First off, buy your Meki Pendant and health pots, and fight to the death to be allowed to solo! After your teammates leave you alone at mid, the fun will begin. Please note, the beginning of the match is the portion of time that absolutely requires the most skill, patience, and willpower. You may think that you can go ahead and gank Mr. I-have-a-tiny-sliver-of-health, but chances are, he's got a heal waiting or a friend in the bushes, and you don't have much to escape with. That being said, the beginning game should be played more defensively than usual. If you are soloing and not dying, you are WINNING. Just keep using your alpha strike to hit minions, which hopefully will accidentally hit nearby heroes. (A quick aside, try to not target other heroes with alpha strike, as you will always appear in front of your target. Instead, hit minions near them, and they will more than likely get hit by the attack).
-Port back when you have enough for both your chalice and your bead (750g), and again when you can buy your boots (920g). Continue to do this until you hit level 6. Now is when the fun begins.
Mid Game (Levels 6-16):
-Your ganking career has just begun! If you successfully did not die (and maybe even got a kill early game), you should be one or two levels higher than the players in the top and bottom lane. Decide which is the best choice, and set up a gank. Hide in the bushes, then Alpha Strike to the target and pop Highlander, Wuju Style, and (if it's up) exhaust. They will go down like a drunk chick at Mardis Gras. If you succesfully get the last hit while Highlander is still up, all your cooldowns will reset, ready to destroy the next hero in sight! It's all uphill from here, my friend. Just keep pushing lanes, ganking heroes, and buying awesome shit. I tend to buy the lifesteal mid-phantom because you start to need some survivability as the game goes on, and a mere 550g is completely worth it. Once you hit 11, you will see a drastic increase in your gankability, since your attack speed just drastically went up when you pop your ultimate.
Late game (Levels 17-18):
If you get anything from this guide, it's this. Yi with maxed items is better than almost any other champion with equivalent gold spent on said items. You will find that if you played your early and mid game even halfway well, the late game will feel completely broken to you. You can run in and kill multiple heroes all by yourself, and you can do massive damage to turrets. Here is where Yi really shines, as he can lead an entire team to victory simply because of the damage you can put out. Ride this to victory while you gloat about your +30 k/d spread!
Counters to Yi
Before you run off to LoL to try this build, make sure you know what heroes will counter Yi's playstyle.
Rammus: Rammus' ability to force you to attack him can be devestating, unless of course you are incredibly fed.
Morgana: Morgana's stun can make it difficult to get in for the kill, especially with the damage she can put out just by herself. I would wait for her to waste her stun before attempting a gank, then kill her before it comes back online.
Ryze: Rune prison blows, see Morgana.
Jax: Jax destroys you, end of story. Make sure that you are better equipped or have a partner before taking on a good jax player.
Alistar: Stun, stun, stun, stun.....Noticing a pattern here. Dont try and gank someone in a group with this guy, you will die quickly and painfully. Use a group or try to catch him alone and offguard.
Warwick: With this guy's lifedrain, he can sometimes out-race you in damage. If this is happening, simply sell your Emblem of Valor and get Executioner's Calling (the anti-lifedrain item).
Teemo: Careful of his blind. Trying to challenge a higher level or equal level teemo can be risky.
There are more, but this feels like a generally good list to know. Just notice the pattern here. If you can attack and do damage, you will more than likely win! Look for an opportunity and take it when the time is right.
Closing Thoughts
I know Yi can be played many different ways. I like this way because it abuses his speed and allows for some spectacular late-game multi-kills. Feel free to post whatever you want, be it tweeks you prefer, praise for me being so awesome, or flaming hate messages telling me how much I suck. Thanks for reading!
