What's up with every Yi rushing Statik?
Asked by Firehusary on January 3, 2015
Hi.
I know that every guide recommends BotrK as a 1 item for Yi. But... I have played over 2 years and I always saw only Yi rushing Statik and Infinity Edge. Can anyone tell me, why? ;c Or it is just me?
9/10 I will end up with a build like this for jungle Master Yi:
Stalker's Blade - Devourer, Blade of the Ruined King, Mercury's Treads, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Randuin's Omen, Banshee's Veil or Guardian Angel.
Now, back to Statikk Shiv. Blade of the Ruined King is generally the better purchase, but Statikk Shiv can work as somewhat of a fallback option. Statikk Shiv's main draw is it's lightning passive, obviously. This passive is incredibly strong for clearing and split pushing. Many Vaynes are now building Statikk Shiv over Youmuu's Ghostblade or Phantom Dancer because Statikk Shiv offers the pushing power that Vayne lacks over other ADCs. The same logic applies to Master Yi.
Master Yi, Tryndamere and Vayne are fantastic split-pushers (Although I do NOT recommend sending your ADC to splitpush unless you're desperate) not because they clear waves particularly fast, but because they have fantastic dueling capabilities and tower pushing capabilities. If these types of champions are splitpushing, then you'll need to send two or more champions to deal with them because they generally will beat you in a flat one on one duel.
Now, this ties into Statikk Shiv because, yes, that extra burst is nice, but being able to clear waves really fast when you have primarily single target damage is the real draw of this item. Statikk Shiv makes average wave-clearing split pushers (due to single target damage) into really strong and fast split pushers, not only with the attack speed to help clear towers faster and movement speed to help escape, but the fact that Statikk Shiv gives immense clearing power for a lower cost than Ravenous Hydra.
However, to get back to your question, Statikk Shiv should not be rushed unless you're playing Yasuo. It does not offer much consistent damage on its own. You need to have Attack Damage in order for the full potential of this item to be used. ADCs scale so well into late game because all their stats scale multiplicatively (I made up a word) with each other. Attack Speed on its own is very weak, and is generally really underwhelming unless you have Attack Damage.
TL;DR Statikk Shiv offers immense pushing power, especially if you fall behind early. However, rushing it is a bad idea because Attack Speed as a standalone stat does not offer much to your champion. You should always buy it after you have damage or on-hit effects.
Hope this helps,
ToastyTom