Master Yi Build Guide by DarkPercy

Intro

Hey, welcome to my Master Yi Guide(s) in which I will show you how to play both Ability Power Master Yi AND Attack Damage Master Yi. This guide is about AP Yi and the other one is about AD Yi. I hope you'll enjoy my guides :D!

MY AD YI GUIDE: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/master-yi-and-his-dark-sides-ad-213739
If you have literally NEVER played Yi before, I suggest you play him as AD first :p

If you want to know a little bit about me, click here!

Oh and quickly, check out TinyStar's Boutique, she is the one who made the sweet graphics for this guide :3.

Intro to AP Yi (Watch the videos!)

Hello there! If you've never seen what AP Master Yi can do or if you simply enjoy watching pentakills, let me show you epic videos that will surely make you want to play AP Yi!

Click on the spoilers to reveal the PENTAKILL videos!

Now, if you want to do this, keep on reading :D!

Pros/Cons

Pros:

• Great Laning Phase
• Amazing Pusher and Roamer/Ganker
• Can snowball extremely hard and carry a game
• If fed, can easily get Triple, Quadra and Pentakills
• Can build nothing but damage and still have crazy survivability
• There is literally nothing more fun than AP Yi in this game (Instakilling champions, Multikills and MediTanking are just so... awesome...)

Cons:

• Requires really good timing and judgement (like the old Katarina)
• Requires a lot of farm to be really effective Late game
• Sometimes relies a little bit on luck ( Alpha Strike's targeting system)

Masteries

This is what works best in almost every case.

The offensive tree has 21 points for obvious reasons.

Even though some people might not like it, I get the mana masteries ( Meditation and Expanded Mind ) in the utility tree. You could easily get points in Wanderer and Mastermind instead because they are also really good choices. I just personally really like the extra mana much more.

• Expanded Mind 's +180 Flat mana really helps Master Yi's terribly low mana pool late game. Master Yi was designed to be an AD Carry that relies on autoattacks so he has trouble with his mana to compensate for his other awesome base stats (scaling Magic Resist for example).
  
• Running out of mana in a teamfight really isn't something you want. Really not. Imagine you killed someone with your burst combo and now you're about to bring down the entire enemy team and get a pentakill when suddenly you just run out of mana and stand in place like a re-tard as you are pointlessly spamming Q. And then you die because you can't use Meditate. Very sad story.

Runes

Alright, my runes are pretty standard. An ordinary Caster setup that works very nicely on Alpha Yi.

For Reds, choose Magic Penetration Marks because they will increase your damage the most lol.

My Yellow runes are Mana regen per level Seals. Doran's Rings are nice, but they usually aren't enough for AP Master Yi's mana needs.

However, you should really use Flat Armor seals if you are going to lane against an AD champion top or mid. Especially if they have CC and/or high burst. Examples are: Garen, Talon, Pantheon, Kha'Zix, etc.

For Blues you want AP/lvl Glyphs because they give more AP than Flat AP Glyphs after level 6 only. These runes will give you 36 AP at level 18!

Flat Magic Resist Glyphs are also great if you are going mid against an AP carry. If your meditate is on cooldown or it got interrupted, you will rely on your Health and Magic Resist to survive. You should also get it if you are not really used to AP Yi and you feel like the enemy mid will be able to kill you.

For the Quints I tend to go Flat AP because they are essential to dominate early on and they are also one of the most efficient AP runes in the game.

Summoner Spells

Here are the summoner spells that I consider ''viable'' on Alpha Yi:

Flash: This guy is my best friend. Flash has so much uses: Escaping Ganks, closing a gap, repositioning yourself, catching an enemy off guard and much more! I find Flash to be necessary for AP Yi.

Ignite: Ignite gives the little extra punch you need to kill people. I really love it because people always underestimate AP Yi's burst, and Ignite makes that even more deadly. You want all the damage you can get be able to finish off enemies. Also, your worst enemy is clutch heals that save your enemies... and Ignite counters that.

Ghost: You already have that does the same job but better. Ghost is not necessary on AP Yi.

Exhaust: Could be a great choice if the enemy team have many Heavy physical damage dealers, but otherwise I like the other choices better.

Every other spell should pretty much never be taken.

Abilites Sequence and other Details

Useful early in the game. Alpha Strike -> Double Strike combo hurts. Late game, Double Strike is still good because your autoattacks may not be super powerful, but they are still important and fairly strong, especially with the Spellsword mastery.

*Side note: Nope, Double Strike will not make your Lich Bane hit twice. :P


Master Yi's Ninja skill. Your bread and butter skill, you shall use it to farm, harass, dodge skills, escape, kill champions, everything!

• During Alpha Strike, you are untargetable, you can use this to dodge spells
• If you have good tiing, you can use Alpha Strike on enemies right before they go through a wall and you will land next to them (over the wall too).

Here's a video that shows that you can follow enemies through walls: And now one that shows the ways to harass the enemy with Alpha Strike: I guess I should also mention that you should pretty much always autoattack the enemy once after using Alpha Strike. Free damage should never be overlooked :p


Early game it's just a ridiculously powerful sustain ability.

When maxed second, this ability becomes so powerful that you can easily tank towers and multiple enemies damage at the same time. Each time you use this spell, you become pretty much invincible for 5 seconds unless someone throws hard CC at you. In teamfights, you should usually use this spell while waiting for your Alpha Strike's cooldown to go down.


Take one point in it whenever (usually at level 4) you feel like you could use extra damage and you don't really need to get another point in Meditate. The first point in this ability is very strong as it gives more AD than the 2nd/3rd/etc point. It helps to last hit minions and to increase your damage overall.

I would also like to say that because you are playing AP Yi, you did not lose the ability to right click enemies. You can still and must autoattack champions after using Alpha Strike. However, always keep in mind that you must use Meditate as soon as things get dangerous for your life. End Game, if you are not being focused, you can activate the ability to get another Lich Bane proc. Max this last.

Always activate Wuju Style to get an extra Lich Bane/ Sheen proc:

Increases Master Yi's movement speed by 40% and Attack Speed by 40 / 60 / 80%, and he becomes immune to all slowing effects for 6 / 9 / 12 seconds. Additionally, killing a champion refreshes all of Master Yi's cooldowns. (Assists reduce half of the base cooldown amount.)

This is a GREAT skill on AP Yi. Movement speed is awesome to chase and run away (+ can't be slowed). The attack speed is great early to kill enemies. But the best part is : ALL YOUR COOLDOWNS ARE REFRESHED IF YOU KILL AN ENEMY! This is what makes AP Yi something worth trying. More explanation in the Gameplay section. Put a point into this every time you can.

Starting Items

Standard Items

My build heavily focuses on doing alot of single target damage to make use of your ultimate's passive that refreshes your abilities' cooldowns on a kill. This will allow you to spam Alpha Strike in teamfights and also dominate your opponent in your solo lane. These 6 items are the best to get on AP Yi.

*Important Note*: This build order really is not set in stone, consider adapting your build to the enemy team. For example, you can get Void Staff earlier if they stack Magic Resist. You can get Zhonya's Hourglass later if you don't need the active and you want more damage. You can get Abyssal Scepter mid game if you are getting wrecked by a magic damage dealer. Etc.

Other Items

Gameplay

Alpha Yi's gameplay is very unique and fun. It is somewhat similar to an Assassin.

AP Master Yi should go Mid but can also go Top.

Mid is an epic lane for AP Yi because it's usually easy to win your lane against a typical mid champions. Also, since you are in the middle of the map, you are in a better position to join teamfights or to gank a lane (AKA roaming). Mid is also the shortest lane, that means you will less distance to run if you got ganked because you pushed too far.

Top can also work extremely well against some champions with no CC. You can push very hard and kill melt towers like they're butter without anything to stop you.



In lane, you want to farm and harrass your enemy at the same time as much as possible with Alpha Strike. If you haven't watched the video about harassing with Alpha Strike then go back to Abilities Section and watch it now!! What are you waiting? Click here to get there.

Don't spam your abilities too much in early levels and don't forget to use Meditate when you are getting low on HP. You should still try not to take too much harass because Meditate does have a fairly long cooldown and mana cost.


Keep on farming your lane like a boss. If there are teamfights nearby, go help, your AoE damage is great with Alpha Strike. Try grabbing a Blue Golem buff if you can, it is really really helpful.

The key to success with AP Master Yi is how much farm you've got. Look at your CS (Creep score) sometime in the game, you should always be the guy with the most CS or at least the second best CS score.

Your goals should be:

• Get your enemy out of lane by harassing him
• Push hard to deny your enemy gold and experience
• Gank other lanes to make your whole team fed

With AP Yi's high movement speed, burst and towerdiving potential, it is easy to successfully gank lanes.


Now, if everything went well you should have alot of farm at this point. Notice how this build is heavily focused on single target damage? You are now an assassin. Think of yourself as a Katarina. You want do this little combo explained below on the enemy carry.



Before a teamfight: If you can harass the enemy team with your Alpha Strike without puting yourself too much in danger, then by all means do it.

In teamfights: There is basically four ''main'' ways to behave in a teamfight with AP Yi:

1: The TiensiNoAkuma Yi: When the enemy team has many many ways to stop your Meditate and kill you, wait for your team to initiate and ONLY go in when you are CERTAIN that you will at least kill ONE person with your combo. You should probably not go in before that because the smallest mistake could get you killed.

2: The Attention Wh0re Yi: Only do it if you have Zhonya's Hourglass or if you know the enemy can't stop your Meditate (they just used their CC abilities for example). You use Alpha Strike on the enemy team, knowing that you won't kill anyone with it. You are now in the middle of the enemy team and they really want to kill you. You use Meditate or Zhonya's Hourglass, making the enemy team waste a lot of their time as they try to focus you down even though you are nearly invincible. Meanwhile, your team comes in and helps you get a reset. Then you proceed to destroy the enemy.

3: The Anticarry Yi: If you know that the enemy team really is tanky but not doing any damage at all except ONE specific hypercarry, you can just forget about trying to kill the other tanky enemies. Focus on killing that one carry that is doing all the job and get rid of him. Wait to be able to see him and go straight for him (use Flash if necessary!). It doesn't matter if you die, as long as that carry dies, the enemy team can't beat your team without any damage.

4: The Hard Carry Yi: That's when you are so fed that you can kill someone that is full HP instantly with your combo. Basically you do the same as in the first way (TiensiNoAkuma), except instead of waiting for your team to make someone on the enemy low on HP, you just go in and kill someone by yourself. Basically just do work and carry hard :P.


But no matter what you do, there is one thing that you will always do: try to kill enemies. You should do that by using this combo:

The AP Yi burst combo

1. Flash (If you need to)
2. Activate Highlander (if you get a kill and your ultimate is not active, your cooldowns will NOT refresh D:)
3. Use Deathfire Grasp on your target (if you have the item of course)
4. Use Alpha Strike on that target
5. Hit him with Lich Bane
6. If he's not dead yet, Ignite him/her and autoattack him/her as much as you can (that means if you are in a dangerous position, just use Meditate instead). Don't forget to activate Wuju Style for a second Lich Bane proc.


Most of the time, this combo will be enough to kill a squishy enemy and you can start spamming Alpha Strike on enemies like a boss.

HOWEVER, if the target does not die, you can save your *** with Meditate or Zhonya's Hourglass or Flash or simply run away with Highlander.

It's not that bad if you don't kill your target instantly, Highlander lasts 12 seconds! That means you can easily use Alpha Strike and Lich Bane at least two times to try killing an enemy.


Here's a video that shows Master Yi in some teamfights:

*Side note: If you do not get the killing blow on an enemy, it doesn't really matter because it will cut your base cooldowns in half and you already have around 24% Cooldown reduction with runes and masteries and items.(Or maybe 40% cooldown reduction with blue buff). This means if you get an assist, your skill's cooldowns will be cut by around 74-90%. Which isn't so bad if you ask me :P.

Jungle AP Yi miniguide

LoL Replays

LoL Replays:


Since I got asked to....
If you have LoLReplay, you can click on the links and download the replays to see me playing AP Yi! Get some popcorn! Seriously though, watching replays will make you learn quickly and efficiently.

If you don't have LoLReplay yet, you can download it here!(click)

Master Yi VS Cho'Gath

This is a hard matchup but when you get an early advantage you can keep it and manage to win the lane (then win the game!). Includes badass ganks and teamfights!

http://www.leaguereplays.com/replays/match/2718693/

Jungle AP Master Yi

This one is the first and only (yet) jungle AP Yi replay I have for you guys :P. If you are curious about how to jungle him, watch this replay and enjoy :3. If I remember right there's a delayed pentakill in that game (from me).

http://www.leaguereplays.com/replays/match/2752017/

Master Yi VS Twisted Fate

Jungle, Bot lane AND Top lane are all losing. I get an early gank from Shaco and snowball out of control in mid lane and carry the game really really hard (26/2/5). Good game to watch if you wanna see how to snowball in lane enough to be able to carry.

http://www.leaguereplays.com/replays/match/2687165/

Master Yi VS Syndra

From 0:00 to 13:00 it's pretty much just farming fest. Nothing too interesting to watch unless you want to see how to lane with AP Yi (which is pretty easy). From 13:00 till close to the end it's very interesting. However, the ending is very disappointing because it's basically 1v5 and we lose :(

http://www.leaguereplays.com/replays/match/2620107/

Master Yi VS Ahri

This one is a flawless victory (0 deaths). There are some very nice ganks in that game. Definitely worth watching. I lane against an Ahri that gets destroyed despite the fact that she built Giant's Belt AND Negatron Cloak early.


http://www.leaguereplays.com/replays/match/2656750/

Master Yi VS Swain

Here I get to lane against Swain and I get ganked multiple times by Maokai. I still manage to win the lane and make my team come back from an inevitable loss (we somehow win). Surprisingly, I carry by doing the job of a tank (instead of getting pentakills like you'd expect from AP Yi). The enemy team focuses me too hard and waste their time on me even though I'm untargetable during Alpha Strike and Zhonya's Hourglass active, and I pretty much can't be killed during Meditate.

http://www.leaguereplays.com/replays/match/2663984/

Master Yi VS Teemo

In this game I carry harder than you could ever carry. Our bot lane feeds 20+ kills to the enemy team but we still manage to win. You should really like this one.

http://www.leaguereplays.com/replays/match/2666259/

Master Yi VS Riven (mid)

The enemy team sent Riven against me and they also took a jungle Cho'Gath which pretty much camped mid lane for the first 10 minutes. I still manage to beat her in lane pretty hard. Then my awesome team groups up with me and we push mid extremely hard (the enemy team had no way to stop us). We get an inhibitor pretty early, we also get an early baron and we win the game in 22 minutes.

http://www.leaguereplays.com/replays/match/2675258/

Master Yi VS LeBlanc

Some people have trouble against LeBlanc in lane when playing as AP Yi. If you are one of those guys, you might wanna watch this replay and hopefully you'll be able to beat her afterwards.

http://www.leaguereplays.com/replays/match/2675400/

Master Yi VS Zyra

This is a normal game with some people that aren't even level 30 yet so don't expect pro plays on the enemy team. My team is doing really bad and we are losing but I end up carrying hard. You can watch if you wanna see how to win in low elo/low levels I guess :P.

http://www.leaguereplays.com/replays/match/2684043/

When to play AP Yi?

Just look at their team composition if you are in draft pick. If you see that the enemy team does not have too much hard crowd control then AP Yi should be fairly easy to roll (I'd even say OP).

Hard CC: Knockup, Knockback, Stun, Fear, Supress, Silence
Weak CC: Snare, Blind, Slow, Attack Speed slow, Immobilize

Why look at that? Because you have to know if the enemy team can easily disrupt your Meditate or not. If no one can stop your meditate, you can just go brainless full ****** and win.

Another thin[g that is good to have when you're playing AP Yi is a team with a lot of initiation power and AoE damage. This is also known as Amumu. Amumu is OP. Okay.

Lane Matchups (Still in progress)

Gamescores 'N' Stuff

Will add more with time.

A little about me

Ending

Thanks for reading my guide! Feel free to comment and/or ask questions in the comment section below!

I hope you enjoyed this guide and that you are ready to play Master Yi like a BAWS!

MY AD YI GUIDE: http://www.mobafire.com/league-of-legends/build/master-yi-and-his-dark-sides-ad-213739

And once again, thanks to TinyStar for the amazing guide graphics :3!