Master Yi Build Guide by AFKwithyoursister

Introduction

Hello and welcome comrades

Pros / Cons

PROS

• Extremely high damage output (DPS)
• Very fast
• Almost unstoppable late game
• Can carry teams to victory
  

• Easy to harass (melee)
• Squishy all game
• Poor early game
  

Runes

Greater Mark of Desolation Greater Quintessence of Desolation

These should be pretty self explanatory. They are split into 2 categories, Armor Penetration, which lets you deal more damage through armor, and Attack Speed, which grants you more Attack speed.

These are the runes that I personally use for Yi, however if you have your own preferred rune setup or just would rather use something different, feel free. This is only a guideline.

Items

--!IMPORTANT!--
All items are situational, you're going to have to adapt to what the enemy team brings.

Stacking armor to counter you? Grab Last Whisper.

Are they AP heavy? Grab Hexdrinker.

Are you getting focused? Guardian Angel.

Teammate already has Zeke's Harbinger? Get Wriggle's Lantern.


There is an extensive shop full of items and you should know what they do. Knowing what item to get is important. No build is concrete. There is no magical build that you can run every time and do well. You have to adapt. If you're doing very well you can expect the enemy team to try and counter you. This is an obvious fact. You should have the knowledge to counter whatever they decide to throw at you.

Boots: Mercury Treads can also be useful if they have heavy CC or if you want to be safe. Also, you can sell your boots for a phantom dancer if the game lasts that long.

Also, You are going to want to buy the Phantom Dancer before any AD items because of the massive crit. You'll be doing plenty of damage. However, If you want to grab a Zeal and then rush Infinity Edge, Then that will work too.

These are listed in the order that I prefer to buy them in. The exception is if the enemy has a rather annoying tank that is completely annihilating you (such as Rammus). In this case, I prefer to build The Black Cleaver third, right after Zeke's Harbinger. If the tank is really bothering you, pick up a Last Whisper for additional penetration and extra attack Damage. Also remember that Zeke's Harbinger passive aura is unique, so if one of your teammates is also running Zeke's Harbinger I would suggeset replacing it with Youmuu's Ghostblade or any item of your preference.

Skills and Spells

A quick note: ONLY use your skills on ENEMY CHAMPIONS do NOT use them on minions whatsoever. As Yi, you won't have a very big mana pool or regen and it isn't worth wasting your gold on these items simply because you want to spam your attacks on minions. Also, you don't want to be low on mana when enemy champions decide to attack you. That will almost always end badly.

This is your initiating skill. It's essentially a commando lunge (Cod reference :o) that allows you to insta-teleport to the selected enemy while you strike up to 4 units on the way. This is excellent for hitting initiating teamfights due to the ability to hit multiple champions. This is the attack that most people will spam on minions. Trust me and do not do this, all this will result in is you constantly running out of mana and having to recall and falling behind.

I find this skill mostly useless due to the need to channel it. This is why i don't pick it up until late game, because really, you won't need it. If you need health, just recall. There is, however a handy tip the goes with this spell. If you pop it while in the spawn,it will stack with the spawn health regen and it will give you your mana back. That is just about the only use I have for this spell.

What a skill this is. Its passive gives you extra attack damage and it is a large boost, especially when you level this skill. Of course when you pop it, the effectiveness is doubled for a short period of time. The best times to use this are when you are taking on enemy champions, random jungle boss monsters (Dragon, Baron, etc.), or when you are attempting to take out an enemy turret. The extra boost in attack damage really helps, especially with the massive attack speed you will be getting with Yi.

Your ultimate, and a very good ultimate it is. As to how to use it, I will go into deeper late in the guide. With this you'll get insane attack speed and movement speed. Even better? A kill grants you all cooldowns refreshed. This spell will easily drop your enemies in no time at all. The only negative? Your enemy will be sure to rage at you in the 'all' chat.

Summoner's Spells

Flash

Early Game

As soon as you spawn, you're going to want to pick up Boots of Speed and a point in Alpha Strike. Then, just go lane and farm minions as best you can. You're going to need as much gold as possible to get your items. If you're up against a caster or ranged character, you're going to have to recall as they harass you. Remember, there's no point in dying early game, and as long as you're careful, you won't. Play it safe and don't get bloodthirsty or over-aggressive. As soon as you are able to, pick up Berserker's Greaves and Zeke's Harbinger.

Middle Game

By now, you should have Highlander and up to Zeke's Harbinger and you should be working on a Phantom Dancer, at this point, you want to still be laning, but you can communicate with your team to set up ganks now. You're not quite as useless as you were early game, but make sure to play defensively, only get a kill if you can make it out alive. Otherwise, there's no point.

Late Game

This stage of the game starts when you get your Infinity Edge. You are now an absolute monster in the battle field and should be able to take anyone on. Try your best to push turrets and kill anything that gets in your way. If the enemy drags the game longer, all it does is gives you time to grab The Bloodthirster and become even more powerful. Yi is a carry, so use him to 'carry' your team to glorious victory in this stage.

Make sure you keep in mid one of the best strategies for Yi.

BACKDOORING No, not the kinds that the priests do. While the enemy team is distracted trying to kill your team. You can slip in and push a tower or two in a matter of seconds. You would be surprised how easily the game turns from defensive to offensive because of a good backdoor.

How to Kill

Perhaps the most important part of playing Yi is knowing how to take down your enemies in the most efficient manner and as many times as possible. The basic idea is generally the same, but varies a bit depending on the type of fight you plan to be entering.

In a 1v1 situation, you'll want to use Alpha Strike to initiate and immediately after you come out of that, use Wuju Style and auto attack them. When they try to run use Highlander to get the kill because your cooldowns will be immediately refreshed.

In a 2v1, you'll want to initiate with Alpha Strike once again and when you get out immediately pop Highlander and Wuju Style and kill the weaker champion. Your cooldowns should now be refreshed and you can repeat the process, using Ghost or Ignite if the remaining champion tries to flee.

In an all out team fight (3v3, 5v5, etc.), you'll want to use the same Alpha Strike, followed by Highlander and Wuju Style and kill the weakest champion as fast as possible, then repeat with refreshed cooldowns. You can use a Highlander/ Ghost combination to chase stragglers or get out if it looks like you're going to lose.

Minion Aggro

This is every players nightmare. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I've gone for an early kill and gotten it, only to be slain by minions a second later. Basically, if you want to go for an early kill, as soon as you get it run away from the enemy minions. There's nothing worse than the feeling you get from being revenge killed by minions, trust me. It's not fun.

Summary

This concludes my Yi build. Hopefully, you learned something from this and if you made it to this point, you probably did. Remember, if you have any suggestions or questions, please put them in the comment section below. All feedback is welcome. I would also appreciate if you took the time to +1 the guide if you enjoyed it. I took the time to write this and help people, so it would be great if you would help people see it.

That will be all, comrades.