Master Yi General Guide by Assassin365

Introduction

Master Yi is very OP when AP, even with the new nerf that they put on him, Meditate still heals you for a lot of health and is almost impossible to kill you. Your Alpha Strike will kill a whole wave of minions or at least the ones that he hits. All of the items have ability cooldown because when you use Meditate you will usually have to wait 35 seconds, with this build Meditate will take roughly 16-10 seconds depending on how far into the build you get. This makes you very annoying on top of that Meditate actually heals you to full health. This build makes you SUPER OP and ANNOYING!

Lore

Keeper of the ancient art of Wuju, Master Yi is a mystical warrior from the isle of Ionia. He descended from one of the few tribes dedicated to the preservation of Wuju, a martial art founded with the principles of absolute spiritual awareness of one's self and one's enemy. When the armies of Noxus invaded Ionia, Master Yi joined in the Ionian defense to fight the craven enemy, bringing his village honor through his unparalleled mastery of the blade. The ensuing battles ravaged the land, but no conflict inflicted as much horror as the day the armies of Noxus closed in on Yi's village. Left undefended, the village became the unfortunate test subject of the latest invention by an up-and-coming chemist, now known as Singed. The remains of the village that Master Yi returned to were so horrific that it remains a festering scar on Ionian history. To this day, no Ionian will ever publicly speak of what occurred.

After the Noxian invasion was contained, Master Yi fell into a deep isolation. For years, he trained morning to night, speaking to no one and refusing offers of consolation by fellow Ionians. The only thing stopping him from madly charging into Noxus battle lines headfirst was his pledge to keep the Wuju style alive. Even though he seethed with impatience, his rage became a tool for sharpening his practice of Wuju, developing stronger and deadlier skills for his eventual vengeance. The only thing that roused him was news of the League's formation, and Noxus' subsequent enrollment in the League. Master Yi now brings his mastery of the blade to the League of Legends with unflinching purpose: to avenge his kinfolk and end the predations of the Noxus once and for all.

''The art of Wuju lives on in Master Yi, and is plunged through the hearts of his foes.''
-- Soraka, the Starchild

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.

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.

Flat Magic Resist Glyphs are 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.

Masteries

Again I got attack speed for the backup plan and cooldown reduction because the faster you can do your abilities the better. Blast , Arcane Knowledge , menatal force, Archmage , and Spellsword are all self-explanatory. I got Executioner because after you use Alpha Strike your target ( if chosen right ) should already be at below 50% health. I got Durability for the extra health. Hardiness and Resistance are both self-explanatory.

Champion Spells

Double Strike

Master Yi strikes twice every 7th attack.

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

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Alpha Strike


Master Yi leaps across the battlefield striking up to 4 enemies, dealing 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 (+100% of ability power) magic damage to each enemy with a 50% chance to deal 260 / 320 / 380 / 440 / 500 bonus magic damage to minions.

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


Cool things to know:
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).

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Meditate

Master Yi channels, restoring 28 / 56 / 84 / 112 / 140 (+40% of ability power) health every second for 5 seconds for a total of 200 / 350 / 500 / 650 / 800 (+200% of ability power) health. While channeling, Master Yi gains 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 armor and magic resistance.

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.

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Wuju Style


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.

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.

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Highlander

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.

Items

Boots Enchantment:


When you have nothing else left to buy or when you think you're gonna need some extra movespeed,

Alacrity:

You can get this upgrade since it's pretty much the only one that works on AP Yi... It helps to chase/run away a little. I sadl

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Homeguard:

Can be useful if you're camping in your base trying to defend against the enemy team with Baron or something. It might let you catch an enemy off guard.

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AP yi doesn't need that much mana regen, and other items give him more damage for less cost. While this item is still good, it's not in the best choices.

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This one is what a call an ''Overkill'' on lane sustain. Rod of Ages gives back mana and HP everytime you level up which means it's an awesome laning item.

However, it does not really fit this Yi build. Rod of Ages is very expensive and only gives +60-80 AP (after 10 minutes). Also, the sustain it gives is kinda unnecessary. Meditate is already good enough and the double Doran's Rings will give you all the HP and mana regen you need early game.

It will delay your other items and your damage will suck balls.

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This one is pretty good. It gives AP and HP which is really helpful because sometimes if you are silenced and you can't use Meditate, you will rely on your HP pool to survive.

The slow is kinda wasted though. 15% slow is not needed since you already run so fast and your target will die so fast that the slow will be wasted.

Rylai's Crystal Scepter is a good survivability item just like Zhonya's Hourglass or Abyssal Mask. If you feel like you don't need Zhonya's Hourglass's active, or the Magic Resist + Magic Penetration from Abyssal Mask, then take Rylai's Crystal Scepter instead.

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Speaking of Abyssal Mask. It is a great item overall. It you don't think that Void Staff is needed because enemies don't have that much Magic Resist, you can replace it with this guy.
OR
If you are getting destroyed by some other burst mage that can CC (like LeBlanc or AP Tristana or Veigar) then you might wanna grab this guy.

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Kage's Lucky Pick

Only get this early if you really know that you're gonna build Morello's Evil Tome or Blackfire Torch (aka you're playing Dominion or Twisted Treeline).

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I don't know how I feel about this item. I guess you could get it against a Swain or an enemy AP Master Yi or any other big healer really, but I don't know if it's worth it... Ignite already does a pretty good job for that already.

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Overrated item on Yi but still good. Since you can't choose which ability you will block, this will not help you keep your Meditate up in teamfights. A well-timed Zhonya's Hourglass active will save your life from CC more often than Banshee's Veil. However, if the enemy team really has THAT much magic damage, you can get it instead of damage items.

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With such a low HP pool, Yi can die fast even before he can deal any damage. This will negate the problem at the cost of damage. Only get it if enemies are super squishy but super deadly.


Can't think of any other items. Comment if you think of one!

Spells

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

: 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.

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: 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.

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

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

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 is just so... awesome...)

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Cons:

Requires really good timing and judgement
Requires a lot of farm to be really effective Late game
Sometimes relies a little bit on luck

Gameplay

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

Early Game:

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.

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Mid Game:

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.

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Late Game:

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.

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In Teamfights:


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.

Unique Skills

Master Yi is great at FARMING so USE IT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE! if you see a lane is losing and the minions are near the turret go and Alpha Strike the minions! That is how Master Yi gets Fed, PERIOD! You can also stay in battle A LOT longer than anyone else because you can meditate yourself to full health, also use this to your advantage BUT PRESERVE YOUR MANA!

When to pick 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.

Videos Master Yi [Pentakills (watch Master Yi closely)]

Comments

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