Hey guys,

I have recently (re-)discovered the potential of AP Yi.
This guide is for everyone who wants a viable, unconventional mid and have fun playing it.

I've seen some other guides on AP Yi and I respect the makers a lot.
They seem to focus more on the high burst AP stacking, where I prefer to have a lot of survival in between my Q spam.
I'm deffinately not a LoL master and I may be wrong on some things but this all goes from personal experience and how I like to play him/seem to own with him.
Keeping this in mind, this build is NOT better than any others, it might or might not fit your playstyle better! Enjoy!

Pros:

• High mobility
• Great harass
• Great farming
• Teamfights is where he shines
• Is just plain fun

Cons:

• Gets countered by hard cc
• Requires some training and insight
• After using Alpha Strike you're a bit useless (though not necessarily because you'll need that time to reposition and heal up)

I didn't put too much time & effort into masteries & runes, I just took the standard AP ones because they seem to work the best!



Now, for summoner spells I always take flash/ignite.
I wouldn't even consider anything else because Flash allows you to close a gap or make escapes over walls.
Why not Ghost? Because Highlander does the same job but better ^^
I also take Ignite to finish off an enemy when you've used your Alpha Strike and didn't quite kill him.

This is where my build is a lot different from the others, most people prefer Doran's Ring stacking... I don't. Rushing Morellonomicon seems more fit as it has the AP and mana regen, but also the CDR which you will need! (You'll lack some health but Meditate should fix that for you.

People keep telling me you don't need the CDR because your cooldowns reset after your ulti. I'd have agree, however you won't have your ult up all the time, these allow for much better laning and shutting down your lane fairly easy

No matter what team you're up against, will ALWAYS be the items you'll build, no matter what team you're up against. I know this sounds a bit newbie but they basically counter everything!

Start off with Boots/ Health Potionx3 and on the first back you will need to be able to buy at least Ionian Boots of Lucidity and Kage's Lucky Pick (don't worry if you can't because you got ganked or anything but it should be something to aim for).

Then, once are completed, your CDR will be 1% from max which will be more than enough, so spam that Q!
Zhonya's Hourglass and Guardian Angel will make you practically unkillable, more info in the playstyle segment.

Everything after that is entirely up to you and the enemy's team lay-out. I do prefer Banshee's Veil if the enemy has strong CC that would keep me from meditating or otherwise even a Trinity Force and Hextech Gunblade.

Protip:

If you find yourself with plenty of mana, you might want to trade in your Morellonomicon for an Iceborn Gauntlet. IF you prefer this item in the first place, use 21/0/9 masteries (make sure to deffinately take the buff duration boost in utility)

Edit:

I know Trinity Force is in the other viable items section, DO NOT use it together with Lich Bane! The passives don't stack, rendering one of them useless!

Aah, the most essential part and a must-read if you're just trying out AP Yi!

Early game/Laning phase

The playstyle is about the same against most champions: farm with auto attacks + harass with Alpha Strike.
Now, how to harass someone if your Q only hits 4 random things? Well, I try to use it as much as possible when I think it has the highest chance to hit, you should always use it when there's only 3 minions in the lane, this way you'll always hit! That doesn't mean you ONLY use it then, there's plenty of time for more Q spammage, in my experience you get the most chance to hit them if they are near the melee minions or in between the melee and caster minions.
If you push the lane, which will happen, just look at it as a ganking opportunity or a chance to farm the wraiths! I've had loads of succesful ganks because your opponent will have to stay in lane to clear the wave incoming to his tower.

Brotip 1:

If you see the enemy jungler coming out of a brush, (shame on you, you should ward it ;),) try to be really quick and Alpha Strike at him if it's up or just leg it. If it's a champ with hard cc, wait for him to use it, then use Meditate to get you back to safe health (be careful with rank 1 because it won't heal that much) before continueing your escape.

Brotip 2:

Alpha Strike makes a great skillshot-dodger

Mid-game

At this point you'll be looking for objectives like dragon and will more likely find yourself in teamfights. At this point you will hopefully have your CDR items and Zhonya's Hourglass. What you would want to do after someone initiates the fight is immediately try to hit as many champions as you can using Alpha Strike. Hopefully after the damage is done and you show up again they will try to focus you, here you have 2 options: Meditate is the best option because you'll keep the aggro and they will probably not kill you through the heal and armor/MR. Usually though you will get CC'ed, at that point make use of your Zhonya's Hourglass. Don't immmediately use your Q again when it's off cooldown! Instead, pop your ulti and auto-attack a bit or reposition yourself out of harm's way. Only Alpha Strike again if someone in the opposing team is almost dead. Thanks to Highlander the cooldown will reset and off you go a second time, usually this continues until you've aced, should it not: focus on survival!

Late Game

Same rules apply in teamfights, from here you can also splitpush your way to victory as you will have more than decent damage on turrets!

I like how DarkPercy explains this in his build (DarkPercy's (AP) Master Yi and his Dark Sides~), he couldn't have been more spot-on!

Thanks for reading my guide, I obviously didn't put as much time in it as required, I just want to leave it out there for people to try, for a more in-depth analysis, visit DarkPercy's AP Yi guide here

Please leave a comment and vote! I would like to improve my points of view as well as this guide!