Hello my name is Tokyo Professor and this is my Master Yi guide. Master Yi was the first champion I started playing and he has been one of my favorites. Master Yi is one of the best scaling champion in the GAME because of his Wuju Style and Guinsoo's Rageblade. In this guide, we will talk about 2 builds. I feel that these 2 runes are the most optimal for climbing, winning, killing everybody,get pentakills and most importantly,having fun. Our peace loving 7 goggled wuju with a braided beard carries games.
"AD carry? Pshh Master Yi carry. MYC not ADC!"
I get asked a lot "which skin is the best??"
I think that eternal sword yi is the best. Now you may disagree with me but we all have different opinions. Eternal sword yi actually shows his face! How cool is that! Also his aa animation is smooth.
Other skins that I like is gold headhunter yi and PROJECT:YI. Cosmic looks dumb in his ultimate because he kind of looks like Sion ultimate lmfao.

Pros + Very mobile with Highlander and Alpha Strike + Meditate for healing and aa reset-full channel for Double Strike + TON of true damage with Wuju Style + Alpha Strike to dodge skills and tower shots=outplay potential + Can tower dive easily with Alpha Strike and Meditate + Double Strike for dueling and faster clears + Highlander passive allows to Alpha Strike to another enemy quickly after a takedown

Cons - Squishy due to building damage - Needs items to be useful - Weak to cc - Has no cc - Player needs to know damage output to know you can get a Alpha Strike reset from Highlander passive - Player needs to know when to Alpha Strike - Useless when behind - Harder at high elo

This passive is really good since your fourth attack will strike twice and the second hit will do 50% damage. It will also count towards the next Double Strike. This makes master yi a very strong 1v1 dueler. Works against towers and monsters for faster clears.

Now this ability is very strong. Target enemy and damage up to four enemies in a radius around the original enemy. This ability will allow you to dodge tower shots, skills and auto attacks. Your auto attacks reduce this abilities cooldown by 1 second so building attack speed is efficient. This is your gapcloser and it can critically strike. Max this skill first and you can take it level 3 over meditate if you need the extra damage. Remember this ability makes you UNTARGETABLE but NOT INVULNERABLE. This means that you can still die to DOTs(damage over time)like Ignite and you can't dodge zed's Death Mark detonation damage.

This skill helps you heal for a base amount and percent missing health. This means that you will heal less over time if you are not taking damage. It can help you survive tower shots that would normally kill you. Meditate will also reset your auto attack. It is the smoothest when done after a Double Strike. Also use this to negate certain abilities with lots of damage such as Nasus's Siphoning Strike.

This ability has two parts. The passive increases your bonus ad by 10%. The active allows you to deal bonus TRUE damage (5 sec)which melts tanks. Remember that if this ability is on cooldown, the passive will not work.

This ability has two parts. The passive reduces your cooldowns of your skills whenever you get a takedown(kill or assist). The active gives you tons of attack speed, move speed and you become immune to slows(except for charm slow).

This rune was added a few patches ago since people were complaining about tanks being too tanky. Doesn't matter for Yi since he can destroy tanks. Anyway, lets talk about what this does. When you enter combat(when you attack minion, monster or champion)you get a stack every second. Being in combat refreshes this. At 4 stacks(so after 4 seconds), your next attack on an enemy CHAMPION will give you ad based on level and converts 20% of your damage to CHAMPIONS to true damage for the duration. You can refresh the true damage duration by attacking champions. So before a fight, ideally you want to be in combat(attack something) to have your conqueror ready to proc since it takes 4 seconds if you weren't in combat. This also works well with guinsoos and prep them together.

This runes gives us healing on takedowns(kill OR assist)after a delay and gives extra gold as well. Pretty simple and really good on yi since you will be going in and killing them One by One.

This rune gives us attack speed for champion takedowns, epic monster takedowns, minions and monster kills for a total of 18%. Free attack speed? We'll take it. Also the Legend: Tenacity isn't bad at all. Take tenacity against heavy cc enemy team comps. Legend: Bloodline is not bad but since it can not heal from conqueror true damage, the value of this rune gows down since we can't unlock the full potential. This means that you get 20% less heal if you are trying to kill someone with conqueror proc'd. This goes to all healing items with conqueror. You can still get it but attack speed is better since we are taking conqueror not lethal tempo. More on this in the lethal tempo section.

This runes gives us 7% increased damage to champions below 40% max health. Good vs any enemy. Also, a lot of people forget that you get a small amount of ad on champion takedowns for a short time. Too bad it doesn't stack though. Still, free ad, might as well take it.

This runes gives us healing from abilities, on-hit effects and items. This means that you can heal off of the true damage from conqueror, the magic and physical damage from Guinsoo's Rageblade, Blade of the Ruined King on-hit damage, bloodrazor on-hit damage etc. This also applies to your Wuju Style, you can heal off from this. So on-hit damage, ability damage, and items. This rune is underestimated but still good. Can't say no to free lifesteal.

For this choice you can get sudden impact, Eyeball Collection, or Zombie Ward. Go sudden impact for more lethality after using mobility spell(alpha strike, flash). Get eyeball collection to snowball. Get Zombie Ward for more vision. I do not reccomend eyeball collection for lower elo since people look at the map less which the whole point of Eyeball Collection is to benefit you and your team. Again, not using it to its fullest potential. Up to you, any choice is good.

Now I will be explaining the Lethal Tempo runes which is from the Precision tree.

this rune is really good. When you attack an enemy champion, after 1.5 seconds, you get 40-110% attack speed(based on level) and able to break attack speed limit(2.5)!!!. It got buffed recently which makes it really good. Like 40% AS(attack speed) at level 1??110% AS at level 18?? You will be at around 3 or 4 AS at level 18 with Highlander,fully stacked guinsoos, and other AS items.This means that you will do more damage because of more aa's per second.The only bad part is that you will take more damage from thornmail etc.

Again, triumph is so good. After a kill or assist, you regain percent missing health over time after a delay. Obviously the lower health you are, more health you get back. The delay is kind of annoying because it takes 0.5 seconds for the heal, and sometimes you will die before you get the heal when you would have survived.

To be honest, you can get any of the runes from this category because they are all good. Switch to Legend: Tenacity if they have lots of cc(leona,sej).You can get up to 30% tenacity with just this rune(same as merc boots)! Legend: Bloodline is good since you don't have to get a lifesteal item which saves you money. Alacrity attack speed, tenacity, lifesteal, any of these are good so think of what build you are going, what kind of team you are against and choose.

This rune is just far better than any of the other runes in this category. The other runes have to do something to get the effect. For Cut Down, the enemy team has to have lots of tanks, Last Stand is when you are low on health. Coup de Grace you just have to attack them and do even more damage if they are low heath. The only optimal choice.

From here, you have two choices for the secondary choices to go. The First choice is Domination tree with Sudden Impact for lethality and Relentless Hunter for out of combat movespeed. Now the next choice is Sorcery tree for Gathering Stormwhich gives free ad based on the length of the game, and Celerity for extra movespeed both in and out of combat, and extra AD based on that bonus movespeed. Celerity works when you are in Highlander you get extra AD which helps in fights.

This should be your first item every game. Attack speed is better on yi. Remember to use smite when you are fighting someoe so they take burn damage as well as they do less damage to you.

This should be your second item ALWAYS. This item is so ******* good after it got changed. This item is key to success. At 4 stacks, you proc ANY on-hit effects twice every other time, which means for example you will do extra damage every other aa if you have extra damage on-hit, double healing every other aa if you would heal normally. Even Titanic Hydra or Tiamat will go twice every other aa for better pushing.

This item got changed and now its broken!! The 20%cdr i good since our build doesn't focus on cdr. The mana always helps(we've always been in situations when you're in the middle of the fight and you realize have no mana...). The passive of this item is what makes it broken. So after you cast Highlander, we get 30% AS, and basic attacks refund 20%of reamaining basic abilities coldowns for 10 seconds. What this means is that Alpha Strike cdr goes down even more and we get a bunch of AS on top og Highlander's AS bonus. This item also pairs with Stormrazor which happens to be next.

This item is also new. The stats give good AD and AS which is always good on Yi. However, the passive is pretty strong. If you haven't BASIC attacked for a period of time(based on AS), the next aa that you do is a guarenteed crit. When you do crit, you get some movespeed oo. But what makes this item good on yi is that it synergises with Highlander and Essence Reaver. So with enough AS, you can aa(crit)- Alpha Strike-aa(crit)again for insane burst. Like you can actually one-shot with aa-q-aa. When you kill someone, your Alpha Strike will be off cd because of Essence Reaver passive. Like tell me that's not broken. You can build this before or after Essence Reaver.

From here you have to build situational because every game is different.
These three are the most optimal since they all have on-hit effects with synergises with guinsoos. Choose one or two.

Blade of the Ruined King is expensive but worth it. Gives ad, attack speed and lifesteal. This also has a targeted slow. The on-hit extra damge will proc twice every other aa from guinsoo's rageblade. You can also solo baron at this point in game. Incredible item and would get this every game if it was cheaper. Also getting buffed soon look out for that.

Wit's end is cost effiecient, and is good against fed ap damage enemies. You also do extra on-hit damage. It also gives attack speed which yi needs.

Titanic hydra is good for its pushing power and clearling waves. You should also get hydra when you are getting one-shot by an assasin and need to survive the initial burst that they will do.(khazix,lee etc) You can also reset your auto attack with the active. Combined with Meditate you can do quadruple aa combo. After Double Strike, press w and immediately click again and once you see the aa animation go off, press hydra active for insane burst damage.

Lots of games will end when you have 4 items and boots. Here are late game situational if the occasoinal game runs long.

We want this item for the revive it gives since you will be jumping in fights and get focused by enemies. This item also gives armor to be more tanky. Lategame when death timers are long, this will really help.

This item is good against that one cc you don't dodge with Alpha Strike and can ruin you. Remember what spells the enemy has already used when going in.

This items is nice for extra health and ad. The nice shield if you get low will save you.

Get this item if the enemy has a fat(fed) adc or someone like Yasuo or Gangplank with nasty crits. If paired with Ninja Tabi, you will be able to negate a lot of damage.

This item gives massive amounts of health and a 40% slow. Since master yi doesn't have any form of cc we could take this item. Usually, as master yi, we try to catch up to them with Highlander but ith this item, we could still catch them when Highlander is on cooldown. If you use ultimate with frozen mallet, noone can escape you!

With this item, you can zoom around the map. The slow is nice too.

Remember that getting 1 or 2 tank items is not bad at all! You already have the damage to kill them all, you just need to do without dying. How do you survive?? Build tank! I recommend getting only 1 and if you absolutely need it.

Usually you want to start at your bottom buff since you can get a better leash. From there, almost always go to wolves and then the other buff to get level 3. However, there is one tactic you can do if you started blue side(not blue buff). If the enemy jungler is has a weak clear, weak early game, no mobility, or squishy, you can cheese them at wolves after you get red buff. Ward either their blue or between bluebuff wall and wolf wall and jump over the wall with the plant. This tactic will get you first blood if done right and getting ahead is important on yi. Cowsep, the founder of this technique, explains this very well. Remember, only do this if the jungler has a weak early, weak clear or no mobility. Play Video

***es the situation. What items do you have? Where are the enemy's allies? What are their spells? Do I have ultimate? Do I have conqueror ready? Do I have guinsoos stacked? Keep these things in mind when you see an enemy. If you are unsure, just back off. Because remember if you are dead, you don't gain anything. However, if you are alive, you can always do something productive. eg. farm, place vision. So its always better to think before you go in or not go in at all. You can also stack conqueror and guinsoos on wards and plants too!
When you are going to duel someone, don't try to use Alpha Strike to gap close. Use Wuju Style and Highlander and/or flash to catch up to them and start autoing. Then, use Alpha Strike to dodge their main spell(usually some form of cc) or chase their mobility spell(flash,dash). When you have done enough aa's to get your Alpha Strike up again, they should be dead or will be with your next alpha strike. Don't forget to smite them too!!

In the early game, you want to get ahead and snowball from there. An easy way to get ahead is to use the level 2 cheese by invading at their wolves. After that, farming is key. If you try to gank please make sure you can get a kill. A failed gank is lost time, lost time is lost gold and makes you behind, wasting that early lead you made. After a successful gank, tax the minions for gold. This helps push the wave in so the enemy will miss out on cs(since the tower kills it).Lower elo players might tell you to back off since they think you are stealing their cs. Just back off (since they might afk or feed) and carry their *** and prove to them you didn't need them. Tax heavy if your ally got the kill, tax lightly if you got the kill. DON'T push top if the enemy has Teleport since they will thank you for pushing in the wave and cs easier.
If you are going to gank, make sure you can GUARENTEE the kill or assist, otherwise don't gank. When you gank, think what mobility spells and summoner spells do they have(flash,heal etc.)?Mostly farm till level 6, then ganks will be easier for you. After you have bloodrazor and Guinsoo's Rageblade, you can pretty much kill anyone.

Mid game, you will be a total monster if you got fed early. Even if you didn't get fed, you will be starting to be strong. Here, you should have bloodrazor, Guinsoo's Rageblade and starting to build third item. Again, don't stop farming because that is your main income other than farming enemy champions. Also, don't take unnecessary risks. For example, you don't know where the enemy jungler is so you don't want to start dragon, just ward it. It is easier to get dragon and kills if the enemy starts dragon and you mid, and bot lane can help collapse on it. But if the enemy jungler showed top side, make sure your bot lane is in lane and start the dragon. In the late game, people like to group together so it it'll be harder for master yi to go in and kill people without getting focused down with hard cc. Make sure someone else engages for you, usually the tank, and then jump in. You want to focus the damage dealer which would be the adc and the mage. Lots of teamfights outcome tend to rely on which side has lots of hard cc like stuns. Make sure they waste the hard cc before going in.
Another thing you could do is split push. When you split push you will always have Guinsoo's Rageblade stacked and Conqueror ready to proc. This way YOU can engage or towerdive because you have your two most important things ready. Not many people can handle a stacked guinsoos and conqueror master yi.

Always make sure to look at the map constantly. Say you're clearing gromp. Instead of watching master yi just cutting the gromp up, look at other lanes to see if you can gank,see if the enemy laner leaves lane to ward, or look for enemy jungler etc. If you see enemy jungler make sure you ping it because your teammates might not notice. Also call out summoner spells and remember so you can gank and know they have no escape. Another thing that people forget is when your jungle camps spawn. Buffs spawn at 1:30 and every 5 minutes after. Normal camps respawns 2 minutes 30 seconds after you kill it.Objectives also impact the game heavily. When the game starts at the beginning, check which dragon is spawning first so you could play around that side when you are able to kill it with your team. Ususally first blood tower will be bot side but sometimes top. First blood tower is extremely important since the gold you get from it is insane. Now that the bounty changes are here, you will have to play more safeand know when to all in or not. If you are certain you can go in, go for it.

This pretty much sums up this build guide. Please express your thoughts in the comments what I should add/change. This is my first guide I've written so the bbcode might not have been great but I will keep improving it! Also please upvote this guide so everyone else can read this guide and get better with this awesome champion.
However, with some new items and current item changes on the PBE, we might see some new builds on yi! These items focuses on ad and our build might see some more ad items instead of attack speed. I'll keep you guys posted on this so don't forget to check this guide weekly for build changes. Thanks for reading this guide, have a wonderful day(or night).
Also a big thanks to jhoijhoi's Making a Guide guide! If it wasn't for this, I would not have been able to make this guide at all. If you are going to make a guide yourself, make sure to check it out!


Tyo Professor