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Choose Champion Build:
Spells:
Smite
Exhaust
Ability Order
Double Strike (PASSIVE)
Master Yi Passive Ability
Introduction...Read me

PS: I wasn't online over the vacation and surprise I come back to see my build, that used to be second at some point, now very low in the later and NO comment as to why poeple had -1. Pls comment when u -1.
First of all, I would like to specify that I am francophone and dyslectic therefore I apologies for all mistakes you will find in this text.
This is my second Guide, the first one was on

This guide is about


Let’s start with the most painful truth there is: Master Yi is not a good champ and if you want an OP champ then he is not it.
Then why play him? Why make a guide about a bad champ?
Do I have your attention? If so keep reading.
Remember the 7p when playing any specialized champ:
Proper Planning and Preparation Prevent Piss-Poor Performance


Every 7th attack he will strike twice.
Along with his basic attack speed stat this makes


A on click leap that damage your target and up to 3 other targets
This skill has a x% chance to deal a bonus 400 damage to minions and monsters. It's one of the trick that makes


Channel a small heal over time and grants bonus armor and magic resist.
Maybe the worst skill in League of Legends. It's heal is only good at low level and the defense bonus become good only late game. Can be used to counter



Gives a passive AD boost that can double on activation, the boost is lost when the skill is on cool down.
This skill is simply amazing but if you want to make the most of it you need to have a fair amount of CDR.

Grants immunity to slows and a bonus to attack speed and movement speed and the skill is refresh upon kills or reduce by half on assists.
Probably the best named skill in all the history of video game. This skill has many usages from turret bashing to panta-kill(don't count on the panta-kill it never happens in real life). This is what makes the champs known as


Pros
|
SPACE |
Cons
|
Conclution of the Autopsy:

Therefor the real question to ask yourself, when you need to jungle, isn’t ‘’Why should I play him?’’ but rather ‘’Is there any reason for me not play him?’’.
There is a chapter dedicated to all the reasons for not taking

What about Non-AD

The AP YI is a joke. It tries to be good at what he isn't normally(team fight) but becomes really bad at what he is suppose to be the god(pushing/turret bashing/jungling). Not that it is complete garbage but we could say that it is a completly different champ.
The On-hit Yi can be your emergency plan but not your main objective. If you follow the rules of ''When not to take Yi'' you should never need it. An On-hit Yi can be achieved with the situational items.
The Off-Tank Yi can be your emergency plan but not your main objective. If you follow the rules of ''When not to take Yi'' you should never need it. An Off-tank Yi can be achieved with situational items.
The Lane Yi is not viable at high summoner lv. He can't Solo top reasonably nor can he fulfill any position other then jungler.
The 3v3 Yi is not viable. 3v3 is suppose the be the arena of the OP champs almost all of Yi's counter are found there.
The Dominion Yi is very potent but that is not what I am covering here.

For Marks:
Greater mark of desolation Armor Penetration VS Attack Speed

For Seals:

For Glyphs:



For Quintessence:

My own rune page is :
Runes





As a jungler you need
Smite.
As for your second spell (in order of most to least viable):
Very good for ganking or chasing. Also normally a well timed
Highlander+
Exhaust=death.
This **** will save your *** even better the
Flash. Also will make the enemy rage if they stun you to waste your ult and you have this up.
Helps a lot to join a team fight(Didn't he said Yi was bad in team fight? Good your paying attention. Keep reading.), escape from your over extend position after crushing a turret or chase.
The panic button everyone loves.
A standard tool for pushers.
Gives you an additional ''On Steroids Mode Activate'' button.

As for your second spell (in order of most to least viable):










I max out

For

I put 1 point into




You can either start with


Once you have them there are 2 items that you should always keep:
Wriggle's Lantern aside from being a great jungling tool also have great stats for it's price and a WARD! In this game map awareness is the most important skill a summoner can have. When people say that it is up to the Support to ward it complete ********. Everyone must ward a little, thats why even people who don't jungle can pick this item.
And the last point to seal the deal: it's an investment item. Wait, wut? I don't see any increase over time like RoA or 5GP10 here. Every time you use it's active it's 75g not spend on ward for your team. So basically it saves your team 75g for each 3 min after you bought it.
Youmuu's Ghostblade is another well rounded item. It's active is basically a second ult on
Master Yi.
The Item I add to complete the Core items is:
because having Iron man on your side is always cool.
Zeke's Harbinger is well rounded and gives amazing stats for it's cost. Also brings a great aura for your team so that your not completely useless when you wait to enter the team fight. I talk more about that latter on.
So to resume, your Core Items are :
Let's check the math (without the boots, they are the same here):
For 5800g, they give you:
Vs the core items of the number 1 Trynd guide on mobafire at 5800g:
This is not intended to mock
Apotheosis's guide at all. It is only to point out the difference between rounded items and focused items in early game impact. I picked this build for the simple reason that when I think of a good champ that uses focused items the first to come to mind is
Tryndamere and I wanted it to be compared to the best possible example.
You get so much more for your cash its ridiculous, on top of that all of your items have many small item in them making it easy to scale properly. On the other hand this trynd has 3 big step of at least 900g in this build making it a little harder to scale properly early game.
As for the reasons to why I pick rounded items to maximise early game as core items rather then getting focused items to maximise late game you can find them in the game play sections.
For Boots I only see 2 that you should consider:
Ofc greaves is what you want but sometimes you need the merc. If you follow the rules of ''When not to take Yi'' the need for merc will be more rare.
Another advantage of having some well rounded items as your core is that you can proprely adapt to what ever the game throws at you with the your other items.
You can pick your luxury items (items that are just cream on the pie after you have your core) from the list below. Ofc you don't have time to check it in game so learn it. Remember the 7p.
Main Plan:
This is ofc your main plan but when in doubt take something else.
This item is my favorite. Along with IE it's your main plan. If you need to pick a situational item I recommend you keep PD and replace IE. Also if you have a PD you can replace your boots by a second one when you have 6 items.
Offensive Situational Items:
This item is a always good alternative to IE.
This item is the solution for when the enemy has too much health and builds too much armor(this alone isn't usually a reason to take something else then IE since you already have a lot of ARP). It's a lot of cash (same as IE) but sometimes you just need it.
This item is another solution for when the enemy has too much armor but as I said you normally have enough ARP. It's also very cheap; a quick way to solve your problem.
This item is a compromise between IE and LW or for when the enemy have too much AR, Health and MR (at the point were taking
Madred's Bloodrazor isn't sure to fix the issue). Lot of cash but still cheaper then IE.
The solution to
Soraka and teams too heavy on heals.
Really not my favorite but some people use it. You can replace your first PD by this item and still replace your boots by a PD.
Survivability Situational items:
Lifesaving. If you have trouble staying alive due to burst damage I recommend this item. For it's price it's really good, a quick and fast way to solve your problem and don't forget it also gives you AD.
This item can solve some of your problems but it is also a very costly item, a little too costly for a situational item.
This item can solve some of your problems but it is also a very costly item, a little too costly for a situational item, even worst it doesn't improve your offensive ability. Not recommended but I can understand why some people like to have it on Yi.
Other Situational items:
We all know why you should pick this item but if you follow the rules of ''When not to take Yi'' you should not need it.
Lifesaving. If you have trouble staying alive due to hard CC I recommend this item but if you follow the rules of ''When not to take Yi'' you should not need it.
Jax and other dodgers are in town? Get this but if you follow the rules of ''When not to take Yi'' you should not need it.



And the last point to seal the deal: it's an investment item. Wait, wut? I don't see any increase over time like RoA or 5GP10 here. Every time you use it's active it's 75g not spend on ward for your team. So basically it saves your team 75g for each 3 min after you bought it.


The Item I add to complete the Core items is:


So to resume, your Core Items are :
Item Sequence






Youmuu's Ghostblade
2800

Zeke's Harbinger
2250
Let's check the math (without the boots, they are the same here):
For 5800g, they give you:
- 53 AD
- 40 ARP
- 35 Life Steal
- 15 Crit
- 40 AS
- 30 AR
- Youmuu's passive
Vs the core items of the number 1 Trynd guide on mobafire at 5800g:
- 80 AD
- 35 Crit
- 20 AS
- 12 Life Steal
- 24 MGR
This is not intended to mock


You get so much more for your cash its ridiculous, on top of that all of your items have many small item in them making it easy to scale properly. On the other hand this trynd has 3 big step of at least 900g in this build making it a little harder to scale properly early game.
As for the reasons to why I pick rounded items to maximise early game as core items rather then getting focused items to maximise late game you can find them in the game play sections.
For Boots I only see 2 that you should consider:


Ofc greaves is what you want but sometimes you need the merc. If you follow the rules of ''When not to take Yi'' the need for merc will be more rare.
Another advantage of having some well rounded items as your core is that you can proprely adapt to what ever the game throws at you with the your other items.
You can pick your luxury items (items that are just cream on the pie after you have your core) from the list below. Ofc you don't have time to check it in game so learn it. Remember the 7p.
Main Plan:


Offensive Situational Items:








Survivability Situational items:



Other Situational items:




You feel like playing
Master Yi but you don't want/can't respect the code I provide?
You can still play him but don't use the same build. The first build is Tailer made to accomplish a job assuming you are relatively safe to do it.
The second build, on the other hand, is designed to allow you to accomplish the job when it will be relatively risky to do it.
For this build the core items are:
Mercury's Treads;
Youmuu's Ghostblade;
Wriggle's Lantern;
Frozen Mallet.
Having 4 core items doesn't leave much flexibility for luxury items.
What I recommend is choosing one item from each of the following 2 set.
Survivability set:
Hexdrinker;
Banshee's Veil;
Quicksilver Sash;
Warmog's Armor.
Offensive set:
Bloodthirster;
Atma's Impaler;
Phantom Dancer.
Summoner's spell:
Smite ofc is a must. I also recommend Cleanse under every situation when you don't use the code.

You can still play him but don't use the same build. The first build is Tailer made to accomplish a job assuming you are relatively safe to do it.
The second build, on the other hand, is designed to allow you to accomplish the job when it will be relatively risky to do it.
For this build the core items are:




Having 4 core items doesn't leave much flexibility for luxury items.
What I recommend is choosing one item from each of the following 2 set.
Survivability set:




Offensive set:



Summoner's spell:
Smite ofc is a must. I also recommend Cleanse under every situation when you don't use the code.

Me and Yi have this hate/love relationship, if I take care of him he takes care of my win, if I don't he makes on my score suffer for it. Here you will find all the rules that should avoid you being called a noob, a idiot or you being told that Yi is a bad champ because then he gets mad and makes your score suffer for it. Remember the 7p.
Here is something I wanted to clarify.

1.Out of draft, Yi shall not be played.

2. Informed, your team shall be.
Your team needs to know that you hope to play Yi the moment the banning phase starts; just as you need to know what champ they hope to play.
PS: this should be done no matter what champ you play but it is even more important on Yi.
3. The squishiest, in your team, Yi shall be.
We all know how squishy Yi is, let's try not to make it easy for the enemy team. When you play Yi a dream team is one were no one is easy to kill; a team with only off-tanks, tanks and immortals(what I mean by that is people who just don't die(or at least can avoid it very easily) for one reason or another such as





4. Last pick, he shall be.
To obey all above rules Yi should be picked last. If you are not among the 2 last to pick in your team then ask for a trade and hope they have Yi and you have there champ.
5. Playing Yi, a must, is not.
If any of the rules above are not or can not be respected either pick another champ or dodge(but that is mean to the others).
Who are the must avoid counter-champ to Yi?










At least most of them are often banned champs or rarely seen ones. Also beware any Hard CC heavy teams.

Here a list of who you should want to ban as Yi. The ban list is not based only on the counter-champs it takes in account all the current OP champs.
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.


Who can I pick to jungle and still follow relatively the same play still(mentioned below) as Yi?



Other champs are good but Olaf is the only one that can compare in jungle speed among the good turret bashers.
This section is for match ups. If you want info on a match up between
Master Yi and any champs comment on this guide or PM me and I will do what I can to satisfy your curiosity.
PS: This section will only grow if readers participate.
Kappamaki asked for any match up that Yi can really dominate and none comes to my mind at the moment. But here are a few interesting I can thing of:
Let it be known:
Master Yi kicks
Tryndamere's ***. Or at least he does until mid-late game. You have nothing to fear of Trynd as long as you are smart. A trick is too
Meditate when Trynd ult, he will either bash like a ****** and you win or he will leave and you wasted his ult with a w. But don't forget he is part of the OP world of crits and he will wipe you late game.
Watch the rage bar and the distance. Aside from her ult and her aoe
Shyvana is easy to handle. Thank god she is so easy to read.

PS: This section will only grow if readers participate.
Kappamaki asked for any match up that Yi can really dominate and none comes to my mind at the moment. But here are a few interesting I can thing of:






Quick resume for experienced junglers:
Here are the jungle routes that you can use:
1.The Ganker route
Gollems-Wraths-Wolfs-Red-b-Gank/Hold/Push-B-Gollems-Wrath-Wolfs-(Prepare Bleu)-Gank...etc
2.The Fast XP route
Gollems-Wraths-Wolfs-Blue-b-Wolfs-Wraths-Gollems-Red-Gank/Hold/Push-...etc
The first route is better but when your team pushes too much for you too gank properly the second route is interesting. So after finishing your Wolfs check your map to see whats going on with the lanes decide which route to take from there; this should not take more then 1 sec to do.
Remember that these are just routes; it's a plan but you must adjust to what ever happens in the game. Always keep an eye on your lanes.
PS:If any one could make me a pic for these routes or tell me were I could find one that would be appreciated.
For unexperienced junglers:
I will explain how to run the second route properly. When you will have more experience then you can try the first route.
Never loss a second! Always hurry.
Starter items:
Item Sequence






Health Potion
50

Health Potion
50

Health Potion
50

Health Potion
50

Health Potion
50
Lv 1 skill:


Match game plan:
- You do not need a leash but don't turn down an offer.
- Auto attack a golem.
- When you take damage activate
Health Potion.
Smite the golem you attacked(he should be dead or soon to be).
- Auto attack the second golem.
- Activate
Wuju Style and beat him down.
Ding! Lv 2 skill:


Match game plan:
- (Reactivate
Health Potion when the first one runs out.)
Alpha Strike the first wrath that comes into range.
- Auto attack the big wrath(if she survived the
Alpha Strike).
- Activate
Wuju Style and beat it too death.
- Finish off the other wraths.

Match game plan:
- (Reactivate
Health Potion when the first the previous one runs out.)
Alpha Strike the first wolf that comes into range.
- Auto attack the big wolf (if he survived the
Alpha Strike).
- Activate
Wuju Style and beat it too death.
- Finish off the other wolfs.
Ding! Lv 3 skill:


Match game plan:
- (Reactivate
Health Potion when the first the previous one runs out.)
- Auto attack Blue.
Alpha Strike whenever it's up.
- You don't want to auto attack without
Wuju Style's passive or active so wait a little before activating it.
Smite to finish off the Blue.
- Finish off the lizards.
Ding! Lv 4 skill:

RECALL
Buy your items every time you recall ofc. Start with the lv1 boots then the Madred's razor make sure you have 1 potion left(

Rerun the route but this time use


After the wolf go to Red(this is when you will use the potion).

Same match plan as vs Blue+lizards.
RECALL
Gank if possible.
ETC.....
The new jungle is very bad in my opinion because it makes it very hard for many junglers to keep up with other champs in terms of cash and xp.
It has what I call an elitism effect: Only the very fast jungler or the ones who don't care about a step back can now compete in high elo games. Of course that includes
Master Yi :D but it also includes
Rammus,
Lee Sin and others who are a pain in the rectom for the wuju bladesman.
You can still use the same starter items as before (
Cloth Armor and 5 pot) it will allow you to gank after red rather then having to b first or you can start with
Vampiric Scepter (recomended) or a
Long Sword and a pot.
My final judgement on the new jungle is that it is a buff for
Master Yi but you will get to play him less often if you respect the ''When not to Yi'' code.
Clarification: He was better before the new jungle but he wasn't hit as hard as other junglers. So it's a buff compared to other junglers.
It has what I call an elitism effect: Only the very fast jungler or the ones who don't care about a step back can now compete in high elo games. Of course that includes



You can still use the same starter items as before (



My final judgement on the new jungle is that it is a buff for

Clarification: He was better before the new jungle but he wasn't hit as hard as other junglers. So it's a buff compared to other junglers.

So far we have established what Yi is good at and what he is bad at, we have also covered a way of building him as well as when he should not be played. Now I will talk about the role that no one else can fulfill as well as

Let's take a look at how a team should be organized and what each position gives to the team.








A team structured this way is, in theory, a balance team. You should know that a well feed team can 4v5 without any problem if they aren't noobs, reckless or idiots.
Since

The best way for

Then what do you do?
You become what I call an ''absent carry''.
What do you mean an absent carry?
Well ''absent'' as in never with the team and ''carry'' as in you help the whole team become stronger by accomplishing a list of things.
What if the team need you?
Ofc your not 100% absent but when you are there you need to be very careful to not feed(since thats what happen most of the time when Yi is in a team fight). A chapter about behavior in team fight will follow.
What were the things of the list you mentioned?
Many things warding dragon or baron for more control being the most simple of them.
The ability to destroy turrets and dragon(and solo baron) so fast, so early, so often and by himself makes

You also have to prepare the blue and red buff for your team mates as often as possible. Even if red is yours early game never estimate to give it to someone else latter on.
Stealing enemy buffs is also on the to do list.
How is destroying turrets faster really going to help?
Good question. Let's do some maths. If not for the first kill killing champs doesn't give you a lot of gold. And If your on a killing spree your death means up to 530g in your opponent pocket. That was design to allow a team recover from a loosing game but it also means that there is a lot more advantages to farm from places that can't feed your enemy if they manage to kill you. Destroying a turret gives your whole team a total of 750g and killing dragon 975g. It is a lot of cash in your pocket.
But, how is it better to have a champ dedicated to this job? Don't we destroy the turrets anyway?
It is not as much of destroying turrets as it is of destroying them earlier, faster and more often then your enemy. After all what I said earlier about cash flow is also true for the enemy team. But any 4th grader could tell you that 750g has more and more value the less g the team already has.
Why

Well can you tell me any champ who can do this better then Yi? The master seems to have been tailor made for this job. It is the only champ with 3 skills(or at least I think he is) that affect turrets.



What tips do you have to help someone be an ''absent carry''?
Think of the cash flow.
If you die but you destroy a turret thats great normally but if you were on a killing spree then that is not cool at all. The cash flow doesn't go enough in your favor and your dead on top of it. Keeping that in mind; when its possible try to let someone else last hit for kills, but don't let the enemy survive. For kills you only have priority over a support.
When you counter jungle always leave one monster per camp alive.
If you have

Dragon is more important then a tower.
Is there a time to stop being ''absent''?
In theory? Yes. In pratic? It is really rare that the game last that long and if it does last that long it normally means you didn't do your job properly or your team has poor compatibility(if they really were noobs you would have lost already).
What if the team is mad at you for not being with them in team fights?
Well if during the team fight you destroyed a turret and started damaging another they don't complain.Pushing like that can also make 1 or more of the enemy come after you putting your team back on equal ground with the enemy. If you were not doing anything or simply jungling then they have the right to be mad at you. Learn to prioritize.

How should you behave in team fights?
The key words are CARE and SMART. You are squishy as HELL, never forget that even if you are on a killing spree.
You are not an initiator(


Your leap(

Hide in bush, behind a tank(



Know your enemies' gear. Go for easy target that are sitting on the sides.
Move out of aoe's unless you need to attack something to stay alive(life steal).
Pull out when enemies stuns should no longer be on cool down. Remember the 7p, doing your homework helps.
Don't be afraid of pulling out too early.
Avoid team fight in jungle you are not at an advantage there.
If his name is






Remember the 7p, the ''When not to Yi'' code and to watch the cash flow and you should have a good lovely relationship with
Master Yi.
A impression I am sure some of your are going to get is:
''Wait my score is ****!!''
An average score would be 3-2-6. Not that great I know; but I also get in average 2.6 dragons and usually over 4 turrets (4 turrets that I last hit, not helped destroy or weaken which would be more around 7 or 8).
Also the average time for my
Master Yi games is 35min.
Your score may be unimpressive but when you play an ''absent carry'' you should not be judged based on your KDA.
And let's not forget that not everyone can win in this game. No matter how good you are you will loss a certain amount of games. Having a winning or a lossing streak doesn't make you a noob nor does it make you OP. The best gammers are thoes that learn from there mistakes rather then calling everyone else in there team noobs. Remember it's a game.
The skills needed to play
Master Yi as an absent carry are:

A impression I am sure some of your are going to get is:
''Wait my score is ****!!''
An average score would be 3-2-6. Not that great I know; but I also get in average 2.6 dragons and usually over 4 turrets (4 turrets that I last hit, not helped destroy or weaken which would be more around 7 or 8).
Also the average time for my

Your score may be unimpressive but when you play an ''absent carry'' you should not be judged based on your KDA.
And let's not forget that not everyone can win in this game. No matter how good you are you will loss a certain amount of games. Having a winning or a lossing streak doesn't make you a noob nor does it make you OP. The best gammers are thoes that learn from there mistakes rather then calling everyone else in there team noobs. Remember it's a game.
The skills needed to play

- A good map awareness.
- A good judgement(Prioritizing what to do).
- Knowing your counters.
- Enough runes to jungle(High summoner level).
- Practice.
This is more fluff then anything else.
Any of the following buff would make
Master Yi very viable.
1. Tanky?
What if he had more health? About 100 or 200 more health at lv 18 would put him at the same level as
Olaf.
2. **** AP?
What if the AP bonus on
Alpha Strike was reduce to allow a AD bonus to be added? A 0.4 AD would be very nice.
3.
Meditate buff?
What if
Meditate's health regain was increased for the higher ranks? Enough so the heal would allow you to still recover a fair amount of health something more like 300 rather then 140.
or
What if, like
Wuju Style,
Meditate had a passive bonus? one that would give you a small increase to MGR and AR.
Any of the following buff would make

1. Tanky?
What if he had more health? About 100 or 200 more health at lv 18 would put him at the same level as

2. **** AP?
What if the AP bonus on

3.

What if

or
What if, like


-I added section about match ups, were you can ask me my opinion on any match up.
-I added ''In case your feed'' section. EDIT: Changed the items for this section. EDIT: removed it because I wasn't clear enough and that if I went to the kind of deep I like to go I would differ from the original purpose of this guide.
-I have made the jungle section more indept for new player to jungle.
-I added a section about buffs that would make him more viable.
-I added a AP YI section. EDIT: wich I then removed because I wasn't able to express a non-bias opinion.
-Most language mistakes should have been corrected now.
-I will make a section about the new jungle. Just give the time to actually get all my info straight.
-Added a section about the effect of the new jungle.
-Vampiric scepter became the new starter item i recomend.
-I added ''In case your feed'' section. EDIT: Changed the items for this section. EDIT: removed it because I wasn't clear enough and that if I went to the kind of deep I like to go I would differ from the original purpose of this guide.
-I have made the jungle section more indept for new player to jungle.
-I added a section about buffs that would make him more viable.
-I added a AP YI section. EDIT: wich I then removed because I wasn't able to express a non-bias opinion.
-Most language mistakes should have been corrected now.
-I will make a section about the new jungle. Just give the time to actually get all my info straight.
-Added a section about the effect of the new jungle.
-Vampiric scepter became the new starter item i recomend.

A special thanks to:
Searz: For his amazing guide on runes which gave me hours of fun (reading and making sure he had the good data (which he has :P)) and the help it was for playing League of Legends which eventually lead to this guide.
Jhoijhoi: For her ridiculously long(that being said in a good way) guide on how to make guides. You like my skill explanation? It's from her templates :)
BananaZoRz: For teaching me how to play League of Loading.
And everyone who comment and suggest me knew stuff to improve my guide.
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