Hello. I'm making this "guide" to share with some people my way of playing Master Yi. It is not professional looking for I believe it's not worth much investment. I will simply share my usual build and general thoughts and strategies. It is not viable in professional games, but neither is Master Yi (well, sort of). It does however, provide a rather easy, simple, effective play style for newbies. I will not discuss neither runes nor masteries, because they are of little consequence for begginers, although I will say that Ghost is an effective replacement for Flash. I do not expect to be up voted, but if you do happen to read this, I appreciate any and all criticism.

I've seen alot of people suggesting boots. In fact, pretty much everyone recommends boots for everyone. I for one, suggest they are of little use, a waste of gold and in the endgame, useless. They can give you an edge when trying to escape, true, but you're not suposed to get in that situation in the first place. Choosing your battles is key to succeeding as Master Yi. Yes, they can help you chase someone, but since most people use boots anyway, they are unlikely to make any difference - your abilities and items however, most certainly will.

I begin by buying 6* Health Potion and 4* Mana Potion or some such variation. This provides alot of sustainability in the early game, which means more gold and experience when it matters the most, more likelyhood of killing my opponent or at least of forcing him to return to base, while I farm more minion kills. I should also mention that I very much prefer the MIDDLE LANE, alone. In fact, I prefer fighting 2vs1 in the top or bottom. More XP and Gold for me!

The first ability to choose is Alpha Strike. It can be used to harass the enemy as if I were a very long ranged champion. This ability will strike 4 targets and thus, if in the immediate area there are 3 minions and 1 champion, I can target a minion and still hurt the champion. Use alpha strike with hit and run tactic and you will soon wear down the opponent!

My second ability is either Wuju Style or Meditate. I prefer Wuju Style, but if things don't go well, I will have no choice but to use Meditate instead, which seems most useful against champions with ranged abilities that are hard to evade.

If the enemy champion has a long ranged ability that I can't evade and does considerable damage, it may be wise to accept defeat and switch with another team mate. A Master Yi that is not properly fed in the early/mid game often makes an unremarkable contribution to the team, but if I just keep dieing in the early game, I'll be completly useless. One must know to cut his losses. Usually, I can stick in the mid lane for a long time though.

Quite frankly, from here on, every game is different, but there is a certain pattern to the items I buy.

The most core item of Master Yi's mid game is Youmuu's Ghostblade and it is one I try to rush, for when it is activated together with Master Yi's ultimate Highlander, he gets a massive boost to both DPS (damage per second) but also movement speed.

That being said, Master Yi greatly benefits from 3 utility items. Buying these items is a risky long term investment, but the resulting synergy is very powerful. They are as follows:

Bloodthirster provides life steal and attack damage. The most important part is lifesteal because it allows me to farm minions without worrying about my health. I start with Vampiric Scepter and upgrade later.

The Frozen Mallet ensures none can escape, period. Master Yi's Alpha Strike and movement speed bonus from item and ultimate ability synergize well with this item. It makes killing champions weakened by my team mates much easier. I often buy Phage right after Vampiric Scepter and decide whether or not to continue to upgrade it to Frozen Mallet ASAP.

Eleisa's Miracle double Master Yi's mana regeneration rate. It gives him a lot of sustainability. It must be acquired at level 15 or earlier, so that after 3 lvl ups, it disappears and makes room for the end game items. Sadly, in many games, I have to skip this item and focus on DPS against fed champions.

The general strategy at this point in the game is to farm minion kills as much as possible, while looking for easy kills and avoid getting ganked at all costs. The only time when it's worth to sacrifice my life is in an atempt to destroy inhibitor. Other than that, I avoid being greedy. I'm always more useful alive.

At this point I strive to acquire the Infinity Edge and a pair oh Phantom Dancer which will put my critical hit chance at 100%, critical hit damage at 250% and ridiculous attack speed. I rarely get to finish this build, but when I do, virtually all non tanked champions die in one second, and unlike most champions with huge burst damage, i can sustain this DPS. At this point, reaction time, accuracy and wit, are almost as important as in counter-strike.

If enemy gets together, I play bait and hit and run, waiting for my team to do damage. Once they are weakened, I pray they don't have any sort of silence or stun ready for me, charge Alpha Strike with everything activated ( Youmuu's Ghostblade, Wuju Style, Highlander). If I get a kill, quickly repeat the process to the closest and/or weakest enemy. This is how I've gotten my first penta kill.

1. I am unsure if it is possible to increase DPS without removing the Frozen Mallet and life steal. Perhaps Youmuu's Ghostblade can be replaced, but the cooldown reduction is valuable and far from the cap (40%).

2. I am also unsure if final build, with both Youmuu's Ghostblade and Highlander activated reaches the attack speed cap. If so, final build may require further thought.

3. Although sacrificing an item for the Thornmail appears to be a very effective counter against similar champions, such as another Master Yi or Sion, I am unaware of any effective counter against overly fed AP based melee champions, such as Katarina and Akali, although the last one can be countered early on by the overpriced Oracle's Elixir.

03/02/2013 01:25: I'm tired, need sleep. I'm going to publish this and maybe update it later.