[CLASSIC] (AP) The Dark Side of Master Yi~
Build Guide By DarkPercy
721
66
6,521,431
Views
339
Comments
721
66
6,521,431
Views
339
Comments
Master Yi Build Guide By DarkPercy
6,521,431
Views
339
Comments
Master Yi Build Guide By DarkPercy
x
Did this guide help you? If so please give them a vote or leave a comment.
You can even win prizes by doing so!
Vote
Comment
I liked this Guide
I didn't like this Guide
Thank You!
Your votes and comments encourage our guide authors to continue
creating helpful guides for the League of Legends community.
Recommended Items
Spells:
Flash
Ignite
Items
Standard Build
![]()
Epic items to get on your first few recalls
![]()
Ability Order
Double Strike (PASSIVE)
Master Yi Passive Ability
Threats & Synergies
Threats
Synergies
Extreme
Major
Even
Minor
Tiny
Show All
None
Low
Ok
Strong
Ideal
Extreme Threats
Ideal Synergies
Cho'Gath
Can disrupt your 
Meditate with: Rupture, Feral Scream
Cho'Gath can heal himself more than you can harass him and he has two ways to stop your Meditate. He also beats you in an autoattack fight AND his Feast does true damage, which will make you unable to save yourself by using Meditate because true damage ignores Magic Resist and Armor.
- Just like Darius, you can try to beat him before level 6. In early levels, Cho'Gath's Carnivore isn't good enough to negate your Alpha Strikes' damage completely. Also, he won't be able to burst you down from 100 to 0 early game.
- His crowd control can make you an easy kill if you get ganked in early levels so you should still be careful.
Synergies
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Welcome back in time
On July 31st 2013, the V3.10 patch came out and made AP Yi no longer possible...
...until League Classic! 13 years later, here is the updated version of this guide.
Intro
Watch these short videos to get a sense of what this build/guide is trying to make you achieve :).
Someone's AP Yi Penta
Pro Player Alex Ich's AP Yi Penta
My own AP Yi Penta
If you would like to do this, keep on reading! You should know a few things first though:
- AP is unconventional for Master Yi. He is meant to be an attack-based character. This is his dark side :P.
- This is an assassin build. The closest champion comparison would be Katarina, but with less damage in exchange for moving faster and being able to self-heal.
About me
Pros/Cons
Pros (Strengths)
|
|
|
Cons (Weakness)
|
|
|
When you should you pick AP Yi?
- The enemy team is low on crowd control.
- The enemy team has a lot of carries, assassins, mages.
- The enemy team does not have a lot of bruisers & tanks.
- If you want to have a fun time.
Masteries
Offense
|
|
The standard AP carry choices. You could trade 1 point from Summoner's Wrath (5 AP & 5 AD while Ignite is on cooldown) to Sorcery (1% cooldown reduction). I think the extra AD and AP is powerful early game, and cooldown reduction isn't the most important stat for Yi. |
Utility
|
|
Mandatory picks:
|
|
|
Great alternatives:
Not bad, but not recommended:
Bad, do not pick:
|
Runes
For Marks,
Magic Penetration are the only viable option for AP damage dealers.For Seals,
Armor or Mana Regen.- Armor are always good to mitigate enemy autoattacks and minion damage. They're a must if your opposing laner is a physical damage dealer like Pantheon. You will want to take a second Doran's Ring for mana management early.
- If you are facing a magic damage dealer champion, you can take the gamble and pick mana regen to make sure you don't run out of mana. Would not recommend against physical damage dealers.
For Glyphs,
Ability Power or Magic Resist.- Ability Power is the standard pick. It makes you powerful in the laning phase. Alpha Strike and Meditate only start being impressive once you have some AP.
- Magic Resistance is a safer option to survive. Only consider this option if you are playing against an assassin magic damage dealer.
For Quintessences,
Ability Power. They are essential to dominate early on and they are the most efficient AP runes in the game. Another viable option is AP per level if you already took flat AP glyphs.
Summoner Spells
Flash: The most powerful summoner spell. It is so versatile: escaping ganks, closing a gap to land the last hit, catching an enemy off guard, going over a wall to escape a chasing enemy, etc. It's a must on all champions, including AP Yi.
Ignite: Counters healing, helps get early game kills, helps to secure kills in ganks. Yi has sub-par single target burst damage, so every little damage boost he can get is a must.
Teleport: If you are stuck playing top, or you know that you will be having a hard time with your opposing mid laner, teleport is an option to get back to lane faster after a recall/death.All other summoner spells are not viable or not needed on AP Yi.
Abilites Sequence and other Details
Double Strike
Master Yi's basic attacks have a 15% chance to strike twice.
Not an important part of AP Yi's kit, but it still helps a bit to finish off enemies that survived your
Alpha Strike. It scales well with the
Spellsword
mastery.*Side note: Sadly, this will not make your
Lich Bane hit twice.
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.
AP Yi's most important skill. It is used to farm, harass, dodge skills, escape, kill champions, everything!
Tips & Tricks:
- You don't need to use Alpha Strike directly on an enemy to damage them. If they are 1 of 3 units close enough to your target, you will indirectly damage them.
- If you do use Alpha Strike directly on an enemy, you should always autoattack them at least once before going away. It's an easy extra added damage, especially once you get Sheen or Lich Bane.
- During Alpha Strike, you are untargetable, you can use this to dodge spells.
- If you have good timing, 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).
Video that shows ways to harass the enemy with Alpha Strike:
Video that shows that you can follow enemies through walls:
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.
Your laning sustain skill, and primary defensive tool to survive teamfights.
Tips & Tricks:
- You can significantly reduce a Tower shot's damage with the bonus Armor from Meditate. Use it right before getting hit, then cancel it and run away. I wouldn't recommend tanking multiple shots.
- While in a skirmish or teamfight, it can be smart to use Meditate while waiting for Alpha Strike's cooldown to be over.
- Be wary of enemies with Grievous Wounds effects (reduced healing). If you can afford to, wait for the effect to wear out before starting to heal. This happens regularly when your enemy mid laner fails to kill you with Ignite.
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.
We only put 1 point in
Wuju Style at level 4, then it is your last priority. The first AD boost is quite deadly in early game fights. It's also great to last hit minions, especially while under tower.If you feel really confident, it is possible to take
Wuju Style at level 2 for an early kill on an especially squishy opponent (or just a player making misplays). But in general, it's a better idea to go with Meditate for sustain against enemy poke.
Tips & Tricks:
- Don't understimate your autoattack DPS (especially early game). If an enemy is low on health, you can generally finish them off with a few strikes.
- Once you get Sheen or Lich Bane, you should always at least 2 seconds after using Alpha Strike before activating Wuju Style. That way, you can get a second Lich Bane damage proc.
Video of using
Wuju Style to get an extra Lich Bane/ Sheen proc:
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.)
A great skill to gank and chase enemies. The most important part is: ALL YOUR COOLDOWNS ARE REFRESHED IF YOU KILL AN ENEMY!
Tips & Tricks:
- The cooldown is relatively short for an ultimate. Don't be afraid to use it just to run away from a gank. It counters the Red Buff's slow effect.
- Be careful not to activate it too early in a teamfight. Your cooldowns are only refreshed if you get a kill/assist while Highlander is active.
- If you get an assist (instead of a kill), Highlander will cut half of your cooldowns. This might require you to use Meditate, Zhonya's Hourglass, or just to run around for a few seconds before you can use your next Alpha Strike
Starting Items
Choose one of those to start the game:
|
+
Doran's Ring + 2 health potions The most powerful laning item. You should pick this the majority of the time. It increase your survivability, damage, and self-healing. Most importantly, it grants mana regeneration. It can be worth it to get a second Doran's Ring early game. |
+
+
Crystalline Flask + Health Potion + Ward: If you think you will have a really hard time because of the enemy laner, or a particularly pesky jungler, this might be a better start because you might not be able to get the last hits you need to get mana regeneration from Doran's Ring. The Ward will also make the jungler waste his time.
|
Standard Items
My build heavily focuses on doing alot of single target damage to make use of your ultimate's passive that refreshes your abilities' cooldowns on a kill. This will allow you to spam
Alpha Strike in teamfights and also dominate your opponent in your solo lane. These 6 items are the best to get on AP Yi.*Important Note*: This build order really is not set in stone, consider adapting your build to the enemy team. For example, you can get
Void Staff earlier if they stack Magic Resist. You can get Zhonya's Hourglass later if you don't need the active and you want more damage. You can get Abyssal Mask mid game if you are getting wrecked by a magic damage dealer. Etc.Item Sequence
Rabadon's Deathcap
3500
Sorcerer's Shoes
1100
Lich Bane
2900
Zhonya's Hourglass
3250
Deathfire Grasp
3100
Void Staff
3000
|
Boots of Speed Great to dodge skillshots, escape ganks, chase enemies, roam around the map, etc.
Rabadon's Deathcap Must-Have item! This item is easy to understand. Ability Power. It's a must have for late game that is sure, but why get it first?! It's simply the best damage item for early-mid game, that's why. Your Alpha Strike will deal amazing damage and your Meditate will be much much stronger.
Sheen Because it will make your single target burst significantly higher (and you really need that). Sheen has an excellent passive that has great synergy with Master Yi in many ways. Also, since Alpha Strike puts you right next to the enemy (if you click on that enemy), you will always be able to use your Sheen on the enemy.
Lich Bane Lich Bane is ridiculously powerful on AP Yi. It will make his single target burst much higher and it helps him with his poor AP scalings for damage (only 1 ratio). The mana is also amazing on Yi because because he was designed as a Melee AD Carry so he has a low mana pool... and that small mana pool can sometimes be very deadly for AP Yi in teamfights. The movement speed bonus also goes well with Master Yi's high base movement speed. It helps.
Void Staff One of the best damage items (in the top 5) for AP Yi. You wanna be able to take down tankier enemies as well in teamfights so Void Staff helps to do that. Also, it helps when the enemy carries are getting a ton of magic resist because they are sick of getting killed by you. Show them how much you care about their Magic resist :P |
_____ |
Needlessly Large Rod It's the most efficient AP/Gold item right after Rabadon's Deathcap. It gives a huge boost to your damage and healing. Try to get it before Blasting Wand if you can, otherwise just get Blasting Wand before.
Sorcerer's Shoes I get Sorcerer's Shoes because they increase my damage. Simple isn't it? Ionian Boots of Lucidity are rarely ever a good pick on AP carries and especially not on AP Yi. Sorcerer's Shoes are way better because when you kill an enemy your cooldowns are refreshed already. Also, with Deathfire Grasp and Blue buff you can already get your (unnecessary) 40% CDR.
Deathfire Grasp Deathfire Grasp is also godly because it will increase your single target burst, which is amazing on AP Yi. You can get this item purely for damage as your 3rd item if you don't need/already have your Zhonya's Hourglass or your Void Staff. With this item you can one-shot squishy enemies. Use it on the enemy before using Alpha Strike and Lich Bane because it will increase the total damage you will deal.
Zhonya's Hourglass This item gives a LOT of damage while still being one of the best (if not THE best) survivability items for AP Yi. If you got stunned while your were channeling Meditate, using the active of this item will save your life. Actually, using this item whenever you are in big trouble is usually a good idea. With this item and Alpha Strike, AP Yi can be untargetable pretty much half the time, which will very often make enemies waste a lot of time when they're trying to get rid of you.
|
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 sadly think it does not work with your ultimate |
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. |
Other Items
Malady
This item does technically work well on AP Yi because he has high attack speed and his passive, but there are just so many other better choices... This item gives sustained damage, AP Yi wants burst damage to be unpredictable and impossible to stop,
Malady does not fit AP Yi's gamestyle.
Athene's Unholy Grail
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.
Mejai's Soulstealer
Rarely ever viable. If you are going to dominate the enemy, then by all means get this. Otherwise, you should not get this. I only get it when I play on smurf accounts.
Liandry's Torment
Do not get this item on AP
Master Yi. He has no CC to double its damage and it doesn't fit his kit at all. Other items are much much much more powerful.
Rod of Ages
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.
Rylai's Crystal Scepter
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.
Abyssal Scepter
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.
Kage's lucky pick
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).
Morello's Evil Tome
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...
Nashor's Tooth
Attack Speed is unnecessary on AP Yi... if you want more pushing power,
Lich Bane is better. The only good reason to get this is to get Maximum Cooldown reduction but you can already get that with Blue buff and Deathfire Grasp so...
Banshee's Veil
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.
Guardian Angel
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!
Gameplay
Which Lane?
AP
Master Yi should go Mid. You can technically go in any role, but only Mid truly makes AP Yi shine.Top can also work well against champions with no hard CC. You can push hard to destroy the tower or roam in the jungle.
Jungle and Bot can technically work, but don't play to AP Yi's strengths.
Mid is best because you can win most lane matchups against carries. You are also in a better position to join teamfights or 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.
Laning Phase
- In lane, you want to farm and harrass your enemy at the same time as much as possible with Alpha Strike (see the examples in the Abilities section).
- You can run out of mana easily, so try to only use skills when needed. In other words, if you can hit the enemy champion with Alpha Strike, and Meditate when you are below half health.
- You can use Alpha Strike on something right after your enemy sent out a skillshot towards you to dodge that skillshot. (You become untargetable during Alpha Strike).
- Try to stay behind minions as much as possible when laning against champions that have skillshots that only affect the first target they hit.
- Usually it's a good idea to back off a little when using Meditate for sustain. Otherwise, some champions can stop your channel with CC abilities
- Do not OVERestimate your Meditate's power early game. It has a low rank and you don't have much AP. You can't tank multiple champions like you will late game. If you're low on HP, either Flash or run away.
- If you are destroying an enemy in lane, get some wards because it is likely that you will get ganked.
Mid Game
Once you are level 6+, watch your minimap and join any teamfights you can. You should also try and gank top and bot if the enemy laner(s) are pushing far, or are low on health.
Your goals should be:- Get your enemy out of lane by harassing them
- 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.
Late Game
You are an assassin. You are easy to kill, so you should be careful about going anywhere by yourself, and be patient when a teamfight erupts.
Your Alpha Strike deals a significant amount of damage to up to four targets. If you can hit 4 out of 5 enemy champions without getting yourself killed, you should. If you're not sure, don't risk it.
When the enemy team has multiple ways to stop your Meditate and kill you outright, wait for your team to initiate and ONLY go in when you are CERTAIN that you will at least kill one champion with your combo.
Whenever you are in trouble or don't immediately get a kill, use Zhonya's Hourglass or Meditate to allow your teammate to come and either save you or finish off your target.
The AP Yi burst combo
(Only when you think you can kill an enemy quickly)
1. Activate Highlander (kills only refresh cooldown if it is active)
2. (If applicable) Use Deathfire Grasp on your main target
3. Use Alpha Strike on target
4. (If applicable) while in Alpha Strike, use Ignite on target.
5. Hit target with Lich Bane
6a. If the target is almost dead, and you are not about to immediately die, autoattack the target to death. Activate Wuju Style after 2 seconds to get a second Lich Bane proc.
6b. If you are about to die, either use Meditate or Zhonya's Hourglass (former if there is not hard CC, latter if so).
7. Assuming your target died, use Alpha Strike again on the next lowest HP champion.
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.
Here's a video that shows Master Yi in some teamfights:
Other cool stuff to see:
Ending
Thanks for reading my guide! Feel free to comment and/or ask questions in the comment section below!
DarkPercy
Master Yi Guide
[CLASSIC] (AP) The Dark Side of Master Yi~
You must be logged in to comment. Please login or register.