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Choose Champion Build:
- Kraken Hydra (vs Squishies)
- Kraken Botrk (vs 2+ Tanks)
- Shieldbow (vs Poke)
Recommended Items
Runes:
Precision
Domination
+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+6 Armor
Spells:
Flash
Smite
Items
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
Akali
Taric
Synergies
Ideal
Strong
Ok
Low
None
Taric
Champion Build Guide
Introduction
Hi! My name is Strider and I am a Master Yi main on the EUW and NA servers. This is the first guide I have ever made and I decided to make it because I thought I could produce a better guide than what is already available on Mobafire. This guide will primarily focus on the funnel strategy but I will also include a section for soloq Yi as well. If you are interested in seeing the funnel strategy executed you can follow my stream here, I stream about three times a week and only play funnel when I am playing ranked. Feel free to drop by anytime and say hi.
FAQ
What is the funnel Strategy?
The funnel strategy involves 'funneling' a bunch of gold into one player which is usually the jungler. The jungler will farm the jungle camps but will also be able to farm the creeps in mid lane. Instead of having a traditional mid laner, the mid laner will be replaced by a support champion, typically Taric or Lulu; And instead of a traditional jungler like Lee Sin or Rek'Sai you will have a hard-carry like Master Yi or Kai'Sa. Since this hard-carry champion has access to another entire income pool this allows them to scale and reach their power spikes much sooner than what is usually expected. This is what allows the funnel duo to take over games.
The funnel strategy involves 'funneling' a bunch of gold into one player which is usually the jungler. The jungler will farm the jungle camps but will also be able to farm the creeps in mid lane. Instead of having a traditional mid laner, the mid laner will be replaced by a support champion, typically Taric or Lulu; And instead of a traditional jungler like Lee Sin or Rek'Sai you will have a hard-carry like Master Yi or Kai'Sa. Since this hard-carry champion has access to another entire income pool this allows them to scale and reach their power spikes much sooner than what is usually expected. This is what allows the funnel duo to take over games.
Pros and Cons of Funneling
+ Playing a super fun hard-carry champion like Master Yi and getting crazy fed early into the game! + Not relying on your teammates for anything. It doesn't matter if they int their lane, you can out-carry it. + Make cool highlight plays as you and your duo literally 2v5 late game. + Win every game! |
- Master Yi is banned a lot in low elo. - Your opponents will dodge more and more often the higher elo you are as they know its pointless to try and win against funnel. |
Skill Order - Explanation
#1.
Alpha Strike 1 / 4 / 5 / 7 / 9 #2. Wuju Style 2 / 8 / 10 / 12 / 13 #3. Highlander 6/ 11 / 16 #4. Meditate 3 / 14 / 15 / 17 / 18 |
Previously in this guide I stated that the best skill order for funnel Master Yi was 3 points in Q followed by maxing E first but this has no changed. Since the nerfs to Master Yi's Q cooldown on patch 11.1 increasing its CD by 2 seconds late game we now have to switch back to maxing Alpha Strike first. This is so we can get it on the same CD as it was on 3 points previously. Having a low enough cooldown on Alpha Strike is important so that you are able to stick to targets and dodge incoming abilities and cc. This nerf does make things harder overall as you will notice late game u cant instantly Q a new target after killing the last one but you will have to adjust to it and hope Yi gets compensation buffs in the future. |
Summoner Spells
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Runes
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Core Items
Kraken Slayer, Guinsoo's Rageblade are going to be the two major items you are building every single game. The synergy of these two items give you so much power. Kraken Slayer gives you the stats you need to slice through tanks as well as duel any player on the enemy team with Challenging Smite. Guinsoo's Rageblade gives you damage and the phantom hit passive which applies all your on-hit effects twice every third auto attack. |
Boots Upgrades
Plated Steelcaps > ARMOR Most games I go Plated Steelcaps. This is because in soloq the most common team comps have 3 AD based champions and 1 AP based. This is what usually what happens because of how riot has designed the game with ADC's bot and the majority of top laners and junglers being AD based as well. So yeah most games I go these because I know I am going to get MR from Wit's End most likely and I already have tenacity from my rune Legend: Tenacity. Mercury's Treads > MAGIC RESIST + TENACITY I go Mercury's Treads when against heavy AP based enemy teams or if the enemy team has a **** ton of cc on them and Legend: Tenacity isnt cutting it. You shouldnt find this to be the case as if they have that much cc you should probably dodge or you can get Sterak's Gage instead to survive the burst while you are cc'd. Mainly go for these when vs Heavy AP. |
Offensive Items
BLADE OF THE RUINED KING Blade of the Ruined King is a good purchase only when you dont need Wit's End and/or the enemy team has a lot of bruisers/tanks on their team. I like to buy it when I'm vs full AD teams because I will buy Death's Dance third and since I dont need Wit's End and would like some more attack speed I buy it 4th item. This item is one of the best sustain items still accessible to Master Yi in Season 11 so if you dont need Wit's End I really recommend picking this up. |
PHANTOM DANCER Phantom Dancer can be a fun item to buy but I don't recommend building it all too often. It does give a ton of attack speed when fully stacked (80%) and does bring back the feeling of Season 10 [Master Yi]] but because it does not provide any survivability stats I do not recommend building it, only when you're very far ahead. |
BLOODTHIRSTER Bloodthirster is a strong sustain item for Master Yi in Season 11 as it gives more lifesteal than any other lifesteal item in the game (20%). It gives more AD and critical strike chance which improve your on-hit damage through Guinsoo's Rageblade passive. I only recommend building it when super ahead though because similar to the reasons I listed above for Phantom Dancer, it doesnt give you any defensive stats. |
CHEMPUNK CHAINSWORD I think Chempunk Chainsword can be a good alternative to Thornmail when against champions that you want to apply grievous wounds too but you know they wont auto-attack you that much. Sometimes instead of relying on them to auto you for grievous wounds to be applied like you do with Thornmail you need to take action yourself and apply them yourself. If you are going to build Executioner's Calling I strongly recommend Chempunk Chainsword over Mortal Reminder as Chempunk gives you a little bit of HP which can come in useful. |
Defensive Items
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DEATH'S DANCE The Season 11 Death's Dance is not as good as its season 10 predecessor but it is still pretty good. Riot has changed the item to be built specifically against AD team comps as it gives you a decent amount of Armor as well as AD and ability haste. Its also one of the few healing items that Master Yi is still able to access in Season 11 so I would definitely recommend picking this up whenever you can or whenever you think it may be needed. |
RANDUIN'S OMEN Randuin's Omen is pretty much the best armor item in the game. I always recommend buying this when the enemy team has at least two champions who build critical strike chance. Most teams will always have at least one in the form of their ADC, and if they have a Yasuo mid or Tryndamere top you need this item. I sometimes just get this if the enemy team just has Caitlyn or Jhin because their crits are huge late game. |
THORNMAIL Thornmail is a great buy when you need the grievous wounds to reduce the healing on the enemy team. If they have champions like Vladimir, Aatrox, Soraka or Yuumi you cant go wrong with this buy. When super ahead I suppose you can go Chempunk Chainsword but in most games Thornmail will be your best bet as you want the survivability it provides. |
SPIRIT VISAGE Get Spirit Visage when against teams with at least 3 magic damage based champions. This combined with your Mercury's Treads and Wit's End will make you near unkillable on magic resistance alone, and then your gonna have the insane bonus healing that this item provides as well. The mage mains on the enemy team will definitely cry about how broken Master Yi is after you build this lol. |
ADAPTIVE HELM Adaptive Helm is only good into teams with mages and in particular mages with short cooldowns or with spells that deal damage over time. I'm talking about champions like Cassiopeia, Anivia and Malzahar etc. I dont find myself building this item that often as generally Spirit Visage is better but this item can be good in those niche scenarios. |
MEDRCURIAL SCIMITAR Mercurial Scimitar is a must buy against champions with hard cc that they can just point and click on you and it lasts for a long time. You always want to buy the Quicksilver Sash component of this item first so you can use its active. I always recommend buying this item when against Malzahar for example. |
STERAK'S GAGE Similar to Death's Dance I would almost say Sterak's Gage is core on Master Yi as well. This item is just made for funneling because when team fighting if the enemy team has any brains at all they are going to try and focus you. This means you will face a huge burst of incoming damage from them as they all unload their abilities on you. This means that you will most likely always proc the passive shield from Sterak's Gage and this will keep you alive for longer. Its passive no longer gives you tenacity but rather gives you healing instead, something to keep in mind. |
TITANIC HYDRA I only buy Titanic Hydra when I have a huge lead over everyone else in the game and I know there is no possibility of us losing. With this item you are going to be doing insane AoE damage in team fights, reducing the hp of players you arent even auto-attacking because of the cleave passive it gives you. Seeing their health bars drop before you even start attacking them is the best feeling in this game. |
How to Execute the Funnel Strategy
Ok now that we have gone over the all the basics you need to know we can start going into how you are going to execute the funnel strategy in your games. The first topic we should discuss is your initial jungle clear and what paths you should be taking.
Level 1
At the very start of the game I strongly recommend only defending your red buff. Ping your team and especially your Taric to stack with you in the bush by the river on the red buff wall. As Master Yi you should place a ward right at the entrance toy your jungle so that you can see around the corner of the wall to the pixel bush in the river. Now you are perfectly set up to defend your red side from an invade. If the enemy team does invade Taric can land a 5 man Dazzle easily and you should have no problem winning the level one. make sure to focus the closest person or the squishiest person. but once you have gone on a target make sure to stick on them and not switch targets. Taric Should use Heal and Exhaust as well to keep you alive for a bit longer.
If the enemy team is not invading then recall at 0:52 and switch your trinket for oracle lens and return to your red buff. Make sure to start standing next to the bomb plant and hit the plant at 1:27. This is so you can get a stack of you passive so you will get your Double Strike up sooner and will allow you to kill red buff slightly faster.
If the enemy team is not invading then recall at 0:52 and switch your trinket for oracle lens and return to your red buff. Make sure to start standing next to the bomb plant and hit the plant at 1:27. This is so you can get a stack of you passive so you will get your Double Strike up sooner and will allow you to kill red buff slightly faster.
Clear Paths
Clear Route
For this clear you are also going to be starting at your Red buff, you always want to start at your red buff because this buff is so vital to Master Yi in the early game. Take your red buff then immediately path towards your blue buff. Take blue then carry on to gromp, try and drag the buffs together of you can to save a couple extra seconds in your clear. After Gromp clear wolves and by the time you have killed wolves you should be able to get to mid for the first cannon wave.
While farming mid the same things apply before that I mentioned in the first clear. Look for kill opportunities but remember the primary objective is to clear the wave so then you have prio for scuttle. What I like about this clear is how it gives you the strong possibility to deny both scuttles from the enemy jungler, setting them behind. After farming mid go towards the scuttle that you think the enemy jungler is closest to. Most of the time this will be the top side scuttle so for this example we will go top, take the the scuttle then immediately path bot side to take the bot side scuttle. After taking the second scuttle return to your jungle and farm any respawned camps.
I recommend this clear when you think it is likely that you will get invaded early. By going to our blue buff straight away we can ensure that we secure it for ourselves and it is not stolen away.
For this clear you are also going to be starting at your Red buff, you always want to start at your red buff because this buff is so vital to Master Yi in the early game. Take your red buff then immediately path towards your blue buff. Take blue then carry on to gromp, try and drag the buffs together of you can to save a couple extra seconds in your clear. After Gromp clear wolves and by the time you have killed wolves you should be able to get to mid for the first cannon wave.
While farming mid the same things apply before that I mentioned in the first clear. Look for kill opportunities but remember the primary objective is to clear the wave so then you have prio for scuttle. What I like about this clear is how it gives you the strong possibility to deny both scuttles from the enemy jungler, setting them behind. After farming mid go towards the scuttle that you think the enemy jungler is closest to. Most of the time this will be the top side scuttle so for this example we will go top, take the the scuttle then immediately path bot side to take the bot side scuttle. After taking the second scuttle return to your jungle and farm any respawned camps.
I recommend this clear when you think it is likely that you will get invaded early. By going to our blue buff straight away we can ensure that we secure it for ourselves and it is not stolen away.
After Scuttles
After you have cleared both [[scutlle] crabs you want to look for a gank opportunity in whatever side lane you are closest to. If you killed the bot side scuttle second, you want to try and look for something bot. If they are around 50%-70% hp you definitely want to gank, if more than 70% look at the lane state and decide if you think you can kill them or not, if not you just return to your jungle and continue farming. Try to be decisive so you are not wasting time and falling behind in farm.
Things to Keep in Mind
With the funnel strategy, there are a few things you must be aware/keeping track of because if you don't it can result in inefficient use of your time or getting caught out and dying.
Monster Hunter Debuff
Try to notice when the debuff is applied to you as you don't want to be spending too much time mid when it is. Riot has been making this debuff stronger and stronger in season 10 causing it reduce the gold we get from lane minions significantly as well as reducing the experience gained by 50% when the debuff is applied. As soon as you see this pop up finish what you are doing mid asap then return to the jungle and farm some camps. When you see the debuff go away then you can return to mid.
Enemy Jungler
Do your best to track the enemy jungler if you can. This will help you when deciding where to make plays on the map and keep you from getting caught out by surprise.
Item Power Spikes
Master Yi has three main power spikes. Each one comes on the completion of Skirmisher's Sabre - Bloodrazor, Guinsoo's Rageblade and Wit's End. Once you have rageblade you will be able to win most 2v2s/2v3s no problem. Its when you complete Wit's End though that you will see a noticeable increase in your power. I've had games turn around in my favor that looked doomed as soon as I got Wit's End, you really need Wit's End to win 2v4s and 2v5s.
Monster Hunter Debuff
Try to notice when the debuff is applied to you as you don't want to be spending too much time mid when it is. Riot has been making this debuff stronger and stronger in season 10 causing it reduce the gold we get from lane minions significantly as well as reducing the experience gained by 50% when the debuff is applied. As soon as you see this pop up finish what you are doing mid asap then return to the jungle and farm some camps. When you see the debuff go away then you can return to mid.
Enemy Jungler
Do your best to track the enemy jungler if you can. This will help you when deciding where to make plays on the map and keep you from getting caught out by surprise.
Item Power Spikes
Master Yi has three main power spikes. Each one comes on the completion of Skirmisher's Sabre - Bloodrazor, Guinsoo's Rageblade and Wit's End. Once you have rageblade you will be able to win most 2v2s/2v3s no problem. Its when you complete Wit's End though that you will see a noticeable increase in your power. I've had games turn around in my favor that looked doomed as soon as I got Wit's End, you really need Wit's End to win 2v4s and 2v5s.
Thank you for Reading
Thank You
Thank you for reading my guide on how to funnel with Master Yi. I hope you find some success with it. If you are new to funneling you may lose a few games as you adapt to this new playstyle stick it out and once you have mastered it I promise you will have found a fast and effective climbing strategy.
Please let me know what you think of the guide and if there is anything else you would like to me include/improve on. I love reading you guys' feedback. See you on the rift ;)
Thank you for reading my guide on how to funnel with Master Yi. I hope you find some success with it. If you are new to funneling you may lose a few games as you adapt to this new playstyle stick it out and once you have mastered it I promise you will have found a fast and effective climbing strategy.
Please let me know what you think of the guide and if there is anything else you would like to me include/improve on. I love reading you guys' feedback. See you on the rift ;)
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