Hello, I am Warnie, i play on the North America server IGN: SwagToast (Feel free to add me). This is my brilliant guide on the champion Master Yi. Personally, as a LoL player , i have improved and grown my gameplay by reading a lot of the guides here. So since i benefitted so much, i figured it's time to give that knowledge back :) I have not created a guide before, so this is my first time making a guide. So if you find any mistakes, i do apologise :) In this guide, i will be talking about how I feel is best to play Master Yi, it may not be your ideal way, but this way fits me best. Lastly, If i have awaken any trolls from sleeping under their bridges, i do apologise, but you can stay under your bridges :)

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Keeper of the ancient art of Wuju, Master Yi is a mystical warrior from the isle of Ionia. He descended from one of the few tribes dedicated to the preservation of Wuju, a martial art founded with the principles of absolute spiritual awareness of one's self and one's enemy. When the armies of Noxus invaded Ionia, Master Yi joined in the Ionian defense to fight the craven enemy, bringing his village honor through his unparalleled mastery of the blade. The ensuing battles ravaged the land, but no conflict inflicted as much horror as the day the armies of Noxus closed in on Yi's village. Left undefended, the village became the unfortunate test subject of the latest invention by an up-and-coming chemist, now known as Singed. The remains of the village that Master Yi returned to were so horrific that it remains a festering scar on Ionian history. To this day, no Ionian will ever publicly speak of what occurred.

After the Noxian invasion was contained, Master Yi fell into a deep isolation. For years, he trained morning to night, speaking to no one and refusing offers of consolation by fellow Ionians. The only thing stopping him from madly charging into Noxus battle lines headfirst was his pledge to keep the Wuju style alive. Even though he seethed with impatience, his rage became a tool for sharpening his practice of Wuju, developing stronger and deadlier skills for his eventual vengeance. The only thing that roused him was news of the League's formation, and Noxus's subsequent enrollment in the League. Master Yi now brings his mastery of the blade to the League of Legends with unflinching purpose: to avenge his kinfolk and end the predations of the Noxus once and for all.


"The art of Wuju lives on in Master Yi, and is plunged through the hearts of his foes."

Every champion isn't perfect, some champions counter others. That is why you must adapt to certain situations! So let's take a look at Master Yi's Pros / Cons

PROS
Easy to learn overall
Great pusher/tower/farmer destroyer
Has extremely high DPS
Great escape/chase mechanism
CD resets/halves when you get a kill/assist
when you have Highlander activated
CONS
Sometimes you get Mana issues
Fairly squishie until Frozen Mallet (or other HP item)
Not very reliable/good in team fights
Quite vulnerable against Disabilities

Not very reliable/good in team fights
Master Yi, even with the Frozen Mallet, will still remain squishie. When there is a team fight NEVER initiate first, go in after your main tank. Like always don't focus the tank, focus the squishie champions or champions with major CC like Malzahar or champions with stuns like Sona

Quite vulnerable against Disabilities
Master Yi's vulnerability to disabilities is probably the biggest problem with him. You can't stop these disabilities but you can get a Banshee's Veil which will stop a disability every minute. Or get an item like Quicksilver Sash that gives you tenacity to decrease the time your disabilities last.

Low HP pool
Master Yi will have health below 2000 until late game (level 18) A Frozen Mallet (or another health item) can counter this by giving him extra health and slowing impairment, which work both very nicely :)

The breakdown of Mastery selections

Offense Tree

Lethality- Taken by this build because this build doesn't rush Infinity Edge and can provide the early crit chance, even though it's only 10%, it does go well with that attack speed.

Alacrity- In this build i pick alacrity to give me that extra attack speed boost. But this build also does rush the Phantom Dancer which gives you 55% attack speed. You can choose something else like Butcher which will get you even MORE minion kills. Master Yi is the ULTIMATE minion farmer, so if you farm well you will be looking at 300+ Minion kills :)

Defense Tree

Resistance- The reason this build takes this mastery is to really fill in to get Veteran's Scars . But you really don't need this mastery because of the Glyph of Shielding runes gives you Magic Resist.

Durability- Durability gives Master Yi more health as he levels (108 at level 18) This health just stacks onto your Frozen Mallet and Veteran's Scars making you LESS squishie. Yay!

Havoc- This mastery isn't needed since you will do so much DAMAGE anyway! With all those crits, and attack speed, you will be doing amazing damage. Everyone will complain and you will be the ULTIMATE NOOBLORD!

Take note!
If you want to play Master Yi aggressively use Greater Seal of Attack Speed for that early attack speed for your AA's

Chosen Runs

Greater Seal of Armor. Gives you that much needed armor, Master Yi is so squishie >.<
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist. This is here because LEBLANC IS SOOOO OP! This is here to counter against a AP-heavy team. TAKE NOTE by getting this set. YOU ARE SQUISHY TO AAs


If you are coming against a AD-heavy team, you can swap your glyphs into armor glyphs

My first choice Summoner spells

Flash

Flash- As you know, and i have mentioned MANY times, Master Yi is SUPER squishie and flash is a great escape/chasing tool great from getting away on low health or chasing champions on low health. One of the best Summoner spells there is, and a MUST for Master Yi

Ignite

Ignite- You won't be using ignite late game, it is really for early game for when that champion is fleeing and you can't take those annoying tower hits. You will mostly never use it late game, but it does rack up some sweet kills early game. Which then gives you items, which then leads to you being the ULTIMATE NOOBLORD!

Other Reasonable Choices

Teleport- Teleport is a really good way to keep lane presences along with the help of wards. You can use teleport to instantly join team fights, but you must be careful with how you use it. Or if your minions are at a tower, teleport to them and the tower is gone. Once gone, you leg it :)

You can also teleport near those low HP, fleeing champions, to rack up an easy kill :)


Heal- Useful, really depends on the supports in your team.


Ghost- If you prefer this and not Flash. Or if Flash isn't really working for you. For example against Akali, you can't exactly out-flash her, then go ahead and pick Ghost


Cleanse- Cleanse is useful to get rid of Exhaust and Ignite, but Master Yi's ultimate Highlander when activated, you cannot be slowed, so Exhaust would have no effect.

Levels 1-6

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Levels 7-12

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Levels 13-18

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Explanations

Double Strike - Master Yi strikes twice every 7th attack.

Double Strike (Passive) - Every 7th can take out great amount of your opponent HP pool without any problem. Scales with your actual damage (also with enhanced by Wuju Style skill).
Timing it will be a nice thing now. Remember that when counter hits 6, this means your next attack will deal 2x damage. It means you can Alpha Strike and double damage opponent. Good for harassment.
Extremely useful in early game when every % of hp matters, as well as in late game when you deliver 1k crits. (DOUBLE 1K CRITS, ER MER GERD)


Alpha Strike - Master Yi leaps across the battlefield with blinding speed, dealing magic damage to multiple units in his path with a chance to deal bonus magic damage to minions.
Master Yi leaps across the battlefield striking up to 4 enemies, dealing 100/150/200/250/300 (+1 per ability power) magic damage to each enemy with a 20/30/40/50/60% chance to deal 400 bonus magic damage to minions.
Cooldown - 18/16/14/12/10 seconds
Cost - 80/90/100/110/120 Mana
Range - 600

In my play style, this is my initiate skill, as well as escape mechanism (but this is very mob dependent escape mechanism)
Basically you "rush" through 4 targets (mobs) and land a final blow on the targeted champion/mob spawning near him. You cant hit same person multiple times. You cant jump back to char that was already "touched", so catching 2 heroes alone wont mean you hit both of em 2 times, the spell will break after 2 jumps. This skill ignores your melee damage, damage is magical and gets lowered by magic resistance.


Meditate - Master Yi rejuvinates his body by focus of mind, restoring health and increasing his armor and magic resistance for a short time.
Master Yi channels, restoring 140/280/420/560/700 (+1.65 per ability power) health over 5 seconds. While channeling, Master Yi gains 100/150/200/250/300 armor and magic resistance.
Cooldown - 35 seconds
Cost - 70/85/100/115/130 Mana
Range - Self

Very underestimated skill. In late game it can be whole difference between going back to base or stay in lane and push another tower.
It might be good idea to take a single point in in in early game if you are getting too much harrass damage.
Not much useful in late game since you will regain more hp and faster and more efficient by just farming mobs with lifesteal.


Wuju Style - Master Yi becomes skilled in the art of Wuju, passively increasing the power of his physical attacks. Activating Wuju Style doubles the passive bonus damage for a short time, but the passive bonus is temporarily removed after the effect wears off.
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.
Cooldown - 25 seconds
Cost - 40 Mana
Range - Self

Your primary skill. Passively increases your swing melee damage. On Use you get up to +70 damage. Cannot be boosted by anything. Great skill early game. Scales with Double Strike.


Highlander - Master Yi moves with unparalleled agility, temporarily increasing Master Yi's movement and attack speeds as well as making him immune to all slowing effects. Additionally, killing a Champion refreshes all of Master Yi's cooldowns.
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, and scoring an assist reduce the cooldowns by half.
Cooldown - 75 seconds
Cost - 120/120/120 Mana
Range - Self

Your Ulti and MOST IMPORTANT skill. This is what makes you a lethal killing ********* machine. Most of the way of usage is to chance fleeing enemies, but it can be either as offensive as defensive ability. It allows you to catch absolutely everything in no time. It allows you to safely flee without any fear of getting slowed (don't you love the red info "Cannot be slowed" appearing above your fleeing ***?)
Another great thing... after you chase down and rip your opponent apart while this skill is active... you can do it again on another champion... because it refreshes all your cooldowns with no exception of the ultimate itself... so have fun with those double/triple/multi/ultra/PENTA-kills.

Why?

Why isn't this or that first.

The 1st skill maxed. IT CAN ONLY BE Wuju Style OR Alpha Strike, WHOEVER MAXES OUT Meditate PLEASE ALPHA STRIKE YOURSELF. KTHXBYE!

Jokes aside, Wuju Style is maxed out first because you are building AD you don't need Meditate although it heals quite a bit Non-AD it just doesn't work! Wuju Style makes it easier to kill champions that is what you want! Same with Alpha Strike it doesn't do that much damage if you build AD, it may do a lil early game, but not a ENOUGH late game.

If you feel although you are getting to much harass upgrade Meditate a little more.

Skills to MAX order

1st - Wuju Style

2nd - Alpha Strike

3rd - Highlander

4th - Meditate