Master Yi is a champion of many possibilities. He can be played either AD or AP. When played AD, he can be glass canon, tanky damage dealer or offtank. I think its best to build him as tanky damage dealer. You still have absolutely amazing damage, while having decent health with good MR and Armor..

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."

Release Date: October 27, 2009
Attributes: Carry, Melee
Cost: 450 IP Points or 260 RP Points

Health Average
Attack Strong
Spells Weak
Difficulty Easy


Health 444 (+ 86 per Level)
Health Regen 6.75 (+ 0.65 per Level)
Mana 199 (+ 36 per Level)
Mana Regen 6.5 (+ 0.5 per Level)
Attack Damage 55.12 (+ 3.1 per Level)
Armor 16.3 (+ 3.7 per Level)
Magic Resistance 30 (+ 1.25 per Level)
Attack Speed 0.679 (+ 2.8% per Level)
Range 125
Movement speed 330

Double Strike

Master Yi strikes twice every 7th attack.

This passive is a beast when it comes to Melee DPS champions. Because this build is critical damage based, your critical is doubled every seven attacks. Also with your ultimate and items you have a lot of Attack Speed, so these 7 attacks are happen in matter of seconds.

Tips and tricks:
Try to stack your double strike before you gank so you hit double damage with first attack.
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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.

An amazing tool for jungling, farming, escaping and catching up. This skill allows you to pass by wolfs and wraiths in matter of 1 or 2 seconds. When maxed deals 300 damage, which is respectable, since you're not building on AP.

Tips and tricks:
There is a picture explanation on how to use Alpha Strike in Gameplay section
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Meditate

Master Yi rejuvinates his body by focus of mind, restoring health and increasing his armor and magic resistance for a short time.

Even thou I leave Meditate for last, its an incredible tool on Master Yi because of his squishiness and vulnerability. This skill is mostly underrated on most players.When at level 5 it heals you for 700 over 5 seconds, and in that time grants 300 Magic Resistance and Armor.

Tips and tricks:
This skill grants you 300 Magic Resistance and Armor. Use it wisely against champions like Karthus when they use requirem.
This tool is amazing when it comes to survivability with low HP. You can trick your enemies into towerdiving you, granting yourself an easy kill.
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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.

This is pure ownage skill on Master Yi. Because of massive amounts of AD that this skill provides, I first take Phantom Dancer providing Attack Speed and Critical Chance. At level 5 only passive already gives 35 AD. When activated, you get 70 AD boost for 10 seconds.

Tips and tricks:
Since last patch, this skill can be actived when in Alpha Strike form. Activate it while you're in Alpha Strike so your first hit will be affected by bonus.
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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.

This skill is epic. This is your chase, escape and kill resource. You have a problem with enemies chasing you? Press R. Your enemies too fast for you? Press R. Not dealing damage fast enough? Press R. For what it offers, it has low cooldown. When maxed it gives 40% Movement Speed and 80% Attack Speed for 12 seconds. If thats not enough, this skill makes you slow immune when active.

Tips and tricks:
If you kill an enemy during Highlander is active, all your cooldowns drop to 0 and you're skills are available again.
Combined with Wuju Style this skill is pure beast dealing damage in fast time frame. Use this in your advantage and backdoor when possible..

Flash

Teleports your champion toward your cursor's location.

One of best spells IMO. Its useful both in offensive and defensive tactics. You have been hopelessly ganked? Flash away. Enemies chasing you? Flash over the wall. Enemies got away with 50Hp? Flash to them and deal 1 more attack. I love this spell, even after the nerf in November 2011.



Smite

Deals 445-870 true damage (depending on champion level) to target enemy minion or pet.

This is obviously a must pick for junglers. Not only it helps you jungle faster than you could with any other spell, it also grants you amazing buff controls. I can't stress how important smite is, I personally have stolen Baron more than 10 times with Smite.



Ignite

Ignites target enemy unit, dealing 70-410 true damage (depending on champion level) over 5 seconds and reduces healing effects on the target for the duration.

This is another great spell for Master Yi. It deals a lot of damage and is great to finish off champions with this extra damage. Ignite is also useful because of 50% Healing reduction. With Ignite you can shut down enemies like Swain(**** on their healing capabilities) easily.



Exhausth

Exhausts target champion, reducing their Movement Speed by 40%, attack damage dealt by 70%, and ability and item damage dealt by 35% for 2.5 seconds.

This is great spell and like Flash and Ignite, works miracles both in offensive and defensive tactics. When chasing, this spell reduces enemies Movement Speed by 40% for 2.5 seconds, which makes it a great offensive tool. When using it defensively, this tool protects you by nerfing attacker's basic attack damage by 70% and item/ability damage by 35% for 2.5 seconds.



Cleanse

Removes all disables and summoner spell debuffs affecting your champion and lowers the duration of incoming disables by 65% for 3 seconds.

While I rarely use it, it can be still viable on Master Yi. This champion is extremely vulnerable to CC disables and if you do not intend on buying Quicksilver Sash, this spell is kind of must take. Since November 2011 it also removes Ignite, which is great.



Teleport

After casting for 4 seconds, teleports your champion to target allied minion, turret, or ward.

This spell is viable if your team has no pushers and they rely on you for pushing. When enemies are attacking your tower in group, just teleport to pushed lane and destroy towers quick. Hidden pushing is something Yi excels at.

In masteries I take 21/9/0. Master Yi benefits from 21 points in offense so much, that going any other way is just absurd. You get all that extra damage and survivability, you can't deny that. I use 21 in Offense both for laning and jungling.
21 OFFENSE(JUNGLE AND LANE)


Tier 1( Butcher // Brute Force // Summoner's Wrath )
First tier gives doesn't provide you much, so you should take such masteries from which you benefit most. I take Summoner's Wrath for improved Exhaust, Butcher for easier jungling and Brute Force so I can progress to second tier.


Tier 2( Alacrity )
While you could benefit from other two masteries(CDR and Tower bonus damage), you must take Alacrity so you can progress to Weapon Expertise in third tier.


Tier 3( Deadliness // Weapon Expertise )
Weapon Expertise is an absolute must take in offense tree. 10% Armor Penetration is amazing through whole game and can help you take heavy armor tanks down quicker. Deadliness is a very good to invest in aswell, since your build is based on critical strikes. This makes your chances of Critical Striker higher and you can advance in 4th tier.

Tier 4( Lethality // Vampirism )
These two masteries are only two viable in fourth tier for AD champions. Lethality is great combination with Infinity Edge. With high critical strike chance and you crits dealing 260% damage, there is not much more to say. Vampirism isn't so noticable early game because of lower damage, but stacks great late game with Lifesteal item.

Tier 5( Sunder )
This is an amazing mastery. Combined with runes you have amazing Armor Penetration, which makes your damage more like real damage when ganking low armor enemies. Also great for extra damage in jungle.
Tier 6( Executioner )
This is the mastery you were waiting for. THE BEST MASTERY FOR AD CHAMPIONS. 6% extra damage to champions under 40% health. You can't refuse.

9 DEFENSE - JUNGLE

Tier 1( Summoner's Resolve // Resistance // Hardiness // Tough Skin )
I take Summoner's Resolve for extra gold when using Smite. Resistance is for better survivability against magic damage and Hardiness is for easier jungling and extra survivability against attack damage. Tough Skin is great on junglers because it reduces their damage by 2 and it upgrades your tier 3 jungling resource.

Tier 3( Bladed Armor )
This is an amazing mastery for junglers. It helps you clean Wraiths and wolves faster, since it returns their damage. It deals 6 damage to every monster that attacks you.


9 DEFENSE - LANE

Tier 1 Resistance // Hardiness )
I take Resistance for some extra Magic Resistance. I take 3 points in Hardiness because this item build provides you with less armor and so I try to produce it as much as I can from masteries.

Tier 2( Durability )
Its a good mastery, especially because Master Yi is overall squishy. Gives 108 health at level 18 which is respectable. I mainly take this mastery so I can progress in Veteran's Scars

Tier 3( Veteran's Scars )
I take this mastery because I like to start with boots. Because of that, you don't get extra health like you do with Doran's items. I try to replace that via masteries and runes. 30 Health at start is pretty good for a tier 3 mastery.

JUNGLING RUNES

9x Greater Mark of Desolation

When it comes to marks penetration runes are pretty much first tier. Armor penetration is extremely useful early game. It helps you take down jungle faster and makes your ganks easier. Combined with Armor Penetration Quints, your attacks ignore almost 20 armor, while basic AD carries start with about 15.


9x Greater Seal of Resilience

These are for early game survivability, both in jungle and lane. You start with very low amount of armor and if you go gank against ad carry which can crit you, you'll die before you even touch them. 13 Armor and start will greatly benefit your ganks and your jungling, since monsters do physical damage.


9x Greater Glyph of Shielding

These are also your defense resource. Many people prefer flat magic resistance Glyphs, which are also viable, but I take these because early game bursts aren't your threat. MR/level scales better in late game and helps you survive strong bursts from AP carries.


1x Greater Quintessence of Desolation

Like Armor Penetration Marks these are extremely useful early game. They stack nice with Marks and combined provide you 20 ArP, which means you deal almost true damage to squishies in early game when you gank.


2x Greater Quintessence of fortitude

Many people prefer 3x ArP Quints but I take a pair of these two because that extra 50 health early game is priceless. When you complete your jungle route you have more health which means you could go gank, while you would usually go back. I simply need to take flat health stats at start, otherwise it doesn't feel right.


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LANING RUNES


My basic runes setup is very similar to jungle ones. The only change here is that I take 3x Flat Health Quints instead of Armor Pen Quints. I decided to build that way for extra survivability early game.

9x Greater Mark of Desolation

When it comes to marks penetration runes are pretty much first tier. Armor penetration is extremely useful early game. It helps you take down jungle faster and makes your ganks easier. Combined with Armor Penetration Quints, your attacks ignore almost 20 armor, while basic AD carries start with about 15.


9x Greater Seal of Resilience

These are for early game survivability, both in jungle and lane. You start with very low amount of armor and if you go gank against ad carry which can crit you, you'll die before you even touch them. 13 Armor and start will greatly benefit your ganks and your jungling, since monsters do physical damage.


9x Greater Glyph of Shielding

These are also your defense resource. Many people prefer flat magic resistance Glyphs, which are also viable, but I take these because early game bursts aren't your threat. MR/level scales better in late game and helps you survive strong bursts from AP carries.


3x Greater Quintessence of fortitude

Unlike jungle, when I'm playing lane I take three flat health quints. That makes me more early game tough and helps me be more offensive by dealing damage, yet surviving. I think that 26 health is way more advantage early game that 3 Armor Pen if you're laning.

Jungling Start & Core Jungle Items


Many take Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potion instead of this, but you can read jungling section to learn why I take this over that combo.




Wriggle's Lantern is your core jungling item. This item provides you with everything that you need for jungling. 30 Armor for extra survivability, 23 AD for more damage, 15% lifesteal for lesser need of potions and ofcourse, 20% chance to deal 500 extra damage to monsters/minions which allows you to take buffs and dragons down in matter of seconds.

Mercury's Treads are your boots. I take these because Master Yi is very vulnerable to Crowd Control effects like Stun, Snare, Suppress,..These give you 35% enemy CC effect duration reduction and 25 magic resist to counter early game AP champions. Like all boots except 2, these give you Enchanted Movement 2, which is priority for ganking.

Ninja Tabi are also viable boots for Master Yi. Take these boots if enemies have no real AP threat or if enemy AD dealers are getting fed.

You should take Sight Ward so you can predict enemy jungler movement and protect yourself from counter-jungling and ganks. Plant it near strategic points like Dragon, Blue and Red buff.

Vision Ward is also a viable choice. If you think that enemies have warded your jungle, you can take this item to detect enemy wards. It's a little more expensive, but it may pay off with protecting yourself in jungle.


Laning Start Items



Boots of Speed and Potions is my #1 start. You can escape ganks and you can catch enemies. Because of these you are more vulnerable early game and because of that, I take pretty defensive runes and put points in defense mastery, so you still have same health as you would have started with Doran's item.

Doran's Blade and Doran's Shield are viable aswell. Take Doran's Blade if you want more health and damage early game, and you don't need moving speed. Take Doran's Shield if you are zoned and you need Health regen, health and Armor.

Offensive items




Phantom Dancer provides massive attack speed for your attacks. Also provides critical strike chance which is a good combo with Infinity Edge and 15% movement speed for more mobility.

Infinity Edge provides most AD Damage boost in game. Also has 25% critical strike chance, but what makes this item special, is its passive, which makes your critical strike deal more damage.

The Bloodthirster is your lifesteal item if you are laning. Gives amazing Attack Damage and Lifesteal, but then you need to be careful not to die, because then stacks reset.

Atma's Impaler is a viable item if you intend to build on HP. Gives 2% worth of HP in damage, which about 55 if you have 2700 HP. Also gives critical strike chance, which is good if you're taking Infinity Edge.

Take Zeke's Herald if you have many team buddies that also need Attack Speed, Lifesteal and Health Regen. Pointless to take if you have no other AD dealer.

Last Whisper is kind of desperate item. Not effective if enemy is based on squishies, but its a must if there are champions like Rammus in the battle that have 200 armor.

Defensive items




Frozen Mallet is your chase/defend item. While it grants you small AD boost, its great for chasing with passive slow combined with your ultimate. On top of that, this item grants you 700 health, which is great, since Yi has low HP pool.

Quicksilver Sash is your MR and Anti-CC resource. You get 50 MR which is nice again magic damage dealers and you get a low cooldown active, that is similar to Cleanse.

Combine Banshee's Veil in your build if enemy team is AP based and are mostly casters, yet you don't think there's a need for Quicksilver Sash. You gain passive spell block and good amount of Health, Mana and Magic Resist.

Warmog's Armor is the best item, if you intend to build offtank Master Yi. I personaly prefer Frozen Mallet over this item, but it's still viable due to its huge HP gain.

Guardian Angel should be taken if you find yourself dieing to often and if enemy team is composed both of AP and AD. Its great in some scenarios like: You towerdive, kill your enemy and yet you die. This item revives you with 750Hp, which is enough to get away from tower and survive.

Master Yi spawns with 475 Gold. Buy Vampiric Scepter as your first item.


Master Yi goes in jungle. You are level 1, upgrade Wuju Style.


Master Yi faces Big Gollems.

When at gollems, activate Wuju Style just before your first hit and start hitting bigger gollem(the one that grants your health. Use smite on him imidiatly, so you don't waste your damage. When bigger gollem is dead, auto-attack the other until he dies too.


Master Yi faces Wraiths.

Go straight to biggest Wraiths(the one that grants you health) and kill him with auto attacks. Just before you start hitting, activate Wuju Style. Auto-attack rest until they die.


Master Yi is now level 2. Upgrade Alpha Strike.


Master Yi faces Wolves.

Use Alpha Strike on main wolf. If the camp is still alive, use your Wuju Style to finish them off. First kill big wolf, then finish off other two.


Master Yi faces Blue buff.

Use Alpha Strike on Blue Gollem. Then activate Wuju Style and start beating him. Use smite when it's available. Finish off two other mini creeps.


Master Yi is now level 3. Upgrade Wuju Style.


Master Yi faces Wraiths.

Alpha Strike on main Wraith and then finish off others like before.


Master Yi faces Big Gollems.

Destroy them using Alpha Strike and Wuju Style. Should be no problem.


Master Yi faces Red buff.

Start with alpha striking on red buff Golem. Activate Wuju Style and Smite. Finish off other two little creeps.


Master Yi is now level 4. Upgrade your Alpha Strike.


Master Yi faces Wraiths and destroys them.


Master Yi faces Wolves and destroys them.


The timer is now 4:30(with up to 10s difference, depending on your luck with critical strikes and Alpha Strike. You are level 4, 3/4 health and both buffs. For 30 seconds no camp will respawn on your map. You have two chances. Either gank mid or top if enemies are overextending. With red buff, Alpha Strike and Exhaust that shouldn't be a problem with overextending enemies. If their lanes are playing safe, go back. You have enough cash to buy Boots of Speed, Long Sword and Sight Ward. Continue jungling and gank when possible.

What does this route offer?
Full jungle clear at 4:30 with some camps cleaned multiple times
End at 4:30 with both buffs and full health, ready to gank
Accurate gold income to buy Boots of Speed, Long Sword and Sight Ward for better ganks and faster jungling.
Because of Vampiric Scepter start, no money wasted on Health Potions.


WHY VAMPIRIC SCEPTER


Many Master Yi start with Cloth Armor and 5 Health Potions instead of Vampiric Scepter, which is better since new jungle. Here are reasons why:


You don't waste your money on potions. Because of that you have 175 gold more. That is a decent amount in early game and you'll get your Wriggle's Lantern way faster by buying Vampiric Scepter.

You don't need to time your potions. You don't have potions and don't have to rely on them to jungle. You just auto-attack and you have health income, especially with Wuju Style active.

Higher health at end of clearing. On this route with Vampiric Scepter you end with 3/4 health, ready to gank. If you choose Armor+Potions combo, you have to go back after completing, which means later ganks and buff waiste.

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COUNTER-JUNGLING


Counter-jungling is an important part of jungle gameplay.


If you are successful at counter-jungling.


You can hurt both enemy jungler and his team by successfully counter-jungling, while boosting your team's morale and making their early game easier. For example: You steal Blue buff from Fiddlesticks. He is now Mana Potion reliable due to his lack of mana and mana regen. Because of that, his jungling will be slower, so he will be behind in levels. That creates a chain reaction which means less ganks. Because of that your team's early game is easier because of easier laning. With all that, if you successfully steal their red/blue buff, you can give your buffs to your team. Giving your red buff to your AD carry or blue buff to your AP carry might give him that extra advantage that he needs to win early game and potentially win you the game. Also its not all about buffs. If you catch enemy jungler at low health, you can take him down and get fed barely by counter-jungling.

What do you need to counter-jungle?

Wards, wards and wards. If you want to counter-jungle, you need to buy wards, so you can predict enemy moves. You will fail at counter-jungling if you don't know where their players are.

Respawn timing. You need to clear his camps as soon as they respawn. That's the most likely for your to succed. For example: Enemy Warwick is jungling and his blue respawns. He is at Gollems and instead of directly going to blue buff, he will first clear Wraiths and Wolves. In that time, you can steal his blue buff, purely by good timing.
If you are failing at counter-jungling.


You can hurt yourself and your team a lot by failing at counter-jungling, so this strategy is two way road. By failing you give your enemies cash and while your death timet is active, he has free chance to counter-jungle.

Until level 6, Master Yi has no escape strategy, if you don't take Flash. Because of that, counter-jungling with enemies that are quicker than you( Nocturne) or have CC( fiddlesticks, [[udyr) is very dangerous and must be played right.


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UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE OF JUNGLER


While some might think that jungling is basicly about killing neutral monsters and gaining exp and gold, it's much more than that. That is only the basic thing, but there are a lot of other things you must do:

Cover your ally's lane
If there's a need, so he can go back, restore health & mana and buy few items. You have to be careful when doing that, because you can unintentonaly push his lane and screw his early game farming.

Time your ganks
You need to time your ganks. There is no point in ganking, when your bot/top/mid lane has pushed enemies to their tower. Ganks when enemies are overextending. That is the time they are most vulnerable and with good laning buddies they might be even tricked into towerdiving right before you gank.

Ward your jungle
In early game, your support won't be warding your jungle, so it's up to you. Ward in strategic points in your jungle which cover most of your camps. Counter-jungling is nothing rare in higher level games and you mind find yourself without red buff because of that. If you ward, you can see your enemy counter-junling. Gank him, and instead of gone buff you have extra kill. After getting Wriggle's Lantern that shouldn't even be a problem.

Tell your team to protect you and your jungle at start
Many strategies involve something like stealing wraiths at start so you can screw enemy jungler. Well there is a simple solution for that. For example in you're staring at gollems, tell your top to protect you from bush, mid to watch over wraiths, while bot covers your blue. After enemy lanes have shown up, they don't have to protect anymore.

Share buffs
You need to share your buffs. Your mid carry that has huge mana requirement and needs lower cooldowns will benefit much more from it than you. Sharing buffs can contribute to your team wining the game. Red buff needs to be shared in some occasions too. If you have Frozen Mallet and you're AD carry doesn't have slow, leave it for him, he'll benefit more.

Dragon and Baron
These two are most important neutral monsters in game. You have to fight to gain control of them. If somebody has to die for it, it may be worth it. For example let's say you're doing dragon. Your ally goes and defends you. He is killed. You should take that in advantage and finish dragon quick. With that kill they got 300g, while you got 5x190G with dragon, which equals 950G. That is tree kills worth. Baron is important because of buff, which can decide who wins.

Master Yi is very weak on department of teamfights. Due to his vulnerability to CC he can be crushed in matter of seconds if you don't initiate at right moment or don't position good. With Master Yi you should wait behind while your tank/tanks initiate and take the damage. When major CCs and damage have been used, you should engage. Focus high end damage dealers, AD or AP like Vayne, Caitlyn,... or Annie,Malzahar,..
Play Video

This video is a perfect example of Master Yi teamfight. In this case, Master Yi player waits for Sion to initiate, receiving major damage. Then Twisted Fate stuns Amumu and denies him the upportunity to use his ultimate. After that, Shen jumps in and taunts major damage dealers. When those 2 things were done, its time for Master Yi. Master Yi jumps in with Alpha Strike and with help of Highlander and Wuju Style first takes down Fiddlesticks, which is in this case major damage dealer due to his ultimate. Since he got a kill, his CDs resets and he can use all skills in next moment. While killing Fiddlesticks, Master Yi receives a good chunk of damage. The best move in this situation is Meditate. In that moment Yi gained 300 Mr & Armor and healing 700 health over 5 seconds, which made him untouchable. When Meditation cast is over, he focuses next major damage dealer(also lowest hp champion around), Vladimir. When Vladimir hits about 150 HP, he flashes away, leaving enemy Twisted Fate alone. TF died instantly and with help of reset CDs, Yi casts Alpha Strike again, making him impossible to target. After that they finish the last enemy champion in teamfight, while Master Yi leaves with 60Hp like a boss.