Master Yi is probably the champion with the highest damage output in 3v3 at the moment. He's quite squishy so you want to build him like a bruiser, he will still do enough damage. AD Yi did get buffed with the remake so he's very popular, too.

Pros:
- The combination of Youmuu's Ghostblade and your ultimate makes you fast as light
- Super fast jungle without a jungle item
- True damage works well with attack speed
- Can dodge skillshots
- Can solo Vilemaw early
- Cheap build

Cons:
- Squishy early
- Has many counters like Zyra, Rammus, Warwick and champions with snares/roots

For runes AD marks and quints are better than armor penetration for the jungle, he scales very well with AD. 1% crit chance is nice in the jungle because your Q can crit. Flat armor and scaling magic resistance because you need armor in the jungle and magic resist much later.

For masteries I take points in attack speed, Frenzy and Lethality as well as 9 points in defense. The jungle masteries are kind of important but not neccessary. Master Yi profits much from attack speed since he gets cooldown on his Alpha Strike. In this build I go for crit so I take crit masteries.

The build I recommend is very cheap and includes everything you need: Flat AD, crit chance, attack speed and lifesteal, lots of armor penetration and tankyness. There are other builds that work but this might be the best composition for jungling.

Boots

Boots are very important since you don't want to buy any slow items, Yi can easily chase without slows, he's fast enough and ignores slows.


Best choice by far for early-mid game, you need the attack speed to reduce the cooldown on Alpha Strike.


Very good boots for late game when you already built attack speed. Yi benefits very much from cooldown reduction.


Good item against auto attackers and AD comps. It can also be the only item in your build that gives armor when you build HP items.


Tenacity is awesome and it can be a good magic resist item. Like ninja tabi it can be the only item in your build that gives magic resist when you have an HP item.

Offensive items

You want to have mostly offensive items and maximum 2 defensive items.


Very important for most Yi builds. The active, attack speed, crit chance and cooldown reduction make it very useful while having a good build path and being comparatively cheap. What you need now is a bigger crit chance, flat damage and lifesteal.


While both items offer crit chance and attack speed I prefer shiv over PD because: 1. It's cheaper 2. The passive is good for the jungle 3. The Avarice Blade in its build path gives gold which makes the item even cheaper overall. What you need now is flat AD and lifesteal.


Both items are crazily good on Yi. Hydra costs more overall but Tiamat costs only 1900 and has the same functions except for lifesteal. The reason why I prefer Hydra over Sanguine is because of Yi's passive Double Strike. You can reset your auto attacks with the active of Tiamat and Ravenous Hydra, also Double Strike's second strike will proc with the AoE passive "Cleave".


Self-explanatory item, build it when enemies build armor.

Good offensive items that are not in my standard build:

Good extra damage, CDR and AD while having a faster jungle start. Since Yi is already super fast at clearing camps, this item becomes useless very fast.


Take this against enemies that can stealth or plant traps, It can replace Ravenous Hydra's lifesteal so you may go for Infinity Edge instead of Hydra.


Costs soooo much while not having lifesteal. It's a very good item on Yi and you can build it when you have the money for it.


Doesn't give any flat AD which is the reason why I simply leave it out. Also its damage cannot crit (!). Most people forget that only damage from your AD can crit and since Yi is a crit champion, it's bad on him.


You shred armor very fast with it since your Alpha Strike deals physical damage. You can take it in combination with Youmuu's Ghostblade because you will get 30 armor penetration and totally demolish carries (in this case get The Brutalizer after you finish Youmuu's Ghostblade). It also grants CDR and flat AD, it just doesn't fit in my build which is why I leave it.


Amazing item on Yi since it gives so many stats that he needs, especially the new Phage passive that gives you movement speed is awesome. You can build it late when you have the money for it since it costs tons of gold.


Didn't try it yet but can be useful to assassinate people. Also its passive works well with Highlander's passive.


Very strong item that can replace boots when you finish your 6th item. All its stats are good on Yi, especially the tenacity.


High magic resistance, AD and the Hexdrinker passive make it worth the gold against magic damage teams, but it doesn't give lifesteal or crit stats so it doesn't fit into my recommended build.

Defensive items

No melee carry survives with 6 offensive items, not even assassins. You need to add one armor or magic resistance item or instead just HP.


Very much HP which works against hybrid teams. The passive works well with Highlander's passive, too. And it's kinda cheap.


The main armor item I build on Yi, it's stronger than Sunfire Aegis overall which is why I leave Sunfire in my listed items. You need a hybrid item that gives HP and armor or you will get destroyed by the little magic damage that your enemies have.


Strong item at the moment. I dislike Banshee's Veil which is the second hybrid HP/MR item available, but Spirit Visage is just too strong on Yi. The passive works with your Meditate, 20% CDR are totally amazing.


Get this item when you need the active, not MR. Can be very neccessary.


Yi doesn't need any slows since he is fast enough to compensate that, this item is overrated on him. The reason why you may build it though is because of the HP.

Important spawn timers:
Jungle Creeps [1:40] / respawn after 50 sec
Ghost Relic (Heal) [1:55] / respawns after 90 seconds
Altars unlocking [3:00] / unlock after 90 seconds
Vilemaw [10:00] / respawns after 5 minutes

Jungling is very different in 3v3 than in 5v5. You get very much farm so that you are able to play carries in the jungle. Altars not only give gold and AP+AD over time but also give gold when you capture them. They are important and you should prevent that the enemies take it.

Jungling with Master Yi

Begin at any camp of choice, it really doesn't matter. Beginning wolves means that you do them again before you take your altar at 3:10 which means that you may get in danger because it is near a brush. Yi is able to do 5 camps with Smite, otherwise 4 camps before 3:00.

Skill sequence:
Begin Q because it gives the most damage. Take E secondly because you don't need to heal yet and you heal more efficiently when you are lower. Max your Q first because you can. It will help jungling and ganking. You can max W or E secondly, but make sure that you have your true damage when you need it (when enemies get armor). Maxing E will also increase your overall AD with which you scale very well.

This is used as a gapcloser to be able to get in range to use Alpha Strike. Nuff said, must-have.


I prefer this because you want to reduce the enemies damage output as a squishy, especially when the enemy team has an assassin that likes to jump on you. You will also increase your damage output against the exhausted opponent by taking 1 point in Summoner's Wrath .


Useless on Yi, he's fast enough and even counter jungling is very easy without it.


You may have to take Cleanse in ranked games when you see that you are playing against heavy CC champions. Barrier is an okay spell and helps out when you dive very deep.


Very efficient ganks but since most people take Ignite you don't really have to.


"That's so troll" Troll summoner when you want to run through the enemy base in 5 seconds without taking damage from towers, yea that is what it's best for. But honestly you are fast enough with Youmuu's Ghostblade and Highlander's active.