Pros + High damage + Amazing snowball + 1v9 potential + Low elo stomper + Easy to pick up, not too hard to master + Strong Itemisation

Cons - Can feel one-dimensional - People tend to flame Yi players - Hard to play from behind - Not a great early game - Has to powerfarm to 6 for powerspike - Can be inconsistent

I'd like to preface this section by mentioning that the guide will be written from the perspective of the On-Hit build.

Conqueror is a rune that was always the #1 rune for Master Yi, but with season 11 the sustain element of it has been reduced in favor of adaptive force, but the reason Master Yi uses Conqueror is because of the sustain, but at the moment there is still testing to see what the best rune is otherwise, or if Conqueror actually is still the best rune.

Lethal Tempo has been a contender with Conquerorfor a while due to the attack speed, but I've always found the waiting period to be annoying, although this could be bypassed with an auto followed by an Alpha Strike, but that means you can't do an Alpha Strike engage with this rune without there being a downside.

Hail of Blades is popular for the old crit build that Master Yi players used to use sometimes, and it has a much more bursty playstyle with it only applying for 3 autos, but you don't need to wait like you do with Lethal Tempo. This rune would be more effective on the Lethality build, but with on-hit this may not work as well, although it definitely could.

Electrocute is similar to Hail of Blades in the sense that it's more bursty and would work better with Lethality, but could still work with an On-Hit build, just with less effectiveness.

Phase Rush is a very good rune on lots of champions, especially those who have trouble with chasing, so if you are against a team with a lot of mobile champions, then this is probably the rune you want to use.

Prototype: Omnistone is a rune that is not seen as the most viable or strongest rune, but with Master Yi not having a specific rune to use at the moment, this could be interesting and fun to play around with.

Glacial Augment is more of a meme rune, but it's funny to have your enemies slowed to a crawl.

Starting Items


Emberknife gives Challenging Smite, and is a jungling item, kind of self-explanatory.

Refillable Potion is better than buying multipe Health Potions as long as you don't immediately sell the Refillable Potion.


Core Items (On-Hit)


The new Guinsoo's Rageblade is stupidly overpowered on Master Yi due to the fact that after 1 proc of it's passive, every 2nd auto is a double strike.

Sterak's Gage's lifeline passive gives Master Yi the sustain he needs in a lot of fights that allows him to 1v9 the late game.


Core Items (Lethality)


Youmuu's Ghostblade allows for a lot of mobility while giving you lethality, allowing you to eliminate your opponents swiftly while you move swiftly

Edge of Night gives you a spell shield which prevents immediate CC effects when you try to engage, making it a little easier to teamfight.


Item Pool: On-Hit
Please note that you can use more than just these items!


Blade of the Ruined King does 10% current health damage on-hit, and if you hit an enemy 3 times you steal their movement speed. This means that Master Yi gets stupidly good chasing ability and is able to melt tanks.

Eclipse is usually one of the Mythic items of choice, due to the omnivamp, damage, lethality and it's passive working similar to Blade of the Ruined King

Kraken Slayer is another contender for the Mythic item slot, due to it's raw stats, the true damage on-hit and the fact that it gives 10% attack speed for each legendary item you own.

Galeforce, Stridebreaker and Trinity Force are all decent mythics, but I would recommend the 2 above.

Wit's End is a classic on-hit item which has AD in exchange for the healing, which is worth it in my opinion.

Death's Dance is not an item that I'd personally recommend but I have seen other Master Yi players building it in season 11, but the lack of the 15% damage dealt healing just makes it not worth it imo.

Guardian Angel gives you two lives, I don't think I need to say much else.

Mercurial Scimitar is useful into CC comps due to it's active, otherwise not a great item.


Item Pool (Lethality)
This section only includes items not mentioned in the on-hit section.


Umbral Glaive gives you more vision control, while giving AD and lethality.

Lord Dominik's Regards gives AD, crit, armor penetration and makes you deal more damage depending on health difference.

Sanguine Blade givs AD, life steal and lethality, and you gain bonus stats in 1v1s.

Prowler's Claw over Eclipse is viable, but I would not recommend it.

Serpent's Fang gives AD, removes shields and gives more lethality. Not recommended unless enemy team has shielding.

Serylda's Grudge has high stats, with lots of armor penetration and 20 ability haste, although it only has 45AD. Damaging abilites slow.