This section is for information added after the guides initial release

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Guide reworked for 8.6

Click the image for my account information.


I'm not that impressive but I know my champion pretty well. I've messed around with support Nautilus along with some Illaoi and Nasus but those aren't my preferred picks.
My roles are in Top->Mid->Support->ADC->Jungle that order.

Missing a pentakill as Yi.

To contact me add Kulu Mektar on League or head over to my Twitch.

Yes okay before you buy into this build you need some proof that it actually works, that's understandable.

I stopped recording my games shortly before changing my build, clips will be uploaded here in the future as examples of this builds power, and some of its weaknesses.

"Doubt is the greatest enemy." - Master Yi
These words are important to this build, play aggressive, do not doubt yourself.

Master Yi is a Champion traditionally played in the jungle, however he has plenty of potential outside that realm. This build relies on you being competent at the champion enough to know how to Alpha Strike follow abilities like flash, AA reset, stun disjoint, and dodge things like Distortion. The heavy focus of Master Yi is chain kills, which rely on the player quickly moving from target to target and focusing on the easiest to kill players available. This build relies on this feature of Yi, combined with Guinsoo's Rageblade

Later in the guide I'm going to discuss exactly what the build does for you.

Again if you don't know Master Yi well enough to do these things, or don't know what they are, I highly suggest you watch some of Cowseps videos and try Yi out in the jungle.

To start things off I'd like to be perfectly clear about the advantages and disadvantages of playing this champion in these unorthodox roles.

Con's:
- Incredibly squishy early
- Susceptible to CC early
- Requires split second timing
- Hard to get used to playstyle
- If you engage you're all in
- You HAVE to keep auto attacking in fights
- You'll feel dirty winning games


Pro's:
+ Can't be targeted during large portions of fights
+ Incredible DPS
+ Hard to catch due to Highlander
+ No need to build boots
+ Hard to kill due to Meditate
+ Amazing against tanks due to versatile damage
+ Very rarely out fought level 1
+ Good tower clearing
+ Easiest farm of my life
+ Can 1v1 baron
+ Life steal makes you a tank (As long as you're hitting something)
+ Outscales almost any other top laner
+ Pentakill

What about boots?
No we do not need boots. Those items are irrelevant, Master Yi when using Highlander and having Blade of the Ruined King to add move speed can outrun anyone you should need to catch.

What about tank?
IF you find that you are unable to dodge hard CC as Master Yi then I suggest trying him in the jungle. Building offtank is essential for being alive long enough to build Guinsoo's Rageblade stacks during fights.

What's the goal of this playstyle?
The entire point of this build is to use Alpha Strike to dodge major damage while using Master Yi's raw auto attack speed to stack Guinsoo's Rageblade. At 6 stacks on guinsoo's Wuju Style and Blade of the Ruined King apply a second time for every second auto. This damage allows for easy chain kills. These chain kills are essential due to Highlander passive which allows Master Yi to nearly reset his basic cooldowns upon an assist or kill as well as extend the duration of Highlander's active.
This is not a conventional playstyle for a lot of mid and top laners so it will feel uncomfortable at first, but once you adjust to being able to see low HP enemies as potential resets you will start to prosper.

Everyone loves math class as much as I do right? Statistics are super fun right guys? Anyone? No?

Well regardless I'll try and captivate your attention with some big numbers.

On the "AGAINST HEAVY AD" build example we have Blade of the Ruined King, Guinsoo's Rageblade, Death's Dance, Dead Man's Plate, Randuin's Omen, and Black Cleaver.

Auto attacks before on hit, and abilities:
AD: BORK + Guinsoo's + Death's Dance + Cleaver + base = AD 1
40 + 25 + 80 + 40 + 119 = 304 (334 after passive)

ATK speed: Base * Bonus + BORK + Gunsoo's + Highlander = ATK speed 1
0.679 + (0.679 * (0.34 + 0.25 + 0.25 + 0.80)) = 1.79256 (2.39008 after double strike is factored in)

Auto attacks after guinsoo's bonuses:
AD: AD 1 + guinsoo's AD = AD 2
334 + 51.6 = 385.6

ATK speed: ATK speed 1 + guinsoo's = ATK speed 2
1.79256 + .53540 = 2.32706 (3.49059 after double strike is factored in)

DPS from autos: 1200.76 AD
Wuju Style DPS: 655.79 True DMG
BORK DPS: 41.89% current HP AD
Guinsoo's DPS: 138.75 AD and 39.27 AP

Total: 2034.57 DPS plus 41.89% Current HP

Our masteries, like the rest of the build, are based on chain kills and 1v1 potential.

Keystone
Conqueror is best when facing tankier top laners (most of them) due to its more long term damage as opposed to burst. Press the Attack is a more viable choice whenever your opponent is a squishier top laner because of the burst damage it deals.

Precision minor runes
I choose Triumph over Presence of Mind because we aren't very reliant on regaining mana, and Triumph gives an additional bonus from chain killing enemies. Overheal is useless on Master Yi

Legend: Bloodline works better for me than Legend: Alacrity because the sustain allows you to be able to stall getting items like Bloodthirster or Death's Dance until later in the game. Occasionally when facing an incredibly CC heavy enemy comp you'll want to take Legend: Tenacity

I take Last Stand over coupe de grace because my playstyle leads me into situations in which my health is very often dangerously low. Cut Down isn't a good choice because building health is important for this build.

Resolve minor runes
I take Unflinching because Master Yi doesn't deal well in situations where he is unable to auto attack his enemies and tenacity helps resolve that problem. Bone Plating helps reduce pain from trades early game and allows Yi to get a lead in some lanes which he couldn't normally.

Top
When going top pretty much the only acceptable combination is Flash and Teleport. However sometimes ignite can be taken if facing a heal heavy enemy team.

Mid
Mid lane however has multiple combinations of Summoner Spells. Mostly I use Flash and Ignite. Ignite can be replaced by Teleport (if you feel as though you don't need the damage and resets it can provide), Ignite can also be replaced with Ghost because it completely negates any argument for building boots on Master Yi. Ghost vastly increases your lifesteal and DPS because it enables you to auto attack consistently.

When it comes to early game farm Master Yi is the way to go. He gets an extra basic attack to kill higher HP minions with Double Strike and his Alpha Strike is a great way to farm and harass at the same time.

Later into the game Master Yi can clear a minion wave with one Alpha Strike and a few basics to mop the wave up. He should be able to kill caster minions with one Alpha Strike or a single basic attack during most points of the game past 15 min.

There are several tricks which are essential to Master Yi if you want to be good using this build, and Master Yi in general.

Yi can poke in lane?
In lane a great way to harass is to Alpha Strike a creep which is positioned so that the enemy laner will be poked, but you will remain a safe distance away from them.

Wuju like some damage?
When farming creeps if you find that your Double Strike passive is ready to be popped, a common way of getting your opponent very low in health is to Alpha Strike to them, use Wuju Style and then basic attack them for the Double Strike while quickly withdrawing to safety or pursuing the kill.

How do I basic attack reset?
One common method of squeezing a little extra damage out of Master Yi is to Meditate directly after using Double Strike and then instantly toggling it off. If you do this your basic attack timer will be reset and you can squeeze in one extra hit, which can turn around a low level fight. In this video the red team Master Yi employs this tactic, and this one combines this tactic and the previous one.

How do you quickly avoid damage?
Master Yi is naturally not a very tanky champion. Some players choose to build items like Dead Man's Plate, Frozen Mallet, Iceborn Gauntlet as well as others. Personally I prefer to rely on my reaction times to avoid taking damage in fights, while it's already known to most if not all league players I felt it was important to mention Master Yi has his Alpha Strike to avoid skill shots as well as Meditate to tank incoming damage. These aren't skills but they should be on your mind at all times.

What do I do when my opponent flashes over a wall?
A fairly well known trick to Master Yi players is commonly referred to as "Q Following" To accomplish this simple task all you have to do is activate your Alpha Strike on a target the instant before they Flash, Distortion, Assassin's Path, or some other quick dash. You will soon find yourself on the same side of that wall as your opponent, neat huh? Unless of course you followed without vision and their whole team was there, but you would never do that, right?

I thought I was supposed to teleport to my Q?
Actually Master Yi Alpha Strike teleports him to wherever his first target is whenever the animation is over. However if your target is dead before your Alpha Strike damage triggers (at the end of the animation) you teleport to wherever you were standing when you activated it.

I heard Cowsep can disjoint stuns, what does that even mean?
Disjointing a stun is actually a simple process on paper, you use your Alpha Strike at the very right time so that the game believes you've been stunned, but also allows you to finish your Alpha Strike animation. This effectively reduces, and sometimes even negates, the duration stun and other immobilizing affects. Here is an example of disjointing a Xin Zhao knockup, and here is an in depth guide.

How come that Yi just lost tower aggro without leaving the range?
Master Yi has a lot of room to outplay opponents under towers, while this can help you and your team get kills it can also, more importantly, tilt the Hell out of the enemy team. Whenever being targeted by a tower if Master Yi has friendly creeps or an allied champion under the tower too, he can Alpha Strike to reset the tower's aggression. However beware of accidentally hitting enemy champions with Alpha Strike as this will turn the aggro back onto you. Here is a clip me using this trick against an enemy Kled.

How do I know when to dodge?
While this may seem like a silly question much of the time Master Yi has the capability to dodge abilities which are cast without an animation, or with one that lasts less than a second. These abilities can be dodged using Alpha Strike, which is harder than it looks when you can't actually visually see the ability until it's affected you. The only way to dodge things like this is really just a gut feeling, think about when you would press buttons as the enemy character, it doesn't come easily but once you adjust to it you'll dodge things and everyone around you will call it luck. Let them believe that if they want.

If I have a question or generally want to complain about this build, what do I do?
To contact me add Kulu Mektar on League or head over to my Twitch.