Master Yi Build Guide : The Dark Arts of NEW Master Yi, return in S3

Introduction

Hi, it is NicknameMy here. I am mostly known on mobafire for my theorycrafting, my unusual builds and, of course, for my love for Yi. Normally I just play super tanky champs, but Yi is a special one. He is basically the only squishy one I can play and that is because he was my main from lvl 1 until lvl 30. So, lets start this guide with a quote, which expalins, why I use this headline.

Quoted:

So you saw the Table of Content and you’re afraid. I don’t blame you bro, My table of content is longer than half the guides out there. But it’s long for a good cause (That’s not what she said), this guide has a lot of builds incorporated in it, it’s for everyone Low, Mid, High Elo and level.

You remember this? If not, you can read it here: http://leaguecraft.com/strategies/guide/7398-the-dark-arts-of-master-yi.xhtml.

Thing is, this guide was by far the best guide which was ever created. It had a huge amount of humor, big versatility and also a good content. Sadly, it is outdated like hell because it is from S1. Before reading this guide, say thanks to Jeffro for his ultimate guide Idea.

I got to give out another thank you to a user on mobafire, Palthios. Without him, I would have never found out how well a non boots Yi can work. You can find his guide of inspiration here.

So, you heard it, got a rework. This is why I want to give that guide a new life. This guide should remember on the old one and show players the real potential of Master Yi after his rework. For this I give you 5 builds, I will explain you how to use them to the fullest level and on which summoner level it should work best. But first, lets explain you who is.

Who is Master Yi?, aka Pros/Cons

First, I will show you a video made by Dante Axe, which should show you the basics about what people think who Yi is and his main purpose before the rework:

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As you see at the end of the Video, is basically never used in competetive play and, while some players overreact on that, it has a good reason. Hard CC like Stuns, Blinds, Taunt, Surpression, Fear... can easly stop him from doing what he does. And as he is squishy, he then dies really fast.

Another reason is, that is really hard to play at higher summoner levels. You will ask me: "Why it should be hard to play someone which just auto attacks all day long?" It is because you are so easily countered by CC and because of that, you have to know what you do and all your enemies do. For example, you can't just jump into a team, getting on you and die in seconds. You need to know which champ has which cc and if it is avaiable to fullfill your role. That is why is one of the harder guys to play.

So don't be frustrated after some games you failed with Yi. It needs time and training to get the right timing and since Master Yi is very underrated, it will be funny to see the enemy team crying about OP Yi.

is also a champ which is rather a gamble to play. There are games you win with 50/0 and there are games with 0/50. Sure, the rework did reduce that, but it is still there and this is Yi's nature.

So, after saying all of that, why should you actually try to play ? He offers the most fun for an AA champ in the game and, as already said, can give you the biggest wins in your gaming history you ever had. As any champs, he has his weaknesses, but also his strengths.

Riot released a new champion spolight for the reworked Yi:

How did the rework change Yi?

Before starting to talking about a rework, lets make a silence minute for this guy:

AP Yi, RIP. We will all miss the actions of Alex Ich, who brought Yi to tournaments.

But actually, if you look a bit deeper into the rework, this playstyle might be not as dead as thought about. His now scales with AD on a 100% ratio and crit, only 60%, 90% with , but that is still a 190% AD ratio while critting. Which means, perma Yi still exists, not as strong as AP Yi, but still viable.

Now is the time to talk about the passive. Of course, you can no longer stack up and then use it at ganks instantly, but it is alot stronger than it was before. It will proc way more often and the chance on it for crit boosts its power immensly.

The next thing we have to talk about is . Of course, it will be now way weaker compared to AP Yi, but if you compare it to the former AD Yi, it is actually a lot stronger. The lesser HP you have, the more you heal and the damage reduction can now no longer reduced by penetration. Still, it must be very well used to unleash the full effect.

Now we come to , which I would say offers a great new option for Final Yi: True damage. How this should work on him you are going to know later in the Final Yi section. The % AD ratio is also nice, as this allows you to permanently gain a huge amount of AD, especially if you focus on it.

Finally, his ultimate. His reduction of cooldowns is now a passive, which means you get it every time, also if is not active. But that is the only positive thing to talk about. The rest is a big nerf, but I think it is needed to not make Yi OP.

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Abilities

So, here are 's abilites. I will explain you now a bit deeper how to use them perfectly. To see, what a skill does, hold your mouse over it.

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Double Strike

Double Strike is a nice amplification in damage. As you strike the enemy, you will see a grey counter at your status rise. If it turns green, then your next attack will get a second strike which does 50% of the damage of the first, can crit and procs on hit effects. You will use this mostly to jungle quicker, damage towers or harass your enemy by combining it with . Note that if the second strike actually succeeds, it counts as an additional strike for the counter, which means you get your next double strike 1 attack faster. Try to abuse this as much as you can, as this increases your damage immensly lategame.

Alpha Strike

Alpha Strike is the skill, which decides, if you are a good Yi or a bad Yi. A bad Yi will use this skill everytime and get killed because he dived a turret with 4 people. A good Yi will hunt any champ with this skill down, even if they .

With the rework, this skill is the main skill of Assassin Yi, as most of his damage relies on this. The chance to crit for 60% (90% with , 96% with ) is huge. It allows you near to 1k damage crits lategame.

Meditate

Meditate is the skill which got a huge buff through the rework as AD Yi. It actually feels now way more usefull. Since you will heal more the less HP you have, combined with the huge damage reduction, this skill will save you from any enemy, unless they got CC ready. So, use it if you know the enemy has no more CC to stop it and profit from an unkillable Yi for 4 seconds. This gets even more ridiculous if you use Final Yi.

Wuju Style

This skill is now weaker earliergame, but a lot stronger lategame. The % AD ratio means, that builds which focus mostly on AD like Assassin builds profit by very much. But that is not the only thing this skill now has. It has true dmg, which gets increased by your AD. This is the thing Final Yi will like most about his, as his job is to tear tanks apart. 100+ true dmg per hit lategame is nothing the enemy will forget.

Highlander

Still there can be only 1 Highlander. But this one actually is a bit weaker than before. Sure, it still gives a great MS steroid, a great AS steroid, resets for normal abilities on kills or assists, unslowability and a increased duration if you get a kill or assist, but the numbers are reduced and increased duration instead of refresh is a huge difference. Still, it makes Yi Yi and is his signature move. Use it everytime you neeed it as it has a rather short cooldown.

Skill Order

This is the skill order I use now after rework. You will surely ask: "Why max before , isn't it actually bad?". It was before the rework, yes. But now is a lot stronger, especially if leveled up. Another point is that is now only made for lategame, so if you max it that early, you get not much use out of it. Maxing first and second shouldn't be really surprising, you need to farm either in the jungle or in lane and is his ultimate.

Runes and Masteries

Of course, you can use different runes and masteries specificly on any Yi, but these are the one which I like to use most.

Runes

Greater Mark of Attack Speed
Greater Mark of Attack Damage

Attack Speed is needed for jungling as most of Yi's damage comes from his auto attacks. Attack speed also scales really well with and getting AD would make no sense as already provides enough damage on attacks.

Attack Damage is used if you are laning. In the lane you rely on for the majority of damage and it scales with AD. Also you will not attack for a long time.

Greater Seal of Armor

Whoever doesn't use this rune yet should be ashame of himslef. It is used on EVERY champ right now.

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Greater Glyph of Attack Speed
Greater Glyph of Magic Resist

I like to use Attack Speed at Glyphs because of the same reason I use them as marks, they increase my jungle speed. But they are rather a gamble, a safe pickup are Magic Resist Glyphs. They are also needed if you want to lane.

Greater Quintessence of Movement Speed

Movement Speed Quints are needed to unleash the potential of no boots. Without it, you wouldn't be fast enough. It also increases your jungle speed as you have to walk between your camps.

Masteries

Summoner Spells

Smite
Every Jungler needs Smite. Smite is way too much uses to be ignored as jungler.

Ghost
Ghost is like a Mini-Highlander for you. With + , you can outrun anyone(except ). If you are good with it, you can definitely pick it. But it is rather meh, as you already have enough mobility.

Teleport
Teleport is a spell, which is mainly used to backdoor. Yi is one of the best backdoor champs in the game, so use it wisely. If you place a ward near enemy base, you can teleport on it and then push the towers down.
This is incredibly easy with Final Yi, cause he can survive multiple tower-shots.

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Flash
Everybody loves Flash. Flash is never a wrong summoner spell. Wall hax and quick escapes can help you to stay alive, or to chase the enemy down, if is on CD. Or you can use it in combination with to catch the enemy.

Cleanse
Master Yi's worst enemy is Crowd Control, like Stuns, Snares, etc. This spells take him completely out of game. If you easily can get out of them, this could decide every teamfight. It also removes , which is a big counter to Yi. A good spell for squishy Yi, but not so much for Final Yi, as Final Yi can survive CC.

Exhaust
Exhaust is a really good summoner spell for jungle Yi. He can gank anytime Exhaust is up and no longer depends so much onto . You can also beat down any other ad-carry with it.

Who will find out first which spell is missing here?

Items as Yi

Here I will present you all items I use in my builds and explain why they are used.

Hunter's Machete

The S3 jungle item. Since Master Yi wants to jungle fast, he definitly needs it. I wouldn't got for any other starting items, since there is no other options which allows the same clear speed, while having the same sustain through 5 s.

Crystalline Flask

A very uncommon item for Yi, but it is actually needed for enough lane sustain. Since you will have to constantly use and sometimes , you will run out of mana quickly. This item fixes this problem. You can also buy additional pots an wards for your lane.

Long Sword

The start item for DPS Yi. It offers good amounts of damage for a start item and helps building in the next item. It isn't used in the assassin build as it doesn't offer enough sustain.

Zeal

Another great earlygame item for Yi. With this item, you pretty much got a movement speed advantage over anyone without using abilities. The attack speed and crit chance are also nice and fit Yi perfectly. , and are all items which are good on Yi.

Trinity Force

Trinity Force was in S2 and is in S3 a great item for Yi. It combines so many stats and nearly all of them are usable for Yi. AD, Crit, AS, HP, the proc, the slow, MS... It is only used on Final Yi as he has the tankyness to fully utilize this item. The only downside is, it costs very much gold.

Phantom Dancer

Similar to Statikk Shiv, this item offers MS, AS and Crit. But the amount of AS and Crit are way higher. It also has a great passive which allows you to ignore unit collision and this way you have an easier time going for enemy carries.

Blade of the Ruined King

The final AS item of this group is Blade of the Ruined King. It is my most used item in the guide, and that for a good reason. Since Master Yi is one of the champs with the highest AS in the game, he can abuse the proc really well. Not only this, the active will do wonders at ganking or catching an enemy. And finally, it offerrs a huge amount of lifesteal, which Yi also can use well.

Ravenous Hydra

Ravenous Hydra is a new item from S3. It was actually constructed to help meele ad carries to be potentionally viable. What it actually did was making ad casters a lot stronger. Still, this item is good on Yi and basically made for him. It has its uses at backdooring or for general lifesteal. It can be also used on the assassin build as a replacement for .

Last Whisper

If you need armor penetration, this is your item to go. It is better than as you got only to apply multi target physical damage and that is not enough to abuse it. Also, the armor penetration of is higher anyway. Not to mention the cheaper price. Do note that this also gives AD, which Yi needs.

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Madred's Razors

Builds out of . You need it to increase your jungle speed even further. The bonus armor is often overlooked, but it is a nice bonus. You will not upgrade this to , as that is just a waste of gold and delays, for example, .

Bilgewater Cutlass

This item is a great assist for your early ganking. Since Yi has no CC, this slow will help him to catch up to people. Also, the sustain is very much needed and it builds into , a great item on Yi.

Phage

A great item for Yi. Since he has very high attack speed, the chance to proc this is really high. In combination with it increases your gank potential greatly. It builds into either and , which are both great on Yi depending on which build you choose.

Quicksilver Sash
Mercurial Scimitar

Another uncommon choise on Yi. I use it in my Assassin build as it is a perfect counter to bursters with CC. If you escape there cc, you most of the time gonna survive. Like you use the active to remove the silence of and then in order to survive. The upgrade of it, Mercurial Scimitar, also provides a nice amount of AD which is very usefull for Yi. Mercurial Scimitar costs very much gold, but Quicksilver Sash alone is already great, so Mercurial Scimitar is most of the time the last item you get.

Statikk Shiv

Another great item for Yi. The distance you traval with is calculated into this so Yi will most of the time get the proc after an . It is mostly used for splitpushing and backdoor, as the lightning clears minions with ease. The proc also adds nice damage against champions, especially if crit.

Youmuu's Ghostblade

Youmuu's was for a long time considered THE Yi item and it still is. Thing it, it acutally shares something with Yi. The active is most of the time called a mini , because it gives AS and MS for 6 seconds. This item is still very usefull on Yi and you have most of the time to decide yourself between Youmuu's Ghostblade and .

The Blodthirster

I would say, is the most common Yi item you gonna see. It offers the highest AD in the game ( sucks) and a huge amount of lifesteal aswell. Perfectly made for Yi, as he gains 115 AD thanks to out of it.

Infinity Edge

If you want damage, this is on most AD champs the best way to deal it. And Yi is there no exception. It increases, as already mentioned earlier, the AD ratio of critting from 160% to 190% and gives huge amounts of AD and crit chance. The only downside is, it costs very much gold.

Warmog's Armor

So, you are finally through those super DPS items and now you can read about tanky stats. They are just 2 but hey. Warmog's Armor is the only full tank item in this guide. S3 meta is about stacking HP and HP scales really well with the damage reduction of . Also, this allows to give a good amount of AD.

Atma's Impaler

If you read about any item by now, congrats, you earned yourself a reading medal. This is the final item for Final Yi. Atma's is a great mixed item as it offers armor, crit chance and AD at the same time. It got nerfed at the begin of S2, but 60 AD and 15% crit chance for a defense item aren't that bad.

Quotes of Dark Arts of Master Yi

These 4 quotes I show you now are all from the original Dark Arts of Master Yi. They show why this guide is so great.

Quoted:

Example: I was playing Yi and I stole baron(YAY) the other team knows and their on their way. So I check what skills I have up, I notice how I have , , and up.

I can't type to my team mates due to me trying to micro my way out of baron's cove and I don't get a chance to ping either. But my fiddle on my team decides to "save" me. I'm glad I have caring teammates but with those 3 skills up I can get away from everything.

So I'm running and fiddle(could be anyone really) "meets me halfway"
Thing is with highlander + ghost I outrun him. So at half way where the enemy are chasing me, I outrun the fiddle(I have like half HP) thing is, the other team will realize I ran out but fiddle on the other hand can't. He's a slow walker and bam fiddle dies.

Think of it as the old bear joke.
2 campers are camping, and they see a bear. Both campers know they cant outrun a bear.
But one camper says:
"I don't have to outrun the bear, I just need to outrun you"
Bear = Enemies
I = You
You = Teammate "saving" you.

Now I'm not saying "DONT SAVE THE YI" I'm saying, unless Yi pings like crazy. Don't bother or you better have ghost up.

Quoted:

Playing Yi is a dangerous game, the more you play him the more infected you become with Yi Main Syndrome. The beginning stages of Yi Main Syndrome are deadly and can lead to many deaths(ingame of course :D). But once you let all of the Yi Main Syndrome take you over, you can use it towards your advantage.

Yi Main Syndrome symptoms:
-Ignoring the existence of towers.
--*30 HP champion left* and you are chasing. In your mind you are deadlocked and focused on the enemy. You blaze past the first tower.-No problem nothing hit me-. You alpha through the second tower.-Oh yeah I'm still fine-
You just make it through the third -Close call- and Finally you are at the spawn tower and you hear "YOU HAVE SLAIN AN ENEMY". Mission Accomplished. With 10 HP left, you proceed to back to base.

-Raging Hard after being KSed.
--*Champion you unleashed all your skills on has 4 hp left**In your mind* SO CLOSE, LAST ATTACK ANIMATION MUST GET HIM Twisted Fate has slain THE CHAMPION YOU UNLEASHED ALL YOUR SKILLS ON.*You on the chat box*->"%^$%^$^ TWISTED FATE, I'm NEVER GOING TO SAVE YOUR SAD KSING BUTT. DON'T LOLOLOLOLL AT ME. JUST WAIT MAN JUST WAIT. ONE DAY YOU'LL HAVE 3 HP LEFT AND I CAN SAVE YOU BUT YOU KNOW WHAT I DO. I LET YOU DIE INFRONT OF MY FACE.
^^
Takes effort to tone down, but really, you will get pissed.

-Raging harder at tanks or support who KS you.
--*30 hp Malzahar is running. He's doomed* *In your head* You're going to get him. He is screwed, knowing that there's no TF you are glad you wont get Ksed. Suddenly *A WILD "Malphite,Taric,Soraka" APPEARS*. ZING. *KSED*
A sweat breaks, You're quiet for 2 seconds, time freezes. Then you rage in the chat BOX. *WTF MAN OMG I DONT EVEN ZOMG FEEDING A FREAKING (name listed above). OH MY GOD JUST WOW DUDE COME ON LIKE NO I DONT CARE DONT SAY YOU WERE GONNA "STUN HIM" OR "SLOW HIM". YOU KSED ME. WOW MAN I WOULDA GOTTEN HIM. YOU'RE TELLING ME NOT TO RAGE. I NEED A FREAKING KILL AND YOU A SUPPORT GET IT- Etc

Sometimes you'll just have to deal with it. But tell them. DON'T EVER DO IT AGAIN.

-Raging about dying
--1000/0/1000, you die. AND OH MY GOD RAGE 1000/1/1000 NO!!@@!. MY PERFECT IS RUINED. You blame yourself not others. You get frustrated going WHY DID I JUMP IN THERE. Then you die again 1000/2/1000. From there on the rage consumes you and you just keep dying, therefore feeding. Eventually you'll get the Precious K/D/A syndrome.

-Precious K/D/A ratio
--*1/1/1* *In your head* OH ****, I'm neutral ratio? No nO NO. *you start raging at yourself, start towerdiving the spawn tower for a kill. You start to initiate teamfights just for kills. You lose all sanity and ask your team to fight every 5 seconds. You run into battle with 10 HP left. You see 5 enemies, 1 with 40 hp, 4 with stuns/snares/slows/knockups/you name it. You JUMP INTO THE BRAWL 1v5 style for the love of League of Legends I'm GETTING THAT KILL. You proceed on kill the low life champion and you cleanse highlander and ghost your butt out of the brawl.(This can scare the enemy sometimes) Seriously, imagine you have one low health team mate surrounded by an army of minions and the rest of your team. Then a random Yi jumps into the your team. You think he's crazy, but he gets the kill and runs away... The shock :)

-You Rage in general.
--I got nothing.

Quoted:

Hey You!, yeah you, reading this guide. Before you play Master Yi. You will have to accept this oath. Put your right hand in the air, and agree to anything that's gonna need to be agreed to:

I, (Your Name) agrees that I will play Master Yi with not only my skill, but also with my soul. I agree to achieve victory with honor, and face defeat with grace. I am Beserk, I will Towerdive, backdoor the Nexus, and get my Penta-kills. No one can and no one will stop me. If I die, I will come back and roll your face. Twice. I will do the best for the interest for my competent team, and for myself.

Master Yi is not a Samurai, and neither am I. I will not be a coward and commit suicide over ONE feeder. TWO feeders… FIVE feeders. I will stand and fight against the 1000/0 Annie, or 9001/0 Olaf. I shall show that not only am I the only Highlander but Berserker. I will not surrender if I get ONE, TWO,… FOUR rage quits. I will stay till the end. I will never surrender and quit. I shall fight with my blade forged with the finest metal shining and gleaming with the sun decorated with blood of my enemies. I sit here in the battle field, waiting for you to surrender cowards, or I will wait here and face defeat?.

People say Chivalry is dead. Honor is gone. They are correct. But Wuju is not. As the upholder of Wuju and the leaders of the future of Humanity. I agree to never surrender, never give up!

Signed:
Jimmix[JLiberationArmy]

Quoted:

1. During the time the whole enemy team is MIA and not at baron, even if all your teammates are alone walking around. YOU as MASTER YI will get ganked.
2. At the most crucial moment while killing/towerdiving/being Master Yi, you will be exhausted.
3. During a ranked game if you choose Master Yi, Expect at least 2 exhaust.
4. When you fight Cho'Gath somehow his ult's always up.
5. The Yi on the other team always has berserker grieves.
6. No matter how far you are in the back, somehow you die in the front...
7. The other team heavily dislikes you.
8. When you tower dive like the 2nd or last person in the enemy team, somehow they're always the person with the Exhaust Summoner Spell.
9. You will towerdive Vladamir's and Garen.
10. *Will add more*

For more like this, you have to read the original Dark Arts of Master Yi guide.

Jungling as Yi

We now come to the most complicated part of Yi, the jungling..........

Just fun! Jungling as Yi is actually super easy. a camp and then auto attack it to death. That is so hard to do you know.

Your general route as Yi will be the level 4 route, means , , , , . Your main job as Yi is to farm the jungle as much as possible to get enough gold for your lategame items. But that doesn't mean you should never look at your lanes. If your lanes need help and you see a good opportunity to gank, do it and get some kills. But if you can't do anything usefull, do not waste your time as this will put you behind.

As a jungler, your job is also control objectives. By this I mean or . If killed, both give major bonuses to your team which allow you to get an advantage. But you can only do them if you got the advantage. For example. if you see, the enemy botlaners are not in there lane but yours are, call your mid and botlane together and do dragen. Since the enemy team will most likely constinst then out of 2 or 3 people, against 4, they got no chance. That is then an easy, free dragon.

Getting is way harder and your team needs to be high leveled to do it. Only do it if you got a very huge advantage like after you killed 3+ enemies. If the enemy team steals it from you, you could actually just lost the game.

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DPS Yi, the low elo scrub

Item Sequence

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So now, we start with the builds. The first build is the low elo DPS Yi which everyone knows from his first games. Bascially, you just go full damage.

AA Damage: 10/10
Survivability: 1/10
Spell Damage: 8/10

Since you will most likely do not have the runes and masteries for it, you have to get boots, which you can sell lategame for . But at this stage of games, it does not really matter. Your summoner's at lvl 1 should be and . As you rank up, you can replace with or and with . At a certain point, you will find out that this build will no longer work, then you have to switch to a different build. I would recommend you lifesteal Yi as the next step, which works post lvl 21 if you got runes. This build should work in any lane, but a duo lane is actually better. Actually, it doesn't matter what you building, as long as you build damage.

In the lane you are gonna farm as much as you can with your . Try to not overdo this and run out of mana, as this would make you very vulnerable. You can also harass your enemy easily by slashing minions until is ready. Then to him and deal the to apply huge damage at once. If the enemy is low on HÜ, you can even go to kill him.

Lategame in "Teamfights" you just slash brainlessly anyone and anything.

Teammates don't really matter here

Lifesteal Yi, the OMG WHY HE DOESN'T DIE

Item Sequence

You are growing up with your levels, got your first level 3 runepage and still want to play Yi. This is the next step you will do, lifesteal Yi. It is the first jungle Yi you will do and it is a super funny buid.

AA Damage: 8/10
Survivability: 8/10
Spell Damage: 6/10

In this build you trade out your super high damage with a very special type of survivability, lifesteal. This means, as long as you be able to attack the enemy, you will not die, no matter what you do. People will be now no longer braindead and will try to cc-lock you, which is the biggest enemy of this build. For this, I added to the build. The general strategy with is, if you think, a dangerous cc just hit you, use it instantly. This way you can continue your endless sustain of attacks. There is also in the build, as you need to be close to attack. This item gurantees this.

In the earlygame, you will be a normal jungle Yi and follow his rules. Later in the game you are a teamfighter which goes in after most of the enemy CC is burned and then cleans up with infinite life.

For building a team, try to get teammates which can protect you from cc or can bait out their cc for you. Then you can do your one man show.

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Backdoor Yi, the not yi again...

Item Sequence

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The first thing you will say is: "Isn't that DPS Yi with just 1 or 2 different items and a different skin?" and I got to say yes, and no. You see, while you were playing DPS Yi, the enemy team did not know how to stop you. Now they (should) do.

AA Damage: 10/10
Survivability: 1/10
Spell Damage: 6/10

This build focuses onto getting the maximum amount of damage against turrets and for pushing. This means, less crit chance and more waveclear items. Also as it deals the most damage against turrets. because it adds more damage than , since you don't need crit.

The earlygame is basically the same as lifesteal Yi, do your job as a jungler and farm+gank. But you should also focus on pushing down turrets as quick as possible. You are on crack. And as the game goes on, you will never be with your team. You are all the time solo and try to get the turrets down. If they kill you and you get a turret, that is k. And if the enemy team somehow goes for the final push, teleport into their back and finish their base. You are the most evil concipated champion ever and abuse this in this build.

If you want to build a team for this, you need a team which can hold their own turret all day long and actually can push 4vs5. would be the perfect champ for this, but actually, nobody uses him.

AD Assassin Yi, the AP yi, wth you are doing here?

Item Sequence

So, people are saying that the playstyle of AP Yi got with this rework removed. Really? REALLY? Do you really think Riot is gonna destroy a super funny playstyle? Actually, yes, but this time they didn't. The spirit of AP Yi ist still here.

AA Damage: 8/10
Survivability: 1/10
Spell Damage: 10/10

This build focus on having the maximum damge on possible to do the ultimate infinite combo. You may ask yourself, why and are in there. is rather easy to explain, you need a good amount of crit chance to rely on your , 40% would be not enough. But with 70%, that is waay better. is a bit more tricky here and focuses onto the mayor weakness against enemy assassins, the CC lock insta kill combo. If you can remove their cc and then use , chances are very high that you don't die. Also, the magic resistance adds nice defense against magic damage which you will find most of the time mid.

In the earlygame you are mid and do basically the same as DPS Yi, except that you are now way more carefull. One wrong stop and you get bursted instantly. You can harass your enemy with through striking nearby minions, but never actually get too close, as this could be your end. Always remember, strikes the nearest by now non hit enemy minion/champion/whatever with prioarity. If you are getting lower than 50% HP, use , as this wenn puts you back out of danger zone.

In the lategame, you will wait for your opportunity, if you see someone getting low, use on him and kill him instantly, then use again, you will most likely get another kill. And then again and again and again. Every deals a maximum of 1k dmg to a person, means 4k dmg as its 4 targets in total.

If you want to build a team around it, you have to do the same as Alex Ich did. Get huge AoE bursters which can easily get the enemy low and especially AoE CC like helps. I already dreamed of a team consisting of , , and .

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Final Yi, the king of junglingTM

Item Sequence

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So, (I hope) you read by now through the whole guide to finally find the main attraction here, Final Yi. You can call it what you like, but for me, it will be forever Final Yi, again, credits to Jimmix.

AA Damage: 6/10
Survivability: 20/10
Spell Damage: 6/10

You see by this numbers, this Yi build is different from all the offers. It doesn't have a pure damage focus, it also gets defense. This makes it unique from all the other Yi builds. This is archived by building a good old S2 OP combo, Atrimog's. Of course, all those items got nerfed at the start of S3, but that doesn't mean this build is fully dead. Actually, the rework of Yi and makes it a lot stronger. Since you are now a Final Yi, your main target aren't the enemy carries anymore, it is anything what is near you. And this will be most of the time tanky people. Lets see now, what does Yi have to actually deal with tanks? Oh, true dmg. Oh, % dmg with BotRK. Oh, . Oh, still super high damage. You will melt tanks so fast they wish you would be never here.

As for earlygame, it is a normal jungle Yi, so do what a normal jungle Yi does. Later in the game in teamfights you should be the 2. most tanky character in your team. Your job is to go in after your most tanky character initiates. Slash down anything that is near you or tries to get near to your carries.

The good thing about this build is, it fits in nearly every teamcomp. The only thing your team has to provide is either a support, top laner or mid laner, which is tankier than you and can initate fights.

Your Yi builds

The best thing about Yi is, like you have already seen, his build versatility. Post your own builds in the comments and I will add them here. The best 5 also get added to the top.

Unmentioned Yi build: Dunkmaster Yi

Dunkermaster Yi is rather a fun build than a really viable build. With the rework of Master Yi, it lost nearly all of its power, because the new Yi relies too much on AD to do his job.

AA Damage: 5/10
Survivability: 5/10
Spell Damage: 5/10

You may ask, why I rated the survivability to high without any defense items? Well, since you are so fast, you can pretty much outrun anyone and get away from most damage. But that doesn't mean you should brainlessly jump in fights.

Just follow the Video. The jungle route has to be updated, but otherwise it should work like intended.

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Master Yi FAQ

So, even while I did write so much here, you will most likely still have questions. Ask them and I will most likely answer them.

OMG, WHY NO BOOTS YOU SUCKER?

Well, this answer is pretty simple. Boots cost 1k-1,2k gold and this gold is actually missing while you build up. Without boots, you get your build faster and actually have the advantage to get an additional lategame item for increased power. The MS is no problem, as a Yi with MS runes and utility masteries has 419 MS, which should be faster than most of your other team members. And if you activate or use an item which gives MS, where the hell should be a problem? You still got a problem? Well then, I got 2 words for you:

Why you take the name of a famous guide and abuse it for your own purpose?

Well, that is a very difficult question to answer. But I would actually say, this guide comes closest to his style. Look, in his guide, he featured pretty much any Yi build at this time. He also added a huge amount of unneccesary but funny informations. But it is so sad that it is outdated and from S1. Because of that, I want to revive the spirit of the guide and show also all possible Yi builds. This is also why I add your builds to this, so this is the biggest and most universal Yi guide ever.

Final Words

If anybody read the whole guide and is now here, pls copy and paste this in your comment:

Code:

[quote]Yes, I did read the full guide[/quote]

This will show me who just reads the cheat sheet and trollvotes.

But since I know people who read the whole guide will read this, I say to you thank you for spending like 30 minutes of your life for my guide. I hope you could improve on your gameplay, learned something new and that you are creative enough to create your own build, which you can present me then.

Changelog

30.07.2013: Guide created
31.07.2013, 10:30 GMT+1: Guide published, Master Yi rework published

The Dark Arts of NEW Master Yi, return in S3

The Dark Arts of NEW Master Yi, return in S3

Choose Champion Build:

Recommended Items

Spells:

Smite

Exhaust

Items

Ability Order

Double Strike (PASSIVE)

Alpha Strike (Q)

Meditate (W)

Wuju Style (E)

Highlander (R)

Recommended Items

Spells:

Ignite

Flash

Items

Ability Order

Double Strike (PASSIVE)

Alpha Strike (Q)

Meditate (W)

Wuju Style (E)

Highlander (R)

Recommended Items

Spells:

Smite

Cleanse

Items

Ability Order

Double Strike (PASSIVE)

Alpha Strike (Q)

Meditate (W)

Wuju Style (E)

Highlander (R)

Recommended Items

Spells:

Heal

Ghost

Items

Ability Order

Double Strike (PASSIVE)

Alpha Strike (Q)

Meditate (W)

Wuju Style (E)

Highlander (R)

Recommended Items

Spells:

Smite

Teleport

Items

Ability Order

Double Strike (PASSIVE)

Alpha Strike (Q)

Meditate (W)

Wuju Style (E)

Highlander (R)

Introduction

Who is Master Yi?, aka Pros/Cons

How did the rework change Yi?

Abilities

Skill Order

Runes and Masteries

Runes

Masteries

Summoner Spells

Items as Yi

Quotes of Dark Arts of Master Yi

Jungling as Yi

DPS Yi, the low elo scrub

Item Sequence

Lifesteal Yi, the OMG WHY HE DOESN'T DIE

Item Sequence

Backdoor Yi, the not yi again...

Item Sequence

AD Assassin Yi, the AP yi, wth you are doing here?

Item Sequence

Final Yi, the king of junglingTM

Item Sequence