Master Yi Build Guide by ivanpriest

Introduction

Hello, my name is Tsugumi. Welcome to my Master Yi guide. Sorry about the grammar and spelling mistakes. >.< Currently, I have played Master Yi for two months mostly in the jungle. This guide focuses on bringing out Master Yi's strong points and exploiting them to carry your teammates to victory.

Why Tsugumi WHYYYY??

-Now you might be wondering "Why is Tsugumi going jungle yi instead of top yi? i mean yi does have a lot of damage and sustain through his Meditate"

Thank you for the question. >.< I play Master Yi as a jungler because unlike top, you can go full damage and use his kits to the maximum in the early to mid game stage. By level 12, you should have enough damage to basically 3 hit the enemy carries because you did not take the early points in Meditate. But I make up for the lack of Meditate through an early Guardian Angel

-You might also be wondering "Why is Tsugumi building Blade of the Ruined King instead of Ravenous Hydra?? I mean it gives more damage (by 50) which works with your Alpha Strike, gives life regen and 12% life steal and an aoe on each hit that lets you push even faster all for just 100 more gold. I believe Ravenous Hydra would be a better choice on yi than Blade of the Ruined King

Again I thank you for the question >.<
I can see your point and I have tried Ravenous Hydra and it works really well with Master Yi's for it helps with split pushing. For a few days I have actually tried getting it over Blade of the Ruined King but I still think Blade of the Ruined King is better for these reasons.

1)It helps in making even more successful ganks. ( Blade of the Ruined King's active steal's the target's movement speed by 30% for 3 seconds and it deals damage based on the target's current health. 15% and it heals for the amount of damage done.) Think about how useful the active is. (malphite Seismic Shard, Ghost, rammus Powerball, kayle Divine Blessing etc...) Also you don't have to do all the damage in a gank, you have a teammate to help you as well.

2)It gives attack speed which works well with Highlander.

3)It deals 5% of the target's current health on basic hit meaning you get stronger as the game goes on (enemies level up and gain more hp) which is something hydra cannot do, and with his Wuju Style doing true damage think of all the things you can do with it.

4)We have enough split pushing power with Alpha Strike and Statikk Shiv. Use Alpha Strike to clear the first 4 minions, and then Statikk Shiv proc will kill one and you just hit the last one. That is fast enough minion wave clear time.

In a 2 vs 1 and 1 vs 1 situation, Blade of the Ruined King would be a better pick over Ravenous Hydra.

Pros / Cons

• One of the fastest base movement speed.
• Yi's kits make him able to play as a split pusher and an assassin.
• Yi is a scaling champion, meaning even if you play decently early game, you're late game will cause hell to the enemy.
• One of the faster Jungle clear times.
• Very good snowballing kits
• Cannot be slowed (think about it red buff, ashe Frost Shot...)
• His Q Alpha Strike grants Yi temporary invulnerability meaning you can dodge the damage all kinds of aoe spells as well as single target spells. (karthus ult, ashe ult...)
• His Q Alpha Strike has uses other than dodging spells. It is an awesome gap closer as well. If used correctly, it can hop follow the enemy even after they flash and use a jump.(example: Yi's Alpha Strike lasts through ezreal's e and flash jump time.)
• Highlander reduces cdr per kill and his basic attacks reduce his q cdr for every hit (by 2 seconds for double strike)
• true damage Wuju Style on top of your already high damage

• Hard cc shuts him down hard especially in teamfights
• Difficult champion to master (needs to know when to and when not to split push, when to go in a team fight, who to assassinate, if they are using their carries as baits (watch out for Zhonya's Hourglass) when to turn on the other carry, when to turn back, when to use Alpha Strike etc...)
• naturally squishy
• Banned a few times in ranked (eh what can you do i just dodge those games)
• Item dependent (but it is negated if you follow this build because you can just split push really fast and run away really fast (activate Blade of the Ruined King to run even faster with the already speed giving Statikk Shiv)).

Runes

Marks
Full attack damage marks give the fastest clear time.
(Fast clear time means faster ganks)

But you can also substitute 3 attack damage marks for 3 armor pen marks for a more powerful early game gank.

Seals
Flat Armor is the standard for jungling, I wouldn't recommend anything over flat armor seals.

Glyphs
Scaling Magic resist glyphs because we don't need so much magic resist early game (the neutral minions do physical not magic damage).

Quints (sorry there was no brown)
Again Flat attack damage for a fast clear time.

Another thing you can do is to get life steal quints though. With life steal quints you are looking to clear your jungle twice before going back. (example: blue, red, golem, wraith, wolf, golem, wraith, wolf)

Masteries

Personally, I go the 21 9 0 taking all the damages that does the most damage to the minions.
I don't really have another page that I use and will prefer over this.

Items

My item build is Blade of the Ruined King Berserker's Greaves Statikk Shiv Guardian Angel Last Whisper and Infinity Edge

I rarely change it because these items in this order brings the strong points of master yi.

An early game Blade of the Ruined King complements Yi because it slows the enemy, heals master yi and it speeds him up. Also it gives more attack speed which complements Highlander and Wuju Style. Moreover, it makes yi's Alpha Strike stronger so why not?

Next you want something to help with pushing/ attack speed and movement speed. I looked to phantom dancer at first but the amount of gold needed was too much to be worth getting moreover it doesn't offer any kind of addition to yi's Alpha Strike damage. So I looked to Statikk Shiv cheaper, gives more movement speed than Phantom Dancer, and magic damage. Less attack speed but it can be looked over considering all the other things we get.

Now you do lots of damage. So you can either look to build even more damage or sustain. I usually build sustain because it is usually around here that we start team fighting. Since we lack sustain or any form of defense because we did not get a single point in Meditate we get Guardian Angel. Guardian Angel does the same thing as meditate (it gives armor and magic resist) but it also gives another life which means you have another chance at your role, the assassin.

After you build Last Whisper for the armor pen and then Infinity Edge for the crit chance, crit damage, and pure damage.

With full build, you can 2 hit the enemy carries so late game, it depends on your ability to find open spaces to go in and Alpha Strike without getting hard cced or baited by Zhonya's Hourglass.

Situational Items

Tsugumi Stop Trolling >.< Why is would you get Executioner's Calling and what item would you switch it for?

I would use Executioner's Calling instead of Blade of the Ruined King if they have a sustain top and mid lane, to help with the early game success gank rate. Sometimes getting Cutlass isn't enough to send the enemy laners to their graves. Sometimes against really stupidly tanky champions like Shen, you need the crit chance, or against stupidly high sustain champions like Zac you need the grievous wound.

I still start the same items and the first back items even if I decide to go Executioner's Calling and I decide on what item to get on the third back (long sword goes into Executioner's Calling.

I would use Youmuu's Ghostblade against armor builders like Malphite or Rammus instead of Blade of the Ruined King. I would also build Youmuu's Ghostblade if my bot laners are losing because this item lets you get into position quicker than Blade of the Ruined King due to the different conditions on its active (ghostblade can be casted anywhere while ruined king needs an enemy champion). Also the armor pen helps with the Alpha Strike Damage.

But normally I still build Blade of the Ruined King because the dmg scales over time.

I would use Phantom Dancer or Trinity Force instead of Statikk Shiv either when i'm stupidly ahead or when i need the early damage because they have 5 tanks(example: bruisers bot (kill laners), morde mid, shen top with rammus jungle). [outcome of the match? i lost hard >.< they so tanky)

Skill Sequence

We max Alpha Strike first and then Wuju Style after. We don't take a single point in Meditate because it really is not that effective when jungling.

1) Since Meditate is a channeled healing ability, it takes up time and in the jungle, it means risking falling behind your enemy jungler because unlike laners who can get experience points just by standing still, junglers can't do that. Time is money and experience points for junglers who need to finish camps and gank.

2) Also 1 point in Meditate does not give enough health to be worth it unless you're low and just takes up so much mana.

3) Also the cooldown is very high.

Spells

Must have for jungler
It controls the buffs and dragons, as well as baron so this is a must on a jungler to win a game.

Spells I recommend
This is my personal faviourite summoner spell to go with Master Yi because you don't need a flash. (If you time it correctly, your Alpha Strike can act as a flash.) With this spell, you can teleport gank. Very effective especially with Enchantment: Homeguard and Highlander. Also it acts as an awesome counter ganking spell, for example if your top lane is ganked and they dive, you can teleport and get a double kill out of it. Also you can teleport to some abnormal objects as well (zac's passive, jarvan IV's Demacian Standard etc...)

At mid game it helps with split pushing as well, push bot when your team is pushing top and if they try to teamfight/ baron/ try to stop you from split pushing, you can teleport to your team and join the fight/ steal baron/ take a free turret.

This is my second favourite summoner spell on Master Yi. This spell allows me to chase down many opponents especially with Highlander and is effective early game. With this spell you can easily cut their path and sandwich them with your lander for an easy kill or flash. This spell becomes effective mid to late game as well (mid game because you can quickly push and if it gets really dangerous Ghost Highlander Blade of the Ruined King with your already high base movement speed due to Berserker's Greaves and Statikk Shiv you can run really fast and leave your chasers with their mouth open in awe). Also ghost comes up before flash so I take this over flash.

Spells that can work
Exhaust can work on Master Yi, it lets him have huge dueling potential as well as powerful early game gank and late game assassin. It also works with his counter jungling style because again the huge dueling potential and his ability to out damage many enemy junglers makes exhaust a very strong pick for Master Yi. His base movement speed is high and this spell also lets him have a safer lane taxing phase (in case they harass you and dive you). This is a viable spell on Master Yi but I prefer ghost and teleport over exhaust for it fits in with my play style more.

Ignite can work on Master Yi as well. It lets him have huge kill potential so it complements his early game super damage gank. Lets face it who can't kill with an ignite when they're level 1 and you're level 3 in a 2 vs 1 situation when they are in the middle of the lane? >.< This also helps with his counter jungling ability but it doesn't help as much as teleport or ghost in a split pushing situation.

Spells i just don't recommend at all

Flash is one of the most overrated "op" summoner spell in this game up there with ignite and I personally agree fully to this idea. It lets you automatically move to a specific spot and it has numerous uses (example: flash dodging spells). However, I have to disagree for Master Yi. Master Yi can do so much more with another spell (mainly teleport) than flash.

-(flash dodging spells) can be done with alpha strike if you time it correctly.
-they try to flash over wall? use alpha strike when they get close to a wall and you end up over the wall with them
-they try to flash to gain distance away from you? use highlander and blade of the ruined king and catch up
-they try to do baron or dragon? carry a ward and place it over the wall, they'll be afraid of a teleport smite steal and they'll go near the wall to kill the ward. If they do use alpha strike on them and smite steal while your invincible from the alpha strike. (you can use smite when Yi is activating alpha strike. It's just the damage calculation for the alpha strike will happen after you land).

You have an extra life you don't need this.

could work, you know where your enemy jungle might be but this can be looked for with early wards from your support

blue buff op

could work in teamfights but it really doesn't boost his overall game.

this is not dominion

look at barrier

what is this?

Creeping / Jungling

If you are on purple side for a safe gank top lane.

If you are on blue side for a safe gank top lane.
If they have a slow jungler. Example: fiddlesticks
The red part is the bush where you tell your support to ward (if you are in the lower divisions most supports don't ward there) >.<

Unique Skills

Double Strike
- can be dodged.
- Pantheon's Aegis Protection will block the first hit only but Fiora's Riposte will block both hits. (watch out for fiora, a good fiora will time the double strike for more damage done to you).

Alpha Strike
- it can dodge single target non cc/ skill shots / and area of effect abilities.
to list some ( Time Bomb Absolute Zero Requiem Wish Heal etc...) but the last two you really don't wanna dodge >.<
- you can smite while using Alpha Strike and the damage is calculated only after he lands so its helpful when stealing objectives especially baron.

Wuju Style
-the true damage will still hit through Counter Strike Aegis Protection and blinds.

Highlander
-cannot be slowed? don't let this word fool you people!
The movement speed might not be able to be slowed but in fact attack speed can be slowed.
- Ground Slam, Barrel Roll, Warden's Mail, Frozen Heart and Randuin's Omen will slow Master Yi's attack speed.

Ranked Play

These are some of the games i've done just a few days ago using the build from this guide.

Summary

This guide helped me in getting diamond so please even if it isn't really eye catching, just read it and try it out.

-updated September 23, 2013