Master Yi Build Guide by Six66

Introduction

Hello dear summoners,

Thanks for reading my Master Yi guide. I don't have a very high elo, but my Yi plays are good. As you will see later in the guide. This is a guide how I play Yi, but this are no strict rules. Feel free to try your own stuff and see what fits you best.

Pros / Cons

Pros
+ Can snowball extremely hard
+ True damage
+ Not to much of a problem when you get behind
+ Easy to learn

Cons
- Squishy
- CC can be a problem
- You don't provide any CC

Masteries

Why these masteries? Why 21/0/9?
Well, Master Yi is strong because of his high damage potential. We're boosting that even harder wit offensive masteries. And these 9 points in utility are always nice to have. We don't need the points in defense because we won't be buying a lot of defensive items.
Offense:
Double-Edged Sword : Very nice mastery on Master Yi. It increases his damage with 2% and he will only receive 1% more damage. Everything that boosts his damage is good on Master Yi.
This last sentence sounds very noobish: "deal more damage!", yet this is the best way to play Master Yi. He is known for the tremendous amounts of damage he deals, why not boost this damage?
Executioner : This is a very useful mastery on Yi. Since he's an assassin, increased damage agianst lowhealth enemies os very useful.
The other masteries in the offense tree are quite straightforward and just to boost is damage output.
Utility:
Fleet of Foot: Master Yi has very high Movement Speed. This mastery is to increase that movement speed even further. It inreases the boost from your Highlander or Youmuu's Ghostblade or Ghost.
Runic Affinity : This is nice to keep your buffs longer. Your red buff will stay longer, which is very nice on Master Yi, as well as your blue buff and Baron's buff.

Runes

Marks: I prefer Attack Speed marks because they fit very nice in Yi's kit and build, but can also use Greater Mark of Attack Damage or Greater Mark of Armor Penetration very well.
Seals: Armor seals are very useful early game for jungling. Yet there are other options.
Glyphs: I chose for scaling Magic Resist because it may you're pretty squishy and the APC could burst you down.
Quintessences: I chose for 3 Lifesteal quintessences here, because we're only buying 1 lifsteal item. These runes increase your sustain in jungle before you bought The Bloodthirster. Other options are useful too probably. This is just what I prefer.

Summoner Spells

Ghost: I always take Ghost on Master Yi. This in combination with Highlander and/or Youmuu's Ghostblade wil give you massive Movement Speed.

Smite: You ALWAYS take Smite when jungling. It's good for securing your buffs, stealing enemy buffs or even Dragon or Baron.

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Flash: If you feel safer with Flash, you can take that instead of Ghost. Its a viable option too.

Cleanse: CC can ruin Master Yi hard, so Cleanse is very useful too, yet I prefer taking Mercurial Scimitar agianst heavy CC teams.

Exhaust: Exhaust can be useful when ganking. It allows your teammates to catch up with the enemy too.

Teleport: I see that some Yi's take Teleport, but I don't like it. If you gank bot, you don't have enough Health left to gank top effectively. But splitpushing might be easier with Teleport, although you can just run to the other side of the map very fast.

Abilities

Double Strike: Passive: Every 4th consecutive basic attack, Master Yi will attack twice, dealing 50% damage on the second strike.
This is a very useful passive because it's procs on hit effects.

Alpha Strike: Active: Master Yi becomes untargetable and dashes to up to 4 units, dealing 25 / 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 (+100% of your total Attack Damage) physical damage and 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 bonus damage to minions. Alpha Strike can critically strike for 60% of Master Yi's total attack damage.
Alpha Strike's cooldown is reduced by 1 second each time Master Yi basic attacks.
This is Master Yi's bread and butter skill. It allows him to clear jungle camps very quick. And it's a very nice gap closer.

Meditate: Active: Master Yi channels for 4 seconds, gaining 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70% damage reduction and healing for 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+30% of your Ability Power) per second. This heal is increased by 1% for every 1% Health Master Yi is missing. The damage reduction is halved against turrets.
This can be useful when you quickly need a bit of Health. But since we don't buy Ability Power, it won't heal a lot.

Wuju Style: Passive: Master Yi gains 10% increased Attack Damage.
Active: Master Yi deals 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (+ 10% / 12.5% / 15% / 17.5% / 20% of your total Attack Damage) true damage on hit for 5 seconds. Wuju Style's passive bonus is lost while the skill is on cooldown.
This gives Yi extra Attack Damage and if ativated True Damage. Needless to say that this is a very nice ability.

Highlander: Passive: Champion kills reduce the cooldowns of Master Yi's other abilities by 70%. Assists reduce by 35%.
Active: For 10 seconds, Master Yi gains 25 / 35 / 45% increased Movement Speed and 30 / 45 / 60% Attack Speed, and becomes immune to movement speed slows. While active, champion kills and assists extend the duration of Highlander by 4 seconds.
Master Yi's ult! This ability is awesome. It allows him to escape pretty much every situation. It makes him very sticky, and hard to escape from. And it increases his damage output. This ability allows him to tower dive a not-fed enemy when he ganks.

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Of course you put a point in your ultimate whenever possible. I max Alpha Strike second because it's Yi's main damage source in early game. I max Wuju Style second because it's only effective when you have decent basic attacks. Meditate is maxed last because it doesn't scale with Attack Damage. 1 point in this can be useful however.

Items

These are the basic items that I take every game:

Berserker's Greaves: Of course you need boots and this seems to be the best option for me. Boots of Mobility is the only other option I see.

Ravenous Hydra: I just take this for it's high damage and Lifesteal.

Statikk Shiv: This gives nice stats and a very nice passive. It's passive charges when you attack and when you move. Yi procs it very often because he has high Movement Speed and Attack Speed.

Infinity Edge: Useful for increasing damage and critical strikes.

Phantom Dancer: I take this for it's nice stats.

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These items are useful on Master Yi too:

Frozen Mallet: I take this when I need this little bit more tankiness. It gives you Health but also Attack Damage. It's passive allows you to chase enemies easier.

Youmuu's Ghostblade: I only take this when I'm fed. It gives ok stats and it's active is like your ult but a little less. However, when you're fed this is enough to take out your enemies.

The Black Cleaver: When you need Armor Penetration, this is an option.

Blade of the Ruined King: If you take this and you activate your ult you will almost have 2.5 Attack Speed (max Attack Speed).

Guardian Angel: A lot of people are fan of this. Not me however. Yet it's a viable option.

Warmog's Armor: I only take this when I'm really really behind. It only gives Health so it's not the best option on Master Yi.

Last Whisper: Can be nice when your enemy stacks a lot of Armor.

Mercurial Scimitar: I only take this agianst a heavy CC team. Since CC can ruin Yi, this is a nice option to buy.

Gameplay

I start at my own blue and go get the enemy's red right after. If your enemy starts red however, I just go to my own red. If you steal your enemy'e red succesfully, you have to go get your own red right after. If you don't, your enemy will steal yours to compensate his stolen buff. These are the basics so I won't go any deeper on it.
FARM! Farm is very important for Master Yi. If you're behind, just tell your teammates that you will not be ganking for a hile and just farm a lot.

Summary

Thanks for reading my guide. All advice or questions are welcome.
If you downvote, I'd like to know why so I can change it.
Good luck with Master Yi!