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Master Yi Build Guide by

[S15] The Best Master Yi Guide ✅

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Master Yi Build Guide By Updated on

Guide Discussion (137) More Master Yi Guides

Choose Champion Build:

Master Yi On-Hit Builds For Any Role + Jungle Matchups
Master Yi Crit Builds For Any Role + Top Lane Matchups
Master Yi No Builds Just Mid Lane Matchups

Runes: Standard

1 2 3 4 5

Precision

Lethal Tempo

Triumph

Legend: Alacrity

Coup de Grace

Domination

Sudden Impact

Treasure Hunter

Bonus:

+10% Attack Speed
+9 Adaptive (5.4 AD or 9 AP)
+10-180 Bonus Health

Spells:

1 2 3 4 5 6

Standard

Flash

Smite

Items

START ITEMS

BEST BOOTS

CORE ITEMS

DPS + RESISTANCE

MAX DPS

DEFENSIVE OPTIONS

SITUATIONAL ITEMS

STACKING HP

ON-HIT BUILD #1

ON-HIT BUILD #2

Ability Order Q > E > R > W

Master Yi Passive Ability

Threats & Synergies

Threats

Synergies

Extreme Major Even Minor Tiny

Show All

None Low Ok Strong Ideal

Extreme Threats

Ideal Synergies

Kha'Zix

Extreme

His high burst damage and invisibility are very strong against Yi. Pre lvl 6 you can deal with him alot easier. Avoid being isolated and try to W his Q damage.

Lulu

Ideal

Can safe you, turn tables, buff important stats and CC's enemys for you.

Synergies

Ideal Strong Ok Low None

Lulu

Ideal

Can safe you, turn tables, buff important stats and CC's enemys for you.

More Master Yi Counters

Hey i'm Suseri, 1997 vintage and a High Elo Master Yi OTP since season 4.
I'd like to share my experiences here with you, so i welcome you to my Yi Guide.

YouTube Ch

OP.GG Profil

Steam Profil

Discord

Some tips right off the bat:

Fast reaction speed, good timing and being able to predict your enemys actions are very important
skills to have when playing as Master Yi, as those allow you to use this champion to his full potential.

I don't like pure tank items on Yi because he scales extremly well with the right damage and
attackspeed focused items, which then allow you insane solo plays while giving you high dueling power.

Try to finish your games on Yi as fast as possible because mistakes will be less forgiving since
you can die alot faster in the later states of the game, duo to being rather squishy with my builds.

Lastly if you'd like to see me in action, check out the video below and without further ado, let us begin!

Master Yi Pros:
+High Mobility thru Alpha Strike, Highlander
+Highest Base Movement Speed in the Game
+Ability Resets
+Hyper Carry Potential
+Strong Splittpush
+Strong/Easy Turret Dives
+Tank Shredder thru Wuju Style
+Untargetability thru Alpha Strike and Slow Immunity thru Highlander
+Good Jungle Clear and Sustain/Tankiness thru Meditate
+Different Build Flexibility (Crit,Lethal,OnHit,Offtank)
+One of the (if not the) Strongest 1v1 Late Game
+High Pentakill Potential

Easy to Learn but Hard to Master

Master Yi Cons:
-Squishy
-No CC and vulnerable against Hard CC
-Late game issues
-Relies very hard on Items
-If you fall behind it can be Hard to be useful
-Weak against Burst, especially AP Types

No Skillshots but a good Alpha Strike Timing is needed

Too long; didn't read:

Ghost, Teleport, Ignite, Exhaust and Cleanse can all be quite useful from time to time, however having another quick gap closer or escape tool with Flash is just too powerful to not take when playing as Master Yi.

When i started playing Master Yi in the jungle i would always use Teleport and Smite as my main summoner spells. Teleport was just a very effective summoner, with which you could splittpush, backdoor or still help your team mates in case you were far away from them while also being able to power farm with it. After Teleport got nerfed i started using Exhaust instead to have ultimate dueling power. Fighting off splittpushing, burst heavy or just fed champions was alot easier but i also wanted that brief moment using it in the last team fight against the enemy full build ADC, which made it worth taking. It even had a low CD and would let you deal more damage on enemys. In season 15 Teleport again is looking tempting, but getting good use out of it can still depend on RNG.

However Exhaust also got nerfed someday and in a way that was also a good thing for Yi since even without his ult, his attackspeed would not get reduced by Exhaust anymore. But at the same time Exhaust also lost its shine for me. I still took it for quite a while because i got used to it but nowadays i prefer and recommend taking Flash most of the time even if the CD on it is pretty high. With Flash you get some extra mobility by having another quick gapcloser or escape tool and overall it is just one of the most valuable Summoner Spells on most Champs in this game.

You can bring:

Ghost against champs that could kite you.
Ignite against champs that have any kind of healing, camouflage, invisibility or untargetability.
Exhaust against champs that have alot of burst.
Cleanse against champs that have unavoidable hard CC.

Ghost versus Darius Aatrox Olaf Garen Fiora Nidalee
Ignite versus Soraka Swain Shaco Vladimir Kayn Tryndamere Warwick
Exhaust versus Rengar Kha'Zix Jax Riven Xin Zhao Graves
Cleanse versus Fiddlesticks Rakan Braum Leona Rammus Evelynn Nocturne

But Suseri how do you decide that?
The higher the threat of certain Champs is, the more likely i'd decide to take discussed summoner spells.
That being saied, this also comes with experience thru playing alot of games, so keep that in mind.

But Suseri why take Cleanse if you can buy QSS instead?
Because it'll delay your item power spikes too much, i'd only recommend
you to get QSS if you are ahead, later into the game or if it's really necessary in order to play.

But Suseri why take Ignite if you can buy Exe's instead?
You would need to finish the item at some point and it is not an optimal item to build on Yi while it also again delays your item power spikes. Ignite also deals true damage which helps you getting your kills/resets faster.

When do you Max your Q Ability?

Too long; didn't read:

As a Jungler always first, cuz it's your abilities dodging, gap closing, escape and damage tool.
As a Laner most of the time first but not a must, depending on your matchup.

When?

Almost all of the time in every single game because this is your key ability which beside dealing damage and making you untargetable, for around a second if it strikes 4 times, gives you the chance to dodge alot of abilities and even some ultimates of other champions! It also allows you to follow dashes, blinks, leaps, flashes or even blast plants when timed correctly. You can also get a 2nd Point into it at LvL 3 instead of getting your W, if you want a faster full clear.

Some important notes:

You cannot place wards or do any other actions beside using some summoner spells (except flash and TP) and turning your E or R on while being in your Q. When Master Yi bounces from a unit it will grant vision in a 600 radius around it including across terrain, though not into brushes. Be aware, that damage or CC over time can still hit/kill you, even in your Q, however CC durations over time can be reduced and even be negated completely if paired with tenacity. Your Q can also now pause the duration of your E and your R.

When do you Max your E Ability?

Too long; didn't read:

As a Jungler always 2nd, it increases your damage too but not as much against jungle monsters as your Q.
As a Laner mostly 2nd, can be maxed sooner vs champs that are tanky, don't have burst, mobility or hard cc.

When?

This is your main damage source which is maxed right after your Q. You can try maxing this skill first, if you think you won't need to dodge anything necessarily in your game, which rarely ever is the case. I'd still recommend you to put at least 2 or 3 points into your Q first before Maxing your E to have at least some Q damage as you can reset his Q with basic attacks. A good example for E maxes are on lane Yi because in the jungle you need the bonus damage against monsters from your Q in order to farm efficiently.

Some important notes:

Your E scales very good with attack damage and attack speed, keep that in mind when building items. Your E can be used while being in your Q now, however you can lose some DPS if E is being activated to late on less than 4 different targets, because Yi's Q damage instances hit differently depending on how many different targets you are striking.

When do you Max your W Ability?

Too long; didn't read:

As a Jungler always last, cuz it's a defensive ability, which can be used offensively but not through maxing it out.
As a Laner mostly last, you can put more points into it when you're behind, building tank items or getting poked.

When?

I prefer to max my W almost always as my last skill, because it does not increase my damage or mobility. Sometimes in the early game however, if you're forced to fight while not being able to escape for what ever reason and you get a level up, you can put another point into your W to get more health back and also more damage reduction while also winning time for your team mates to come and help you in order to survive against the enemy and maybe even turn the tables afterwards. You can also get more points into it against champions who outtrade or harass you alot in lane, in order to stay longer or sustain better. You also have the option to max out this spell sooner, which can be very effective when being behind and trying to tank some damage for the team i.e. against burst champs without hard CC or for baiting enemys into attacking you, which might not expect the insane healing and damage reduction. I don't really do this too often tho since this spell can be canceled fairly easy with most hard CC spells and it'll leave you damageless for a long time. If you ever max this spell on lane Yi, make sure that your Q is the last spell you max out as you need your E damage to be able to kill most champions.

Some important notes:

Meditate's healing amount updates dynamically as he heals himself, making Master Yi heal for less as his current health increases. Be aware that you can still use your W while being rooted. Your W can now also pause the duration of your E and R.

When do you Max your R Ability?

When?

Never really, its pointless since you get outrunned by everything in the game anyways, even by scuttle crabs...

Jokes aside, as a Jungle as well as a Laner of course when ever you can, as it gives you tons of advantages such as increased movement speed, move speed and attack speed reduction immunity and a second passive which reduces the remaining cooldown of all of your basic abilities for every kill or assist by 70%.

Some important notes:

Your R can now also be used while being in your Q and it's duration get's paused while being in your Q.

VISUAL UPDATE SOON | Advanced Kit Tips and Tricks

In this chapter you'll find most more or less unknown informative possible and helpfull things in Yi's Kit that you don't wanna miss out on! Originally i've planed to do a Videos for each Ability with an example + voice explaining for better understandings but those would need an absurd amount of time to be finished (and im really lazy). So i thought before never sharing it i'll at least give it to you in text form.

Double Strike
- If possible, stack up your passive before engaging fights for more dps and to get your next double strike faster
- The 2nd attack of your passive will focus the nearest target of your character
and not the nearest target of the target you hit with the first strike, you can also use this to your advantage by moving towards prioritized creeps, keep that in mind when farming for example
- Once your passive runs out it can cancel your next attack animation when it expires, which can be very annoying
- Your passive works on Jhin, Nida, Teemo and Shaco traps but not on GP barrels
- The 2nd hit of your passive can crit turrets inhibs and the nexus
- Yi's sword will glow if his passive is stacked up, if enough of those stackes are gathered Yi will get into a loop as long as you continue to attack and he'll also use his passive sooner with less total autoattacks, however if the 2nd hit of your doublestrike does not land for example if the target dies at the 1st hit that'll restart the loop

Alpha Strike
- Always auto attack your jungle camps first before Q'ing them because otherwise they will reset their HP for the first hits of your Q, this can slow your early game down alot, exceptions for this are the raptors but only if there are 4 or more of them left, the scuttle crabs aswell as dragons and rift heralds
- You can still get hit or even die in your Q when getting hit by cc over time like Leblanc Morgana or Karma chains, also by empowered autoattacks and by damage over time spells like ignite for example, Fiddle drains and Illaoi tantacles after her grab can also hit you + bard q, there are also still moments in which you die even without any of those situations happening which is known as a bug for a very long time
- You can reduce the duration of cc over time spells by timing your Q as late as possible and for chain abilities you can walk back a little very quick which decreases your hitbox location (if your enemy is running from you), to avoid the chain ability completely
- You can use your Q to poke or kill enemys, your Q will always prioritise the closest targets
- You can bait enemys by Q'ing a target which dies the moment you're still in your Q to get out of your start position
- You can also do this to poke enemys in lane from a safe distance
- When attempting to dive once an enemy is low enough to die to a Q you can also start clicking away to avoid turret shots
- You can still use your Q after (almost every) hard cc spell if you use Qss (Fun fact: even dragon knockbacks)
- You can use your Q to jump over walls, this can be useful for either escapeing or following enemys but you can also use it to safe some time when farming i mostly only use it on Raptors and Krugs camps since as saied before some camps can heal up if you start them with your Q
- If enemys use hourglas they will take no damage from your q but your ability will go on cd
- You can get assists if you Q a champ which dies before you leave your Q if the window for that is to short it won't work and your Q will be on cd tho (i guess your Q needs to bounce at least once)
- Yi's Q follow range is caped at some point, so you cant follow bigger distances, max should be something around 2000 units
- Keep in mind that your Q can lose you around 1 sec of your E's duration
- Your Q can reavel enemys in fog of war (not invisible once tho) if they are close enough
- If you Q a champ that is going invisible while you are still in your Q you can track their path
- Even with the autoattack option turned on, after using a Q on a Scuttle Crab Yi will not keep attacking it automatically because it's a neutral enemy
- If you click Q on a champ which is out of your range Yi will follow that target till he loses vision of him
- Do not worry, you cannot dodge stuff like ally buffs or heals like zilean lvl ups or soraka ults (neither turret platings i think)
- Q interaction with other untargetabilities turns out that you deal some damage but you get thrown out of your Q the moment they turn untargetable
- Spamm q on a spot that you think the enemy will show up to avoid vision advantage traps
- There is a very small window in which other champs can avoid your autoattack after you follow a flash with your Q
- Your Q duration can be shorter if the target dies sooner, you can lose turret aggro when doing this on a low HP enemy champ while having ally minions around
- When farming jungle camps you need to set them as a target by clicking them once with rightclick because if you use your Q on them before doing that Yi will stop attacking

Meditate
- You can reset your autoattacks by pressing your W in time and then rightclicking the target again, the smaller the time between the different execution inputs are the faster you will start your next attack, the optimal moment for that is after your doublestrike because not only dps wise you get the most out of it but you also get your next doublestrike faster that way it can also reduce incoming dmg for that short input window
- Damage reduction on your w is halfed against turrets
- You can use your W in your base to recover faster but you should avoid that if the enemys are close to your base
- Your w has a ap scaling so items like hourglas in some situations are actually not too troll if you have ever actually thought about it
- After you channel your W long enough you build up your doublestrike passive
- While channeling your W your E and Ult run out durations will stop for that time
- There is a display bug if you use your W on Skarner portals
- If you spamm your W while you're in your Q it can get your W on CD
- If you're about to end a game you can click on a position then use your W right after and once the endscreen appears Yi will still walk to that location

Wuju Style
- Get more use out of your E truedamage by waiting for your doublestrike before using it
- If you press E while you're in W you will cancel your W ability
- You can get more E'autoattacks if you use your W right before the end of the duration of your E to get another E-doublestrike, however if the window is too short it won't work since you don't win just stop time

Highlander
- You cant get slowed but also not attackspeed slowed in your ult
- You cant get grounded in your Ult
- You get ability resets on kill and assists once you skill your R
- If you get multiple kills/assists they get reseted even faster(based on missing CD %)
- Your R can cancel your W
- You dont get slowed in your ult which means if the enemys have fear abilities they can send you flying far away, keep that in mind

Special Champion and other Interactions:
- You can reset the CC timer for Viktor trap by timing your Q (not totally avoidable unless you use that to walk out of the circle)
-Camilles R can interrupt your W
- Some cc like Morgana Q's won't stop you from being able to use your w e or r
- If you die in Alpha while having GA you will be revived on the spot you Q'ed
]- If you time your W as you die while having GA you will be revived with the W animation
- Jax e or teemo blind will not refund your Q CD with autoattacks (when ever you don't deal dmg while attacking)
- Your dance speed changes on all Yi skins except the project one, based on your movementspeed
- If 2 Yi's Q each other there can be a so called skin advantage (please don't ask me which is the best)
- You can't dodge a enemy Tahm Kench eat but an ally's one, also an ally Tahm can't eat you while you use your W (nice antitroll feature i guess lol)
- Your R and E can still runout if W pressed to late
- You can use your flash over a wall after using your Q without reaveling your flash position
-Seraphine's 2nd E can't root Yi while he is in his R because he does not get slowed by her first E to begin with

"Finally, here you can find any other information regarding Master Yi."

Champ Select Bans

The listed Champs below are worth to Ban when playing Master Yi:

Fiddlesticks His fear is Point in Click and the duration of it can get very long
Rakan Annoying Champ, mostly cuz of his R
Leona She has alot of CC
Kennen AP Burst + CC + Mobility
Anivia AP Burst + CC + Passive
Lulu Annoying CC + R
Pantheon AD Burst + CC + Invulnerable
Riven AD Burst + CC + Mobility
Gragas AP Burst + CC

My most frequent Top 3 Bans:
When play, Jungle Role: Kha'Zix > Elise > Rek'Sai
When playing Top Role: Pantheon > Renekton > Jax
When playing Mid Role: Lissandra > Azir > Annie

Runes 1/3

Become a legend Improved attacks and sustain damage. Good | Okay | Bad
Keystones:
Takes too long to stack and does not give you much even if it's stacked
Gives you a small boost after 3 attacks but it's not enough to be considered optimal in all situations
You can't really kite people as Yi since you want to engage and kill them quickly so this rune takes an L
Heroism:
This saved me countless times from deaths
Considerable for Lane Yi
Considerable for Lane Yi
Legend:
Helps with getting your Passive more often, more AA's/E AA's and faster Q resets
Can't get good use out of it since the Q haste change for yi
It is okay but you just cannot give up on attack speed to get this
Combat:
The idea is not to deal alot of damage with one of those runes but which rune has the most potential to get you a kill
Considerable
Considerable

Runes 2/3

Hunt and eliminate prey Burst damage and target Access. Good | Okay | Bad
Free Damage after a Q
Quite some OOC MS which helps with catching up or escaping but no use outside of that
Your Ult CD is not that High but it still can be very useful to have your Ult up at any given moment
Free AD + not hard to geather the Stacks
Is okay and gets really good if you can start to snowball the game
Free AD + Vision
You have no CC in your Kit and red buff would be your only way to apply this
Good for Support Yi at the best
Useless in the Jungle
Not worth
Outwit mere mortals, Creative tools and rule bending. Good | Okay | Bad
Considerable for Support Yi
Good if you can snowball
Sounds ok
Considerable for Lane Yi
Considerable for Lane Yi
With the changes to Yi's Q and haste this is less attractive
Not worth since you get enough MS from other sources
Again haste problem with Yi's Q

Runes 3/3

Live forever Durability and crowd control. Good | Okay | Bad
Helps against melee Champs in Lane
Helps against Poke in Lane
If you are going to get CC'ed you gonna die anyways probably
It's okay but it's nothing crazy
It's good and can be very good if you aim for a build with alot of HP
Free stats are always Nice
This is not alot and won't really help you
Yi has no CC
Kinda useless
Unleash destruction Empowered abilities and resource Manipulation. Good | Okay | Bad
It's good for the early game
Free AD stats which scale with Q, E, Passive and Autoattacks, this is better for longer Games
Faster Scuttle Crab clears, could help with escaping or chasing at the River
Could be somewhat useful against full AP comps or in Lane against AP Burst
Helps with Mana issues, but is not needed
You can get a better effect on other Runes
Sounds good on the paper, in reality it's not
24 AD at LvL 18 but only if above 70% HP
Does not help you in the Jungle

The End Of The Guide

Hey it's me Suseri again!

If you made it this far, let me express my thanks to you for reading my Guide.
I hope the Guide could help you and i wish you the best of lucks for your Games.
If you have any Questions left, feel free to ask me them in the Discussion section.

Remember that not just being good at a Champ but also general knowledge and behaviour
in this Game is very important. So in order to improve and climb be friendly and respectful
to everyone and enjoy the Game, bacause having fun is the most important part of it!

Here's my Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuAMZQ21lJUuSkICLPieXbg again.
If you'd like to learn more you can follow me there, im Uploading alot of enjoyable Gameplays and Montages.
I'd appreciate your Votes on the Guide, it'll Help with reaching more Players!

More Master Yi Counters

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[S15] The Best Master Yi Guide ✅

Introduction / About Me

Pros / Cons

Summoner Spells

Skill Sequence

VISUAL UPDATE SOON | Advanced Kit Tips and Tricks

Champ Select Bans

Runes 1/3

Runes 2/3

Runes 3/3

The End Of The Guide

[S15] The Best Master Yi Guide ✅

[S15] The Best Master Yi Guide ✅

Choose Champion Build:

Recommended Items

Runes: Standard

Spells:

Flash

Smite

Ghost

Smite

Exhaust

Smite

Ignite

Smite

Cleanse

Smite

Smite

Teleport

Items

Ability Order Q > E > R > W

Double Strike (PASSIVE)

Alpha Strike (Q)

Meditate (W)

Wuju Style (E)

Highlander (R)

Threats & Synergies

Kha'Zix

Elise

Rek'Sai

Zac

Evelynn

Nocturne

Gragas

Udyr

Rammus

Rengar

Shaco

Warwick

Master Yi

Fiddlesticks

Hecarim

Graves

Jarvan IV

Sejuani

Kayn

Viego

Skarner

Vi

Volibear

Xin Zhao

Lee Sin

Amumu

Bel'Veth

Trundle

Briar

Nunu & Willump

Shyvana

Diana

Lillia

Nidalee

Kindred

Ivern

Karthus

Lulu

Zilean

Shen

Taric

Morgana

Thresh

Karma

Nami

Braum

Kayle

Galio

Renata Glasc

Ornn

Leona

Pyke

Janna

Soraka