Guide Sections (15)
- Champion Stats
- The Lane Bully Start
- The Master Yi Skin Tier List
- When They Ban Master Yi
- Runes That Work on Master Yi
- Leveling Master Yi's Abilities
- Mastering Master Yi's Kit
- Matchups That Matter for Master Yi
- 1v2 Delusion
- When Splitting Won't Work
- Flanking or Frontlining
- The Sustain Fighter Build
- Master Yi's Strongest Moments
- The Tower Dive Escape
- Recent Patch History
Champion Stats
Low elo teams cannot draft properly. They will pick 5 squishy champions with zero point-and-click hard CC, thinking damage is all that matters. This is a free win for Yi. Furthermore, they fundamentally do not understand focus fire. They waste cooldowns on your tank while you Alpha Strike through their entire team untargetable, appearing next to their ADC for the instant deletion. Reset mechanics mean one kill chains into five kills. Your passive double-strike combined with Lethal Tempo attack speed melts anyone who stands still for even a moment.
The Lane Bully Start
Yi's level 1 cheese exists but is situational. You can invade if you started Hail of Blades—your Q allows you to dodge the enemy jungler's first spell, and your passive double-strike does massive damage for an early skirmish. Meet them at their second buff (usually Gromp or Krugs side) and fight. However, Yi typically prefers to powerfarm six camps into Scuttle, hitting Level 6 around 5:30-6:00, then ganking a lane with R for a guaranteed kill. Patience is rewarded more than cheese on this champion.
The Master Yi Skin Tier List
'Project: Yi' gives you that cyborg samurai feel with incredibly smooth auto-attack animations; it's the go-to for many one-tricks. 'Cosmic Blade' is visually clean with subtle audio cues. 'Inkshadow' is stylish and fresh. 'Assassin Master Yi' is the budget smurf classic—the skin literally says 'I don't care about cosmetics, I just want your LP'. It signals intent to the enemy team.
'Project: Yi' transforms his voice and animations completely—the Alpha Strike sound is distinct. 'Cosmic Blade' is smooth. 'Inkshadow' is stylish. 'Assassin' is the classic smurf skin to hide your power level.
When They Ban Master Yi
Bel'Veth attacks fast and resets. Viego steals bodies. Kindred scales. Bel'Veth is the closest 'attack speed carry' jungler.
Bel'Veth offers reset-based carrying. Viego gives the possession resets. Kindred is the ranged version. Bel'Veth is the closest 'attack speed shredder'.
Runes That Work on Master Yi
Lethal Tempo is the standard choice for consistent DPS and shredding tanks in extended fights. However, Hail of Blades is a valid alternative for instant-bursting squishies with 3 rapid auto attacks (including double-strike procs). For secondary runes, Eyeball Collection stacks snowball stats, and Treasure Hunter accelerates your item spikes significantly—mandatory for aggressive smurfing. Conqueror is technically viable for bruiser Yi builds but is generally suboptimal.
Leveling Master Yi's Abilities
Q is your damage, your gap closer, and your survival tool—always max first. E second gives you True Damage on-hit which is essential for cutting through armor. W is genuinely a one-point wonder in most cases; you use it for tanking tower shots, healing up post-fight, or auto-attack resetting (auto-W-auto) for extra DPS. It doesn't need more than one point unless you're building Bruiser Yi.
Mastering Master Yi's Kit
Alpha Strike creates 0.75-1.0 seconds of untargetability. Use it to dodge Karthus Ult, Zed Ult mark pop, Tower shots, Ignite ticks... everything. It targets up to 4 units. You can use it on a minion to bounce and end up next to a champion safely. The cooldown reduction on-hit is significant—attack speed directly translates to more Qs in a fight.
Meditate reduces incoming damage by 60-70% AND heals you based on missing HP. Use it to tank a tower shot (channel for exactly one shot's worth), or to bait out burst spells (stand still, W as Syndra R hits, take 30% damage and heal it back). It's also an auto-attack reset—Auto-W-Auto instantly for extra DPS if you're not being threatened.
Wuju Style grants True Damage on-hit for a duration. Crucially, do NOT activate it while running at them; activate it only when you are actually hitting someone. Wasting the duration while chasing is a common low-elo mistake. The True Damage also means you don't need Lord Dominik's Regards as urgently—your E handles armor.
Highlander makes you IMMUNE TO SLOWS. Nasus can Wither you, Ashe can Arrow you (the stun will land but the slow won't), Ghost/Exhaust slow won't work. You can outrun almost anything. Use it to chase, or use it to escape a collapse. The duration extends by 7 seconds on takedowns, so one kill can lead to 20+ seconds of Highlander uptime.
Matchups That Matter for Master Yi
Hard Counter. He taunts you, reflects your damage. You literally kill yourself by auto-attacking him. Buy QSS or Dodge the game entirely.
Hard Counter. Counterstrike (E) blocks all your auto attacks for its duration. You do zero damage to him while he beats you to death. Wait out his E before committing to the fight.
1v2 Delusion
Do not engage fights by pressing Q first. If you Q in to start a fight, you appear next to 5 enemies with all of them targeting you, and you die instantly. Walk up first using your R movement speed, auto attack, and SAVE Q to DODGE something critical—a Malphite R, a Veigar E, a Lux Q. Q is a defensive spell used aggressively. Once you waste it for gap-closing, you are a sitting duck with no outplay potential.
When Splitting Won't Work
Dodge if the enemy drafts Rammus and Leona together. Rammus literally kills you with his taunt—you auto attack him while taunted and his thornmail passive reflects your damage back onto you. Leona provides infinite point-and-click lockdown. Playing Yi into coordinated hard CC is suffering.
Rammus makes you hit yourself. Leona stuns you for 3 seconds. Malzahar suppresses you. Buy QSS. If you don't buy QSS into these, you are trolling.
Dodge Rammus/Leona. Rammus makes you kill yourself. Leona never lets you move. You cannot play the game. Do not lock Yi into heavy CC.
Flanking or Frontlining
Wait. Wait. Wait. This is the hardest lesson for Yi players. Do NOT be the first one into the fight. Let your tank go in. Let the Malphite ult. Let the Lux bind. Let the Leona engage. Wait for every single CC ability to be used on someone else. THEN press R, run at the squishiest target, and Alpha Strike to dodge their last-ditch peel. Kill, reset, repeat. You are the janitor; clean up the mess that your team created. If you engage first, you are giving them a free focus target.
The Sustain Fighter Build
Blade of the Ruined King into Guinsoo's Rageblade is the standard hyper-carry path. However, for maximum disrespect, build 'The Collector' second for funny Alpha Strike executions on low HP targets—seeing them die during your Q bounce is hilarious. An even greedier option is rushing Kraken Slayer for the on-hit nuke, then Rageblade. For meme value, Duskblade Yi (if it existed in current meta) offered Q-resets on kills; replicate the feeling with Axiom Arc for R cooldown reduction.
BORK -> Guinsoo's -> Wit's End. You heal through damage. Death's Dance makes you tanky. You are not an assassin; you are a draintank DPS machine.
Master Yi's Strongest Moments
Your earliest reliable spike is Blade of the Ruined King completion. Before this, you are merely farming and hoping. At BORK + Rageblade, you shred tanks and melt squishies—this is your peak relative to the lobby. Your level 6 gank with R is also extremely potent; people underestimate the movement speed and immune-to-slows component. Use R to run people down who are overextended; you don't need to Q to reach them.
Level 2 cheese gank. Level 6 R speed. BORK completion. 3 Items. Late game you fall off if you get CC'd, but your damage never falls off.
The Tower Dive Escape
Type 'I was in Alpha' every time you die, even if you weren't. It confuses the enemy and makes them doubt themselves. Also, simply existing as a fed Yi forces the enemy team to hold ALL their CC cooldowns for you at all times, reducing their effectiveness against your team. The threat of Yi is almost as powerful as the Yi itself. After a Pentakill, type nothing. Silence is more terrifying.
Q makes you untargetable. Use it to drop tower aggro. Dive, kill, Q a minion to escape. Meditate (W) reduces tower damage by huge % amount. Tank the last shot with W.
Recent Patch History
Recent Balance Changes
| Patch | Date | Type | Changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| V14.12 | Jun 12, 2024 | NERF | Q nerfed, W adjusted |
| V14.11 | May 30, 2024 | BUFF | Base stats buffed |
| V14.9 | May 1, 2024 | NERF | E nerfed |
| V13.21 | Oct 25, 2023 | BUFF | E buffed |
| V12.22 | Nov 16, 2022 | NERF | Base stats nerfed |
