Champion Guide

Master Yi Guide

By LoLSuggest

Jungle

Master Yi is a hyper-carry jungler who wins with attack speed and resets. Double Strike makes every fourth attack hit twice, Alpha Strike blinks between targets and makes him untargetable while it hits, Meditate heals him and reduces the damage he takes while he channels it, Wuju Style adds true damage to his attacks, and Highlander gives him attack speed, movement speed and immunity to slows, while takedowns extend it and cut his other cooldowns. He snowballs from kills and becomes a late-game 1v1 monster.

Recommended Setup

Our recommended Master Yi build

Our recommended runes, summoner spells and items. Compare build win rates on the stats page.

Items

Starting Items

Core Items

Situational Items

Start Gustwalker Hatchling. The standard on-hit build is Kraken Slayer and Guinsoo's Rageblade, your biggest power spike, then Experimental Hexplate, Blade of the Ruined King, Lord Dominik's Regards and Death's Dance; it deals consistent damage and still lets you come back from behind. Run Lethal Tempo with Triumph, Legend: Alacrity and Coup de Grace, plus Magical Footwear and Triple Tonic, a page that shreds tanks. When you are snowballing or the matchup favours you, the crit build is Kraken Slayer, The Collector, Lord Dominik's Regards, Immortal Shieldbow and Infinity Edge with Hail of Blades, Sudden Impact, Grisly Mementos and Treasure Hunter plus Legend: Alacrity and Coup de Grace; swap Kraken Slayer for Blade of the Ruined King against health-stacking teams. Never rush Blade of the Ruined King on the on-hit build, because few enemies buy health early. Boots are optional: take Berserker's Greaves, Plated Steelcaps, Mercury's Treads or Gluttonous Greaves only when you need them. Wit's End, Guardian Angel, Randuin's Omen and Mercurial Scimitar are good defensive last items. Take Flash with Smite. Max Q, then E, then W.

Runes

Primary Tree

Secondary Tree

Summoner Spells

Skill Max Order

Strengths

A late-game 1v1 monster who can win almost any duel when played well.
Alpha Strike dodges crowd control and tower shots, and Highlander makes him immune to slows.
Takedowns cut his cooldowns and extend Highlander, so one kill can snowball a whole teamfight.

Weaknesses

Champions with a lot of crowd control, such as Pantheon, Rek'Sai or Nunu & Willump, shut him down.
Champions who can become untargetable, such as Elise, and mages with Zhonya's Hourglass waste his damage.
With snowball builds it is very hard to come back once he falls behind.

Laning Phase

Master Yi wants to farm and scale, but he gets much stronger with kills, so look for them once enemies have used their crowd control. Before an engage, stack Double Strike first; channelling Meditate charges it faster. Alpha Strike is great for chasing, diving and escaping: use it straight away to chase, but save it against crowd control so you can dodge abilities like Morgana's and Lux's bindings. Under an enemy tower, attack the enemy champion and then Alpha Strike to avoid tower shots. Meditate also reduces tower damage and is at its strongest before level 6, so use it to stall until your team or your cooldowns come back. Against junglers like Bel'Veth or Nasus, invade constantly when your lanes have priority, and avoid ganking Heimerdinger's lane.

Mid & Late Game

Squishy carries such as Lux and Miss Fortune are your best targets, and with Lethal Tempo you can also fight front to back against teams with two or more tanks. In teamfights, wait for the enemy's crowd control before going in, then use Highlander to ignore slows and chain takedowns, since each one cuts your cooldowns and extends Highlander. Do not chase mages who still have Zhonya's Hourglass, and against Tryndamere bait out his ultimate, then kite him or hold Meditate until it ends.

Key Tips

Alpha Strike makes you untargetable while it hits, so use it to dodge key skillshots and crowd control.
Channelling Meditate stacks Double Strike, so you can enter a fight with your double strike ready.
Against Shaco's ultimate, attack each clone: the one that takes the least damage is the real Shaco.
Never fight Illaoi inside her ultimate; if you must, keep moving to dodge her tentacles.

Matchups

Matchups and synergies

Our picks for difficult opponents, favorable lanes and strong allies. Compare matchup win rates on the stats page.