Early game Yi

sparta187·Nov 23, 2015·1 votes·602 views

One of my all time fav champs, I leveled using him a while back. I always play him top, jungle is not for everyone and I'm not very confident in my abilities in jungle yet. Now I find that I get blown up fast by other top lanes, His lack of survivability is amazing early game. Not that he gets any later, I mean he is a assassin, but I'm looking for tips. From runes, Items, Masteries to play styles do's and don'ts. I realize there is help on the net, But I'm interested in finding out what the community has to say. Other then play another champion.

7 Comments

KaokentakeNov 23, 20151 votes

yi is the strongest 1v1 champion in the game

he is a melee champion with no cc with a kit designed to 1v1. in order for him to be balanced with the 50% riot aims for for all their champions, due to the nature of mobas riot simply cannot produce a 50% winrate on yi without buffing his kit to a point where he becomes the strongest 1v1 champion

and as a yi man with 1300 games i can tell you. yi is the strongest 1v1 champion in the game. he will beat every champion in a 1v1

but yi does have counters. the counter to yi is the fact that this game is a 5v5, not a 1v1. yi is the strongest 1v1 champion, but he is below average and sometimes useless in a 5v5

for example. champs like zac or maokai with equal gold will provide more to a teamfight than yi. but yi will beat them 1v1

the only other melee champion in the game to my knowledge with zero CC is katarina . but her kit is AoE focused. so she is like the teamfight yi. kat is the Yi that is strong in teamfights but weak in 1v1

next. garen, darius, and mundo are 3 melee champions with "almost no cc". so their 1v1 power is close to yi. but yi still defeats them 1v1. garen/darius/mundo have overloaded kits due to being melee champions with "almost no cc".

now as for yi tactics. i am a yi god in toplane and i can destroy any champion 1v1 including riven, jax, irelia, darius, anything

would take me a minute to wrote out a little guide. if you want me to write it for you i can

KaokentakeNov 23, 20151 votes

also yi isnt always an assassin. he can be. he has many build paths and options

as a yi god. ive found the strongest yi build currently in this patch is merc boots, titanic hydra, maw, deadmans, steraks, frozen mallet

with the tank mastery grasp of undying, tenacity, +4% health, +6% resistance. double edged sword, bounty hunter, natural talent, and +4% attackspeed

that is the strongest yi 6 item build / masteries this patch. you go into a teamfight, do insane damage, are a unkillable god, pop W to be immortal. and your about 5x stronger than the assassin build

and you can start the Rav Hydra in this patch, snowball the lane and have 1v1 power in lane, then switch to titanic hydra for teamfight

KaokentakeNov 23, 20151 votes

oh and a preview of my "laning guide" which i might write in a minute if you want it

the most powerful way to lane with yi is maxing W. and you dont get E. in terms of pure numbers for lane power, each point in Q and W is stronger than E. you only get E after your first kill which lets you get more ahead

W is the most powerful skill to max with lane yi because it lets him trade

with W max lane yi. you can trade with your enemy. he takes 40% damage and you take 70% (like against riven). but then you walk back, presss W, and W early game heals you back to full fricken health (not joking) meaning you won the trade

SasogwaNov 23, 20151 votes

There's a lot of truth in what you said, but I kinda disagree at some. First, why don't you take any attack speed? Sure, you have your ult steroid but still. Next, what's currently overpowered is Guinsoo's. Like, it's absolutely insane. And that makes you lose the 1v1's against Jax and Irelia. Because they got so much damage off it, that no matter how much you outplay them, they're gonna beat you. You can take it too, but you're kinda squishy. Before preseason, I'd agree that Yi could pretty much 1v1 anybody. I'm not sure it's true anymore, with botrk nerfed to the ground. Yi used to be insane with item 3142 item 3153 . I even took item 3071 next and it was broken af. You would destroy anyone, tank or squishy.

Also, you'd have to explain to me how Ravenous Hydra is so good. I must admit I've never took it and never thought of it as a good 1v1 item on Yi (I mean, it's all on burst and a bit of sustain, more for an AD caster)

PS : you always take one point in E, it gives +10%ad, which is like +5 AD early game, and there's the active true damage. It's a one-point-wonder.

KaokentakeNov 23, 20151 votes

actually

steraks first yi beats guinsoo first jax/irelia

trust me. yi is the strongest 1v1 champion in the game. i could beat fakers jax/irelia with yi. but thats not because im good, its just because im decent enough with yi to know he beats any champion 1v1 and im good enough with yi to know how to play the matchup and yi simply wins any 1v1 matchup. the counter to yi is that this game is a 5v5. that is yi's only "counter". the fact that this game is a 5v5.

yi dominates any 1v1 matchup in this game

after steraks. you get rav hydra to continue beating jax/irelia

now. after steraks. master yi can keep building 1v1 items (botrk, bloodthirster) to be able to 1v1 jax and irelia

however. i find building 1v1 items isnt that great

the reason i build full tank on yi, is so i can teamfight with him. titanic+steraks+maw+mallet+merc+deadmans is the strongest yi teamfight build

for the strongest 1v1 build on yi. its likely steraks, bloodthirster, botrk, maw, merc, infinity edge

KaokentakeNov 23, 20151 votes

there is a reason you dont take E. here is why

E gives 10% ad. but in trading in lane. you are Q'ing waves to push. and W'ing to heal. and during all of this . ranks of Q will output more damage overall than E because its about damage to the wave (not just your enemy). and ranks of W will heal more. so going QWQWWRWQW in lane is the strongest way for yi to lane

sparta187Nov 24, 20151 votes

Thanks to all who left comments, I will continue to experiment with his build. Your comments will be taken into consideration, I will not give up on him.