Master Yi Runes
Which is better? Conqueror Yi or Lethal Tempo Yi? I love playing Yi (and also love when Yi isn't banned) and I want to climb with him. BUT choosing which runes to do is so hard. So which is better?[sg-lux-2]
4 Comments
Lethal tempo honestly isn't all that amazing on Yi. It sounds great on paper but if you look at it's uptime during your ulti window compared to Conq it falls well short.
At max level Conq will stack in 2 auto's and a q, which will take you less time to do than lethal tempo, but for the sake of argument lets say both take 1.5 seconds.
Highlander at that point has 12.5 seconds remaining. Lethal tempo gives master yi around 1.36 attacks a second during that duration. or a total of .58 attacks per second over the duration of highlander assuming you popped it on first contact. That's a 23% damage buff is a straight out tow to toe with zero wasted time.
Conq gives you 40 AD, coverts 8% to true damage, and heals you for that extra 8%. So over the duration it adds an average of 35.7 AD + tank shred + self healing.
Here is the real kicker though. Where Conq blows Lethal Tempo out of the water is in usability. Yi will NOT be able to make use of those extra attacks unless the person he is attacking stands perfectly still. He's a melee so has to chase. Even with flawless orbwalking I'd expect to see no more than half of it's actual effect happening.
Conquer has much less of an issue chasing because the slower attack speed, yet more damage per hit make it easier to follow. Also Conq increases your Q damage, better damage vs tanks, and what amounts to a free vamp scepter.
The only time Lethal tempo might be better is if they have a team with lots of magic damage and you plan to build Wit's End. It's pretty strong into stuff like Gragas/Nunu/Maokai/Diana/Mord/Galio/Ect. Basically any melee range AP champ.
I personally pick Conq on Yi, since I feel like he needs the AD more than the attack speed. Most people just stack attack speed on Yi (AS jungle item, rageblade, BOTRK) and so he gets pretty high attack speed excluding his ultimate.
Lethal tempo is nice and you can get well over 3.00 attack speed if you build good items, but you have to get a really good early game to pull it off, unlike Conqueror which gives you the damage you need to survive in early fights.
Personally I've been getting the most success recently with hail of blades, though I can't say for sure that it's the best keystone to use. It gives Yi a lot of burst damage which is nice for ganks early and assassinating people later.
Finally climbed out of mid silver and into g4 using yi with lethal tempo.