Bruiser Yi is ridiculous

Edgehy·Feb 16, 2016·112 votes·7,470 views

The build is typically:

It can vary pretty heavily, I've also seen a build where devourer and rageblade are replaced with warrior and ghostblade and he does the same thing.

The problem here isn't itemization. Yi's base damages are way too high and his kit already grants him bonus AD to boot. He has the burst of an assassin with the ability to outplay you with alpha strike while also being incredibly hard to kill with this build and he still has redonk sustained damage.

He needs to have something nerfed. While devourer and rageblade do seem to be causing some balance problems, I suspect that most of these champions are pretty silly in their own right. Either nerf the items a bit more or nerf the heavy abusers interactions with them because it's not fun being chased down by a 3.5k HP 160armor/150mr Yi that can melt anything he wants (including tanks) while being pretty hard to kill.

167 Comments

warpenguin555Feb 16, 201639 votes

Ah bruiser Yi. but just like juggernaut Fiora, its health because hes AD(Rito logic lol). Now if he was AP it would have been removed a while ago.

Ariel the CruelFeb 17, 20164 votes

Lissandra I'm a tank!

Sugar MommaFeb 17, 20162 votes

Elise Shhhhh

AgentBlackFeb 16, 201613 votes

Yi is overpowered when you have no CC. In higher elo, he's a counterpick to low-CC teams. In low elo, he's a solid blind pick because most people are more concerned with damage and improperly use the CC they have.

He's not that tanky if he can't abuse his W and lifesteal. Save hard CC for him and focus him down together. This is his counterplay. If you can't or are unwilling to do this, yeah, he was smart to pick Yi into your team.

EdgehyFeb 16, 201610 votes

{quoted}

Yi is overpowered when you have no CC. In higher elo, he's a counterpick to low-CC teams. In low elo, he's a solid blind pick because most people are more concerned with damage and improperly use the CC they have.

He's not that tanky if he can't abuse his W and lifesteal. Save hard CC for him and focus him down together. This is his counterplay. If you can't or are unwilling to do this, yeah, he was smart to pick Yi into your team.

People in high elo don't really care about counter picks, that's never really been true. People just kind of play whatever and roll with it.

I know what's good against Yi but my point is that bruiser Yi makes his counterplay almost non existent. You basically have to end the game before 25 minutes but he will just split push until he gets his items and once he gets any completed item, nobody can duel him

AndrionarFeb 16, 20161 votes

{quoted}

People in high elo don't really care about counter picks, that's never really been true. People just kind of play whatever and roll with it.

I know what's good against Yi but my point is that bruiser Yi makes his counterplay almost non existent. You basically have to end the game before 25 minutes but he will just split push until he gets his items and once he gets any completed item, nobody can duel him

After Jax gets hes items, you can't duel him eather, but he has pure cc. While yi has no cc at all, but an outplay potenial, instead. Also, yi has insanely weak early game, hes very vulnerable to invades and can be set behind.

I so how good players fucked up Cowsep, they invaded him, so he fall behind to much to make any actualy impact.

YumaS2AstralFeb 16, 20169 votes

{quoted}

After Jax gets hes items, you can't duel him eather, but he has pure cc. While yi has no cc at all, but an outplay potenial, instead.

The difference is that Jax can't run into you at 1000 MS and he is not immune to slows

AndrionarFeb 16, 20163 votes

{quoted}

The difference is that Jax can't run into you at 1000 MS and he is not immune to slows

I'm sure, if he wouldn't be immune to slows, it would be almost impossible kill anyone, becouse almost every champion has some sort of cc. Also, if Riot would deceit to nerf him, they might make him non-viable at all. He definteley need to keep immunity to slows if hes kit isn't goint to be changed drasticaly.

Personaly, I like playing against Yi, becouse he's very easy to invade. Also, I play him by myself sometimes.

YumaS2AstralFeb 16, 20161 votes

{quoted}

I'm sure, if he wouldn't be immune to slows, it would be almost impossible kill anyone, becouse almost every champion has some sort of cc. Also, if Riot would deceit to nerf him, they might make him non-viable at all. He definteley need to keep immunity to slows if hes kit isn't goint to be changed drasticaly.

Personaly, I like playing against Yi, becouse he's very easy to invade. Also, I play him by myself sometimes.

I think that just reducing Yi's base damage would be good. That way he would be more encouraged to build damage.

The Bíg TicketFeb 16, 20161 votes

He has low base damage...he synergyzes with Attack Speed.

YumaS2AstralFeb 16, 20162 votes

[{quoted}](name=Buff Jax please,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=amoYRyjw,comment-id=0003000000000000000000000000,timestamp=2016-02-16T17:15:09.556+0000)

He has low base damage...he synergyzes with Attack Speed.

His base damage seems to be low at first, but considering that we are talking about on-hit effects, you realize that his base damage is VERY high.

The Bíg TicketFeb 16, 20161 votes

But that has nothing to do with base damage lol...the true damage on hit on his E is very low compared to Irelia for example, to make it effective he either needs to build alot of AD (it scales with bonus AD) or build huge amounts of attack speed which is what most Yi's are doing currently.

YumaS2AstralFeb 16, 20161 votes

[{quoted}](name=Buff Jax please,realm=EUW,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=amoYRyjw,comment-id=000300000000000000000000000000000000,timestamp=2016-02-16T18:15:36.457+0000)

But that has nothing to do with base damage lol...the true damage on hit on his E is very low compared to Irelia for example, to make it effective he either needs to build alot of AD (it scales with bonus AD) or build huge amounts of attack speed which is what most Yi's are doing currently.

With just 200 total AD, Yi's E does 70 true damage at rank 5, which is almost as much true damage as Irelia's Hiten Style.

But because Yi has an attack speed steroid and tends to build more attack speed items than Irelia, he can apply that true damage a lot more times than Irelia in a fight.

If for some reason Yi decides to build full AD instead of going bruiser... then his true damage easily outscales her true damage.

The Bíg TicketFeb 16, 20161 votes

So Yi needing to have 200 AD to have almost (which means still less) as much true damage on his E as Irelia with exactly 0 AD tells you he needs lower base damage? Stop trolling dude.

Yi has low base damage, deal with. If you wanna nerf him look at his high base stats or attack speed per level maybe.

OyddAWqJ5rFeb 17, 20161 votes

It's 30 +20% total AD. Total AD is akin to base damage. Therefore it is around 50 true damage on-hit.

Now given his passive proc makes it 100 true damage and Devourer makes every 2nd deal 100 true damage as well you got this going on:

50-100-100-150-100-150-100-150....etc.

That's alot of base damage. Now just toss a ton of tank stats on it and you've got an unkillable Yi nightmare.

WenderwallFeb 16, 20161 votes

His Base damage is consistently low when compared to any ADC. Put the same build on Jhin Vayne KogMaw MissFortune Ashe and do 1 vs 1 with MasterYi and see him getting killed instantly . These champs scale too well, have CC to slow or freeze him.

Yi will be slowed even when R is active if steps on Jhins or Cait's Trap, Ashes R etc. they have real CC and sometimes have ignite to use it on Yi when he uses W.

In short, Yi as a melee adc has least power. Also your build is only possible with players who donno how to counter adc i.e. you don't have item 3140 to get out of CC, no real AD item (like item 3071 item 3156 item 3035 or hydra.

AnidanFeb 17, 20161 votes

Erm.. His base damage may be low, but his scaling is among the best. Master Yi will kill the everloving shit out MF and Ashe, and he stands to kill Koggy and Jhin decently well, too. The only thing saving Vayne is the fact she can kite without the requirement of slows.

Since he's a melee ADC, he actually has the highest damage potential of any champion, because that's their trade-off for being melee and a carry at the same time. Vayne isn't a hyper-carry because her damage potential is the highest in the game (because it's not), but because she does hold onto very high damage while being self-sufficient at a range.

WenderwallFeb 17, 20161 votes

Yup Late game, while other adcs get 1 or 2 kills before they hit level 6. When same build is used on others, like Jax , MasterYi will lose

Yup, Vayne is hyper carry hopefully Riot will fix her free true damage passive and super low CD tumble.

AnidanFeb 18, 20161 votes

"free" true damage. Have you ever heard of "opportunity cost"? Very few parts of any champion's kit in this entire game is 'free', it costs them part of their power budget and the chance to have had anything that could be considered more beneficial in a given situation.

And Yi only loses to Jax with the same build because Jax can dodge Yi's attacks, or else Jax would stand to lose against Yi, as well. Yi's damage scaling is nearly unmatched, however other parts of champion's kits can overcome that scaling disparity. This does not mean that Jax has the highest damage scaling in the game, nor does it even mean he's the hardest scaling champion in the game just because he has kit mechanics that beat out champions that scale harder through traditional means. If that was the case, then you'd have to submit that Malzahar scales harder than any champion in the entire game because he has unrivaled 1v1 potential.

WenderwallFeb 18, 20161 votes

Donno why but an AD built Malzahar can do one hit damage any level ( With 0 AP) Doesn't make sense.

Hayaishi2Feb 16, 201625 votes

{quoted}

Yi is overpowered when you have no CC. In higher elo, he's a counterpick to low-CC teams. In low elo, he's a solid blind pick because most people are more concerned with damage and improperly use the CC they have.

He's not that tanky if he can't abuse his W and lifesteal. Save hard CC for him and focus him down together. This is his counterplay. If you can't or are unwilling to do this, yeah, he was smart to pick Yi into your team.

Bro, he builds 3.5k HP with 120+ resistances, he does not get melted when he's CC'd.

Yi IS and has been broken for a couple of months, close a to a year. Anyone who has seen cowsep knows this, having the resistances of tank with no damage drop is bullshit, his true damage and base damages need to be decreased.

trash sionFeb 16, 20165 votes

"No damage drop"

Funny, I was under the impression that like, "not building damage items" made you do less damage.

Hayaishi2Feb 16, 201623 votes

[{quoted}](name=Azuk the Jungler,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=amoYRyjw,comment-id=000300010000,timestamp=2016-02-16T16:33:55.609+0000)

"No damage drop"

Funny, I was under the impression that like, "not building damage items" made you do less damage.

That's the point, he does way too much damage despite building 2 damage items.

trash sionFeb 16, 20164 votes

There's absolutely no way he's OP as anyone is suggesting though.

He builds 2 damage items, expect him to do 2 damage items worth of damage with his AAs.

There's no secret "extra" damage in his kit, he has one damaging ability and a tiny bit of true damage, but it all serves to equalize him to champions that have 4 damaging abilities.

He's so simple, you build 100 AD and you get 100 AD more added to your autos. It's no different than any other champion, he doesn't have some secret mechanic that makes him gain double AD from items. No idea why people are complaining.

Hayaishi2Feb 16, 201613 votes

[{quoted}](name=Azuk the Jungler,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=amoYRyjw,comment-id=00030001000000000000,timestamp=2016-02-16T16:42:18.903+0000)

There's absolutely no way he's OP as anyone is suggesting though.

He builds 2 damage items, expect him to do 2 damage items worth of damage with his AAs.

There's no secret "extra" damage in his kit, he has one damaging ability and a tiny bit of true damage, but it all serves to equalize him to champions that have 4 damaging abilities.

He's so simple, you build 100 AD and you get 100 AD more added to your autos. It's no different than any other champion, he doesn't have some secret mechanic that makes him gain double AD from items. No idea why people are complaining.

Yes because everything Yi builds is flat AD and not on hit abilities, Devourer and Bork make Yi insane, Devourer and Rageblade make him overpowered, this game isn't as simple as "100AD = 100 AD more for his autos"

trash sionFeb 16, 20161 votes

Onhit on Yi is no different from Onhit on anyone. Build that Onhit on Annie and you have the same exact thing.

Hayaishi2Feb 16, 201616 votes

[{quoted}](name=Azuk the Jungler,realm=NA,application-id=3ErqAdtq,discussion-id=amoYRyjw,comment-id=0003000100000000000000000000,timestamp=2016-02-16T16:56:30.627+0000)

Onhit on Yi is no different from Onhit on anyone. Build that Onhit on Annie and you have the same exact thing.

Yeah dude w/e, go against a decent Yi first.

Reynard the ƒoxFeb 16, 20169 votes

how are you so fucking dumb lol

trash sionFeb 16, 20164 votes

I appreciate the input. Really contributed to the conversation.

Reynard the ƒoxFeb 16, 20167 votes

no i didnt lol i wouldnt contribute to such an unintelligent conversation u idiot

trash sionFeb 16, 20163 votes

Feel free to enlighten me, then.

algolsolFeb 17, 20164 votes

His strength comes from sated E. It gives a load of true damage on hit and it procs with devourer.

BONUS TRUE DAMAGE: 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (+ 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20% AD) Sated procing this twice as well as your double strike passive means you deal a load of true damage. When you watch a yi shred through an ali with his ult up is when you notice how much damage it really does.

MadraFeb 17, 20161 votes

Sated also means his alpha strike is going to be up enough to avoid a good portion of that crowd control that you're supposed to save up for him so that you can burst him down.

DownfallFeb 17, 20166 votes

Sated Devourer, every other hit applies on-hit effects twice. Passive, every 4th hit makes him auto twice. He gets on hit effects off a lot. Builds on-hit effects. Builds tank. Has ~60 true damage on hit, whatever his phys damage is in phys damage, ~ 100 magic damage on hit. Profit.

PiVoRxFeb 16, 20161 votes

This is the full build you are talking about, if you allow Yi to reach that state, its your fault.

Hayaishi2Feb 17, 20163 votes

{quoted}

This is the full build you are talking about, if you allow Yi to reach that state, its your fault.

Yeah if i let him get to late game i should automatically lose, that is shit design.

It still doesn't justify him building like a tank a hitting like a truck.

PiVoRxFeb 17, 20162 votes

Shit design is a Lee Sin or Elise that hits like a truck in 7th min of the game with one item only.

It is justified if Yi for the first 20 min is only trying to survive against other junglers.

AnidanFeb 17, 20161 votes

Actually that's fine design, because the way they have to build to keep that comparative damage would make them extremely vulnerable later in the game. Having high early damage isn't a valid complaint until the damage is too high, which at this point, for Lee at least, I'd argue it isn't and that people either haven't come off the bandwagon yet or are suffering some form of PTSD from when he was pick/ban status.

This is like complaining 10 minutes into a DotA2 game about Crystal Maiden's AoE damage... y'know, until you finally hit the mid-late-game and people start to have BKBs out, so her method of using her high damage makes her very vulnerable.

PiVoRxFeb 17, 20162 votes

So its fine for early game champ to wreck anyone in 7th minute but late game champ doing same thing after 30min is bad? Pls

AnidanFeb 17, 20162 votes

"If I let him get to late game I should automatically lose, that is shit design"

Vayne Jax Kassadin Tryndamere Jinx Jhin Azir Cassiopeia Kayle Tristana Nasus Veigar

Maybe you just don't know game design very well? Late-game champions are a thing, and if allowed to reach that point without being properly stopped, should make it very hard for the enemy to come back, or else what's the point of their design? To be a hemorrhage until they finally come up to par with everyone else? Because that would be shit design.

Hayaishi2Feb 17, 20161 votes

{quoted}

"If I let him get to late game I should automatically lose, that is shit design"

Maybe you just don't know game design very well? Late-game champions are a thing, and if allowed to reach that point without being properly stopped, should make it very hard for the enemy to come back, or else what's the point of their design? To be a hemorrhage until they finally come up to par with everyone else? Because that would be shit design.

A huge powerspike late game is not the same as automatically winning.

Ending games is team effort, not a one man job, if under those conditions champions are allowed to auto win because they reach late game then THAT is shit design.

And Yi currently is shit design because nobody should be doing the damage he does with tank stats.

lolptwoFeb 17, 20161 votes

Bro Cowsep gets destroyed on a daily basis and is currently running a 5 game losing streak. Yi has a 0% play rate in the LCS, even the most subtly broken champs will see some sort of play in professional play since money is on the line. Teams will make them work.

For example, Darius, Tahm, Fiora, all of these are seeing really high play rate in competitive play. Everyone knows Yi is easily shut down or a snowball monster.

Cowsep is one of the best Yi players in the world,

Scrumm makes Talon look OP

Apdo makes Fizz look OP

Gross Gore makes TF look OP

Annie Bot makes Annie look OP.

Doesn't mean anything that 1 person has mastered the champ and also once again, Cowsep gets destroyed often.

elon wątrobaFeb 17, 20161 votes

Yi has 0% play rate, because devourer is way too risky strategy for a coordinated team.

TalkrrFeb 16, 20168 votes

True. Makes Low-Elo matchmaking a living hell.

EdgehyFeb 16, 201616 votes

{quoted}

True. Makes Low-Elo matchmaking a living hell.

Many high elo players are complaining about it too..

TalkrrFeb 16, 20161 votes

Ive had to play against many Yi's this season in bronze and I've lost a majority of the games. Not saying it's only due to Yi but he plays a huge factor.

trash sionFeb 16, 20162 votes

Maybe he's a counter to your main? I main Udyr and I'd be willing to bet I have around a 75% winrate against Yi Jungle both this season and preseason.