Thoughts and Discussion: Master Yi
I will be performing a concept kit that is a drastic change to Yi later on, but first will say the cools and frustrations of Master Yi:
~ Master Yi I see as this cool patient master swordsman of Ionia that waits for the perfect moment and then slays his opponent in a swift strike when they make the wrong move. Right now Yi is super brute force and doesn't live up to this fantasy at all.
~ Master Yi is a melee basic attacker, primarily, right now. This doesn't offer any kind of cool gameplay or uniqueness for Yi, he will always just be a gimped version of a marksman if his main identity is a melee basic attacker (ranged always greater than melee in this case, unless you give the melee an overloaded amount of steroids to make them over tuned and not fun to play against).
~ I liked what AP Yi offered back in the day and the cool clean-up assassin gameplay that it brought, it was the closest thing Yi had to a master swordsman that lays in wait patiently to strike and slay his foes, rather than be brute force. In the long term I think AP Yi is the direction to make a kit around since it is easier to balance and to move power around for game balance, the previous version just had an anti-fun kit to go against with the blinks and insane healing (which still has not been addressed, so Yi still has these anti-fun elements in his kit).
~ What I am looking for would be a kit that builds primarily from ability power to support the patient swordsman gameplay and introduce counter play because of this, so that Yi is less mindlessly running at your face and a lot more strategic to assassinate you. AP ensures for an easier time to balance for the long term and allow for his moments of power to be powerful and not have powerful autos so he can have a brute force gameplay. Basically, Master Yi will have an unique identity that is his own and does not overlap with any other champion or most games out there.
~ Should be obvious, but I do ensure when I make concepts like this that they would be very fun to play as and also try to focus heavily with some level of counter play so it is also fun to play against. If League was a single player game then it be pretty easy to make something that is fun to play as since you do not need to worry about it being fun to play against (beep boop AI does not care).
~ I will showcase some weird and wacky ideas that you may not understand, but they will be something that can work out.
I LIKE DOING NUMBERS SINCE THEY SHOW A BETTER PICTURE OF THE IDEAS, THEY DO NOT MEANS ANYTHING IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS BECAUSE BALANCE PATCHES HAPPEN EVERY 2 WEEKS ANYWAYS.
Attack Speed: 0.575 +4% per level (from 0.679 + 2% per level) [but the attacks will be improved upon much further, so the first attack would be easy to apply, but a low attack speed just means a low DPS for follow-up attacks] Movement: 340 units per second (from 355)
Patient Strike (Passive): If Master Yi stands still for 1.5 seconds then his next basic attack within 4 seconds will deal magic damage plus 20-110(+30%AP) bonus magic damage.
If Master Yi stands still for 3 seconds then the bonus magic damage increases to 50-275(+75%AP).
Alpha Slash (Q): Cooldown: 9/8/7/6/5 seconds; Cost: 40/45/50/55/60 mana; Range: 650 units Master Yi jumps to the target enemy while dealing 40/70/100/130/160(+60%AP) magic damage.
Champion kills or assists refund this cooldown. Consuming Patient Strike within 1 second of casting Alpha Slash refunds this cooldown.
Meditation (W): Cooldown: 60 seconds; Cost: 70 mana Passive: Patient Strike against enemy champions will refund this cooldown. Every time Master Yi is dealt monster damage while channeling reduces this cooldown by 10%.
Active: Master Yi channels in place for up to 3 seconds, healing himself for 10/30/50/70/90(+50%AP) health per second, healing in quarter-second intervals. Master Yi gains 80% damage reduction against monsters while channeling.
Wuju Strike (E): Cooldown: 5 seconds; Cost: 40/50/60/70/80 mana; Range: 750 units, 60 degrees Master Yi slashes in the target direction dealing 30/70/110/150/190(+50%AP) magic damage.
If Patient Strike is readied then Wuju Strike consumes it applying its bonus damage to struck enemies.
A Swift End (R): Cooldown: 140/100/60 seconds; Cost: 100 mana; Range: 1200 units Can only be cast while Patient Strike is currently ready.
Active: Master Yi dashes with extreme speeds in a line in the target direction dealing 250/325/400(+80%AP) magic damage and marking struck enemies for 4 seconds. Alpha Slash against marked enemies gain infinite range.