Top lane Master Yi

BrueFox·3/25/2015, 1:59:27 AM·2 votes·1,453 views

As a Master Yi main, and one of (if not) the most played Master Yi players in the world. Here's a few things that I think needs to be changed about Master Yi.

  1. Yi needs a slightly higher base health for laning phase. I main Yi in top lane and I buy a ruby crystal pretty much every game because his health is so low it's hard to use him in lane against pretty much any top lane champion, even though he has meditate. The way his health is now it's difficult for people who aren't as skilled at Yi to play him in anything except for jungle. I don't think any champion should be limited to just one role and I don't think increasing his base health or base health per level would make him too strong in the jungle. I don't really think it would change his jungling at all. It's a QOL buff.

  2. Master Yi's auto-attacks after alpha-strike seem to prioritize the closest target instead of the targeted champion or the nearest champion. This is a problem because if I tower dive as Yi and alpha-strike onto a champion, once I land sometimes Yi will start auto-attacking minions or even the tower if the champion moves or jumps back really quickly. This is also an issue if I alpha-strike onto an ADC in a teamfight and the support runs up to him, Yi will start auto-attacking the support if he is closer than the ADC making it difficult to kill the ADC. I think the auto-attacks should prioritize the champion you target with alpha and if that champion dies from alpha-strike it should prioritize the next closest champion.

  3. Meditate is pretty much a worthless spell since AP yi is gone. Anyone who plays Yi, knows this. It helps a little but it helps so little that it cannot really be counted on. Sure it's saved me a few times in teamfights due to damage reduction but to use it in laning phase isn't really worth it because of the mana costs and the small amounts of health regen. So here's my thoughts since Riot is insistent about keeping meditate a skill on Master Yi. I don't think Yi should be confined to only jungling. One of the main problems with laning as Master Yi is most champions (Especially top lane) have some form of CC such as Riven, Irelia, heimer, renekton, sion, etc. So, I think that meditate should be used to block spells or just stuns. Let me explain this so it doesn't sound as broken as I'm making it sound. If Master Yi is laning against Irelia top lane and Yi meditates and Irelia goes to stun Yi then it still cancels the meditate but the stun doesn't happen. That way Yi's meditate can be stopped but it also is able to be used as a risk-reward type skill for dodging stuns. The cooldowns on meditate are so long that I don't think it would be a broken or overpowered skill. Damage reduction that is currently offered might would need to be nerfed. It would be similar to Sivir's spell shield, as in you would have to time the meditate.

TL;DR

  1. Yi needs a QOL buff so that he can play top and mid lane and not be confined to only jungling. I suggest a slight base health buff or health per level increase.
  2. Yi auto-attacks closest target instead of prioritizing the champion he used alpha-strike onto, I think auto-attacks should prioritize the champion he alpha'd onto or the nearest champion if the original champion dies to alpha.
  3. Meditate is pretty useless, especially if Yi tries to lane. I think it should work kind of like a Sivir spell shield to block incoming stuns.

11 Comments

Enkidusmurf3/25/2015, 3:43:19 AM2 votes

Your TL;DR was TL;DR.

Also, don't begin posts by saying you play Master Yi more than anyone in the world. In no way does that help your case, even if it's true. And, there aren't many people who would believe it. It just sounds like vain aggrandizement.

Yi does absolutely ridiculous damage and has good sustain. He also gets to be an untargetable death machine every few seconds. If he were tanky too?

Master Yi is hard to lock down, and he does a shit-ton of damage. His primary weakness is that he's squishy. The fact that you want to take that away makes it sound like you're trying to solve your problems with the balance team instead of with practice. Don't do that. It wouldn't work, even if it was legitimate.

Good luck in your future games, man. I mean that sincerely.

BeatzBoyFTW3/25/2015, 3:44:46 AM1 votes

I'm pretty sure Master Yi's power lies heavily in the jungle, not top lane. Similar to how Sejuani's power is meant for jungle rather than top due to having high cost mana.

Kaokentake3/25/2015, 6:12:20 AM1 votes

i am extremely good at top lane master yi

i think hes pretty balanced

i believe yi can beat any champion 1v1 toplane with no jungler intervention (but the problem that yi faces, is that there is jungler intervention, and yi is gankable)

actually. legit yi can beat ANY champion 1v1 top, in an actual 1v1. any champion, simply given yi's kit yi is the strongest 1v1 champion in the game simply by how his kit is designed. yi is designed to be a 1v1 god

if you think this isnt true, then name one champion you think can beat yi and ill gladly 1v1 you to show you how yi beats that. just based on pure kit, i know that yi can beat any champion 1v1