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Top lane Master Yi

BrueFox··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

Enkidusmurf2 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.

BrueFox1 votes

There's websites to check how many games a player has played a champion, so it's not difficult to research it. Also, the point I was making is, I'm very experienced with Yi, so I think I know what I'm talking about. As a Diamond 2 player last season, I don't think I'm necessarily in need of "practice" as you mentioned. I'm not entirely sure you know what I mean by a QOL buff. For instance, you buff his hp per level early game and decrease it late game. He's still just as squishy at level 18 although it allows him to play lanes as well as jungler. The closest champion you can compare Yi to that lanes in TOP lane is fiora and even she has more HP and a ripost. Master Yi only dominates heavily in Gold leagues and below. He needs some changes to make him viable in competitive leagues.

Enkidusmurf2 votes

Heh. I'm not sure you understand QOL buffs, because that is not what you're asking for. What you're asking for is a way for Yi to counter his counterpicks. The way to deal with him is to lock him down with hard cc. He already has an ult that makes him un-slowable, and you want him to be able to block stuns? Are you serious?

Diamond last season? Where are you now?

Not that it matters. I wouldn't care if you were challenger. This is still a bad idea. Yi isn't supposed to dominate above gold. He's in the Warwick/Garen/Teemo/Heimerdinger tier. They piss off low-level players because they exploit weaknesses in their gameplay. That's their purpose. Once people get a handle on the mechanics of the game, these champs aren't really an issue anymore.

BrueFox1 votes

It kind of sounds like you're just one of those people who hate Master Yi. Like those people who hate teemo because they think he's a bad champion, etc. You don't care anything about game play balance.

Enkidusmurf2 votes

I'm not a fan, that's true. But I recognize that that's because I'm doing something wrong. I do care about balance, which is why I think it's a bad idea to just make Yi stupid broken. (Notice, I'm not saying he's already stupid broken.)

ScreamPaste1 votes

"He disagrees with my desired buffs for my main, he is clearly a hater who doesn't care about balance"

-10 credibility to you.

BrueFox1 votes

Wrong. He just isn't putting forth any effort to explain why he thinks it's not a good idea. He's just screaming it would it broken without any sound logic, My suggestions don't in any way suggest to make him tanky nor would the meditate thing make him broken. The cooldown on meditate is 35 seconds. Take for instance Irelia's stun. it's 8 seconds. Therefore even if Yi were to use it as a skill-shot type thing to block a stun, she still would have 3 more chances to stun him before he could block another one. How is that broken? That kid isn't giving any sound logic at all. He's just not a fan of Master Yi.

BeatzBoyFTW1 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.

BrueFox1 votes

You clearly haven't played sej top lane lol she dominates.

Kaokentake1 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

BrueFox1 votes

I can name several champions. Irelia, Jax, and Hecarim are the toughest. Some other note worthy opponents are Teemo, Riven, Kennen, Pantheon, and sometimes Rumble. I base this off Diamond Elo. Not Platinum or lower.

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