Master Yi needs a rework

deadzombie918·Jul 18, 2016·6 votes·1,725 views

After surfing through some Master Yi stuff, being a Master Yi main, I realized something: Master Yi's kit has remained the same since Alpha stages, with the exception of Alpha Strike being nerfed in favor of Highlander as his Ultimate, and the removal of AP Yi. His kit, with the exception of those two changes, has remained. THE. EXACT. SAME. I think it is about time that one of the original Champions of the League of Legends, and a popular high elo/lcs pick until 3.10, gets a rework. (Keep the idea of Alpha Strike though. It is one of the only abilities in League of Legends still remaining that allow you to avoid every skillshot/targeted ability in the game.) Read the fanfiction "Dragon Rising: A Master Yi Epic". The rework described within is absolutely amazing.

14 Comments

FauxfireJul 18, 20166 votes

Riot doesn't rework champions becase "their kit hasn't been changed." Riot reworks champions that supports an outdated meta, create paradoxes of balance problems, or are not interactive to play with or against.

Sona x RubickJul 18, 20161 votes

hopefully, this fits yi well.

ShaolinToiletJan 1, 20171 votes

Fits Yi perfectly

DynikusJul 18, 20162 votes

He'll probably receive some changes in the assassin rework, since that's what riot classifies him as.

CritkeeperJul 18, 20162 votes

Master yi was reworked twice already once on patch 3.10 and once right after alpha ended on may 29, 2009. He's had a ton of kit changes within those reworks and between them in smaller updates.

V6.10:

Meditate AP ratio per second increased to 25% AP from 15% AP. Wuju Style Active's base damage increased to 14 / 23 / 32 / 41 / 50 from 12 / 19 / 26 / 33 / 40. V6.8:

Highlander Cooldown increased to 85 seconds at all ranks from 75 at all ranks. Duration reduced to 7 seconds from 10. Kills and assists time extension increased to 7 seconds from 4. V6.6:

Wuju Style Base damage increased to 12 / 19 / 26 / 33 / 40 from 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30. AD ratio changed to 25% Bonus AD from 10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20% AD. V5.24:

Meditate TOOLTIP CORRECTION: AP ratio is 15% AP not 30% AP. V5.17:

General Dance now scales with movespeed. Alpha Strike Fixed a bug where Double Strike and Devourer's Phantom Hit wouldn't reduce Alpha Strike's cooldown. V4.5:

Stats Base armor increased to 19 from 15. V3.13:

Alpha Strike Bug fix: Becoming untargetable will now correctly drop projectiles that were already in the air. Meditate Mana cost reduced to 50 from 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110. V3.10a:

Stats Attack speed per level reduced to 2% from 2.75%. Double Strike.png Double Strike Fixed a bug where the second strike would damage targets even when Master Yi was blinded. Meditate Damage reduction increased to 50 / 55 / 60 / 65 / 70% from 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60%. Wuju Style Passive attack damage bonus changed to 10% at all ranks from 7 / 9 / 11 / 13 / 15%. Highlander Now passively reduces the remaining cooldown for Master Yi's basic abilities by 70% on a kill or assist from 18 seconds on kill or 9 seconds on assist. V3.10: remake

Stats Health per level increased to 92 from 86. Base mana reduced to 180 from 199. Mana per level increased to 42 from 36. Base armor reduced to 15 from 16.3. Armor per level reduced to 3 from 3.7. Attack speed per level reduced to 2.75% from 2.98%. Double Strike.png Double Strike (Innate) Every 4th consecutive basic attack, Master Yi will attack twice, dealing 50% damage on the second strike. Alpha Strike (Q) Master Yi becomes untargetable and dashes to up to 4 units, dealing 25 / 60 / 95 / 130 / 165 (+100% AD) physical damage and 75 / 100 / 125 / 150 / 175 bonus damage to minions. Alpha Strike can critically strike for 60% of Master Yi's AD. Alpha Strike's cooldown is reduced by 1 second each time Master Yi basic attacks. Mana cost: 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 Cooldown: 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 / 14 seconds Meditate (W) Master Yi channels for 4 seconds, gaining 40 / 45 / 50 / 55 / 60% damage reduction and healing for 30 / 50 / 70 / 90 / 110 (+30% AP) per second. This heal is increased by 1% for every 1% Health Master Yi is missing. The damage reduction is halved against turrets. Mana cost: 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110 Cooldown: 35 seconds Wuju Style (E) Passive: Master Yi gains 7 / 9 / 11 / 13 / 15% attack damage. Active: Master Yi deals 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 (+10 / 12.5 / 15 / 17.5 / 20% AD) true damage on hit for 5 seconds. Wuju Style's passive bonus is lost while the skill is on cooldown. Mana cost: 0 Cooldown: 18 / 17 / 16 / 15 / 14 seconds Highlander (Ultimate) Passive: when Master Yi kills a champion, the cooldowns on his basic abilities are reduced by 18 seconds (half for assists) Active: grants Master Yi 30 / 55 / 80% attack speed and 25 / 35 / 45% movement speed for 10 seconds. If Master Yi scores a kill or assist while Highlander is active, Highlander's duration is extended by 4 seconds. Mana cost: 100 Cooldown: 75 seconds V3.5:

Double Strike.png Double Strike Double Strike swing time now scales with Master Yi Master Yi's attack speed instead of being fixed at 0.6 seconds. Fixed a bug where the second strike of Double Strike.png Double Strike could critically hit turrets. V3.02:

Alpha Strike Fixed a bug that caused Alpha Strike to appear available when it was on cooldown. V3.01

Meditate Total heal amount increased to 200 / 350 / 500 / 650 / 800 from 140 / 280 / 420 / 560 / 700. Total ability power ratio reduced to (+200% AP) from (+400% AP). Mana cost reduced to 50 / 65 / 80 / 95 / 110 from 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110. V1.0.0.153:

Alpha Strike Initial cast time reduced. Chance to deal bonus minion damage adjusted to 50% at all ranks from 20 / 30 / 40 / 50 / 60%. Bonus minion damage adjusted to 260 / 320 / 380 / 440 / 500 from 400 at all ranks. Meditate Reduced the startup time before channeling. Wuju Style Cooldown reduced to 25 / 23 / 21 / 19 / 17 seconds from 25 at all ranks. V1.0.0.152:

Stats Base movement speed increased to 355 from 330. V1.0.0.139:

Meditate Mana cost reduced to 70 / 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 from 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 / 130. Highlander Fixed a bug where assists failed to reduce Alpha Strike's cooldown. Duration increased to 8 / 10 / 12 seconds from 6 / 9 / 12. V1.0.0.133:

Meditate Fixed a bug where the ability power ratio was shown as lower than it actually was. V1.0.0.129:

Alpha Strike Mana cost reduced to 60/70/80/90/100 from 80/90/100/110/120. Highlander Mana cost reduced to 100 from 120. V1.0.0.126:

Highlander Fixed a bug where LeBlanc LeBlanc's Ethereal Chains.png Ethereal Chains could not snare Master Yi during Highlander. V1.0.0.123:

Alpha Strike Master Yi can now activate Wuju Style and Highlander while Alpha Strike is taking effect. Master Yi will now attempt to attack the target after using Alpha Strike to blink to a champion. V1.0.0.118:

Alpha Strike Teleporting behavior improved to be more consistent when near walls. (this was removed in a hotfix because it caused Master Yi to always appear on the other side of the wall when using Alpha Strike on the Ancient Golem Ancient Golem). V1.0.0.104:

Fixed a bug where MasterYiSquare.png Chosen Master Yi's sword was missing a glow. V1.0.0.100:

Alpha Strike Can no longer be cast while rooted. Wuju Style Tooltip simplified. V1.0.0.96:

Added a glow to MasterYiSquare.png Chosen Master Yi's sword. V1.0.0.86:

Double Strike.png Double Strike Fixed a bug where it was represented incorrectly on death recaps. Reduced the animation delay before performing Alpha Strike and Meditate. V1.0.0.85:

Stats Attack range increased to 125 from 100. Double Strike.png Double Strike Now deals a double strike on every 7th attack instead by percent chance. Alpha Strike Cooldown reduced to 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 / 10 seconds from 18 at all ranks. Mana cost reduced to 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120 from 90 / 105 / 120 / 135 / 150 Reduced total spell cast windup time. Missile speed increased. Meditate Cooldown reduced to 35 seconds from 45. Now ticks every 0.5 seconds instead of every 1 second. Heal amount reduced to 140 / 280 / 420 / 560 / 700 from 150 / 300 / 500 / 750 / 1100. Mana cost reduced to 70 / 85 / 100 / 115 / 130 from 80 / 100 / 120 / 140 / 160. Armor and magic resist gained while channeling increased to 100 / 150 / 200 / 250 / 300 from 30 at all ranks. Wuju Style Cooldown reduced to 25 seconds from 30. Highlander Assists now reduce all of Master Yi's cooldowns by half of the base cooldown amount. V1.0.0.70:

Highlander Now applies an additive attack speed boost, rather than multiplicative. This change means Master Yi won't be as strong when using Highlander along with a second attack speed increase (such as items). Now applies a multiplicative movement speed boost, rather than additive. Attack speed boost increased to 40 / 60 / 80% from 30 / 50 / 70%. V0.9.25.34:

Double Strike.png Double Strike Chance to double strike modified from 12% to 10%. Alpha Strike Range reduced to 600 from 650. V0.9.22.16:

Fixed an issue with Master Yi dying when using Alpha Strike with Guardian Angel item.png Guardian Angel on Baron Nashor Baron Nashor. V0.9.22.15:

Stats Base health increased to 530 from 480. Health per level reduced to 86 from 88. Damage increased to 55.7 from 48.7. Movement speed increased to 330 from 325. Damage per level increased to 3.1 from 1.775. V0.9.22.7:

Stats Increased movement speed from 320 to 325. Meditate Now increases armor and magic resist by 30. V0.8.22.115:

Highlander Movement speed increased from 30% to 40% due to movement speed soft capping. Fixed a bug where Master Yi would sometimes lose an attack order after Alpha Strike. July 10, 2009 Patch:

Alpha Strike Now moves Master Yi to the target's location after the effect ends. June 26, 2009 Patch:

Double Strike.png Double Strike Proc chance reduced to 12% from 15%. June 12, 2009 Patch

Wuju Style Base damage increased to 15 / 20 / 25 / 30 / 35 from 10 / 15 / 20 / 25 / 30. Cooldown reduced to 30 seconds from 40. Mana cost increased to 40 from 25. Active: bonus damage reduced to double from triple the damage of its passive. June 6, 2009 Patch

Highlander Attack speed bonus modified to 30 / 50 / 70% from 25 / 50 / 75%. Movement speed bonus reduced to 30% from 35%. Alpha Strike Cooldown increased to 18 seconds from 16. May 29, 2009 Patch: remake

(AND SO ON AND SO ON)

deadzombie918Jul 18, 20161 votes

Coincidentally enough, I read all of his updates in the same order you shared them.

The Yetii RiderJul 18, 20161 votes

Master Yi's main powerful effect that was added (which you brushed off as "the removal of AP Yi") was the on-hit effect to lower the cooldown of Alpha Strike by 1 second. This was the synergy his kit needed, and it makes the Double Hit passive significantly better.

deadzombie918Jul 18, 20161 votes

I think I missed the 1-sec reduction on his Q thinking it was in a later patch. My bad and thanks for adding that :3

ArakadiaJul 18, 20161 votes

It's thematic and feels fun. I think he should get one eventually but is far from needing one. There are champions who are much worse.

deadzombie918Jul 18, 20161 votes

I simply think Master Yi's kit is outdated, but there are champs that are definitely in a worse state (Yorick being the #1 contender as he's having a complete rework done)

Sire HippingtonJul 18, 20161 votes

It isn't exactly true that his kit didn't change, pretty much all of his skills were changed on his rework, though they stayed very similar preserveing the same playstyle. And anyway, i think whether a champions kit has been changed recently or not shouldn't be a reason for a rework. What should be a reason for a rework is how thematically fiting a kit is and how healthy it is, and for Yi i think his kit is rather unhealthy, whenever he gets going he completely takes over the game, killing the fun for the opposing team and also to some extend for his allies(not much fun to just whatch yout yi murder everyone on his own), and if he doesn't get going he's a liabillity for his team. He's one of the most binary champs ever. And this is what imo warrents a rework for him.

OganessonJan 1, 20171 votes

Honestly, I think master yi's current problem is that his kit no longer fulfills the need of a champion classified as an "assassin". When an assassin champion is forced to build tank in order to be effective, there is something wrong with the kit.

ShaolinToiletJan 1, 20171 votes

He doesn't build tank right now

Troy242621Jan 1, 20171 votes

In my opinion, he just needs a couple small number tunings to improve his situation. Speaking from a standpoint of design, his kit isn't bad. It has counterplay, it does its job and does it well.