Talk:Master Yi/@comment-4834593-20130630121520

(EDIT: This became a really long post talking about game mechanisms etc. The orinigal point of the post is at the bottom. You can skip, though I think that knowing how I got the idea is better. Plus you might learn something about why some champions scale well while some don't, or things like that)

So I've been playing him AD recently (jungle, top and mid), and I've started to think about Yi a bit, mostly because of those games that I played him AD (they were blind pick). I have noticed, that the amount of teamfighting or splitpushing that I do, is really dependant on the enemy's team composition. If they have a lot of cc, I barely even bother fighting, and I only pick fights against squishies and in a 1v1, while I spend the rest of my time pushing lanes and taking a tower in like 5 seconds with my ult + E (+ Ghostblade if I have it). If they do not, I happily play as a sort of assasin and focus down the enemy carries in seconds and win the teamfights with it (this actually gave me a DOUBLE penta the first time I played him AD). If I am playing AP, I normally just go in in the teamfights and play as the cooldown reset caster, maybe my favorite way of playing this game (and don't say it's no skill required. It requires QUITE some skill to keep track of 5 health bars, know which one will go down to 0, and when you will get your abilities again, and make sure that there is a health bar going down to 0, because you're useless and about to be dead if there is none). This, however, does work a bit less against tankier enemies again, and neither does it really work if the team does not have a good initiation. Splitpushing, however, keeps an option, as the damage to towers scales with AP quite well too, your ult gives a nice attack speed bonus, and Lich Bane just adds a ton of damage on towers.

Now, the reason I'm writing this, is the diversity Yi can be build with.

For example, you can play him AD, with Phantom Dancer, Blade of the Ruined King, Ravenous Hydra, Infinity Edge and Mercury Threads, or you can buy a Ghostblade, Bloodthirster, Blade of the Ruined King, Zephyr, Last Whisper and Boots of Swiftness, or AP with Rabadon's Deathcap, Lich Bane, Athene's Unholy Grail, Zhonya's Hourglass, Deathfire Grasp and Sorcerers Shoes, or with Rabadon's Deathcap, Nashor's Tooth, Lich Bane, Wit's End, Hextech Gunblade and Berserkers Greaves, and I could name a few more builds like this, I think.

Now, there are two things I am really thinking about with these builds. First, a hybrid build might be nice, but I do not believe it will work as well as the other builds. The one that is the reason for this post, however, is a critical strike based build. Yes, a critical strike based bruiser build. You read that correctly. Master Yi gains huge steriods from his E (up to 105 AD, if you have activated it and then recieved a cooldown reset), and his R (80% attack speed, a huge movement speed boost, and a slow immunity that makes Ashe ragequit and Udyr look up in awe). As those who are thinking about the mechanics of the game a bit more might know, there is a reason that AD carries deal so much damage in the end game. First, I will shortly explain the types of champions and how strong they are (mostly endgame).

I think that, for this, they should be classified as Tank, Support, AD bruiser, AS bruiser, AD/AS Bruiser, AP bruiser, AD Carry, AP Carry (Burst), AP Carry (DPS), AD Caster. (note: I am leaving Cooldown Reset casters out, as they are a mix between burst and dps carries, with lower burst, but the possibility to make it dps, which makes even AD carries be like "omg that damage")

These types have different scalings, and I will mention one example per type.

First, there are Tanks (Amumu) and Supports (Sona). They do not buy damage, and therefore do not scale. (note, that I am purely looking at damage here. I do not want to say that they are useless)

Then, there are AD Bruisers (Olaf), AS Bruisers (Irelia), AP Bruisers (Rumble) and AP Carries (Burst) (LeBlanc). These champions normally only buy items that make them scale with AD, AS or AP. Therefore, they scale linear (note that linear can be VERY steep, just look at Irelia). AD Casters (for example Talon) can sometimes be ruled under "AP Carries (Burst)" in their exact way of dealing damage (as those burst, where AD bruisers use their abilities for more sustained damage, and AS Bruisers use on-hit effects for their damage)

Next, there are AD/AS Bruisers (Xin Zhao), and AP Carries (DPS) (Cassiopeia). These champions scale with two different stats (AD and AS or AP and CDR), giving them quadratic scaling into the endgame. AD Casters like Riven, that build CDR together with their AD can be ruled under this group too, being the closest to AP Carries.

Then, we get to the last group. All alone at the top, we have AD carries (like Vayne or AD Yi). They scale with AD, AS AND Critical Strike chance, and possibly even Critical Strike damage (Infinity Edge and possible runes and masteries), which means they scale more than quadratic (to be honest I do not know the English name for it, it's x*x*x or x*x*x*x, depending on if you count Critical Strike damage).

Now, the reason that I am thinking about Crit Chance Bruiser Yi, is quite easy, in fact. He gains huge AD and AS steroids, so shouldn't it be possible to create a champion that deals more or less carry damage, while being tanky at the same time, just by making him buy ONLY Crit chance, the only stat that he does not gains from himself already? Of course not like "no AD or AS EVER", just that you're focusing on Crit Chance and defenses. The build I thought of was the following (no specific order):

Mercury Threads, Atma's Impaler (don't forget, it's already cost efficient at 1500 hp, if you compare it to basic tier items; the nerf was only rightful), Warmog's Armor, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Trinity Force, Guardian Angel.

Without crit chance marks (which I was thinking of instead of AD marks), this would give you 40% crit chance, 210 AD (counting E and Atma's), 110% attack speed, 1200 bonus health (total of 3200 health), 95 bonus armor, 55 bonus magic resistance, the Youmuu's Active (which is like OMFGCRAZYOPSTRONG), a second life, etc.

Compare it to a normal AD carry build: Infinity Edge, Last Whisper, Bloodthirster, Phantom Dancer, Berserkers Greaves, Guardian Angel.

210 AD, 55% crit chance, 80% attack speed and a second life.

The only thing that makes this Yi build deal less damage than a build that ranged carries use, is the lack of %armor penetration. And of course any steroids they might have (but do not all have). I think it's worth trading that for 1200 health, Youmuu's Active, more armor, more magic resistance, tenacity, 40% movement speed etc.

Any thoughts? Improvements? Critisism?