Master Yi/Strategy

Skill usage

 * is similar to . It is very useful when farming minions. Gathering stacks on it by attacking minions, then attacking the enemy on the seventh strike is an effective harassment method.
 * Using with  ready and activating  as soon as  reappears can be an excellent harassment technique as it often takes most of the opponent's health in early game.
 * multiple-target component has a deceptively long range. You can target minions near an enemy champion to harass them, as well as farm well compared to most champions.
 * If  is used on a unit that dies before the ability finishes,  will end up where  was first cast as opposed to near the first unit cast on.
 * can also be used to escape chasing enemies, by placing a ward on the Neutral monster.
 * can also be used defensively. Since it includes a dash function, you can dodge skillshots. Also, is untargetable during the teleport, so  can be used to dodge AoE nukes such as  if timed properly.
 * If you're in a lane against ranged players, leveling up can allow you to stay in the lane longer and gain levels faster than the opponents.
 * Use if you are being focused on, as the percentage damage reduction greatly reduces your damage taken.
 * is especially useful when an opponent is trying to turret dive against . He can stand next to the turret and use to hold off damage from the opponent while they are repeatedly being hit by the turret.
 * When you are being chased, hiding in a brush and channeling can give you the upper hand against the enemies. However, do not do this if they can still defeat you after the.
 * Be aware that Blinds can effectively cut almost all of damage if not using an ability power build.
 * When playing ability power, remember that refreshes all your cooldowns on a kill. Try to cast  so it will result in a kill. This may seem like kill stealing but it will greatly increase the damage the other team will take.
 * can be used as an effective escape tool, especially with used at the same time. it is also incredibly great at chasing enemies because you cannot be slowed and gain a movement speed boost.
 * Triggering and  when combined with various melee increases makes  a high damage dealer, if for short periods. It's especially effective in destroying towers.
 * combined with are very strong for last hitting minions.
 * is one of the best backdoorers.  Activating together with  then attacking a turret or Inhibitor can take it down very fast (more so for the latter). Having extra melee item bonuses helps.
 * Once gets enough major items, he is able to rush into the enemy team, swiftly assassinate key targets like the carry or mages, and then  or escape. Watch for cooldowns on disables while doing this.
 * must pick his targets wisely with proper coverage from either the environment, situation, or via ganking; he can die easily if used recklessly without careful planning, and often needs his abilities to be able to win in most one-on-one fights with raw autoattacking.

Build usage

 * can build several ways. With the proper items and runes, he can be built as a burst mage, or he can build and  to be a tanky DPS.
 * , as with most champions, helps in laning because of the basic attack damage reduction, health, and health regeneration.
 * Because is very fragile, critical strike and items can help him deal a lot of burst damage in and life steal helps him stay alive as long as he's doing damage.
 * and are great critical strike items.  is more effective for  early, it should be obtained before.
 * Attack speed items like, and  can greatly increase his DPS with . It is important to keep in mind attack speed bonus; it's not hard to accidentally cap out his attack speed. This can somewhat be mitigated by building attack damage over attack speed so Yi can bring down foes quicker.
 * Thus, combining attack damage and attack speed items are effective in increasing DPS.
 * is a great item for . With the attack speed boost of, he can easily achieve the maximum four armor reduction stacks and make quick work of any squishy target. The health bonus also supports Yi for just a bit in terms of his own squishiness as well.
 * Cooldown reduction items are great to increase his overall use of abilities, which in general have fairly long cooldowns.
 * Using and the active effect of  at the same time is very effective in many situations since both of these have great attack speed and movement speed bonus. Rushing  at level 1 by starting with a  and leveling  allows for effective last hitting and a high damage output. That gives you 15 bonus damage, or with, 30 bonus damage early game.
 * Generally, items that provide bonuses on attacking or subsequent attacking are more useful on than on other heroes due to  and his high attack speed.
 * Since is an effective DPS/Pusher, it is useful to build him with damage and attack speed runes. Life steal can also be useful with increased damage and attack speed.
 * is extremely vulnerable to crowd control abilities, especially blind and snare, so players are recommended as a summoner spell to counteract these effects.
 * Building will help you to survive due to the aversion to focus someone with it.
 * can provide good results in surviving; the active "Cleanse" effect is very useful for countering crowd control. The magic resistance also helps against return damage from, a primary counter to.
 * similarly helps to fizzle initiation abilities (which are often crowd control).
 * is a fantastic item to rush when playing AD or hybrid builds. The Icy passive is very useful since he lacks any form of CC, the Spellblade passive can lead to impressive early-mid game burst in conjunction with Alpha Strike and Double Strike, the movement speed bonus has a higher effect since Master Yi has the highest base movespeed in the game, and he will benefit from every single stat   offers.
 * works exceptionally well with, as after level 6, and even before he is able to rip through most casters with ease, creating a powerful snowball effect.
 * Items such as or  work well on  as he lacks any form of crowd control.
 * Red buff is CRUCIAL for before such items are acquired.
 * As of 's rework, ability power appears to only work best for 's healing power, as most if not all of Yi's gameplan centers more around attack damage as he was intented to be.

Countering

 * strength is his biggest weakness. His main damage output is his auto-attacks. Therefore, buying a or  will help you defend yourself.
 * When Yi uses, it is better to use a form of crowd control (especially silence or knockup, as these interrupt him) than attempting to deal damage.
 * Using on  can cripple his damage output, even during.
 * Slow is ineffective when uses . Keep this in mind when trying to flee.
 * excels at backdooring. Keep this in mind and be particularly aware of your mini-map.
 * You can use on  during  to reduce his healing by half but it will not stop him from channeling the spell.
 * When is laning AP mid, he relies on, thus making champions that can apply Grievous Wounds / healing reduction strong counterpicks (such as ).
 * This also makes building viable for countering, giving both AP and the passive effect of Grievous Wounds.
 * Remember that only gives him the bonus when the spell is not on cooldown, making  weaker when  is on cooldown.
 * Remember that places Yi at his initial target when it ends - you can "pull" him into a bad position if you are his target.
 * is rather squishy, and requires careful placement/positioning with good judgment; recklessness can make him difficult to bring out in team fights. Have a reliable member gank him along with you when he happens to have no means of comeback and/or if he's alone. Isolate him if possible only if you're aware of him having not led you into any traps.
 * As an AD/AP carry, requires a lot to farm for, so during early game, it's crucial to deny him access to being fed early to prevent him from doing major damage.