Master Yi: Here to Stay?

If you've played league for any more than zero games recently, you'll have seen Master Yi and his shiny new rework by now. After I wrote my last article, I turned League on and was met with an update.

Upon looking up the patch notes, I saw that Master Yi had been reworked. "It was about time." I thought out loud to myself, followed deftly by "Crap, now I have to learn to beat him." Sure enough that was the case, as I haven't played a game without Yi in it since, and I've played quite a few! So, what makes him so popular now and will we see him stick around as a regular champ? Let's take a look at his skills!

 

Passive: Double Strike
- Every 4th consecutive basic attack, Master Yi strikes twice. The second attack uses an attack damage modifier of 50%, but applies on-hit effects fully and can critically strike. Double Strike's counter resets if Master Yi has not dealt or received damage in the last 4 seconds.

This passive is a lot better than it seems initially. For the connissuers of AD champions, it can be easy to overlook a few things about this passive or is glossed over. It applies on-hit effects, Riposte and Aegis Protection only block one of the attacks, and crits are applied multiplicatively. The downside is that the dual auto's are dodged by Jax's Counter Strike and any blinds in the game work on them. The only real gripe I have with this passive is that it's kind of bland in the way that it doesn't feel too unique in the way say Zilean's might, or Twisted Fate's new passive. However it does fit the feel of Yi, a master swordsman.

 

Q: Alpha Strike
- ACTIVE: Master Yi becomes untargetable and leaps to strike up to 4 enemies, dealing physical damage to each and dealing additional damage to minions and monsters. Each bounce will target the nearest enemy that has not yet been damaged. Master Yi re-appears at the initial target's location after the effect ends. Alpha Strike can critically strike, dealing additional physical damage equal to 60% AD. Basic attacks lower the cooldown of Alpha Strike by 1 second.

The most obvious change to this skill was the AP ratio being removed, and the AD ratio being raised. This here is why AP Master Yi is dead, and why everyone is dancing through the streets like a musical! However, it's still a powerful spell as it's a great gap closer and a small invincibility and can be used to dodge things like Karthus Requiems, and I'm not sure on this one, but prevent at least a tick of ignite and if the enemy is light on CC, you can reset it more than one might think. However that means you're untargetable to allies also so no mid alpha heals or lantern pulls or whatever else affects you from other champs.

 

W: Meditate
-ACTIVE: Master Yi channels for up to 4 seconds, restoring health each second. This healing is increased by 1% for every 1% of his missing health. While channeling, Master Yi reduces incoming damage. This damage reduction is halved against turrets.

This was the least changed skill I believe. His AP ratio was changed to a flat percent as well as the damage reduction instead of armor and magic resist buffs. This skill can still be interupted by CC. I don't have much to say about this skill except it still works for pro baits all over the place.

 

E: Wuju Style
-Passive: Master Yi's attack damage is increased by a percentage.
- Active: Basic attacks deal bonus true damage for 5 seconds. Afterwards, the passive bonus is lost until Wuju Style is off cooldown.

True damage is really good in a meta that promotes so many bruiser types and the change here was a flat AD buff to a percent AD buff. I believe this is a bit of a nerf but not so much that it really takes away from the rest of his kit. This makes it a little less safe to play the tankier champs, and that's a good thing, as I hate feeling like I can't do anything to a team with 3 bruisers on it, as an outlying example.

 

R: Highlander
-Passive: Champion kills reduce the cooldowns of Master Yi's other abilities by 18 seconds. Assists reduce by 9 seconds.
-Active: For 10 seconds, Master Yi gains increased movement speed and attack speed, and becomes immune to movement speed slows. While active, champion kills and assists extend the duration of Highlander by 4 seconds.

This seems pretty much the same as it was, except the reset was usually a full reset regardless of time left on skills. This is a good ultimate that allows you to stick to those slippery champs with slows that can kite super hard like lissandra Q or frozen mallet kite or some other crap like that, if you notice the salt in my words it's because I played a lot of Udyr when he was weaker and it's good to see a melee champ get some justice! Although, it doesn't feel very good being on the recieving end. The one saving grace, however, is that you can stop him with hard CC such as knockups and stuns.

After seeing a plethora of Yi players since he was reworked, it's hard to tell if he'll stay around right now. Once the wave of people get finished playing him just because he's shiny and new, only the ones who had played him before will remain while the others go about their days with other champs, but I think he definitley has a solid place now in the game with a much more defined role. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw him get some LCS or other tournament play once people iron out the best way to go about building him for all the situations. IF, and that's a big IF, he sees play in tournaments now, we'll definitely see more of him in ranked queues, and if that happens, then we should all get very comfortable, because Yi is here to stay.