Champion rework: Master Yi, the Wuju Master

We're reworking Master Yi in the coming patch. In addition to new sounds, voice over and spell effects, the Wuju Master is also getting a kit overhaul to combine his popular AP and AD builds into a single cohesive playstyle. Check out his reworked abilities and read how the kit plays out below.

Abilities

Double Strike

Master Yi strikes twice on every fourth consecutive basic attack, with the second strike dealing reduced damage. If Master Yi leaves combat, the counter on Double Strike resets.

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Alpha Strike

Master Yi leaps forward and strikes up to four enemies, dealing physical damage to each. Alpha Strike can crit to deal additional physical damage and will deal bonus damage to minions and monsters. Basic attacks reduce the cooldown on Alpha Strike.

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Meditate

Master Yi channels for a short duration, healing rapidly. Master Yi heals more the lower his health. While channeling, Master Yi takes reduced damage from incoming attacks. This damage reduction is less effective against turrets.

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Wuju Style

Passive: Increases Master Yi's attack damage by a percentage.
Active: Basic attacks deal bonus true damage based on Master Yi's attack damage. The passive bonus is lost while Wuju Style is on cooldown.

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Highlander

Passive: Champion kills reduce Master Yi's basic ability cooldowns. Assists reduce basic ability cooldowns by a smaller amount.
Active: Increases Master Yi's movement and attack speed while granting immunity to movement impairing effects. While active, champion kills and assists extend Highlander's duration.

Gameplay

In lane

The changes to Meditate and Alpha Strike make Master Yi a more dynamic fighter in lane while rendering him less frustrating for his lane opponents. Since Alpha Strike prioritizes nearby units instead of striking randomly, a skilled Master Yi player can carefully aim his attacks while a canny opponent can avoid damage through careful positioning. Meanwhile, the cooldown reduction from basic attacks allows Yi to Alpha Strike more often, and the bonus minion damage helps him clear waves and maintain lane pressure. Also, the changes to Meditate make it a more potent option in emergency situations, but prevent Yi from simply spamming it to top his health off every time he takes damage.

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In the jungle

To compensate for reduced early game damage on Alpha Strike, we've made the bonus damage to minions and monsters guaranteed to smooth out his jungle time. The cooldown reduction he gets from basic attacks should also allow him to Alpha Strike more often, allowing for a more consistent clear time. Also, since Double Strike now deals less damage more frequently and requires Yi to stay in combat, it should be harder for him to queue up a double attack, then come tearing out of the jungle to score a massive burst combo onto an opponent.

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Late game

As the action edges into late game and the team fights begin, the changes to Highlander start to shine. The new passive gives Master Yi the ability to stay alive in rough situations by lowering the cooldown on Meditate and Alpha Strike. The true damage on Wuju Style gives Master Yi the freedom to initially focus tankier targets while waiting for the right moment to open up on vulnerable targets. Then, when the time's right, he can open up with Alpha Strike and punish the enemy team's more delicate back line. Meanwhile, the changes to Meditate increase its lifesaving potential when he's under significant focus fire, and the added damage and crit on Alpha Strike help it scale to keep up with his basic attack damage in late game scenarios.

Overall, the changes should help Master Yi play more consistently by combining the sustained damage of his AD playstyle with some of the nuke-and-juke utility of his AP build.