FOTM Report: Master Yi + Taric Power Farm

Master Yi's always been a pub-stomp champion and a favorite of boosters around the planet. However, he gets little in the way of spotlight. Even last year when Master Yi + Kayle Top was a big thing, most players didn't see it much past Platinum. However, that's all changed as Master Yi is dominating even Challenger/Master rank players over in China along with his new best friend, Taric. Complaints are surfacing over on reddit, and this old Twisted Treeline tactic may finally see some nerfs courtesy of Summoner's Rift.

Introduction

Master Yi's always been a pub-stomp champion and a favorite of boosters around the planet. However, he gets little in the way of spotlight. Even last year when Master Yi + Kayle Top was a big thing, most players didn't see it much past Platinum.

However, that's all changed as Master Yi is dominating even Challenger/Master rank players over in China along with his new best friend, Taric. Complaints are surfacing over on reddit, and this old Twisted Treeline tactic may finally see some nerfs courtesy of Summoner's Rift.

Check out the details below!

How Does it Work?

Set Up + Initial Setup

Master Yi goes Flash + Smite, builds his standard items (Bloodrazor, Guinsoo's Rageblade, Blade of the Ruined King, etc.) and queues for jungle + mid.

Taric goes Flash + Smite/Exhaust, builds an ardent censer and standard support items, and queues for jungle + top. Choice of gold generation items, but ardent is more important than sightstone since you'll have a support in bot lane as well.

I've seen it work in both top and mid, but if you get mid Taric will need to be in lane to hold minions whereas if you get top, Taric can help leash for Master Yi instead.

Either way, Master Yi gets all the jungle minions and all the lane minions, then farms until level six.

Post Level 6

At this poin it's generally safe to 2v1 dive whatever laner you're up against. With Taric's ultimate + Yi's ultimate combined, surviving an all-in is nearly impossible (even with summoners).

Why It Works

Master Yi's always been good with Kayle, but he's especially good with Taric because of two specific items:

• Double invulnerability with Cosmic Radiance makes it harder to target down the support; and
• Master Yi's alpha strike + Taric's Dazzle is almost a guaranteed stun if timed correctly.

When you combine this with Taric's excellent sustain abilities, it's not hard to see why he's the perfect substitute for Kayle.

How to Deal With This

Dealing with this lane is quite similar to how to deal with the Kayle lane. You have a few choices:

1. Jungle Assistance - going 2v2 is better than getting dove by Master Yi 2v1, so if you see the enemy Yi/Taric around level 5, junglers should make their way to the lane to help on dive defense.
2. Camp the other two lanes - This is more of what to do before #1 hits, since you still want to make sure to prevent Master Yi from snowballing. Since you know they have no ganking jungler, pressuring enemy lanes is generally safe since you know there isn't going to be a jungle or teleport counter-gank or counter-gank.
3. Ban Yi - Banning Yi until this fad blows over isn't a bad idea, and even high level players over in Asia are starting to ban rather than deal with it.

Conclusions

In many ways, this duo is even more toxic than the Kayle + Master Yi duo. It features double invulnerability on an already tanky support, so bursting Taric down is out of the question. The hard-CC is also much more difficult to deal with than Kayle's minor slow, and allows Yi to shred through targets at will.

What do you think about the Master Yi/Taric combo? Have you faced off against it yet? Comment below!