As previously announced, Riot Games has implemented a light rework for Master Yi in patch 12.5 as this champion faced quite a few gameplay issues. However, it is unclear whether Riot favored this champion or if they didn’t thoroughly test Master Yi’s new power, but this swordsman has immediately become the strongest Jungle champion since patch 12.5 was released. Specifically, Master Yi currently boasts a win rate of 53.37% (the highest in the Jungle position) and is ranked S+ by many tier lists (extremely strong champion).
Of course, Riot Games could not allow such an overpowered character to rampage for long, so just a few hours ago, they were forced to nerf Master Yi. According to the statements from Riot Games, this rework unintentionally became a significant buff instead of adjusting Master Yi’s gameplay. Therefore, they will reduce his direct damage stats to help Master Yi focus on a gameplay style based on attack effects. Specific changes include:
Base Health: Reduced from 599 to 550.
Q – Alpha Strike: Interaction ratio with AD reduced from 60% to 50%. Bonus damage from critical strikes reduced from 50% to 35%. Damage based on attack effects reduced from 100% to 75% and from 25% to 18.75% for hits on the same target.
E – Wuju Style: True damage reduced from 30/38/46/54/62 (+35% bonus AD) to 30/37/44/51/58 (+30% bonus AD).
R – Highlander: Cooldown changed from 85 seconds to 100/90/80 seconds.
Looking at the changes above, we can see that Riot has significantly reduced Master Yi’s burst damage potential from his skill set. This will cause Master Yi’s Crit build or even attack effect builds in LOL to lose quite a bit of power. As a result, Master Yi can no longer “blow away” the health bar of enemy champions with just one use of Q – Alpha Strike.
Instead, to ensure damage output, Master Yi players now have to optimize their basic attacks. Naturally, with a melee champion rarely building defensive items, this will put Master Yi in many dangerous situations. However, this is also a necessary trade-off given that Master Yi has the potential to deal extremely high damage.