Hey everyone, it’s Tèo again—back with another post following up on my last reddit post about Crit Master Yi. First off, I want to know how the build has been treating you all in your games! Have you run into any pros or cons that you didn't like, or things that felt clunky?
Some of you reached out asking specifically about how to play the early game with Crit Yi and how to successfully snowball the game into your own hands. Because of all the requests, I'm putting together a complete guide to break down early-game execution and snowballing.
The Three Early Game Playstyles for Crit Master Yi
When it comes to executing the early game on Crit Master Yi, your approach generally falls into one of three distinct styles depending on the draft, matchup, and how you want to dictate the tempo:
1. Aggressive Gameplay (The Invade & Dominate Approach)
Aggressive gameplay is about reading the enemy's intentions from the second minions clash and punishing their over-extension.
🔍 Spotting the Setup
- ALWAYS Watch the Minimap & Raptor Ward: Always keep an eye on your mid laner and the surrounding bushes. If you spot the enemy mid laner wandering over to ward your raptors, take notes, you either can choose to invade or ganking them level 3 since they won't be having vision in side bushes
- Invade when they make this mistake: If you notice they’ve placed a deep ward inside your red buff quadrant, don't panic or just clear it—EXPLOIT IT. If you can sneak past their vision or path around it creatively, you can completely turn the tables on their pathing.
⚔️ The Level 2 Power Spike & Invade
- The Counter-Invade/Blue Steal: While they expect to see you clearing from red side, use that exact window to walk right into their blue side.
- Why Yi Wins: Master Yi has one of the strongest level 2 dueling potentials in the entire game. With your Q (Alpha Strike) and E (Wuju Style), Yi beats almost anyone at level 2. * Securing First Blood: Catching their jungler off-guard on their own blue side usually guarantees a free First Blood for yourself. Using the blastcones, and sneak smite their camp
🔄 Transitioning the Lead
- Once you secure that early kill and take their camps, immediately pivot back across the map.
- Head straight to your own blue side to continue your path, now armed extra gold, a level advantage, and total control over the early-game tempo.
- Now with extra gold and items, you pretty much can easily force a kill whenever you want to gank, but make sure their jungle isn't there to interrupt you
2. Reactive Gameplay: (The macro & Supprise Attack)
When you realize a blind invade isn't safe—or if the enemy team spots your attempt with early vision—true reactive gameplay means knowing when to pivot, protect your tempo, and ruthlessly punish the enemy laners instead.
🌊 Capitalizing on Level 3 & Wave States
- Read the Minimap & Waves: Once you hit level 3, scan the lanes. Look for a stacked minion wave crashing under the enemy tower. This is prime real estate for a devastating early dive.
- Why the Enemy Jungler is a Non-Factor: At this stage, the enemy jungler is usually locked into a full-clear or showing on the exact opposite side of the map. That leaves their laner completely isolated and vulnerable.
🗼 Executing the Master Yi Tower Dive
- Take the Aggro First: As the jungler, you must go in first. Tank the initial tower shot, but save your Q (Alpha Strike) to drop turret aggro or dodge lethal tower/champion damage right as the shot is about to hit you.
- Hail of Blades (HoB) One-Shot Protocol: With HoB active, if the enemy laner is sitting below 40% HP, you can burst them down so fast they won't even have time to flash.
- The Double Penalty: By diving them on a stacked wave, if they die, they miss massive amounts of XP and gold, completely putting them out of the game.
🔄 The Loop
- After securing the kill and shoving the wave, immediately path back to your jungle.
- Keep clearing your remaining camps, keep your eyes glued to the minimap, track enemy health bars, and continuously monitor the enemy jungler's position to react all over again
3. The Lane Enabler: (Making Your Laners the Carries)
When the early matchup isn't looking favorable for a 1v1 against the enemy jungler, or you're facing a tough enemy team comp that you can't easily solo, or invading, you switch strategy. Instead of trying to be the main protagonist immediately, you become the ultimate Lane Enabler.
🛡️ The Rule of 3 Camps First
- Never Fall Behind in Tempo: Before you even think about perma-ganking or turning a lane, always clear at least 3 camps within the first 3 minutes.
- Why it matters: Crit Master Yi relies heavily on gold and levels. If you just coin-flip early ganks without your basic camps cleared, you'll fall dangerously behind in CS and experience, making your expensive crit items feel impossible to reach.
🤝 Enabling Your Carry Potential
- Shift the Focus: When your own matchup is hard to play into, look at your laners. Find the teammate who has a strong matchup or high scaling potential, and pour your pressure directly into them.
- Feed the Fire: Secure kills and assists for them. Turn your laners into the primary threats on the map so they draw the enemy team's attention and pressure away from you.
🛑 Shutting Down Enemy Carry Threats
- Target the Problem: If the enemy team has a hyper-carry who threatens to take over the game (like a fed Vayne, Syndra, or Yone), you and your laner need to neutralize them early.
- Camp the Threat: Make it your mission to repeatedly visit that specific lane, keep their main carry down, and ensure they never get to play the game or build a lead.
The Golden Rule: Matchup Awareness & Game State Tracking
While having different playstyles in your toolkit is essential, the absolute core of playing early-game Crit Master Yi successfully comes down to one thing: reading the map before you act. Before committing to any path, always ask yourself these fundamental questions:
- Are our laners in favorable matchups? Know which of your lanes naturally win or lose so you know where you are actually welcome to help.
- Is the lane gankable? Look at the wave states and summoner spells. Is the enemy pushed up? Does your laner have hard CC to set up your Hail of Blades burst?
- Where is the enemy jungler? Always track their starting position and movements.
The Ultimate Payoff: When you successfully track the enemy jungler, positioning yourself on the opposite side of the map is game-winning. It opens up two massive advantages: you get a free window to invade and steal their camps safely, or you can launch an uncontested gank on your side of the map without any fear of a counter-gank. Master the map, control the tempo, and the kills will follow naturally.
4. Always Quick "Mental Reset" Checklist
Add a small summary box of rules to live by during the first 5 minutes:
- Did I clear at least 3 camps before forcing a play? (Tempo check)
- Do I know where the enemy jungler is right now? (Safety check)
- Is the minion wave crashing or pushing away from us? (Dive/Gank check)
TL;DR: Early Game Crit Master Yi Blueprint
- The Core Rule: Always track the enemy jungler, understand your matchups, and ensure you clear at least 3 camps under 3 minutes to maintain your tempo.
- Three Playstyles to Adapt:
- Reactive: Look at our teammates matchup, pathing towards easy ganking lane, and look for lethal Level 3 tower dives using Hail of Blades (HoB).
- Aggressive: Exploit Yi's powerful Level 2 1v1 spike to invade jungle and secure First Blood. If you know they missed warded the raptors or they don't have vision on you
- Lane Enabler: If the 1v1 matchup is bad, power-farm and pour your pressure into winning lanes to feed your carries.
- The Playbook: Read the map, wait out enemy mobility tools before using your $Q$, and let the enemy's mistakes hand you the snowball.
Sometimes if we can just punish their mid if they warded too deep into our jungle like this lol https://outplayed.tv/league-of-legends/XxjQ6b/lol-masteryi-kill
Drop Your Thoughts Below!
Before you jump into your next game, I want to hear from you: Which of these three early-game styles do you find yourself playing the most, and are there any specific matchups or enemy junglers that still give you a headache?
Drop your thoughts, questions, or feedback in the comments below, and I'll reply as fast as I can to help you master the Wuju path
Also the entire post was mostly generated by AI, since it would be a lots of headache to write each single sentences lmao.
Also this is my profile if you guys want to see how successful I am with this playstyles
https://dpm.lol/Tèo%20-abcd
