Master Yi was dominating the League of Legends meta before patch 12.5, with Riot shipping nerfs to stop his Lethality build. However, the nerfs have only made the Wuju Bladesman stronger, forcing Riot to put out a hotfix on March 4.
Master Yi’s Lethality build took over League of Legends Season 12 as players started seeing potential in the simple yet powerful kit of the Wuju Bladesman.
Riot attempted to nip it in the bud with nerfs on League of Legends patch 12.5 which shifted power into his more traditional on-hit build. However, the nerfs have only served to make him even stronger.
According to LoLalytics, Master Yi’s win rate has jumped from 52.12% on patch 12.4 to more than 55% at all ranks on patch 12.5. On top of that, his pick rate continues to climb — up three points to 14.77% — while he gets banned in nearly a third of games.
Riot admitted fault with the changes, and have now shipped an urgent hotfix nerf on March 4 to try and make the nerfs work as intended.
The nerfs make both the on-hit and Lethality Master Yi builds weaker. Reduced base health, true damage on his E, and an increased cooldown on his ultimate early mean he can’t just 1v9 from Level 6 onwards.
The biggest nerf is on his Q, Alpha Strike. The bonus damage from critical strikes is being cut to just 35%, while his AD scalings are being reduced too. Finally, the on-hit damage will now scale less, making items like Kraken Slayer and Blade of the Ruined King good instead of great.
“While the changes in 12.5 succeeded in making Yi’s on-hit builds more optimal than his lethality builds, they actually resulted in a large buff to on-hit with roughly no change to lethality-overpowering Yi as a result,” Riot stated.
“We’re tuning Yi down with some stronger nerfs this time, but ensuring that we’re pulling power from across his kit so as to not dramatically impact his gameplay.”
Yi's changed this patch are looking like they were a major buff (~55% winrate), which was not intended (and he didn't have any room for buffs to begin with). Expect a significant hotfix nerf to bring his power back into line.
— Riot Captain Gameplay (@riot_captain) March 3, 2022
You can find the full list of Master Yi hotfix nerfs below. They have been shipped live as of March 4, so be wary when you jump into your next League of Legends game.
Master Yi hotfix in League of Legends patch 12.5
Base stats
- Health: 599 ⇒ 550
Q: Alpha Strike
- Damage: 30/60/90/120/150 (+60% AD) ⇒ 30/60/90/120/150 (+50% AD)
- Bonus damage from critical strikes: +50% Damage ⇒ +35% Damage
- On-hit damage: 100%, reduced to 25% for subsequent hits ⇒ 75%, reduced to 18.75% for subsequent hits
E: Wuju Style
- True damage: 30/38/46/54/62 (+35% bonus AD) ⇒ 30/37/44/51/58 (+30% bonus AD)
R: Highlander
- Cooldown: 85 seconds ⇒ 100/90/80 seconds
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