It's a bit of a weird one this time around and it's definitely a build that takes a while to come online, unless you're using a free archetype game, but it's a fun one. As always, this build is conceptualized entirely in a vacuum, with choices made in my best attempt to fit the character. These choice may not hold up in a campaign with different themes and should be adjusted accordingly.
If you prefer watching over reading, check out the YouTube video on the character!
Let's get into the build for Master Yi, the Wuju Bladesman from League of Legends!
MASTER YI, THE WUJU BLADESMAN
CHARACTER Yi
SOURCE League of Legends
BUILD GOALS
o Master Yi is a melee skirmisher champion
o Double Strike causes his attacks to generate up to three stacks. His next attack after the third stack hits twice though the second hit is slightly less effective
o Alpha Strike makes him briefly vanish and mark nearby enemies. He then teleports between marked enemies, dealing damage
o Meditate heals Master Yi over a period as he channels, during which time he also gains damage reduction
o Wuju Style can be activated to empower his next basic attack to deal additional damage
o Highlander cleanses Yi of any slows and cripples while grant him extra speed, slow immunity, and the ability to move through enemies
o His card in Legends of Runeterra reduces the cost of spells and increases his power when you weave spells together. When a level Master Yi attacks, he automatically strikes the weakest enemy
o An immensely talented student of the Wuju Style, Yi mastered it swiftly and against the advice of his elders, brought it to bear against the invading Noxians
o Fearing this powerful style, Noxus destroyed the school and his family in a chemical attack, leaving Yi as its only living practitioner
o He has since sought new disciples, using the Seven Lenses of Insight
LEVEL 1
Ancestry & Heritage: Ancient Elf
o Ability Boosts & Flaws: +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Constitution, -Constitution
o Ancestry Feat: Elven Weapon Familiarity
o Dedication Feat: Monk Dedication
Background: Martial Disciple
o Ability Boosts: +Dexterity, +Strength
o Skill Increase: Athletics (trained), Warfare Lore (trained)
o Background Feat: Quick Jump
Class & Subclass: Flurry Ranger
o Class Ability Boost: +Dexterity
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (trained), Diplomacy (trained), Nature (trained), Occultism (trained), Religion (trained), Stealth (trained), Survival (trained), Thievery (trained)
o Class Feat: Initiate Warden – Gravity Weapon
Details
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +2, Dex +4, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +1, Cha +0)
While Yi is a human within the lore, the elf ancestry adds some very useful feats and features to the build, starting with the ancient heritage allowing for an early grab of the Monk Dedication as Yi is a martial artist. He wields quite the impressive blade that will be represented with an elven curve blade and while he is able to use it already since it is a martial weapon, he needs Elven Weapon Familiarity for a feat down the line. Given that Yi was raised in the way of a Wuju from his youth, the martial disciple made the most sense for the build. In what is likely at least a little surprising, Yi will actually be a ranger with the flurry hunter’s edge, which is going to drastically lower his multiple attack penalty, which is important considering the lack of the agile trait on his weapon. Unfortunately, this single weapon style isn’t really something the ranger is built for, so he is a little limited in the options that work best for him. Though as a very tiny thing of note – Alpha Strike has him mark targets. Perhaps akin to Hunt Prey, huh? Eh? Given some of the spiritualism he practices and because this is a Dex build, he can use Initiate Warden to gain gravity weapon, adding a little more damage to his first Strike in a round, somewhat akin to his Wuju Style.
LEVEL 2
o Class Feat: Relentless Stalker
o Skill Feat: Steady Balance
o Gear: psychopomp mask
LEVEL 3
o General Feat: Fleet
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (expert)
o Gear: +1 elven curve blade, psychopomp mask, ring of discretion
LEVEL 4
o Class Feat: Basic Kata – Monastic Weaponry
o Skill Feat: Slippery Prey
o Gear: bracelet of dashing, +1 elven curve blade, stalk goggles, psychopomp mask
LEVEL 5
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Wisdom, +Charisma (Str +3, Dex +4.5, Con +1, Int +0, Wis +2, Cha +1)
o Ancestry Feat: Nimble Elf
o Skill Increase: Religion (expert)
o Gear: +1 striking elven curve blade, bracelet of dashing, golden legion epaulet, stalk goggles, psychopomp mask, ring of discretion
Master Yi has his Monk Dedication already, but still can’t take any feats from it at second level. Instead, he’ll use Relentless Stalker to chase down enemies, inspired by Highlander mostly by letting him run down enemies with extra movement outside of his turn. Unfortunately, it is going to take a bit for the monk investment to come online, but Master Yi does start the journey by using a Basic Kata to get Monastic Weaponry. Master Yi has some pretty incredible balance, which we can briefly see in his level-up animation in Legends of Runeterra, lending to the use of Steady Balance while Slippery Prey can help free him from entrapping effects, as per Highlander. To further represent the enhanced speed he gains from this, he has Fleet and Nimble Elf, which already puts him at 40-foot Speed.
LEVEL 6
o Class Feat: Advanced Kata – Ancestral Weaponry (Elf)
o Skill Feat: Cat Fall
o Gear: +1 leather, +1 striking elven curve blade, ghost touch weapon rune, bracelet of dashing, necklace of knives, stalk goggles
LEVEL 7
o General Feat: Feather Step
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (master)
o Gear: sprouting aeon stone, +1 armor, lesser boots of free running, +1 striking elven curve blade, bracelet of dashing, greater stalk goggles
LEVEL 8
o Class Feat: Advanced Kata – Ki Strike
o Skill Feat: Kip Up
o Gear: boots of bounding, sprouting aeon stone, vaultbreaker’s harness, +1 leather, +1 striking elven curve blade, ghost touch weapon rune
LEVEL 9
o Ancestry Feat: Elf Step
o Skill Increase: Athletics (expert)
o Gear: +1 resilient leather, flurrying weapon rune, boots of bounding, vaultbreaker’s harness, quick runner’s shirt, +1 striking elven curve blade
LEVEL 10
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Wisdom (Str +4, Dex +5, Con +2, Int +0, Wis +3, Cha +1)
o Class Feat: Monk’s Flurry
o Skill Feat: Rolling Landing
o Gear: bravery baldric (haste), +1 resilient gi, astral weapon rune, boots of bounding, vaultbreaker’s harness, +1 striking elven curve blade
Normally, Master Yi can’t use his elven curve blade even with Monastic Weaponry but he can use Advanced Kata to take Ancestral Weaponry for it. The only issue is that he still can’t do much with it yet – not until he gets Ki Strike with through Advanced Kata with his next class feat. This will allow him to empower his blade, based on Wuju Style, and when he takes Monk’s Flurry for his final class feat of this block, he can perform his Double Strike, which is aided by his flurry hunter’s edge. This build does have a slight focus on Acrobatics mainly because Highlander lets him move through enemies freely and Acrobatics is the skill for Tumbling. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of feats that really represent that, but options such as Kip Up and Rolling Landing help to represent his speed. He explores his swiftness and the smaller movements of his Alpha Strike through Feather Step and Elf Step, which combo nicely to allow him to Step through two squares of difficult terrain.
LEVEL 11
o General Feat: Fast Recovery
o Skill Increase: Athletics (master)
o Gear: +2 striking elven curve blade, bravery baldric (haste), greater bracers of missile deflection, +1 resilient gi, flurrying weapon rune, boots of bounding
LEVEL 12
o Class Feat: Monk Moves
o Skill Feat: Wall Jump
o Gear: +2 resilient gi, +2 striking elven curve blade, fire-jump ring, thunderblast slippers, astral weapon rune, gliding armor rune
LEVEL 13
o Ancestry Feat: Avenge Ally
o Skill Increase: Religion (master)
o Gear: +2 greater striking elven curve blade, +2 resilient gi, ki-channeling beads, fire-jump ring, bravery baldric (haste), thunderblast slippers
LEVEL 14
o Class Feat: Advanced Kata – Peafowl Stance
o Skill Feat: Powerful Leap
o Gear: propulsive boots, +2 greater striking elven curve blade, greater quick runner’s shirt, +2 resilient gi, fire-jump ring, energy robe (electricity)
LEVEL 15
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Intelligence, +Wisdom (Str +4.5, Dex +5.5, Con +2, Int +1, Wis +4, Cha +1)
o General Feat: Incredible Initiative
o Skill Increase: Acrobatics (legendary), Medicine (trained)
o Gear: +2 greater resilient gi, zuhra’s gloves, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking elven curve blade, greater ash gown, ki-channeling beads
Monk Moves during this block nabs him even more speed, putting him up to 50-foot with a Stride and then he takes Advanced Kata for Peafowl Stance. This is going to be the best way to represent his Alpha Strike – I had considered Skirmish Strike, but it has the flourish trait. Though both limited to once per round, but at least with Peafowl Stance, he can Step and still make his Flurry of Blows. He starts investing a bit more deeply into Athletics and enhances his ability to jump around with Wall Jump and Powerful Leap. Fast Recovery is a tiny nod to the healing that Master Yi gains from Meditate, but that will be further explored elsewhere in this build. Incredible Initiative helps him get the jump on people since a lot of this build is about going fast. This build went for the flurry edge to mitigate the attack penalty as much as possible, but the fortune effect of Avenge Ally is still useful and maybe calls to mind his feelings after losing all of his people.
LEVEL 16
o Class Feat: Advanced Kata – Wholeness of Body
o Skill Feat: Sacred Defense
o Gear: greater astral weapon rune, +2 greater resilient gi, zuhra’s gloves, propulsive boots, +2 greater striking elven curve blade, greater quick runner’s shirt
LEVEL 17
o Ancestry Feat: Defiance Unto Death
o Skill Increase: Athletics (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater striking elven curve blade, greater astral weapon rune, major armory bracelet, +2 greater resilient gi, zuhra’s gloves, propulsive boots
LEVEL 18
o Class Feat: Advanced Kata – Ki Rush
o Skill Feat: Cloud Jump
o Gear: anklets of alacrity, +3 greater striking elven curve blade, quickstrike weapon rune, greater astral weapon rune, +2 greater resilient gi, propulsive boots
LEVEL 19
o General Feat: True Perception
o Skill Increase: Religion (legendary)
o Gear: +3 greater resilient gi, anklets of alacrity, vorpal weapon rune, +3 greater striking elven curve blade, greater thunderblast slippers, major armory bracelet
LEVEL 20
o Ability Boosts: +Strength, +Dexterity, +Constitution, +Charisma (Str +5, Dex +6, Con +3, Int +1, Wis +4, Cha +2)
o Class Feat: Time Dilation Cascade
o Skill Feat: Consult the Spirits
o Gear: +3 major striking elven curve blade, +3 greater resilient gi, mercurial mantle, vorpal weapon rune, quickstrike weapon rune, headband of translocation
As promised, Master Yi finally replicates his Meditate through Wholeness of Body while also gaining a third Focus Point. He can take Ki Rush to gain yet another ki spell that also happens to enhance his Speed, but he could alternatively go for Farabellus Flip, which grants a temporary bonus to AC as a reaction. This is mainly meant to resemble the fact that Master Yi’s Alpha Strike can be used to dodge abilities. For his final class feat, Master Yi takes Time Dilation Cascade since it doesn’t have the usual requirement of having two different weapons and then gets to make six Strikes. He can Step somewhere in here thanks to his Peafowl Stance, and with his flurry hunter’s edge, his third attack and onward are only at a -4. Sacred Defense further plays into Meditation while Consult the Spirits plays into the spiritualism rife among Ionians. Finally, he has True Perception solely based on Doran’s Seven Lenses of Insight that he wears.
FREE ARCHETYPE SUGGESTIONS: A free archetype game would be a huge benefit to this build as he fills it up with monk feats and will still probably take some monk feats in his ranger feats, mostly to make the Ancestral Weapon aspect of the build come online quicker. With the freed up ranger feats, he could consider Farabellus Flip, take up Skirmish Strike just in case, Double Prey so that he can move between others when doing his Alpha Strike moves, and then Warden’s Focus to regain his focus points faster.
BUILD CONCLUSION
Master Yi, the Wuju Bladesman is an ancient elf ranger with the flurry hunter’s edge and martial disciple background, demonstrating his rearing in the ways of Wuju. The flurry edge helps Master Yi land the multitude of attacks from his Double Strike, but it really comes online with his Monk’s Flurry letting him Strike twice for a single action. Peafowl Stance grants him some mobility in an attempt to recreate the effects of his Alpha Strike, letting him Step as a free action between Strikes, which is further enhanced by both his Feather Step and Elf Step. It may also be worth mentioning that this ability marks an enemy, akin to his Hunt Prey. Meditate comes online a little late with Wholeness of Body though Fast Recovery also plays into the concept of this effect. To reflect the damage amp of Master Yi’s Wuju Style, he starts with gravity weapon and can furthermore get ki strike after that. The complete immunity to slows is hard to capture, but Master Yi can demonstrate the speed of Highlander through his elven ancestry, Nimble Elf, Fleet, and Monk Moves getting him up to 50-foot movement speed. He also focuses on Acrobatics so that he’s better at Tumbling through enemies, akin to the ghosting effect of his ult. While this build is limited to focus spells, gravity weapon and ki strike do stack the damage they deal, calling to mind his Legends of Runeterra card and its spell weaving effects that empower him. Then, while it is minor, True Perception is a cheeky little way to represent Doran’s Seven Lenses of Insight that he is (in)famous for wearing.
Superbly swift, this sword-swinging skirmisher serves spankings to sinister scoundrels, showcasing his superior style with a storm of strikes.
Lemme know what you think and what other builds you would like to see!
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Have a fantastic Friday!
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