I've been playing League Classic on the PBE, and there are a few interesting points I'd like to share and hear your thoughts on.
For the past 10 years, Master Yi has been designed as a duelist jungler. For many of us, that's the only version of the champion we've ever known. Even though crit and lethality builds have occasionally appeared, they've always been niche, and Riot has made it pretty clear over the years that they want Yi to be an on-hit duelist who excels at shredding tanks. That's interesting because, originally, Yi was primarily an assassin (AP or crit) who could also function as a duelist when needed.
That said, Riot has also given him a lot of quality-of-life improvements over the years: removing Alpha Strike's cast time, preventing you from dying to projectiles while inside Alpha Strike, moving the reset mechanic to Highlander's passive, allowing Meditate to be used not just for healing but also as an auto-attack reset, and so on. Ironically, while Riot pushed players toward a single intended playstyle, modern Yi is actually much more versatile than he used to be. You can still play crit if you want, but now you also have on-hit, bruiser, and several other viable options.
Because of that, our playstyle has been shaped around this version of Yi for the last decade. While a few of us have continued trying to make assassin Yi work simply because we enjoy the playstyle more, we all know the comparison isn't even close. On-hit Yi is far more consistent and flexible.
Classic Yi can be a huge reality check for a lot of players. No auto-attack reset with Meditate, no cooldown reduction on Alpha Strike through basic attacks, resets only while Highlander is active, the possibility of dying to a projectile during Alpha Strike, and many other differences. I think this could make a lot of people give up on Yi or never experiment with anything beyond the obvious.
I see a lot of people talking about AP Yi, but back then AD crit with lifesteal was also incredibly strong. Personally, I'd even argue it was stronger than AP Yi because it gave him more tools and more answers while still benefiting from resets. Sure, Meditate didn't heal nearly as much and Alpha Strike wasn't your primary source of damage, but Yi's real damage and sustain came from his auto-attacks. In that sense, the playstyle feels much closer to modern Yi, especially for jungle players.
I've always been a mid laner. I started playing League in 2013, but I didn't discover Master Yi until 2014. I never really stopped playing him. Since I never enjoyed jungling, I adapted him to the mid lane (long before Faker picked him on stage), and I've kept playing him there for the past 10 years. I even managed to reach Diamond III playing Yi mid.
A few months ago I completely lost interest in League. I didn't like the direction the game was taking, I was getting stressed far more often than I was having fun, and playing started to feel like a second job. Now, with League Classic, I get to relive everything that made me fall in love with this game in the first place.
For me personally, going back to AP Yi mid hasn't been nearly as shocking as it seems to be for many others. Of course it requires adapting your playstyle, but I think it's much easier if you spent years playing Yi as an assassin instead of spending the last decade learning what Riot considers the "correct" way to play him.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience. Even with high ping, League Classic has been incredibly refreshing, and I'm having a great time.
I'd love to hear what other Yi mains think about the differences between old Yi and modern Yi. Are you planning to play Classic? Will you stick to jungle, move to mid, or try something else? What builds are you having success with?
