Skill Order
Normal Skill Order
- Main max: Q first.
- Second max: E second.
- Leave W for last: take points there only after Q and E are handled.
- R: rank it whenever possible.
Q is the spell that makes Master Yi feel like Master Yi. It is your engage, your dodge tool, and your way to stay on top of a target when the fight gets messy. If you skip Q max, you lose the cleanest way to start and finish fights. That hurts hard in ARAM, where there is less room to reset and every bad angle gets punished fast.
E is the usual second max because it gives you the most direct damage for skirmishes and cleanup. In a mode full of grouped fights, that extra punch matters the moment you come out of Q and start sticking to a backline target. If you delay E too long, you still get in, but you do not actually threaten a kill fast enough, and that gives the enemy team time to peel you off.
W stays last in the standard order because it is mostly there to buy time when you are forced to tank damage or wait out enemy burst. One early point is fine when the lane is dangerous, but dumping too many points into W too soon slows your kill pressure. That is the trade. You become harder to kill, but you also become easier to ignore.
Cost of the wrong order: if you max W before E in a normal damage setup, you often survive a little longer and still lose the fight. You spend points on safety when your real job is to remove one carry fast. If you delay Q, you make your engage clunkier and give enemies a bigger window to chain crowd control or force you to burn Snowball badly. For Yi, that usually means you enter, get stalled, and die before the reset chain starts.
Augment-Influenced Skill Order
- Default rule stays the same: Q first in almost every setup.
- Most damage-focused augment setups: keep E second.
- Defensive, drainy, or front-to-back augment setups: W can move up earlier, sometimes as the second max if your job is to stay alive through the first burst.
- R still gets points on schedule: if the augment rewards repeated fighting, your ultimate rank becomes even more valuable.
Augments do not usually change Yi’s basic logic. They change what kind of fight you are allowed to take. If your augments push you toward fast cleanup, extra on-hit value, or stronger burst windows, stick to Q max into E max. That is still the cleanest way to convert one opening into a reset and a second kill. You want to hit, disappear, and reappear on the next target before the enemy team can stabilize.
If your augments lean defensive, healing-based, or “stay in the fight longer” instead of “delete one target instantly,” W can move up earlier. That is the branch where you expect to eat some damage before the first reset. In those games, W points are not about making you a tank. They are about giving you a recovery button strong enough to survive the counterburst after you commit.
When to keep E second even with augments: if the enemy team is squishy, has weak peel, or your augments clearly reward attack-speed style cleanup, do not get greedy with W. You still need damage first. The moment you start trying to “play safe” with Yi in a low-pressure fight, you usually miss your window and let the enemy backline kite out your entire cooldown chain.
When to move W ahead of E: if the enemy has heavy burst, layered CC, or a frontline that can force you to soak damage before you reach the carry, W gains value faster. This is especially true when your augments already give you enough threat to kill a target after one opening, but not enough durability to survive the turn-back. In that case, W helps you recover from the first collapse and reach your next reset instead of dying mid-commit.
Cost of choosing the wrong augment order: if you over-max W in a setup that is meant to snowball damage, you become a half-killer. You live longer, but the fight still slips away because you cannot finish targets quickly enough. If you over-max E in a setup that needs survival, you become a glass cannon with no room for error. One bad engage and the enemy deletes you before your reset pattern starts. For Yi, the wrong order usually does not just lower damage. It breaks the whole fight plan.
The short version is simple. In standard games, go Q first, E second, W last. With augments, keep that order unless the augments and enemy comp force you into a longer, safer fight. Then W can rise earlier. Always ask one question before you spend the next point: Do I need more kill pressure, or do I need more time to stay alive after I commit? That answer tells you whether to keep pushing damage or shift into survival.
