Character Spotlight: Master Yi

Hello, gamers and otherwise. Lobo Argost here with my first blog post. In addition to being a brony, I'm also an avid gamer. And this is the first post in a series I like to call Character Spotlight. Each will be devoted to who I think is a noteworthy character. And this isn't limited to video games. Other media, like anime, web original, film, books, western animation, and of course; fanfiction will also be featured. And this series begins right now.

To start off, we have a champion from League of Legends. For those who don't know, League of Legends is a MOBA (Massive Online Battle Arena) game developed by Riot, and is the spiritual successor to Defense of the Ancients, a Warcraft III mod that got such a cult following it was released officially on Steam. In LoL, players take the role of one of the summoners of the League of Legends, which exists to prevent unchecked magical warfare from tearing the realm of Runeterra to shreds. Each city state sends champions to fight their battles for them in the fields of justice. And the champions are one of the game's biggest lures. They each have their own personalities, backstories, weapons, and abilities. And Riot is releasing a new one every month. As of last month, there are 112 champions in the game.

Moving on to our character of the day, I introduce Master Yi, the Wuju Bladesman

Master Yi is one of the champions from the city state Ionia, and is the keeper of the martial art known as Wuju, which is founded upon the principles of absolute spiritual awareness of one's self and one's enemy. When Ionia was invaded by Noxus, Master Yi brought honor to his village with his mastery of the blade, but wasn't able to protect his village from its destruction at the hands of Singed, an up and coming Zaunite chemist who tested his newest invention on Yi's kin.

Falling into a deep isolation, Master Yi trained from dawn to dusk, refusing offers of consolation and speaking to no one. The only thing that kept him from charging headlong into Noxian battle lines was his pledge to keep the Wuju style alive. And though he seethed with impatience, he focused it into his training. He spent years developing and perfecting new skills, awaiting the day when he would take his revenge. Only one thing roused him from this routine, and that was the news of the formation of the League of Legends, and that Noxus had joined it. Emerging from seclusion, Master Yi went to the Institute of War with a single purpose: avenge his kin and end the predations of Noxus.

Now that I got the backstory out of the way, let's look at where Master Yi shows off his talents in game. Traditionally, Master Yi is built as either an attack damage carry, or an ability power carry. I however, see this as a gross waste of his potential. His abilities are best suited to being built as a jungler and attack damage bruiser, a character that can take his share of damage and dish it out in equal measure, and can level up by fighting monsters in the woods until he sees an opportunity to gank an enemy champion. And Master Yi is perfectly built for that.

His passive ability, Double Strike, has his every seventh basic attack strike twice for bonus damage. Alpha Strike lets him teleport to deal magic damage to up to four enemies in a certain radius, and he's untargetable during the ability's use. Meditate heals Master Yi and increases his defense and magic resist for its duration, letting him stay in lane longer. Wuju Style passively increases his attack damage, and doubles that bonus when activated. At the cost of the passive bonus not being active when the ability is on cooldown. And his ultimate, Highlander, gives Master Yi a 40% increase to both movement speed and attack speed, greatly increasing his damage output. Even better, if he kills an enemy champion while Highlander is active, all his ability cooldowns get refreshed, meaning he can immediately use them again. And with a few stacks on a couple of Bloodthirsters, he crits constantly. Built the right way, master Yi is a force to be reckoned with, and is actually one of my favorite champions.