Samurai Yi

Been maining Yi for three years now with over 500k mastery points, and I've collected pretty much every skin except the prestige ones. Samurai Yi was one of my first purchases back when I started, and honestly, it's still my go-to when I need to pop off in ranked.

The skin just feels cleaner than most of his other options. Alpha Strike has this satisfying slash effect that makes it easier to track where you'll end up, which matters when you're tower diving that fed ADC. Meditate looks way better with the traditional sitting pose, and I swear the animation cancel into auto feels around 10% smoother than base skin. But what really sells it is the ult activation. That sword draw animation before you go full speed demon mode is absolutely insane. Compare this to something like Headhunter Yi where everything feels clunky and overdone, and Samurai Yi wins every time.

Just last night I was contesting dragon against their whole team, and the visual clarity on this skin probably saved the game. When you Q through multiple enemies, you can actually tell where you're going to land, unlike PROJECT where the particles are everywhere. Got a triple kill and stole dragon because I could time my W perfectly after the Q. Is Samurai Yi worth it compared to other Master Yi skins? Absolutely, especially at 520 RP.

My experience with Samurai Yi after 150+ games is that it's purely cosmetic but feels pay-to-win because of the animation clarity. If you're serious about climbing with Yi, this or Cosmic are your best bets. Should you buy Samurai Yi? If you play Yi more than twice a week, it's basically mandatory.