Master Yi/Trivia

General

• Master Yi dances faster the more total movement speed he has.
• Master Yi's goggles and his sword can both be seen in the game's Mac Version trailer.
• Master Yi and Pantheon are the champions with the highest base movement speed in-game (355).
• Master Yi's current dance references the "Running Man" dance, while his prior dance before his visual update was a reference to the dance segment in Napoleon Dynamite (also shared with Katarina).
  • A side-by-side comparison can be seen here, which references the version done by Dee Dee from Dexter's Laboratory.
  • The more movement speed he has, the faster he dances.
• Yì 易 means "change" & "easy(-ness)" in Chinese, from two different Sino-Tibetan roots: *laay > Old Chinese *lek "to exchange"; & *lway > Old Chinese *lekh "easy"
  • Due to Japanese folk etymology of loaned Chinese compound verb 卜易 "to divine change", 易 also means "divination" in Japanese.
  • Also a pun on mastery.
• Master Yi's title in the Chinese localization also dubs him as a "Sword Saint", a title given to most master swordmen in history such as Miyamoto Musashi.
• Wuju Style was named after two Riot Games Inc. employees (Andy Woo and Jeff Jew).
  • In the Chinese localization, it is instead named as "Wuji" (無極, lit. Extremeless/Apolar/Infinite). Wuji is also represented by an empty circle atop the Taijitu (太極圖 lit. Great Poles' Chart), which includes the well-known Yin and Yang . His Wuju Style ability in Chinese is also dubbed as "Wuji Jiandao" (無極劍道, lit. Extremeless Sword Path), "jiandao" is also the pinyin reading of Japanese kendou.
• Highlander was named after as well as references the eponymous franchise, with its cooldown reset mechanic possibly referencing the "quickening" effect.

Quotes

Original Master Yi

• He shares quotes with:
  • "Wuju style"
  • "I will show you the path"
• "The goggles? Just for reading!" and "I will take an eye... as if I don't have enough already" poke fun at how such a ridiculously complex device doesn't have any special use for him whatsoever.
• "The key to immortality? Not dying" references Highlander.
• One of his jokes via the Brazilian localization references Woody Woodpecker.

• "Progress requires only a blade... that produces more blades." is the counterpart to his regular goggles jokes (how many blades can protrude from his sword for every time he uses Highlander)
• "Those goggles are absurd" references his own goggles jokes.
  • He is the third champion to interact with himself (the others being Draven and Trundle).

Skins

Original Master Yi

• He resembles Sam Fisher from Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.
• His sword is modeled after a ringed-Dao.
• He has three different running animations.
• A strange occurrence between all his skins is that whenever Yi basic attacks a target at the start of a match, he will repeat his outward slashing animation twice for the first two basic attacks.

Assassin Master Yi

• He, Golden Alistar, and White Mage Veigar are the only skins priced at 390, making them the cheapest ones in-game.
• The prior version of this skin before his visual upgrade was a mere black-and-white re-coloring of his original skin.

Chosen Master Yi

• He references the Jedi Order from Star Wars.
• He shares this theme with Forsaken Jayce.
  • Both of them went of sale on 4-May-2015 (Star Wars Day) and were 54% off (May the fourth be with you).
• Wuju Style's states change his lightsaber's color:
  • On cooldown/not-learned: blue.
  • Off cooldown: green.
  • Active: red.

Ionia Master Yi

• His outfit resembles Irelia's (might be indicating this is him as a member of the Ionian guard).
• The Ionian crest can be seen on his robes' tail.

• He references the eponymous Japanese warrior caste.

Headhunter Master Yi

• He references the Yautja from Predator.
• His helmet and his goggles resemble Hotsuma's from Shinobi.
• He shares this theme with Headhunter Akali, Headhunter Caitlyn, Headhunter Nidalee, Headhunter Rengar.
• The original version of this skin prior to his visual upgrade had notable oddities, such as his blade being held the opposite way, and closer inspection of his Alpha Strike animation showed Yi leaving afterimages of one of his auto-attack animations (shown as rapidly performing his auto-attack animations at fast speed instead with a 3D model viewer). These issues were fixed for the visual-updated version.

• He is from an alternate timeline in which he was cybernetically augmented as part of the PROJECT Initiative.
• His gear includes:
  • 098X Fusion Edge (Splits into a dual-blade with no actual animation changes to his basic attacks when his Highlander is activated.)
  • Monarch SR 'Living Flame' Armor
  • Regenerative Energy Vortex
  • Neural Sensory Amplifier
  • Unknown
• He describes himself as "Trace lost... my name... is Yi."
• If one tells PROJECT: Ashe they fight for 'harmony' she'll say the following: "A perfect anomaly."
  • Both he and PROJECT: Ashe are the only two PROJECT skins to have extra altered animations from the rest of the others in the skin line, and several new quotes (the others mainly recycle their original quotes in a robotic filter).
  • PROJECT: Yi is also unique for having two different braking animations from his normal running animation, and has only two different running animations compared to all his prior skins.
  • PROJECT: Yi is the only PROJECT skin to lose a larger majority of his armor in his animations (upon both his death or during his ultimate).
• He was conceived as 'Cyber Yi' by Marco 'Wendigo' Silva (an artist from the Riot Games Inc. São Paulo office).
• He might have been inspired by Plan-1056 Codarl from Full Metal Panic! and/or Zer0 from Borderlands.
• His dance references Have a Nice Day by World Order.
  • A side-by-side comparison can be seen here.
• He shares this theme with Ashe, Ekko, Fiora, Jhin, Katarina, Lucian, Leona, Vayne, Vi, Yasuo, and Zed.

Cosmic Blade Master Yi

• During the development period, the skin was called "Cosmic Reaver Master Yi".
• His blade resembles the Moonflair Spellblade item available in Twisted Treeline.
• He shares this theme with Cosmic Reaver Kassadin, Cosmic Dawn Rakan, and Cosmic Dusk Xayah.

Eternal Sword Yi

• This is the first skin where we can see his face.
• He is part of the Immortal Journey.
  • He shares this theme with Soaring Sword Fiora and Sacred Sword Janna.
• Master Yi in this skin has two different high-movement speed animations: one with his Highlander active where he will glide forward through the air, and one with a normal high-speed boost (such as from the base fountain) where he will surf on top of his sword instead.

Relations

• Master Yi taught Wukong the Wuju Style (although the Monkey King uses a staff rather than a sword).