Master Yi has two keystones that make sense in the jungle: Lethal Tempo and Hail of Blades. Both give attack speed, so they can look interchangeable — but they win completely different kinds of fights. Picking the wrong one does not lose you the game on its own, but picking the right one for the matchup makes your whole game plan easier.
This guide explains how each keystone works on Yi, when to take which, and the mistakes that waste them. For the full build — items, skill order and the rest of the rune page — see the Master Yi build guide.
The short answer: take Lethal Tempo when you expect long fights and a game that goes to teamfights. Take Hail of Blades when the game will be decided by early ganks, invades and short skirmishes against squishy targets.
How Each Keystone Works on Yi
Lethal Tempo: Power That Builds Up
Lethal Tempo gives you attack speed that stacks while you keep attacking champions. It starts slow and reaches full strength after several attacks, then stays strong as long as you keep hitting. On Master Yi, that fits his late game perfectly: Highlander resets keep him in the fight, the stacks stay up, and his attacks hit harder and harder the longer the fight lasts.
The trade-off is the start of every fight. The first few attacks are weaker than they would be with Hail of Blades, so short trades and quick ganks are less impressive.
Hail of Blades: Power Up Front
Hail of Blades gives a burst of very fast attacks right at the start of a fight, then goes on cooldown. On Yi, that front-loaded speed means more Double Strike procs and more Wuju Style hits in the first seconds — exactly when a gank or an invade is decided.
The trade-off is the long fight. Once the burst is spent, Yi has to wait for the cooldown, and in a long teamfight that is a lot of lost damage compared with full Lethal Tempo stacks.
When to Take Lethal Tempo
Take it when the game will be long and fights will last
- The enemy team is tanky or has bruisers. You need sustained damage to get through health bars, not three fast hits.
- You plan to farm and scale. If the enemy jungler is stronger early, Lethal Tempo rewards you for staying patient and coming online with items.
- Your team wants to teamfight. Long, messy fights with resets are where Lethal Tempo shines.
- You are behind or even after laning. Lethal Tempo still scales; Hail of Blades loses value the further the game goes.
When to Take Hail of Blades
Take it when the game will be decided early, in short fights
- The enemy team is squishy. Burst lets you kill carries before they can react — and before their team can peel.
- Your lanes have crowd control. A stun or root from your laner plus Hail of Blades turns early ganks into kills.
- You can win early fights against the enemy jungler. Hail of Blades makes invades and scuttle fights much stronger.
- You want to snowball one lane. Repeated early ganks on the same side can end the game before the late game ever arrives.
Quick Guide: Situation → Keystone
| Situation | Take |
|---|---|
| Enemy has two or more tanks or bruisers | Lethal Tempo |
| Enemy carries are squishy and immobile | Hail of Blades |
| Enemy jungler is much stronger early | Lethal Tempo |
| Your laners have strong crowd control for ganks | Hail of Blades |
| You expect long teamfights around objectives | Lethal Tempo |
| You plan to invade and fight for scuttles early | Hail of Blades |
| Not sure | Lethal Tempo (the safer default) |
The Rest of the Rune Page
The keystone decides the tree, so the rest of the page follows your plan:
- Lethal Tempo sits in the Precision tree, alongside the runes that help Yi in long fights — healing after takedowns, extra attack speed as the game goes on, and bonus damage against low-health or high-health targets.
- Hail of Blades sits in the Domination tree, alongside runes that add early damage, healing from hits and movement around the map — all things that help a gank-heavy start.
Minor runes change between patches, so check the current patch before you lock in. The build guide lists the full Lethal Tempo page.
Mistakes That Waste Your Keystone
Taking Hail of Blades and farming passively. Its value is in the first ten to fifteen minutes. If you are not ganking or invading, you have picked the wrong keystone.
Taking Lethal Tempo and forcing early fights you can't win. Lethal Tempo needs time to stack. Against a strong early jungler, play for farm and objectives on the other side of the map.
Starting a fight before your keystone matters. With Hail of Blades, use your Alpha Strike and burst on a target that will actually die. With Lethal Tempo, avoid fights where you will be crowd-controlled before the stacks build.
Ignoring the enemy team comp. Picking the same keystone every game is easy, but checking the enemy team for tanks and crowd control takes five seconds in champion select and often decides the right choice.
How to Practise the Decision
In champion select, ask three questions: Is the enemy team tanky or squishy? Who wins the early jungle fight? Will my lanes help me gank? If at least two answers point to early fights, take Hail of Blades. If not, take Lethal Tempo. After a few games it becomes automatic.
For more on climbing as a jungler, read how to jungle: pathing, ganks and objectives, and for the strongest junglers to pair this with, the best jungle champions for low elo.
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