I suddenly realized that despite feeling like I kind of suck at Jungle Yi, I've got like an 8:1 win-loss ratio going on for him. And I already got my first pentakill with him.
I remember some people talking about how they do jungle Yi, what do you guys do with him? I've been going smite/flash but I tried smite/TP and liked it a lot. I farm hard with him so TP is good for making things happen. I feel like his countergank is a lot better than his gank even past level 6. Without at least red buff or cutlass he has no cc and if the enemy's running away it's pretty tough to just AA him down before he gets away, but if they're already committed a teleporting Yi can easily turn the gank around.
Plus it makes for better split pushing, though I don't splitpush a whole lot. I'm still pre-30 so chain-CC and such isn't as much of a problem and while Yi's pretty terrible in teamfights that mostly applies to decent teams. Like Kat and Trynd and the other pubstompers Yi's a monster in an uncoordinated teamfight. Run around the back while the front line is occupied or just charge straight through if they're dumb enough and the squishies will be dead before the tank realizes what's going on.
Given that, I feel like when I can get away with it, teamfighting is a more substantial contribution than split pushing. Split pushing is kind of a "I can't really teamfight so I'd better make something happen" thing. It apparently works, since I've only lost one game as Jungle Yi and it was my very first one.
I run Ghost/Smite. It does wonders for early ganks, and complements the rest of my build well. My goal for items is 100% crit, which I get through a combination of IE, 2x PD, Youmuu's. Before FF was released I typically ignored jungle items because they cost too much for too little gain, and even now I'm reluctant to get Wriggles, especially as I can build quickly without it -- normally I get Hydra as my first item, which speeds your clear immensely. Tossup between 'zerkers, Swiftness, Mobis, and Mercs depending on the team comps. Part of that's because I aim for a very gank-heavy high-pressure jungle as Yi, rather than sitting and farming all game -- most of the shit Yi players I see are the ones who ignore lanes and persist in believing that if they get just a few more FF stacks they'll carry.
That build is beautiful for a number of reasons: It absolutely melts anyone who doesn't stack armor and HP (key to remember is that not only are you attacking absurdly fast, you crit on every hit including your double passive, but also have crit (with reduced damage) on your Q, it splitpushes like a dream, and with full build you can solo Baron in ~15 seconds without taking damage. With the Ghost it's also good enough that you can risk level 3 towerdives if they're low enough, and at full build you're pretty much always ready to engage or chase, because between Ghost, Highlander, and Youmuu's you're pretty much always going to have a movespeed buff ready. Basically if you're going to build Yi as an assassin, I can't think of a better way to do it. Obviously the downside is that if you fuck up your ganks and have bad farm you're not going to get anywhere near full build in a reasonable amount of time -- however, based on my experience with it, as long as you get your level 3 kill/assist and keep your farm up, you should hit full build no later than the 30 minute mark, or 40 at the outside if you don't get good ganks, and most of that is getting your Hydra up so that you can clear camps instantly. It's also great for counterjungling, heh.