My Mi Note Is Heavily Outdated: How Do I Act?

[nicotto]

Hello, I have a Mi Note (virgo) on the weekly xiaomi.eu ROM that I haven't updated in a long time. I'm stuck with the last KitKat ROM. I remember having installed it twice, so my system partitions should now be merged into one.
But I never went on and installed Marshmallow, I simply forgot about all this and kept using my phone, which is still working fine. Now I was awaken by MIUI 8 arrival, and I can't get a grasp on what I need to do to get my phone up to date.

Can I just install the last ROM with that big of a jump? Should I begin with the first MM rom and then go step by step? I also heard I need a custom recovery for MIUI 8. Is it true?
Sorry for noobie behaviour, I just can't seem to find certain those informations anywhere. I lost my touch with the whole thing and I'm very afraid to ruin the beautiful MIUI experience I have and break something.

 

[Muhamed]

Just flash TWRP Recovery and after than flash new MIUI but safe your data.
Best way for me is to flash TWRP, create a backup and than flash new ROM.

 

[nicotto]

Just flash TWRP Recovery and after than flash new MIUI but safe your data.
Best way for me is to flash TWRP, create a backup and than flash new ROM.

Yeah, I imagine flashing a custom recovery is the most practical way, could use a nandroid backup. Can I flash TWRP with Flashify? Should I wipe both data and system before flashing the newest ROM or it's okay doing just caches and data?

Thanks for the answer.