S13 Feb 2026 Stat Buffs
Increased skill damage
Hou Yi
(后羿) S Farm Difficulty
Marksman
DPS Marksman Crowd Control/Initiate Late Game Easy
Hou Yi
后羿
S Farm
Difficulty Marksman
DPS Marksman Crowd Control/Initiate Late Game Easy
Also known as
Hou Yi's Chinese name is 后羿.
后羿
Quick summary
Hou Yi is a top-tier Farm Marksman who wants to output sustained ranged damage. Public guides recommend a build starting with Boots of Dexterity and Flash.
Current patch decision guide
When to pick Hou Yi, when to avoid them, and how to adapt your build.
Hou Yi is a top-tier Farm Marksman who wants to create engage windows with stuns and slows. Public guide data shows a build centered on Boots of Dexterity, Sparkforged Dagger, Doomsday, paired with Flash, used to farm the safe side, scale into late game, and protect priority targets. Pick him when the draft lets Hou Yi reach the back-line scaling window without being caught out; avoid when the matchup denies the windows his kit needs.
Pick Hou Yi when
- Your team needs a setup hero whose Afterglow creates kill windows for the carry
- The enemy team has front-line targets that Hou Yi can chip down with sustained ranged damage
- The enemy draft includes Cirrus, Mulan, and Xuance, who appear in counter data as matchups Hou Yi can pressure.
Avoid Hou Yi when
- The enemy team is loaded with cleanse, dashes, and immunity that bypass crowd control
- The game is decided early before the marksman can hit core item spikes
- The enemy team is built around answers to Crowd Control, removing the windows Hou Yi's kit needs to perform.
Power spikes
Early game: farm safely behind the support, surviving lane phase to reach the marksman scaling window.
Ultimate online: Burning Sun Arrow extends control duration, making team fights snowball off a single hit
Late game: full build online, Hou Yi reaches the spike public guides describe — extended fights favor him once items are completed.
Build decisions
Core attack-speed & range path
Hou Yi's official camp build opens with Boots of Dexterity and Sparkforged Dagger (chain-lightning basic attacks) to ramp his Chastising Shot stacks quickly, then adds Doomsday and Daybreaker's Virtue to scale sustained basic-attack damage. Deepfrost Siege (slow on hit) reinforces his control identity, while Sunchaser and Haste - Sunpool extend his attack range so he can output from safer positions behind his frontline.
Survivability & late-game options
Because Hou Yi is immobile, the build prioritises staying alive: Ravage - Phantom (temporary shield and physical attack), Blood Rage (temporary shield), Destiny (negates fatal damage), and Sage's Sanctuary (on-the-spot resurrect) are the standard insurance items for late teamfights. Cuirass of Savagery is the offense-and-defense pivot when he needs a little more durability without fully giving up damage.
Arcana & battle spell
The recommended arcana set is Calamity (critical rate), Hunt (attack speed and movement speed), Reaver (physical lifesteal), and Eagle Eye (physical attack and physical pierce) — a page that supports an attack-speed marksman who needs both kiting speed and sustain. Flash is the default battle spell, used purely for spacing since Hou Yi has no built-in dash.
Matchup logic
Versus mobility
Dashes and immunity skills bypass Hou Yi's control. Force the enemy mobility before committing Burning Sun Arrow, and aim control on stationary targets like channeling carries.
Role positioning
Hou Yi is a Farm pick whose value depends on sustained ranged damage in extended team fights. Stick to the role plan rather than forcing fights his kit is not designed to win.
Synergies
Public synergy data lists Wuyan, Dun, and Menki as strong partners for Hou Yi. Plan engages around Wuyan's setup window, then second-engage with Burning Sun Arrow.
Common mistakes
- Throwing Afterglow on the front-line tank instead of saving it for backline carries.
- Auto-attacking instead of repositioning when the enemy assassin is missing — losing the marksman loses the fight.
- Engaging without checking enemy summoner-spell cooldowns, which often decide whether Hou Yi's commit reaches the target alive.
- Auto-attacking through enemy dive instead of repositioning — losing the marksman in early fights collapses the late-game win condition.
Background
Solarus
“Finally, awake! It's time to hunt!”
Hou Yi is the only heroic marksman in the world to be made an by superbeings and trusted to carry out their will. He was ordered to destroy the Sun Tower as atonement for the superbeings' enslavement of the ferali. In his pursuit of destruction, the power-seeking sharpshooter felt inevitably drawn to the Sun Tower's brilliance and thus absorbed the Wonder's power, which cursed him to a deep slumber. When he woke up, the world was truly Hou Yi's hunting ground.
- Race:
- Enforcer
- Height:
- 183 cm
- Style:
- Martial Arts
- Nation:
- Sun Tower
- Title:
- Enforcer
Source: Official Honor of Kings — canonical lore for Hou Yi.
Base Stats
Source: in-game capture (HoK Global v11.x, 2026-04-20)Survivability
3362
Max HP
150
Phys DEF
75
Mag DEF
41
HP/5s
Offense
166
Phys ATK
10%
Atk Speed
200%
Crit DMG
Utility
370
Move Speed
600
Max Mana
15
Mana/5s
Ranged
Range
Build
How to choose a build
Start with the safe default badge if the draft looks normal, then swap to burst, anti-tank, sustain, or utility builds when the matchup clearly calls for it.
Crit attack speed
Safe defaultStart here if the draft looks standard and you want the safest all-around setup.
Critical strike
Burst damageBest when you can reach squishier targets and convert quick kills.
machine
Critical strike
Burst damageBest when you can reach squishier targets and convert quick kills.
Critical strike
Burst damageBest when you can reach squishier targets and convert quick kills.
Critical strike
Burst damageBest when you can reach squishier targets and convert quick kills.
Attack speed
Beginner friendlyBest if you want a simpler setup with fewer situational pivots.
Attack speed
Beginner friendlyBest if you want a simpler setup with fewer situational pivots.
Critical strike
Burst damageBest when you can reach squishier targets and convert quick kills.
Presets
Critical strike
Burst damageBest when you can reach squishier targets and convert quick kills.
Arcana
Skills
passive Chastising Shot
Basic Attack hits grant Attack Speed and 1 stack of enhancement.At 3 stacks, enhanced Basic Attacks shoot 3 arrows, dealing more totaldamage than a regular Basic Attack.
skill1 Arrow Volley
Enhances Basic Attacks for 5s to deal heavy damage. At the same time, HouYi shoots arrows to hit two other enemies in front of him, dealing 50%damage.
skill2 Afterglow
Inflicts damage and slow on enemies in the target area while also gaining vision of the area.
ultimate Burning Sun Arrow
Fires an arrow in the target direction. Deals AoE damage upon hitting a hero inflicting stun and slow.
Skins
8 skins
Cosmic Curator
URYU ISHIDA
Starshooter
Ranger Sagebow
Perfect Calculation
Glorious Dawn
Golden Sagittarius
Strike Team Alpha
Playstyle
Land control on the enemy carry, not the front-line tank — chain follow-up damage from teammates immediately after. Position behind your front-line, save flash for the dive, and let the support set vision.
Patch History
S13 Dec 2025 Stat Changes
Adjusted Skill Damage
S11 Aug 2025 Stat Nerfs
Skill Damage Adjustments
S10 May 2025 Stat Nerfs
Passive Attack Speed reduced
S6 Jul 2024 Stat Nerfs
Increased Basic Attack interval slightly
Show details
Hou Yi's stable Basic Attack and ability to target multiple enemies at once make it hard for other marksmen to compete with him, so we've lowered the frequency of his Basic Attacks slightly to give his enemies time to catch their breath.