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Hou Yi, the deadly hunter

15 1 191,612
9.5
by Solis Obscuri updated January 17, 2015

Smite God: Hou Yi

Build Guide Discussion 8 More Guides
Tap Mouse over an item or ability icon for detailed info

Hou Yi Build

Core

Build Item Warrior Tabi Warrior Tabi
Build Item The Executioner The Executioner
Build Item Rage Rage
Build Item Hastened Fatalis Hastened Fatalis

Offensive Items

Build Item Deathbringer Deathbringer
Build Item Brawler's Beat Stick Brawler's Beat Stick
Build Item Bloodforge Bloodforge

Defensive Items

Build Item Shifter's Shield Shifter's Shield
Build Item Magi's Cloak Magi's Cloak
Build Item Runic Shield Runic Shield

Upgrade

Build Item Qin's Sais Qin's Sais

Active Items

Build Item Greater Purification Greater Purification
Build Item Enfeebling Curse Enfeebling Curse

Alternate Active Items

Build Item Greater Sprint Greater Sprint
Build Item Weakening Curse Weakening Curse
Build Item Aegis Pendant Aegis Pendant
Build Item Shielded Teleport Shielded Teleport

Hou Yi's Skill Order

Ricochet

1 X Y
Ricochet
1 4 7 12 16

Mark of the Golden Crow

2 A B
Mark of the Golden Crow
2 6 8 11 14

Divebomb

3 B A
Divebomb
3 10 15 18 19

Sunbreaker

4 Y X
Sunbreaker
5 9 13 17 20
Ricochet
1 4 7 12 16

Ricochet

1 X
Hou Yi fires a powerful shot that can ricochet off of walls. After firing, if this arrow bounces off of a wall it will travel 70 units from that point and gain +40% bonus damage to gods per bounce up to a maximum of 2 bounces. This arrow will stun if the target has Mark of the Golden Crow.

Ability Type: Line, Damage
Damage: 95 / 145 / 195 / 245 / 295 (+70% of your Physical Power)
Stun Duration: 1s
Range: 70
Cost: 60 / 65 / 70 / 75 / 80
Cooldown: 10s
Mark of the Golden Crow
2 6 8 11 14

Mark of the Golden Crow

2 A
Hou Yi marks an enemy with Mark of the Golden Crow. Marked enemies take extra damage for every 10% of their missing health from Hou Yi's abilities and basic attacks. Also, marked enemies, including stealthed gods, are visible to Hou Yi on the minimap. The mark lasts for 10s.

Ability: Target, Debuff
Damage Increase: 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6% for every 10% of missing health
Range: 55
Cost: 50
Cooldown: 16 / 15.5 / 15 / 14.5 / 14s
Divebomb
3 10 15 18 19

Divebomb

3 B
Hou Yi launches into the air, and for a short time may target some distance away to quickly dive towards the ground damaging any enemies in the immediate area. If the target has Mark of the Golden Crow they are knocked back.

Ability: Circle, Leap, Damage
Damage: 70 / 110 / 150 / 190 / 230 (+60% of your Physical Power)
Range/Radius: 55/20
Cost: 70 / 75 / 80 / 85 / 90
Cooldown: 15s
Sunbreaker
5 9 13 17 20

Sunbreaker

4 Y
Hou Yi shoots nine arrows into the sky, striking one sun with each arrow. The nine suns come crashing down one by one, slowing and dealing damage in a target area over time. A target with Mark of the Golden Crow will have their movement speed slowed by an additional 20%.

Ability: Circle, Slow, Damage
Damage: 80 / 90 / 100 / 110 / 120 (+25% of your Physical Power) every 0.5s
Damage (Maximum): 720 / 810 / 900 / 990 / 1080 (+225% of your Physical Power)
Duration: 4.5s
Slow: 20%
Slow Duration: 0.5s per hit
Range/Radius: 55/30
Cost: 100
Cooldown: 90s

Introduction

Hou Yi is the newest addition to the Chinese pantheon in Smite. He has a solid mix of base stats and damage from skills, and is a solid fighter both 1v1 and in team fights. His selection of skills and abilities differs a bit from many of the other Hunters, though.

Pros / Cons

Pros:

  • Strong base damage, movement speed, HP5 and MP5
  • Passive defense against crits
  • Increasing damage against injured enemies with his Golden Crow debuff
  • Arrow Ricochets deadly in confined spaces and against jungle camps
  • Powerful AoE ult for teamfights
  • Not mana-hungry


Cons:
  • Poor attack speed
  • Mediocre escape ability avoids damage but has slow speed and does not clear obstacles
  • Hard to line up arrow Ricochets
  • Ricochet does mediocre wave clear damage
  • Secondary CC effects from Ricochet and Divebomb dependent on Golden Crow debuff

Skills

    Suntouched gives Hou Yi a brief immunity to crits after taking a critical hit. This is a strong advantage that lets him box effectively with enemy physical damagers using crit builds.
  • At a basic level, Ricochet serves Hou Yi as a basic wave clear skill. You'll still need to finish off minions with AA until higher levels, though.
  • It has a small charge-up time which makes it advisable to activate slightly before moving into range.
  • The range and damage of Ricochet can be extended by banking it off walls or towers, but it is very difficult to hit enemies at any extended range.
  • At close quarters, hitting enemies with both the basic shot and a bounce is possible; just line up a wall or tower behind them.
  • If an enemy has Mark of the Golden Crow, they will be briefly stunned by Ricochet, which is useful for stopping runners or shutting down damage in a 1v1.
  • Hou Yi's best damage ability. Side benefits (CC) of his other skills chain off of Mark of the Golden Crow.
  • Deals increasing damage to wounded opponents, making Hoy Yi deadly 1v1.
  • Long duration.
  • Uses a ground target, and does not fire if you don't have an enemy highlighted.
  • Only affects a single target.
  • Reveals invisible enemies, which is extremely useful against Loki and Ao Kuang.
  • Divebomb isn't a great escape skill due to slow movement speed, but it does allow
  • Hou Yi to avoid damage for several seconds.
  • Does not clear walls or other obstacles.
  • Secondary knockback effect can push enemies with Mark of the Golden Crow under towers or into friendly ganks.
  • Vulnerable to Awilix's Gravity Bomb.
  • Sunbreaker delivers a lot of damage, but delivers it over time; therefore it is best used on enemies under CC effects.
  • Quick fire time, but slight delay before it hits.
  • Can use autoattacks while suns are falling to increase daamge to enemies.
  • Can cast over yourself to deter enemies attacking you at close range.

Items

Hou Yi has poor attack speed; therefore this build uses several items to boost his attack speed. Because he has good base damage, it focuses less on damage stack items.

Hastened Fatalis is a somewhat unusual item for a hunter, but it benefits Hou Yi by allowing him to keep debuffed enemies in range, and helps him escape from ganks and tough enemy guardians.

For build order, I like to completely build Warrior Tabi first, followed by The Executioner. This gives Hou Yi a good foundation in movement and attack speed. After that, I build Rage and Hastened Fatalis concurrently, continuing to increase his movement speed, attack speed and damage potential.

After that, if all is going well, I like Deathbringer to improve damage and crit potential. landing just one good crit to an enemy with Mark of the Golden Crow sets them at a big disadvantage due to the increasing damage they will take for every 10% of missing health. However, depending on the situation, other options may be desirable - Hou Yi's crit immunity helps him against physical damagers, but not magical ones, so a good item like Runic Shield can be useful for going toe-to-toe with them. I also favor Brawler's Beatstick for its strong flat penetration and usefulness against lifesteal builds and enemies healers like Hercules, Hel, and Chang'e (though it feels just wrong killing Chang'e).

Qin's Sai is a very strong item for Hou Yi. It can work well in conjunction with his items, or in the later game I often like to sell back The Executioner to get it. I choose not to build it earlier as it is expensive, and not as useful in the early game as in the later-game godfights.

For active items, Beads are a solid pick if the enemy has any strong CC abilities. Picking up either Weakening Curse or Enfeebling Curse is also a strong option to improve your ability to kill secure (or drop the debuff to run from a gank). Sprint helps if you are getting into bad situations frequently.

Skill Sequence

After unlocking each skill, I favor building an additional rank or two in Ricochet to begin with, as it helps with wave clear.

After that, Mark of the Golden Crow becomes the top priority as it offers him the strongest benefits - revealing invisible enemies, offering a penetration bonus, increasing the amount of damage injured enemies take.

Divebomb is a lower priority, as adding ranks in it does not increase in duration or decrease cooldown time, and in most cases you won't be using it for the damage.

Sunbreaker is solid for its teamfight potential, and worth investing in at every opportunity.

Team Work

Hou Yi's strong 1v1 potential makes him strong in lane, and also in the jungle. His ability to knockback enemies with Divebomb lets him set up enemies in an ambush scenario. Sunbreaker is a powerful addition to any teamfight if launched at the right time - and timing is critical due to the slight delay before the suns start falling.

Like most hunters/ADCs, Hou Yi benefits strongly from good teamwork with a guardian in a shared lane; he particularly does well with gods with a strong CC pull like Ares or Hades since they synergize well with the DoT from his Sunbreaker ability. Wall/stun effects from guardians like Ymir and Cabrakan also work well.

Summary

Hou Yi is a very strong new addition to the Smite line-up. He takes some time and experimentation to use well; my choice reflected in this build guide is to compensate for his weaknesses (poor attack speed and escape ability) while optimizing his already strong single-target hunting abilities.

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1
peetduck | January 27, 2016 1:39pm
Thank you so much for the guide! =)
1
Rinorim (5) | September 16, 2015 7:16am
This guide is pretty nice, but I don't like your random level ups in Divebomb;

Take those out, and your guide is solid.
1
StaatS 5 | September 12, 2015 1:39am
I like this build it works well for the way I like to play.
1
Warman266 | August 19, 2015 10:21am
This build is fire tier 2 boots 3/3 pots and beads ez first blood everytime
1
Deathstroke11 | August 5, 2015 4:22am
Great Guide, but, sylvanus would be a good support for Hou Yi?
1
Zues132 (1) | May 12, 2015 11:01am
Very Great guide.You told need everything I needed to know as I have bought Hou Yi the first day he came out But only used him 3 times. THANKS FOR THIS GREAT BUILD AND GUIDE
1
warriorkyle | February 12, 2015 11:16am
This guide is brilliant for shredding through those pesky supports its a brilliant guide when paired with gem or sylvanus when playing in a duo lane one thing i like to switch up is fatalis for death bringer right away but it is just prefrence
1
Pyrolisfer | January 21, 2015 12:38pm
Nice guide!
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