What’s that? A control mage that deals both burst and sustained damage, you say? Luo Yi is exactly that. Here’s everything you need to know to get you started playing the Yin-yang Geomancer. 

Overview

Luo Yi is a powerful mage with excellent range, good aoe crowd control, and a strong semi global presence around the map. This mage was actually given for free during the 515 event back in May of 2020. If you didn’t get her by then, don’t worry, you can still purchase her in the shop. That said, this mage is one of the best carries in the game. She has great burst damage while also dishing out large amounts of crowd control over a wide area. This allows her to be effective at zoning enemies and creating favorable situations for herself and her team. With enough items, Luo Yi can turn into a late game core that can be the primary damage dealer for your team. 

Despite everything she has going for her, Luo Yi is not without weaknesses. Her biggest strength is her range so it only makes sense that her biggest weakness would be heroes getting close to her. There are so many burst assassins in the current meta that Luo Yi would be spending the entire game with a target on her back. Additionally, her lack of mobility doesn’t exactly bode well for her when against speedy heroes. Overall, if you can learn to play around her limitations, Luo Yi is a very solid mage. Under the right hands, this hero can be super oppressive against the enemy team and can single handedly force a win.

Abilities

Luo Yi has great abilities with excellent range and a wide area of effect. Her kit is simple enough that you can get away with just throwing out her abilities and hoping it lands on an enemy. Her combos are pretty easy as well and aren’t all that difficult to land.

Passive – Duality

Luo Yi’s skills create marks of “Yin” and “Yang” on the battlefield, each lasting up to 6 seconds.

Yin-Yang Reaction happens whenever two bearers of opposite marks come close to each other, causing 365 (+20 × Hero Level) (+190% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage and stunning them for 1 second.

Each time Luo Yi applies a new mark to a mark bearer, she gains 300 (+10 × Hero Level) (+150% Total Magic Power) Shield (capped at 3 stacks) and 30% of movement speed (decreases rapidly in 2 seconds).

This passive is super underrated and underutilized by a lot of players. We’ve mentioned before that you can get away with simply throwing Luo Yi’s abilities around without regards to its effects apart from dealing damage. Duality is a big reason why you can do this. Understanding how the Yin Yang mechanic works, however, will unlock Luo Yi’s inner potential to be a very disruptive late game carry.

First Skill – Dispersion

Luo Yi casts the energy of Yang/Yin in a designated direction, dispersing upon the first hit and dealing 210–410 (+120% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage to the target and enemies behind in a fan-shaped area, applying Mark of “Yang”/”Yin” to enemy Heroes hit.

Luo Yi gains a stack of Dispersion every 8 seconds, up to 4 stacks. She gains an additional 1 stack each time Yin-Yang Reaction happens. Shift the state of the skill upon skill cast.

This is Luo Yi’s primary damaging ability. Dispersion throws out a sphere that will disperse upon hitting the first target, dealing damage to the first target and any enemies behind them in a fan shaped area. You’ll be using this to poke and trade against your lane opponent. This is also what you’ll be using to proc the Yin Yang Effects from Duality. After every cast, you’ll alternate between Yin and Yang marks from this ability.

Second Skill – Rotation

Luo Yi summons “Fire of Yang”/”Aqua of Yin” in a designated area, dealing 250–350 (+50% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage on targets hit and slowing them by 60% for 0.5 seconds.

“Fire of Yang”/”Aqua of Yin” lasts for 6 seconds, dealing 50–70 (+10% Total Magic Power) Magic Damage every 0.7 seconds, causing continuous Yin-Yang Reaction with nearby units. Shift the state of the skill upon skill cast.

This is Luo Yi’s best source of zoning and crowd control. Like with Dispersion, Rotation alternates between Yin and Yang. Knowing how to chain your combos properly can yield magnificent results and amazing outplays with regards to the bonus crowd control of the Yin Yang Reaction.

Ultimate – Diversion

Passive: CD of every Luo Yi’s skill reduced by 6%.

Active: Luo Yi creates a teleport circle around herself. After 3 seconds, she sends any allied heroes in the circle to another location on the battlefield.(within 20 range)

At first glance, Diversion may feel useless since it doesn’t really deal damage. However, if you look beyond its seemingly pointless nature, you’ll find an ability that has immense potential. The key to Diversion is to use it creatively. You won’t feel the potential from this ability with the first few uses. After a few tries, you’ll get a feel for its teleportation and you’ll realize how good Luo Yi will be in securing leads for other lanes. This ability is not just good for roaming, it’s also good for surprising enemies whenever they group up to try and get an objective. Additionally, it can be a quick getaway in clutch situations.

Builds

When it comes to items, your focus on Luo Yi is to buy equipment that can increase her Magic Power while also enhancing her sustained damage. Dispersion lets her deal burst damage, while Rotation lets her deal lingering damage over time. Building items that increase the effectiveness of these abilities will make Luo Yi a much stronger hero. Out of all the items, there are three we consider core on this hero. These core items are Genius Wand, Lightning Truncheon, and Holy Crystal.

• Genius Wand

+75 Magic Power

+5% Movement SPD

Unique Passive: +10 Magic PEN

Unique Passive – Magic: Dealing damage to enemy heroes will reduce their Magic Defense by 2~9 for 2s (the Defense reduction scales with level). Stacks up to 3 times.

• Lightning Truncheon

+75 Magic Power

+300 Mana

+10% CD Reduction

Unique Passive – Resonate: Every 6s, the next skill echoes, dealing 20-1000 Magic Damage (scales with the hero’s Max Mana) to up to 3 enemies.

• Holy Crystal

+100 Magic Power

Unique Passive – Mystery: Increases Magic Power by 21%~35% (Scales with level).

With these items, Luo Yi instantly becomes a strong damage dealing mage that provides a lot of utility to her team thanks to her crowd control and the teleport from her ultimate. 

Useful Tips

1. For emblems, always go with the Mage set and take Magic Worship as your talent. This will let you deal additional damage over time whenever you hit enemies with your spells.
2. For your battle spell, take either Purify or Flicker. Since you’ll be dealing damage from a safe distance, Purify might actually work as the better battle spell. This will allow you to remove all crowd control effects that hit you while also giving you a bit of bonus movement speed. If you’d rather have mobility, go with Flicker instead.
3. Luo Yi is countered by heroes that can easily get close to her. Heroes like Gusion, Karina, Lancelot, Harith, and Fanny are some of her strongest counters. Try to rethink your overall gameplan when you see these heroes on the enemy team.

So there you have it! That’s everything you need to know on how to play Luo Yi in Mobile Legends. Be sure to check back with us again for more awesome guides on your favorite games. Have fun!