Yi Sun-shin is a marksman themed around a naval commander, known for a kit that revolves around marking enemies and ricocheting damage between targets rather than the straightforward single-target auto-attacking most marksmen rely on. He appeals to players who like a marksman with more active decision-making baked into the kit — choosing when to mark, when to dash in, and how to position for his ultimate — rather than one that mostly just farms and right-clicks. His naval, ranged-warfare identity also makes him one of the more thematically distinct marksmen in the game.
Role and playstyle
Yi Sun-shin is played in the gold lane like most marksmen, farming during the early game before becoming a core damage source in the late game. What sets him apart is a kit built around applying a mark to enemies and then using an ability that bounces between marked targets, letting him threaten multiple enemies at once rather than being limited to whichever hero he’s currently auto-attacking. He also has a dash that helps with both repositioning and closing distance to apply his mark, giving him more mobility than most traditional marksmen.
Strengths
Yi Sun-shin’s biggest strength is his ability to threaten multiple targets simultaneously through his ricochet mechanic, which makes him unusually good in skirmishes involving several enemy heroes rather than a clean 1v1. His mobility also gives him more flexibility in positioning than many marksmen, letting him reposition mid-fight rather than being locked into a single spot once a fight starts. This combination makes him a strong pick in messier, more chaotic team fights.
Weaknesses
That same active kit means Yi Sun-shin has more mechanical overhead than simpler marksmen, and players who don’t manage his mark and mobility tools well get noticeably less value out of him. He’s also still a marksman at heart, meaning he remains vulnerable to burst damage and crowd control if caught out of position before he can use his dash. Against teams that can quickly shut down his mobility, he loses much of what separates him from a standard auto-attacking carry.
Build direction
Yi Sun-shin’s itemization follows a mostly standard marksman path, prioritizing physical damage and attack speed to maximize both his auto-attacks and his ricochet ability. Early items typically emphasize sustain and farming efficiency, with the build shifting toward critical-strike and penetration-oriented items in the late game to make the most of his multi-target damage potential. Defensive items are worth adapting in when the enemy has strong dive potential, since his kit doesn’t offer much built-in survivability of its own.