Orcs Must Die! Unchained – Yi-Lin Skills Overview Guide

Just a couple days ago, Yi-Lin was added to Orcs Must Die! Unchained as a part of the Wu-Xing Battles update.Yi-Lin is a damage oriented melee hero that utilizes twin hook swords to dish out tons of damage.

If you’re going to be using her then you’re definitely going to need to know what her actual skills are, and we’ve got them lined up right here so you don’t have to launch the game to find out.

Abilities

1. Moon’s Reflection: (Passive) Alternating between abilities grants Yi-Lin a small amount of health and energy, her primary resource for attacking.
2. Stone Lotus: (Primary Attack) A basic, close-range melee strike.
3. Imperial Reach: (Secondary Attack; Cost: 10) A downward strike with extra range that deals extra damage to enemies with lower health.
4. White Tiger Claw: (Cost: 20) A cutting strike that wounds affected enemies. This wound causes DoT in addition to making your primary attacks deal more damage.
5. Tempest Strike: (Cost: 20) Yi-Lin whirls around, slicing enemies and sucking them into a vortex for massive damage. Lasts for 2.2 seconds.
6. Jade Sentinel: (Cost: 00) Switches to Jade Sentinel mode. During Jade Sentinel, Yi-Lin cannot attack or regenerate energy. However, her movement speed is increased by 30% and she only takes 50% damage.

Upgrades

Tier 1

All of the upgrades in tier 1 enhance the Moon’s Reflection passive.

1. Generous Moon: Moon’s Reflection now triggers in a radius around Yi-Lin.
2. Inspiring Moon: Moon’s Reflection energy regeneration is increased by 100%.
3. Healing Moon: Moon’s Reflection health regeneration is increased by 20%.

Tier 2

1. Element of Speed: Jade Sentinel’s movement speed bonus is increased by an additional 15%.
2. Element of Renewal: Every time Moon’s Reflection is triggered, the cooldown for Tempest Strike is reduced by 2s.
3. Element of Surprise: Imperial Reach’s width is increased.

Tier 3

1. Aspect of the Shadow: During Jade Sentinel, all of Yi-Lin’s Aggro is dropped.
2. Aspect of the Lotus: Stone Lotus’ damage buff on bleeding/wounded targets is increased by an additional 15%.
3. Aspect of the Tiger: Stone Lotus now has a 10% chance to execute minions with more than 75% remaining health upon hit.

Tier 4

1. Blessing of Skill: White Tiger Claw’s wounding effect now also decreases enemy movement speed by 30%.
2. Blessing of Power: Each successive strike of Tempest Strike deals 15% more damage. 
3. Blessing of Health: Cooldown: 60– When health falls below 20%, health and energy regen will be increased for 10s.

Yi-Lin has some really interesting builds that allow her to either focus on being defensive or on offensively shredding opposition. But my favorite part about Yi-Lin is her passive, Moon’s Reflection, which encourages you to string moves together. Combining this with the fact that her skills– barring Tempest Strike– don’t have cooldowns truly makes her playstyle feel uniquely action-oriented, which is honestly refreshing.

If you enjoyed this article, then check out our beginner’s guide to Orcs Must Die! Unchained. And if you want to know more about the process behind Yi-Lin’s creation, then you can read this article from the official blog discussing just that.