Cai Yan | Honor of Kings Hero Guide
Overview
Cai Yan is a hero in Honor of Kings.
Class: サポート.
Recommended position: ローム.
Lanes: ローム.
Features
Role: Support, Buff Support. Playstyle: Team buff/Healing. Difficulty: Normal
Key stats
Win rate: 50.8%
Pick rate: 1.1%
Ban rate: 1.6%
Kills: 0.8
Damage: 28104
Assists: 12.0
How to play
Cai Yan is a Support who can heal multiple allies at once. Landing the combo Skill 2 → Skill 1 → Ultimate makes her a reliable support presence in team fights.
Her Passive raises her Movement Speed and heals her HP when she takes damage. Skill 1 raises Movement Speed while healing allies and minions. Skill 2 fires a sound wave that bounces between enemies and Stuns them. The Ultimate heals a large amount of HP to one nearby ally and also raises that ally's Physical Defense and Magic Defense.
For leveling skills, take Skill 2 first, then prioritize the Ultimate; when you can't take the Ultimate, prioritize Skill 1.
Advanced tips
When playing Cai Yan, it's common to feel like you're short on Mana, can't control enemies, or can't heal enough. Mana trouble usually comes from leaning too hard on skills and forgetting the Passive, or from poor item choices, so get a solid grasp of her skills and gear. Failing to control enemies comes from not understanding how Skill 2 works. Falling short on healing comes from bad positioning or combos, or from picking her without thinking about your team composition.
Cai Yan's defensive core is Skill 1's area healing and the Ultimate's high single-target healing plus its Physical Defense and Magic Defense bonus. To save Mana, when you want to keep your HP topped up, trigger the Passive on minions or monsters to heal instead of spending too much Mana on skills. For items, build endurance with the Holy Grail and Augur's Word, and raise your healing amount with Vans' Blessing.
To put out damage, take advantage of the fact that Skill 2's bounces deal area damage. Landing it where enemies are clustered lets you add burst damage, Crowd Control, and damage all at once. To maximize Crowd Control, aim Skill 2 at the edge of the enemy group to increase the number of bounces, or use minions and monsters as bounce targets. To boost your healing, when you heal allies with Skill 1, heal the current minion wave at the same time so you gain an advantage in the lane push afterward. Use the Ultimate when your team's main carry has high survivability, so its effect isn't spread thin and wasted.
When your team is ahead, use Skill 2's damage and Crowd Control to create room for your team to deal damage, and heal with Skill 1 to widen the HP gap even further. In team fights, interrupt the enemy's damage with Skill 2 and quickly heal allies with Skill 1 and the Ultimate. Combined with the Passive, this makes it easier to endure the damage you take in team fights. When you're being chased, heal with Skill 1 and the Ultimate while escaping with the acceleration from Skill 1 and the Passive. If an enemy Assassin targets your main carry, use the Ultimate and Skill 1 to grant Physical Defense, Magic Defense, and heavy healing to keep your carry alive, and control the Assassin with Skill 2 to counterattack.
Pairing with damage dealers like Yuhuan or Chano, or tanks like Lian Po, lets Cai Yan's healing boost their survivability and damage absorption. Pairing with other healers like Dr Bian or Consort Yu makes it easier to keep your allies at full HP. On the other hand, high-damage heroes like Gan & Mo or Li Bai will kill you before Cai Yan can put out her healing. Heroes with healing-reduction effects, like Musashi or Nakoruru, can shut down Cai Yan's healing. As the enemy, you can reduce Cai Yan's healing on her allies by building Blazing Cape for melee, Venomous Staff for magic, or Mortal Punisher for physical.
Skills (level values & ratios)
Passive: Can't Touch This：When taking damage, her Move Speed increases by 35% for 2 seconds (decaying over time). After 2 seconds, she restores 250 (250 + 50% of Magic ATK) of her own HP every second.
"Can't Touch This" can activate once every 10 seconds. Move Speed Up 35%〜70% / HP Restore 250〜530
Skill 1: Healing Hymn：Plays a tune, increasing Move Speed by 40%. At the same time, for 3 seconds, restores 60 (60 + 20% of Magic ATK) HP to allied heroes every 0.5 seconds (effect halved on non-hero units). CD (s) 15→12 / Base Heal 60→120 / MP Cost 75
Skill 2: Earworm：Fires a ricocheting sound wave. Each time it ricochets to an enemy, it deals 270 (270 + 40% of Magic ATK) Magic Damage and stuns for 0.75 seconds.
The sound wave ricochets off terrain and obstacles up to 8 targets, 2 times. During and on the second ricochet, the damage and stun dealt to the same target are doubled compared to the first. CD (s) 10→8 / Base Damage 270→540 / MP Cost 50
Ultimate: Tune of Tranquility：Plays music, restoring 90 (90 + 45% of Magic ATK) HP every 0.5 seconds to the lowest-HP allied hero in range for 5 seconds, and increasing their Physical and Magic DEF by 200 (200 + 30% of Magic ATK). Physical/Magic DEF Increase 200→400 / HP Restore 90→180 / CD (s) 60 / MP Cost 120
Cai Yan — Early / Mid / Late Game
Early game: In the early game you can repeatedly trigger the Passive to create chances to escape from near-death. With high durability and being hard to kill, you can play while supporting your allies.
Mid game: Skill 2's two consecutive CC hits are reliable, letting you make an enemy sustained-damage hero whiff their skills or throw off their casts. With healing, Skill 2's Stun, and the Ultimate's two-sided defense, you can extend your allies' survival time even when they are targeted by an enemy Assassin.
Late game: In teamfights, the Ultimate's healing and two-sided defense buff greatly support your allies' survival, and Skill 2's reliable CC lets your team fight in a good damage environment. Stay in the backline distributing healing and defense to prevent your team from getting wiped quickly.