diff --git a/.github/workflows/ci.yml b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
index af8061f7..f1f9e6cc 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/ci.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/ci.yml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ on:
   push:
     branches:
       - master
-      - ?.?*  # matches to backport branches, e.g. 3.6
+      - ?.?*  # matches to backport branches, e.g. 3.9
     tags: [ 'v*' ]
   pull_request:
     branches:
@@ -65,10 +65,9 @@ jobs:
 
   test:
     name: Test
-    needs: lint
     strategy:
       matrix:
-        pyver: ['3.6', '3.7', '3.8', '3.9', '3.10']
+        pyver: ['3.7', '3.8', '3.9', '3.10']
         no-extensions: ['', 'Y']
         os: [ubuntu, macos, windows]
         exclude:
@@ -77,7 +76,7 @@ jobs:
           - os: windows
             no-extensions: 'Y'
         include:
-          - pyver: pypy3
+          - pyver: pypy-3.8
             no-extensions: 'Y'
             os: ubuntu
       fail-fast: false
@@ -131,10 +130,21 @@ jobs:
         flags: unit
         fail_ci_if_error: false
 
+  test-summary:
+    name: Tests status
+    if: always()
+    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
+    needs: [lint, test]
+    steps:
+    - name: Decide whether the needed jobs succeeded or failed
+      uses: re-actors/alls-green@release/v1
+      with:
+        jobs: ${{ toJSON(needs) }}
+
   pre-deploy:
     name: Pre-Deploy
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
-    needs: test
+    needs: test-summary
     # Run only on pushing a tag
     if: github.event_name == 'push' && contains(github.ref, 'refs/tags/')
     steps:
diff --git a/CHANGES/672.removal b/CHANGES/672.removal
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..825500d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/CHANGES/672.removal
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Dropped Python 3.6 support.
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index c53d3395..6a376613 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -5,10 +5,6 @@
 
 from setuptools import Extension, setup
 
-if sys.version_info < (3, 5):
-    raise RuntimeError("yarl 1.4+ requires Python 3.5+")
-
-
 NO_EXTENSIONS = bool(os.environ.get("YARL_NO_EXTENSIONS"))  # type: bool
 
 if sys.implementation.name != "cpython":
@@ -53,7 +49,6 @@ def read(name):
         "Intended Audience :: Developers",
         "Programming Language :: Python",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3",
-        "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.6",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.7",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.8",
         "Programming Language :: Python :: 3.9",
@@ -66,7 +61,7 @@ def read(name):
     license="Apache 2",
     packages=["yarl"],
     install_requires=install_requires,
-    python_requires=">=3.6",
+    python_requires=">=3.7",
     include_package_data=True,
     exclude_package_data={"": ["*.c"]},
 )
diff --git a/yarl/_url.py b/yarl/_url.py
index c913676e..5985c3ae 100644
--- a/yarl/_url.py
+++ b/yarl/_url.py
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 import functools
 import math
-import sys
 import warnings
 from collections.abc import Mapping, Sequence
 from ipaddress import ip_address
@@ -706,55 +705,27 @@ def _normalize_path(cls, path):
 
         return "/".join(resolved_path)
 
-    if sys.version_info >= (3, 7):
-
-        @classmethod
-        def _encode_host(cls, host, human=False):
-            try:
-                ip, sep, zone = host.partition("%")
-                ip = ip_address(ip)
-            except ValueError:
-                host = host.lower()
-                # IDNA encoding is slow,
-                # skip it for ASCII-only strings
-                # Don't move the check into _idna_encode() helper
-                # to reduce the cache size
-                if human or host.isascii():
-                    return host
-                host = _idna_encode(host)
-            else:
-                host = ip.compressed
-                if sep:
-                    host += "%" + zone
-                if ip.version == 6:
-                    host = "[" + host + "]"
-            return host
-
-    else:
-        # work around for missing str.isascii() in Python <= 3.6
-        @classmethod
-        def _encode_host(cls, host, human=False):
-            try:
-                ip, sep, zone = host.partition("%")
-                ip = ip_address(ip)
-            except ValueError:
-                host = host.lower()
-                if human:
-                    return host
-
-                for char in host:
-                    if char > "\x7f":
-                        break
-                else:
-                    return host
-                host = _idna_encode(host)
-            else:
-                host = ip.compressed
-                if sep:
-                    host += "%" + zone
-                if ip.version == 6:
-                    host = "[" + host + "]"
-            return host
+    @classmethod
+    def _encode_host(cls, host, human=False):
+        try:
+            ip, sep, zone = host.partition("%")
+            ip = ip_address(ip)
+        except ValueError:
+            host = host.lower()
+            # IDNA encoding is slow,
+            # skip it for ASCII-only strings
+            # Don't move the check into _idna_encode() helper
+            # to reduce the cache size
+            if human or host.isascii():
+                return host
+            host = _idna_encode(host)
+        else:
+            host = ip.compressed
+            if sep:
+                host += "%" + zone
+            if ip.version == 6:
+                host = "[" + host + "]"
+        return host
 
     @classmethod
     def _make_netloc(