Yoru came out along with Episode 2, Act 1, and was supposed to be "the Sentinel Agents' nightmare". Well, as it turned out, that's not the case at all. However, Riot has some plans to improve him!
Sorry to all Yoru mains, but this is a fact – he was the least picked Agent for the last 4 Acts, with less than 5% pick rate. And it's not that he's not meta – he's just so bad and there's not one reason to play him (other than trolling). We understand that his abilities may be cool and flashy for some, but they are not useful in any way. But that's about to change!
Riot is planning a lot more Agent balance changes this year, and right now, their priority is to make Yoru not so terrible by reworking him. And it's fantastic because it's like we're getting a new Agent at this point, right? Let's dig a little deeper into the details of their plan and see how Yoru will change in the following update.
Yoru Rework: All Abilities
Dimensional Drift (X, Ultimate Ability)
Here's the list of all Dimensional Drift changes:
- Yoru is no longer revealed to enemies- Yoru is able to cast all utility while in Dimensional Drift- Enemies can hear Yoru’s footsteps- Nearsighted is removed- Unequip delay time is increased slightly- Cast delay added when casting Dimensional Drift, preventing the invulnerability frame on cast.(source)
One thing that seems really powerful is that you can flash while using Ult. Even though enemies can hear your footsteps, you can almost always cast a perfect flash that they will not be able to counter. This is a huge buff – although, why was even Yoru visible while using his Ult in the first place?
Gatecrash (E, Signature Ability)
With Gatecrash, we’ve lowered the range at which enemies can see and hear the tether on the map while it travels. We’ve also increased its travel speed by 20%. In addition to these quality of life improvements, Yoru can now activate the tether from a distance to trigger a fake teleport, playing the same audio and visuals as if he were teleporting. (source)
From now on, Yoru's Gatecrash teleports will be faster, less audible and visible, in addition to being much more versatile thanks to the ability to release a fake teleport.
It's already a big buff for Yoru, and if supported with one more ability that we can use for mind games and throw two decoys simultaneously, this could make him one of the most fun Agents to play. We're not convinced how powerful it will be and if it's actually better than what other Duelist Agents offer, but it's definitely much more "fun" in that form.
Fakeout (C Ability)
Fakeout is now a full copy of Yoru, that runs forward, and when damaged, explodes and debuffs enemies.(source)
So, Yoru is getting his own Raze's Boombot or Skye's Trailblazer, but maybe a little better, especially that it also works as a flashbang. However, Yoru's carbon copy will not force our opponents to go down with their crosshair, and that (believe it or not) makes this ability much worse.
As an ally of Yoru, you will be to tell that it is his copy, and not the real Yoru. This is so that Yoru is not accidentally confusing his allies between who the real one is, and who the copy is.As an enemy of Yoru, they will see an identical copy of Yoru(source)
Plus, theoretically, the enemy team won't see a difference in Yoru's character model; however, who in their right mind runs forward with a knife in front of their enemies? One thing we love is that we're sure to see plenty of clips where someone manages to bait the enemy team by pretending to be Yoru's carbon copy.
We can undoubtedly say that it's better than the current Fakeout, but how much? I guess we're about to see.
Yoru Rework: Release Date
It is now official that Yoru rework will come to the game along with the Episode 4 Act 2 update on March 1.
What are your thoughts on the upcoming Yoru rework? Will he be able to compete with other Duelist Agents? Be sure to let us know on our Discord, and let's have a little chat about it!