How Valorant devs are planning to buff Yoru in upcoming Act 2 patch

Brad Norton
Valorant Yoru gameplay

After having mostly missed the mark since his Valorant release, Yoru is finally set to receive a number of key changes in the next wave of Chapter 2 updates. Here’s how Riot Games intends to improve the Duelist.

When Yoru was first unveiled at the start of 2021, players were eager to try out the unique Agent. Rather than running out guns blazing, Yoru looked to provide a more stealthy approach to combat.

Despite his exciting introduction, however, the new character quickly fell flat. A month after release and Yoru had the lowest pick-rate of any Agent in Valorant. At just 3.1% in casual play and 2% at the pro level, it became clear that some major buffs were needed.

Riot soon confirmed that changes were indeed on the way, though not before the Stage 1 Masters event wrapped up. With the first major event of 2021 now in the books, Yoru is now safe to receive some drastic changes. Here’s how Riot intends to shake things up moving forward.

Valorant Yoru cinematic
Yoru’s stealth-based kit missed the mark upon arrival, though it’s set for a big overhaul in the near future.

When it comes to Yoru’s kit, one of his more unique abilities is ‘Fakeout.’ This allows him to send out fake footsteps to distract opposing players. For much of the community, this feels like “the weakest ability in the game,” Reddit user ‘emulatorguy076’ explained.

Before long, Valorant Game Designer ‘rycoux’ jumped into the thread, assuring some tweaks are currently in the works. “We have some changes coming very soon,” he said.

“We totally hear your feedback on the power deficit on decoy and will be investigating some changes to that ability.”

While specific details were kept under wraps, Yoru’s Fakeout appears to be just one aspect in a bigger Yoru rework. “It’s not just the decoy,” another player chimed in. “Totally agree,” rycoux responded, hinting at further changes in the pipeline.

While an exact date isn’t yet locked in for the first set of Yoru buffs, we do have a rough idea of when to expect them. With Masters now wrapped up for Stage 1, we’re in store for more drastic updates throughout the “patch 2.06- patch 2.09 window,” fellow Riot dev Coleman ‘Altombre’ Palm said earlier.

Therefore, Yoru will be changing sooner than later. Valorant’s meta could be completely overhauled in the coming weeks if Yoru’s buffs are enough to elevate his pick-rate.

About The Author

Brad Norton is the Australian Managing Editor at Dexerto. He graduated from Swinburne University with a Bachelor’s degree in journalism and has been working full-time in the field for the past six years at the likes of Gamurs Group and now Dexerto. He loves all things single-player gaming (with Uncharted a personal favorite) but has a history on the competitive side having previously run Oceanic esports org Mindfreak. You can contact Brad at brad.norton@dexerto.com