Riot confirms even more Yoru buffs are coming in Valorant Episode 2

Brad Norton

Despite recent buffs, even more changes for Yoru are in the works with a Valorant dev shedding light on how the Agent will be buffed in future updates.

The fifth Duelist in Valorant hasn’t quite lived up to expectations. Ever since Yoru landed on the live servers, he’s been an extremely niche pick both online and in the highest levels of competition.

After delaying initial buffs for the character, the 2.06 update finally addressed his power. With various improvements to his kit, Riot hoped to make the Agent “more consistent” than ever before.

Despite these recent changes — and even some that went missing from the patch notes — Yoru still isn’t standing out from the pack. As a result, even more changes are in the pipeline to buff Yoru. 

Valorant Yoru gameplay
Yoru hasn’t quite broken into the meta since his release in January.

One key focus for Riot, according to developer ‘rycoux’, is to help distinguish Yoru from other Duelists.

While the likes of Raze and Jett “can use their mobility to get kills in ways that create a bit of chaos,” rycoux wants Yoru to “break the mold.”

“One thing we want to do is continue to push his ability to force enemies to play his mind games,” the dev explained.

Through “deception and misinformation,” Yoru mains should be able to “poke holes” in the defensive setup. The Agent is designed as an entry-fragger like other Duelists. Rather, he’s more of a “lurker duelist.”

“He will always have ways to help with entry but won’t be top of the class. What he lacks in entry, he should get back in his ability to create pressure.”

While no specific ability changes were mentioned, the dev highlighted two areas that won’t be buffed: His weapon equip speed and his audio cues.

There’s no set timeline in mind just yet, at least not one Riot wants to make public for now. However, you can bet on it shipping before Episode 2 wraps up in June.

“The things we’ve been testing lately have been going well,” rycoux added. “I hope we can share them soon.”

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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