Riot Games just revealed more details about the new-and-improved Yoru, and even announced the release date for the rework. According to the official blog post, VALORANT players can expect to see Yoru equipped with his new abilities by the time Episode 4 Act II rolls out. If no delays happen, the Yoru update will be shipped by March 2 or March 3, 2022.
Edited February 28, 2022: Updated details, included gameplay clip and commentary.
Gameplay of Yoru featuring his reworked kit was posted in this Tweet:
In the clip, a potential use for the new Fake Teleport on Yoru's Gatecrash was used. Being a sound-intensive game, players will certainly be double guessing if the teleport was fake or not, and Yoru can take advantage of that uncertainty. The gameplay clip also demonstrates the use of Yoru's newfound freedom during his Ultimate, Dimensional Drift. While in the ulted state, Yoru can now cast his abilities, including the flashbang. The vision penalty is also no longer present, giving him more agency. Unfortunately, the new Fakeout was not shown in the clip.
For more details on the changes, read on:
Fakeout
Fakeout used to only mimic Yoru's footsteps, and didn't have any visual effects aside from some shadowy steps. With the new Yoru, Fakeout now appropriately produces a full copy of Yoru. The copy runs forward, and when damaged, explodes and debuffs enemies.
Aside from this, when this copy is shot, it faces the direction of the person that shot it and flashes that direction in a cone.
Riot has also acknowledged that in the middle of a VALORANT game, it's easy to confuse your allies too, when playing with the new Fakeout. If you're playing with a Yoru on your team, you will be able to tell that it is the Fakeout copy and not the real one, due to the striking visuals:
If you're playing against him, you will see a splitting image of Yoru.
VALORANT devs also pointed out that communicating that something is about to happen when the Yoru clone is about to explode is important, and are experimenting with different visuals to inform players of this.
Gatecrash
On the previous Yoru Rework blog post by the VALORANT devs, they revealed that it will be possible to “Fake Teleport,” playing the sound cue of Yoru's teleport but not pushing through with it. This is still on the table for Yoru's Gatecrash, and the devs have added a little “puddle” left on the ground after a fake teleport, for more thematic consistency.
Dimensional Drift
Yoru's Ultimate ability, Dimensional Drift, received many 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.
The VALORANT devs had a few words to share about these changes:
“When looking at updating Yoru’s ultimate, we wanted to fix some of the unintended play patterns that have shown up in-game, and instead give Yoru the tools to gain ground on enemies using stealth and initiate the rest of his team to follow.
Instead, Yoru can now see the battlefield unhindered, allowing him to enter enemy zones, take in the state of the map and mastermind a play— based around Yoru’s change that allows abilities during his ult.”
Note that all of these are works-in-progress and might be different from the changes we get on release.
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