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Valorant’s recent update for Episode 2 introduced new agent Yoru that some might consider being extremely overpowered.
Since its release, Yoru has been considered one of the best agents to look out for defense and offence.
Being a duelist agent, Yoru can burst into action with guns blazing and come out on top without even breaking a sweat. His heavily evasive, flashy, and misleading skills allow Yoru to command an overly aggressive playstyle.
Yoru’s introduction to Valorant
Before Yoru’s release, Riot Games took their fair share of time to tease the upcoming duelist in Valorant. Yoru is the first agent in Valorant who hails from a Japanese background. He was introduced into the game with a few unique sets of skills allowing him to easily outmanoeuvre his opponents no matter what scenario Yoru finds himself in a match of Valorant. Yoru has four different skills, including his ultimate ability. They are -
- Fakeout-
This ability helps Yoru send fake footsteps along a straight line, fooling the enemy and giving off a wrong sense of direction. One can also place the marker in a fixed position at the beginning of the round and activate it later to bait the opponent.
- Blindside-
Much like any other flash ability in Valorant, Yoru’s second ability serves the same purpose of stealing the enemy’s vision for a short duration. The only drawback is the ability to bounce off a surface to execute and cause the flash-bang.
- Gatecrash-
Yoru’s signature skill allows him to either put a portal towards a place or make a portal come to him. Either way, it helps him teleport to the portal within a certain period. This ability is especially very dangerous for attackers when a Yoru player can use this skill. They can use it to jump out of a corner to catch an enemy by surprise and take them down swiftly.
- Dimensional Drift-
This is Yoru’s ultimate ability. It allows him to move into another plane of existence and move around the map without letting the opponent know his whereabouts. This ability is extremely lethal when rotating as a defender or just changing the position to flank from behind as an attacker.
For a better understanding of Yoru’s skills, check out this video:
Yoru’s bizarre pick rate in VCT EU Challengers 1
Despite Yoru’s unmatched potential, there wasn't a single game in EU stage 1 where Yoru was picked. With a staggering 0% pick-rate, it was unclear why the agent suffered such a pick-rate. Even in VCT NA Challengers 1, Yoru had a 1.5% pick-rate with a 0% win-rate.
There are two takes into this matter:
- The time frame of release and tournament
- The time frame of understanding the agent.
Yoru was released in Valorant on January 12 of this year. The EU stage 1 qualifiers started about 3 weeks later from February 7. Given the time frame, it is not enough for any professional team to fully utilize Yoru into their stats this early. The second reason is also valid since 3 weeks is very little time to fully understand which role one can play Yoru and how a professional team can fit it into their roster.
Given the history of a few professional teams in Valorant, it is not unusual for them to pick a relatively new agent. But even such teams avoided picking the agent into their line-up altogether.
Analyst of FunPlus Phoenix (FPX) Erik “d00mbr0s” Sangren addressed the two aforementioned points in an interview.
Additionally, Nikita “d33fo” Sudakov of Gambit Esports and Salin “marqnue” Onaran of Futbolist have shared their opinions on how much impact Yoru’s ultimate can have throughout a match in Valorant.
