Valorant is a team-based, tactical shooter created by Riot Games. The game has an array of unique characters in the Agent pool for players to choose from. Yoru is a later addition to the game with great potential as 'The Rift Walker', allowing him to phase through dimensions.
Here's our guide to playing as Yoru in Valorant.
Read More: Valorant: How Agent Contracts Work
Is Yoru Good in Valorant?
As per Valorant's background and story, Yoru hails from Japan and is known as 'The Rift Walker'. He is more than just another Agent capable of teleporting, and adds yet another unique dimension to the set of Duelists available to play as. He is not available right away, and does need unlocking by players first.
His set of abilities is focused more on outsmarting the opponent than battling them, keeping enemy teams on their toes at all times as they try to cover any angle that Yoru could appear at.
Is Yoru Good for Beginners?
Yoru is the best mixture between Jett, Omen, and Skye. He is a valuable pick to counter Agents like Killjoy, Raze, Brimstone, and Cypher. However, the character is relatively difficult to master, especially because of his diverse abilities.
Regardless, the Rift Walker is undoubtedly the most stealthy Agent in Valorant. He is not ideal for beginners, that's for sure, but anyone who is used to Valorant mechanics or playing as Omen should be able to pick up Yoru quite quickly.
How To Play As Yoru — Abilities & Skills
Here are Yoru's abilities:
Fakeout - Equips an echo that mimics footsteps when activated. Players can use it directly with the fire button or can place it at a spot to activate later.
Gate Crash - Equips to harness a rift tether that allows Yoru to teleport. The fire button sends the tether moving forward, and Alternate Fire places the tether at a spot. Players can activate the tether at any time to teleport.
Blindside - Equips an unstable dimensional fragment from reality that can be used as a one-way pop flash. The flash activates after bouncing on a surface.
Dimensional Shift - Equips a mask that allows Yoru to see between dimensions. The fire button activates the drift into Yoru's dimension. Players can also cancel the Ult midway or teleport to a different location while in using his ultimate.
Yoru's Best Weapons
The best weapons to select for any Agent in Valorant will depend on their role and the player's play style. So if you're aggressively pushing sites with Yoru for entry, then these weapons will be the best choice.
- Ghost
- Stinger
- Spectre
- Phantom
- Ares
In case you are hanging back and adopting a passive play style with Yoru, then work your way around with the following weapons:
- Bulldog
- Guardian
- Vandal
- Odin
- Operator
Tips for Playing Yoru in Valorant
Players need to adapt to Yoru's stealthy play style to master the Agent. For instance, Yoru can use Fakeout to trigger Cypher's traps, Killjoy's bots, and also Raze's Boombot. He is one of the very few Agents in Valorant who is capable of wasting an opponents' ability with ease.
Yoru's set of abilities depend on out-smarting the opponent. It allows players to come up with unexpected plays that are quite fun to watch. By combining his abilities, especially his footsteps, flash, and teleport, Yoru players will be able to easily catch the enemy off-guard and rack up kills if they're lucky. When used effectively, too, Yoru's flashes are a great tool for simply blinding an opponent and acquiring an easy kill.
Peeking with Yoru also has its benefits, as players can then teleport to a different location after spotting an enemy and catch them from an unexpected angle. Similarly, using his fake footsteps to exit a site will always force a reaction from the opponent team. Most players rush in on site to get an easy kill just from hearing the retreating footsteps.
Finally, Yoru's ultimate makes him invulnerable and invisible at once. This helps him to phase through most of the opponent's abilities, including ultimate abilities; Yoru can just activate his ultimate and phase through Brimstone's Orbital Strike or Sova's Hunter's Fury. Players can also cancel Yoru's ultimate midway, and timing this trick properly will catch the enemy off guard.
Alternatively, players can also use Yoru's ultimate to escape sticky situations. A timely Yoru ultimate will catch the opponent off-guard and help the player to escape death, but players need to make sure they're not in the enemy's radius.
There is only one rule of thumb when it comes to Yoru, don't be predictable.!
Yoru's Weaknesses
Skilled players claim that Yoru is the weakest Duelist in the game, and they have a good reason for it. Unlike Jett, Phoenix, or Raze, Yoru's abilities cant damage or kill the opponent; they're simply all about confusing the opponent. Neither does he have self-healing abilities like Reyna.
Yoru's abilities in the game are used for deception and repositioning. He is undoubtedly the fastest Agent to rotate across the map with his gatecrash ability, but that's about it. So, in reality, Yoru is not as strong as most of the Agents in the game, and players have to depend on their raw aim and mindgames during Yoru matches.
Yoru's Gatecrash and his ultimate also makes considerable noise when it's in the opponent's radius, which helps opponents to predict Yoru's moves and kill him easily. Thus, the most effective method to counter an opponent Yoru would be to follow his teleport locations. Often times, players tend to stick to the same line-ups for Gatecrash and flashes, which makes them predictable. With this in mind, as a Yoru player, your most important goal is to not be predictable.
That's all you need to know about playing as and countering Yoru in Valorant. To find who is best for you to play as in Valorant, check out our tier list of all agents here.
This article was updated on 18th November 2021 by Kelsey Raynor.