How to play Yoru in VALORANT

Meet VALORANT‘s favorite bad boy agent, Yoru.

He’s got a ton of style, plenty of confidence, and can be deadly in the right hands for someone climbing the ranks from Iron all the way to Radiant. But he has a pretty complicated kit that will take some getting used to.

Even though Yoru is classified as a duelist, he can play a handful of different roles for his team with the various utility he has at his disposal. If you like running circles around your enemies, for example, he has a bunch of different ways to teleport and fake out opponents so they don’t know where to expect the next attack. With the number of tools available, however, it’s easy to get confused about where to best use your abilities for certain situations.

Here are some useful ways to maximize your efficiency and be the best riftwalker you can be.

How to use Fakeout (C)

Yoru has the unique ability to send out a clone of himself to fool enemies into engaging, only for the copy to explode in a blinding flash when hit. He can also fire out the clone immediately or set down an activatable echo that will send out a clone when triggered. The clone can be easily identified, though, since it doesn’t turn or walk in different directions once thrown out.

This ability can be used in a few ways, like being the point man when trying to take a site over on offense or retaking a site that has been lost on defense. By sending out the clone into the site first, an enemy player’s first instinct will be to fire immediately, giving you information on their location on top of flashing them.

But you might want to pair the clone with other abilities because if a lone copy walks onto the site, it’ll be easy for opposing players to tell if it’s the real deal or not if they aren’t under more pressure. You can also pretend to be a clone by walking in a straight line onto the site, especially if you’ve used the clone in previous rounds, since enemies will hesitate to shoot in fear that you are a copy.

Additionally, Fakeout can be used to feint an attack on a site by emulating the footsteps of a player. The enemy team will need to think twice about committing too many members to rotating since they’ll have to figure out if it’s an actual enemy preparing to jump out or Yoru’s clone.

How to use Blindside (Q)

Blindside is a flashbang-like ability that winds up once it hits a solid surface in the game. It can only bounce once and will blind any players for 1.5 seconds. This ability is really useful when trying to enter a site or outplay an opponent in a gunfight. Players can find some pretty unique bounce angles that can take some enemies by surprise and can force them to look away, leaving them vulnerable to a swing.

The flash might take some getting used to since it does require a bounce to activate. As a result, players will need to be careful where they throw out Blindside or else they might end up flashing their own teammates.

Gatecrash (E)

One of Yoru’s unique abilities is that he can toss down an activatable tether that he can either send out to move forward or place it on his current location. He can then activate the tether to teleport to wherever the ability is or use the ability to fake the teleport.

This is the prime tool that Yoru players can use to bamboozle the enemy team since it’ll make any enemy second guess where he could be at a moment’s notice. If you aim correctly, you can have a perfect gateway to a flank by tossing the tether all the way behind enemy lines. Enemies must now keep tabs on the Gatecrash marker, while also paying attention to the frontlines.

Yoru can also pull off some incredible fake plays with this ability. For example, he can pretend to teleport away to bait out enemies from hiding or draw the attention of enemy players to one site then teleport back to the opposite site for a free spike plant. The possibilities are endless with Gatecrash, and in combination with his other abilities, can add to a perfect mixture of trickery and outplay potential.

Dimensional Drift (X)

Yoru’s ultimate ability, Dimensional Drift, is a great way to not only scout out opponent and utility locations but can also be used as a deadly flanking tool and repositioning ability during skirmishes.

When Yoru activates his ultimate, he dons a special mask that allows him to slip between dimensions. As a result, he can’t be seen or affected by enemies, but he can’t fire or use abilities as well. Even still, this ultimate can be used to give teammates key information on enemy tactics, while also allowing Yoru time to find a hidden spot to surprise opponents from angles they’d never expect.