It’s been over a year since one of the most underused agents in VALORANT underwent a massive rework, but even that hasn’t pulled Yoru out of the hole he’s been in since his release.
In competitive play, across every rank tier except for Iron, Yoru sits in the bottom three of all agents when it comes to overall pick rate, according to data from blitz.gg. Only agents like Harbor, Neon, and Astra sit below him within any rank tier except Iron.
His highest rate in any individual rank is in Iron 1, where he has a 6.4-percent rating and is the fifth most picked agent. But that ranking among agents and that pick rate gets lower and lower as the ranks go up, and while he’s not technically the least picked agent in any rank, he’s overall the second least picked agent in ranked behind only Harbor.
Whereas Harbor’s place is more understandable given how new he still is and the shortcomings of his kit as it relates to lacking offensive firepower, Yoru’s place in the very bottom when it comes to ranked relevancy almost a full year after his rework is concerning.
The Yoru rework was promised to players long before it was finally implemented during Patch 4.04, at the start of March 2022. The fake footsteps of Fakeout were replaced with a complete running decoy, one that follows a straight path that blind enemies who destroy it. Gatecrash received an extra charge and the ability to fake it, had its cooldown charge refresh removed, and received a handful of other buffs. The Dimensional Drift ultimate was buffed to be longer, gave the ability to cast other abilities while active, and Yoru could no longer be revealed to enemies while casting.
Even with one of the longest flashes in the game and abilities that can teleport you behind enemy lines, he’s not as disruptive compared to other duelists and he can’t create space the other agents in this category can. He’s good at watching lurks and selling fakes, but that’s not what a duelist is supposed to do.
Perhaps another rework is necessary, even one more drastic that completely changes his kit.
