Yoru still isn’t as strong as Riot would like. The Valorant developers are looking at buffing the Japanese duelist yet again in Episode 3, giving him the ‘Viper treatment’ to try and up both his play and win rates.
Yoru has struggled since his release in Valorant. The Japanese duelist, released in Episode 2 Act 1, hasn’t ever resonated with players. His kit is too weak compared to other Agents, and he doesn’t really feel that “lurker” role Riot wanted him to.
It shows in the numbers too. Yoru currently has the lowest win rate of all Valorant Agents, according to stats site Valorbuff. The Japanese duelist is floundering at the bottom with a 42.5% win rate on patch 2.09 in competitive queues.
Casuals also haven’t taken a liking to Yoru, with only a marginally better 45.2% win rate.
To try and cure Yoru’s woes once and for all, Riot are looking at a new set of buffs in Valorant Episode 3.
“We’re exploring an increase to the power within his unique playspace. One of the big opportunities here is to make ‘Fakeout’ a more impactful ability,” character producer John Goscicki said in a May 28 dev blog.
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His Fakeout ability has been widely criticized as “useless” by players, as it’s easy to tell which footsteps are Yoru’s, and which are just his fake ones.
How Riot intends to change that remains to be seen, but if that fails, Riot might be forced to give him the full “Viper treatment”.
“Viper’s recent balance was a test of a new approach where we go all-in with Agents that are struggling,” Goscicki said.
“[You] should be able to appreciate and succeed within the unique playspace that each Agent occupies, and this approach for Viper is a nudge in that direction.”
Riot are also soon implementing changes for Breach and Skye to reduce the power of flashes in Valorant. Astra’s high-level “play patterns” are being nerfed too. All these changes should ship sometime in Valorant Episode 3.
