‘Valorant’ Episode 4 Act 2 update will introduce Yoru rework

Riot Games has revealed its plans for the Valorant Yoru rework as part of the Episode 4 Act 2 update.

In a new blog post from Valorant producer John Gosicki and game designer Ryan Cousart, both developers discussed the Yoru rework for Episode 4 Act 2, breaking down the character’s skills and how the changes will impact the game.

“Our time as of writing this is focused on bringing these changes to life—these always take quite a bit of time!” the post reads. “The loop of creating art to match gameplay, playtest, and iterate based on feedback always takes a bit of time, but ultimately, it’s what leads to Valorant’s consistent, tactical gameplay.”

To start off, the developers touched on Fakeout, Yoru’s ability that currently allows him to directionally mimic the sound of his own footsteps, therefore tricking enemies. With the new rework, Fakeout will now create a full copy of Yoru instead which will run forwards, and when damaged, explode and debuff enemies. A significant change from before.

Additionally, when the copy is created, it will face the direction of the person that fired the shot and flashes towards their position in a conal direction. In order to avoid confusion, Yoru’s teammates will be able to tell that his ability is a copy, while the enemy will see a perfect copy.

“During playtests we found that the copy was effective at disrupting an enemies moment-to-moment gameplay—which is awesome—but not when your team gets confused,” the developer added.

Meanwhile, for Gatecrash, not much has been changed aside from additional art elements to address the “puddle” left on the ground after a fake teleport in order to better understand whether the teleport was real or not.

As for Yoru’s ultimate ability, Dimensional Drift, he will no longer be revealed to enemies and will be able to cast all utility while in the ult. Enemies will still be able to hear Yoru’s footsteps, but Nearsighted has been removed, while the unequip delay time has been increased slightly alongside a delay added when casting Dimensional Drift, preventing the invulnerability frame on cast.

Valorant Episode 4 Act 2 is expected to launch in March.

Elsewhere, a preview of the League Of Legends patch 12.4 notes have been revealed, confirming which Champions will be buffed and nerfed next.