All of Yoru’s abilities and agent interactions explained

Yoru is Valorant’s 14th agent, bringing some much-needed stealth and mobility options to the tactical shooter. 

After developers surprised fans with a cinematic short featuring Yoru’s abilities, Valorant players were left wondering exactly how Yoru’s abilities would work in-game. Luckily, a few streamers have had the chance to test out Yoru early. With Episode 2 dropping, take a look at how to properly use Yoru’s abilities in this breakdown of how they work and how they interact with other agents in the game.

Yoru ability: Fakeout

This ability allows Yoru to send out some fake footsteps that echo the sound of actual approaching agents. While they appear glowing blue once an enemy spots them, this distraction often gives players time to surprise attack from another direction entirely. 

Here’s how Yoru’s Fakeout ability works. Players can either press “C” and then left-click to send the footsteps out in a straight line, or place the footsteps on the ground indefinitely as they wait to be activated. The footsteps, once activated, will travel forward for a maximum of 10 seconds, often stopping when they run into a wall. 

It was mentioned that enemies can see the footsteps, but they can’t destroy them. Yoru’s Fakeout footsteps will easily travel through Viper’s acid or Sage’s ice. They won’t be slowed down or damaged in any way. But there are a few abilities that the footsteps interact with.

The Fakeout footsteps will actually trigger Cypher’s tripwire, causing them to activate. Killjoy’s turrets will also detect the footsteps, shooting at the footsteps when they are nearby. 

Yoru ability: Blindside

This ability is Yoru’s entry flash. But unlike other agents’ flash, Blindside doesn’t just automatically detonate. In order for the flash to explode, it must make contact with an object. The key is to bounce Blindside off of a wall or floor, even an allied player, to get Blindside to detonate soon after. 

This is something hopeful Yoru mains will have to spend time practicing. Despite aiming Yoru’s hand in a particular direction, the ability will be thrown a bit higher than expected. Blindside often seems to interact almost randomly with the objects it hits, bouncing in unpredictable directions. Of course, some practice will better determine where Blindside can be thrown to make it most effective on each map. 

One thing that makes Blindside a powerful flash if mastered is that it’s not easily noticeable. Yoru is all about stealth, after all. When Yoru throws Blindside, the flash is invisible to enemies. It’s only revealed once it hits a surface. At that point, the other agent will only have a few seconds to look away. If they don’t react in time, they’ll be blinded. 

Yoru ability: Gatecrash

This is Yoru’s signature ability, meaning it resets after players get two eliminations. Once Yoru equips Gatecrash, players will see a ball on the ground. It moves forward until it hits a wall as Yoru runs through the map, or it can be placed in a secretive spot as the player rushes forward without it.

Once equipped, Yoru has 20 seconds to activate the ability. Activation makes Yoru teleport to the ball’s location. This will most often be used to either teleport behind a player and attack them from a surprising angle or to disengage from combat and rush back to a safe location. Think of Phoenix’s “Run It Back” ultimate for a point of reference. 

The orb is hard for other agents to see. But they will easily hear the ability when it’s being activated. This means they will know the orb is nearby and start preparing for Yoru’s sudden positional change.

Yoru players should avoid teleporting right in front of an enemy for this reason. Appearing in front of another agent will most likely get Yoru killed, since he can’t take out his weapon for a few moments following his teleportation. 

Even though the orb is hard to see, other agents can use their abilities to destroy it if they do notice it. Almost every ability can destroy Yoru’s Gatecrash orb, except for things like Breach’s Fault Line or Cypher’s trip wire. That’s because the orb isn’t considered a character, so it can’t be tripped up or knocked down. 

Yoru altimate: Dimensional Drift

Yoru puts on a fanged mask that makes him completely invisible, as well as invincible to damage or CC. While wearing the mask, players will notice they have short-ranged vision. The ultimate lasts nine seconds, although players can actively shorten the time if desired. 

Be careful not to get too close to opponents, who will see Yoru if he’s in their personal space. Yoru can’t use a weapon while invisible, so it’s important to not be too aggressive. Instead, sneak up on enemies from behind or by using other unsuspected angles, then appear where they least expect it. This gives Yoru time to take out his weapon and attack before he’s detected. 

This is where agent ability interactions gets interesting. In most cases, being invisible protects Yoru from almost all abilities. Yoru can even dodge another agent’s ultimate by activating his own Dimensional Drift. While invisible, Yoru is not able to be detected by Cypher’s cameras or Killjoy’s turrets and Alarm Bot unless he’s right up next to the devices. 

Of course, there are a few counters to be aware of. Reyna’s Leer will still work on Yoru while he’s in Dimensional Drift mode. Since he can’t take out a weapon, he can’t destroy Leer, leaving him vulnerable. Skye’s Seekers will also still detect and locate a Yoru using Dimensional Drift. Their effects will still work on Yoru as well. 

Despite these few counters, Yoru’s abilities are clearly powerful additions to the Valorant roster. He’s a great choice against an enemy Killjoy, able to get through her defensive setups and destroy the team’s defensive strategy. This duelist is quite aggressive, but players will have to use his abilities correctly to make him truly effective, messing with the enemy’s intel with Fakeout and planning the right situation for Gatecrash.