I have been playing Yoru since his release, and after entirely too many games played and a lot of conversations with a lot of different people, I finally know why Yoru feels bad to play. It's because I'm trying to play him as a Duelist. When in reality, he's an initiator, and I've had much more success playing him like this than as a Duelist. Just to give my post some weight, the highest rank I've ever achieved is D3. So I'm not amazing but I'm pretty good. Anyway, on to the post.

What is a Duelist?

In Riot's own words Duelists are, "Self-sufficient fraggers who their team expects, through abilities and skills, to get high frags and seek out engagements first." Yoru, is anything BUT self-sufficient. Hell, his ult is one of the most team reliant ults in the game. Because you literally cannot do anything in it. On top of that, no one is scared of Yoru ult. So if they see you while you are Rift Walking, they are just gonna chase you down to kill you. So unless your team can capitalize on that, you're screwed.

The only ability Yoru has to get a kill himself is his flash, which Breach and Skye also have Flashes that they can use and peek off of so it's not like flashes = Duelist. His footsteps, while yes, he can fake someone out and get a kill for it. Omen can also fake people out with his tp and get kills, that doesn't mean that he's a duelist. Yoru's footsteps are best used for info. Throw them down, watch them step forward and see how the enemy team reacts. Often enough you'll see people flash, drone, and slow, in reaction to your footsteps. Cool, now you know there's a Breach, Sage, or Sova there. Good job!

Gatecrash, because of how absurdly loud it is, is realistically best used to rotate or retreat. Using it aggressively is just as risky as using Omen tp aggressively. It can work but that doesn't mean you should always go for it. Because of this you can very literally face check angles. Walking up B heaven in Split and want to know where the enemy is? Put that Gatecrash down, jump in there an activate it while you're in the air. Then your Phx or Reyna can peek knowing exactly where they are. Defending on A in pistol round? Throw that bad boy B and if you see no one A, fast rotate to B cause you know they gonna rush a site on pistol round.

As I mentioned before, his ult is really the defining trait that makes him an initiator. Every Duelist currently has an ult that helps than frag in one way or another. Phx gets a second life, Reyna gets the whole 9 yards, Jett gets daggers, Raze gets a rocket launcher. All of these abilities help these Agents get THEMSELVBES kills. Yoru's ult helps HIS TEAM get kills. You know, that thing initiators do?

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How to Fix Yoru

Riot needs to basically pick a side and decide what they want Yoru to be. Do you want him to be a self-sufficient fragger? Then he needs a new ult. That ult is simply NOT a Duelist ult. It's just not. It does not help HIM get kills as all other Duelist ults do. His gatecrash needs to be quieter, instant, and last MUCH longer. In it's current state, if you try to use it like Reyna and Jett use their disengage tools, you can still be killed while trying to teleport. While Reyna goes invincible the frame she presses it and Jett starts dashing at the speed of light the second she presses it. Why Yoru has a cast time is beyond me. Having a time frame to use it in also means that it can be completely wasted if things don't go according to Yoru's plan, which makes the Yoru player feel like they are playing on a timer.

Want to make him an Initiator? Give him an extra Flash, let him fake his gatecrash, make his gatecrash a cooldown rather than a kill reset, and make it so people spotted by Yoru while he's ulting are pinged similar to Sova arrow. And obviously, change his icon to "Initiator".

Currently anyone doing well with Yoru as a duelist, isn't playing Yoru. They are playing Vandal/Phantom with a flash. Every video I've ever seen of pros playing Yoru is just them being them. Like it doesn't matter if Shroud plays Yoru or Sage, he's gonna pop heads. Him getting 30 kills isn't because he did well as a Yoru player it's because he's crazy with a Phantom. You can look for yourself. Find your favorite streamer and watch their video of them playing Yoru. I 100% guarantee that if they do well, it's because they were playing Phantom/Vandal with a flash. And it had nothing to do with them playing Yoru.