Deadlock may not be here for a while, but Valve is already making sweeping changes and experimenting with the balance of its upcoming MOBA. This time, Valve has nerfed Yamato’s ult after a recent update turned her into a dominant opponent over the weekend. So if you’ve been finding it impossible to get past her Shadow Transformation no matter what you do, that matchup should be a fair bit easier now. Valve has left many of Yamato’s buffs intact, though, so I’d still be careful if you come across her in your next Deadlock match.
Yamato’s overpowered Deadlock streak started in a Thursday November 7 patch. Valve buffed Yamato’s Shadow Transformation ult in multiple ways, turning the MOBA’s duelist into a force to be reckoned with when used right. The ult makes Yamato invincible and increases ability speed alongside immunities, but this patch made her even tougher. With the Deadlock release date still a ways off, I’d expect this isn’t the last Yamato adjustment we’re going to see, either.
Valve upped Yamato’s Shadow Transformation from four seconds to six, added a 60% bullet and spirit resist, and a 30% heal after the dispel. As if that wasn’t enough, this initial patch gave her Shadow Transformation a two-second extension per kill while using it, turning Yamato into a total machine. If you’ve been trampled by a Yamato player in a 1v1 over the last weekend, this buff no doubt contributed to your demise.
You’ll be happy to hear that Yamato’s overpowered stint will be short-lived. Valve dropped a new patch on Monday November 11 that focuses on nerfing Shadow Transformation – although not entirely. The ult’s duration has now been dropped to 5.5 seconds, the heal has gone down to 25%, and the bullet and spirit resist reduced to 50%.
“Yamato will probably continue to run ranked lobbies, but this is a sure step towards sanity,” one player writes on Reddit. “Yamato could probably still use a little more massaging on the numbers, but the ult is still in a much better place,” adds another.
Don’t forget that Bebop also had some turbulent changes recently too, proving that Valve isn’t against reversing some changes if they don’t feel right. Until Deadlock is ready to launch in full, major hero changes are going to keep happening so it’s best to just sit back and let Valve readjust any mistakes. All of the Deadlock characters can be overpowered when used right, but that doesn’t mean Valve won’t stop tweaking each and every one.
With so much about Valve’s new MOBA changing all the time, we’ve put together explainers on both Deadlock MMR and Deadlock ranked to help you keep up.
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