As a dedicated player, I was buzzing with excitement when Riot Games finally dropped the VALORANT Episode 4 Act 2 update this week in 2026. We all logged in, ready to dive into the promised changes. The patch notes highlighted significant tweaks to controller agents and some key modifications to the Icebox map, which honestly, was a breath of fresh air. But let's be real, the star of the show was supposed to be the long-awaited Yoru rework. Riot had been hyping up some serious buffs for our favorite dimension-hopping duelist, and the community couldn't wait to get their hands on him. The anticipation was through the roof!
The Rollout and Immediate Red Flags
No new agent or map this time around, but that was okay because we had a shiny, reworked Yoru to play with. Or so we thought. The moment the servers went live, it was a mad dash to lock in Yoru in both Unrated and Competitive queues. Players were eager to test drive his new kit. However, the party didn't last long. Almost immediately, chatter started spreading like wildfire across socials and Discord servers. Something was off. Something was very off with Yoru's ultimate ability, Dimensional Drift.
The Game-Breaking Glitches
Here's the lowdown on what went wrong. The rework allowed Yoru to cast other abilities while in his ultimate—a cool concept on paper. But the execution? It opened a Pandora's box of bugs that completely broke the game's balance.
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The Ultimate Plant Glitch: This was the big one, the showstopper. Players discovered they could plant the Spike while still being in the ethereal, invulnerable state of Dimensional Drift. Let that sink in for a moment. You're invisible, intangible, and you can just... plant the bomb. It's the ultimate (pun intended) unfair advantage. Defenders couldn't interact with you, but you could secure the site objective. It was, quite frankly, bonkers.
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The Lightning-Fast Draw Glitch: As if the plant bug wasn't enough, another nasty issue popped up. A separate glitch allowed players to significantly decrease their weapon pull-out time when exiting Dimensional Drift. This meant a Yoru could pop out of his ultimate and have his gun ready to fire in a fraction of the intended time, catching enemies completely off guard. It turned his repositioning tool into a deadly, instant-attack weapon.
Watching clips of these bugs in action was equal parts hilarious and horrifying. Content creators like RexTheOnlyOne had a field day documenting the chaos, but for anyone trying to play a serious ranked game, it was a nightmare.
Riot's Swift Response: The Disable Hammer
Faced with these critical issues, Riot Games didn't hesitate. They swiftly disabled Yoru from the Competitive queue to preserve the integrity of ranked play. It was the only logical move. Letting a character with such exploitable bugs run rampant in Competitive would have been a disaster for the game's competitive integrity. The community's reaction was a mix of disappointment and understanding. We were all gutted we couldn't try the new Yoru in our ranked grind, but nobody wanted to play in or against a bugged-out agent.
| Aspect | Intended Design | Bugged Reality |
|---|---|---|
| Planting in Ult | Should be impossible | Possible, breaking round dynamics |
| Weapon Draw after Ult | Standard pull-out time | Nearly instant, unfair dueling advantage |
| Competitive Status | Fully playable | Disabled for fairness |
The Waiting Game and Community Sentiment
So here we are, a few days into Act 2, and Yoru remains benched in Competitive. Riot has been characteristically quiet on an exact timeline for his return. The silence is... palpable. We're all left wondering and waiting. The Unrated queue has become the unofficial testing ground, but it's just not the same without the stakes of ranked.
The whole situation is a classic case of "you win some, you lose some" in live game development. Riot aimed big with the Yoru rework to make him a viable pick, and you have to give them credit for that ambition. But sometimes, new code interacts in unexpected ways, and bugs slip through. It's a bummer, but it happens. The important thing is they acted fast to contain the problem.
For now, we're in a holding pattern. We're enjoying the other aspects of the Act 2 update—the Icebox changes are actually pretty slick—while keeping one eye on the patch notes for any news about our stranded dimensional duelist. When will he be back? Your guess is as good as mine. We just hope the fix is thorough and that the wait is worth it. In the meantime, the Competitive meta has a Yoru-shaped hole in it, and we can all feel it.
The takeaway? Even with all the testing in the world, sometimes the live server environment reveals surprises. Here's hoping Yoru comes back stronger and, more importantly, bug-free. We're rooting for you, Riot! 🤞