Yamato

Yamato channels for around a second and a half to build up a sword strike, then releases it as a ranged slash. Releasing early trades damage for speed, and she is heavily resistant to bullets while charging.

What it is for: Her poke and her burst opener. She charges it from behind cover and steps out to release, or uses it to finish a target that has already been slowed by Flying Slash.

Damage

145 spirit at full charge (about 1.85x spirit scaling), with T3 adding +150 for up to roughly 295; partial damage if released early

Crowd control

T1 adds a 32% movement slow for 3s

Mobility

none — she is channelling

Defensive

60% bullet resist while charging, which is substantial and often overlooked

How to play against it

• The charge is loud, long (1.4s) and visible — break line of sight or change elevation during it and the whole channel is wasted
• Do not trade bullets into a charging Yamato: she has 60% bullet resist for the duration, so spirit damage or simply disengaging is strictly better
• It is a directional projectile at 22-30m; strafing perpendicular to her facing at release avoids it
• During Shadow Transformation the charge is 60% faster, so the dodge window effectively disappears — do not rely on the tell while her ultimate is up

Interactions

• The 60% bullet resist during the charge means charging INTO incoming bullet fire is often correct, not a mistake — weapon carries lose the trade
• Because it is a 1.4s channel, she should charge behind cover and step out to release, which is the single biggest skill differentiator on the hero
• During Shadow Transformation her abilities are 60% faster, so the charge time drops dramatically and Power Slash becomes near-instant
• T3 at +8m range and +150 damage converts it from a poke tool into a genuine ranged execute
• Cooldown is 12s base, 8s at T2

Throws a grappling hook at an enemy and pulls herself to them, landing a light melee hit and leaving them significantly slowed on arrival.

What it is for: Her engage. It is how she crosses the distance to a backliner, and the slow on arrival is what stops them walking away from Crimson Slash and Power Slash.

Damage

66 melee damage (about 1.2x melee scaling after the 09-16-2026 buff from 1.0)

Crowd control

-40% movement slow for 2.5s on the target

Mobility

Pulls her to the target from 26m base (T3 adds +15m, up to 41m)

Defensive

T3's alt-cast lets her grapple to allies instead, which converts it into an escape or reposition tool

How to play against it

• Hold a displacement or knockup (Viscous's Puddle Punch, Venator's Gutshot, Wraith's Telekinesis) for the moment she lands — she arrives committed and at melee range with no follow-up escape before T3
• It needs a target: standing behind a teammate or outside 26m means she has no entry at all
• The -40% slow lasts 2.5s, so a dash or a Stamina jump immediately on arrival is better than trying to run out of it
• Pre-T3 she has no way back out, so punishing the landing is the whole counterplay — this is the moment to commit your CC, not later

Interactions

• The 09-16-2026 patch increased its light melee scaling from 1.0 to 1.2
• T3's ally grapple is the upgrade that gives her an exit rather than only an entry, which materially changes her risk profile
• T2's +35 Spirit Power window means the correct combo order is Flying Slash first, then Power Slash and Crimson Slash inside the 6s buff
• Cooldown falls from 36s to 18s at T1, and T3 adds an extra charge
• It requires a target to travel to — she cannot use it to cross open ground with nobody in range

A wide slash in front of her that damages enemies and reduces their rate of fire. If it connects with any enemy hero, Yamato heals herself.

What it is for: Her sustain and her anti-carry tool in one. The fire rate debuff cripples a weapon hero she has dived on, and the heal is what lets her survive standing in the enemy backline.

Damage

55 spirit (about 0.37x spirit scaling)

Crowd control

none, but -30% fire rate for 4s is a heavy offensive debuff

Defensive

Heals 55 (about 1.04x spirit scaling) on hero hit; T2 adds a +6% max health heal on hero hit

How to play against it

• Spread your formation — the heal is gated on hitting heroes, so denying her contact with anyone denies her sustain entirely
• Anti-heal (Healbane, Toxic Bullets, Venator's Consecrating Grenade, Vindicta's T1 Crow) directly attacks her only sustain source and is very efficient against her
• It is a frontal cone at 13m radius; stepping behind or to the side of her avoids it
• Spirit-damage heroes barely care about the -30% fire rate, so bringing spirit damage into the matchup blunts her anti-carry angle

Interactions

• The heal only triggers on hero hits, not on minions, so she cannot sustain by farming — she has to actually be in a fight
• Hitting multiple heroes does not multiply the heal in the standard case, so spreading out limits her sustain
• The 09-16-2026 patch added +0.4 healing spirit scaling to its T3, a direct buff to her spirit-heavy sustain builds
• -30% fire rate for 4s combined with Warden-style anti-carry logic makes her strong against sustained-DPS heroes like Wraith and Vyper
• Cooldown is 16s base, 6s at T3

Yamato transforms with an initial invincible window, refreshes her ability cooldowns, and for the duration casts them much faster while immune to negative status effects and heavily resistant to both bullets and spirit. Killing an enemy hero heals her and extends the transformation.

What it is for: Her all-in. It makes her untouchable through the transformation, resets her combo, and then lets her chain kills — each kill extending the window further.

Damage

No direct damage; the power is in refreshed abilities cast 60% faster

Mobility

T2 adds +4 m/s move speed during the transformation, on top of her already high 8.2 m/s base

Defensive

Initial invincibility during the 1.5s transformation channel, immunity to negative status effects for the duration, and +30% bullet and spirit resist (T3 adds another +30% each, so up to +60%)

How to play against it

• Do not spend CC into it. She is immune to negative status effects for the whole duration, so a Binding Word, a Petrify or a Snap Trap thrown at a transformed Yamato is a wasted cooldown
• Disengage and wait it out. The base duration is only 5s (8s at T3) and the cooldown is 130-150s — walking away costs you nothing and costs her the ultimate
• Deny kills above all else: each hero kill heals her 15% max health and extends the transformation by 2s, so pulling a low teammate out of reach ends the ultimate sooner
• With 30-60% resists, damaging her during the window is inefficient; re-engage as it expires, when she is a 730 HP hero with everything on cooldown
• Viscous's Cube on her intended target removes the kill she needs to extend, which is one of the cleanest single answers to the ultimate

Interactions

• Status immunity means Warden's Binding Word root, Vyper's Petrifying Bola petrify, Venator's trap immobilise and Viscous's knockup all fail to stop her — this is the most important matchup fact about the ultimate
• 60% faster abilities collapses Power Slash's 1.4s charge into a near-instant cast, which removes the main tell opponents rely on
• Kill extension (+2s and a 15% max health heal per hero kill) means feeding her a low-health target visibly prolongs the ultimate
• Refresher is a common late purchase precisely because a second Shadow Transformation chains two full combo resets
• 5s base duration, 8s at T3, on a 150s cooldown (130s at T2) — the window is short and it must be used decisively
• Her weapon is the weakest in this group and the transformation is oriented around melee and ability chains, so she gains little from gun-based items during it