Yamato/Update history

Overview

Update history

Movement

Lore

Voice lines

Sounds

This page documents the full update history for Yamato.

Update	Changes
June 30, 2026	(Undocumented) Shadow Transformation cooldown increased from 130s to 150s. (Undocumented) Shadow Transformation T2 reduced from -25s Cooldown to -20s.
May 31, 2026	Power Slash spirit scaling reduced from 2.1 to 1.85. Flying Slash cast range reduced from 30m to 28m.
May 22, 2026	Power Slash post cast time reduced from 0.4s to 0.2s. Power Slash spirit scaling increased from 1.86s to 2.1s. Flying Slash range increased from 25m to 30m. Flying Slash T2 no longer grants +20m Cast Range. Flying Slash T3 now also grants +15m Cast Range. Flying Slash T3 increased from +1 Charge to +2. Fixed Crimson Slash not being able to hit anything if the player is aimed too high or low. Shadow Transformation T1 increased from +5 Weapon Damage to +7.
April 30, 2026	Fixed Alt Fire scaling not working recently.
April 10, 2026	Fixed Crimson Slash not hitting through veils.
March 21, 2026	Fixed Flying Strike triggering heavy melee procs rather than light melee (damage amount was light melee still)
March 6, 2026	Power Slash being held down no longer automatically fires it. You can now cast Parry directly while channeling Power Slash to fire the Power Slash and parry. Power Slash base ability now has +60% Bullet Resist while channeling. Power Slash cooldown increased from 10.5s to 12s. Power Slash Slash Length reduced from 25m to 22m. Power Slash T1 changed from "+60% Bullet Resist while channeling" to "40% Slow for 3s". Power Slash T2 changed from "-2s Cooldown and 40% slow for 3s" to "-4s Cooldown". Power Slash T3 now also grants +8m Range. Flying Strike renamed to Flying Slash. Flying Slash is now light melee damage rather than spirit. Flying Slash slow increased from -30% to -50%. Flying Slash cooldown increased from 21s to 36s. Flying Slash range increased from 20m to 25m. Flying Slash T1 changed from "25% Slow" to "-18s Cooldown". Flying Slash T2 changed from "+20m Cast Range" to "+20m Cast Range and gain +40 Spirit for 6s". Flying Slash T3 changed from "Can Grapple to ally heroes and +6 Weapon Damage for 10s" to "Can Grapple to ally heroes. Becomes Charged and grants +2 charges (3s between charges).". Fixed Flying Slash T3 ally cast stopping too soon before reaching the player. Crimson Slash cooldown increased from 15s to 16s. Crimson Slash Fire Rate reduction increased from -18% to -30%. Crimson Slash T1 changed from "-26% Fire Rate" to "On Hit: +30% Melee Damage for 4s". Crimson Slash T3 increased from -9s Cooldown to -10s. Crimson Slash T3 now also increases spirit scaling (+0.6) Shadow Transformation cooldown increased from 110s to 130s. Shadow Transformation Bullet and Spirit Resist reduced from 40% to 30%. Shadow Transformation T1 changed from "+14% Fire Rate" to "+5 Weapon Damage". Shadow Transformation T2 now also reduces cooldown by 25s. Shadow Transformation T3 increased from +20% Bullet and Spirit Resist to +30%.
January 22, 2026	(Undocumented) Received new animations. (Undocumented) Updated VO pass
December 29, 2025	Power Slash T3 bonus damage reduced from +166 to +150 Power Slash T3 now also increases spirit power scaling by 0.5 Shadow Transformation heal on kill increased from 12% to 15%
November 21, 2025	Base regen reduced from 2.0 to 1.0. Power Slash low charge damage from 40% to 30%. Power Slash medium charge damage from 60% to 50%. Crimson Slash cooldown increased from 11.5s to 15s. Crimson Slash T3 increased from -5.75s Cooldown to -9s.
July 29, 2025	Alt Fire base damage reduced from 63.36 to 50. Alt Fire base damage now grows per boon (+0.7).
May 19, 2025	Crimson Slash T2 heal reduced from 8% to 6%.
May 8, 2025	VO remastering pass. Fixed issues that were preventing Yamato, Vindicta, and Pocket desperation lines from playing. (Undocumented) Crimson Slash heal reduced from 70 to 55. (Undocumented) Crimson Slash T2 heal reduced from 10% to 8%. (Undocumented) Shadow Transformation max health heal reduced from 15% to 12%.
February 25, 2025	Added Suggested AP path for Haze, Paradox, Shiv, and Yamato. Adjusted volume of Power Slash hit confirm sound to give better feedback to the attacker. Crimson Slash: adjusted slash effects height to be better aligned to crosshair. Update model to show default Yamato body for all effects.
January 19, 2025	Bullet damage growth reduced from 0.27 to 0.24.
January 12, 2025	Bullet damage growth reduced from 0.33 to 0.27. Shadow Transformation T1 reduced from +20% Fire Rate to +15%.
December 31, 2024	Bullet damage growth reduced from 0.35 to 0.33. Shadow Transformation cooldown increased from 85s to 100s.
December 21, 2024	Shadow Transformation Bullet and Spirit Resist reduced from 45% to 40%. Shadow Transformation T3 increased from 15% to 20% Resist.
December 6, 2024	Fix to Yamato Shadow Transformation visuals when duration is extended after killing an enemy. Flying Strike T3 now also lets you grapple to ally heroes. Shadow Transformation cast time reduced from 2s to 1.5s. Shadow Transformation no longer has a 0.6s post cast time. Shadow Transformation T3 now also increases Resist by 15%.
November 21, 2024	New sounds added to Yamato's Flying Strike while aiming. Improved cases where Power Slash would hit enemies behind cover. Shadow Transformation no longer heals on cast. Shadow Transformation T3 increased from +2s to +3s. Shadow Transformation now heals for 15% of your max hp on hero kill.
November 13, 2024	Shadow Transformation Bullet and Spirit resist reduced from 50% to 45%. Shadow Transformation duration reduced from 5.5s to 5s. Shadow Transformation heal reduced from 25% to 20%.
November 10, 2024	Shadow Transformation Bullet and Spirit Resist reduced from 60% to 50%. Shadow Transformation Heal reduced from 30% to 25%. Shadow Transformation duration reduced from 6s to 5.5s.
November 7, 2024	New sounds added to Yamato's Power Slash, Flying Strike, and Shadow Transformation abilities. Shadow Transformation now affects the grapple time speed. Shadow Transformation duration increased from 4s to 6s. Shadow Transformation no longer prevents death. Shadow Transformation now grants +60% Bullet and Spirit Resist. Shadow Transformation now heals for 30% hp (done after the dispel). Shadow Transformation duration now extends by 2s whenever you get a kill in it (for that session).
October 27, 2024	Shadow Transformation cooldown reduced from 90s to 85s.
October 24, 2024	Yamato's Flying Strike now stops tracking targets that teleport. Fixed being able to cast an ability while casting Flying Strike. Fixed Crimson Slash following in the direction of dash instead of cross hair. Shadow Transformation T1 changed to +20% Fire Rate. Shadow Transformation Cooldown reduced from 106s to 90s.
October 10, 2024	Replaced the temp Yamato VO with a new translation spoken by a native actress. Yamato's Flying Strike now also cancels when the target is out of world (like with Quantum Entanglement). Power Slash cooldown increased from 8.5s to 10.5s. Power Slash T2 now also reduces cooldown by 2s. Shadow Transformation no longer grants you bullet and spirit resist. Shadow Transformation duration reduced from 4.5s to 4s.
September 26, 2024	Fixed some issues with Crimson Slash effect not appearing reliably. Updated Flying Strike effects to reduce some visual noise. Improved read on the connecting rope for Flying Strike and reduced visual obstruction of the ending slash. Bullet damage growth reduced from 0.5 to 0.45. Crimson Slash fire rate slow reduced from 30% to 20%. Fixed various issues with Flying Strike pathing. Shadow Transformation duration reduced from 5s to 4.5s. Shadow Transformation T3 duration increased from +1.5s to +2s. Shadow Transformation no longer provides unlimited ammo.
September 12, 2024	Ammo now scales with Spirit Power (0.15). Power Slash damage reduced from 170 to 160. Grapple post cast duration reduced from 0.5 to 0.2. Alt fire now fixed to work with conditional damage sources (point blank, pristine emblem, etc). Shadow Transformation bullet and spirit resistance reduced from 55% to 40%. Can now interrupt Power Slash with parry.
August 29, 2024	Power Slash max damage time requirement reduced from 1.5s to 1.4s. Power Slash collision radius reduced by 8%. Crimson Slash radius increased from 12m to 13m. Fixed being able to die during Shadow Transformation if hit by Grey Talon's Owl. Fixed some cases where Flying Strike could get into a stuck state. Fixed some cases where Crimson Slash would appear to be cast when it wasn't.
August 15, 2024	Base melee damage increased by 10%. Flying Strike T3 now procs after the ability ends, rather than when connecting to the target.
August 1, 2024	Fixed crosshair sometimes being stuck hidden for Yamato after Flying Strike was interrupted. Power Slash collision size reduced by 10%. Bullet damage growth increased from 0.4 to 0.5.
July 11, 2024	Shadow Transformation incoming damage reduction reduced from 70% to 55%. Shadow Transformation changed from 70% debuff reduction to the same buff as Unstoppable.
June 27, 2024	Power Slash damage reduced from 175 to 170. Can now cancel Flying Strike. Shadow Transformation damage and debuff resistance reduced from 80% to 70%. Shadow Transformation duration increased from 4.5s to 5s.
June 23, 2024	Shadow Transformation now causes you to be unable to die during the buff.
June 20, 2024	Shadow Transformation now provides 80% Damage Resistance and 80% Debuff Resistance instead of invulnerability during the post-channel buff. Shadow Transformation cooldown reduced from 110s to 100s. Shadow Transformation T3 increased from +1s to +1.5s.
June 13, 2024	Fixed Yamato's Crimson Slash visual direction being wrong sometimes. Power Slash T3 bonus damage reduced from +210 to +200. Shadow Transformation cooldown increased from 100 to 110.
June 6, 2024	Fixed Power Slash sometimes getting stuck on nearby geometry.
May 30, 2024	Power Slash spirit scaling improved from 1.6 to 2.0. Power Slash no longer does a very minor movement on enemies hit. Fixed Power Slash sometimes not being a full charge when channeled fully during the Shadow Transformation. Shadow Transformation's ability speedup now affects the post-cast durations as well. Shadow Transformation's ability speedup now improves the visual animations (cosmetic only change).
May 23, 2024	Fixed missing VO for Yamato ability use/upgrades. Shadow Explosion renamed to Shadow Transformation and reworked into a new ability. Shadow Transformation no longer has radius impact behavior. Shadow Transformation now gives you 4.5s of invulnerability after the initial 2s invulnerable channel period. You transform and refresh your abilities, improving ability speeds by 60% and gaining unlimited ammo. "Ability Speeds" affects Power Slash cast time, Flying Strike flying time, and Crimson Slash cast time. Shadow Transformation cooldown increased from 90s to 100s. Shadow Transformation T2 is now +4 m/s during Shadow Form. Shadow Transformation T3 is now +1s duration.
May 16, 2024	Shadow Explosion cooldown reduced from 120s to 90s.
May 10, 2024	Crimson Slash cooldown reduced from 13s to 11s. Power Slash physics/world collision reduced from 15 to 4 (allowing it to be more easily used near objects). Shadow Explosion radius increased from 14m to 16m. Shadow Explosion Fire Rate and Spirit buff duration increased from 15s to 20s. Shadow Explosion T3 Spirit bonus increased from +10% to +15%. Shadow Explosion T3 Fire Rate bonus increased from +5% to +10%.
May 3, 2024	Removed the slow climbing vertical recoil on Yamato's alt fire. Crimson Slash radius increased from 11m to 12m. Crimson Slash fire rate debuff duration increased from 3s to 4s. Crimson Slash T2 changed from "-5s Cooldown" to "10% Max Health heal on hero hit". Crimson Slash T3 changed from "12% Max Health heal on hero hit" to "-6s Cooldown". Power Slash T1 Bullet Resist increased from 40% to 60%. Flying Strike cooldown reduced from 35 to 20. Flying Strike T2 changed from "-15s Cooldown" to "+20 Cast Range". Flying Strike range no longer scales with Spirit. Shadow Explosion bonus Spirit per victim increased from 10 to 15. Shadow Explosion bonus Fire Rate per victim increased from 5 to 10. Shadow Explosion buff duration increased from 8s to 15s.