Yamato (real name Kaori) is a close-range assassin using precise strikes and sword attacks to destroy her foes. Conducting a Flying Strike with her grapple to get close, Yamato unleashes her powerful melee attacks along with Power Slash and Crimson Slash attacks to damage, slow, and disable her enemies while healing herself. Once fully engaged, she can unleash her Shadow Transformation to become infused with a shadow soul, becoming unstoppable for a short time while ending the life of her opponents.
Kaori and her brother Yamato were crime lords of the Seventh Moon, bringing in wealth and power to the organization. However, a dispute during expansion led to the death of Kaori's brother and her escape to the United States. A miscommunication once she arrived led to Kaori adopting her brother's name, Yamato, vowing to secure her family's name once again.
Channel to increase damage over 1.4 seconds, then release a fully-charged sword strike. Press Ability 1 or Fire to trigger the strike early, dealing partial damage.
x1.85
145
Full Charge Damage
22m
Slash Length
0%Move Speed
0sSlow Duration
60%Bullet Resist
1
+40% Movement Slow for 3s
2
-4s Ability Cooldown
5
+8m Cast Range +150 Damage and Increases Spirit Power scaling
Flying Slash
26m
0
36s
Throw a grappling hook to reel yourself towards an enemy, dealing Light melee damage and slowing the target when you arrive.
x1
55
Damage
-50%
Move Speed
2.5sSlow Duration
Upon reaching target:
0
Bonus Spirit
Upon reaching target:
0s
Buff Duration
1
-18s Cooldown
2
Gain +35 Spirit Power for 6s
5
Alt-Cast to Grapple allies +15m Cast Range Gains 1 extra charge
Crimson Slash
13m
0
16s
Slash enemies in front of you, damaging them and slowing their fire rate. If any enemy heroes are hit, you heal.
x0.37
55
Damage
x1.04
55
Heal on hero hit
-30%
Fire Rate
4sDebuff Duration
1
On Hit : +30% Melee Damage for 4s
2
On Hero Hit : +6% Max Health Heal
5
-10s Cooldown and increases scaling
Shadow Transformation
1.5s
5s
0
150s
Become infused with Yamato's shadow soul. After an initial invincible transformation your abilities are refreshed and are 60% faster. You gain immunity to negative status effects and have greatly increased bullet and spirit resist. When you get a hero kill, you heal and the duration is extended.
Born into a family of crime bosses, Kaori and her brother Yamato always knew they were destined to take over control of the Seventh Moon after their father's death. Together they ran the organization for years, bringing it profit and success, and even planning an expansion into America.
The plan was simple: Kaori would remain in Japan to control the country, while Yamato would travel to America to establish an international base. Unfortunately for the siblings, some of their subordinates were not happy about Kaori's plan to take command in Japan.
The rebellion was swift and violent. Yamato sacrificed his life to protect Kaori, and Kaori was saved by a handful of loyal members.
Together with her subordinates, she managed to escape from Japan to the United States. When Kaori and her group arrived in the United States, they were greeted by a man who was supposed to greet Yamato. He was not familiar with Japanese names and did not know Kaori.
"Yamato." Kaori thought about correcting his mistake, but...
She decided that the best way to remember her brother was to take on the Yamato name and make his dream come true.
Yamato's design in the Early Development Build of Deadlock is temporary and based on an alien model from when the game was still called Neon Prime.
Yoshi has shared early concept art of Yamato's upcoming redesign (see below).[1]
Yamato's character model has different colors for her clothes compared to her portrait.
Yamato and Haze are currently the only heroes whose Ammo is directly affected by Spirit Power.
Yamato is the only hero who doesn't have the default melee attack damage of 63 (light) and 116 (heavy) - instead, Yamato has 69 (light) and 128 (heavy).
Yamato is the tallest hero in the game.
Most of Yamato's lines are in Japanese, but she can also speak English.
Yamato's original voice actor wasn't a native Japanese speaker. This was changed after she was recast in the 2024-10-10 Update.
↑2024-08-10 - Yoshi; Deadlock Discord - "Regarding yamato question, can share some of the early concepts we have, none are final or anything, just exploration level (...) early concepts for new direction i mean"
Power Slash
12s
x1.85
145
22m
60%
Bullet Resist
1
