Being able to put Yamato out of ult with Curse

[matijamesic1234]

I don't know, it seems more that you are advocating for Curse to have no weak spot and don't want to risk an earlier activation to prevent Yamato from going into her Ult.


Also, not every hero needs to have their moments of vulnerability in the same situations (during or at activation of ultimate). Having all heroes have similar or identical windows of vulnerability would only remove aspects of strategy that arise from heroes being different and you yourself needing to for one play against them differently, but also to play as them differently. Yamato can activate her Ultimate in the middle of the enemy team and don't feel like she wasted it. A McGinnes that activates her Ultimate in the middle of the enemy team is a fool due to the minimum range. So why would adding a vulnerability to Yamato's ultimate add more strategic options when it removes the strategic option of the Ultimate as a "free" getaway, thereby removing any strategic advantage of diving the enemy team to disrupt them while at the same time removing the strategic consideration of debuffing her with Silence earlier to ensure she can't escape since you can just interrupt?


(Btw, Curse is not the most expensive item in the game (more like 4th currently))

My suggestion is not to make Yamato's ult entirely counterable, but to create more interactive moments in the game. Right now, if she gets enough souls, she's already a hypercarry. Adding some form of counterplay during the startup phase of her ult isn't about fully negating her, it's about introducing some level of risk, which is a natural part of balancing hypercarry characters.

You're right that not all heroes should have the same vulnerabilities, but Yamato's ult being completely unstoppable once triggered removes a lot of potential counterplay. Even in other MOBAs, hypercarries have windows of vulnerability, and that's what makes the game feel more rewarding and balanced. Right now, the game almost asks players to run away or die once Yamato's late-game ult comes online, which leads to less engaging gameplay. Also Unstoppable counters Curse so that's another layer of counterplay.

 

[Jokerx71]

I’m not advocating for an item that fully negates Yamato’s entire kit, but introducing more counterplay during specific windows, like her ult startup, adds layers of strategy. In many MOBAs, heroes have moments of vulnerability without being completely countered by one item. It’s about balancing risk and reward.

Silence bullets, Silence glyph both put her in her place. Not to mention stacking those with your heroes kit if you have a stun/CC

Knockdown she can counter if she knows it is about to pop off, but you can still open a fight with it (example dynamo) then stun her, and now knockdown triggers. She isn't tanky, she is sustainy, so if she isn't healing she is an easy kill.

The biggest counter to Yamato (like many dota heroes) is MACRO gameplay. If she doesn't get farmed to the point where she is a problem, then is is often a non-issue in fights. Just another hero to kill.

Farm her side of the map and coordinate ganks on her if she is avoiding fights.
Easier said then done... yes... because we all play public matches right now, and most players don't have good macro game sense, and the game (and all of its heroes) have not yet been solved.

Id love another data dump of hero winrates to drop, as I doubt Yamato is near the top. As I mentioned before, a bad lane, or even a good landing phase that transitions into bad farming will also be a bad late-game Yamato.

Meanwhile some heroes that have far too much lane dominance + farm speed + poke/harass all in the same kit will often win lane, farm well mid game, and can still force fights mid/early game even if their lane was just a break even.

Shiv and Lady GeistI imagine are both top-tier for winrate. Lady Geist's kit just wins lane, controls bridge, pokes you, can kill you, and is only killable if she oversteps her position and get wrapped around on without her ultimate available. She continues to flash farm, making it easy to be in most fights midgame.

Shiv people are flavoring now, since his itemology has been cracked a bit. Even winning lane against this hero guarantees nothing again his lategame. Shiv doesn't have a small window of dominance like Yamato...he IS THE WINDOW lol.

Shiv's Kit needs some mindful nerfs. He should either be tempo or lategame. Not both
Lady Geist's kit needs a little nerfing for her landing phase, unless the devs want her to be the dominant laner in most cases. If that is the case then her lategame needs a big check, because full spirit infinity spamming, amping, burst, wave clear, and area denial (when her bomb hits T3) is just relentless. God forbid Lady Geist has a teammate frontline that is fed as well.

 

[Abandoned]

Yamato is another gimmicky, and in my opinion, poorly designed hero. Her kit works against itself in multiple ways.

From the voice interactions it is clear her ultimate used to do something different. I think her ultimate animation is a remnant of this. I think it initially had something to do with a large AoE burst of damage. This would also fit her kit more, as Spirit Yamato has the grappling hook for absolutely no reason (it puts her outside of her preferred range).

It's another case of "I wish they would rework her ultimate". It is extremely unfun to play against and disallows meaningful interaction.