II

Mystic Shot

Best early poke. Try to save your shot for enemy heroes, helps with Spellbreaker later. Hold M2 after grapple to guarantee hit.

II

Active

Cold Front

Slow after grapple + Flat damage early. Buy Spirit Sap if enemy team will have high Spirit Resists. (McGinnis, Kelvin, Tanky heroes, etc.)

II

Enchanter's Emblem

Early CDR + Resists. I recommend trying Healing Booster or Spirit Shielding if you're looking for another option.

II

Healbane

The best early antiheal option. Also has good sustain early on kill. Stays relevant against Victor because of Torment Pulse. Can be sold for Spirit Burn later.

III

Torment Pulse

Super core. Helps you win fights early and is decent for farm/wave clear. Can delay till after Veil Walker.

II

Imbue

Compress Cooldown

Can also go on your ult if you want to be more active early.

III

Veil Walker

This item keeps getting buffed because no-one uses it properly. It's insane for healing, spam it as soon as it's off cooldown and fight around Veils. If not, grab Counterspell (3.2k) to get 9.6k green

III

Counterspell

Counter hard CC. Good against Lash, Wraith, Shiv, Geist or things that could otherwise make you want to waste ult.

I

Restorative Shot

Use this as much as possible in lane to sustain yourself. You can buy Melee Lifesteal if you prefer it/plan to get Lifestrike later.

II

Spirit Shielding

Good in spirit bursty lanes. Lash, Shiv (Dash), Talon, Viscous, etc. Not good against early Wraith or heroes that need scaling. This item falls off around 15-20 minutes.

II

Active

Spirit Sap

Instead of Cold Front (Upgrade to Silence Wave). Helps early with heroes that buy Fury Trance or have Spirit Resist per boon/items. (Lash, Kelvin, McGinnis, etc.)

III

Spirit Snatch

Insane damage that scales with Spirit and has insane shred + resists steal. Good Synergy with Cold Front/Arctic Blast, Mystic Vulnerability and Phantom Strike.

II

Improved Spirit

Can delay if you're getting Second Choice instead. Amps damage on all your items (Snatch, Cold Front, Torment + abilities).

IV

Boundless Spirit

Boosts all damage (abilities + items). Can delay until after a Second Choice item, but still core. Boosts items like Cold Front, Radiant, Reactive, etc.

IV

Transcendent Cooldown

Almost all your items have cooldowns.

IV

Active

Colossus

Mini-ult for ult downtime with huge HP boost. Buying this early will win you games. (~16–20k with 9.6k greens) Get Diviners if they have %max damage like Scourge, Toxic Bullets, Dynamo (ult).

IV

Active

Phantom Strike

Gap closer + burst with CC for Yamato. Counters Vindicta, Talon, Lash, M1s. Synergizes with Cold Front & Arctic Blast. Get Lvl 3 Crimson Slash > Lvl 2 Flying Strike, skip Silence Wave.

IV

Spirit Burn

Best anti-heal in the game (Abrams, Kelvin, McGinnis, Shiv Geist). Weak vs Victor. Keep Healbane if you need extra anti-heal. Sell Healbane if pressed for slots. Good for eating bugs also.

IV

Active

Arctic Blast

CC item with strong Yamato synergy. Roots movement, scales well. Great with Phantom Strike. Combo is: PStrike → Arctic Blast → M2 → Melee (Spirit Snatch) → Powerslash.

IV

Active

Scourge

Enemy has Spirit heavy comp or high HP enemies, good if you can constantly stay on top of your enemy.

III

Tankbuster

True damage vs tanks (Abrams, Mo, Kelvin, McGinnis) or heavy resists. Grab early vs Fury Trance. Poor synergy with Mystic Reverb (procs from Cold Front/Arctic Blast).

I

Rebuttal

Punchy lanes. Good for parrying as soon as you leave your transformation. Insane damage amp.

II

Battle Vest

Early surivability against M1 teams.

II

Reactive Barrier

Good against Mo, Holiday, etc. Scales with Spirit so get Boundless Spirit earlier.

III

Active

Debuff Remover

Buy against Silence Wave, Curse, Infernus, Spirit Burn, etc.

IV

Diviner's Kevlar

Buy if you get bursted down in / before your ult or if you often need to panic ult (Geist Swap, Lash Ult, etc.) Don't buy against Shiv, his execute pierces barriers.

IV

Spellbreaker

Talon, Sinclair, Lash, Shiv. Good resists and debuff resist. Best defensive 6k against Spirit Heavy comp. Good if they have Silence Wave, Curse, for debuff resist.

IV

Plated Armor

Bugged, doesn’t work vs most on-hits (Magnum, Wraith 3, Djinn’s Mark). Still strong M1 counter vs Siphon/Toxic Bullets or non-proc heroes (Vyper, Gun Bebop, etc).

IV

Juggernaut

Best buy if you need to frontline for your team into heavy M1 comp. Also buy Supressor as firerate slows are multiplicative but only from one source (you).

IV

Witchmail

For fun/luxury item. Never have cooldowns in spirit heavy comps. (Can facetank warden ult, seven ult, etc.)

IV

Imbue

Mystic Reverb

Best dmg vs low-resist teams. Strong CC from slow + AoE. Bad with Tankbuster (procs off Mystic Shot, Spirit Snatch, Cold Front). Good with Spirit Burn, break Spellbreaker first.

IV

Active

Refresher

This item will help you win endgame fights. Getting it early (before Trancendant Cooldown) is suboptimal. Good with rejuv and duration. Bad with Diviners Kevlar (only get the buff once).

II

Melee Charge

If you need to pivot to melee Yamato. Crushing Fists is expensive and she already has top heavy melee dmg. If you need to pivot, follow a different build instead for this game.

III

Active

Blood Tribute

High skill-ceiling item. Only buy if you know how to use it and if you need it for the stats. Otherwise do not touch.

III

Active

Cultist Sacrifice

Solid stats for Yamato, but kind of a win-more. Fire rate boosts bomb spam and farm clear. Don’t pair with Express Shot. If slot pressed late, use for buff then sell.

III

Express Shot

This item starts really being good once you get to around 15-20 boons depending on your weapon investment. I personally stopped buying it because I like constantly spamming my M2 instead.

I

Extra Regen

Good if you can't stay out of combat. Builds into healing booster.

I

Melee Lifesteal

Good sustain vs Resto Shot (heavy melee creeps for cooldown, light melee players except for in ult/without parry).

I

Sprint Boots

Good for regen between waves and running boxes in lane.

II

Enduring Speed

Helps you get around fast and is good for slow resists. Upgades into Juggernaut later. If you're looking for more mobility I recommend Veil Walker instead.

II

Healing Booster

Really good with Veil Walker, Healbane Heal, Ult Heal or your T2 Crimson Slash once you get Colossus. Prioritize Maxing your 3 over T2 Flying Strike if you want to spam heals.

II

Active

Return Fire

Good early against M1 heroes but probably not your best buy.

III

Lifestrike

Second Best healing item for Yamato but requires you to land punches (preferably heavy melees) to heal. I don't like relying on this for sustain. Good if you pivot to Melee Yamato.

III

Active

Metal Skin

Good with duration + Trancendant CD. Hard M1 counter and helps you live in late game fights. (Paradox, Vyper, etc.)

III

Stamina Mastery

Best movement item in the game if you know how to use it properly. Let's you escape from everything.

II

Mystic Vulnerability

Nice synergy with Torment Pulse or Spirit Snatch.

II

Suppressor

Infinite firerate slows with your 3 and torment pulse, helps you win early and late. Great with Juggernaut.

III

Radiant Regeneration

Best healing for Yamato if you’re brawling often, but costly with no stats. Pair with Boundless + Trans CD, only if enemy lacks heavy anti-heal.

III

Superior Duration

Superior Duration if you also buy items like Metal Skin, Silence Wave, Phantom Strike, etc. If you just want your ult to last longer get the 1.6k.

III

Active

Silence Wave

This item is a hard counter to heroes that rely on their abilities. Good against enemies like Lash (for grapple), Victor (for jumpstart), Wraith (for cards), Mo (prevents ult).

IV

Escalating Exposure

Good with Spirit Burn into really tanky teams/high HP teams. Specifically with Transcendant Cooldown. Gets worse the more resists the enemy team has.