Yao

In this Canthan name, the family name is Zhou.

Yao

Race

Human

Profession

Mechanist

Level

80

Rank

Veteran
Legendary

Location

North Lab
(New Kaineng City)

Organization

Xunlai Jade

Image(s)

Interactive map

“

Mizuki. I guess I jumped the gun on my last introduction... I'm Yao—your local, mostly friendly agender engineer.

— Yao after Destroy the corruption before the system overloads!

Zhou Yao is an agender (non-binary; pronouns "they"/"them") engineer with a cynical outlook on life. They are a former member of the Jade Brotherhood. Yao is fond of cats and holodramas. They highly value smarts, openness and drive as traits, and are deeply loyal to those who have helped them.

Biography

Early years

Zhou Yao was affiliated with the Jade Brotherhood in their adolescence, having been found and taken in by Chul-moo after their run-in with local ruffians. However, they eventually parted with the organization for the opportunity to work with Joon, souring their relations with the Brotherhood's leader, and began employment with Xunlai Jade in 1843 CC (1333 AE).

However, when Renho informed the Brotherhood leader Park Chul-Moo about Yao's defection and asked for permission to eliminate them, Chul-Moo issued strict commands that Yao should only be monitored and left unharmed or "the person responsible will see it returned—threefold."

Regardless of the circumstances under which Yao left the Jade Brotherhood, they continued to have friendly relations with other Brotherhood members, admitting that the organisation had been a family for them before they met Joon.

Yao was interested in dragonjade use in medical technology, and expressed an interest in becoming project leader of the MedTech department in Xunlai Jade. While lacking formal education, Yao proved themself to be a gifted engineer by designing their own prosthetic arm. They were also defensive about their history with the Jade Brotherhood and their apprenticeship with Xunlai Jade founder Yu Joon, identifying themself as her 'protégé' and a 'vital asset' to Xunlai Jade's operations. This created conflicts with Joon's other protégé Mai Trin, who considered Yao to be "possessive" of Joon's attention. Yao also established friendships with fellow jade tech engineers Nozomi and Elora, the latter of whom Yao worked with and took under their wing.

End of Dragons

Act II

Prior to meeting members of the Tyrian Dragon's Watch in 1845 CC (1335 AE), Yao had been attending to reports of Jade mechs going haywire across New Kaineng City. They became acquainted with the asura Gorrik through Joon's introduction, who also updated them on the situation involving Dragon's Watch. Later, Yao attended to distressed yelling from citizens at the harbors of New Kaineng City and came across the Pact Commander, Marjory Delaqua, and Mai Trin subduing a rogue Jade Tech Loader. Yao's deployment of assistant Jade Spiders to analyze the rogue mech went awry when they became corrupted as well, forcing the party to destroy all three jade mechs.

Following the battle, Yao thanked the three and freely offered their Jade Bot to the Commander after they had expressed interest. Yao directed the Commander to Lead Plant Engineer Hu and the Jade Bot service stations for security and safety clearances. Though unable to meet the Commander in person, Yao instructed them through a Jade Bot hologram to approach Elora for further assistance.

Later on, Yao became instrumental in the recovery of New Kaineng City's power plant when an unknown corruption in the jade tech threatened its systems. They collaborated with Officer Mizuki and adventurers in stopping the rogue mechs' rampage. Although the two had been suspicious of one another at first, Yao and Mizuki befriended one another during the conflict, and Yao offered to help Mizuki with future problems if any arose.

Act V

The Battle for the Jade Sea

During the battle at the Jade Sea, Yao was called in by Joon for the delivery and assembling of extractor parts, though they did not partake in the ultimate confrontation with the maddened Elder Dragon Soo-Won due to their understandable inexperience with world-ending catastrophes. Yao was, however, present at the post-battle assembly at Arborstone, where they indicated great enthusiasm in assisting Joon's research for jade energy solutions, travelling to Tyria, as well as helping Dragon's Watch in future endeavors.

What Lies Beneath

Months after the conclusion of the battle against Soo-Won, Yao received word of the Jade Brotherhood discovering unusually powerful jade in Gyala Delve—alongside concerning reports of missing members and aggressive wildlife. They hastily left their post and duties at Xunlai Jade to Joon's great dismay, and upon their arrival in the jade mining facility, they were attacked by their rogue jade mech Finn. The commotion led the Commander to their aid and, unfazed by the attack and chalking it up to Chul-Moo's "management style", Yao reprogrammed the mech's learned behaviours.

Yao soon reunited with Chul-Moo when the latter was attacked by a crazed Jin-Lee. Forced to subdue their old colleague, they had a brief dispute with Chul-Moo over his hesitancy to take responsibility over the disturbing situation and left with Finn to investigate more of the mines shortly after.

Reconvening with the Commander, Rama and Gorrik at Luxon Terminus Fort, Yao came to Chul-Moo's defense whenever Rama questioned his leadership, creating some contention between the two. The tension was quickly resolved when the team encountered the apparent source of the haze—an oni called the Ravenous Wanderer—and attempted to fend it off, saving Rama in the process by having Finn shield him from an attack.

The team was ultimately forced to retreat when the oni began regenerating itself and the Commander blacked out. Yao waited together with their allies as the Commander regained consciousness, after which they were reprimanded by Joon and separately invited to help Gorrik with his plan to subjugate the oni.

Sleuthing a Solution

After the run-in with the oni, Yao remained in Gyala Delve. Here, they frequented Gorrik's temporary lab and twice interrupted his voice recordings. They at first attempted to derail his case notes with a news broadcast impression to "lighten the mood." The second time around, they offered insight into Chul-moo's psyche, briefly expressing that he was "torn up" about his crew before they were dismissed by Gorrik. Gorrik also mentions that Yao comforted him after his hallucination of Blish.

What Lies Within

Within weeks, Yao, Gorrik and Taimi presented the Recollector to the Commander. After a brief sojourn, Yao met the Commander at the entrance of the Yong Reactor, where they offered a listening ear to the conflicted hero about Mai's sacrifice. They ended up joining the Commander when going down into the mines to lure the Ravenous Wanderer away from the ley line. After some distressed calls from Chul-Moo, memories from the ley-powered jade from both Yao and Chul-Moo offered some insight into Yao's past with the brotherhood. After the Oni is defeated, Yao is one of the options for the Commander's dinner date.

Location

Cantha

• New Kaineng City
  • North Lab
    • Nahpui Lab

• Gyala Delve

Story involvement

End of Dragons story

• Act II
  • The Scenic Route
  • The Future in Jade (as a hologram)
• Act V
  • The Cycle, Reborn
  • What Lies Beneath
    • A Raw Deal (voice only)
    • On the Case
    • Deep Trouble
  • Deep Research
    • Sleuthing a Solution (voice only)
  • What Lies Within
    • A Plan Emerges
    • Emotional Release
    • Entrapment
    • Full Circle

Event involvement

Kaineng Blackout

[Group Event] Defend the technicians while they redirect the power! (80)

[Group Event] Escort Yao to the North Lab breaker box (80).

[Group Event] Capture the North Lab breaker box (80)

[Group Event] Escort Yao to the Bori Ward breaker box (80)

[Group Event] Capture the Bori Ward breaker box (80)

[Group Event] Escort Yao to the Baedal Hill substation (80)

[Group Event] Capture the Baedal Hill breaker box (80)

[Group Event] Defeat the jade-tech mechanisms to purge the corruption (80)

[Group Event] Destroy the corruption before the system overloads! (80)

The Jade Crisis

[Group Event] Gather around to hear Chul-Moo's request (80)

[Group Event] Capture the Jadepillar Point base (80)

[Group Event] Escort Yao deeper into the mines (80)

[Group Event] Defeat Mal-Chin! (80)

[Group Event] Defeat the oni blasphemer (80)

[Group Event] Head Deeper into the Mine (80)

[Group Event] Defeat the ravenous wanderer (80)

Combat abilities

Abilities

• Heals and Enhances Allies

Gallery

Screenshots

• 

Concept art

• 

  Promo concept art.

• 

  Detective Rama, Yao and Aurene promotional art.

• 

  Concept art by Tomasz Zarucki.

Related achievements

• What Lies Within: The More the Merrier — Partner with Ayumi, Canach, and Yao. (0)

Trivia

• Yao is voiced by Ry Chase.
• Yao's visual appearance has been confirmed by the official Guild Wars 2 twitter account.
• 窑 (Pinyin: Yáo) means "kiln", a reference to the engineer profession.
• 瑶 (Pinyin: Yáo) also means "precious jade".
• Yao considers the Commander to be "cute" and "a keeper".
• Yao is usually seen wielding a rifle with the Jade Tech skin. However, during the New Kaineng meta they can be occasionally seen wielding a sword with the Dragon's Jade Lacerator Skin and a warhorn with the Dragon's Jade Harbinger Skin, despite engineers not being able to use warhorns.
• In New Kaineng, Yao is ranked as a veteran. In Gayla Delve and instances in the final act of End of Dragons, they are ranked Legendary.