Micromechanical-based finite element simulations were carried out to investigate the transient plastic strain rate evolutions of ferrite and martensite dual-phase steel during strain path changes. A representative volume element (RVE) was generated through a three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of microstructure images which were acquired from sequential polishing of a small material volume. The 10 × 10 × 10 μm³ 3D RVEs consisted of martensite islands embedded in a ferrite base matrix. Each phase was assumed to exhibit distinct mechanical properties but the grain and phase boundary effects were ignored in this work. The effective mechanical properties for the constituent phases were assumed to be well defined by the von Mises or Hill 1948 yield criteria, the associated flow rule, and an empirical isotropic hardening equation based on chemical composition. This model was applied to investigate the transient behavior of the r-value (Lankford coefficient) in uniaxial tension when the loading direction changed. In addition to monotonic tension, compression-tension, and tension-orthogonal tension, sequences were considered. The simulation results captured well in a qualitative manner the experimental r-value evolutions in terms of a temporary transition and asymptotic limit. The evolutions of stress states in ferrite and martensite were analyzed to explain the r-value behavior that resulted from three factors: (1) r-value differences between ferrite and martensite, (2) martensite configuration-induced stress state in phases, and (3) stress partitioning and its evolution during non-proportional loading. Finally, an analytical relationship between the stress evolution in the constituent phases and the relevant r-value changes is suggested.