Valorant agents are split into 4 main types – Duelists, Initiators, Controllers and Sentinels. The state of agents and overall agent-balancing is a widely debated topic in Valorant. Riot Games’ tactical shooter largely relies on agent compositions, especially in the esports scenes. While some agents fit into the current ‘meta’, others are barely used anymore. This is majorly due to a wide difference in the abilities that the agents possess. Some abilities are much more powerful than others, which is evident when you run agents against each other in games. However, this is a problem since it renders certain agents completely redundant in the game as a whole.
Instead of adding new agents or maps to the game in Episode 4, Act 2, Riot devs will be focusing on balancing the state of the agents already in-game. Along with detailed changes for Yoru, Valorant will also completely rework their Controllers. Controllers are agents that provide smokes in-game, so they heavily influence map control.
Controllers are getting changes this patch. Includes Omen, Astra, Brimstone, and Viper. | #VALORANT
— Valorant Leaks & Info (@ValorLeaks) March 1, 2022
Here’s a few Controllers that are being reworked, and what these changes are:
Omen
- Smoke Cooldown Decreased to 30s from 40s.
- Smoke Cost increased from 100 to 150.
- Smokes’ Speed Increased by 78%.
- Teleport Cost Decreased from 150 to 100.
- Teleport Delay Decreased 1s to .7s.
- Paranoia now spawns Adjacent to Omen.
Omen was barely picked in competitive Valorant anymore since he only had 2 smokes with very high cooldowns. His teleport was also seen as fairly ineffective, and his blind, ‘Paranoia’ was restricted to a linear direction. These changes aim to fix some of his problems, and will hopefully lead to him being a more popular pick.
Astra
- Max Stars Decreased from 5 to 4.
- Cooldown on retrieving a Star Increased from 14 to 25.
- Star Placement Distance increased by 3x.
- Gravity Well & Nova Pulse Cooldown Increased from 25s to 45s AND neither affect anyone under the ability anymore.
Astra is widely considered the most powerful controller in-game. Her smokes are global, which means she can control them from anywhere on the map. This feature is exclusive to her. In addition, she also has incredibly quick recharges on her abilities and has 5 smokes in total. In order to make her a little less meta-defining, these changes will be introduced.
4.04 Patchnotes | #VALORANT
> Yoru is back, Controllers are reshaped, and Icebox gets a few walls knocked down.https://t.co/E80vBGQQSF pic.twitter.com/SR5hF0ktTG
— Valorant Leaks & Info (@ValorLeaks) March 1, 2022
Viper
- Fuel Drain increased by 50% when Toxic Screen and Poison Cloud are both active.
- Poison Cloud & Toxic Screen Cooldown increased from 6s to 8s.
- Cooldown now starts when the smokes start to fade away..
- Snake Bite Duration Decreased by 1s.
Viper is an extremely unique agent in the sense that she can be used as a Controller and a Sentinel in terms of technical application. This has made her a little too overpowered on maps like Icebox and Breeze. It also defeats the purpose of separate categories for agents in the game. These nerfs to Viper will hopefully balance the overall Controller dynamic in Valorant.
Brimstone
- Smoke Deploy time has been decreased from 2s to 1s.
- Smoke Radius has increased and Height has increased.
- Stim Beacon now gives a 15% speed buff.
Brimstone is everyone’s favourite designated dad in-game. However, there have been several issues with his smokes. Also, his Stim Beacon just isn’t good enough compared to other agents’ abilities. In addition, he can’t smoke areas in the entire map and needs to be within a certain radius to deploy his sky smokes. This makes it even worse for him on large maps like Breeze. We hope that these much-needed buffs to Brimstone will let us see him more in competitive Valorant.
Updated Homescreen video 👀 | #VALORANT pic.twitter.com/a7bwjAORMN
— Valorant Leaks & Info (@ValorLeaks) March 1, 2022
When Will You See These Valorant Agents’ Changes?
These Valorant agent changes will mostly be introduced in Patch 4.04, since they were announced in the official patch notes for this version. Aside from these changes, you can also expect to see changes to maps – Icebox and Ascent, specifically. There are also more changes to these agents that are explained in detail directly by Riot devs here.
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