The game of Valorant we know today wasn’t always like it is in 2023. A lot has changed since the time of its launch. From the hated Valorant worst agent nerfs to the map changes, here is everything you didn’t know if you started playing recently!
Valorant Worst Agent Nerfs
Valorant agents have often received the short end of the stick after they are seen to be overused in pro eSports tournaments. Parallelly, some Valorant agent abilities have also received nerfs over time based on how often they have been rewarding.
Based on similar scenarios and reasons, the following are known to be the Valorant worst nerfs in the game’s history:
Chamber Nerfs
The first target of Valorant worst nerfs received by any Agent was Chamber, the Sentinel Agent. To state that Chamber must be nerfed is a running joke in the Valorant community to date whenever something is announced.
Post a comment stating ‘Nerf Chamber’ on Valorant media posts, and you will easily earn a few likes. Try it!
The release of the Chamber agent was an astonishing delight, which later turned out to be a nightmare for players. His ultimate ability, or rather the whole ability kit, was GOATED to the extent that he could ACE easily, no matter what.
Then, arrived the Valorant Patch 5-03, and Chamber went from GOAT with the highest pick rate to Phoenix status. All four abilities or Chamber nerfs effectively saw him of little use after the patch, whereas today, he is barely picked at all.
Jett Nerfs
If you do not think of Instalockers as you read the name Jett, then welcome to Valorant, dear newbie. The veterans of the game know that Jett will be the most picked agent in Ranked games. Even someone who joined the game before the Valorant Patch 7-04 knows Jett is Instalocked as a norm.
However, the Chamber Nerf treatment was exacted to Jett for the release of Sunset Map, and since then, her pick rate has dwindled substantially. Everything from her Cloudburst to Tailwind to Blade Storm is nerfed. Only the courageous players now take Jett, or the ones who can still do with the Valorant worst agent nerfs.
Skye Nerfs
The Skye Valorant agent’s worst Nerfs arrived with the Jett Nerf and will soon earn the Cypher Nerf status.
A Chamber Nerf is when a Valorant Agent is nerfed to the ground.
The Cypher Nerf is when a less-picked Valorant Agent is nerfed further down below the ground.
While some may believe it’s a long way to measure Skye Nerf equally as the Cypher Nerf, her pick rate says otherwise. Right after the worst Valorant Agent nerfs dropped with the Patch 7-04, the pick rate for Skye hit the ground, quite literally for Ranked games at least.
Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that she will receive any buffs here onwards.
Killjoy Nerfs
Welcome to the club of Killjoy, where you will consistently bottom frag even while winning the matches. The reason Killjoy mains are known to be bottom fraggers is because they have to hold a site endlessly only to have to rotate in the final moments.
Presently, the Killjoy is somewhere between the Chamber and Jett’s Nerf status since she needs Nine Ultimate Points. But that is not the only reason her pick rate is seen in a decline. In the VCT 2023, she was the most impactful Valorant agent.
Leading to such an accomplishment, everything from the already nerfed Killjoy turret to cost-bumped nanoswarm grenades is now less viable for competitive play. Killjoy may not be the worst Valorant agent, but on a server level, she is next to useless.
Viper Nerfs
For a long duration, even today, Viper is known to be the worst Valorant agent to go against when she plays Defense. The reason for this is her ability kit, which effectively stops all forms of invasion on Site.
But, of course, the imbalance must be curbed as a rule, and it did twice. Once with the Valorant Patch 5-12 and then with 6-11. On both occasions, multiple Viper abilities were nerfed, as she was the only controller getting all the attention.
With the arrival of Harbor, effectively a replacement or counter against Viper, the game indeed appears balanced. But it’s anyone’s guess that Viper might soon receive the Killjoy treatment based on how often players recognize Viper ability bugs.
Cypher Nerfs
Cypher is not an innocent Valorant agent and can be a real pain in the trigger. On one side, where Valorant cinematics showcases him dying more than most, on a match round, yeah, players prefer it all the same.
The Moroccan Sentinel was previously a bank for allies since his abilities cost was cheap until patch 1-11. Subsequently, over the next months, several bug fixes saw his abilities get fixes and nerfs along the way.
Cut to the patch 5-10, Cypher was buffed, which is more than twelve months in perspective. Evidently, the Cypher nerfs are, to date, a joke, even while he continues to dominate in the hands of skilled players.
Sova Nerfs
Arguably, the least nerfed or buffed Valorant agent in the game’s history is Sova. The first Sova Nerf came as a reduction of total Shock Dart & Recon Darts. The next nerf came as the damage dealt by each shock dart. The third and most recent nerf is the total bounces for his Recon & Shock Dart.
It must be noted that these nerfs have occurred sparingly across a period of three years, cementing Sova as one of the most balanced agents of all time. But, the Sova mains are still considering the recent change as Worst Valorant agent Nerf because reducing one bounce did not make a significant change.
Valorant Worst Map Changes
In 2023, Valorant has tem maps. Are they each playable? No. Are they all hated by the Valorant Community? More or less, yes.
Among the ten maps in Valorant, several maps have seen significant (worst) changes. These changes have not always aligned well with the community, and there is little to no chance that they may be fixed.
The Pearl map changes are by no means the worst unless you are a Chamber main.
Valorant Breeze 2.0 Map Changes
Two words: Absolute Garbage.
Check out these Valorant changes to Breeze Map, and bid goodbye to your Tube Duels with Marshall.
The Breeze map was the first biggest Valorant map reveal and, ideally, also equally hated for several reasons. Its Site B was defense-sided, whereas Site A was attack-sided. The tubes, mid and A-main (now adjusted patch 7-04), were havoc zones, but no more.
For a Valorant map that screams freedom, like the coast side it depicts, the map is now pretty restrictive after the worst Valorant map changes.
Valorant Bind 2.0 Map Changes
The Bind is an equally hated map for the same reasons it’s liked, the entry points being the choke points, too. Sure, a Raze grenade is enough to swat away the enemies, but it wasn’t always so.
Starting from the boxes near the A Main, which all but prevented entry if smoked, even the teleporters are shifted. As a result, the A shower duels have increased, and overall, the map is still defense-sided. Good job, Valorant team.
Valorant Icebox 2.0 Map Changes
Icebox is perhaps the only map to receive reworks and still get removed from the map queue for more reworks. The famed site off of Breeze map is known in the Esports scene as the home of the 100 Thieves team.
However, in the lack of its availability, the eSports team has fared pretty well. Alternatively, the global players have, too, except with wishes that it never comes online. (Yes, the Valorant community is a pretty tilted bunch with widejoy preferences.)
Based on the slated updates Icebox will receive, as it may arrive with the new Duelist in 2023, it is well on its way to losing Valorant’s worst map title.
Valorant Worst Game Updates
The game of Valorant has seen plenty of upsides. On the flip side, several updates to the game have only served to degrade the game experience of numerous players within the worldwide community.
A majority of the game updates are finalized based on how or where they are needed as per outcomes of pro eSports Valorant matches. For instance, the VCT 2023 saw Killjoy as the highest-picked agent, and resultantly, she received multiple nerfs immediately.
Similarly, whenever anything may be exploited, be it an agent, a map, or anything within the game, it’s likely that the next patch will alter it.
Increase in Ultimate Ability Points
The earliest Valorant players who joined the game in their youth (since beta) know that Ultimate ability points were at a maximum of five. Over the next few years, the increase in these points is staggering, as today it’s nine Ultimate points!
Moreover, it’s not an equal increase across all the twenty-two agents because it’s based on how often these Ultimate abilities have helped players evade gunfights. For example, Ultimate abilities in Valorant that help with site retake have received the highest Ult points.
In fairness, despite the immediate hate from the community about increasing the Ult Points of agents, it does make sense to balance the game through it.
However, are we slowly arriving at a day where an Ultimate Ability requires 10 points? That’s like gaining an ultimate ability after six rounds, considering a mid-fragger performs well enough.
Also Read: Join Valorant eSports Guide: How to Play Valorant Professionally?
Valorant Weapon Nerfs
A large part of the Valorant community is not unfamiliar with the term ‘Run & Gun,’ which is incidentally the ideal playstyle for the Neon Valorant agent.
But the term’s origins were the utility & proportionate advantage offered by Spectre, especially on maps with lesser movement space. The act of Run & Gun involved shooting bullets in a linear line as a player dashes left or right. The main maps where Run & Gun became an issue were Split, Bind, Ascent, and Icebox.
The issue came to light when pro players in VCT re-enacted it with Spectre, Phantom, and Frenzyt. As a result, after the Valorant Patch 6-11, all Valorant guns were nerfed.
Spectre got the highest nerfs, where its spray spread increased drastically, including the same with Frenzy and Vandal. Even the shotty got a cost bump, with Marshal receiving the same and the Judge becoming exceptionally costlier.
These Valorant weapon nerfs were a monumental beacon to portray that the Valorant team is not sitting idly. It does not condone the players take unfair advantage wherever possible. However, these weapon nerfs in Valorant are marked in history as one of the worst nerfs.
MMR Queue [Not via Update]
The Valorant developers have been tight-lipped about discussing how its MMR player queuing system works. Other than revealing how five stacking parity would work, and how it would be punished when queuing with different ranks, nothing concrete is known.
The Valorant community is, however, already onto some theories about how the match-making system works in the game. Here are a couple of Valorant MMR theories and how badly the Valorant Game Updates neglect it.
- Top Frag to Bottom Frag
- Headshot Percentage decides your Rank Placement
- TTK & Damage Delta RULE
- And many more
Among the theories, the one that is consistently true remains to be regarding top/bottom fragging.
It follows that a top fragger in a previous game will meet higher ELO players and vice versa. Although it makes sense to offer opponents based on performance in respective scenarios, the aggressiveness of the algorithm, however, makes the game mechanics predictable.
Also Read: How to Stop Valorant Ban: 8 Perma-Ban Offenses To Avoid!
Valorant Resets [Not via Update]
The Valorant rank resets is another subject matter that is widely discussed but has next to zero improvements or updates.
It’s a pretty simple philosophy that a rank reset in new acts is perfectly ideal to help players gauge & improve their gameplay. For most players, the rank reset in Valorant is properly optimized, too.
On the contrary, the underlying error or unfairness of Valorant rank reset lies in its mechanism, where dropping three ranks is a common rule.
For instance, a player with a peak rank of Silver 3 will likely again be placed into Bronze ELO. Similarly, a player with a peak rank of Bronze 2 will get placed into Iron 3 or Iron 2 ELO.
The issue here is that three rank tiers apart, the game is vastly different for each player. Sure, since everyone is getting down three ranks, it should balance out, right? Except it does not.
The headshot percentage of a player in the Valorant Silver Tier Rank averages 15% to 20%, whereas it’s between 7% to 15% for a Bronze player. Therefore, newer players with a few matches after the rank reset will be pitted against Silver-rank players starting placement games.
Another case where such unfairness occurs is when the Bronze 2 or Bronze 3 players are competing against Iron ranks. In lower ELOs like these, the Bronze players will easily outmatch Iron-ranked players.
The Takeaway
It is a burdensome responsibility to maintain balance in a game like Valorant with over 20 million player base. But, in spite of it, not all Valorant worst nerfs, map changes, game updates, and rank updates have been deserving. What do you think?