Valorant: Riot Nerfs "Run-and-Gun" Meta with Huge Changes to Weapons and Mechanics

It seems that Riot Games has finally made some dramatic changes in Valorant with the recently released Patch 6.11. Some weapons and mechanics have been tweaked which heavily nerfs the prevailing "run-and-gun" meta.

First, the company adjusted the Error Power system. According to Riot, this is a tool that the Valorant dev team uses to "reward accuracy by biasing shots toward the center of the crosshair."

This system was meant to make aiming better when the shooter is stationary. However, Error Power has been unintentionally helping players land more accurate shots while moving. So, what did the dev team change to rectify this? The shots fired while on the move will now spread randomly within their cone, resulting in less accurate shots. While this style of play can still be used, players can kill enemies faster if they take the time to stop and shoot.

In addition, some weapons have been adjusted in this update. Shorty, everyone's favorite early-game weapon, has proven to be too reliable in the current meta since this short-barrel shotgun is quite accessible.

To address this, Riot doubled its price from 150 to 300. Furthermore, its ammo reserve has been nerfed from 10 to six, so players have to be more deliberate when firing shots. Shorty's damage output has been tweaked as well, with its damage at no fall-off reduced from 12 to 11 and damage at first step fall-off cut from eight to six. With these damage adjustments, players have to be more accurate if they want to kill fully-armored enemies in one shot.

Here are the other changes:

Weapon Accuracy on Ascenders/Ziplines (Ropes)

• Ascender min spread on ropes increased to 65% of the walking spread
• Rifles from .8 > 1.3
• Classic from .35 > .55
• Frenzy from .35 > .52
• Ghost from .35 > .6
• Sheriff from .35 > .78
• SMGs from .3 > .65
• Snipers and Shotguns unchanged
• Walking and running spread on ropes increased to match the walking and running spread on ground.

Weapons

Frenzy

• Min spread increased from .45 > .65
• Spread curve adjusted
  • Maximum spread reached in 5 bullets instead of 6
• Recoil pitch curve adjusted
  • Maximum recoil will be reached in 5 bullets instead of 6. Total recoil is lowered to compensate.

Phantom/Vandal Ammo Reserve

• Phantom Reserve ammo adjusted from 90 > 60
• Vandal Reserve ammo adjusted from 75 > 50

Recoil Adjustments

• Vertical Recoil Multiplier While Running:
• Phantom: 1.5 > 1.8
• Spectre: 1.5 > 1.8
• Vandal: 1.5 > 1.8
• Frenzy: 1.25 > 1.5

So, what can you say about these changes? Will you still use a run-and-gun playstyle or will you employ another strategy?

Valorant Patch 6.11 is available on PC.