Riot Games has released a small update for Valorant that implements changes that will likely shake up the current meta.
Agent Nerfs
Jett has been hit by the nerf hammer hard. First, her Cloudburst ability now has two charges instead of three. What this nerf does is it makes the player be more cautious when to use the ability to either create a path for a dash or to escape in certain situations.
Second, her Bladestorm ultimate has changed considerably. Killing an enemy with Bladestorm’s alternate fire (right-click) will no longer recharge the ultimate. In addition, the alternate fire’s damage now has the same damage multiplier as Bladestorm’s primary fire (left-click) to make things more consistent and predictable.
Aside from Jett, Skye has also received some nerfs. She has been quite effective on her own, so the developers aim to decrease the effectiveness of some of her abilities to make her even more impactful only during coordinated play.
That said, Guiding Light’s (E) unequip time after casting the projectile has been increased to 0.75 seconds. Furthermore, the windup time after activation before the flash goes off is increased to 0.3 seconds. These changes should provide enemies a bit more time to react.
Lastly, Skye’s Seekers ultimate has its cost increased to seven. It is not much, but it will be noticeable. Because of how useful this ability can be, the devs find this particular change necessary.
Kay/0 Buffs
When KAY/0 was launched at the start of Episode 3, the devs thought that players would pick the robot agent more due to its kit. Apparently, that was not the case. It turns out that the noise made by its FLASH/drive ability, when thrown, could allow enemies to react much quicker than intended, and that is why players shy away from using KAY/0. So, the devs have removed that, in addition to reducing the windup telegraph duration of the ability.
Anyway, NULL/cmd will not stop pulsing when the agent is downed. This should give players a longer suppression window, especially when taking over an explosive site.
Map Updates
Wall-bangs or Bullet Penetration can be abused in certain scenarios and that is why the developers made some appropriate map changes to prevent this.
For instance, the tunnel to the generator and canteen areas in the Fracture map can no longer be wall-banged.
Also, one crate found on the Icebox’s B-site can no longer be “pennable.” This should provide a safer planting space for the attacking team.
You can find out more information about Update 3.06 by heading over to the game’s official website.
Are you a Jett or Skye main? If so, how do you feel about the nerfs?
