VALORANT patch 11.08 brings nerfs to every Agent in Act 6

Riot Games revealed some of the nerfs on VALORANT patch 11.08, and precise gunplay will affect your games more than ever. Most roles and utilities in VALORANT are getting normalized and nerfed to make what matters most shine: your aim.

After clarity changes in patch 11.07, VALORANT patch 11.08 brings a whole slew of nerfs to most Agents.

A big part of this update is that similar utilities across multiple Agents are being standardized.

This means non-Ultimate concusses and stuns, from Agents like Breach, Astra, and Neon, will all have a similar duration of 2.5 seconds. This allows players to carry over muscle memory on peek timings, but expect a period of adjustment.

Nearsight effects, like those from Omen or Reyna, will be less effective. In VALORANT patch 11.08, the visible range while Nearsighted is being increased to seven meters.

Combat Stim effects from Reyna, KAY/O, and Brimstone are being changed to have identical effects across the board.

Reyna's Empress is affected by the combat stim standardization.

The health of Yoru's Gatecrash is being lowered, letting players spend less time shooting it to prevent Yoru from teleporting into the backline. Moreover, a sound effect will be played at Yoru's current location when he activates Gatecrash, whether it was a fake or not. Gatecrash will also be the only ability he can cast while in his ultimate — he will no longer be able to spawn a clone or throw a flash. The durations of his flashes are going down slightly across the board.

Yoru is a prominent Duelist, especially in professional play. These changes may put him back to his less-than-desirable state before the buffs he received, to be where he is now.

Neon will be able to sprint for longer. Before, she could go for a maximum of 12 seconds. Now, she can run for 16. However, VALORANT patch 11.08 also brings a nerf to her: it will now take 60 seconds to fully replenish Neon's Fuel, a drastic change from 20 seconds. This will reduce her pressure on the map, and she will be able to threaten rotates less. The concuss from Neon's Relay Bolt is being lowered to 2.5 seconds More tactical thinking and min-maxing of her Fuel bar will be needed.

Waylay's Saturate will Hinder enemies for three seconds instead of four. Her Ultimate, along with Iso's, is getting a smaller area of effect. The slow on Waylay's Ultimate is also going from seven seconds to six. Since they are the newest Duelists, Riot may believe that they are more in line with their intended vision for the game.

The Nearsight from Omen's Paranoia, Brimstone's Combat Stim, and Astra's Nova Pulse and Gravity Well are affected by the standardization.

Brimstone's Combat Stim will be tuned down slightly, and the stun time from Astra's Nova Pulse will be in line with other stuns in the game at 2.5 seconds. The Fragile effect from Astra's Gravity Well is being halved from 5 seconds to 2.5, too.

A lot of rechargeable Controller utility is getting increased cooldowns, too. Astra's Gravity Well and Nova Pulse will become a full minute. The cooldown on her smokes, alongside Omen's, is also getting longer. Omen's Paranoia will also have a small area and a faster travel time.

Viper's poison effects on her Viper's Pit, Poison Cloud, and Toxic Screen will inflict less decay HP on the instant of walking through them.

The smokes on Controllers are mostly untouched, leaving their core identity of blocking sightlines intact. Also, Clove is completely untouched as of the details we have right now, so expect a resurgence of Clove players in your lobbies (and in professional events).

Defensive utility is getting some nerfs in VALORANT Patch 11.08 in terms of making counter-play against them easier. Traps and utility will be easier to bait or destroy after this update.

In particular, Vyse has been a prominent pick since her release, and the dev team agrees. "We feel like there could be more counter-play opportunities around her abilities," said Chunlok Lo, Live Software Engineer for VALORANT at Riot Games.

The health of her Razorvines is going down from 40 to 20, while her Ultimate, Steel Garden, will have a shorter radius and a longer activation time. This gives enemies a bigger window to get themselves out of the area of effect. For Vyse players, they will have to take more space to get maximum value out of the Ultimate.

The cooldowns of rechargeable abilities are going up, and some of their effectiveness is being taken away.

Destructible wall abilities, like Sage's Barrier Orb and Deadlock's Cable Jam, will have less health and therefore, be easier to break. To compensate, their costs are being brought down to 300 credits.

The concuss from Deadlock's Sound Sensor is also being affected by the roster-wide standardization.

Vyse's Arc Rose no longer makes a different sound cue when successfully flashing an enemy.

Killjoy's Alarmbot health is going down, and her Turret will reactivate more slowly when she re-enters its range. Turret shots will now slow more, so it's not all bad news for her. This just incentivizes Killjoy players to stand their ground and hold the site, but this may give the enemy a window to punish her.

Cypher's Tripwires will no longer Concuss; they will only Slow. The reveal will only take place once the trip is fully activated, as opposed to the instant you touch the trip. The wind-up to activation is getting shorter, though. This severely reduces the effectiveness of the Tripwires, especially the playstyle that uses them to give Cypher wallbang angles or quick peeks. Their use as an information tool is largely unaffected, however. His Spycam can now be revealed when you are near it.

Chamber is mostly untouched. His only change is to Rendezvous, which will take longer to come back up upon being destroyed.

There is currently no information on whether Veto is getting changed.

The Initiator Agents are the most affected by the standardization nerfs coming to VALORANT patch 11.08. The dev team believes that Initiators "should be strong at setting up combat, but we want them to be tighter in timing and precision." They also aim to give more counterplay to the utility.

All Flashes will now last a uniform 2.25 seconds.

Fade's Prowlers is being affected by the standardization. Upon getting "bitten," the Nearsight now allows you to see up to seven meters ahead. Her Ultimate will affect a smaller area, and her Eye will be active for less time.

Gekko's Wingman is also taking a hit to follow the new standard on stun durations. Gekko's cooldowns upon collecting his pets are also getting longer, and Wingman and Thrash will both have less HP

KAY/O's Ultimate is the same as having similar Combat Stim effects to other abilities. The reasoning behind this lies in muscle memory, so more skill is transferable across Agents and Roles.

Sova's Recon Bolt, Fade's Haunt, KAY/O's Zero Point, and Breach's Fault Line will all be on 60-second cooldowns. "We want you to be more strategic and intentional between each use.

Despite his stun duration getting lowered, Breach is getting buffed. The windup time for his stun is getting lower, and he will now only require eight points to use his Ultimate. Breach's Ultimate will concuss for less time and have a smaller area of effect, though. His stun will also have a shorter duration.

Tejo is mostly untouched, apart from the recharge time on Guided Salvo going up to 60 seconds.

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