Jett received some big nerfs in the latest update. Crates are now sturdier, so expect more safety while planting the spike.
Soon after the conclusion of the Valorant Masters Berlin, Riot Games has released an update for its FPS shooter. Patch 3.06 brings about some significant changes to Valorant, including a much-needed nerf to Jett and Skye.
Valorant Agent Updates - What are the latest changes?
Skye and Jett receive nerfs while Kay/O receives a slight buff. Here are the changes to the different agents in Patch 3.06.
Skye - Changes to Guiding Light and Seekers
The Australian agent has been one of the most effective ones in Berlin. Her guiding light ability makes her a unique pick in the game. However, the fast unequip time allowed her to take advantage of the flash. In many situations, it was a bit too much for the enemy to overcome. There have seen slight nerfs to Guiding Light unequip and Windup times. These changes should help balance the hero and give her enemies a fighting chance.
We’ve liked that Skye has been able to play off her own flash more and more. But lately, there's a sense that it's become too effective and optimal to play off of herself in some situations. An increase to the unequip time should make it slightly more difficult for Skye to capitalize on Guiding Light bird flashes as quickly as before—making a coordinated play or different styles of flashes more competitive.
The increased activation time aims to give prepared enemies a slightly larger window to react, without trivializing her main Initiator tool. Also, we’ve seen both the frequency of Skye’s ult and its effectiveness increase as players have become more skilled with the Agent. Looking at the recon and impact it can provide, it now seems more appropriate amongst the ults that cost seven points.
- Guiding Light (E)
- Unequip time after casting or bending Guiding Light’s projectile increased .5 >>> .75
- Windup time after activation before the flash goes off increased .25 >>> .3
- Seekers (X)
- Cost increased 6 >>> 7
Jett - Big nerfs, but maybe still competitive
One of the best agents in the game, Jett was simply too overpowered at the highest level. And Riot Games has now nerfed the agent’s Bladestorm in Patch 3.06. Bladestorm no longer charges Jett’s Kunai, increasing the skill level required to master the agent.
- Cloudburst charges reduced 3 >>> 2
- Our feeling here is that Jett has one too many smokes, and it’s contributed to a sense that she could get away with using them at any time, have more to spare, or spam them without much thought.
- The reduced charges for her smoke should hopefully make the choice on whether to smoke a choke point, smoke a path for a dash, or make a one-way, a more tactical one.
- Bladestorm Right-click/Alternate Fire kills no longer recharge Jett’s kunai.
- By removing the recharge, we hope Jett mains will optimize for the single kunai kills in order to keep the Bladestorm going and really play into the high-precision fantasy Jett is all about.
- We want to incentivize the high-skill primary fire kills while still allowing the low-risk-low-reward burst fire option.
- Bladestorm Right-click/Alt. Fire damage changes are reverted, damage and multipliers will mirror the left-click.
- We’ve seen Jett’s right-click be very unpredictable and feel that it’s confusing to have different damage rules than the left-click. This change should unify how both modes of fire work and provide a little more predictability if Jett decides to go for the single kill as opposed to chaining.
Kay/O - Buffs to Flash
The robotic Kay/O gets some small changes to its FLASH/drive in the latest Patch 3.06. With the duration on windup telegraph seeing a significant reduction, Kay/O might see more play in professional games.
When we first launched KAY/O, we had two big questions: “How strong is Suppression for initiation?” and “Can regular flashbangs exist against other flashes in VALORANT?” Although we believed the ability to lab out flashes was where the power could come in, we over-indexed on telegraphing the projectile, which is holding back its success.
- FLASH/drive
- Duration of windup telegraph reduced 0.5s >>> 0.3s
- Duration of windup telegraph reduced on Right Click 1s >>> 0.3s
- The audio attached to the in-flight projectile has been removed
Map Changes - Safety behind Crates
There are also changes to five Valorant maps, the most impactful being the one on Icebox. Crates are now sturdier, which means spamming through crates to stop a spike plant seems less effective right now.
The Valorant Masters Berlin ended with a Gambit win, but Envy’s players still believe NA is the strongest region in Valorant.
Valorant fans can read the entire patch notes on the official webpage here. Stay tuned to esports.gg for the latest Valorant news and updates.