Is Harbor becoming a forgotten agent in VALORANT?

In the last years, many players have been asking several questions about Harbor. What is happening to the agent, and why hasn't he received a single update in more than two years? Has Riot Games forgotten about Harbor? Let's break it down for you.

Harbor is the 21st agent from VALORANT, and he was announced in October 2022. The Indian agent came with a very interesting water-based kit with similarities to Viper's wall and smoke. However, he didn't stick out with a lot of players and soon started to vanish from the games.

One of the things players have been complaining about is the lack of updates, either buffs or nerfs. Aside from a small adjustment on patch 10.03 (that was not exclusive to him), Harbor's last update was on patch 5.12. This means he hadn't seen a real update since December 2022.

Some people believe he is the weakest controller in the game, especially at a competitive level. If you have been watching VALORANT for a while, you might have noticed that no one plays Harbor.

This is because, compared to other controllers like Omen or Astra, Harbor is less consistent, and his smoke is not as reliable as the other agents. Not only that, but his wall has a slow deployment, which makes it easier for the opponents to predict its movement.

To make it worse for him, the latest addition of Clove, a very loved agent within the community, made him even lower in players' choices. According to the tracker.gg, Harbor has the lowest pick rate in the game with a percentage of 0.4%, and a 45.2% win rate.

A person on Reddit referred to how simple is kit is. All of his abilities are smokes, which make him less useful than other agents that have teleports, flashes, mollies, and other abilities. Not only that, but his lack of range obliges him to be in a certain position to well-position his smokes.

Even with the team coordination being a must, what normally happens very well in high elo, players prefer to play with other controllers with a wider range of abilities. Overall, people believe Harbor needs to be buffed. Otherwise, he won't ever be picked over the remaining controllers in the game.

There is always a possibility, but Riot Games has not confirmed a possible rework. With small changes happening with KAY/O in the 10.08 patch note, some people started to comment about the same happening to Harbor. "I hope they get him to be good because his concept is great", a player wrote.

Fans of VALORANT lore have been accusing Riot Games of being inconsistent in the last years. They complain about plot threads that are not followed, plot holes that were never solved, and may inconsistent relationships or contact between agents that just don't make sense lorewise.

Some believe that Riot is "hyperinvesting" in the esports side of VALORANT, which is good, but leaves big voids in other areas, one of them being the lore.

Other talk about a possible "Viper replacement" that Riot simply abandoned after not being as good as they wished. Contrary to Neon or Fade, which become crucial and solid choices in both competitive and non-competitive VALORANT, Harbor vanished. Not only did he start to be less picked in-game, but he rarely appears in any cinematic.

Since his kit demands lots of coordination and precise timings, sometimes it is difficult to take the full potential of the agent. Aside from that, the champions demand communication and synchronization with the rest of the teams, which can be very hard to achieve when you are not playing with your friends.

In the video below, the player studied the Harbor case and gave some tips on how Harbor could actually become a better agent.

Harbor's C ability is a small wall that you can only deploy and stop. An interesting change was to be able to rotate the wall just like Sage's wall. This rotation seems like a small change, but could be helpful to protect one of your sides in very open spaces like the middle areas. Another suggestion was to increase its duration from seven seconds to eight or nine.

Another small buff could be making the Cove take 550 damage rather than 500. It seems a small buff, that could make the smoke more durable and useful in-game for plants, for example. Another interesting change was to reduce its price since costing 350 makes it a difficult utility to use regularly in pistol rounds or when the economy is tight.

Since his wall ability is too difficult to control and too slow. One of the crucial changes is to make it faster to deploy. It could also be interesting to make it easier to manipulate, allowing him to move it in more angles. Not only that, but also removing the slowing effect from you and your team.

The long windup time for Reckoning makes it easier for enemies to counter or avoid the effect. Shortening this windup time would allow Harbor’s ultimate to be more impactful, especially in clutch moments or when trying to secure a site.

The stun duration could also be increased. Not only that, but removing the possibility to stun your teammates could also be a good change. This would allow your teammates to reposition and run after the enemies more easily.

Let's hope for a brighter future for Harbor in the game. That's all for now. Stick around for more VALORANT news, guides, and updates on esports.gg.