Riot Games has released the patch notes for Valorant update 7.04, which come with a ton of controversial agent changes, a massive overhaul to Breeze and of course the brand new map Sunset.
Many of the agent changes coming in patch 7.04 were shown off last week, to try and remove some of the shock factor of the update because some agents are getting massive changes. The most notable is Jett, who appears to be getting nerfed into the ground and as she is one of the most popular agents in the game, there are a lot of unhappy players.
Basically, everything to do with Jett has been nerfed, her Tailwind dash window has gone from 12 seconds to 7.5 and the windup has increased from 0.75 seconds to 1. Then her Cloudburst smokes have been shortened to just 2.5 seconds duration and she now only gets one Updraft charge. Then finally her ultimate now costs an extra point.
These changes have proven unpopular with many players who have read the notes, but for me, these are welcome changes that will make Valorant a much better experience for everyone. Jett is one of the agents that players who think they are good, or smurfs, will pick to try and dumpster everyone on their own. With her previously having long-lasting smokes, extreme escape and the ability to be unpredictable a good player could play on their own and take out the entire team, while a bad player will try and copy what they see a good player do and fail miserably.
Now a lot of that utility has been removed. With the massive reductions to her more defensive kit, she can no longer run in and get out without any fear. She will need someone to back her up if she goes in, and really this should stop people playing alone. It’s a welcome change that will hopefully mean all the people who think that Valorant is actually a solo game will learn to play with a team. Or they will just pick Reyna, who has a similar play style and I think needs a rework.
Elsewhere in the patch some other troublesome agents, especially those that were picked throughout the recent Valorant Champions tournament, have also been given some big nerfs. Her flash duration has dropped half a second, while both her wolf and seekers have been given reduced HP, so they are easier to take down. From the description in the notes it seems that Riot aren’t sure if these changes will be enough to reduce her popularity to the level they want, so more changes may be coming.
Astra is the other agent getting some big changes, with Gravity Well getting a longer startup time and decreased duration, while Nova Pulse gets a startup time decrease. Her cosmic divide also now blocks all audio rather than just muffling it.
Other agents are also getting some smaller tweaks, but these are the big three that have been hit with the nerf hammer. The overall goal of the changes is to reduce the frequency of massive ultimates, how long utility lasts and reduce the HP of summons. As a result, more rounds should be decided on who has the best strategy and who hits their shots, rather than which team has the most ultimates available. Also there should be less Jett players in my matches, which can never be a bad thing.
Elsewhere the patch also brings the launch of new map Sunset, which is set in LA and is all about controlling the mid area, Breeze also returns to the map pool while Fracture and Pearl are being taken out.
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