Valorant’s Viper faced unintentional nerfs in a previous patch, but developers clarified that it’s here to stay.
Since its official launch in June 2020, Valorant has rapidly become one of the premier titles in the competitive gaming and esports scene. Developed by Riot Games, known for their colossal hit League of Legends, Valorant offers a fresh take on the classic tactical shooter genre by incorporating character-based gameplay alongside traditional gun mechanics.
There are many different characters called Agents in the game, each with their own unique abilities to help them in battle. Four roles are currently available: Duelist, Initiator, Sentinel, and Controller.
One of the most picked and top Controllers in the game is Viper. She uses her toxic screen and orb to block the entry points and also make space for her team. In a recent tweet by Valorant, they shared that Viper’s smoke uptime is shortened in-game.
They stated, “During our most recent balance pass, we discovered that Viper’s smoke uptime is shortened in-game. This is due to an update that had unintentionally shipped in 7.09 resulting in reduced smoke duration and cooldown after deactivating Viper’s smoke.”
The devs clarified that it wasn’t meant to go out as they were a “rough preview” of upcoming updates set for Patch 8.08. They continued, “We’d never intentionally make balance changes without messaging. But since Viper has proven such a dominant force in the meta even with her smoke duration reduction, we will not be reverting the change before the next update.”
Viper can be extremely disruptive with the decay accompanying her smokes, effectively blocking off choke points and holding off rush plays along with her snake bite (molly). Despite the hidden nerfs, Viper still had the highest pick rate in the recent VCT Masters Madrid.
A player pointed out that Viper had continuously received nerfs since Patch 2.09 but was still the top pick for Controllers, meaning there was no alternative for her. Harbor may have a similar style but only causes a small inconvenience with his wall slowing movement.
Personally, Viper is indispensable when it comes to maps such as Icebox and Breeze. Her wall may be permanently placed once you let it go, but it could become part of the team’s strategy. She could also be paired with another Controller, seemingly the meta in pro plays.
While Viper may be suffering from the constant nerfs, it doesn’t make her useless as she does the job well. For more Valorant content, stay tuned here on Level Push!