Valorant’s duelist balancing changes include overpowered buffs to Neon’s kit, and many VCT pros couldn’t wait for the 8.11 update.
The Valorant meta and agent tier list has been, safe to say, “stable” for quite some time. Despite some changes to some top-picked agents like Viper, Jett, and Raze, they have maintained their staying power in competitive and pro plays in the current season.
However, it seems things are bound to change in the upcoming 8.11 update, which bears one of the biggest duelist changes. The next Valorant patch focuses on boosting Neon, Reyna, and Iso’s kit, while Raze gets the short end of the stick.
While Reyna and Iso’s buffs focus on making them more viable for team plays, Neon’s new kit may have the best agent buffs in recent updates. Some changes include faster fuel regeneration for her sprint, instant weapon equipment after sliding, and no shooting error while sliding.
With these changes, Riot Games somehow removed all the factors on why some of the best duelists and duelist main players would prefer other agents than Neon. And even pro players weren’t shy to show their excitement over these changes on social media.
Among the top reactions to the Neon changes include fans and other pros naming some of the best Neon players as the “VCT Champions 2024.” Some top picks include Team Heretics’ MiniBoo, Sentinels’ Zekken, and NRG’s Victor, a Neon main player back in his days with OpTic Gaming.
A Riot Games developer, Dan “Penguin” Hardison, explained the changes in an interview with Valorant Analysts and content creators Plat Chat. Among the reasons the dev cited include that the point of Neon’s kit was to “outplay enemies with your movement,” and having shooting errors that don’t incentivize movements wouldn’t make sense for her kit.
Despite the joy of some players who can’t wait to queue ranked games and instalock the new mega-buffed duelist, some Valorant fans aren’t happy to see the changes that completely overthrow the current meta.
Now that Neon can instantly equip her weapon after sliding with no shooting error, you may expect more “run and gun” or shotgun Neon mains when you queue ranked.