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Balancing a competitive game is a never-ending challenge that developers face, and Valorant is no exception. Riot Games works tirelessly to ensure that all Agents are balanced and viable for different use cases. With the upcoming 8.11 update, four Agents are set to be nerfed and buffed, which is sure to shake up the competitive landscape of Episode 9.
During the recent Valorant development update, Product Manager Coleman Palm and Game Designer Dan Hardison revealed the upcoming plans for the Duelist role, citing that it has seen a decline in use among the higher-skilled and pro players. The intention will be to adjust these Agents to make them more viable for competitive play.
“In early June, with Patch 8.11, we’re shifting our focus to the Duelist role. Over time, we’ve seen pick diversity decline among Duelists, especially in higher-skill and pro-play brackets. So we’ll be shipping some nerfs to Raze focused on her satchel mobility, as she’s been an overly dominant pick in this space. And as for buffs, we see several candidates who have an opportunity to be more relevant in the current meta—Iso, Neon, and Reyna.”
Palm and Hardison then went on to discuss the buffs we can expect to see for Iso, Neon, and Reyna in the 8.11 update saying,
“For Iso and Neon, we’re leaning into strengthening what makes them unique. Namely, we’ll be adjusting Iso’s shield paradigm and Neon’s slide, as well as some other small tweaks. And for Reyna, we know she’s quite strong in ranked, but she actually struggles in more coordinated team play. So, her changes aim to improve her viability in those team environments like Premier and Pro, while also reducing some of her current ranked strength. These balance changes in 8.11 will most likely be the last significant ones you see from us until after champs.”
The 8.11 update is expected to launch following the Valorant VCT Masters Shanghai 2024 which will conclude on June 9th. This is to ensure consistency for the competitive players to not have to learn new metas while practicing for a tournament. The new update will also bring the first map rotation since January 2024, a much-needed change to the game.
