Fan-made butterfly knives might be better than Riot's Balisong
Some players are happy with Riot Games’ crack at butterfly knife but others are creating their own refined versions.
After months of pestering from the player base, Riot Games finally delivered a butterfly-style knife in Balisong melee. However, some players are not entirely satisfied with the camouflage theme and have designed “better” versions of the unique knife.
The butterfly knife has been the hot topic among skin collectors since Riot Games teased it in Yoru reveal. Valorant’s melee was expected to be extravagant like other bundles, but many players are disappointed with the minimal design. While the animation seems fun, fans want a knife in peppy colors and fresh designs. Soon after Balisong’s release, fan-made Ion and Glitchpop butterfly knives went viral because they might actually be a tad bit better than Riot’s melee weapon.
A player named Thyrox-exe has created a butterfly knife on Ion theme, a hit bundle released by Riot Games in patch 1.12.
Thyrox’s butterfly is the complete opposite of Riot Games’ dull and muted design. The Ion knife reflects the clean white theme of the bundle lined with a glistening blue blade. The second variant is all black with glowing red, adding a pop of color to a rather sleek knife. Players loved this knife variant, which is just as simple as Recon but the clean design and color theme has a beat on the newest bundle.
While Thyrox stuck with a plain design, another artist named antxochdesign chose a bright, rich beat of Glitchpop. Antxoch’s butterfly has a similar glowing blade on Glitchpop’s signature hot pink theme. The blend of pink and blue added a fresh touch to the Recon’s slim design, garnering appreciation from skin collectors.
Both the melee weapons blew up in the Valorant community expecting Riot Games to deliver a first-class butterfly knife. Recon bundle falls into the more homespun skin category in Valorant, including the likes of Infantry and Minima. While some players like their guns simple, the butterfly fanbase was expecting Riot Games to go all out. Skin collectors are now counting on Riot to deliver more butterfly knives based on premium bundle designs.
Despite a few complaints, players are hastily jumping on the Balisong hype bandwagon. The developer recently turned off the market due to heavy traffic that caused various bugs in the game. It’s evident players love the new concept of knives, which means that Riot Games might be rolling out more variants of the melee.
Fariha Bhatti is a long-time gaming writer who loves competitive FPS games and slots with particularly fun themes. She got her start playing classic games developed by SNK, from legendary fighting game series The King of Fighters to challenging platform franchise Metal Slug. She now spends most of her time playing Valorant and Counter-Strike 2 while working her way through new slot releases to find her next favorite. Fariha has been published at PCGamesN, TalkEsport and ONE Esports.
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