Pub stomper Raze has proven to be pretty strong in competitive mode as well. In patch 1.08, Valorant developers are taking away some of her firepower.
The big focus of Raze’s nerf is on her Blast Pack. Its initial damage was reduced to 15 with a 0.2 meter inner radius. Once the satchel lands, it arms after 0.5 seconds with an increased max damage up to 50. The satchel no longer does damage to allies. Shooting the Blast Pack causes it to detonate.
“Raze’s Blast Pack has been dishing out damage without giving enemies much counterplay,” Jeff Landa, Valorant’s comms associate, said. “This change should help make it very clear when Blast Pack’s damage poses a threat while maintaining the utility aspects of the Blast Pack that players have begun to master.”
The Guardian was another big focus of the update. Its price was reduced from 2500 to 2400. It received an improved rate of fire, going from 4.75 to 5.25 rounds per second. The buffed weapon was also given improved weapon receiver, from 0.35 after three bullets to 0.2925.
According to Landa, the developers don’t want the Guardian to “compete directly” with the Phantom or Vandal. Still, it needed a buff so players could “feel good” when opting to choose the gun.
“It’s a competitive purchase in certain economic circumstances or map scenarios, and isn’t as punishing when an enemy gets close!” Landa stated.
Valorant developers have also turned their attention to the controversial Operator. As before, developers explained that the weapon feels “oppressive to play against,” even giving players “no hope when attacking.” But now, developers are thinking of “testing a suite of changes” to address the ongoing issue.
“For how important the Operator is to the game, we want to make sure we are making the right call, so we’re giving these changes a bit more time to soak internally to make sure we get them just right,” developers noted.
The other major change in Patch 1.08 is map rotation upgrades. The matchmaking queue for all modes has been updated to ensure that there’s a better chance of playing on a map that players haven’t played on recently. It’s much less likely, developers said, that people will play on the same map several games in a row.
“The possible pool of maps you can get placed on is now ‘pseudo-random’ rather than pure random. What that means is if you just played, say, Haven, the matchmaker will deprioritize that map in your next game,” Landa explained.
This is something that players have often requested. Developers have now addressed the issue.
Check out the full patch 1.08 notes on Valorant’s site here.
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