Riot has secretly buffed smokes on Valorant map Pearl

Fariha Bhatti Published 14/06/2023

Pearl is a tricky map to tackle as a defender due to its larger size and even larger entrances. But the new rework will make the controllers’ smokes slightly more powerful. 

In the latest Valorant patch 6.11, Riot Games decluttered Pearl to make it more maneuverable for both sides, specifically defenders. While everyone noticed how new design changes made Pearl easier to defend, the update has also secretly buffed the controllers in Valorant. 

After the new reworks, controllers in Valorant will have to use less and less smokes to block off attackers and secure a bomb point. 

Pearl is now easier to defend 

In patch 6.11, Riot rolled out plenty of design changes to streamline duels. The screen placed inside point B is much longer, meaning the entrance shrinks in size.

Before this change, players had to put two smokes to block off the attacker’s view completely. This would heavily damage the economy, forcing defenders to run dual controllers on Pearl. 

However, due to the recent changes, the platform can now be blocked with just one smoke. The entrance into point B reduces in size due to the larger screen, making controllers viable on this map. This could be huge at a higher level of play, where players use each utility deliberately. Moreover, Pearl will become less attacker-sided, which is typically the case for larger maps. 

It remains to be seen how these changes play out in the long run, but for now, they look promising. 

Why was Night Market disabled? 

On June 10, Riot announced that Night Market would be getting removed from the game due to a bug that was causing the game to crash. 

“We’re hearing reports that some of you are having issues with Night Market and rotating Store offers. As a result, we’re turning Night Market off for now. We’ll work on a fix and hope to bring it back soon,” Riot said.

Fariha Bhatti

About Fariha Bhatti

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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