Riot hints at major nerfs for Breach and Skye flashes

Fariha Bhatti Published 29/05/2021

Riot Games has confirmed some major nerfs for Valorant flashers Breach and Skye in the upcoming patches.

Playing against Flashers in Valorant can be a nuisance. Agents like Breach and Skye are equipped with plenty of blindsiding abilities that can be a bit overpowered in ranked games. The developer has finally heard the woes and is looking to balance the Initiators.

“The goal here is to provide Breach and Skye with more self-sufficiency, to do so, we’re looking to remove their ability to dish out three consecutive flashes,” Valorant character producer John Goscicki said.

Plenty of viral clips demonstrate how annoying it can be to play against five flashers in competitive games. Opening up a site as attackers become impossible with multiple agents spamming their flashes consequently.

The game currently has six agents who can blindside enemies, but Breach and Skye have flashes as their superpower.

The two agents are loaded with triple flashes that they can spam without any timeout. Recent buffs to Breach extended the duration of his blind, making him ever so powerful. Adding Skye to the Valorant roster, who carries three birds, made matters worse for the attacker. The developer also explained that Breach is overall a viable agent, but his power is mostly centered around the flashbangs. Players should expect a balanced kit with fewer flashes in the future.

The new release promises that the two agents are on the developer’s nerf radar. Breach and Skye will likely get timeout to their abilities, similar to Viper and Omen. The two agents won’t be able to spam their powers if a timeout nerf does get implemented. This potential change should massively impact the game meta in which teams gain an unbelievable advantage by picking up heavy flashers.

Yoru and Astra to get reworked by Riot in near future

Astra and Yoru will also get the developer’s attention in the upcoming patches. Riot Games is now looking to take some steps to add more counterplay to some of her play patterns that are too oppressive in coordinated play. Her Gravity Well can be game-changing on the attacker’s side as it doesn’t allow defenders to lurk anywhere near the Spike. In a full lobby, it’s almost impossible to play against the new controller.

Apart from all other changes, the newest duelist, Yoru, will receive a second round of buffs as the first one failed to impact. Both Viper and Yoru were patched up, but Yoru’s buffs were not as helpful. The developer is looking to make “Fakeout” a more impactful ability that is currently Yoru’s weakest power in the game.

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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