Valorant’s Operator has been at the center of discussion for a while now. Sentinels’ skipper Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan recently explained what’s wrong with the Sniper rifle as the concerns with the weapon continue.
Valorant weapons receive tons of criticism now and then for being too overpowered or broken. Whether it’s the Phantom versus Vandal debate or Shorty run and gun, the firepower in Valorant has remained a hot topic.
Previously, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player Oleksandr “s1mple” Kostyliev highlighted how the OP in Valorant is “shit.” It seems he wasn’t wrong. Valorant pro ShahZam agrees that OP might not be viable on all agents, and it’s a problem.
On his recent Valorant stream, the in-game leader for Sentinels explained that the Sniper works well on Jett only. Other agents fail to carry the OP as effectively as the wind-voyager Jett. The pro player explained that this is a massive problem with the weapon and requires balancing.
“It’s too clunky to use on any other agent, and the problem is that there’s not a lot of counter options to the OP. Now, if you could use the OP on other agents, you can counter a Jett just walking up with an OP or a Jett just taking a duel or dry peek,” ShahZaM said.
Many reasons contribute to Jett being the best sniper agent. Unlike CSGO, movement in Valorant is slow and heavy, which makes sniping a tall order. Escaping a rifler after whiffing a shot is almost impossible on agents like Sova, Cypher, and more. Conversely, Jett equips a power to dash, which allows her space to make an error and recover. The agent can quickly fly away with her expensive OP in a situation where other agents would have fallen prey to the enemy’s gambit.
ShahZaM explained how there are few counter plays to OP unless you’re a Jett. As a bulkier agent like Brimstone, not much can be done against an agile Jett. For all these reasons, very few people in ranked seem to pick OP on the defense side. This inability of agents to equip snipers heavily impacts the stale ranked meta.
Riot Games has previously made crucial changes to the Operator, but the pro player thinks it still requires significant tweaks. Looking at the upcoming agent leaks, it seems that the developer might introduce another sniper agent instead of further changing the weapon. If the leaks come true, the new agent would expand options for OP players, ultimately balancing sniper play.
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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