If there’s one streamer that’s trusted for their insight into FPS games, it’s former Counter-Strike pro Michael “shroud” Grzesiek. The talented former pro has recently shared some insights on Riot Games’ upcoming Jett nerfs in Valorant.
Jett has consistently remained one of the top agents in Valorant. The duelist has incredible mobility that is currently unmatched. Even with various nerfs and gameplay changes in an attempt to balance out the roster, Jett has remained very strong in competitive play, pro play, and casual play. Jett still has a pick rate of 62%.
Upcoming Valorant patch 4.08 is promising even more changes to Jett, focusing on her Tailwind ability.
Valorant developers are looking to balance out Jett once again. This time the focus is on the duelist’s Tailwind ability. The change will introduce a short delay after pressing the ability key followed by a 12-second window where Jett is “empowered to immediately dash” when players press the button again. The Tailwind charge will be lost when the window expires but it can be regained if she gets two kills.
Developers explained these possibly impactful changes. Jett can zip away from any danger instantly, preventing any kind of trade or counterplay. Due to this, Jett can consistently take space or hold “unusual ground” in a way that no other agent can. This makes her highly oppressive in competitive and professional play.
“This lack of intentional decision-making made it feel like she played outside of the tactical cycle all our other agents adhere to. Too often, she didn’t have to leverage game sense that other agents needed to succeed, because her reactive dash could often negate her own strategic mistakes or the great tactical calls by her opponents,” developers continued.
Riot Games is hoping this change will make it easier to strategize against Jett, since Jett mains will now need to either predict enemy maneuvers or play in a less risky way. But shroud has some further advice for developers looking to shake up the meta.
In a YouTube video published on April 24, shroud discussed the Jett changes and how it will impact Valorant professional play specifically. He theorized that she will still be picked a lot but “not as much,” possibly even allowing for Yoru to appear more often.
what did they do to Jett…
“The main thing that makes her good is not her daggers, they’re whatever. It’s the f—ing dash on every single round perfectly. Imagine having a getaway every round whenever you want,” shroud said.
shroud seems to agree with Valorant developers that nerfing Tailwind is the way to go. Reducing her ability to run away at any given moment will force Jett mains to be more cautious and more critical in their decisions.
Valorant Episode 4 Act 3 is coming on April 26. This will bring another agent that could further switch up how the game is played.
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