Valorant devs say Kay/O is "weak," buffs are possible

Fariha Bhatti Published 11/09/2021

Valorant’s Terminator Kay/O has been a stronger addition to the roster than other agents, but Riot Games is still looking to buff it up.

The Valorant roster saw an expansion with Kay/O, who rolled in with a no-nonsense toolkit for the fans of traditional first-person shooters. While it quickly found its footing in the roster, players aren’t really preferring it over older initiators. The developer is aiming to rectify this issue, Riot Games’ Altombre has revealed.

The war machine was meant to be a more straightforward initiator than what Valorant previously had to offer. Kay/O is simple, deadly, and ideal for public matchmaking games. While previous additions like Astra and Yoru are viable in professional games, Kay/O was expected to fill the void in pug-like ranked games.

After analyzing the agent’s performance for almost three months, the developer believes it’s not serving its true purpose. The players were banking on Kay/O to be the next “insta-pick” initiator, but it’s actually going under-the-radar in low-ELO games. Altombore agrees that the agent may not be as powerful as anticipated and that its “weak” kit may require a revision.

Responding to a Redditor, the developer acknowledged that Kay/O’s kit is lacking, but is mulling over possible changes. The agent is under investigation and might undergo tweaks to become the beast it was meant to be.

Does Kay/O need a buff in Valorant?

Kay/O could use minor tweaks to its kit to be a perfect agent for solo queue games. Though the battle bot has strong tools, its ultimate is underwhelming against skilled foes. A change to the ultimate or downtime duration could certainly boost Kay/O’s kit.

Kay/O was released with a suppressor blade, a molotov, and a flashbang. That toolkit is the perfect package for a player looking to frag out in a game, but Frag/ment isn’t as deadly as it appears in theory. The molotov bursts in constant explosions, making it possible for enemies to avoid it untouched. Tuning it to match Killjoy’s Nanoswarm might convince players to run it in attacker side maps.

While there’s nothing wrong with the overall kit, the agent is a bit lacking in firepower. Kay/O’s arrival was expected to patch up the broken ranked experience, but it remains the same as ever. Hopefully, Riot will balance things out shortly.

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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