Valorant: All Game-Changing Nerfs

Highlights

• Valorant has undergone numerous balancing updates, including nerfs to agent abilities and weapon mechanics, which have significantly impacted the game's meta.
• Some noteworthy nerfs include reducing Raze's grenade count but allowing her to recharge it with kills, addressing the overpowered right-click mode of the Classic pistol, and making substantial cooldown increases to Astra's abilities.
• Other notable nerfs include adjusting the ammo reserve for popular rifles, increasing the cost and reducing the effectiveness of the Shorty shotgun, and making significant changes to Viper's Pit and Sage's self-heal ability. These updates have sparked controversy and influenced gameplay strategies.

Since Riot Games released their widely popular team-based FPS, Valorant, in 2020, there have been a ton of balancing updates that have entirely shifted the game's landscape. From simple weapon tuning to entire ability reworks, the updates have been game-changing and, at times, controversial.

These nerfs usually attempt to address over-dominant agent abilities by weakening their overpowered elements. This can involve increasing their in-game price or reshaping them altogether. These were some of the most impactful nerfs in Valorant history, giving newbies a peek into the game's evolving meta.

10 Raze's Grenade Nerf

In many ways, Valorant is unrecognizable from when it first launched in closed beta in April 2020. One noticeable and much-needed adjustment was to Raze's signature ability, Paint Shells.

Initially, Raze had two Paint Shell grenades that dealt massive direct and splash damage. This was reduced to one charge in one of the earliest patches, slightly weakening her highly explosive kit. However, she was given the ability to recharge her grenade by getting two kills. This change stands out as one of the earliest yet creative and rewarding nerfs to date.

9 The Classic's Right-Click Nerf

In Valorant, the Classic pistol can be used in two versatile modes: the primary (left-click) function is a standard single-bullet fire, and the alternative (right-click) is a semi-automatic shotgun that fires in three-round bursts. This alt-fire mode was extremely overpowered for a relatively long time, as it lacked a solid moving inaccuracy penalty, which allowed players to jump while landing deadly accurate hits.

Thankfully, this was addressed in the 3.09 patch, drastically increasing the alt-fire's jumping, running, and walking firing errors and making the shotgun mode more aligned with its intended close-range function.

8 The Astra Nerf

Astra has always been considered one of the strongest Controller agents, with a versatile kit and global range. However, new players may not realize she was once even stronger.

In patch 4.04, Riot made sweeping adjustments to Astra's abilities, deeming her kit overly dominant and aiming to diversify the metagame. This update reduced her maximum star count from 5 to 4 and extended the cooldown for retrieving her stars from 14 to 25 seconds. Her abilities - Gravity Well, Nova Pulse, and Nebula - likewise saw their cooldowns stretched from 25 to 45 seconds. These substantial cooldown increases and kit modifications led to a temporary decline in her pick rate.

7 The Ammo Reserve Nerf

The gunplay dynamics in Valorant had become stale around the Summer of 2023. Professional Valorant gameplay highlighted this in particular, where blind spamming through smokes had become the meta-strategy.

To address this commonly exploited tactic, Riot tweaked the ammo reserve for the most popular rifles, the Vandal and Phantom. With only 50 bullets (down from 75) in the Vandal reserve and 60 in the Phantom reserve (down from 90), players are now forced to control their gunfire as the spray-and-pray approach has become a less effective use of the limited ammo.

6 The Shorty Nerf

Another chaotic trend witnessed in both pro play and Valorant ranked was the over-utilization of the Shorty shotgun. At only 150 credits, this incredibly powerful sidearm was unstoppable in short-range scenarios.

While it had always been a go-to secondary weapon for Operator players, the Shorty started dominating all aspects of Valorant gameplay so much that Riot Games doubled its cost to 300 credits, reduced its ammo reserve from 10 to 6, and slightly reduced its damage potential. These changes made the gun relatively unfeasible on pistol rounds and a weaker choice overall.

5 Viper's Pit Nerf

Viper has been subject to various nerfs over time, with the most significant arriving in patch 5.12, which altered how Viper mains must approach playing in her Ultimate.

Viper's Pit has long been one of the most powerful Ultimates in Valorant, which this considerable nerf sought to address by making it easier for enemies to counter. Notably, it decreased the maximum time she could spend out of her Pit before it collapsed from 15 seconds to 8 seconds. Changes since this patch have also increased her Ultimate price from 7 points to 9, and the smoke integrity regen speed has increased from 5 seconds to 25.

4 Gekko's Wingman Nerf

When Gekko entered the Initiator roster, it was an understatement to say that his Wingman ability seemed like a game-breaking addition to Valorant. Capable of planting and defusing the spike, this ability is both heartwarming and incredibly powerful.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

However, one overlooked element upon his release was what would happen if Wingman was the last player alive. Initially, he could continue to plant or defuse the bomb, leading to bizarre clutch scenarios. Riot swiftly addressed this major problem by ensuring that Wingman would always die if he was left the last one standing.​​​​​​​

3 Sage's Self-Heal Nerf

Players frequently draw comparisons between Sage and support-only characters in other character-based shooters, and this connection grew even more pronounced in the 5.12 patch. This particular update marked a substantial overhaul of her Healing Orb. It shifted from providing a universal 60-hp health regeneration to offering merely 30-hp when applied to herself and a hefty 100-hp when used on allies.

The self-heal nerf significantly diminished Sage's self-reliance, with Riot aiming to pivot her toward a more support-oriented role. The drastic transformation of her signature ability sparked controversy, as it seemed to discourage players from embracing an aggressive "battle-sage" playstyle.

2 The Chamber Nerfs

Chamber once utterly dominated both ranked and professional play. His entire toolkit was considered overpowered, and it took Riot a considerable amount of time to address this issue. However, the transformation was nothing short of game-changing when they finally did.

Patch 5.12 will forever stand out as the patch that overhauled his entire arsenal. His Rendezvous teleport was reworked, requiring just one anchor that he could teleport to when in its range. His Ultimate became more costly and less effective, with a reduced fire rate and a shorter slow duration. Lastly, his Trademark received a proximity radius rather than spanning the entire map. These changes brought Chamber more in line with his intended role as a Sentinel but ultimately resulted in his dramatic disappearance from the meta.

1 The Jett Nerfs

Jett, a consistently popular agent since Valorant's release, has experienced a series of steady nerfs over time. Early changes included reducing her Cloud Burst smokes from 3 to 2 charges and adjusting her Ultimate to prevent right-click kills from refreshing her knives.

Her most impactful update came in Patch 4.08, which made her Tailwind ability far more situational by introducing a 0.75-second delay before its use and creating a small timeframe during which she can execute the dash. Subsequent updates reduced her dash window and increased its activation windup, further curtailing her escape move. Her Updraft charges were also reduced from 2 to 1, and the duration of her smokes was cut to 2.5 seconds. These nerfs have generated intense debate among the Valorant community due to their impact on her mobility and signature aggressive playstyle.