We’re also getting buffs for characters like Viper and Breach, and nerfs for the likes of Sage and Killjoy. On top of that, Omen has also bagged himself an… unintentional buff (read: bug) that allows him to go invulnerable sometimes after using his Ultimate. Valorant’s bugs have been pretty amusing so far. The last big update they managed to double up Raze’s rocket launchers, and this time players are reporting that ghosty boy Omen is keeping his temporary invulnerability after using his Ultimate, so he just… won’t die. Quick warning for this video: there is a fair amount of blood. I did not know how much blood could splatter out of a Valorant agent. It is: a lot. To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Manage cookie settings So yeah, use caution if you’re playing against any Omens today. As for the intentional changes, healer Sage and turret gal Killjoy have been hardest hit with this patch. Sage’s healing over time has been slightly reduced to disincentive her from healing herself over helping allies. On the plus side, her Barrier ability now costs 300 points rather than 400, but it starts out weaker with only 400hp when you first put it up, and after a few seconds beefs itself up to 800hp. Her Slow Orb’s size has been reduced by 30%, too. On those heal changes, a Riot dev took to Reddit to explain that a lot of these Sage changes are to “increase the decision making around her abilities”. “All of Sage’s abilities have felt very reliable in almost any context, even if placed sub optimally,” they write. “Slow orbs cover multiple chokes too easily and healing an ally at any health amount felt like a binary decision. Hopefully we start to see a bit more texture to how rounds play out, creating more dynamic experiences for Sage and her teammates. Even with these changes Sage should still feel like one of the more forgiving characters, mechanically, compared to others on the roster.” Next up, Killjoy got a much needed nerf to her Nanoswarm. It now deals a lot less damage per second, takes a little while for damage to start up, and it’s easier to spot it in the first place so you can try to avoid it entirely. I can’t count the number of times I’ve walked into a Nanoswarm with full health and been dead on the floor mere seconds later. Hopefully this will actually allow players to counter the ability in some way, rather than just get demolished if they touch it.
Now for the buffs! Viper has been treated to some good ones in this patch, with players now able to put up her Toxic Screen through spawn barriers during buy phases. It can be difficult for Viper players to hide her location when using that ability, because it’s such an obvious straight line leading right to her. Being able to whack the wall down before rounds should allow her to be a bit sneakier on defence, and set up some decent pushes on attack. On top of that, Viper’s Decay abilities no longer affect teammates, and her Ultimate ability shows up on her team’s minimap, too. Then we have a few buffs for Breach. He now has more charges of his Flashpoint ability, and they take less time to do the flashing to allow teammates to better capitalise on it. His Concussion now stops enemies from scoping, and the delay between his Rolling Thunder detonation blasts has been decreased, too. Riot do say they want to tweak Breach beyond this patch’s changes, but they “want to be measured” to avoid potentially upsetting balance. Last, but not least, Sova has kind of had a buff. His cape is less wiggly and his hands are prettier now. There’s absolutely tons more that this patch has altered and added, including: various changes to all of the game’s shotguns, small client-side VFX markers to help show hit reg, and reduced headshot VFX so players can actually see if they’re getting headshots through all the blood splatters. Find the v1.07 patch notes here to read up on all the rest.
