Valorant's newest update is here as Riot Games are making various tweaks to agents and other features. Following the release of the patch notes, it's fair to say the most controversial changes have been Viper and Cypher's nerfs.
While the tweaks made to the Moroccan's abilities will lower his position in Valorant's meta, all of the eyes have been set on Viper's tweaks. We are confident enough to say that her reign of terror is over.
Viper's nerf in Valorant's patch 8.08
Viper's nerf includes a wide range of changes to her abilities. Here's a description of the changes made to Viper:
- Snake Bite's quantity reduced from two to one
- Price increased to 300
- Snake Bite's duration increased from 5.5 seconds to 6.5 seconds
- Maximum time of poison reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds
- Minimum fuel required to activate Toxic Screen or Poison Cloud increased from 20 to 30%
- Reactivation time changed from 8 to 5 seconds
- Poison Cloud can only be picked up during Buy Phase, not during Action Phase
Riot Games' idea behind these changes is "to solidify clear weaknesses that Viper has compared to her peers while still maintaining her unique identity as a Controller / Sentinel hybrid."
Is Viper dead?
Viper's reign of terror is over... but, is she dead? Unfortunately for Viper fans, we think Viper's doesn't belong to Valorant's meta anymore. Yes, Viper is dead.
Professional players have already started to complain. Karmine Corp's player Ryad "Shin" Ensaad has already made his opinion clear, with the French saying that it would "actually be better not qualify to Shanghai and just work for Stage 2 if you want to have higher chances to make Champions" as teams who make it to China won't have enough time to train for the recent changes.
The opinion about Viper's changes doesn't get positive when looking at the fans' reaction. Most of the comments under Valorant's Patch Notes are from people complaining about Viper's nerf and the current Valorant map rotation.