It has been less than 24 hours since Tejo’s announcement in VALORANT. Currently, the agent is available to play on the early access server of VALORANT. Following clips of the abilities being released on social media, many fans hope Tejo receives certain nerfs before he has been released in the game. In this article, let us look at specific reasons why fans worldwide want Tejo to be nerfed in VALORANT.
Before we get into that, do check out the patch notes for VALORANT Patch 10.00.
Should Tejo Be Nerf In VALORANT Following His Launch?
Image Credits: Riot Games
Tejo is the 27th agent to be released within VALORANT. Tejo is from Columbia and is a part of the initiator class. Unlike other initiators in the game, Tejo hasn’t added a new effect within the game. Instead, his ability kit consists of some of the most busted abilities in the game.
Following his release, there were multiple discussions on the social media platforms X and Reddit concerning Tejo. A majority of them are on the topic of the agent being overpowered. On the VALORANT subreddit r/VALORANT, user artOseku stated the following on a post concerning Tejo’s abilities:
“I don’t think the problem is that he’s overpowered, the problem is that he took what other initiators were doing and does them so much better.”
To be honest, what the user is stating isn’t wrong either. If we compare each of Tejo’s abilities to similar abilities in the game, his is better. For example, let us take Tejo’s ability, Stealth Drone, which is identical to Sova’s Owl Drone. The reason why Tejo’s ability is better is because until it is near the enemy, it cannot be seen. While Sova’s Owl Drone can mark the enemy if posted, Tejo’s stealth drone will suppress the enemy and share their location on the map.
Fans Find Tejo To Be Busted Before His Launch!
On the subreddit r/VALORANTcompetitive, user matheusamr slated the following concerning a nerf to Tejo:
If you’re Tejo, you can, in a single cast of his recharging signature ability, use one explosion to destroy Killjoy Lockdown and still have the other one to use freely. Also, the range of this thing is half of the map. I’m not one to react strongly to agents before they’ve been released, but that’s GOTTA be nerfed, right?
He isn’t wrong, either. During the early access, many players noticed that Killjoy’s ultimate can be destroyed using his ability, Guided Salvo. In the past, players could do the same using various line-ups of Kay/O’s ability fragment. Now, all they need to do is tap on the screen, and using Tejo’s free ability, an ultimate that requires nine orbs to activate, can be destroyed easily.
On the same thread, user fanficmilf6969 slated the reasons of multiple VALORANT fans in the most concise way possible:
So
Invisible Sova drone
Ranged ability to break flank trips without lineups
Ult KOs from full
lineup-free one-tick molly to break KJ ultimate
8 second suppress on the drone
ult can destroy full cypher setups
I don’t love reactivity, but is there any way this isn’t broken?
Many fans are comparing the launch of Tejo to that of Chamber, which was launched in 2022. Until 2023, many considered Chamber, the most overpowered agent in VALORANT. It feels like someone has come to claim the throne after Neon was nerfed in 2024. Some fans are worried that if Tejo is legal to use during the upcoming VCT Kickoff 2025, the newly launched agent will dominate the competitive meta completely.