I’ve always had a soft spot for Valorant. While Overwatch was my first real experience of FPS games, Riot’s flagship shooter always felt like a bit of a step up. The gunplay was more reminiscent of Counter-Strike, rewarding tactical planning and pure skill, and the abilities – while useful – felt secondary to the overall gameplay. But as the roster has expanded and utility has gotten wackier and, oftentimes, more OP, it feels like once-clutch firefights can be won with a single good ability versus actual mechanical skill. It’s a concern that a lot of players have expressed of late – especially in the wake of Waylay’s launch – and it turns out Riot agrees.
I remember watching First Strike back in the day, then VCT. While strategic ability usage certainly helped players get the drop on one another, there was nothing more satisfying than watching Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo pop heads in 1v5 situations (unless those heads happened to be from EU, of course). Nowadays, however, a game of Valorant feels like watching the Overwatch League or other shooters like Marvel Rivals – there’s a lot going on in Riot’s FPS game.
This has come to a head in the wake of new Thai Agent Waylay’s release. The new ‘Saturation’ debuff inflicts major slows which, when paired with her high mobility and easy stun, makes her an absolute monster. On Monday March 10, Vitality’s IGL Saif ‘Sayf’ Jibraeel dropped a post via X (formerly Twitter) discussing the issue, writing, “Valorant promised [that] gunfights will decide [who wins a match], but recently I just feel so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of utility.
“During the Chamber meta at least people got to aim and play [a] traditional shooter, now [good luck] seeing your screen some rounds.” He’s referring to French Sentinel Chamber’s gunplay-focused kit, which includes the infamous Headhunter heavy pistol and one-shot Tour de France sniper rifle that took Riot a while to hit equilibrium with.
On Thursday March 13, Riot’s live balance lead ‘Penguin’ reposted Sayf’s comment, responding, “for what it’s worth the balance team generally agrees with this take – we’re investigating ways to make this better but we’re too early to commit to any details or get into specifics unfortunately.” The official Valorant X account has since reposted Penguin’s reply.
This is, in many ways, a good thing. I don’t envy the idea of having to balance tactical gunplay with all of the game’s utility (which will continue to expand as new Agents drop), but I do agree that things are leaning a little into Overwatch territory. Hopefully Riot manages to swing things back, but only time will tell.
If you, like me, are obsessed with Valorant esports, be sure to collect all of the current Valorant Twitch drops. Alternatively, if you also, like me, love cool skins but don’t want to splash the cash on them, here are the Valorant Night Market dates for 2025.
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