The rumors were spot on, as Riot nerfs Chamber in Patch 4.09. We will go over the patch notes in this article.
A few weeks ago, news about Chamber’s nerfs highlighted a major change in how the Sentinel Agent can use his Trademark ability.
Riot Games was reportedly planning on removing one of Chamber’s Trademark Charges, effectively reducing Chamber’s overall defensive strength – which was honestly pretty broken anyway.
Riot Games was not messing around and pushed through with their planned nerfs for the Sentinel Agent in the recent VALORANT update.
Let’s go over the changes for Patch 4.09 in this article.
Chamber Nerf in Patch 4.09
The rumors were spot on as Riot Games did a number on Chamber for Patch 4.09. Here are the changes:
- Trademark cost increased 150>>>200;
- Trademark charges reduced 2>>>1;
- Trademark audio range increased;
As you can see, most of the changes for Chamber revolved around his Trademark ability.
Trademark has always been Chamber’s most powerful site-defense and flank watch ability, allowing him to defend multiple spots around the map easily.
However, Trademark always felt too powerful. The slow effect on activation is one of the most broken slow abilities in the game and is undetectable by sound cues. Plus, it gives Chamber information on enemy locations as well.
In addition, the fact that Chamber could place two of his traps on opposite sides of the map meant that he could effectively cover both A and B sites simultaneously. Coupled with his Rendezvous ability, Chamber could passively or actively defend two spots at any time.
Why did Riot Games nerf Chamber?
Riot keeps a close eye on power-creep in-game. Agents who outperform the rest of the VALORANT roster will be subject to Riot’s nerfs sooner than later.
In this instance, Chamber was arguably head and shoulders above his Sentinel counterparts in site defense, and Riot did not like that.
The Trademark nerf should force Chamber players to commit to a bombsite and use Trademark to either:
- Fortify the player’s current position.
- Use Trademark to assist teammates who are defending other positions.
In addition, Riot Games wanted to highlight Chamber’s offensive prowess using his Headhunter and Tour de Force. With this Trademark nerf, Chamber players will have to rely less on Trademark and utilize Chamber’s other abilities to defend bombsites.
Fade VFX Updates
Fade is still relatively new in the VALORANT roster. As such, bugs and glitches with Fade’s ability animations were expected to surface.
Riot Games addressed these issues in Patch 4.09:
- Nightfall [X] – Fixed occasional flickering textures using Fade’s Ultimate Ability.
- Seize [Q] – VFX change to the orb for a more dynamic presentation in 1p and Agent select.
Competitive Updates
- Party Lead Transfer – Players can now change and assign party leaders.
- The current party leader can right-click the player name they want to transfer party leadership by selecting “Make Leader” in the drop-down menu.
- Minor UI tweaks and updates.
Observer Updates
- Observers can now toggle the Scoreboard on/off.
Bug Fixes
Agents
- After curving a Cloudburst smoke, there are instances where Tailwind would fail to cast. This has now been fixed.
- Ultimate Indicator remains active even after exhausting all Jett knives.
Gameplay Updates
- Input bug where ‘use’ commands are activated after using abilities such as Sova’s Owl Drone and Skye’s Trailblazer is now fixed.
Locked and Loaded
The Chamber nerfs are the highlights of this relatively minor patch for VALORANT. It will be interesting to see how Chamber ‘mains’ adapt to these changes.
If you are interested in learning more about Riot’s thoughts about the state of Chamber and the Sentinel-class, feel free to read the entire Patch 4.09 Patch Notes by clicking on this link.
