Another round of nerfs has made its way to one of the most polarizing Agents in VALORANT.
VALORANT gets updates almost every week, but last July 25th, the devs decided to skip their regular update schedule to give their engineers more time to work on the planned game engine update.
This week’s VALORANT PBE gives us an excellent first look at upcoming Agent nerfs, balance changes, and the updated game engine.
Here are the patch notes for the recently concluded VALORANT PBE.
Patch 5.03 at a Glance
- Chamber receives nerfs on his Rendezvous, Trademark, Headhunter, and Tour de Force.
- Neon, Chamber, and Jett receive changes to Ability Damage regions.
- VALORANT Game Engine gets upgraded to Unreal Engine v4.26 for Patch 5.03.
Chamber Nerfs
With Jett’s insta-dash gone, pro-teams have begun placing their best Jett players on Chamber. After all, Chamber’s Rendezvous is arguably the next best thing to an insta-dash in VALORANT.
The Sentinel Agent has always been a powerful defender on most maps, thanks to his traps. However, his arsenal of toys – Headhunter and Tour de Force Ultimate – makes him a dangerous character in both Attacking and Defending.
Rendezvous
- Base Cooldown increased 20s >>> 30s;
- Recall Cooldown increased 20s >>> 30s;
- Cooldown set to 45s whenever a Rendezvous anchor is destroyed;
- Radius Size decreased 21m >>> 15m;
Chamber’s Rendezvous allows him to take aggressive peeks and easily hold bomb sites. Unfortunately, the ability has always felt too powerful and allowed Chamber players to keep an amount of space that other Agents on the roster cannot replicate.
To solve this, Riot Games have increased the ability’s cooldowns and reduced the Rendezvous anchor’s Radius to force Chamber players to be more careful and creative with how they place these anchors around maps.
Trademark
- Slow Duration decreased 9.5 >>> 6s;
Trademark can proc from anywhere on the map, making it a great flank-watch ability and a powerful site-holding trap. It complements Chamber’s Rendezvous ability and gives Chamber and his teammates enough time to rotate to the trap’s location. (9.5s to be exact)
Trademark was still too powerful even after Riot Games removed Chamber’s other Trademark charge back in Patch 4.09. So for Patch 5.03, they are nerfing Chamber’s Trademark ability again by giving it reduced duration.
Remember when Chamber had two Trademark charges?
Tour De Force
- Ultimate Points Required increased 7 >>> 8;
- Slow Duration decreased 9.5 >>> 6s;
Tour de Force’s one-shot kill potential and quick accuracy reset times make it a round-winning ability in the right hands.
For Patch 5.03, Riot Games have opted to increase the number of Ultimate Points required to equip the skill on Chamber and have likewise reduced the slow duration to match that of Trademark.
Headhunter
- Bullet Cost increased 100 >>> 150;
With bullets costing just 100 a pop, Chamber players can fully load up the Agent’s Headhunter ability for just 800 credits.
For the same amount of credits as a Sheriff, you’re getting a much more valuable sidearm that can one-shot headshot from any distance. In the hands of a player with a decent aim, Chamber’s Headhunter can provide unbeatable economic value to his team.
With this in mind, Riot Games have decided to increase Headhunter’s bullet cost from 100 to 150 to add a factor of decision-making into Chamber players’ economic decisions in-game.
Damage Regions Changes
For Patch 5.03, Riot Games has made key changes in how Neon, Chamber, and Jett’s offensive abilities damage various parts of their target’s hitbox.
Neon
- Damage per shot reduced 22 >>> 18;
- Killzone increased 15m >>> 20m;
- Leg shot multiplier reduced 1.0 >>> 0.85;
- Headshot multiplier increased 1 >>> 3;
Chamber
- Tour de Force leg shot multiplier reduced 1.0 >>> 0.85;
Jett
- Bladestorm leg shot multiplier reduced 1.0 >>> 0.85;
In general, these changes should reduce the amount of damage these three Agents deal to less ‘fatal’ areas, i.e., the legs. On the other hand, Neon gets a minor damage reduction to her Ultimate Ability but is given the ability to deal more damage for shots she lands on her target’s head.
One significant change is Chamber’s Tour de Force, which will now only deal 127.5 damage (150 leg damage x 0.85) on the legs, which means one-shot leg shots with Chamber’s Ultimate are now a thing of the past.
The same can be said for Jett’s Bladestorm, which now deals less damage for shots landed on the enemy’s legs.
Overpowered No More
Riot Games will always be on the lookout for Agents, weapons, or exploits that give an unfair advantage in VALORANT. These new sets of changes and nerfs should balance out the VALORANT roster so that no one Agent shines brighter than the rest. With these Chamber nerfs in place, other Sentinel Agents should now become more viable in-game.
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