Keep your hopes up! Bind is very solid and Lotus is undefeated this split. Plus Sunset is getting better. We should still be good.
| Flag: | Canada |
| Registered: | May 7, 2024 |
| Last post: | December 28, 2024 at 11:26 PM |
| Posts: | 10353 |
Keep your hopes up! Bind is very solid and Lotus is undefeated this split. Plus Sunset is getting better. We should still be good.
I expected better of you, K4ziuHa
I've never seen anyone with a RIDDLE ORDER flair
I'm gonna be honest, I probably am. But I feel making every controller good is better than making every controller bad. I definitely went too far with that philosphy, though, I think
Right at the top of the thread
Thank you! Do you think Omen's unusable now? I feel all I really did is reduce the range, make oneways less oppressive, and give the paranoia a fair cost vs. expected value.
Thank you! Yeah, in hindsight, that's a pretty extreme change to make, probably even more so than the rework. I'd go back and edit out that change but so many people have replied already as to where I feel there's no point.
Omen got nerfs to oneways, smoke range, and the paranoia. Astra got some overall buffs but all it really does is bring her on par with Omen when it comes to expected value. Clove was a tough agent to come up with changes for but I did the best I could with what I had. And Harbor ult is just slightly harder to dodge. I don't understand why you're so pressed; I might just not be seeing what you're seeing.
I don't mind having another dome smoker as long as they have a fresh take on it. Omen has his shadow realm to place smokes, letting him place very creative smokes but giving him a pretty high skill ceiling (purely taking smokes into account) because of how you can mess up his smokes if you put them down too quickly. Astra has global smokes but you need to learn to place them in advance. Brimstone can place very quick and accurate smokes, but that results in a lack of range. Every controller has their own unique upsides and downsides and I wish Clove had that instead of just copying Brimstone.
As for Viper... yeah, I overcooked with the two orbs. In my head I thought "hmm... maybe Viper can use her wall to lurk while having lineups for both smokes to be able to smoke for the site hit." But that's just way too broken... 😅
The Astra buffs are kind of huge (though I did nerf her smokes duration and made her ult an 8 cost), but knowing the pro scene I think people will still opt into Omen at least half the time. As for Omen, I didn't really do much at the end of the day. I made his oneways last less time, his smoke range is now shorter, and his Paranoia is now slightly less oppressive and has a price tag to match its expected value.
I mean... I don't think so personally, but you know how VLR users are. Gotta give a disclaimer, no matter how accurate.
I definitely overcooked a little, especially with Brimstone and Viper, but I'm honestly pretty happy with what I ended up with :)
Literally read the first sentence of the thread
I think so, too. When I was thinking of the changes I wanted to make for Brim, what went through my head is: what can't Brim do with three smokes? The biggest thing that came to mind was the ability to use smokes sparingly. For example, if you're playing a slow round on the attack, if you were to smoke top mid and then smoke for your teammate to get them out of danger, you now only have one smoke for the site hit, and even if you manage to pull that through you have no smokes for the postplant. Running out of smokes like that is something that doesn't really happen on Omen, and I feel an extra smoke for Brim is the best way to repair that shortcoming without straight up adding a recharge or doing something too crazy. I guess people would be able to use 4 smokes on their site exec now, but that's an unintended consequence.
I'd absolutely love any Harbor buffs Riot are willing to give us. My guy needs some love and he needs it now
Literally read the first sentence
I don't think it'll be too bad once people were to get used to it (theoretically, of course). A smoke lasting 9 seconds is stupid, but a oneway lasting 9 seconds feels more fair to me. Of course we can't be sure unless we can actually try these things in-game, so take that with a grain of salt
This was a single digit number of characters below the limit, btw
Warning: this is a very long thread.
If you've been following the series (I've done duelists and initiators so far), then you know how this works. I'm gonna present my take on changes for every single controller, regardless of whether they're in a good state or not (they're not), and I'm gonna give insight as to why I'm making the decisions I'm making. As I've done previously, I'm formatting this kind of like patch notes, just because it's a bit easier for me to organize and for you to read.
With that out of the way, enjoy the atrocities I'm committing and let me know what you think about these changes.
Omen has slowly and silently clawed his way to the top of the meta. There's not a single map in VALORANT where you can't justify playing Omen, because there's so much he offers that other controllers just simply don't—oneways alone are enough for him to see play, let alone his Paranoia, which is arguably the best ability in the entire game. Plus there's so much beyond that that just makes Omen so much better than every other controller. He's seeing something like a 75% pickrate globally for a very good reason. And the most difficult part of it is... how do you nerf him? His tps are very punishable, his ultimate is super situational, and his blind only lasts 2 seconds. I've thought for a long time on how to nerf him, so here's the best I was all able to come up with. These changes aim to keep his uniqueness while giving some of his niches a bit more cost.
Astra, up until the end of 2023, was viewed as a direct competitor to Omen. Her main perks were global smokes, initiator-esque utility, and an ult you can exec or retake with. However, with the dramatic rise in popularity for Omen, Astra is seeing almost zero play as a result. The nerfs to her Gravity Well a bit under a year ago also play into this—it was her strongest ability, and although this was the case the nerf felt unwarranted. She did receive a few nerfs this year, but quality of life changes alone aren't going to help her see play over Omen. She needs some love, and these changes attempt to do just that, giving her more freedom in allowing her to use her abilities while still having enough stars to smoke for the team.
Brimstone is another dome smoker—a very simple and traditional one at that. He also tends to suffer from Omen's success, but not in as cut and dry a way as Astra is. Brimstone is a weird case where he's irreplaceable on Bind and Fracture... and yet never sees any play on any other map, despite everything. I did a bit of research and it turns out he saw play on maps such Split and Ascent in the earlier days of the game, but as Omen and Astra grew in popularity he eventually became obsolete. Brimstone has clear advantages and yet much clearer disadvantages when it comes to other controllers. These changes aim to repair some of his weaknesses and highlight some of his strengths, in order to keep him in contention with other dome smokers.
Clove is the newest controller in VALORANT, and although she's seeing enormous success in the competitive queue, her performance in VCT thus far has been lackluster. This is because of how situational her kit can be... her decay never finds value, her heal is gone in 6 seconds, and her ultimate can be countered pretty easily in coordinated play. In order to be a viable pick, Clove needs some big changes. These changes are the ones I propose, attempting to give Clove a fresh perspective whilst keeping their core identity as a duelist-controller hybrid.
Viper has been a thorn in the side of the VALORANT meta for a very long time. Her unique abilities make her a broken agent by nature. With the changes introduced in episode 8, Viper is still oppressive and yet now feels terrible to play—the worst of both worlds. These changes aim to correct that, to try to keep her unique identity while making her a more balanced agent and bringing her closer to the other controllers all at the same time.
Harbor is a controller that doesn't receive very much love. He is arguably the most creative controller in the game, and his smokes can do things others simply can't, and yet he doesn't seem to be seeing any play, and his strengths aren't very commonly communicated. He's difficult to learn, hard to find personal value from, and only plays to his fullest as-is in very coordinated settings. He needs a lot more incentive and quality of life changes before people are willing to pick him up. These changes aim to bring about a real reason to play Harbor, in a sense.
Well, that's all for me. This took me way longer than it should've. I'm gonna go sleep now. I hope you like my ideas, and let me know if there's anything you'd change.
They locked a very meta comp (the Fade Gekko comp) and they looked absolutely incredible on it, undoubtedly the best they've looked in months. Is locking meta comps something they should be doing more often? Are they being held back by running double duelist on half the maps?
SEN look better on Sunset but TE look better on Bind. Lotus is a toss-up; SEN stomped the last two times they played it and TE were undefeated on it last split. Definitely a close 2-1
They're a very default-heavy CN team (unheard of), they have incredible macro, and they're really good at arguably the three most popular maps in the pool (undefeated on Ascent this year, had a flawless Lotus this past split, and their Bind is also very very good). They've somehow only been tested on 3 different maps in 6 maps played, but in those 6 maps they looked like they knew what they were doing. Definitely deserved to win their group, but I'm not sure if they'll make it too far just yet.
It's no use, they're also insane on Bind and Lotus which would probably be in the pool
MIBR shock upset 100T to get EG to Masters #2
LEV beat KRU (albeit demolished) to get SEN to Champions
A factorial is every number up to that number multiplied together. For example, 5! = 1 x 2 x 3 x 4 x 5
Okay, I'm not done trying to balance the sentinels yet (let alone the controllers), but hear me out: 2x zoom on Headhunter ADS
Okay but like
Me when I have to entry as Viper because none of the three duelists on my team will do it:
W minte, full faith in your team. Good luck to both sides tomorrow
People don't want to play duelists in ranked because they're easy. They want to play them because they tend to have very selfish kits (heals, get of jail free cards, movement abilities, damaging utility, etc.)
How are they meant to do that until next year bro? Are you just gonna be like this until 2025?
Thought I'd bring this to your attention, eutalyx: vanity is open to explore other opportunities at this time, as per this tweet from Cloud9, however he still part of the active roster until October 7th, and will be likely competing for Cloud9 in any offseason tournaments that may take place prior to October 7th.
Alright thank you
I love Disguised but 2023 BLEED was super fun to watch (plus I really want a VCJ team to win)
https://youtu.be/E2yd4BhxCLM?t=52
Fully random seeding, anyone can face anyone
Where did you read that?
I'm hoping Disguised lose Ascension so juicy and nephh can both go back to BLEED
yay to an Americas team, Zest to another Pacific team
It's a fully random draw. SEN can play any of the 6 teams that aren't in their group
True. It's like getting OXG vs. DZ in the lower bracket of NA Challengers playoffs. It's just disappointing at the end of the day, because one of them is eliminated so early on
Discord