Riot Games has mixed things up on the battlefield and made a number of Agent and Weapon Changes in VALORANT Episode 3 Act 1. This first act will start on Tuesday, June 22th and brings a lot of changes to the economy.
Having recently completed its first anniversary, VALORANT will also add KAY/O to the roster with this update. This agent was leaked just a few days ago.
Excluding Killjoy, every agent has received a number of buffs and nerfs. These changes have been collected from the new build, although the official patchnotes are soon to follow.
Agent Changes
Kay/O – Gets introduced as an Initiator agent, bringing a new kit capable of denying enemy abilities.
Jett – All the abilities from Jett are more costly, with the full kit becoming one of the most expensive.
- Cloudburst price increase from 100 to 200
- Updraft price increase from 100 to 150
- Blade Storm Ultimate raised from 6 to 7 points
Omen – Despite the buff to his flash, Omen will now be less capable to use his smokes for map control.
- Dark Cover now grants one free smoke, with a second smoke costing 100
- Smoke regeneration increased to 40 seconds
- Paranoia price decreased from 400 to 300
- Shrouded Step price increase from 100 to 150
Breach – His Aftershock denies positions for a longer period but his overall kit has been nerfed
- Aftershock price increased from 100 to 200
- Aftershock is now a three burst shock instead of a one time blast
- Flashpoint reduced to two charges and price increase from 200 to 250
Skye – In line with other measures to avoid flash spam, Riot has made some changes to her kit.
- Trailblazer price increase from 200 to 250
- Guiding Light reduced to two charges and price increase from 100 to 150
- Guiding Light regenerates one flash per 40 seconds
Sova – The recon expert has been nerfed, with his ultimate ability being even harder to get.
- Owl Drone price increase from 300 to 400
- Shock Bolt price increase from 100 to 150
- Hunter’s Fury Ultimate is now 8 points
Sage – No major changes outside of her overall kit becaming a little more costly
- Slow Orb price increase from 100 to 200
- Ressurection Ultimate is now 8 points
Brimstone, Cypher, Yoru, Viper, Phoenix, Reyna and Astra had all minimal nerfs to individual abilities, with a residual price increase to their overall kit.
Weapon Changes
For starters, the Shorty and Frenzy have seen their price cut by 50 credits. As such, it is possible that we will see an even heavier Frenzy meta on the pistol rounds, given it is now a bit cheaper than the Ghost.
Both the Stinger and the Marshal are now just 950 credits. In conjunction with the low price-tag on the Frenzy, force-buys could become less of a risk heading up into this new act.
The Shotguns have been tweaked in different directions: the Bucky will be cheaper but the Judge will be a little bit more expensive, given its resurgence in the later stages of Episode 2.
Operator players will be rejoiced to know that their sniper will be changed from 5000 credits to 4700. Some other guns that had its prices residually dropped are the Bulldog, Guardian and Ares.
All these Agent and Weapon Changes in VALORANT Episode 3 Act 1 will go live alongside a completely new battlepass. For this Episode, Riot seems to be finally investing in the game’s lore, with a number of recent videos exploring the narrative behind the shooter.
