VALORANT Patch 1.09 – Nerfs to Operator, Reyna and Jett, More Buffs to Viper

Riot has released Patch 1.09 featuring nerfs to the Operator, Reyna and Jett, while buffing Viper among other changes.

The newest update to VALORANT brings the much demanded Operator nerfs. Besides those changes the developers also tweaked the Agent balance a bit further.

Operator nerfed

The story of the Operator in VALORANT could easily be summarised as OPerator for much of the community. Players and professionals all complained about it being too good for quite a while before Riot finally reacted. Patch 1.09 will give out straight nerfs across the board for the Operator and hopefully remove the stranglehold it had over the meta.

Areas in which the Operator was nerfed include: price, damage, scope movement speed, draw speed, accuracy and firing speed.

Viper buffed, Jett nerfed

For agent balance the most notable change is another buff for Viper. She will not only start a round at 100 fuel now, her Snake Bite and Viper’s Pit were also buffed. For nerfs Riot targeted Jett’s Ultimate Blade Storm, as the burst mode did too well over long distances.

You can find the full patch notes below or on Riot’s official page.

Agent Changes

OMEN

Paranoia

  • Updated projectile VFX to better represent its hitbox, especially when it is traveling towards your POV

JETT

Blade Storm (Burst Fire)

  • The time between consecutive Burst Fire use has increased from 0.33 seconds >>> 0.45 seconds
  • Daggers thrown in Burst now have a damage falloff that begins at 12 meters and drops steadily (to 35 damage) at max falloff
  • Headshot multiplier on Burst Fire reduced from 3x >>> 2x

VIPER

Fuel

  • Viper now starts the round at 100 fuel (previously 50)

Snake Bite

  • Vulnerable debuff applied from Snake Bite now lingers for 2 seconds after leaving Viper’s acid

Viper’s Pit

  • Move speed doubled while casting
  • Viper now fast equips her weapon after casting, re-equip times vary per gun—but on average will reduce her weapon down time by .4 seconds

REYNA

Empress

  • Fire rate bonus decreased from 25% >>> 15%

BRIMSTONE

Stim Beacon

  • Fire rate bonus increased from 10% >>> 15%

 

WEAPON UPDATES

Operator

  • Increased price from 4500 >>> 5000
  • Decreased scoped movement speed from 76% >>> 72%
  • Adjusted weapon deadzone from becoming inaccurate at 30% movement speed >>> 15% (become inaccurate sooner, become accurate later when stopping)
  • Firing rate reduced from .75 >>> .6
  • Instant equip time adjusted from 0.3 >>> 0.5 (instant equip plays after tapping orb, bomb defuse/plant tap, Jett Cloud Burst, and Phoenix Curveball)
  • Leg shot damage decreased from 127 >>> 120

All Weapons

  • Jump land inaccuracy state changed from gradual >>> binary
  • Jump land inaccuracy duration increased from .2 >>> .225
  • Jump land inaccuracy value increased from 5.0 >>> 7.0 (more inaccurate for .225s after a land)
COMPETITIVE UPDATES
  • During this patch, the chances of being in an hour+ queue should be notably reduced
    • This is already a very rare occurrence, but it can happen more often for high rank players—especially in premade groups. We are also doing some tuning behind the scenes to keep high rank matches found after long queue times reasonably balanced and fair.
SOCIAL UPDATES
  • Riot ID Reviews
    • Players that have been reported for inappropriate Riot IDs will now be reviewed automatically after the match has ended. If their name is flagged as inappropriate, they will be forced to change their Riot ID the next time they log in to the Riot Client.
  • Removed Multi-line Breaks in Chat
    • Some sneaky people were impersonating system messages to troll others into quitting a match. Enough!
  • Changes to party push to talk settings will now take effect immediately
  • The chat window can now be pinned to stay open across menus
  • Social Panel Sorting Logic
    • Sorting algorithm for the social panel has been updated to make it more intuitive for players as they interact with it.
BUG FIXES
  • Fixed issue where Sova’s hitbox was incorrect while using his Owl Drone
  • Fixed bug where Omen’s glowing eyes weren’t properly removed when he cancelled his ult
  • Fixed a bug where Custom Game preferences would be wiped after navigating away from the Custom Game lobby

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Image Credit: Riot Games
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