Published , by Donovan Erskine
Published , by Donovan Erskine
Since its June release, we’ve seen Valorant undergo several changes as developer Riot Games works to make it the most balanced experience possible. In such a short amount of time, we’ve already seen various changes made to the games’ array of agents and weapons. Things are getting adjusted again as the Valorant update 1.04 patch notes have been released, revealing some major changes to the first-person shooter.
The full list of patch notes were posted to the Valorant website and detail every change made. Most notably, update 1.04 gives Viper a huge buff. When her Viper’s Pit (ultimate ability) is up, the time Viper can spend outside of the cloud before it collapses has been increased from 5 to 12 seconds. In addition, enemies within the Viper’s Pit will now have their minimaps obscured. In addition, Viper has increased visibility of highlighted enemies within the cloud.
Moving forward, when Viper activates both Poison Cloud and Toxic Screen simultaneously, she will not consume additional fuel. Her Decay ability also gets a buff, increasing damage from 10 to 15 per second.
These changes make Viper a much more viable selection. Many had previously criticized her kit, specifically her ultimate ability for not being as useful as that of other agents. With these new changes, you can expect to see a lot more Viper mains running around.
Raze and Brimstone receive a small nerf in update 1.04. Both agents’ ultimate ability cost has been increased from 6 to 7 points. Raze’s Showstopper and Brimstone’s Orbital Strike are incredibly powerful abilities, nearly guaranteeing kills if you know your enemy’s location. This change will make players work just a tad bit harder to unlock them. As of this update, Brimstone’s Stim Beacon will no longer buff enemy players, nor will it show the effect radius to them.
Cypher gets a small tweak in update 1.04. He can now pick up his Cyber Cages during the buy phase of a round. Of course, update 1.04 comes with a slew of bug fixes. Most notably, Riot has fixed a bug where jump shots with the classic were receiving no penalty to accuracy.
That about wraps up the Valorant update 1.04 patch notes. For more on Riot Games competitive FPS, visit Shacknews’ Valorant home page.