Valorant patch 1.11: With Skye’s release, are there just too many flashes in the game?

Image Credits: Polygon
Image Credits: Polygon

During the Jett-Op meta, the lack of utilities, and the very map design, was making Valorant’s sniper rifle one of the most oppressive weapons in the game.

Much of the players' complaints were surrounding the fact that there was not enough utility in the game to counter the Operator in attack, and entry fraggers were having a rough time pushing into a site, no matter which duelist they picked.

However, the situation changed once the Operator went through some much needed nerfs, and Breach got a huge buff to his “Flashpoint”.

So, after the Valorant patch 1.11 update, fans have been wondering if it was absolutely necessary for Riot to release an Agent who also had a flash in her kit.

Skye’s “Guiding Light”, has become quite difficult to deal with for players ever since her release. Flicking away from abilities that blind has never been the strong suit of players in Valorant’s lower tiers, and her release has frustrated them, as they are experiencing far too many white screens in each round.

Teams are now opting for a team composition of Reyne, Phoenix, Breach, Skye, and Omen, and it has pretty much been ruining the gameplay experience for many players.

Does Valorant have too many flashes right now?

If the above short clip from TSM Wardell’s stream is any indication of the impact that Skye is having in Valorant at the moment, then you will know just how problematic she is for the more inexperienced players to deal with.

Even in a recent Reddit post, a Valorant player, who goes by the handle of cxtmeow, talked about the issues that the game is currently facing with abilities that impair vision.

cxtmeow says,

“Am I the only one who thinks that going against a team like Skye, Reyna, Phoenix, and Breach is a bit much? I played against a team like that but then it was like every second I cannot see because I’m always blind. And it's even worse now because Breach has longer blinds with the new patch.”

With so much CC, any team with the right setup and coordination can have an incredible amount of map control.

In a follow-up common to the Reddit thread, a Valorant player wrote,

“I just faced that team. It wasn't fun. They rushed every single round and only lost 1 round on attack. You don't really need smoke to push on site when you have 10 flashes. You can flash every corner and still be left with many flashes. They had a little tough time on the defender side, but got a hell lot of map control.”

By the looks of it, the perma-flash issue is indeed a substantial problem that Valorant is facing at the moment, and Riot might just need to balance things out a bit with the upcoming updates.