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2022 was a rollercoaster year for Valorant, Riot Games' character-based tactical shooter. The developers rolled out several meta-changing updates that changed how players approached the game.
The Valorant developers have been consistently listening to the community and shipping out regular impactful patches. This ensures that the game remains balanced and the meta keeps changing. Such an ecosystem is healthy for both the casual and professional scenes of a growing game like Valorant.
The additions and changes were made to maintain gameplay integrity and respect the ethos the game was designed around. This included adjustments to gun mechanics, the addition of Agents, and rethinking how certain Agent abilities work.
Among the various gameplay updates, some were more impactful than others. With the year coming to a close, here is a list of the five most impactful Valorant updates from 2022.
Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the opinions of the writer
From making the Ares into a super-gun to possibly ruining Chamber's viability, Valorant developers didn't hold back in 2022
1) Adjustments to gun mechanics
The year for Valorant started with massive buffs to the Ares, accompanied by slight nerfs to the Spectre. This made the Spectre the go-to pick in the second round of halves, especially for the defensive side. The fact that it was 50 credits cheaper only helped its cause.
In Patch 4.0, Ares had its spin up removed and its fire rate increased. This meant that everyone, irrespective of the gun they were using, would find themselves at a disadvantage when facing off against an opponent crouched and positioned at an angle with an Ares.
It got so powerful that even pros began to opt for the gun over rifles during buy rounds. The developers promptly responded with nerfs that put the Spectre back in its place.
The Stinger also got a few changes to its firing accuracy that made it viable once again.
With the Spectre nerfs in Patch 5.12, and current trends observed at the highest levels of Valorant esports, it looks like the Stinger will play a significant role in the upcoming 2023 season of the game.
2) Changes to Agents' abilities
Although some abilities in Valorant have always felt overpowered, others have felt so weak that players have often wondered why they even existed. In 2022, the developers focused on balancing these inconsistencies.
Jett's signature ability, Tailwind, has been the topic of many debates and discussions. In the past, the South Korean Agent had the ability to take extremely aggressive fights at any point in a round with an almost guaranteed single-click escape in the form of Tailwind, popularly known as Dash. This ability felt broken, especially in the hands of mechanically skilled players.
The Valorant community had been requesting some changes to the Jett dash, and the devs finally responded in Patch 4.08. Tailwind is no longer a single-click, get-out-of-jail-free card. An activation delay was added to the ability, along with a 12-second window within which it had to be used. It still felt like a powerful ability, but not one that was oppressive to play against.
Speaking of oppressiveness, the French weapons designer, Chamber, had been extremely strong since the time of his release and was considered to be a must-pick in virtually every team composition and map.
His ability to hold flanks, lock down sites, and get away with some absurdly aggressive plays for a Sentinel made it so that the other Agents in the class didn't even stand a chance against him.
Despite being hit by two nerfs in patches over the last year, he was still dominating the Valorant meta. Patch 5.12 reduced his Ultimate's speed, severely nerfed his Rendezvous by limiting its possibilities, and limited Trademark's activation distance.
Alongside the Chamber nerfs, both Cypher and Killjoy got buffed. Cypher Trapwires are now loungers, and Neural Theft scans the enemy's location twice.
Killjoy’s ultimate had become one of the weakest ultimates in the game owing to the number of opponent abilities that could counter it. However, it is now seeing a return to glory, with a 50 HP boost. It also helps that ability interactions in the game have been updated in Patch 5.12, making it difficult to kill Lockdown using random Agent abilities.
It will be interesting to see how these changes pan out in ranked games and the upcoming season of the VCT in 2023.
3) Astra nerfs and Controller meta updates
The Controller meta in 2021 was dominated by Astra and Viper. While the latter had a niche hybrid playstyle that made her a viable option on big maps, Astra seemed to be an incredibly versatile pick that could be used anywhere.
Astra's individual abilities were suited to both taking and anchoring sites and preventing defuses. The global presence of her abilities and the fact that she could easily recall and reuse her stars made her a phenomenal Agent for the lurker role.
She was an immense force to deal with, and a nerf to her power was imminent. In Patch 4.04, the cooldown times were significantly increased across her kit and one of her five stars was taken away. Along with this, the other Controllers that are played on Astra maps, Omen and Brimstone, also received buffs.
The Controller meta finally felt balanced, with all four characters having a niche that they fulfilled. Harbor's entry had the potential to shift things around drastically, but the Indian Agent has not had much of an impact yet.
4) The new Agent Fade
Among the new Agents (Neon, Fade, and Harbor) introduced in 2022, Fade has had the highest impact in the Valorant meta.
As an Initiator, Fade excels in gathering information and debuffing her enemies to set her team up for success. Her kit provided a much-needed alternative to Sova, who was previously the only Initiator able to reveal the positions of enemies.
Since players can strategize better if they have more information about the opposing team, the addition of Fade saw team compositions shift towards having multiple Initiators (with the number going up to three per team on some maps like Ascent). Initiators were always considered to be a powerful class, but Fade truly turned them into a nightmare to deal with.
Despite several nerfs to her kit, she still feels quite strong and will continue to be a popular pick in 2023.
5) The new rank Ascendant
Ascendant is the new rank that was added to Valorant at the start of Episode 5. It lies between Diamond and Immortal in the current ranking system.
There was previously a skill disparity in Diamond lobbies, and around 20,000 players were ranked Immortal in the game. The latter seemed like too big a number for the second most prestigious rank in the game. The addition of Ascendent brought down the lower-skilled Immortals and moved up higher-skilled Diamonds.
This solution was chosen over having a hard MMR reset, which would most likely have increased both intentional and unintentional smurfing.
By adding the Ascendant rank and creating a 300 RR difference between Diamond 3 and Immortal 1, Riot has made it much more difficult for players to get to Immortal, which has resulted in more balanced matchmaking for those in the rank.
