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Valorant had a very fruitful 2022. The game was able to live up to its reputation and stay at the top, even in the esports scene. It also saw a decent amount of changes last year, ranging from its latest map, i.e, Pearl, to upgrades to many Agents.
Patch 5.12 was released in December 2022, making changes to Agents in a way that shakes up the meta. Chamber saw the biggest hit as his status of being overpowered was completely gone.
Despite the recent patch, there are still a few Agents that seem unaffected by the buffs and nerfs and prove to be a nuisance during matches.
Note: This article is subjective and solely reflects the opinions of the writer
Fade, Raze, and three other Valorant Agents that need nerfs going into 2023
1) Fade
Fade is the 19th Agent to be released by Valorant. She is also the latest Initiator to be introduced to the game. Her Haunt can reveal enemies' locations, which, combined with her Prowler, make for a very deadly combination. Her ultimate, Nightfall, is also useful for entering or retaking a site.
Fade is currently considered to be the strongest Initiator in Valorant. The only change in the recent patch was with Prowler, wherein the health was reduced a little, making it easier to destroy them.
Fade's Nightfall is perhaps her strongest ability and one of the most broken in the game. It reduces the health of opponents who get hit and can also be bitten by Prowler. Fade is viable on almost every map; hence a nerf to her would be the correct thing to do.
2) Raze
Raze is one of the six Duelists in Valorant. Raze's Paint Shell is essentially a grenade, whereas the Boom Bot is useful to clear out corners, get some information and do some damage if the player is lucky enough. Her Blast Packs require the player to be skillful at using them effectively, whereas the ultimate Showstopper can wreak a lot of havoc.
Her abilities make Raze a combination of a Sentinel and a Duelist, and all her abilities do significant damage. She can hold her own on a site in defense and can only get kills with her abilities.
This makes her overpowered as opposed to other Duelists because none of them have abilities like that. The role of such Agents is to create space for teammates, but Raze's utilities allow her not to do so and yet create a lot of impact; hence, some nerfs are most certainly required in her case.
3) Killjoy
Killjoy was the 11th and the first new Agent to be released by Valorant. She is amongst the four Sentinels currently in the game. Her abilities allow her to anchor a site completely on her own. Turret and Alarmbot are her abilities that can provide information and also do damage to the enemy team. Nanoswarm and her ultimate ability, Lockdown, further add to her strength.
By the looks of it, none of Killjoy's abilities seem overpowered. This status is achieved when all these abilities are used together, which leads to effortless multi kills.
The recent patch helped increase the health of the Nanoswarm. This is a little problematic as the player only gets a second or two to destroy it in the first place. Some damage nerfs to Killjoy's abilities would be the most ideal update to balance her in the Sentinel Agent meta.
4) KAY/O
KAY/O was the 16th Agent to be released by Valorant and is among the six Initiators currently in the game. He is the best when gathering information about the enemy team's whereabouts.
His signature ability, ZERO/point, not only provides information but also tells the player exactly which Agent is in the specific area. His FLASH/drive is one of the strongest in the game. It can bounce off any surface, leading to unusual and unpredictable flashes.
KAY/O's FLASH/drive has seen some changes in the past but has still proven to be very tricky to counter. The most impactful nerf to him would be to make changes to the ZERO/point and make the FLASH/drive a little more balanced.
5) Brimstone
Brimstone has been in Valorant ever since its launch. He is currently among the five Controllers in the game. His sky smoke is probably the strongest in the game. They can be deployed one by one or all at the same time. They also last a long time, and the players have no visibility inside the smoke.
His Incedinary does an insane amount of damage to enemies and can be used to stall entries or for post-plant scenarios. The same goes for the ultimate, Orbital Strike.
Brimstone might not seem overpowered, but some nerfs are definitely needed to make the controller meta feel a little more balanced. Reducing the smoke's duration and the damage done by the Incedinary are some nerfs that can be done to him.
