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The toxic Valorant controller agent Viper has dominated the meta along with Astra for a long time. Thus, Riot Games has brought some major changes to Viper and other controllers in Patch 4.04 to balance the entire class.
Viper's dominance started soon after a heavy buff in Patch 2.06. Moreover, she was heavily preferred in the latest map additions like Icebox, Breeze and Fracture.
Astra was also another controller who dominated the meta due to her ability to control the entire map from anywhere. This resulted in a drop in the pick rate of other controller agents like Omen and Brimstone.
Thus, as Riot Games stated before about focusing on agent balance in 2022, and thus they picked the controller clan to start with in Valorant.
How will the Viper changes in Patch 4.04 affect the current controller meta in Valorant?
Viper's abilities allow her the to defend the site for a longer time and lower the enemies' health, along with controlling an entire site in Valorant. She can also make a match easier to win post-plant if a player is well aware of the lineup. This makes her intensively more powerful than others among all the controllers.
The addition of bigger maps like Icebox, Breeze, and Frature has also increased her importance in the current meta. She was highly picked in these maps in the matches. However, this was making the current Valorant meta one-sided, with Viper and Astra as the dominant controllers. Other controllers like Brimstone and Omen were barely picked. Thus, the agent changes in Patch 4.04 would bring a balance to it.
Riot Games has brought the following changes to the Viper in Valorant's Patch 4.04:
Fuel
- Fuel drain increased 50% when Toxic Screen and Poison Cloud are both active.
- Viper’s fuel bar now turns red when she does not have enough fuel to activate her abilities.
Toxic Screen (E)
- Cooldown after deactivating increased from 6 to 8.
- Cooldown timer now starts when her smoke starts dissipating instead of when the deactivation telegraph plays.
- Deactivation delay decreased from 1 to .8
- Toxic Screen now has yellow lights that indicate when it is on cooldown
- Removed delay on Toxic Screen disabling when Viper is suppressed.
- Added a unique VO line that plays when her smoke is disabled by suppress.
Poison Cloud (Q)
- Cooldown after deactivating increased from 6 to 8.
- Cooldown timer now starts when her smoke starts dissipating instead of when the deactivation telegraph plays.
- Deactivation delay decreased from 1 to .8
- Poison Orb now has a yellow light to indicate when it is on cooldown.
- Removed delay on Poison Orb disabling when Viper is suppressed.
- Added a unique VO line that plays when her smoke is disabled by suppress.
Snake Bite (C)
- Duration decreased from 6.5 to 5.5
Viper's toolkit has been balanced with some major changes in the cooldown time and duration of the abilities. Moreover, Riot Games has also increased the fuel drain by 50% for both Poison Cloud and Toxic Screen in the game.
Viper changes will be available once Valorant Episode 4 Act 2 drops with Patch 4.04. Players can enjoy a more balanced controller meta after this, with the new community battlepass, Icebox changes and Yoru rework on this Act.
