Valorant patch 1.04 buffs Viper again, nerfs Raze and Brimstone

Viper has struggled to find her place in the Valorant meta-game. She fulfills the role of a Controller but pales in comparison to the other agents vying for the same position – Brimstone and Omen. The Competitive Matchmaking patch made significant changes to Viper, but she was still considered weak. Now, the latest Valorant 1.04 patch has made more changes to the agent, but will they be enough to see her used in competitive play?

Here’s a snapshot summary of the changes introduced with Valorant patch 1.04.

Viper gets buffed

Viper’s Ultimate ability, Viper’s Pit, should guarantee a team a round, particularly on attack. However, the limitations of the ability have prevented it from being as strong as it should be. To give Viper players more freedom and buff her Ultimate, Riot Games has increased the time allowed outside Viper’s Pit from 5 to 15 seconds. Enemies inside the Ultimate will also now have their mini-maps obscured and will not provide mini-map detection to allies. If you walk into the Pit, you’re going to be all alone.

Valorant patch 1.04 has also significantly buffed Viper’s Decay. Decay is the temporary damage done by many of Viper’s abilities. Previously, when a player left the area where the ability was placed, the Decay was removed, and that player’s health was slowly restored. It was annoying, but not detrimental enough to enemies. Now, Decay deals 15 damage per second, up from 10. Plus, damage is sustained for 2.5 seconds after an enemy leaves the active ability space.

The final buff to Viper makes her Fuel last longer. Activating Poison Cloud and Toxic Screen at the same time will no longer consume additional Fuel. In other words, having one or both abilities active consumes the same amount of Fuel.

Other Valorant agent changes

Raze has had her Ultimate ability nerfed. Showstopper now requires 7 Ultimate points, up from 6. Brimstone received a similar treatment, with his Orbital Strike now requiring 7 Ultimate points too, also up from 6. Both Ultimates have a massive impact on a round and the agents were previously able to use them too much. This nerf will tone down the power of both agents slightly.

Brimstone also receives a slight buff, with his Stim Beacon no longer showing its effect radius to enemies. Stim Beacon also no longer buffs enemies who walk into it. Finally, Cypher can now pick up his Cyber Cage before the round begins. This will allow Cypher players to be more flexible and to have more chances at landing difficult Cyber Cage placements.

The Classic pistol

The other major change that arrived with the patch concerns the Classic pistol. The Valorant team needed to fix a bug with the gun’s alternate fire, but also took the time to tune the weapon so it behaves more consistently.

The running spread has been reduced from 3.4 to 2.1. Jumping spread goes up from 1.9 to 2.3, and the walking spread gets a slight tweak from 1.9 to 1.95. You’re also 10% more accurate when crouching or stationary.

You can check out the full patch notes, including performance updates and numerous bug fixes, on the Valorant website. Let us know what you think of the changes. Will Viper be viable now? How happy are you that Cypher can pick up his Cyber Cages? Why didn’t Sage get nerfed?