Riot Games confirm more Viper buffs are coming soon

VALORANT has a diverse and unique set of agents, all with their own recognizable figures and backgrounds. One of them in particular stands out with her voice lines and the number of times she has been tweaked so far. Viper is set for another buff, as revealed by a Riot Games developer under the Reddit post for patch notes 1.08.

VALORANT developer, “Altombre,” commented on one of the title’s fans criticising Viper’s current state in the meta and how many people actually play her. The reply revealed some of the studio’s future plans for the agent, and where they want her to fit within the other agents. He continued to compare what the buffs she received so far, specifically in 1.02 and 1.04, to what Omen and Breach experienced in the past few patches.

“Personally, I'd argue that we gave Viper several sets of “greatly buff” changes with her wall going through walls, being able to maintain fuel on her Q and E at once with no penalty, applying fragile to her molotov, and stopping decay on allies... but she just hasn't seen the same success that Omen and Breach have.”

“We will continue to make changes to the agent to get her into a good spot, and while she is improving steadily, she's not there yet. We're actively playtesting further buffs to ship, but generally speaking, we prefer to make more measured, methodical changes than large sweeping ones, especially when we're dealing with a character that's too weak (Viper, Breach) compared to characters that are too strong and warping the meta (Sage, Killjoy),” commented Altombre.

VALORANT’s Lead Character Designer Ryan “Morello” Scott discussed Riot Games’ thought process before introducing new agents into the tactical shooter, as they want each one to disrupt the meta and become a meaningful addition. However, it seems that the current set of agents don’t have their balancing completely figured out yet, with certain characters experiencing heavy fluctuations in their playing time after certain patches, namely Breach and Sage after patch 1.07.

What are the changes you think Viper needs for VALORANT players to play her more? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!