Riot shares planned Patch 10.09 Tejo nerfs, removes recharge on rockets

Ever since Tejo was introduced to VALORANT, the Colombian initiator has become a staple pick in both competitive and solo queue. He has been widely considered to be one of the strongest agents in the game, due to how much value he gets from his kit. As a result of the unending cacaphony of complaints from both casual players and professional players alike, Riot Games has decided to bring some sweeping nerfs to the character to bring him in line with the other agents in his role.

Long-awaited Tejo nerfs

Amidst Riot's celebrations for VALORANT's fifth year anniversary, studio head Anna Donlon confirmed that the developers were cooking up some nerfs for Tejo due to the overwhelming response to his dominance over the meta, including his rockets. For example, Evil Geniuses's head coach Christine "Potter" Chi recently said that Tejo was a "game-breaking" agent, while Cloud9 superstar duelist Francis "OXY" Hoang said he hated the Tejo meta, since he allowed players to play post-plants without even having to use their guns, since he can defend spike with solely his utility.

His addition also raised even more complaints about the state of VALORANT as a whole, with various pros voicing their thoughts on initiators and rechargeable utility. Some believed that these abilities should have their cooldown greatly increased or removed so that there will be less ability spam and players must be much more methodical and precise about when they use their utility.

These Tejo changes, meanwhile, will be put into effect for Patch 10.09, and will be bringing adjustments to not only his Guided Salvo rockets, but his other abilities as well. Here are all of the changes to Tejo's kit, coming in Patch 10.09.

• Armageddon (Ultimate) now costs nine ult points instead of eight.
• Stealth Drone now costs 400 credits instead of 300.
• Special Delivery now costs 200 credits instead of 300.
• Guided Salvo now has one rocket per charge, instead of two. Players can have two charges stored.
• Only one charge of the Guided Salvo rockets is free, the second charge will cost 150 credits.
• Guided Salvo launch range reduced from 55m to 45m.
• Guided Salvo will no longer recharge.

How will these affect Tejo?

These changes should help make Tejo feel a bit more balanced for those playing against him. No longer can Tejo players constantly use his rockets to clear a site or angles, then have the rockets back up to use to defend the spike. He had far too much strength for so little trade-off, so now, players must decide whether they'll use their rockets to help their team take a site, or save it for post-plant. Additionally, Tejo won't be able to hide in far spots while protecting the spike, so that he will be a bit more vulnerable while playing off-site.

Riot still has changes planned for the overall utility overload problems that players have been dealing with, which will be broken down in a video being posted after VALORANT Champions Tour 2025 - Valorant Champions. To keep up with all the changes to VALORANT, stay locked with THESPIKE.GG.