Riot Planning Major Changes for Valorant in 2022
Riot Games have finally lifted the veil on the new updates coming to Valorant in 2022, including some major buffs to one of their most underperforming Agents, Yoru. These updates will also bring in new balance changes as well as a new Agent.
The updates will launch across several updates within the first 6 months of the new year, with the new Agent rumored to drop as early as January.
Next Agent Teaser | #VALORANT
— Mike - Valorant Leaks & Info (@ValorLeaks) December 23, 2021
- Kicking off next year is an Agent who can outpace the rest of the roster, shocking the competition, and sliding straight into the fight. pic.twitter.com/HsbfZm9wCE
New year, new Agent
Earlier this December, Riot teased the release of their newest Agent during the opening ceremony of the VCT Champions Tour.
As per usual with their teases, not much was revealed initially, but several sources confirm that the Agent will feature speed-increase abilities in their kit. We're expecting to get a lot more info as we get into January.
Source: Riot Games
Yoru is getting major buffs
It’s been a rough season for Yoru, widely considered the worst Agent and falling completely out of the meta, something big needed to happen for him to be viable in any competitive sense. Reportedly, Riot have been working for months on getting Yoru up to speed with the rest of the roster, completely overhauling his kit for next year.
Instead of only being an audio cue, ‘Fakeout’ will instead send out an identical copy of Yoru, much like Mirage’s ‘Bamboozle’ ability in Apex Legends. When shot, the copy will set off an explosion, debuffing any opponents that it hits.
‘Gatecrash’ is also undergoing some pretty big changes, as the audio-visual range of the tether will be reduced, along with the travel speed of the tether ball getting a massive speed increase. Yoru will also be able to fake teleport by activating the tether from afar to trick opponents.
Overall balance changes to Agents
While no specific Agents, apart from Yoru, have been mentioned to get balance updates, Riot have revealed that several Agents will receive changes within the first six months of 2022.
Riot will concentrate on bringing the viable meta picks closer together, closing the gap from worst to best, with the Yoru buffs looking like the first step towards that.