Similar to other games, Valorant has its popular and less popular agents. However, when it comes to recently released agents, there seems to be a noticeable pattern reflected in pick rates. Will Agent 25 break this pattern?
Lately, the hype around newly released agents in Valorant doesn't last very long, as it quickly turns out they aren't as powerful as initially believed. On the contrary, they even needed some buffs to keep up with the other agents.
Ideally, one would want to experience a real impact with a brand-new agent, wouldn't they? As some of the older generation would say nowadays, in Valorant you could also say, "the new generation are quite soft!"
Valorant: No More Overpowered Agents
After the release of Fade in Episode 4, who had to be nerfed, Harbor followed, who isn't spectacular enough for ranked players. His pickrate in ranked is the lowest. Following them were Gekko, Deadlock and Iso. Harbor, Gekko and Deadlock had to get buffs instead of nerfs this time to make them more impactful. In ranked, you occasionally see Gekko and Iso, but they are definitely not game-changers. And now, Deadlock... not exactly an eye-catcher for players. Despite buffs, we rarely see her.
Iso is still relatively new, and we need to see how things develop with him, but even here, I notice in my games how I see him less and less.
Why is Riot holding back?
Well, we can't see through the developers, but we know that Riot values balancing in their game. They probably don't want a repeat of something like the Chamber era. After all, the Sentinel was dominant for months and was even used as an entry fragger, acting as both a Duelist and Sentinel at the same time. But now, we find ourselves at the other end of the spectrum. There are agents that have been too weak for months or their abilities are not considered exciting enough.
What Are The Consequences For Us?
We have certain pick rates in ranked for agents that seem to always remain popular. These include, among others, Reyna, Jett, Cypher, Sage, Omen, Brimstone, Viper and Skye. In pro play, there is also a specific meta for each map that is mostly adhered to. It's like the new agents are desperately trying to get into the cool kids' club but end up being niche picks.
So for us, not much is changing. On one hand, it's good because too much ability chaos in a tactical shooter like Valorant wouldn't be healthy. On the other hand, it can get pretty boring for us players.
What could we possibly hope for from the upcoming Smoker Agent in 2024?
Can we assume that it will be the same with Agent 25? The last released smoker, Harbor, wasn't exactly popular among ranked players either.
But something tells me that this time it will be different. The code name of the upcoming agent, Smokedancer, sounds promising and could mean that the agent brings a unique movement to the table. After all, we know how important movement abilities are in Valorant, as seen with Jett, Raze and Omen. This always translates to more outplay potential and the possibility of playing more aggressive instead of staying passive. Most ranked players would definitely appreciate that.