Riot is planning to nerf Chamber in Patch 4.09 as he is currently the most played Sentinel Agent in the game. Let's see what changes we can expect to see!
At first, it didn't seem like Chamber would be such a powerful Agent, especially for the Sentinels, where we have some really strong characters. And yet, he is currently one of the top-picked Agents in the game overall! According to Riot, the problem is the Trademark ability, which has a very high power potential than other abilities of this kind for the Sentinel class. Let's see how Riot wants to approach this issue.
Trademark Ability Nerfs
You currently have the opportunity to test the following changes for Chamber on the Valorant PBE server:
- Trademark Charges reduced to 1 (from 2)
- Trademark Cost increased to 200 (from 15)
- Increased Trademark's audio volume
Here's how a Riot Games developer (Synchroze22) explains these changes:
Right now, Chamber's Trademark outperforms other Sentinel tools in both reliability and power, which feels inappropriate given the amount of defensive combat tools Chamber has spread across the rest of his kit. We believe Chamber's identity is defined by his unique weapons and defensive combat mobility, so we want to test decreasing his level of global flank protection/information and increasing counterplay on a single premium trap. This should mean Chamber will have to make a choice based on if he wants to play selfishly around his Trademark, or place it to help his teammates instead.
These are pretty big nerfs and will undoubtedly affect the pick rate of this particular Agent. According to stats from VCT Stage 1 Reykjavik, Chamber was the fourth most picked Agent, and the same goes for the higher ranks where his pick rate is as high as 45%, so some changes had to be made. And honestly, we think that these nerfs are fair – they don't kill Chamber's utility, but they balance him out against other Sentinel Agents, making sure that Chamber will never be the brainless pick in the lobby.
If you are one of the players who have access to the PBE server, feel free to join our Discord and share your feelings about these changes after testing them!
Clutch Mute System
There is one more change that Riot is currently testing on the PBE server – the Clutch Mute System. You know that situation when you need focus, and your teammates are screaming like there's no tomorrow and trying to backseat you? Then check this out:
This feature is excellent, and we think it should be available not only during clutches. One button that automatically mutes the whole team is just a good option, don't you think so? Yeah, it is a bit toxic and could be abused, but some players mute the whole team before the game starts anyway, so what's the difference?
Patch 4.09 should go live on Wednesday, May 11, which is a week and a half from now. Make sure to keep up with our Valorant section, as we're going to post Patch Notes with all the changes as soon as humanly possible!