Valorant’s patch 1.07 just launched and it targeted one of the most picked agent, Sage.
Sage has been receiving nerfs since the game’s launch and I feel that this is the final nail in the coffin. Will this make Sage unplayable in the pro scene? Let’s dive down the patch notes to find out.
First, let’s talk about the individual nerfs and buffs to the agents this patch
Sage
Heal
- Heal reduced from 100 over 5 seconds >>> 60 over 5 seconds
- Self heal reduced from 100 over 5 seconds >>> 60 over 10 seconds
Some players play Sage aggressively. After throwing down all her skills, they go for a more aggressive playstyle. Taking aggressive angles and trading gunfire. They would later make the engagement favorable by healing herself to full health. No doubt Sage has the best self-sustain ability, until now.
Self heals are usually duelist skills, and for a sentinel to become very aggressive is just crazy.
Slow Orb
- Size reduced by 30%
Sage was the queen of delays back in the day. Walling a chokepoint then slowing other points of entry is sure to cancel any fast push and buy time for your teammates to rotate.
Now with this huge nerf to the slow orb, Sage players must be accurate when throwing the orb. The orb might not even cover a whole chokepoint.
Barrier Orb
- Cost reduced from 400 >>> 300
- Fortifying Barrier: Wall forms at 400 HP—after a 3-second delay, the wall becomes fortified to 800 HP
The barrier orb’s cost got reduced but it’s initial HP also got reduced. Sage players deny certain areas of the map on defense like Split mid, Haven mid instantly by walling as soon as they hear footsteps. This is very annoying as an attacker. They would have to burn a full mag just to punch a hole in the wall.
Now reactive walls, wall-res combo, and the Split A site wall plant(very annoying tbh) can easily be countered. Not only that, but an early-round wall can also easily be punished by shooting it down early or letting it break on its own before committing to a push.
Killjoy
Nanoswarm
- Added a brief windup before damage begins
- DPS reduced from 60 >>> 40
- Visual effects have been added to make it easier to spot the grenade on the ground Stealth audio range has been slightly increased
Killjoy’s digital molly is so annoying to play around. Whether it is on attack or defender side, nanoswarm is just a pain in the arse.
With these changes, you can now react if you’re in the nanoswarm’s AOE when it is activated. You can also easily spot nanoswarm nades in the ground as they now have increased buzzing sound and some special floating effects. You can now shoot that nade before defusing the spike.
Turret
- No longer revealed by Sova’s Recon Bolt
- More effectively shoots at an enemy’s last known location
Sova spotting the turret with recon bolt even though it’s not in the recon bolt’s LOS is just weird. I’m glad Riot fixed this.
Viper
Toxic Screen
- Can now be placed during the buy phase of rounds, through spawn barriers
- Toxic Screen now goes up faster along it’s full length, once it starts to form
Viper can now place her wall during buy phase. This allows her to push with her team at the start of the round.
This buff to her skill isn’t enough to catapult her into pro play, but I hope with this buff, her pick rate improves.
Decay
- Decay on all smoke abilities no longer affects allies
Your allies can now stay inside your smoke or Viper’s pit. Imagine Phoenix inside your smoke, ready to pop flash anyone near. Staying inside Viper’s pit during defense or post-plant also seems fun!
Viper’s Pit
- The area of Viper’s Pit is now shown on her team’s minimap when deployed
Breach
Finally! Breach mah man getting some love from Riot!
Flashpoint
- Off-screen flashes now match the behavior of other flashes in the game and apply a minimum amount of flash more aggressively
- Charges increased from 2 >>> 3
- Reduced windup time from 0.6 seconds >>> 0.5 seconds
Rolling Thunder
- Detonation delay between blasts decreased from 0.3 >>> 0.255
Concussion
- Concuss now de-scopes players and prevents re-scoping
With the OP(operator) meta so prevalent, will Breach solve this problem?
Breach can now attack hard OP angles safely with his utilities. With the concussion buff, OP players will be forced to give up their position because they’re unable to fight back to a pushing Breach. The added charge to Flashpoint and reduced windup is a nice buff to Breach!
Flash to flush! Right? *hehe hehe* *nervous laugh*
Will Breach see pro play now? We just have to wait for another tournament to find out.
Sova
- Updated the physics on Sova’s cape so that it should wiggle outside his hitbox less frequently
- Polish work on Sova’s 1P hands to bring them up to the fidelity bar of the rest of our agents
Nothing much to see here. Just some visual clarity changes.
This is a sad patch for all Sage mains out there. I expect a huge drop in Sage pick and win rates.
Meanwhile, the Viper and Breach buffs are great. I believe Riot is making a great job balancing the agent pools. They are definitely worth trying out now.
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Do you think Sage is unplayable right now?
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