So in the new update. Kay/O's and Skye's pop flash duration will be decreased from 2 to 1.25 seconds. Their long distance flash duration will increase to 2.25 seconds from 2 seconds.

Firstly Skye is already a relatively week agent. For context, Skye only had above 50% pick rate on Bind in Champions whereas...Jett, Chamber, Viper, Omen, Fade, Sova, Kay/O, Raze, Brimstone and Breach had above 50% pick rate on multiple maps.

Now they just nerfed Skye's pop flash which makes her even weaker. Do not get me started on her so called buffs because 2.25s from 2s is not a buff. And her bird not being able to be destroyed is pretty meaningless too since no one actually tries to shoot the bird. Even in high elo, people's instict is to turn not to shoot the bird. So no buff and nerf to a relatively week agent.

Riot said they wanted to differentiate between duelist and initiator flashes. They want initiators to be more team focused. The problem is unlike Kay/O, Skye was not a hybrid duelists. Her heals heal team. Her dog gives info to team. Her flashes give into to team. Her ult helps everyone on the team. It is good for a small part of your kit to be useful to just you. The value of long distance flashes decreases the moment someone on your team dies and consequently, the value of pop flashes increases. In a 2v1, Skye should always just stay behind her team mate and do long distance flashes. In a 1v1, Skye pop flashes are so useless unless the enemy has absolutely no cover around.

Kay/O is a relatively strong agent, with above 50% pick rate on 3 maps. However, in Riots own words "[Kay/O is] One of our weaker Agents in ranked games across all MMRs but a high priority pick in pro play" and "Any changes we make to KAY/O would just aim to make him more intuitive and accessible". The reason he is weak in ranked games is because he is weak in Solo Q but he is still picked in pro play because he is really good when coordinated with the team. By decreasing the pop flash time to 1.25 seconds from 2 seconds, Riot has made him weaker as a Solo agent and stronger agent when coordinated with the team. This is exactly the opposite of what they said as Pro teams are the most coordinated. Sometimes it is impossible to coordinate with your team in ranked since people have different play styles and it can be hard to coordinate with your team if they are toxic. Sometimes your team is just not hitting their shots and you may need to play as a duelist to get them closer to the win but that is not possible with the flash duration decrease.

Personally, I use Kay/O Kay/O's underarm flash regardless of whether I am with my team or playing solo. I would pop flash out of the smoke and enter with my team. But now 1.25 seconds is just simply not a good flash to entry into site. You could say "why not just use long distance flash" and here is the problem. Unlike Skye's flash, Kay/O flash is throw at a fix distance and the same direction. This means that if you want the flash to pop just outside the smoke you need to learn lineups for long distance flash and you need to be standing far back from the rest of your team. I made some beautiful illustratoins to show this.

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With my team

Not with my team

The worst part is, after the initial attack/defence, you can't use the lineup for a perfect flash and throwing long distance flashes will be pointless since they don't detect enemies like Skye flashes. They can't be popped at a specific distance like Skye flashes and they can't be turned like Skye flashes. People will always turn away from those long distance flashes and if you turn them into a pop flash, you can't utilise them because by the time you reach the flashed enemy, the flash effect is already gone. You are forced to use the underarm flash which is 1.25 seconds MAX duration. The flash will probably last around 1s which includes the fading effect of the flash and includes you pulling you gun back out so good luck with that.

Overall, pretty bad changes. The idea was good but the implementation is pretty bad. Skye did not need a nerf, she is already weak and a little bit of selfishness is good. Kay/O flash situation is broken where long distance flashes go a set distance in a set direction which is really bad but last long. The underarm flashes that are actually good but do not last a meaningful amount.

I am not a Skye of Kay/O main, I only play Kay/O on Ascent.