It would be difficult to argue against the fact that Chamber and Jett have been the premier Operator users throughout the existence of Valorant. Their ability to get a pick and escape without being tradeable synergizes perfectly with the mechanics of the OP.

Obviously, since Chamber didn't exist at the launch of Valorant, Jett dominated the OPer meta. It makes sense then that Chamber was quickly compared to Jett upon his release. In fact, Riot at least partially added Chamber to contest Chamber as a team's resident OPer. I believe that this comparison was the driving factor that caused Chamber to be viewed differently to other Sentinels. Since Jett was the primary OPer on the roster and since she was a Duelist, the Operator role became linked to the Duelist class. Additionally, community perception of the Duelist's role on a team was that of the top fragger. The Operator is a weapon known for instant kills and its general high lethality. These beliefs added more connections between Duelists and the Operator

Now, looking at the intertwining web of information that we've summarized so far, we can see that Chamber is linked to the Operator as well as to Jett while both the Operator and Jett were linked to the Duelist class at the time of his release. It then makes sense that some community members would associate Chamber more with the Duelist class than the Sentinel class, especially since none of the already released Sentinels had the same levels of kill potential as Chamber.

I propose a new way of thinking about the situation that suggests that instead of Chamber having abilities that deviate from his role, Jett actually had an ability that ran in opposition to her role's goal. As a Duelist, Jett should never have been the main viable Operator user on the Valorant roster.

Let's look at Riot's definition of Duelists: "Duelists are self-sufficient fraggers who their team expects, through abilities and skills, to get high frags and seek out engagements first."

I want to focus on the part that says "seek out engagements first". More specifically, we need to look at the word "seek". Duelists tend to have abilities that let them close the distance between them and enemies. Reyna and Phoenix have the flashes/blinds, Yoru has his teleporter and flashes, and Raze, Neon, and Jett have mobility options. The word "seek" implies that Duelists should be pushing forward and finding the opponents.

Now, let's look at the Operator. The Operator has a slow rate of fire and a very slow walking speed when scoped in. The main purpose of the Operator is to hold angles and stop enemies from pushing them. This goal is the exact opposite of what Duelists aim to do. The Operator is not the gun to be using when seeking engagements. It is the gun to dissuade the other team from seeking engagements again you.

To address the part of the definition of Duelists that says "get high frags", the Operator does focus on getting picks. It is arguably the most lethal weapon in Valorant. That does not necessarily mean that OPers get the highest frags, however. The factor that matters more with regards to the Operator is the significance of the kills. While the Duelist definition says "high frags", I think the Operator's definition would instead say "high impact frags".

What's the conclusion of all of these statements then? Basically, the Operator is a defensive tool that works best when holding angles and preventing the enemies from taking space. This perfectly aligns with the Sentinels' definition that says, "defensive experts who can lock down areas". This means that Chamber, who is definitely in the Sentinel class, matches up better with the Operator than Jett.

As a disclaimer, I don't think Sentinels are the only class that should be viable with the Operator since that seems unhealthy for the game. I just want to challenge the perception that Chamber's fragging abilities deviate from the definition of what a Sentinel should be. If anything, Jett's OPing ability was more of a deviation from her class's core idea.

Obviously, Chamber was over-tuned, but I don't know if I necessarily agree with the way Riot nerfed him. I think significantly nerfing the radius Chamber had to be in to teleport would be the best solution. It would further prevent him from pushing aggressively, which would be encroaching on the Duelists' territory. Already, this tactic of pushing with Chamber's teleporter did not work well on attack.

If you have any counterarguments, feel free to comment them. I'd be happy to discuss the topic further. And, remember, just because Duelists are the ones with "high frags" in their definition, doesn't mean the other roles can't get high frags too.