Posted by Steve
Saturday, April 23, 2022 8:12 AM
So recently I saw this video complaining about how there are 2 types of duelists and initiators and how these agents have their balancing problem (definitely in esports). The speed duelists (Jett, Neon, Raze) and the flash duelist (Yoru, Reyna and Phoenix). The speed duelists are clearly more favorable than the flashing duelists in esports (definitely Jett, that pickrate..). But flashes are also very important for a team, but these aren't coming from the flashing duelists as you migth expect, but from the initiators, specifically the aggresive type (Skye and Kayo, excluding Breach because he's only seeing pro use recently). These initiators simply just flash better than the flashing duelist as they're designed to have teamplay flashes unlike the duelists. Therefore these initiators overlap on these duelists, but are just better.
Nerfing these initiators or buffing these flashing duelists their flashes so the latter becomes viable again isn't the answer. They overlap each other too much and would just cannibalize on each other. I rather believe the flashing duelists need to have a special trait that agents like Kayo and Skye don't have and make them good entries. I know perfect balancing so all ranks and esports are happy doesn't exist, but this is my attempt on trying to fix the flashing duelist problem.
What if Phoenix his flashes could deal damage? Like, being half blinded 5 damage and full blinded 10 or even 20 damage? These values can be changed however needed for balancing. It would add more entry potential for Phoenix while keeping his defender side more balanced. It would also differentiate him from Kayo and Skye. His wall is kinda fine I think, but increasing its height and making it thicker as well, and not just a thin line would be the solution to it. Now the wall more feels like a plasma line than actual fire and this also makes healing in your wall worth it as enemies can't just see your body peaking through it. also making it being able to go over objects like Neon's would defintely help.
For Yoru I think the clone being able to 'mimic' Yoru's actions while active would really add some outplay potential in the higher levels. With mimicking I mean that the turning Yoru does, the clone copies (example: clone is activated, you turn your head left, the clone walks like normally but does turn its weapon and gun to the left the exact same way). The clone can't shoot anyone nor give intel (so it isn't a walking Cypher cam), but it would make it a very viable way to "double" push on a site or even push 2 sites at once and confuse the enemies. Another option for Yoru could be that his clone could flash on command when pressing it again, flashing in the direction of walking (as if it got shot).
Reyna is really hard to balance because of her high ranked pick rate but low esport rate. Maybe her blinding eye could face in the direction of the nearest enemy so it shows where the closest enemy is. This could help her getting the first kill and making her snowball effect role. The eyes direction shouldn't be able to pinpoint the location down to a centimetre, but just pointing towards that vicinity (like just turning to the left if an enemy is around there in a corner). Now she would suffer less of the problem of being killed first by a lurker or gunned down in a gunfight, while still giving defenders the opportunity to still defend fairly against her by shooting the eye.
References
- https://www.reddit.com/r/VALORANT/comments/u9izqu/the_duelistinitiator_problem/
- https://reddit.com/u9izqu
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