It was October 16, 2019, when Riot’s CEO Nicolo tweeted, “To be clear, in Project A, shooting matters. You don’t kill with abilities. Abilities create tactical opportunities to take the right shot. Characters have abilities that augment their gunplay. Instead of fighting directly with their abilities.” This tweet, which was meant to hype the game and explain that it was just as much as a tactical shooter as its competitor, was first contradicted with the introduction of Raze. But even more so, it is contradicted by their newest agent (at the time of writing) Chamber. Why is it that the team chose to step away from this statement as the game grew?
As Raze was introduced, people were quick to point at the tweet and say that Raze completely contradicted the ethos that was set forth by Nicolo in his tweet. After all, Raze grenades were powerful enough to get kills, while her blast packs were doing a significant amount of damage. In the Ask Valorant #5 thread, Ryan “Morello” Scott, the Character Design Lead, replied to this contradiction, “Guns provide the vast majority of kills, and even our damage abilities are designed with the goal of creating threat. When well-played against, guns should be the primary method used to finish off opponents that are preoccupied with a distraction or trying to avoid damage.” This statement offered a great response for fans to a 244 character tweet that was void of any nuance. However, with the inclusion of Chamber, we stray further away from Scott’s response to the pushback from Nicolo’s original tweet.
Chamber’s introduction came with mixed reactions. In his introduction trailer he was seen as a suave marksman, using his own set of weaponry. When details of his abilities released, it was stunning to see how far away the game had strayed from Nicolo’s original tweet. Chamber’s Q Ability was a heavy pistol named Headhunter. This ability was a third gun that could be used in play that was equipped with an ADS as well as damage that rivaled the Sheriff without the recoil. Chamber’s ability was an ability that did not necessarily create a threat that a rifle could take advantage of, but it was the threat. Add in Chamber’s ultimate, Tour de Force, which in the same fashion of Headhunter was a souped-up version of an existing gun, the Operator; we see the marksman completely contradict the response to the original contradiction. His abilities are threats in save rounds, where he could afford a much better loadout due to the ability of a unique pistol, as well as the ultimate which gives him a better version of the operator. Chamber has abilities that are meant to get kills by themselves. However, his abilities and his contradiction to Scott’s response is a good thing for the game.
Chamber straying from the norm of abilities allows the game to grow. It allows for a more dynamic agent pool for players to take advantage of. Flex agents are something that Riot developers have been introducing since Skye. We see a lot of pro teams running Skye almost as a duelist. A hyper aggressive initiator that can play as a duelist. The initial batch of agents were not the best at flexing to fit different roles, whereas these new agents were filling in those gaps. After Skye was Kay/O, an initiator that was able to flex onto other roles that teams needed. One of the first pro teams to show Kay/O’s flex ability was 100 Thieves, playing Kay/O as another duelist and a makeshift sentinel using his ZERO/point knife and FRAG/ment grenade to stall sites and opposing attacks. Then comes Chamber, who fills another gap. Chamber is labeled a Sentinel, after all he has traps and teleporters to play around a site, however his Headhunter ability and his Tour de Force ultimate are hyper aggressive which focus on taking duels, something that does not fit a Sentinel playstyle. His abilities straying from the initial comment of “you don’t kill with abilities” adds nuance to the game that the initial tweet lacked. It allows for agents to fill in the cracks of a composition or playstyle teams want to run.
Looking forward to future agent releases, it would be safe to say that more agents will follow this hybrid flex role. Valorant is going down a path where agents are less effective than others because of this (I’m looking at you Brimstone) and that is okay. It allows the game to find itself in a meta that is fun to play and attractive to watch. There will come a time where the game will introduce an agent that “breaks the game” or at least the dominant meta at the time. Overwatch saw this with their release of Brigitte (a hero that is blamed for poor Overwatch balancing), this is when we know when Riot makes a wrong step. It is important to see where they go from there but experimenting with abilities and straying from the norm of abilities creating openings, allow for a much more dynamic and healthy game to play. It is okay that abilities can kill players, as long as rifles make up more than just the majority of kills.
