Valorant 4.04 is Now Live Part 2

Valorant 4.04 is Now Live Part 2

Icebox Changes and is the era of Astra Over?

After talking about the agent rework in part 1, now let’s talk about the other major rework which is now Icebox.

Ice Box Not Broken Anymore?

As shown on the image above there are about 8 major changes in the map Icebox. We have all payed Icebox and at one point or another have complained about bombsite B when attacking. That is why Sage and Viper became the main staple of the map.

There are a lot of nook and crannies that have been balanced. But from our initial play thru the map feel like a new map. The shoot thru area at bomb site B is now gone and the reposition of yellow makes the map more dynamic. There are certain areas that were also revised in the map like B main has been widened and is no longer claustrophobic. The area in kitchen has been refined. Over all the maps feel dynamic, let’s see how the pros use the map in the upcoming VCT event.

Who Got Boosted and Nerfed

Since Valorant 4.04 is Now Live and is being widely played. Aside from the Yoru rework a lot has happened. There are a few agents who got boosted/nerfed let’s run thru the agents and what they got.

OMEN

Dark Cover

• Cooldown decreased 40s >>> 30s
• Cost increased 100 >>> 150
• Projectile Speed increased 2800 >>> 6400

Shrouded Step

• Cost decreased 150 >>> 100
• Pre teleport delay decreased 1s >>> 0.7s

Paranoia

• Added forward spawn offset, so players adjacent to Omen are not hit

What does this mean for Omen? Omen has been out of the meta for a while, with these new buffs and the nerf of Astra he will definitely be more viable. His smoke now travels faster and his Shrouded Step moves faster which in my opinion will definitely put Omen back in the meta.

Brimstone

Sky Smoke

• Deploy time decreased 2 >>> 1 second
• Deploy radius increased 5000 >>> 5500
• Smoke height increased to match other Controllers

Stim Beacon

• Now also applies a 15% speed boost in addition to RapidFire.

Brimstone has mow the only speed boost in the entire game. That gives the team the speed for fast takes and aggressive plays in pistol rounds. Also Brimstones Ipad now additional range not much though but enough to reach the necessary spots. From the look of things we will be seeing a lot of Brimstone in competitive and pro matches.

Now we go to Nerfed agents.

Astra

Stars

• Max Stars reduced 5 >>> 4
• Cooldown on retrieving a Star increased 14 >>> 25
• Astra can now pick up placed Stars during the Buy Phase to refund their charge immediately.
• Max distance of Star Placement increased 10000 >>> 30000 to allow her to place Stars across the furthest corners of maps.

Gravity Well

• Cooldown Increased 25 >>> 45
• Gravity Well Size Decreased 525 >>> 475
• Gravity Well no longer affects anyone fully underneath the Gravity Well.

Nova Pulse

• Cooldown Increased 25 >>> 45
• Nova Pulse no longer affects anyone fully underneath the Nova Pulse.

Nebula

• Cooldown Increased 14 >>> 25
• Nebula cooldowns are now sequential instead of simultaneous
• Nebula size increased 410 >>> 475

Astral Form

• While in Astral form, pings are no longer blocked by level geometry that Astra cannot see
• Astra’s targeting ring in Astral form is reduced to one ring that reflects the now unified size of all her utility
• Astra’s targeting ring no longer randomly disappears when aiming across some map locations
• Increased the speed of the overlay that covers Astra’s screen when transitioning in and out of Astral form
• Fixed an issue where Stars were placed slightly above the location Astra was targeting.

Now this is a long time coming. A lot of players has just been calling out Astra as on of the broken agents with in Valorant. It seems that Riot Games has been listening to their players. Astra has been nerf or rather reworked is more appropriate. The Valorant 4.04 is now addressing this issue. Will the reign of Astra now be over? Let’s just wait and see.

Viper

Fuel

• Fuel drain increased 50% when Toxic Screen and Poison Cloud are both active.
• Viper’s fuel bar now turns red when she does not have enough fuel to activate her abilities.

Toxic Screen

• Cooldown after deactivating increased 6 >>> 8
• Cooldown timer now starts when her smoke starts dissipating instead of when the deactivation telegraph plays.
• Deactivation delay decreased 1 >>> .8
• Toxic Screen now has yellow lights that indicate when it is on cooldown
• Removed delay on Toxic Screen disabling when Viper is suppressed.
• Added a unique VO line that plays when her smoke is disabled by suppress.

Poison Cloud

• Cooldown after deactivating increased 6 >>> 8.
• Cooldown timer now starts when her smoke starts dissipating instead of when the deactivation telegraph plays.
• Deactivation delay decreased 1 >>> .8
• Poison Orb now has a yellow light to indicate when it is on cooldown.
• Removed delay on Poison Orb disabling when Viper is suppressed.
• Added a unique VO line that plays when her smoke is disabled by suppress.

Snake Bite

• Duration decreased 6.5 >>> 5.5

Valorant 4.04 is also addressing Viper. Since getting a power boost in previous patches she has been staple in a lot of matches and especially in Icebox where takin Viper is a requirement. The main point here is that her toxins now run twice as fast when she is using her Poison Orb and Toxin Screen. Which is a good thing. Viper will now be a more well rounded agent than before where she can hold spike sites on her own.

We will talking about the agent power rankings soon. So keep right here until next time.

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Christian Pena

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