Valorant patch 1.04 buffs Viper, nerfs classic pistol

Valorant patch 1.04 features adjustments to Brimstone, Cypher, and Raze with some serious buffs to Viper. The patch also gives the Classic pistol some much-needed polishing and fixes to the Elderflame cosmetic skins. Viper hasn’t been a viable agent in the current meta since before the game’s official launch. Valorant developers have seen this and made some serious adjustments to her kit. 

Viper’s ultimate “Viper’s Pit” will be receiving a majority of her recent changes. The max time outside of her ult before it collapses has changed from 5 to 12 seconds. Additionally, Viper can now hold the ability key to drop her ult early. Enemies in Viper’s Pit have their minimap obscured and do not provide minimap detection to their allies. This makes it extremely difficult for enemies to know where their allies are or make callouts. The brightness of the red enemy glow has also been increased at the edge of Viper’s near-sight. 

Jeff Landa, a communication associate for Valorant, had this to say about the Viper changes: 

With Viper being allowed out of her ult for such a short period of time, we felt that she was not only limited in the plays she could make, but also gave too much continuous information to her enemies. The ability to move outside the ult smoke more freely should provide some new and interesting mind games for Viper to play—and hopefully puts the strategic pressure back on the enemy.

Valorant made additional minor changes to Raze, Brimstone, and Cypher. Brimstone and Raze’s ultimates now require seven ult points instead of six, and Brimstone’s stim beacon no longer shows its effect radius to enemies. Cypher only received a slight adjustment in this patch. Players can now pick up his smoke ability “Cyber Cage” during the buy phase.

Valorant adjusts Classic pistol

The Classic right-click was the primary focus for the adjustments. However, according to Landa, Valorant developers also took the opportunity to make the pistol more consistent in this patch. The Classic running spread has changed from 3.4 to 2.1, which lessens the spread while right-clicking. Additionally, Classic jumping and walking spread have also slightly increased. Valorant has also added a 10% bonus to accuracy when crouching and stationary. These changes make the Classic less effective as a whole while the player moves rapidly. 

The full patch notes can be found on Valorant’s website. For more Valorant coverage and to compare 1.04 to the previous patch, stick with Daily Esports.