Valorant developers acknowledge agent abilities play a key role and want to fix it

Not long ago, professional player Saif " Sayf " Jibraeel from Team Vitality publicly expressed his opinion that Riot Games has not kept its promises, as Valorant now seems to prioritize abilities over gunplay. The developers have responded to his statement and shared their perspective.

The last two agents added to the game, Tejo and Waylay, possess powerful ultimate abilities. Additionally, their regular abilities significantly impact gameplay—Tejo’s Guided Salvo forces opponents to reposition, while Waylay’s Lightspeed and Refract combo allows for rapid movement across the map. This led Sayf to comment on his page that Valorant does not currently reflect the vision originally promised by the developers.

"Valorant promised that gunplay would decide everything, but lately, I just feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of utility. During the Chamber meta, at least you could aim and play like in a classic shooter, but now, good luck even seeing your screen in some rounds." - Sayf

In response, penguin, the Valorant balance team lead, acknowledged the issue and stated that the team is actively working on a solution.

"f it means anything, the balance team largely agrees with this sentiment—we are exploring ways to improve the situation, but it’s still too early to promise anything concrete or go into details." -penguin

Given that the competitive season is in full swing, major changes are unlikely in the immediate future. However, the fact that the balance team agrees with this concern offers hope that gunplay in Valorant will regain its significance over ability usage.