Riot Games has confirmed that two agents in VALORANT, who have regained popularity in the meta, will receive nerfs this week. There will be no Valentine’s Day love for Raze and Killjoy, as both agents are set to be altered in VALORANT Patch 6.03. Additionally, the Swiftplay game mode is set to move out of beta testing and become a full game release soon.
Following the nerfs to Chamber in a recent patch, Sentinel agents such as Killjoy and Cypher have returned to prominence in ranked and professional play. Meanwhile, duelists like Raze, Jett, and Reyna have gained popularity and are now considered stable picks at all ranks.
In December of last year, Killjoy was buffed, with an increase in Nanoswarm’s health and Lockdown’s health. Riot has deemed these changes to be excessive and will be nerfing Killjoy’s ultimate and Turret. Turret’s health will be reduced from 125 to 100, and Lockdown’s point cost will increase from seven to eight.
On the other hand, Raze has not undergone any significant changes in recent VALORANT patches, but she remains a popular agent, particularly at the professional level. However, Raze’s Boom Bot, which was slightly nerfed in Patch 5.12, will see its duration reduced from 10 seconds to five seconds. As a result, Raze will no longer be able to gather as much information as she previously could.
The fast-paced unrated short match mode, Swiftplay, which was introduced in beta form in December 2021, will continue to be available in VALORANT.