As a professional player, I choose Valorant over CS: GO — Simar 'psy' Sethi, Noble Esports

Q. Continuing from the previous question, who do you think is the weakest Agent in the game in terms of utility and mechanics? What do you think about Operator nerfs?

Psy: The weakest Agent in Valorant, I would say, is Reyna.

Rijit: Wait! Reyna? I was expecting a Viper answer.

Psy: I know people say it’s Viper, but if you know how to play her, then she has the potential to change the whole game. In India, people are still learning Viper; however, in foreign countries, gamers have already learned her and started the Viper meta in their matches. But yes, to utilise Viper completely, the teammates have to play around her abilities. She is not the weakest Agent in Valorant.

Coming to Reyna, she has access to two flashes (Leer) which can be broken easily. Her abilities are focused around herself rather than helping the team with some utilities.

Thus, if you are really feeling yourself, you can do well with her. However, if you are not hitting your shots, you will become a liability to your team.

If you are in a good team with proper communication, you can easily counter a Reyna.

Rijit: If we look at Solo queue matches, where communication is not always proper and spontaneous…

Psy: Talking about Solo queue matches, Reyna becomes excellent and is probably the best Agent to choose. If you are a confident player who has faith in his/her aiming capabilities, then pick Reyna, and you will dominate the match as you get one kill and can frag out matches.

But yes, again, against a good team, if she tries to Leer her way into a site, then one player can quickly break her flash, and another could directly shoot her before she gets her first kill.

Talking about the Operator nerfs, I am known to be an AWPER (a gamer who specialises in playing with Snipers) throughout India. But I don’t like the overall feel of Operators in Valorant. People know me for my flicks in CS: GO; however, flicking in Valorant is next to impossible. I feel like the weapon is broken, as many times, in my stream, I have noticed hitting the guy with my Operator shot, but he didn’t seem to be dead. The weapon feels broken, and I think Riot should look into this issue.

Q. Do you think Valorant’s meta is stable now, and that all the Agents feel balanced? If not, what changes in terms of buffs and nerfs would you make to Valorant?

Psy: I would say that the game feels pretty balanced, and slowly but steadily, the developers are making Valorant even more balanced based on feedback. Of course, it’s a new game; they are listening to the community to bring in quick new fixes. So I am pleased in that regard.

However, in terms of buffs and nerfs, I would say they went a bit extreme on the recent Sage nerfs. I was a Sage main myself, and I think she needs buffs; Viper needs to be buffed as well, as it will encourage players to try her out more often. Jett also needs to be nerfed a bit. But yes, they are going to add a healer-based Agent in the future, and I think it will stir up the meta even more.

Q. Because of the pandemic, most gaming tournaments are happening online. Do you think big, offline Valorant events are on the cards in India?

Psy: Yes. India is surely going to witness LAN events in the future.

Rijit: Even with the Indian Valorant servers coming in solving the ping complaints of players?

Psy: Yes. In India, people cannot stay without LAN events. Any professional scene cannot survive without it. So when the whole situation gets better, things will be back to normal, and we should see LAN events for Valorant in the country.