Valorant: Killjoy to be disabled in the FaZe Clan invitational, as Riot is not “confident in her stability”

Right when the Valorant fans were gearing up to see how Killjoy would play out on the professional stage, Riot Games decided to disable her during the FaZe Clan Valorant Invitational.

However, we feel that to be the right decision, as Killjoy was just released in ACT 2 of Valorant, and it will take some time for Riot to make sure that she is balanced.

As the developers are still not "confident in her stability", Riot has requested that she be disabled during the FaZe Clan invitation, as she is yet to be stage-ready.

This one's on us. Thanks for the understanding, and for putting the competitive experience first. Looking forward to watching a great tournament! https://t.co/J4maVOMHG3

— VALORANT (@PlayVALORANT) August 6, 2020

Recently, FaZe clan had taken to Twitter to announce that Killjoy will be disabled. They announced that "Due to the recency of Killjoy's release, there is a risk that multiple issues may negatively impact the competitive integrity of this weekend's tournament. As such, Riot Games has requested that she be disabled in official tournaments until they are confident in her stability."

The controversy behind Killjoy's turrets

Image Credits: Riot Games

Ever since her teaser trailer, Killjoy has been part of many controversies in the Valorant community. A lot of the players felt that adding a turret-like ability in a low TTK tactical shooter will compromise the competitive integrity of the game.

Even 100 Thieves star Hiko made a video about how Riot might be making a mistake of releasing an Agent that comes with a turret, as it would create an insane amount of crossfire potential.

However, Valorant's chief of character design, Ryan 'Morello' Scott, took to Twitter to address some of the issues that Hiko had about Killjoy.

Abilities doing damage are about generating threat or pressure - killing is what happens when you can't (getting checkmated by overwhelming odds) or won't (fail to make the right decision) deal with the ability. Other case, we use these to create angle or area control https://t.co/ww4PFVaivA

— Morello (@RiotMorello) July 29, 2020

He says that, "Abilities doing damage are about generating threat or pressure - killing is what happens when you can't (getting checkmated by overwhelming odds) or won't (fail to make the right decision) deal with the ability. Another case, we use these to create angle or area control."

Moreover, the turret hardly does much damage and puts out a measly 24 HP hit per burst, along with having a long windup.

Hence, the question about Killjoy's balance is something that time will reveal, but for now, she is not eSports ready.