Valorant Neon nerfs coming soon

Valorant's resident speedster has been a nuisance to deal with over the past several months, and Riot Games has finally announced that Neon nerfs will be coming soon. While there are no concrete details on what these changes will be, it seems the team is trying to find a balance between how the Agent feels in the meta and her "grounded movement combat fantasy."

For the ongoing Patch 9.09, you can check out our Valorant Agent tier list to learn which of these picks you need to currently master to have an edge in a match.

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Valorant game designer mentions Neon is "too strong," reveals nerfs are coming soon

Arriving in Patch 9.11, Neon nerfs or changes will even out parts of the Agent's kit that come off as overpowered/unbalanced while trying to retain her identity of zooming around with her ground movement. This news was initially shared by @penguinVALORANT (game designer) on X and then further reposted by the official handle. The post states:

"For what it's worth - we agree that Neon is too strong as well. We're working on some adjustments to balance out the parts that feel overpowered while maintaining her grounded movement combat fantasy. These changes are coming in patch 9.11."

If the current schedule of a new patch appearing every two weeks is maintained (9.09 released on November 5), we will see Patch 9.11 arriving on December 10. It will be the last one for Episode 9.

While the upcoming holidays may disrupt this schedule, we believe the Neon nerfs will arrive in-game by early December — a bit of Christmas cheer for Valorant players haunted by the blue lightning menace dashing about the map.

While Neon's current kit cements her position in the duellist meta, we still feel that the developers have to be careful in how they look to address her. It is important to balance things out in such a way that her innate identity is not impacted either. It will be interesting to see what these balance changes actually are, and luckily, we will not have to wait long to find out.