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Viper was one of the first Controller Agents to become accessible to Valorant players during the closed beta period. Over the years, she has been dominating the meta and has met with few nerfs. However, players have noticed that the recent 8.05 patch has secretly nerfed Viper to some extent. Those who main this Agent are rather annoyed, especially since the developer gave no prior notice. The durations of Viper's Poison Cloud and Toxic Screen have been brought down to 13 seconds. Both abilities had a duration of 15 seconds prior to the patch.
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Over the years, Riot Games has made several some minor tweaks to characters without alerting players, but this is a significant Agent change that the community was left in the dark about. Viper is still quite effective for Valorant players who want to rotate or reposition while pushing a site, but the nerf has elicited some mixed reactions.
After seeing the changes, one Valorant player remarked how big of a deal it was, wondering why Riot would possibly silent nerf Viper:
"That’s a big deal, Idk why they would silent nerf it."
Following the discovery, one X user said Riot should at least give players something as compensation.
Another user jokingly said Riot Games probably wants to increase the duration of visibility in the round, considering the nature of Viper's abilities.
Reddit user u/ric3banana stated that Viper’s wall is still pretty strong and plays a huge role in the current meta.
Another Redditor remarked that players shouldn’t get upset as 13 seconds is still quite a long time.
Reddit user u/Pojobob appeared to be unperturbed but acknowledged that players might run into problems initially:
"So a 2 second nerf? Doesn't seem like a super insane nerf but it might screw with a lot of vipers initially with how used to the current timing they are."
Some players are even happy about the nerf. Reddit user u/wossquee stated that Viper was not fun in Ranked.
User u/dboydanni commented that the nerf caused them to stumble in the game:
"and I was wondering why my smokes were messed"
The official Valorant account has yet to confirm or comment on these Viper adjustments.
Should Viper be buffed in Valorant?
Viper's latest official nerf came roughly seven months ago, when her ultimate points were increased from eight to nine. Although it feels like she can make use of a buff, Viper is still exceptionally powerful and can dominate certain maps such as Breeze and Icebox, where picking her as the Controller is crucial.
To some players, Viper's Poison Cloud might seem a little too small and complicated to deploy, which the user may find annoying at times as it might not cover the areas players want it to. Hence, the developers can buff the radius of the Poison Cloud to make it more powerful.
Viper's "Fuel" can make use of a buff, but it might shake up the game's meta. With more Fuel, Viper can use her wall and orb for extended periods, making it difficult for opponents to advance into the site. This ability was nerfed in June 2023, where the Controller's Fuel Regeneration time was increased by 50%, from 20 seconds to 30 seconds.
As of Valorant patch 8.05, Viper is in a decent state but can make use of a buff, which will boost her pick rate significantly. With some improvements, Viper can single-handedly control any site and stop the enemies trying to push in.
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