Valorant patch 8.08 nerfs make fans question the "purpose of Viper's molly"

Viper's Snakebite has been nerfed and Valorant fans are not happy with the changes. In Episode 8 Act 3, Riot Games took the fans by surprise after placing a rather major nerf on Viper, an agent who has proven to be a dominant force on many maps for regular players as well as in pro-play. Perhaps, with the new Controller agent Clove coming in, Riot Games intended for her pick rate to plummet while other popular picks such as Viper see a decline.

Clearly, fans were not happy with most of the changes. However, there was a host of Valorant fans on Reddit who had one question on their minds."What is the purpose of Viper's molly now?" Snakebite has been reduced from two charges to one and its price in the buy menu will now cost 300 credits as opposed to the previous 200.

A Valorant fan on Reddit first brought up the issue to argue the importance of Viper's molly inside the game. The post argued that now, Viper's Molly only lasts for about two seconds and does not do enough damage to the opponents on its own.

"It lasts 6.5 seconds and has barely enough damage to fully take out an opponent. Brim's molly, costing almost the same amount, lasts 7-8 seconds and it takes 2-3 secs to burn an enemy down."

What is the purpose of Viper's molly now? byu/GeoTeamEnthusiast inVALORANT

This is in stark contrast to Brimstone's Molly which lasts for longer and also dishes out rapid damage to the opponents. This puts Viper's molly at a disadvantage in comparison to Brimstone whose Molly also costs the same amount.

Meanwhile, another fan felt similarly and mentioned that in initial rounds, purchasing the Snakebite along with the orb is just no longer viable as the damage per second doesn't do help much.

Valorant fan points out the problem with Viper nerf (Image via Reddit/u/zen_1110)

That said, another Viper player disagreed with it all and stated that the new 8.08 Viper nerfs were fine and the agent was still very playable. The comment argued that the changes aren't unbalanced.

Valorant fan okay with Viper nerf (Image via Reddit/u/OldMattReddit)

Other users worried about the post-plant lineup status for Viper who could infamously stall spike defuses with her two mollies. Now, with only one of them, can she still conquer maps like Breeze and Icebox?

Valorant fans worried about Viper lineups (Image via Reddit/u/BlurredSight u/Goby-WanKenobi)

This Valorant fan pointed out that two different abilities such as Brimstone's Molly and Viper's Snakebite cannot and should not be compared since the the two are not equivalent:

"All mollies aren't equivalent, neither are flashes, smokes, etc...You can't just compare 2 abilities, you have to take the whole kit into account."

Clearly, fans are divided over the whole ordeal and some believe that the Viper nerfs are reasonable. Perhaps Viper mains will stand by the agent still even after the nerf. So what are the other changes?

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What changes will Valorant fans see after the Viper nerfs?

Viper's overall kit has been affected after patch 8.08 which also nerfed Cypher. The release notes mentioned a reduction in the agents' smoke uptime, and cooldown, an increase in the minimum fuel required to reactivate the smokes, and a major change that stops players from moving the Poison Cloud ability post-buy phase. Here is the full list of changes as mentioned by Riot Games:

Toxic Screen (E) and Poison Cloud (Q)

• Max uptime on each individual smoke source reduced 15 >>> 13.5 >>> 12s
• Minimum fuel needed to activate smoke increased 20% >>> 30%
• Cooldown on re-activating smokes after putting them down reduced 8 >>> 5.5 >>> 5s

Poison Cloud (Q)

• Can now only be picked up during the Buy Phase

Snake Bite (C)

• Charges reduced 2 >>> 1
• Price increased 200 >>> 300
• Duration increased 5.5 >>> 6.5s