Valorant Patch 8.08: Viper and Chamber Nerfed To The Ground

Valorant has finally released a long-awaited gameplay patch, mostly adjusting Viper and Cypher’s abilities. Additionally, the community is disappointed that there were no changes to the map pool.

Agent Changes

Here is everything you need to know about agent nerfs and buffs in Valorant patch 8.08:

Chamber

Received new voice lines and interactions with Reyna, Astra, and Omen.

Cypher

Cypher received changes to his Trapwire and Spycam abilities. Riot thinks Cypher is too strong as a Sentinel agent, and wants to re-adjust him to become more of an information gatherer.

Trapwire (C)

Trapwire has been nerfed, giving enemies more time to destroy it after being triggered.
Re-arm time increased from 1 second to 2 seconds.
Trapwire slow reduced from 2 seconds to 1.25 seconds.

Spycam (E)

An audio cue has been added for enemy players being watched by a Spycam.
Enemy players will hear looping audio when they are being watched by Cypher using the Spycam.

Overall, Cypher has received a massive nerf, even though he isn’t in “imbalanced” territory in the professional scene.

Sentinels in-game leader Amine “johnqt” Ouarid is not happy with the change, as he is one of the most renowned Cypher players in the world. He thinks the Spycam nerf is unnecessary and ruins the whole idea of the ability.

Riot nerfing a sentinel agent every 2 patch might as well just remove this role…

Also that camera nerf is the most casual friendly change ever and ruins the whole concept of the ability.

— SEN johnqt 🇲🇦 (@1johnqt) April 30, 2024

Cypher one-trick Dasnerth is also complaining about the change, mentioning other agents can be broken for months but Cypher can’t.

lmfao, other characters can be busted for forever but 2 episodes of cypher and they can’t stand it

— Dasnerth (@Dasnerth) April 30, 2024

Viper

Riot is aiming to maintain Vipert as a Sentinel / Controller hybrid, helping her commit more to her positions and manage shorter uptimes per smoke. Being able to control her smoke over time is a skill only Viper has, and Riot wants to do something to balance it out.

Smoke uptime has been reduced, meaning her wall and cloud will run out faster.
The minimum amount of fuel Viper needs to activate her wall and cloud has been increased, giving enemies a larger window to attack when Viper is low on fuel.
Viper players are now forced to manage fuel more efficiently to maintain proper wall and cloud usage.
Poison Cloud (Q) can only be picked up during the buy phase; you can no longer pick it up in the middle of the round. Viper players must place their cloud strategically and commit to the area.
Viper now only has one Snake Bite (C) charge instead of two. However the duration of the Snake Bite has been increased so one charge is lethal to all enemies that stand on the acid for its full duration.

Toxic Screen (E) and Poison Cloud (Q)

Maximum uptime for each individual smoke has been reduced from 15 seconds to 12 seconds.
Minimum fuel needed to activate a smoke has been increased from 20% to 30%.
Cooldown on re-activating a smoke after putting them down has been reduced from 8 seconds to 5 seconds.

Poison Cloud (Q)

Viper can no longer pick up her Poison Cloud in the middle of the round. It is only allowed during the buy phase.

Snake Bite (C)

Reduced charges from 2 charges to 1.
Price has been increased from 200 credits to 300.
Snake Bite duration has been increased from 5.5 seconds to 6.5.
The damage remains the same.

Viper has an incredibly high pick-rate in professional play, and Riot wants to make her more balanced compared to her peers. Viper players will have to start playing as an anchor on defense, as she must commit her clouds early into the round.

The Snake Bite change is a huge nerf. But honestly speaking, it is incredibly annoying for a casual player to play against a Viper who has two Snake Bites for post-plant situations.

In general, Viper has received major nerfs and most of the community thinks the agent will no longer be viable on most maps.

Viper is gone 🦀🦀🦀 pic.twitter.com/JTiPdetUng

— Cloud9 VALORANT (@C9VAL) April 30, 2024

Premier Mode Updates

A new Premier stage has started, and an extra promotion has been added to the game mode:

Players can now see their division’s promotion requirements on the standings page.
Meet those requirements to be placed at least one division higher in Stage E9A1.
The Premier Score playoff qualification threshold is 600 for all divisions.

Bug Fixes

Riot has also addressed several bugs in the 8.08 patch:

Agent Bugs

Fixed issues related to inaccurate line-of-sight checks near abilities such as Phoenix’s Blaze (C), Neon’s Fast Lane (C), Harbor’s High Tide (E), and Viper’s Toxic Screen (E) and Viper’s Pit (X).
Fixed an issue where AI-controlled abilities such as Killjoy’s Turret (E) could detect players through Harbor’s High Tide (E).
Fixed Clove’s icons being incorrect when Ruse (E) was equipped.
Fixed a bug where Cypher’s Trapwire (C) showed on the map even when disabled.

Map Bugs

Fixed the major Split exploitation that allowed agents to stand on the sign on A site.

Gameplay System Bugs

Fixed an issue where footsteps were not made when ADS-ing and running while slowed by Sage’s Slow Orb (Q).

Premier Bugs

Fixed a bug where practice matches did not lock your division in.

No Map Pool Changes

The community isn’t too happy about how Viper and Chamber were nerfed to the ground, and most find these changes unnecessary.

However, the biggest issue players had with the update was no maps were rotated in and out of the active map pool.

“This is the worst map pool we ever had and they didn’t change it…”

Others are complaining that Valorant maps are poorly designed, and players are getting bored from playing the same maps over and over again.

it’s a shame that fatigue is so prevalent in this game compared to cs… poor map design or the same scenarios over and over again they need to add variety again

— Brad 🚀 (@bradzzthegoat) April 30, 2024

Header: Riot Games