Valorant Chamber Nerf Is Coming in Patch 5.12; Full Overview of All Changes
Balancing Chamber has proved a big issue for Riot Games since launching the Valorant Agent last year. His ability to teleport multiple times throughout a round, deliver unmatched firepower with cheap abilities and the economic value inherent with that has seen him dominate the game’s meta. Even two separate rounds of nerfs haven’t really solved the problem, and so now the development team has a third Chamber nerf in the pipeline that finally looks as though it might.
Indeed, coming next week with the release of Patch 5.12, Chamber is having his abilities nerfed across the board. The Headhunter is less effective; the teleport will work differently and have a reduced range; the trip is also much less potent, and the absurdly powerful ultimate is now slower firing. A press release sent to Twinfinite earlier today offers a full overview:
All Chamber Nerfs in Valorant Patch 5.12
Headhunter (Q)
Rendezvous (E)
Trademark (C)
Tour De Force (X)
Kevin Meier, Agent designer on Valorant said of the changes
“We know you have been asking for Chamber updates after seeing him dominate your ranked games, pro play, and maybe even your nightmares. Chamber remains a defining pick since his last update, and we want to strike the appropriate balance between preserving his character identity and maintaining VALORANT’s game health.
The team discussed and tested a number of ways to balance Chamber. The more we iterated the more it was apparent thathis current mechanics were shaping play space in an unhealthy way, infringing on other Agent identities, and breaking VALORANT’s core tactical cycle.
In Patch 5.12, we’ll be making a number of changes to address these concerns. With this update, we want to sharpen Chamber’s identity as a precision-focused Sentinel that puts his body on the line to hold areas, while significantly reducing his sphere of influence and introducing more counterplay for opponents.“
The team’s goals when rebalancing Chamber were as follows:
“Counterplay”and “Deliberate”are foundational principles to VALORANT Agent design that the team discusses quite often. Chamber’s mechanics took the place of counterplay in many cases, and the small number of restrictions on his abilities meant he was not required to be deliberate in thinking about setup. This made Chamber deadly at any angle.
Here are a few examples of how these changes have shifted Chamber in testing:
Why Is Chamber Being Nerfed? Explained
“Agent abilities have varying degrees of impact on each part of the tactical cycle, but should be sharp in their delivery and offer compromises (to/for) the enemies’ advantage. This is key to ensuring the tactical promise of VALORANT, keeps design space open, and curbs potential power creep as new Agents attempt to compete against powerful outputs.
Our approach was built around retaining Chamber’s combat strength and fantasy, while narrowing the span of his impact across any given map. Giving opponents more agency to outwit or outplay, and giving Chamber players a deliberate mastery curve. Players who invest the time should still find success as they learn how these new mechanics excel or fail across maps, locations, and play styles.
Like we always say, we’ll keep a close eye on Chamber as everyone adjusts to these changes, pushes his new boundaries, and re-shapes the meta. We’re always prepared to adjust.“
The development team signs off its overview of the Chamber nerfs by explaining that it’s committed to potentially making further changes to the Agent in the future.
When Valorant Patch 5.12 Comes Out
Valorant Patch 5.12 will launch next Tuesday, Dec. 6/7 (depending on your region). It will not mark the beginning of a new Act or Episode but is simply a game update. Act 3 of Episode 5 still has another 40 days to run, bringing us into the new year.
There will be a Night Market and a new premium skin line to look forward to before then, though.
While you wait, why not read up onParla Esports’ incredible G-Loot tournament runlast weekend when they almost beat Navi?
