Valorant Patch 6.11 Drastically Changes The Gun Economy

In a character-based tactical shooter like Valorant where weaponry plays a more important role than an agent’s abilities, the devs behind the game work hard to keep this balance maintained, but in this recent 6.11 patch that changes by a large degree. Many weapons like the Vandal and Phantom received nerfs that causes players to be more careful when committing ammo and resources. With larger recoils, it is definitely a bad pick for newbies.

This nerf actually inadvertently, buffed some other weapons, and agents. With the decrease of overall ammo for the phantom, all controller agents are safer behind their smokes and cover as enemies won’t want to waste their already thin supplies by randomly shooting the air hoping to get a kill. Other weapons like the Odin or the Ares will be more popular going forward with a more relaxing ammo supply and recoil control.

Another big change is early game, where weapons like the frenzy and ghost reigned supreme has gone through some intense changes. The biggest one here is the probable death of the shorty. The Shorty was an extremely cheap close-quarter weapon that could kill an enemy in one shot granted you were close enough, but now you need to be even closer, will fewer previous errors due to its much smaller ammo size and reduced damage.

The Valorant devs had this to say about the weapon nerf,

We like that the Shorty has found a viable role in the game though it has proven to be too reliable and accessible. We’re increasing the price to make purchasing the Shorty a more thoughtful decision throughout the course of the game while the damage adjustments require more accuracy to get one-shot kills against fully armored opponents.“

This kills agents like Chamber and Jett who used to jump in, get a kill, and then get out. With nerfs like these, players will be keener to opt for a ghost as their primary weapon in save rounds or just focus on utility. The Frenzy was also an extremely powerful weapon on agents like Viper and Omen, but with more recoil, it is going to be dangerous to play at any range other than close range.

Talking about the agents, the Sentinel role has been in some intense jeopardy for a while now. Now Riot only decides to nerf agents that use tactics or skills not suited for the overall system of the game, one of these is escaping unscathed, something Jett and Chamber used to do, now? they have been nerfed to hell and back. Although Jett is still pretty usable, Chamber is a shell of what he was.

And the final major thing that Valorant changed, was the recoil for many guns including, the Phantom, Vandal, Specter, and Frenzy. Most of these weapons were known for spamming like crazy to put pressure and get kills, but with these recoil nerfs, spamming is going to be much more inaccurate, forcing players to change their site entries and defensive techniques.

Overall, the patch worked to correct some weapons from dominating, and some from being too weak. If you nerf one weapon, you automatically buff another one, and that example can clearly be seen from this. How all of this will affect ranked games and competitive championships in the long run, well, we are just going to have to wait and see.