After the release of Clove, Valorant looked like it was headed to the Controller meta. Every professional hinted towards a double controller meta. The dependence on duelists was at a minimum since the last act. Even without Clove being available in pro play, teams were running a double controller, double initiator, and a single duelist meta for their matches. Yes, you read that right; there were matches with no sentinels at all, especially on the map Split. Now, with the recent adjustments made to Viper, it looks like controllers might not be dominating as much anymore. Viper has been hit hard with nerfs again, and this might lead to seeing less of her in Valorant.
Viper’s Poison Orb Nerf hit her hard!
Remember the times when you could pick up Viper’s orb and use it again in multiple locations? Well, that’s now been removed. Once the round starts, her orb can no longer be picked up. This was narrated as a small change by Riot, but boy has it riled everyone up. Earlier, Viper could mix and match a number of lineups using her orb mid-round. Now, she has to commit both her wall and orb for a single use and stick to it. This is probably one of the biggest nerfs in recent Valorant history. Chamber was hit hard a few years back, but now Viper mains have a lot of thinking to do.
While attacking, Viper mains have to commit to smoking the plant with the orb and play accordingly. Previously, the orb could be used for smoking off common chokepoints and later be used for post-plant mollies. The orb lineups are still useful and do wonders for retaking while attacking. In case Viper wants to use her orb for retaking, she has to save it during the start of the round. Using only the wall against defenders is going to be what Viper mains have to focus on. If Viper does see a team charge, she would have to commit the orb to defending the site and not save it for retakes.
Viper Molly Nerf has ended Valorant’s “Line up Larry” meta in Valorant?
As of now, Viper has been reduced to a single molly. What does this mean for Line up one-tricks? Well, Viper can no longer play for post-plant line-ups that are far away from the bombsite. Instead, she has to work with one molly and play near the plant in order to completely save the round. Earlier, Viper could pop one molly, wait for 5-6 seconds, and use her second molly. This allowed Viper to delay the defuse by a solid 10-15 seconds. Now, with the new nerf, Viper can probably delay the defuse for roughly 6-7 seconds. Hence, once she’s used her molly, Viper should have to commit to taking the fight and closing the round the traditional way.
The other nerfs include Viper’s overall smoke time has been reduced from 13.5 to 12 seconds. Her mollies last a second longer than they used to before, which looks like an upside, but it’s not. Though a second has been added to the molly, she still has only one molly, and that’s a really tough hit on Viper. Hopefully, the pros figure out a way to make use of Viper in her present state. Make sure to follow us and watch this space for updates on the latest pro Viper meta.
