Valorant

Valorant Patch 2.02 Might've Brought a Hidden Brimstone Nerf

By Allan Zeng | Feb 7, 2021, 3:12 PM EST

A recent Valorant patch may have brought a surprise nerf to the agent, Brimstone. The 2.02 patch brought about some changes, most notably nerfing rifle running accuracy, but may have also caused a hidden nerf.

The "nerf", which Riot apparently classified as a bug fix, effects Brimstone's smokes. Now, his smokes will no longer blind various vision-based abilities, as previously, the smokes would act almost as a blinding mechanism. Now, for example, abilities like Raze's Boombot or Sova's Recon bolt will notice players trying to hide in the smoke if the bot or bolt are in the smoke themselves. To explain it more thoroughly, here's a Riot employee response to a post on Reddit about this topic. "These abilities don't completely negate the smoke, they just see the same way a player does inside the smoke (instead of the smoke completely blinding them). A sonar dart inside of a smoke will not reveal you if you are outside it, and vice versa, but if you are both inside of the smoke together, it can reveal you."

Brimstone received some buffs in the 2.0 update, so perhaps this nerf is due to counterbalance the previous changes. Still, players do have a right to be irritated by this change, as most were not aware the strength of his smokes was a bug. Hopefully next time Riot can be more clear about their communication, as to many, this nerf came out of nowhere and was a nasty surprise to Brimstone mains.

Valorant is currently in the first act of its second episode, and just introduced a new agent in Yoru. This act is expected to last until April, and will likely have more nerfs and buffs to champions in future patches.