Gekko is getting nerfed.
It may be October, but already it feels like Christmas as Riot Games has finally released a set of Valorant patch notes that are worth reading, as the 9.08 patch notes bring a big Gekko nerf, a nice Yoru buff and a brand-new map.
The Valorant 9.08 patch notes kick off the start of Episode 9 Act 3 and after a string of very boring patches we finally get some agent balance changes that should shake things up, even if the devs say differently. The big loser of the patch is Gekko, who is getting some big nerfs, although the hope is that this should be more of a quality of life update.
The first change to Gekko is that his globules are now harder to reclaim. They will only last for 15 seconds instead of 20, and now take 1.5 seconds to reclaim, up from one second. This will make it much harder to use them multiple times in a round, and should increase the risk factor of trying to reclaim them.
Then the other nerfs to Gekko include a reduction in Dizzy’s up time and a one point ultimate cost increase, going from seven to eight.
But it’s not all doom and gloom for Gekko players, as Wingman’s concus area gets bigger and Dizzy’s targeting has been improved and will now blind the mini map as well.
The other agent getting a solid change is Yoru, who gets a pretty big buff that is being presented as a bit of a bug fix. Until now, Yoru’s Fakeout clone didn’t respond in the same way as actual agents when hit with some abilities, which makes it easy to tell if it is a clone or the real thing. Now all those abilities have been updated so the clone reacts in the same way as an agent, which should make it a lot more impactful.
When it comes to maps, the Valorant 9.08 patch notes add a brand new one in the form of Glitch, a new 5v5 team death match map that looks to go from snowy streets to beach like pathways with palm trees.
There are also a lot of changes to Sunset, which you can see in the full patch notes, while Pearl and Split join the competitive map pool, replacing Icebox and Lotus.
It’s been weeks, but we finally have a good Valorant patch to keep us entertained and shake things up a little. I don’t expect this to be the norm, and I’ll likely be back in a couple of weeks questioning if the next patch is worth covering, but for now I’m excited to try the changes.