Omen gets a big nerf in the latest Valorant patch.
Riot Games has released the Valorant patch notes for the 9.10 update and after weeks of small patches we finally get some major changes, with major nerfs coming to Omen and Cypher, buffs coming to the likes of Sage, Phoenix and Deadlock and there’s a brand-new shield to buy.
The 9.10 patch notes for Valorant, kick off with a surprise new addition; a regenerative shield you can purchase from the buy menu instead of the current two options. The Regen Shield costs 650 credits and offers a 25hp shield, that can regenerate a total of 50 lost HP over time, theoretically meaning it can regen from empty twice in a round. I’m not sure how useful this will end up being, as it doesn’t seem super useful for its cost, but I could be wrong.
The real meat of the 9.10 patch notes comes in the form of agent changes, with a lot of buffs and nerfs being handed out. When it comes to the latter, Cypher gets hit pretty hard with a fair few nerfs coming his way. His ult gets a one point increase, while his Trapwire has a 0.5 second wind-up before revealing the wallhack. This should make countering him a little easier, while not totally removing is ability to gather info around the map.
The other big loser of the patch is Omen, who gets some big nerfs to his smokes. Now his Dark Cover smokes will always fall onto geometry that a player can stand on, which means no more cleverly placing one way smokes on tiny bits of geometry that sticks out a small amount. This will likely have a much bigger impact on medium to high level Omen players who know all these tricks.
On the other side of the fence, a few buffs have been handed out to Valorant agents, with Sage and Phoenix being the big winners. The former gets an ult cost decrease, a self heal increase and a dash slow added to her Slowing Orb, while the latter gets a big list of changes that includes a heal over time when he touches fire and his Blaze ability now going through walls. You can see all the Phoenix buffs in the full patch notes.
Finally, there is a massive list of weapon changes that includes almost every gun in Valorant. There are a lot of numbers to wade through, but the simple version is that moving and shooting will feel a little different and the Phantom will feel a little better to use going forward. I’m sure some smarter people than I will have a more nuanced breakdown of exactly what all the numbers mean.