Riot Games’ free-to-play tactical hero shooter Valorant nerfed a bunch of characters in its latest update, and actor Ben Affleck doesn’t sound too happy about the tweaks made to one of the game’s most goated characters.
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On August 29, Riot Games dropped patch 7.04, which makes a good number of additions, changes, and updates to the game. The patch introduces a brand-new map named Sunset—that’s supposedly set in the studio’s hometown of L.A.—while also bringing forth a handful of tweaks to an existing map called Breeze that dramatically alters its sightlines. Tucked in the notes, though, are some—dare I say—detrimental changes to quite a few of Valorant’s Agents. One of them, Jett, has been nerfed so hard that even the former Batman isn’t pleased.
“Yeah, then they nerfed Jett,” Affleck said to the character’s voice actress, Shannon Williams, during an appearance at the Valorant Champions Tour, an esports event that took place from August 6-26 in L.A. “That’s the problem.”
What Bruce Wayne is bummed about here is just how weak the South Korean wind assassin Jett has become now that the game’s patch 7.04 is live. Tailwind, a movement ability that propels Jett forward, has a longer startup window and doesn’t travel as far. The projectile Cloudburst, which essentially functions as a smoke grenade, doesn’t obscure vision for nearly as long. Updraft, a movement skill that sends Jett into the air, can only be used once instead of twice. And finally, her ultimate skill Blade Storm, which summons throwing knives, costs eight points where previously it cost seven. In short, Jett’s entire kit has been changed so that all of her abilities take just a little bit longer to execute now.
In the blog post outlining the patch notes, community manager Jo-ellen “Riot Joellen” Aragon said this is because Jett is “often given more reliable power windows and generous tuning than other Duelists and Agents in general.” The Riot Games team felt it necessary to knock the assassin down a peg or two.
“Our goal with these changes is further sharpening Jett as the aggressive, high precision Duelist by increasing the intentionality of her ability usage and power windows,” Aragon wrote. “We want to maintain her unique ability to break through chokes and dash onto site, while reducing her defensive power-holding angles and her ability to reactively undo tactical mistakes with her array of quickly cast abilities. […] We believe these changes align Jett’s overall power level and place in the Tactical Cycle with our other Agents, while maintaining Jett’s unique role and fantasy on the Valorant roster.”
While Jett is regularly placed in the S-tier category across various ranking lists, the Valorant community is both celebrating and condemning the changes to her kit. Redditors are split. Some have asked why Riot Games nerfed Jett so hard; others are glad the team is nerfing Jett into the ground. X (formerly known as Twitter) users are similarly divided, with posts of “RIP JETT” or complaints that she’s still pretty OP. In the end, Ben Affleck isn’t the only one feeling the effects of the nerfs, though, according to Williams’ August 28 Instagram post, the former Dark Knight is actually a KAY/O main. Who knew? I didn’t.
Read More: Elon Musk Booed At Valorant Tournament
Ben Affleck, who is reportedly quite the avid Valorant player, wasn’t the only celebrity to make an appearance at the recent esports tournament. Twitter owner Elon Musk was also there, though he wasn’t exactly welcomed.
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