The best Valorant Sentinel is getting nerfed in patch 9.10

As a seasoned Valorant gamer with countless hours spent strategizing and mastering every nook and cranny of the virtual battlefield, I must say I find myself both intrigued and apprehensive at the prospect of Cypher’s impending changes.


In an update on future plans for Valorant, developers at Riot Games mentioned that they will be making some adjustments to the most powerful Sentinel and Defender characters in the game.

Following the conclusion of Valorant Champions 2024, Riot Games is planning significant adjustments to the game as these alterations won’t affect professional play. In an update on September 20th, the developers announced that players should anticipate modifications to four agents in patch 9.10: Phoenix, Sage, Gekko, and Cypher.

In simpler terms, both Phoenix and Sage need a power boost because they’re currently weak, whereas Cypher and Gekko are too strong and may require adjustments.

In the current game scenario, Cypher stands out as one of the top agents due to his potent tripwires, which are ideal for being concealed in hard-to-reach locations within the present map selection.

A few updates on what you can expect for the rest of the year.

— VALORANT (@VALORANT) September 20, 2024

In addition to adjusting direct nerfs on his utility, developers have also disclosed changes to the Sunset map in patch 9.08. Riot’s team has explicitly mentioned they are getting rid of one of Cypher’s overpowered trap locations, making the agent less troublesome.

Over the past year, I’ve climbed my way up from being one of the weakest agents in the game to becoming one of the strongest, all thanks to Riot consistently toning down the other Sentinel agents. Unlike many of my peers in this class, I don’t need to be right next to them to keep my abilities active.

It could be logical for Riot Games to adjust Cypher’s abilities to match those of other classes, either by introducing proximity requirements or by toning down the effectiveness of his tripwires.

Update 9.08 for Valorant will go live on the servers on October 22nd, 2024, and we anticipate release of update 9.10 on November 19th, 2024. Since these updates are a bit further away, players who use Cypher should make the most of their games as his agent is currently overpowered (OP).

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2024-09-20 20:48