Valorant dev explains how they’re keeping Clove from becoming “boring” after nerfs

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A Valorant developer recently shared that the team is working to prevent Agents like Clove from becoming stale, with the goal of maintaining a gameplay experience that is both enjoyable and fair.

Valorant has seen a lot of changes recently with its Agents. New characters have been introduced, and many of the existing ones have been updated and improved.

Harbor has been significantly updated twice recently, and all the agents have received major changes as well. The latest update, 12.05, introduced a new agent named Miks, and also included adjustments to Yoru, Clove, and Skye.

Players on social media have been closely watching recent changes to the Clove character in Valorant. Valorant’s product lead, Coleman Palm, has acknowledged that Clove is currently too strong and needs adjustments.

Clove update addressed by Valorant dev

According to Palm, Clove is currently the most successful agent in the game, with a significantly higher win rate than others, and is also very popular with players. Their ability to deploy a smoke after being defeated is proving too powerful and difficult to counter.

This update reduces the effectiveness of certain abilities, specifically preventing players from completely neutralizing a threat while hidden by smoke. We’re making these changes to encourage players to use a wider range of Controller agents.

Currently, Sova’s post-plant smoke is too strong and doesn’t give opponents enough options to react. We’re reducing his power by preventing the complete defusal of the spike within his smoke. This change is intended to encourage players to use a wider range of Controller agents.

— Coleman Palm (Altombre) (@Altombre) March 14, 2026

They also mentioned wanting to make sure Clove is still a blast to play! Someone worried that changes might make the controller feel a little dull, and the team really listened and wants to avoid that.

Palm explained that while the ability to continue acting after death is very strong for the character Clove in the game, it doesn’t necessarily make playing her more enjoyable. They’re aiming for characters who are both well-balanced and fun to play, and that’s something everyone agrees on.

We’re definitely aware of this issue. We often discuss how Clove’s abilities after being eliminated are very strong in the game, but don’t really add to how enjoyable she is to play. We want all our agents to be both fun and fair, and we’re working towards that.

— Coleman Palm (Altombre) (@Altombre) March 14, 2026

Even after being weakened, Clove remains the most-picked hero and boasts a nearly 54% win rate, according to data from U.GG.

It remains to be seen if they’ll go under the knife again with future changes.

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2026-03-20 15:50