Valorant dev clarifies “inconsistent nerf” that has killed “uniqueness” of popular agent

Last week Valorant received update 9.10. This patch delivered several updates to agents along with gameplay in general. Following the release of this patch, there has been some complaints online about the change to Omen. In response to feedback, a Valorant developer has clarified an “inconsistent nerf” that some believe has killed the “uniqueness” of Omen.

There is a lot for the Valorant community to anticipate. Riot has confirmed a nerf is on the way for an “overpowered agent” in patch 9.11, meanwhile, the developer has previously discussed transitioning the game from UE4 to Unreal Engine 5. In addition, although not confirmed, leaks suggest a mega feature already available in League of Legends is currently in-development.

While the above is stuff to anticipate, right now Riot Games has clarified a nerf to a popular agent that hasn’t been well received by everyone.

Valorant dev clarifies smokes update for Omen nerf

In the Valorant update 9.10 patch notes, Riot delivered the following nerf for Omen:

• Dark Cover:
  • Dark Cover will now always fall to level geometry where players can stand similar to other spherical smokes like Brimstone’s Sky Smoke, Clove’s Ruse, etc.
  • This should prevent Omen from placing one-way smokes on small ornamental pieces of Geometry, like the fuse boxes in the main of Split B and only allow him to place smokes where players can stand.

Following the release of this patch, streamer flexninja shared his frustrations with the changes to Omen’s Dark Cover. The streamer remarked that “with the omen nerfs, his smokes are now inconsistent”. On X, the streamer elaborated, “I think it is intentional, but the wording they said in the nerf is that you can’t one way where you can’t stand but you can clearly stand on all these walls so yeah, omen can only smoke where brim/astra/clove can I guess”.

In response to the nerf, one user sarcastically posted “So glad they removed the uniqueness and the whole point of playing omen”. Another user replied, “rip omen 2020-2024,” while another said, “don’t worry it’ll take multiple months for them [Riot Games] to fix this one very small change”.

A lot of the replies to flexninja illustrate that players want the nerf reverted, but that doesn’t appear to be happening. Instead, Valorant game designer, Penguin, has attempted to clarify the situation.

In response to flexninja, Penguin admitted, “This was poor patch note writing from us and we’re planning on updating the patch notes for better clarity”. In an effort to help players better understand and adapt to the change, Penguin explained, “The red triangle should accurately represent when a smoke will fall versus stay up”.

For more Valorant, check out our 18 tips on how to get better at the game along with our guide for how to appear offline if you don’t want certain friends knowing you’re playing. We also have guides for how to chat with the team, all, and private, along with how to add friends.