One of the most frustrating experiences in any game is dying so fast you can’t recover or react. In Valorant, this is happening far too much because of the Operator (the Op), the game’s sniper rifle. One bullet from the gun will kill any target with a body shot, even if they bought full shields. This leaves little room for counterplay.
Valorant dev, Nick “Wu” Smith addressed the controversial weapon in an interview with Team Liquid content creator Mendo. It looks like the Op is finally getting some nerfs in Patch 1.09.
Valorant is nerfing the Op
While the Op’s damage will remain unchanged, there are several other changes that should help make it less infuriating to play against. Here are the changes:
- The Op’s price is increasing 4,500 credits to 5,000.
- Movement speed while scoping is decreasing from 76% to 72%.
- The Op’s dead zone is dropping from 30% to 15% movement speed (you must be moving slower to become accurate).
- The Op’s rate of fire is dropping from .75 to .6.
- Equip time is going from .3 to .5.
The price nerf will ensure that players will need to commit more to buy the weapon, and risk more for losing it. This will be incredibly impactful in overtime rounds, where players only get 5,000 credits. They will have to choose between the Op and abilities or armor.
The nerfs to the gun’s effectiveness will help make it feel less frustrating to play against when someone does decide to make the investment. Player’s using the weapon will need to be more careful about their positioning and movement while sniping, and missing shots will be more punishing.
It was only a matter of time before the gun finally got nerfs, given how powerful it currently is. The changes to the gun will have an impact on the meta in Valorant. Let us know what you think about the changes in the comments!
