VALORANT Patch 3.0 brings with it a host of changes to gun and ability costs, as well as ultimate points and the number of flashes in the game. In a recent developer livestream, Ryan Cousart, a VALORANT agent designer, talked about the changes to agents and their abilities — specifically concerning Breach and Skye.
The developers said they strayed away from talking about the guns changes as they want the patch notes to speak for themselves.
“Our intention is to shake the meta up a little bit,” Cousart said. “To make it feel more dynamic.”
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Breach and Skye changes explained
According to Cousart, the team looked over internal and external feedback for the changes to Breach and Skye. Players have asked for the two agents to receive changes to their flashes for some time, and the VALROANT balance team has relented. In the upcoming patch, Breach and Skye will both only have two flashes each. Both will cost 250 credits.
The team made the decision after seeing how players used the new agent, KAY/O, and how his role as an Initiator changed with his abilities and flashes.
“As we are seeing the success, internally, of KAY/O’s ability to be aggressive,” Cousart said, “we wanted to match a little bit of that on Breach and Skye,”
He further explained how reducing the number of flashes for the two agents also gives them more agency with their other abilities. Cousart said the two agents should be picked for their abilities outside of the flashes they provide. For Breach, his ability to stun and damage enemies from afar should now come to the forefront of the meta instead of his ability to flash through walls. As for Skye, players should pick her for her scouting acumen with her flashes and other abilities and not her long range, and pilotable, flashes.
“Creating a little more texture across initiators is our goal there,” he said.
The new changes to Skye, Breach and the rest of the VALORANT cast hit live servers on June 22.
