Riot are nerfing Valorant flashes in Episode 3 with Breach & Skye changes

With five Agents wielding flashes in Valorant, it can be a bit over the top. Riot are looking at bringing a bit more balance to utility in Episode 3, starting with some nerfs to Breach and Skye to rein their power in.

Getting flashed is never a good feeling in Valorant, although it’s becoming more part of the parcel of playing Riot’s tactical FPS. With so many flashes and blinds ⁠— whether it be Phoenix’s curveballs or Omen’s paranoia ⁠— there’s quite a lot of vision denial you have to deal with. Riot is looking at targeting two of the biggest problems though: Skye and Breach. The initiator duo vary from the other flash users in Valorant, like Phoenix and Omen, in that their flashes are their main utility.

The developers have highlighted their reliance on that one bit of crowd control as an issue. “The goal here is to provide Breach and Skye with more self-sufficiency, to do so, we’re looking to remove their ability to dish out 3 consecutive flashes,” character producer John Goscicki said in a May 28 dev blog.

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Riot will likely put a cooldown between Skye and Breach using their flashes. Even just five to 10 seconds between each charge can significantly change how they both play, which is very much just right now dumping all the flashes at once. To counterbalance this, Riot will shift the power of each Agent’s kit slightly to other abilities, especially Breach.

“We are looking to balance power across his kit, instead of it all sitting on his flash,” Goscicki added. It’s one of many balance changes Riot are looking at for Valorant Episode 3. Yoru is getting another set of buffs, while Astra is getting nerfed. New Agent 16 is also on their way.