Valorant pros slam new smoke changes in patch 7.08

Valorant pro players are hitting out and slamming Riot over the new smoke changes coming in patch 7.08.

For better or worse, since Valorant‘s launch in 2020, we’ve seen a ton of changes to the popular first-person shooter. More often than not, the changes are mostly just minor tweaks to maps, weapons, and Agents to help balance the game.

However, it’s fair to say some tweaks and changes aren’t well received by the community, with pro players now putting Riot on blast over the new smoke changes coming in the next patch.

Valorant players slam patch 7.08 smoke changes

Starting from patch 7.08, Astra, Brimstone, and Omen’s smokes will now play an audio and visual cue lasting 1.5 seconds before the smokes fade.

Players have since voiced their concerns, with pro’s hitting out the update which they claim is lowering the skill ceiling.

“Riot is just following their usual M.O. of lowering the skill floor to make playing at lower ranks more enjoyable and easier,” said G2’s coach JoshRT. “You still need to call out smoke timings at the pro level but it’s less punishing now.”

Others claimed the devs are focusing on the wrong changes, and called on them to work on other things instead.

“You’re focusing on the wrong changes,” s0m hit out. “Fix the Judge first then we can worry about the other things.”

“I dislike this change a lot, feels like we are lowering the skill ceiling for controller players which sucks,” Evil Geniuses’ ScrewFace wrote. He added: “Should be interesting to see how this shakes up gunfights at least.”

“Not really a big fan of this change. It gave controller players a huge advantage to know exactly when smokes fade. Overall will change a lot of fights in my opinion,” said BcJ.

The 7.08 patch is now available on Valorant’s PBE, where players can test out the changes before they hit the live servers on October 16.