Riot Games has revealed in a Dev Update about the rest of the year for Valorant that the game’s strongest Sentinel and Defense Agent is getting “some changes.”
With Valorant Champions 2024 out of the way, Riot is making some big changes to Valorant since it won’t impact pro play. In a September 20 update, the game’s developers said players “should expect changes” to four agents in patch 9.10: Phoenix, Sage, Gekko, and Cypher.
Phoenix and Sage are due for a buff as they are underpowered in their current states, while Cypher and Gekko’s prevalence in pro and ranked play means they are overdue for a potential nerf.
Cypher is one of the best agents in the game right now thanks to his powerful trip wires that can be set up in tough-to-find spots in the current map rotation.
A few updates on what you can expect for the rest of the year. pic.twitter.com/HUbAkQJEGS
— VALORANT (@VALORANT) September 20, 2024
On top of teasing direct nerfs to his utility, the developers also revealed they are changing the map Sunset in patch 9.08. The Riot workers point-blank said they were removing one of Cypher’s over-powered trip spots, making the agent less of a nuisance.
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The agent has slowly risen from one of the worst agents in the game to one of the strongest in the past year as Riot has consistently nerfed the other Sentinel agents. Unlike others in the class, Cypher doesn’t need to be close to his abilities for them to remain activated.
While Riot has not revealed many specific changes, it would make sense to bring Cypher in line with the rest of the class by adding proximity to abilities or a nerf to his tripwires.
Patch 9.08 is set to hit live Valorant servers on October 22, 2024, and 9.10 is expected to be released on November 19, 2024. Both updates are a while off, so Cypher players should get as many games in as they can while the agent remains OP.