Valorant patch 6.03 brought some massive nerfs to Killjoy and Raze. Professional players and coaches expressed some confusion online as the Raze nerfs seemed unnecessary in their eyes.
The only change that hit Raze was to her Boom Bot, which is used to scout ahead and clear corners. The agent’s ability duration was 10 seconds, but it was reduced to five in patch 6.03.
In professional play, the ability is extremely valuable as it gives a way to hunt for information on the enemy’s whereabouts without putting the player in danger.
With the reduction in its duration, the ability is less valuable across the board for most teams, which has made many in the pro scene worried that this could kill an already-outclassed agent.
Raze nerf causes confusion for pro Valorant community
In professional play, Raze has only appeared in about 30% of matches in the previous patch and is usually only picked on maps that the current top-picked Duelist, Jett, is not played.
“Would be a good change if Raze was played as much as she should. This just further incentives Jett one-tricking,” Fnatic head coach Jacob ‘mini’ Harris said on Twitter.
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Would be a good change if Raze was played as much as she should. This just further incentives Jett one-tricking. 🙃 https://t.co/XX1c1jUH5K
— FNATIC mini (@minijake_) February 14, 2023
Pro players like Magnum and NiSMO also wondered out loud about why Riot Games decided to nerf the Duelist and if the developer was promoting Jett over Raze in pro Valorant play.
Ok, listen ye. I get the KJ nerf of ULT, I dont get the turret nerf, since its been nerfed X times and I dont really get nerf of Raze? Why do you support jett one tricks bruh
— KC MAGNUM (@just_magnum) February 14, 2023
I feel like Riot just wants to put on a show to the fans with Jett because she can dash , Updraft , Backflip , 360 , frontflips .. Useless raze nerf when no one is running her 😡
— M80 NiSMO (@NiSMO_VAL) February 14, 2023
Valorant caster Doug ‘EsportsDoug‘ Cortez, who is currently casting VCT LOCK//IN, took to Twitter to express his surprise at the recent nerfs.
The casual Valorant community was also surprised at the changes, not only for gameplay reasons but because Riot nerfed Raze and Killjoy in the same patch and the two are dating in the game’s story. The patch was also released on Valentine’s Day.
Nerfs on Valentine’s Day 💀 pic.twitter.com/gRTv2goRGv
— 5K Esports (@5KForever) February 14, 2023
The professional Valorant community will not have to deal with the nerfs until after VCT LOCK//IN as the tournament will continue to be played on patch 6.02. Fans will be able to see the impacts of the update in their ranked matches as the patch goes live.