By New Meta after Skye Nerfs- “The Valorant Patch 8.01”
8.01 Patch Notes Breakdown :
Though it just included a few bullet points of agent modifications in its first patch following the episode release, it will significantly alter the Meta. This is a result of Skye receiving a big nerf. The nerfs to Skye, whether or not Skye will remain a useful agent, and how the Meta will change following this patch will all be covered in this post.
Skye Nerfs
The changes to Skye are the following:
- The fact that Skye’s flash activates at the conclusion of the period encourages her to fire fake flashes with more purpose and makes it simpler for her to fly Guiding Light (E) to its maximum distance while still receiving its output.
- Leading Light (E)
- During a round, Guiding Light no longer replenishes charges.
- The flash is now automatically activated by Guiding Light when its lifespan is about to expire.
The first modification causes Skye’s flash to turn on automatically when its allotted time has elapsed. For novice players who occasionally accidentally toss the flash without triggering it, this is a wonderful feature. The ability to design line-ups to pop flashes at exact spots is another useful feature. Although it’s a much specialised purpose, it can be useful to generate line-ups for flashes that are almost impossible to turn. Since it can trigger when you are in combat after throwing the flash, this update does make throwing fake flashes more painful.
What is going to damage Skye the most is the second alteration to Guiding Light. As of right now, she is the only initiator without recharging ability. After Skye uses up her two flashes, she loses them. This makes it more difficult for her to learn new things throughout the year. A Skye flashing to obtain information about a default at the beginning of the round is a frequent occurrence. Since Skye is only allowed to use one flash for the remainder of the round, this is meant to be justified.
Is Skye still viable?
Prior to 8.01, Skye was the only agent in her class with the ability to play practically every map as a solo initiate. She was a jack-of-all-trades who possessed the ability to constantly gather information, disrupt adversaries, and heal an area of effect. She is now greatly hindered in her ability to do that continually throughout a round. She fulfilled the roles of both information-gathering initiators like Sova and Fade and adversary-disturbing initiators like Breach in one go.
It is no longer possible for Skye to be the only initiator in a composition. The fact that her flash doesn’t recharge limits her usefulness too much. The flash served as both a source of information and a way to advance, and because of its limited charge, Skye is unable to assist more than one objective for the duration of a round. She can certainly be a good choice in a composition with two initiators, but because two initiators can fill numerous functions in a composition, she faces fierce competition in a double-initiator composition. Something Skye used to do by herself.
Due to her nerfs, Skye’s pick rate will undoubtedly decrease, but due to her synergy with Viper, she will still be a viable option. Viper is still incredibly strong, and Skye will remain a viable option because she has the best heal in the game, a powerful drone in Trailblazer, and flashes that synergize nicely with Toxic Screen. She won’t be a must-pick on the great majority of maps, or even close to it in the future.
Is Skye still viable?
The Forward-Moving Meta
The primary attraction of Skye was her ability to function as an independent initiator and her excellent synergy with Viper. Their pick rates from Champions 2023 were remarkably comparable for all maps, excluding Lotus. Combining these two allowed for the operation of a single initiator with two controllers. There will be some adjustments to the Meta now that Skye isn’t able to be the sole initiator.
Initiator Meta
Operating as a lone initiator will be extremely uncommon. Only Gekko is the initiator currently on the roster who is able to accomplish this to some degree of consistency. Given his recent improvements and Skye’s nerfs, Gekko appears to be a potent agent going forward. He will be able to fulfil the position by himself for the duration of rounds thanks to his constant capacity to throw out, recover from, and recharge utility. He won’t immediately replace Skye as a meta-defining character because his utility isn’t as dependable as hers. But Gekko will probably be the guy in compositions that include one initiator and two controllers.
The remaining initiators will probably gain additional playtime as well as an indirect bonus. Considering that no agent can cover as much ground as two initiators can, double initiators will become much more common. Though their pick rates were lower because of Skye’s strength, all the other initiators are still viable. It’s possible that preference will influence which initiates are the best moving forward. It seems clear that Sova and Gekko will benefit the most from the roster. Gekko does so in case he needs to act as a lone initiator. Although Sova has always been powerful, Skye has managed to contain her. The ascent of Cypher is a good alternative.
More than any other agent, he is capable of taking out Cypher traps.
Controller Meta
This is an indirect nerf to Viper since Gekko won’t be as good as Skye was in a double controller composition. Viper rose to the top of the list of agents to choose on all maps save Ascent. The team configurations that permitted a secondary controller in addition to Viper will become less effective as Skye deteriorates. Though she will likely become less common on all maps and more restricted to those where she may be the only controller or run an initiator by herself, Viper will still be a top-tier agent.
Team Compositions
Here are some team configurations you can try without using Skye for each map in rotation.
Ascent
- Jett
- Sova
- Kay/O
- Omen
- Killjoy
Bind
- Raze
- Viper
- Brimstone
- Gekko
- Cypher
Breeze
- Jett
- Viper
- Sova
- Cypher
- Kay/O
Icebox
- Raze
- Sova
- Viper
- Omen
- Killjoy
Lotus
- Raze
- Omen
- Chamber
- Viper
- Gekko
Split
- Raze
- Omen
- Cypher
- Breach
- Gekko
Sunset
- Raze
- Omen
- Fade
- Cypher
- Breach
Conclusion:
These adjustments will cause a significant meta-shakeup. Because Skye is present on nearly all maps and has synergy with other agents, changing one agent will impact the play rate of several. We will have a better understanding of which agents will increase and fall with the impending release of VCT. Return soon to see the optimal team line-ups and tactics once the Meta becomes more apparent.
