Deleted VALORANT promo shows Viper is set for a huge nerf

The beloved Viper might be getting some rather hefty nerfs in VALORANT, as a promo that's secretly teased the future of the deadly agent.

06th Apr 2023 14:04

Riot Games

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There are fewer agents more prominent than Viper in VALORANT. Since release, she's been intoxicating bomb sites and main walkways with her snake bites and murky pits.

In fact, Viper currently has the fifth-highest pick rate in VALORANT, according to Valorbuff, being played out on over 25% of teams, showing her dominance, especially in the controller position. But, this might all be set to change.

Viper nerfs leaked in new Bind images

After being removed from the rotation, Bind is set to come back into the map pool soon, following some quite drastic surgery. With a range of tweaks and changes - including an overhaul to the A bomb-site - VALORANT devs have been keen to show off how the reconfigured map now works. 

Level Designer Joey Simas shared some new images of Bind on social media, giving players a sneak preview of the map. However, in the now-deleted tweet, players found that the developer was using an unusual Viper configuration.

Viper's Pit set for stunning nerf 

Eagle-eyed fans have noticed that the leaked image shows Viper's Ultimate, the infamous Pit, takes a whopping ten points to use, which is a record for VALORANT and a heavy nerf from the previous seven points.

No agent in the game has an Ult that costs ten points, and although Viper's Pit is one of the best abilities in VALORANT, this change would set quite the precedent for future buffs and nerfs.

Some fans have speculated that this is simply a bug or just a visual change for VALORANT devs during the playtests. Given that the developers often have very different UI settings to players, it could be a simple error in the code, but it's also not unfathomable that this is a major slip-up from Riot.

Leakers have claimed that they have no knowledge about any plans to change Viper's Ultimate points total to ten, although, anything is possible when it comes to agent nerfs...

Jack Marsh

About The Author

Jack Marsh

Jack is an Esports Journalist at GGRecon. Graduating from the University of Chester, with a BA Honours degree in Journalism, Jack is an avid esports enthusiast and specialises in Rocket League, Call of Duty, VALORANT, and trending gaming news.

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