All Harbor changes coming with VALORANT Patch 11.10

After spending most of his existence at the bottom of the pick rate ladder, Harbor is finally receiving the rework he deserves with VALORANT Patch 11.10. Now that his powerful artifact has decided to evolve for the better, I believe he’s now ready to take on his foes like never before—with some limitations, though.

Here’s every Harbor change coming with the next VALORANT update.

All of Harbor’s new abilities, explained

Harbor still has four abilities, but they’ve been reworked to strengthen his role as a controller. These updates don’t strip away his valuable pseudo-initiator identity either. There’s plenty of “new” to pay attention to, however. Here’s how his abilities read after VALORANT Patch 11.10:

• High Tide: Harbor still retains his signature water wall, except it’s now a basic ability (no longer free) and doesn’t recharge. It works the same as before, so yes: It still slows all players, including Harbor himself.
• Storm Surge: Harbor’s moving walls or Cascade has been replaced with Storm Surge, a new ability that lets him throw an explosive whirlpool, which nearsights and slows enemies caught in the area of effect after a short duration.
• Cove: The shield smoke is now Harbor’s rechargeable signature, but it has been significantly reworked. You can now deploy a Cove like Omen’s Dark Cover (smoke). After you place the Cove, it’ll be just a smoke made of water with no shield. You now need to reactivate the ability to enable the shield property after placement.
• Reckoning: Harbor’s ultimate has also been reworked extensively. It now works similarly to Cascade, so activating it sends out a huge wave of water. But instead of concussing hit enemies, it slows and nearsights them.

You’ll be able to play the all-new Harbor starting Nov. 11 after Patch 11.10 goes live in VALORANT.

Our verdict on the Harbor changes in VALORANT Patch 11.10

If you’re wondering whether the changes are any good, well, they definitely make Harbor a lot stronger than before. He can now deploy a more traditional dome-like cover for his allies instead of having to draw a wall around choke points every 40 seconds. And now that he can “nearsight” enemies too, he’s got even more tools to help the team take space and control fights.

That said, his Cove has received some of the biggest and most impactful changes yet. For starters, you can now deploy Cove like Omen’s smokes instead of the old throw mechanism. You can also place it without a shield—and then quickly activate a shield on it whenever you need. This gives you a choice for when you want to throw one-ways or spam through the Cove. Think of him like an Omen 2.0 who can’t teleport and has a much better ultimate.

But can Harbor really replace his biggest rival—Viper? Well, I’d rather wait for the changes to go live and watch how the meta evolves before giving a definitive answer. That said, with this rework, he certainly has the potential to stand toe-to-toe with her poisonous reign, but expecting him to outright replace her might be a bit too far-fetched.