On the morning of Dec. 1, Riot Games dropped the bombshell that virtually every VALORANT player was anticipating. Chamber will receive a huge amount of massive changes in the upcoming Patch 5.12, with updates to all his abilities.
At first glance, it looks like nerfs across the board. The Tour De Force ultimate fires slower, you can’t spam the Headhunter pistol with the same accuracy, and the Slow effect on both the ultimate and Trademark has been reduced.
The biggest changes are the ones made to Rendezvous and Trademark. With Rendezvous, Chamber will place one single anchor that can be teleported to while he’s in range, and a range restriction has been added to Trademark. The diameter of the anchor has been increased from 15 meters to 26 meters, but the total distance that Chamber can teleport now has dropped dramatically.
It’s not entirely nerfs that have hit Chamber, though. There is no longer a teleport activation height restriction, meaning players can go up on boxes or other elevated areas and still teleport back to the anchor. Additionally, Trademark can now be recalled mid-round without requiring a line of sight and redeployed after a 30-second cooldown. Trademark’s health also got an increase.
Is Chamber still good?
Chamber is still going to be an impactful agent in the meta, no doubt. But he’s no longer absurdly powerful to the point where he can dominate a match.
With the current two-anchor approach to Rendezvous, Chamber players could afford to play more recklessly by taking ultra-aggressive angles and dropping an anchor underneath them to teleport to safety, far away from opponents looking to punish or trade. That style is still present after these changes, but it can be punished easier since he can only teleport a much shorter distance away. And it’s balanced by Chamber players now being able to take on new elevated angles with the removed height restriction.
Trademark should see entirely new usage. The range restriction on it now means that enemy players who discover a Trademark can relay that Chamber must be close by. But the ability to recall and replace Trademark allows a Chamber to place it earlier in rounds to curb aggression, then place it elsewhere near the end of rounds to shore up post-plants or defenses against executes.
Chamber should still see high usage, but the production Chamber players are used to providing, especially when it comes to getting opening kills, might take a hit. More will be revealed when the VALORANT Patch 5.12 changes eventually go live.
