Riot nerfs Viper’s fuel regeneration, buffs Chamber’s lurk potential in VALORANT Patch 6.11 

VALORANT Patch 6.11 brings a plethora of changes to the tactical shooter’s competitive meta on June 6, and some of its most striking features are related to the flirty duo: Viper and Chamber. 

While Chamber has received buffs to most of his kit, Viper will have to endure a slower fuel regeneration potential from here on. 

The nerf to Viper’s visual barriers is mainly meant to shake up her overpowered double-controller, wall-cycling setup with Harbor, a trend that has taken the esports meta by storm—as seen in VCT 2023 so far. 

“We want to ensure Viper and Harbor can be competitive independently, while also allowing room for teams to explore strategies that can counter them,” Riot said. 

Here’s what the Viper changes look like in Patch 6.11:

Fuel regeneration

• Reduced regeneration per second five percent >>> 3.3 percent
  • Regenerate to max fuel once empty 20 seconds >>> 30 seconds

In the patch notes, Riot highlighted how this tweak will make it slightly easier for defenders to counter Viper’s deterrent, versatile wall, and Poison Cloud while giving attackers a fair chance to explore new tricks.

“This change retains Viper’s power moments while her utility is active but asks you to be more precise on when to use it—giving attackers more agency and value in baiting out her fuel, and defenders a larger window to play around it during retakes. It also creates some moments of downtime when Harbor and Viper cycle their walls.” Riot said.   

Chamber, on the other hand, was in dire need of a buff to fix his poor pick rate on the ranked ladder and in the professional scene.

Once an unrivaled sentinel agent, the Frenchman’s state toppled after Riot nerfed him to the ground in Patch 5.12 last year. “At the time, we reduced Chamber’s sphere of influence significantly,” Riot said. 

Related: Here are the VALORANT Patch 6.11 patch notes  

Well, the charming weapons designer is finally receiving an encouraging update in Patch 6.11, although his most sentinel-like feature—Trademark—still remains restricted to one charge only. 

Here’re the Chamber changes in Patch 6.11: 

• Rendezvous (E)
  • Reduced weapon equip time after post-teleport lockout 0.7 seconds >>> zero seconds
• Trademark (C)
  • Disable range 4,000 >>> 5,000
  • Trap arm speed four seconds >>> two seconds
• Tour De Force (X)
  • Firing rate increased by 15 percent

“We’re looking to put more power into his ability to lurk, and give him more flexibility within his setups,” Riot said, justifying the buff. 

While these changes are now live in VALORANT’s global version, Riot will keep a close eye on how these tweaks pan out and affect the meta. “As always, we will be watching how these changes play out in the coming months and evaluating if any further changes are needed,” Riot said. 

In addition to huge agent updates, Riot has laid out multiple, unexpected tone-downs to a significant part of the weaponry and the error power, affecting popular guns like the Vandal, Phantom, Shorty, and Frenzy, and possibly dislodging the run-and-gun meta. Needless to say, VALORANT’s Patch 6.11 is here to make the season’s biggest waves.