Riot plans to nerf Raze in future VALORANT patch

VALORANT character design lead Ryan “Morello” Scott addressed Raze nerfs in a recent Q&A livestream, identifying her ultimate and her “weird play patterns” with her satchel. 

Riot intends to target Raze’s Showstopper rocket in a future patch and give it more counterplay, while still allowing it to be a “high impact kill moment.” 

The ability is difficult to avoid in some situations, leading to an easy kill without breaking a sweat. While Morello didn’t outline the specific nerfs to the ability, a slight increase in cost would be a sensible option. 

The devs originally planned to put a stop to Raze’s high mobility and nerf her Blast Pack to the ground, but Morello has decided otherwise. Instead, changes to its damage output or its even radius could be on the way. 

Using Blast Pack to bounce, create momentum, and rush a bombsite has become the norm for Raze players. Her movement, though, is “fine” according to Morello and “much too fun” to nerf. 

Raze is one of the most popular agents in VALORANT due to her ease of use and replayability. She offers little to a composition in terms of utility but her ability to deal damage, find an entry frag, and open or defend a bombsite makes her such a strong agent. 

It’s unclear when the Raze nerfs will go live, but they could be coming as soon as VALORANT’s Patch 1.04 on Tuesday, July 21. Viper is expected to be buffed in the next patch, while the game’s token healer, Sage, is set to receive nerfs.