Shroud says Raze is “mostly balanced”

Shroud might have made his most controversial statement about VALORANT yet.

In a tidal wave of opinions and calls for nerfs to the tactical shooter’s latest agent, shroud has gone against the tide and proclaimed that Raze is “mostly balanced.”

It didn’t take long for other content creators to quickly chime in. Summit1g, perhaps one of the most fervent detractors of Raze, called shroud’s opinion a “bad take.” Shroud followed up by emphasizing the “mostly,” asking for patience and to “figure it out together” rather than piling on hate.

Shroud confirmed that he was “dead serious” about the state of Raze when replying to another comment, adding that the agent’s kit is simple to use but “super unique.”

Dr Disrespect and Ceez also showed up, supporting shroud’s opinion. The Doc said that “those that disagree are playing the game at non pro level,” while Ceez mentioned that people have to play VALORANT for a longer period of time before calling out whether something is overpowered.

Shroud’s opinion on Raze has seemingly reversed after spending more time with the explosives expert. The streamer’s initial impression of Raze, like most others, was that she was broken.

The former CS:GO pro expressed his love for the hero’s kit but also explained why he felt Raze was a step in the wrong direction: “What were [Riot] thinking?” Shroud said. “This character is not balanced at all. I love it.”

“This is not how the game should be played,” Shroud continued. “There shouldn’t be characters that do this kind of damage.”

While VALORANT is a hero shooter, every agent is capable of dealing damage independent of their kits due to the CS:GO-like weapon purchase system.

Related: Raze is VALORANT’s most explosive and broken character

Most characters have skillsets that revolve around utility like flashbangs, smokes, walls, or additional mobility. But Raze’s entire set of abilities is capable of blowing up opponents with relatively little investment.

“The game’s characters have to be more about utilization rather than damage,” Shroud said. “I think the wrong direction for this game is introducing characters that do DPS. That’s not a thing, the game has no place for that. Damage is the wrong route, and she’s all damage.”

In the end, it’s a numbers game. With Raze, at the moment, is capable of raining fire with every ability, simple value changes can quickly bring her back to a normal state, such as introducing distance scaling on her ultimate. VALORANT is still in closed beta, after all, so there’s more than enough room for changes before the game is officially released.