Harbor was launched in VALORANT in October 2022, becoming the first Indian-origin agent in the game. Since he arrived in the game, the agent has been used by various teams worldwide in the VALORANT Champions Tour (VCT). Harbor hasn’t been a meta-shifting agent like Viper, who has been one of the most picked agents. Thus, his pick rates aren’t that high either. However, following the recent nerfs to Viper, it begs the question of what the impact will be to the pick rate of Harbor.

Current state of Harbor in VALORANT

Since his launch in VALORANT, Harbor has been a pretty off-meta pick on various maps. Teams like LOUD, T1, and Paper Rex were some of the teams that used the agent quite widely during VALORANT Champions 2023. In that tournament, the agent had an average pick rate of 8 percent with the highest being a 19 percent pick rate on Pearl. It must be stated that in the controller class of agents, the character had the lowest pick rate in the tournament.

In Patch 8.08 Viper had received quite a few nerfs to her abilities. The major nerfs were concerning her Poison Cloud and Snake Bite. Viper’s Poison Cloud is her smoke’s ability, which, following the nerf, cannot be picked up after it has been placed. Previously, players could place the smoke in any part of the map and later pick it up to place it down. Following the patch, the smoke cannot be picked up, reducing its usability drastically.

As seen in the VCT Masters Madrid, Viper had the highest agent pick rate, around 78 percent. Many believed that a nerf to Viper was required. During that same tournament, Harbor had a 7 percent average pick rate, being the joint lowest-picked controller class agent at the event alongside Brimstone. In the ranked ladder in VALORANT, in ranks of Gold and above, Harbor has a 4.31 percent pick rate. This makes him the third-lowest agent picked and ranked after Astra and Iso.

Can Harbor Replace Viper During VCT Masters Shanghai

With the new update, Harbor and Viper have quite a few similarities. Both agents have one wall and one smoke ability. The difference is in the mechanics of each of the abilities. The Viper wall and smoke will cause temporary decay, whereas Harbor’s smoke and wall temporarily slows the opponent.

It must be stated that with the Viper nerfs, there will be a spike in the usage of Harbor during the upcoming VCT leagues. One fundamental difference between the two agents makes us believe that Viper will not be overshadowed. Harbor as an agent, cannot play as a flank. Unlike Viper, who can activate her Toxic Screen from any part of the map, Harbor cannot do that with his wall. Due to this, opponents after seeing Harbor’s ability being activated, can easily predict the agent’s location.

With the upcoming VCT Masters Shanghai taking place from the 24th of May, it will be interesting to see if there is a reduction in the usage of Viper at the event.