Has VALORANT Patch 8.11 made Neon overpowered?

Valorant

June 21, 2024

Bryan Francis

Recently, Riot released Patch 8.11 into VALORANT. This update focused on changing specific mechanics and abilities concerning duelists within the game. Since the launch of the patch, there has been a drastic increase in the pick rate of the agent Neon. In this article, let’s take a look at whether the recent changes to Neon in Patch 8.11 have made the agent overpowered.

What Changes Have Been Made to Neon in Patch 8.11?

Image Credits: Riot Games

VALORANT Patch 8.11 has been quite a significant patch for most duelists in the game. In the past few VCT tournaments, we haven’t seen many of them being used. This is because the game is quite centric towards the effect of controller agents due to the power curve.

In patch 8.11, Neon’s ability kit was reworked quite a bit. Firstly, her ability to fast lane was reduced to 4 seconds. The time for the walls to dissolve was increased to 2 seconds. This has resulted in there being more opportunities for players to shoot other agents using off angles.

Her signature ability, on the other hand, High Gear, has also received a significant change. It will now have a full fuel regen of 20 seconds instead of 60 seconds. Due to these changes, there is a higher chance of seeing players running around the map rapidly.

Is Neon Officially Broken In VALORANT?

Image Credits: Riot Games

Finally, the ability change that has chiefly made her quite overpowered is her slide. Now, players will have two instead of one slide charge, costing 150 per charge. The significant change to this ability is that there will now not be any movement error when sliding. This means that while sliding using Neon, players will have accurate aim while shooting.

Many players have already seen this ability being exploited in unranked matches. A classic example is players using weapons like Stinger, Bucky, and Judge while playing Neon in VALORANT. Due to the slide and High Gear ability, players can dash close to their opponents and take up short-range duels, which are ideal for these weapons. Due to no movement error in aim, players can even slide jump with the objective and kill players with accurate aim while in the air.

Players have already exploited this mechanism to test out unique trick shots in the game, making it feel similar to other titles such as Call Of Duty and Apex Legends. All VALORANT professional leagues use Patch 8.11 in the VCT league Stage Two playoff stages, with VCT Americas using it from the get-go. It will be interesting to see if there’s a shift in the meta leading to the VALORANT Champions 2024.