Killjoy’s domination of the current Valorant meta is being watched closely by Riot Games. Today’s Patch 6.03 will increase the number of orb points required to charge her Lock Down ultimate from 7 to 8 in an attempt to reduce some of its effectiveness.
The change comes following Killjoy’s quick rise to prominence as the game’s best sentinel Agent ever since a nerf of its previous best-in-class Agent, Chamber, and the buff to Killjoy’s kit back in Patch 5.12. If you remember, the health points of Killjoy’s Lock Down ultimate were increased from 180 to 200, meaning that on maps where Breach was typically able to instantly destroy the ult with an Aftershock he no longer could. Similarly, Sova Shock Darts now don’t do enough damage either. It’s essentially meant that Killjoy’s ultimate is now hugely powerful, gifting teams a free entry or retake and forcing opposing teams to retreat more or less 100% of the time.
Riot Games has explained in its most recent patch that it’s quite happy with the power of the ultimate itself, but that it doesn’t want teams to have access to the ability quite so often:
“We’re happy with Killjoy’s Ult being powerful when opponents don’t have a plan to push or contest it, but feel the frequency is too high for the reliability it now offers,” Riot explained in today’s Patch 6.03 notes.
But that’s not actually where the nerf ends. There’s another one in store for Killjoy’s Turret, too, which Riot believes has too much HP and is overly difficult to destroy with weaker weapons. The two nerfs are as follows:
- Turret (E) health decreased 125 >>> 100
- Lockdown (X) point cost increased 7 >>> 8
Patch 6.03 will go live later today. You can read the full patch notes here. Don’t expect a new skin line until the following week since the VCT LOCK//IN Knife is still in the store during the current esports tournament. You can look forward to the Night Market, though, which goes live tomorrow, Feb. 15.
