Riot reveals why Omen nerfs in Valorant patch 2.00 were necessary

Omen is Valorant’s jack of all trades. The Shadow assassin has risen up to become the most picked Agent in the game at all levels. However, he’s getting some harsh nerfs in Valorant patch 2.00, but Riot believes they are entirely necessary to rebalance the game.

If you needed smokes in Valorant, you’d pick Omen. The manipulator of shadows himself had it all in his kit ⁠— global map pressure with his teleport, the ability to smoke basically anywhere, and a huge blind. To buy his whole kit cost 400 Creds, the cheapest in the game.

He had it all before Valorant Episode 2. However, Riot are looking to rebalance the controller category. With some Brimstone buffs on their way in Valorant patch 2.00, Omen is also getting some nerfs that’ll drastically change the meta.

His Paranoia is going up in cost from 200 Creds to 400 Creds, meaning the Ghost-Paranoia pistol round buy is no more. His Dark Cover smokes now move 30% slower too, meaning they’re less instant.

In Riot’s eyes, these were necessary changes to increase Agent diversity. No one Agent should be able to do it all like Omen, and now players have some choice when it comes to controllers.

• Read More: Valorant patch 2.00 notes

“Omen’s entire kit was not very economically demanding and his Q [Paranoia] has proven to be incredibly strong on both offense and defense. In making balance changes, we also want to be future-facing and aim to carve out design space for what each controller is meant to provide,” developer Coleman ‘Altombre’ Palm told players on Reddit.

“Omen having global smoke pressure, recharging smokes, a boost and a powerful site taking/stalling tool with low ability costs was just making him a bit too good at everything.”

These changes are set to bring Omen more in line with Brimstone and Viper. Coupled with the Brimstone buffs to his Incendiary and Sky Smokes, the American might actually be worth taking over the Shadow Agent. Riot are mindful of this swing though, and will be monitoring him closely.

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“If he ends up being too weak, we’ll buff him back ⁠— but hopefully these changes can help sharpen why you’d want to pick Omen or Brimstone more clearly.”

After cleaning up the controllers in Valorant patch 2.00, Riot are now looking towards duelists in Episode 2.

• Read More: Everything coming in Valorant Episode 2 Act 1

With Yoru joining the roster, and triple duelist metas spawning across the world, Riot want to reduce their general impact so other Agents get their time in the spotlight. Details of those updates will come later in Act 1.

Valorant patch 2.00, along with Episode 2 Act 1, is set to go live on January 12.