Riot Games nerfs Chamber in VALORANT Patch 5.12
Riot Games has nerfed the French Sentinel Chamber. The Agent has been too popular of a pick in VALORANT due to his overpowered abilities, prompting Riot to introduce the nerfs to balance the game.
In the patch notes for Patch 5.12, Riot elaborates on the changes in Chamber. Riot says it wants to keep “VALORANT’s game health.”
“The team discussed and tested several ways to balance Chamber. The more we iterated the more it was apparent that his current mechanics were shaping play space in an unhealthy way, infringing on other Agent identities, and breaking VALORANT’s core tactical cycle,” the notes read.
Riot addresses these issues by highlighting Chamber’s role as a precision-focused Sentinel. The patch dramatically lessens his dominance and allows more counterplay for his enemies.
Chamber’s nerfs
The biggest nerf will be on Chamber’s teleportation skill. His teleportation distance has been reduced, making him easier to track down and corner. Chamber can now place a single teleport anchor that he can teleport to if he is inside the area of effect, which is 13m.
Enemies can also destroy his teleport anchor. Previously, if the anchor got destroyed, it would go on cooldown. However, with Patch 5.12, the anchor will remain broken for the rest of the round.
Riot has balanced the nerf with a buff by removing the height restriction. Chamber can teleport to the anchor despite being on different verticals. The Agent does not receive an additional cooldown if he recalls his anchor after teleporting.
His Trademark skill has been nerfed by giving it a range restriction. Chamber’s trap will be disabled if the Agent gets too far away, but it will reactivate once he gets closer. To make the Trademark skill still usable, Riot has increased the trap’s health to 20. The team has also allowed Chamber to recall his traps mid-round without them being in his line of sight.
Chamber’s Tour De Force skill has been weakened, with its fire rate decreasing by 57.5 percent. The Slow durations of Trademark and Tour De Force has also been reduced to 40 percent.
Riot explains that there are two main goals it is trying to achieve. First, the developer wants to balance Chamber’s angle power and counterplay options. Second, Riot aims to push players to be more deliberate with their setup.
“Chamber’s mechanics took the place of counterplay in many cases, and the small number of restrictions on his abilities meant he was not required to be deliberate in thinking about setup. This made Chamber deadly at any angle,” Riot says.
With the reduced teleportation distance, opponents have an easier time keeping track of Chambers. After the update, Chamber players must avoid getting boxed in by their enemies.
The range restriction on Trademark skill also helps opponents to make a rough estimation of the Agent’s location. If the traps are active, then Chamber should be nearby. Chamber players also have to engage in decision-making. They have to decide between playing aggressively or being safe.
“Our approach was built around retaining Chamber’s combat strength and fantasy, while narrowing the span of his impact across any given map,” Riot says. “Giving opponents more agency to outwit or outplay, and giving Chamber players a deliberate mastery curve.
