Riot Games is starting to take notice of Chamber’s unfair defensive advantages and overpowered map control.
Chamber has always been an anomaly in the Sentinel-class. While Chamber’s offensive prowess on both Attacking and Defending sides has always been his strong point, his powerful traps (Trademark) and his ability to move between two areas of a map with a snap of his fingers (Rendezvous) are arguably even more valuable.
Pro-teams realize this, and since the early days of Episode 4, Chamber has seen a steady climb up the pick rate ladder in both the pro games and non-competitive matches.
Pro-play can often expose previously unknown advantages and ‘exploits’ present within a particular patch. Look at how Optic Gaming took advantage of Chamber in the recently concluded VCT Masters Reykjavik.
For Episode 4, Chamber has been shining, perhaps too brightly, and Riot Games seems to have started to notice.
How Good is Chamber in Episode 4
In the recently concluded Valorant Champions Tour Reykjavik, Chamber finished 4th in most picked Agents, with an impressive 44% pick rate throughout the tournament.
Optic Gaming’s ‘yay’ used Chamber to great effect throughout the entire series, securing multiple kills through Chamber’s stellar fragging capabilities and site defense prowess early in the round. It is probably safe to say that Chamber was a key ingredient in Optic Gaming’s VCT Masters Reykjavik championship run.
On the Ranked games side of things, Chamber continues to shine in the current meta, where he sits fourth overall with an impressive 45.1% pick rate (and rising), just behind fan favorites such as Jett, Sage, and Reyna.
What are the Rumored Nerfs for Chamber in Patch 4.09
Riot Games listens to the VALORANT community and takes its opinions with high regard, so Riot Games employs a PBE or Public Beta Environment, where a limited number of players can take part and test out experimental changes within the game.
PBE is only open to a limited number of North American VALORANT accounts, so we mere mortals can not take part or experience the planned changes for ourselves. Fortunately, a nifty little subreddit called r/ValorantPBE posts regular PBE updates such as bugs and planned changes in VALORANT.
In r/ValorantPBE’s latest post, VALORANT 4.09 PBE Patch Notes + Bug Megathread, Riot Games sought out the opinion of PBE testers on several Chamber balance changes Patch 4.09.
Right now, Chamber’s Trademark outperforms other Sentinel tools in both reliability and power, which feels inappropriate given the amount of defensive combat tools Chamber has spread across the rest of his kit. We believe Chamber’s identity is defined by his unique weapons and defensive combat mobility, so we want to test decreasing his level of global flank protection/information and increasing counterplay on a single premium trap. This should mean Chamber will have to make a choice based on if he wants to play selfishly around his Trademark, or place it to help his teammates instead.
Riot Games
Chamber Proposed Changes
- Trademark Charges reduced 2>>>1;
- Trademark Cost increased 150>>>200;
- Increased Trademark’s audio volume;
With these proposed changes, Riot Games is trying to address Chamber’s class-leading site control and information gathering through his Trademark ability, which admittedly feels too powerful in its current state.
Riot Games has always taken great care in ensuring that no single Agent in the VALORANT roster shines too brightly among peers of the same class. With that in mind, no other Sentinel can commit to two different bomb sites actively at the same time – even Killjoy and Cypher have to choose between one bombsite or another; never both.
These changes should tone down Chamber’s global site control and force him to commit to one bombsite or another, bringing him in line with his Sentinel peers.
It has been a pleasure, my friends. Au revoir!
Could we be seeing the end of Chamber’s defensive reign in the Sentinel-class? Only time will tell. For now, you might want to put in a couple of games with pre-nerf Chamber before he quite possibly gets bonked by Riot Games’ nerf hammer this month.
