The duelist changes in Valorant patch 8.11 have the professional community talking about how they positively affect the meta.
Patch 8.11 launches on June 11, but Riot Games released a sneak peek of the changes on June 6. The full notes detailed the changes coming to Reyna, Raze, Iso, Clove, and Neon.
According to Riot, the patch’s theme is to make the duelist pool more balanced and move away from Jett and Reyna being the prominent duelists chosen. But the change that garnered the most attention was to Neon, who will be getting a massive buff.
In the upcoming patch, she will be equipped with two slide charges, an increase from the one she had initially. Moreover, her accuracy will be enhanced while sliding, and her weapon will be instantly equipped when the slide ends.
These changes caused a stir within the Valorant community, with multiple pros sharing their thoughts on what the duelist changes mean for the meta. Fnatic’s Derke and G2 Esports’ leaf commented on becoming Neon mains with the new buff.
“2 slides? 100% accuracy when sliding? I’m Neon main now,” said Derke.
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“Fak, do I have to put down the sentinel to go back to the goat,” asked leaf.
The changes to Neon will take place after the conclusion of Master Shanghai on June 8, which means pros will have to wait a few more weeks to make the switch. But the changes to Neon weren’t the only thing talked about with the teaser of the new patch.
Since almost all of the duelists were getting some sort of update in patch 8.11 to level the playing field, other pros like M80’s Zander weighed in on what it meant for the game as a whole.
“Duelist diversity in Valorant is slowly coming to life. This is really good for the game IMO,” stated Zander on X.
Valorant patch 8.11 releases on June 11 and will implement the mentioned changes to Neon, while changing Iso, Reyna, Raze, and Clove, in addition to a new map titled “Abyss” that will be fully revealed before the Grand Finals of Masters Shanghai.
