Valorant: Jett Needs More Nerfs

There are still a couple of agents that Riot needs to buff. However, there are also some that need to be nerfed. Jett is arguably the strongest agent in Valorant currently. She is a popular choice among professional and casual players who enjoy her fast playstyle. Her pick rate statistics indicate that she has consistently remained a top 3 pick across the past three patches. Furthermore, Jett was also picked the most in the recently concluded VCT Last Chance Qualifier tournaments in the EMEA and APAC regions. Riot has not been blind to the situation and have put out patches aiming to balance the agent. These are the reasons behind why and how Jett needs nerfs.

What has been done?

Riot has attempted to nerf Jett many times. Her Cloudburst smoke duration was lessened from 7 to 4.5 seconds in patch 2.01. This was to prevent her from becoming an alternative to other controller agents. Furthermore, she received a bunch of nerfs targeted to her economy and skills in patch 3.0. Jett’s Updraft and Cloudburst costs were increased by 50 and 100 credits respectively. Also, her dash no longer broke Cypher’s Trapwire, and her ultimate Blade Storm now needed 7 ult points from the previous 6.

However, the most recent Jett nerf is the developer’s biggest attempt at minimizing what the agent can do. Cloudburst charges were lessened from 3 to 2 in patch 3.06. Furthermore, her Blade Storm received a mini rework. Kills from her right click would no longer refresh the skill the way kills from a left click would. This essentially prevents Jett from having a free Judge that can mow down whole enemy teams. However, as earlier suggested, despite these attempts, Jett is still the best pick for many players.

Jett’s Blade Storm in game

What else can be done?

Nerf her dash

Various personalities have given their opinion on the other steps Riot can take. Sentinel’s in-game leader Shahzeb “ShahZaM” Khan prefers an Operator buff. For him, the gun is only viable on a Jett. Therefore, improving the gun can allow other agents to use it and counter her. The only problem with this is that Jett is already strong with the gun. Further buffing it will only strengthen her which is counter intuitive. Rather, the problem lies with her dash which easily bails her out of tough situations like no other agent can. This allows her to get kills without being punished by the enemy. Riot’s balancing team can adjust how the skill is cast.

Currently it can be used in the direction where Jett is moving, practically making it instantaneous. What can be done is to change that to wherever she is facing. That way she can still get out of tough spots but will have to turn to a specific direction, making it take longer. Furthermore, this doesn’t remove her capability to dash in site and enter for her team.

Nerf her Blade Storm (again)

Patch 3.06 already had this skill nerfed by removing the skill refresh from right click kills. What can be done is to further double down on this approach and remove kill refreshes entirely. As it stands the skill is still capable of annihilating entire teams even with the removal of the right click refresh. Therefore, limiting Jett to only 5 knives regardless of kills can limit this possibility. This will force players to be more mindful with how they use her ult.

Furthermore, this will place more emphasis on the precision and accuracy placed on each shot. Either way, the damage numbers will still stay the same where it will deal 150 damage on head shots and 50 for body and leg shots. In theory, players can still destroy whole teams by using one knife per enemy. Jett’s maneuverability already makes her hard to deal with, might as well make it a bit harder to use her.

(VIDEO CREDIT: CaptValorant.)