The Operator has been an issue in Valorant for a few months now. After many complaints from pros and amateurs alike, Riot Games had to seriously consider the question of a rifle that allows some pros to fly over entire tournaments by combining the weapon with Jett.
The main argument from the masses isn't that the weapon is too strong in itself, but that unlike CS:GO, there are simply not enough utilities in a game like Valorant to counter a sniper.
Smokes are rarer, flashes are less effective and players are also slower. The result: a player holding a line with the Operator is significantly harder to dislodge than in CS:GO.
It was obviously out of the question for the publisher to remove the weapon from the game. After all, it's the most emblematic weapon of Valorant.
Changes
- Price: 4500 → 5000
- Scope Movement Speed: 76% → 72%
- Scope Deadzone: 30% → 50%
- Fire Rate: 0.75 → 0.6 shots per second
- Equip Time: 0.3s → 0.5s
When we look at these nerfs as a whole, we see that it's the Operator's ability to be useful in emergency situations and aggressively that is most affected.
Jump shot based acrobatic moves, aggressive angle shots with a succession of micro moves and other one-on-one confrontations become much more complex.
Riot seeks to confine the Operator to the role of a static sentinel, capable of locking a line and forcing the opposing team to rotate.
Please note, these changes aren't live yet. They're planned for patch 1.09.
Original content by Augustin "Review" Heliot.
The Operator in Valorant is maybe too powerful, insufficient skill prerequisites, and not expensive enough, but maybe the rifle itself isn't the issue...
