Riot confirms Cypher buffs in Valorant to help underpowered Sentinel

Cypher mains, your prayers have been answered: Riot have confirmed buffs to the underpowered Sentinel are coming in Valorant Episode 5. The exact changes are soon to be confirmed on the game’s PBE.

Cypher was once the premier Sentinel on Valorant’s roster. The Moroccan intel gatherer could trip enemies up, scan them with his cameras, and generally act as a safe pair of eyes before enemies crashed onto site.

Riot slowly took the wind out of his sails, and now Cypher is a shell of his former self. Nerf after nerf pushed him into mediocrity, and other Agents took his place.

However, he could be back in a big way after Riot finally confirmed long-promised Cypher buffs are coming to help the underpowered Sentinel.

“Something that players can look forward to is we are buffing Cypher,” character designer Alexander Mistakidis said during a recent developer stream. “That will be coming soon.”

The exact buffs weren’t detailed on stream, and leaks have only pointed toward their presence rather than any values. However after Valorant Episode 5 Act 3 goes live with Harbor, players should expect them to launch on PBE.

That didn’t stop Mistakidis and team from joking about what they would be, jesting about a smaller head hitbox for Cypher once he removes his hat: “That’s exactly how I wanted to buff Cypher,” he laughed.

“I pitched that a couple of times like ‘let him take his hat off, whenever he wants.’ That’s all he needs… [but] we’ll probably put something a bit more interesting for the players.”

It comes after Riot has made some significant balance changes to Valorant in recent patches, including an overhaul to flashes in the game to buff and nerf select Agents.

We will update you with the full set of Cypher changes in Valorant once Riot makes them public.