Omen smoke nerf causes outcry in Valorant community

In Valorant patch 6.0, Omen will no longer be able to create one-way smokes inside of walls. This change has caused an outcry in the Valorant community as players believe that the agent will not be as viable in the future.

The leaked patch 6.0 notes revealed one major change to Omen and his Dark Cover ability. The smoke can no longer be placed inside walls and will fall down to the height of nearby ground. Previously, Omen players could place a smoke inside of a wall at an elevated height; if done correctly, it would create a one-way smoke for the Agent to peek through.

Now, the mechanic will no longer be in the game as Riot said it is working on balancing one-way smokes as a whole with this change.

“One-way smokes are a part of VALORANT, but they are difficult to play against and we want to keep them limited to intentional and understandable areas. We’ll be keeping a close eye on how this impacts Omen’s power levels,” the leaked patch notes said.

Valorant pros and community react to Omen change

The change has caused some surprise in the community as the mechanic has been around since the game was released and is a core aspect of Omen on some maps.

WHY

— katsumi (@katsumiFPS) January 6, 2023

Many called the change an outright nerf to the Agent and posted memes of Omen crying as the agent seems to be doomed to a low pick rate in the next meta.

omen mains rn pic.twitter.com/E86muWv7Z8

— blxke (@BlakeRayhart) January 6, 2023

Sentinels coach Adam ‘kaplan’ Kaplan responded to the change by saying that while he understands Riot’s perspective, he doesn’t see a way for Omen to break into the meta, or even be a top controller agent, without the mechanic.

“I get this change – Riot can’t really control the balance of one-ways without it – but I hope this means the map designers add some more intentional one-ways to offset since Omen really isn’t in a state that can survive much of a nerf without Astra just totally overtaking,” kaplan said.

Puts Omen in a tough spot especially as KJ is back in meta and presumably the game is gonna slow down. Astra has always thrived in more defaulty metas and maps, paranoia loses value when the game isn’t all about exec/retake back and forth

— SEN kaplan (@itskaplan) January 6, 2023

Joey Simas, a Valorant level designer, explained that the nerf will not be applied to smokes that are placed “on a ledge or other form of geo.”

“The inside of a wall case felt more like a bug than intended gameplay,” Simas said.

Omen can still create one-way smokes off of natural terrain in the game, like a doorway, arch or a stack of boxes, but will now lose some of the usefulness it had in certain situations. Valorant fans can test out the new-look Omen after patch 6.0 drops on January 10.