Valorant devs promise big Agent balancing updates in 2022

Lauren Bergin
kay/o and yoru stand against fracture background valorant

Valorant has shattered expectations in 2021, both in terms of VCT and in-game content. Coming into 2022, however, Riot are placing more focus on balancing the game’s Agents.

When it comes to 2021, no FPS title has dominated quite as much as Riot Games’ entry in the genre, Valorant. With a blossoming esports scene, and a whole host of Agents and maps, the Future Earth shooter continues to go from strength to strength.

Of course, players aren’t interested in dwelling on the past, especially when 2022 is just around the corner.

In their latest State of the Agents blog post, Riot have confirmed that a new year will see a new point of focus, as every character will be put under the magnifying glass for some balance adjusting.

valorant agent chamber looks into camera
Chamber is the latest addition to Valorant’s ever-expanding roster.

Valorant devs promise Agent balancing in 2022

While Valorant has had a slew of new patches over the past few months, Agent changes have been pretty few and far between. Riot are looking to switch that up coming into 2022.

“Since Patch 3.0, we know things on the Agent balance side have been lighter than our previous Episodes,” they confess, going on to state “we’re looking to change that.”

“Throughout 2022 you should see a bigger focus on Agent balance,” they stress. “Y’all should be seeing updates to various Agents across the board throughout the first six months of the year. Additionally, we will be focusing more on addressing emergent balance issues faster than we did in 2021. As those updates are locked down, we will share that information with y’all before they go live.”

With a rework for Japanese Duelist, Yoru, already on the cards, it’ll be interesting to see who else goes under the knife in 2022.

valorant agent yoru teleporting and ripping a hole in reality
Despite his swagger, Yoru has failed to make his mark on Future Earth.

New Valorant Agent

Of course, one of the main highlights of this update is some sneaky hints about the new Agent that will be joining the Future Earth fray.

Starting off the section with “mga kaibigan ko” (Filipino for “my friends,”) this speedy Agent will supposedly “outpace the rest of the roster, shock the competition, and slide straight into the fight.”

For everything we know about this mysterious new character, be sure to check out our Agent 18 hub.