Cover-Credits:
Riot Games revealed the changes lined up for Jett that could potentially have a bearing on her gameplay and positioning as a duelist in Valorant. Agent designers Alexander Mistakidis and Jay Watford, along with game designer Sal Garozzo detailed the upcoming changes to Jett.
The Valorant developers stated that the team has always loved what Jett brought to the roster by breaking through defenses on executions and making highlight plays. However, some of her other impacts on the game “have pushed beyond VALORANT’s core tactical cycle in worrisome ways.”
The core tactical cycle of the game is:
Plan
Execute
Intel
Changes in Jett’s Tailwind in Patch 4.08
Firstly, Riot Games is giving an update to Jett’s dash - Tailwind to address some of the concerns around her gameplay.
At the moment, using Tailwind will propel Jett in the direction she is moving and if she is standing still, she will dash forward.
After the next patch drop, on pressing the Tailwind ability key, after a brief delay, Jett will activate a 12-second window where she will be empowered to immediately dash on the next button press. It basically means that players have to recast the ability after the said delay.
Additionally, her Tailwind charge will be lost upon dashing or if the window expires. However, it can still be regained with two kills.
“Jett’s new dash will require an adjustment for players but we feel this is the best solution to balance maintaining Jett’s identity while increasing game health,” said Riot.
The main reason for Riot changing up Jett’s kit is to address the fact that “her reactive dash could often negate her own strategic mistakes or the great tactical calls by her opponents.” Players have the liberty of holding angles whilst relying on their ability to quickly escape without any consequences.
The developers also said, “Jett’s reactive power crowded out the competition for other Agents and pressured the core tactical promise of the game to a degree that we think it would be dangerous for the roster to try and match.”
They added that buffing other agents against an agent who is breaking the tactical cycle may help in the short run but would jeopardize the tactical promise that is key to Valorant.
Also it sometimes made it hard to balance other Agents. For example, we were concerned about a Sova nerf before we shipped 4.08, since his utility is a key piece of how many of you deal with Jett in coordinated play. We found it necessary instead to update Jett’s dash ability to avoid reworking the entire game around her.”Riot Games
The developers stated that they want “Jett to have her power moments and to be able to dash,” but they also want “viable counterplay and for Jett players to be more thoughtful when using their abilities.”
These changes to Jett will ease the pressure imposed on other agents while still giving Jett players the same reactive powers. It will be interesting to see how players position themselves as Jett in the upcoming patch and how they use the Tailwind ability to its fullest capacity. These changes will definitely have an impact on pro play and teams may have to craft new strategies to play around it.
On a separate note, the community noticed spooky images present in the Jett poster that was used in the Riot blogpost. Fans are speculating that the monsters and spooky creatures may be related to the new agent Fade in some way or the other.
