The tactical shooter Valorant has received Astra, its 15th playable agent. The new heroine has already raised eyebrows among many players before her release: she is simply too strong and needs to be nerfed. Now she is exactly as many feared in the game.
What kind of heroine is she? Astra, the tactician from Ghana, plays with cosmic powers and is probably closest to a magician in Valorant. She possesses an astral form in which she can place stars that grant her various properties with other abilities:
- Astral form/Cosmic Divide (X): Activates the astral form, where Astra sees the entire map from above and can place stars. With charged Cosmic Divide, Astra connects two points into an infinite wall that blocks shots and dampens sounds.
- Nova Pulse (Q): Causes a star to emit a pulse that stuns enemies in the area of effect.
- Starry Mist (E): Transforms a star into mist (smoke).
- Gravitational Well (C): Causes a star to attract enemies in the vicinity and makes them “vulnerable” through an explosion.
In her astral form, Astra can travel across the map and observe various things. While she cannot see enemies or most objects, she still has a crucial advantage for her entire team.
Astral form is too strong – When will a nerf come?
This is the problem: Astra can see the spike in astral form when it has been placed. It moves when enemies attempt to defuse it. She can see this movement without being seen herself. So she knows not only where the spike is, but also what is happening with it.
This means she can tell her team exactly when enemies are trying to mess with the spike or if they are just pretending and want to set a trap. This detail has already been criticized by many players in advance (via reddit).
The shooter pro and streamer shroud said the day before her release: “If Astra appears tomorrow in her current state without any changes, she will be completely broken [too strong]. The fact that she can see [the spike] is a huge deal. That definitely needs to change.” (via Twitch)
Will this be changed? Probably yes. While there are currently no concrete plans, Riot employee Altombre has already joined the discussion on reddit. He states:
Seeing the state of the bomb defusal in astral form? Yes, we don’t like this behavior and are weighing our options. I’m not sure how easy or difficult it is to change because I’m not a programmer. So I can’t make any time commitments right now, but we are not fans of this behavior and are looking at what we can do.
Altombre via reddit
In the meantime, Astra will remain in exactly this form in the game. When a fix will come is still uncertain. So you should urgently pay attention to whether Astra is still alive on the enemy team when you want to defuse the spike.
