In Valorant the agent Sage is the absolute epitome. Every top team has her, and even after several nerfs, she is still absolutely superior. Therefore, another nerf is necessary. According to the developers, it will be harsh and creative.
What is Sage like? Sage is a brave healer from China. She is the agent who, since the beginning of the game, has always claimed the superior S-tier in almost all tier lists. In the recent matches of top players, she was played by 20% of all players. Since there are five players per team, that implies a pick rate of 100 percent for every team. Therefore, there is almost no team that did not have a Sage.
Why is she so good? The reason for the popularity of the petite Chinese woman is that she is simply good. Every one of her skills is extremely useful and a team without Sage has a significant disadvantage. Here are her skills again:
- Sage can heal. While agents like Phoenix and Reyna can situationally heal themselves, Sage can uncomplicatedly restore any other agent. And she can do it as often as she wants; the skill has a cooldown and is not consumed. Furthermore, it costs nothing!
- Sage can create walls of ice. They are extremely hard and initially stop any enemy team. This allows Sage to secure a flank for tactically valuable seconds, providing time for a counterattack or a mass defense.
- If the enemy breaks through or is otherwise advancing, Sage can effectively counter this onslaught with a slow zone.
- Sage’s ultimate is also a game-changer. It is the only way to revive a dead teammate. In a game where this is usually not possible, this skill can change the game and has already won numerous close rounds.
A harsh nerf is necessary, but with sensitivity
This is what the developers say: Since Sage is so superior, she has already been nerfed multiple times. Among other things, the ice wall has been adjusted. But none of this helped. Sage is still top and has a fixed place in the meta. This, in turn, detracts from the variety in the game, as teams always choose the same agents.
The developers therefore want to tighten the nerf screws on Sage again in the upcoming patch 1.4. Lead designer Ryan
Scott said: “Sage requires a lot of work. She is completely out of control. And we don’t believe it is due to healing.”
However, especially with such popular heroes, one must be careful: “We really need to be creative. There is a point that we cannot exceed where we essentially “castrate” her and then she is no longer fun to play. And she is already a character that can be made flat and uninteresting in some cases.”
Better too much than too little: Nevertheless, at Riot, they probably are not afraid of too harsh nerfs. Because if they overdo it, Scott says, they can still help out with a few buffs. “We will probably have to be somewhat extreme in how we hit her [with the nerf]. Because the problem with her was indeed a lot more severe than we initially thought.”
What exactly could be nerfed? Ryan Scott has not provided any concrete information on this so far. However, it could be that Sage will be generally nerfed. Our ideas from MeinMMO for potential Sage nerfs are:
- Her ice wall has already been nerfed and could be safe this time.
- The slow zone could have a shorter duration and less range.
- Sage’s healing could also be in danger; perhaps she can only use it once per match, or the cooldown is tied to kills.
- Sage’s ultimate could become more expensive and require more ultimate points. Or it could be completely removed and replaced with a completely different ability. Because reviving in a game without a revive is simply extremely OP, no matter how expensive it is made.
When is the nerf coming? The announced Sage nerf is likely to occur with update 1.4, which is expected to be released on July 21, 2020. As it is quite possible that the developers will hit Sage hard, Sage mains should already look for a substitute. Just check out our detailed agent list. There you might find a champion that could suit you better.
