The agent Raze annoys some players of Valorant. But apparently the explosives expert is not as powerful as it seems at first glance. At least that’s what a developer from Riot says.
Who is Raze? This agent arrived with the start of the closed beta of the new shooter Valorant and left a lasting impression on some players. And it wasn’t exactly a good one.
Unlike the other agents, she has strong damage abilities. All her little tricks take a decent chunk of health from the opponents; with her explosive packs, she can make jumps, and her ultimate ability can take out enemies with a single hit.
But according to a developer’s statements, the agent with a penchant for explosions is not that strong. We just need to improve.
What does Riot say about it? Ryan ‘Morello’ Scott, character design lead at Valorant, responded to the community’s first major nerf request, stating that Raze is actually not as strong as it seems at first glance:
Now that everyone is still getting used to the game, she will collect a few kills. But the goal (and tests have shown this) is that she will rarely get kills with her abilities. Players will [over time] react to her tools and then move out of their safe areas to engage her in a disadvantageous firefight and shoot her.
As the ability curve rises, people will shoot more at Gary [the Boom Bot], dodge the cluster grenades, or rush her when she has her weapon down to throw an explosive pack.
Ryan Scott from Riot on reddit (translated)
He further explains that Raze’s abilities are more meant to threaten than to kill. They have the numbers on the table and will make adjustments. However, a character like Raze, according to Scott’s explanations, has her place in a tactical shooter like Valorant.
The better players generally get, the less Raze is likely to annoy people. However, against beginners, this crafty agent is the perfect tool, as they often fall victim to her abilities.
Agent takes out an entire team alone
This is player feedback on Raze: Although the beta of Valorant has only been running for a few days, there is already a lot of complaining about the strong agent. Players say that a pure DPS character like Raze has no place in a tactical shooter like Valorant.
Just 48 minutes after the launch in the closed beta, a thread was created on reddit: “Raze does not fit the theme of the game.” Many players have already joined this opinion. ant_blottuh argues on reddit: “There is no place for an AOE one-shot nuke in a tactical shooter.” Twitch streamer summit1g even demands to delete Raze.
The fans of the agent are currently clearly in the minority, but they do exist. One player attempted to start a thread on reddit: “Unpopular opinion: Raze is fine” and explained why he does not think she is overpowered. However, he did not find much support.
Here is a short gameplay video of Raze taking out an entire team:
So should you start with Raze? Not at the very beginning, there are better alternatives. In addition, you only unlock 5 of the 10 agents after some time, and Raze is one of them. But if you’ve already played a few rounds and slowly know the ropes, Raze is a strong choice to annoy the beginners of the game a bit.
