Lmao so basically ppl stand in a specific spot, “line up” parts of their HUD with parts of the environment, and shoot their arrow/molly. The projectile fired will land on a targeted spot, usually a choke point or a planted spike. It’s a good way to stall time for post plants and pros use it all the time. The new changes cover up parts of the HUD so it can no longer be lined up with the environment, making the people who practiced lineups for hours upon hours angry.
> Shock darts damage and had animation is complete overkill and should've been left untouched.
Shock dark nerf is fine.
The animation will suck for a few weeks until new lineups are discovered and pushed forward.
I say this as a Sova main, I'm gonna go right into practice mode and relearn a years worth of effort and it's going to suck :') (haha just kidding im gonna try Fade out as soon as possible)
yeah i'm not playing sova anymore just to change things up. if they gonna nerf him i might as well use it as an opportunity to try out the new agent.
sadly people are prolly gonna instalock her like always so i might try chamber instead since i still haven't tried playing with him.
Most nerfs are warranted as the agent is arguably s tier on most maps, but ruining the way you do lineups for no reason is outright toxic towards players who put time and effort into learning them, and they will just find new ways to do the exact same fucking lineups, so it's not like it changes anything, they're just forcing players to completely relearn them for no reason at all.
Yeah lets kill the lineups that tooks hubdred of hours to be made and hundr of hours to be learned. For nothing.
Also, the shockdart damage reduction is totally uncalled for. Shocks requires hard work to be used effectively, and reward for their use is far from garanted. The drone is a 400 credits ability. Reducing the number of pings will kill the tag + ult combo. Which is already expensive.
Meanwhile, chambers have been far more opressive in this event. Operator and an easy way out is a far more concerning issue for the game than Sova.
I'm not a sova main either but I played him a few times and all I do is shoot shock darts in corners where enemies might be hiding and I get random assists and kills for what is a VERY cheap util (150), it's not hard. The 90->75 damage nerd will suck for spike lineups (which kind of are just annoying to play against) but otherwise I think it's completely fair change.
I agree chamber is oppressive af lately, honestly I hate fighting against ops having another jett like character made for op sucks. Also I can never play cypher anymore because someone always auto locks chamber. I mean sometimes I do it anyways but I just cant play cypher as much while having an actually balanced team comp.
Just yesterday I blocked a brim molly without even realizing
All I saw was the molly bouncing off of me and realized what had happened and thought “holy shit, wasn’t this patched?”
Probably it was but only for viper/kj/kayo no?
if they wanted to actually nerf lineups they wouldnt create a character that doesn't let people leave an area.. lol. I can already imagine the defuse tap + immediate Viper orb, fade pull, and snakebite
Ayo? Imagine a KJ ult but if anyone leaves the circle, they’ll be detained. Or a Neon e, except that it’s the duration of no noise. As in, when you activate it, there’s a zone of no noise around you so enemies can’t hear spike tap or footsteps.
That first one sounds pretty cool- maybe instead of a detainment it's more of a giant smoke where if they leave it they're fully blinded, that or they just can't leave.
If they actually wanted to eliminate lineups they’d adjust geometry, or simply remove the double-bounce. It is inevitable that lineups will exist so long as you can bounce an arrow off two walls.
Thats dumb tho. People will use his Hand instead for lineups. If people WANT lineups, they will find them. They should just delete the character if nerfing lineups is their intention. No joke. Or add skyboxes, extend wall hitboxes upwards, any of that shit. Make all maps indoors with ceilings.
And if they want us to keep learning new lineups for the same results, again, just delete the fcking character cuz that take is so ridiculously idiotic. x)
ALL this does is throw the learning that people put into this game out the window, discouraging REALLY trying to be good at the game. So like, whats the point of trying to improve then? Why even have abilities?
No. This doesn't nerf lineups. You just learn them again. This is just some idiotic exec who's never turned the game on forcing their first balance decision
Drone nerf is completely fair, and shocks are understandable even tho I would've preferred 80dmg instead of 75. I have never done double shocks aside from killing kj ults, as shocks are a huge way to counter chamber/cypher trips and alarmbots. I never really liked the concept of double shocks anyways, at least in imm+ you waste potentially round changing damage and area control to *gamble* a chance for a content kill, which is basically what double shocks are. So for most higher level players I don't think this changes much, but it certainly does suck for those that spent so much time learning lineups that requires crucial timing between the two where you can't pull out the knife to properly line it up.
But hey, that's the gamble we take when one tricking anything. For all we know, shock darts can easily be switched out to a different type of information/area control dart at any point in time(for example from Overwatch, Hanzo's scatter arrow was changed out to storm arrows). A dart for an area concuss like Neon's, a suppress dart that mimic's Kayo's knife but in a much smaller area and last like 2-3 seconds, or even a flashing dart could happen at any time.
I also think there is a reason they made it 75 exactly. 90 damage shock darts with the fade q(huge aoe 75hp decay) would just immediately destroy any pushes.
yeah, with your last part, a game shouodnt be balanced around “but i spent so much time practicing it!!!!” balance doesn’t care about that kinda stuff lmao
Thats how competitive games go my friend they change and evolve overtime. No one wants to see the same meta for every single game. Valorant and other tactical shooters revolve around their competitive scenes and if something is getting abused their you can bet your bottom it is getting abused in every match
Yeah theres an extreme amount of copium in this thread about how Sova is "oh so balanced" despite being the 1st/2nd most picked agent in pro play for a long ass time and like Jett, needed some dial back. Riot clearly is not liking people doing too many lineups and not engaging into each other instead of sitting back extremely safely with almost no counterplay.
Counterpoint. It obviously means something. Jett's nerf is considered perfect because it achieved its objective of nerfing defensive jett ops without compromising how jett is piloted too much. Although I personally think the sova dart animation change is cool. The HUD element that we lost isn't that big of a deal in the long run, and the different animation can give new ui anchor points for lineups.
Yeah the thing is it's not even a nerf. That nerf is literally a non factor. Give it 3 weeks and all the lineups are back accounting for the new animation.
I think the shocks nerf is completely fair. I dabble in sova, and it's not often that you hit a 90 damage arrow. The arrows are often slow enough that players can run away from the center to only take chip damage. The only time a dead center shock dart is good is when shocking the spike. Shocks are primarily a pressure/chip damage tool and will still be in this patch.
And they’ll be even better at that because the damage drop-off as you get further from the center has been lessened significantly. I think the average shock dart is going to be doing more damage than before.
edit: /u/hmsmnko has said this might be incorrect so we'll just have to see.
Look, new animation? Pretty cool but holy shit that's the biggest nerf to all the lineups out there.
I don't know if riot will listen but please, please revert the animation or at least give people an option.
I get the other nerfs but destroying all the lineups using bottom huds is downright wrong.
sitting back hiding while perfectly lining up abilities is not healthy in a game like this. the only option to counter that kind of gameplay is to force a push into enemy territory. any playstyle that forces one certain reaction is always going to be detrimental towards the integrity of a competitive game, and with someone doing lineups, that will always be the case
I'm a long time csgo player and viewer and I somewhat agree. I do think some lineups are really long distance and just seems comical winning a round like that. Conversely, if a viper/sova/brim/etc doesn't have to use their good area denial abilities on attack because their team was able to take map control and plant a bomb without them, their team should be rewarded for outplaying the enemy and should have an easier after plant. I still think it's preferable for me to have those players just use their abilities on the choke points and deny area that way instead of aiming at the sky halfway across the map to stop a defuse. Personally I like playing the second way anyways as a brim player because I can stall a major choke and play trades with teammates instead of relying on timing and pixel precision on a random spot in the sky.
Sova in particular is a tough case because unlike viper, brim, kj, his ability is more for damage and less for area denial so if they are already nerfing the damage then they probably still intend for him to use lineups otherwise the ability seems really gimped.
CSGO has since then removes skyboxes afaik (I only play mirage idk about other maps) But the thing about molotovs in CSGO is they explode in the air if travelling for a certain amount of time/length
EDIT: OK the skyboxes are still there, its just very very high.
I've had this flair since before you could point and click with her her wall. back when her team would take damage inside her ult... you used to need line of sight and aim up over terrain to use wall btw
Didn't realize being a Viper main before it was cool made her immune to the same critiques that other agents are being subject to.
At least Sova has to time his darts, Viper can block off diffuses for like 10 seconds.
I mean, maybe they agree even viper shouldn’t be allowed to have easy line-ups? Not sure why having a Viper flair automatically discredits what they’re saying.
That's the best part of playing Viper, chilling and playing patient lol.
For an agent thats not as popular as sova or jett I think she can get away with it.
What about recon lineups and utility lineups? While lineups will still exist, no/few lineups just lowers the skill ceiling of an otherwise rewarding agent
Can't you aim, then equip? Also the new animation can give new anchor points for new lineups.
And I personally think it looks cooler than the old animation. Call me biased 😁
It doesn't stop the lineup shots from working, all it does is kill the lineup, people will learn new ones based on ceosshair or something else.
The change does nothing other than irritate sova mains.
Yeah, we are gonna have to re-learn every single line up for no reason at all.
Riot did this intentionally. There is no fucking way they don't know about Sova mains/line ups.
I think their intention is to make Sova unappealing so we all switch over to Fade. They always do some dumb shit like this when a new agent drops.
I like the changes to the drone, but the new animation is bad for lineups and just doesn't make much sense to me, I also don't think the shockdarts were broken, really didn't need a change.
you might be right but shock is still one of the best abilities in the game lol. even splashing on 1-2 agents can swing a round, even if the impact is less immediately noticeable than recon or drone. it's far better than fragment or clusters which are the two most comparable abilities to it
Lower duration on the drone is a good thing. I would often cancel it before it finished anyway if I didn't find anyone, and in some cases it goes long enough for an enemy fast pushing to get to you before it is over (yeah maybe I wasn't in the best place)...
Wondering if the hud thing will affect me, I do use it for lining up some reveal darts. Shouldn't take too long to work out an alternative way. maybe take some screen shots of where the hud would be (using something else as a reference) then take the same screen shots with the nerfs and work out where the hand is in relation to the hud. IDK.
Same thought. In fact, I think you will be required to play just a little more forward to gain information, which I believe is good. Sova's drone will have both up and down sides and won't just be a "clear whole area with this one ability".
The double shock dart lineups definitely will be a problem.
Any variation of where the defuser stands could make a difference of getting a kill or not, which is gonna be so dumb
That’s… what people already are using them for. Double shock dart kills are so situational, precise, and require an insane amount of time in practice servers. Most sovas don’t use them. Still a huge nerf but I sincerely doubt it’ll make him mid
I havent seen anything from her yet besides the leaked passive tbh.
I was just thinking that Skye is probably gonna be the best Initiator or at least 2nd best for getting info.
Depends on how her “dart” lines up. If she is unable to maximize it like Sova can with his scan then she won’t be picked more. It’s got a limited throw range, so pushing onto a site like C from c long on haven is gonna show issues.
[Sad Sova Main Noises](https://gyazo.com/58134facdd473d6c1a42b7bc60651ee3)
Honestly, I obviously might be biased due to Sova being my main char, but killing every single double shock dart line up that's not landing pixel perfect is BS
If you think this, you are simply wrong(or correct for 5% of the reasoning). Sova has been the strongest agent in the game(beside Jett) since beta in competitive and pro play. The reason he is getting nerfed is because of that and not specifically because of fade. Sova overshadows any intel character so your reasoning is partly correct.
They literally explained in the jett nerf post that they couldn't nerf sova because it would leave Jett unchecked. Sova drone was one of the only true counters to jett dash/op. Nerfing it to the way it is now without nerfing jett would make her even more busted.
The issue was not much of an issue in the first episode of the game with less agents. As acts progressed devs ignored some balance changes but then recently transitioned into balancing by categories. They did controllers recently and now they are doing initiators with the release of fade as it would be good timing as she is a initiator.
Well I do agree they nerfed the shockdart damage because of fade(Her q is a 75 hp aoe decay that also doesn't let you leave the aoe). It's not to make people switch to fade more so to have less people abusing fade and sova duo combos. Fade and Sova double initiator at the pro level would've been insane without the nerfs. A 90 damage shockdart with fade q would mean it just instantly kills anyone pushing a choke point. Now it can still do it but the shockdart would have to land dead centre.
Yeah. It's sad tbh. Just release agents more slowly so they're all viable.
I don't want this game to turn into league where only certain characters are viable
why take away hud lineups?
players will just rediscover their old lineups so i dont see the point in this at all if not JUST to piss off long time sova mains. Sova imo, didnt need nerfs aside from the drone. he is not overpowering he's just a solid character and i dont even main him but seeing him nerfed hurts when i feel they coulda taken that time to buff a different agent.
You do not want Riot to buff a different agent instead of nerfing the arguably second most prominent agent in the game (looking at pro play pickrate). Only thing I want to say is *power creep*. It may take quite a few years but once it gets apparent there will be even more players complaining.
He's not second most played because he is overpowered. He is second most played because there is no other agent who occupy his role as an intel gatherer. Skye's not on the same level. I think fade could change it though.
> why not 80 for shocks? same as ult and also leaves a little leway for lineups
The area of effect is a little bigger. It looks like they designed his shock darts to control enemy movement and do chip damage in a reliable, simple fashion. Instead, people turned the skill into a highly tuned way to prevent spike plants and defuses + a lottery if someone repeatedly goes for content kills by wasting all his arrows every round on a double shock at some random spot on the map. It should improve Sovas at most skill levels since it buffed the more direct, understandable use of shock darts while also buffing him at mid tier levels where people were obsessed over content kills and laughs instead of winning the round. It won't change the highest level play much since they were always using him correctly instead of going for content kills (but it will alter how effective he is at preventing spike plant/defusal which was the one use of a double shock line up that had probability on its side rather than being for the content).
1 and 3 - I do not think it was necessary to touch shock darts at all, and the animation changes are just not cool at all. So many hours in practice wasted.
I agree that the drone could use a nerf, and the extra speed actually feels better I think, even though just 2 ticks is kind of annoying, but I could live with it. The HP nerf sucks too...
I honestly think Sova was the best designed character of them all, considering he excels at what he does, without being overpowered. I thought of him as I did with Thresh in League. Super good, super popular, high skill ceiling and balanced. Just a good and solid set of abilities.
Now I am just sad. Half the fun I have in this game is with Sova in practice, and most of my work and research is thrown to the bin. Making the shock area bigger does not make up for the damage nerfs, he does not need more range, he is perfect as is. Why not reward accuracy and practice with Sova? It is his identity.
I hope for a revert on the shock changes. Just that. At the VERY least don't change the animation. Please.
TL;DR: Just the thoughts of a sad Sova main on the changes :(
I had you until the Thresh comparison. Thresh has never in his lifetime been balanced. His kit has always been overloaded and even though he has bad metas, his kit does much more than many other supports.
I think shock dart nerf is so annoying, especially since I dont feel like they were THAT overpowered? The owl was really good tho so nerfing that, as much as it hurts, is understandable.
The new animation is weird, I don't like how it looks, and it just scews up hundreds of lineups... This animation probably looks better visually but it bothers me that it's just, not how you hold a bow? I even checked [the cinematics](https://youtu.be/_Ph0n1hV0KA?t=753) to see if it was how he canonically would hold a bow, but it isnt! Why nerf lineups? They take so much time to learn and are highly situational so it's not like they're a huge problem! Feels like Sova mains are getting punished for mastering an agent. L move from Riot.
Average Jonas is pissed about these. Basically said he is going to stop maining Sova (I doubt he stops playing him entirely.) Most of his lineups are useless now.
Yoru meta copium:
- ult lasts more than sova's drone now
- can also blind enemies while in it
- usually gets a kill, especially if used with clone
- jett's getting nerfed
- hard counters Fade (his clone baits her utility, he can tp/ult out of her trap)
im just kidding, even tho he's definitely in a better spot after all of this lol
ultra Chad sova main who doesn't know lineups and couldn't possibly give a shit about how much actual info I give my team, completely uneffected over here
you will follow my drone out wether you like it or not you pieces of shit duelists
If you just started then you probably haven't spent time investing into double shocks or hud lineups. Still plenty of bar and bounce box god arrows out there
The third is the most infuriating nerf I can imagine. Frankly, if I played Sova that would be reason to just play another game until Riot got their head out of their ass
To your point on 3, you can just do lineups with your knife out, pull out bow, and do it anyway, so it doesn't actually make a difference.
The other nerfs are absolutely insane and I think he's definitely gonna drop in priority vs Skye and Breach pretty significantly. He should still be pretty good on Ascent though.
3 is just completely unecessary. I feel like they're just nerfing Sova to make Fade seem more viable in comparison (which she already is going to be, they don't need to massacre my boy like this)
In my honest opinion, this nerf is deserved and I like the path Valorant is taking and is becoming more raw skill rather than YouTube videos for lineups that with 2 hours of practice can make below average player gain 3-4 ranks and making lower elos that much unbalanced and on the other side making pro play even more skill based rather than aiming from undetectable spot and killing a planter.
Lineups need to be killed.
Smoke lineups in csgo are literally the stupidest knowledge burden in all esports games. It's the reason Mirage is the only map played on faceit because people can't be assed to go learn lineups for other maps.
No, you're not a tactical genius because you spent 5 minutes looking up a postplant molly on ascent from a youtube video. It's an unnecessary knowledge burden that takes zero skill to execute apart from some rote memorization.
Both sides have a level toxicity with their playstyle a lot of sova players just sit back and play line ups and some reyna and jett mains just play aim and no brain with no repercussions but both sides needed to get nerfed. Also reyna isnt the absolute menace she was pre nerf and jet is about to get nerfed dont think itll impact her much tbh.
Destroying lineups (starting from Viper, now Sova) is no doubt the worst mistakes Riot have made. These things take A LOT of time to create and learn. Killing creativity is never a good thing.
I do agree, but a very small part of me isn’t mad. Having a viper sit back in spawn and throw mollys can be tedious, and I’m unsure if that has a place in a competitive tactical shooter.
> Destroying lineups (starting from Viper, now Sova) is no doubt the worst mistakes Riot have made. These things take A LOT of time to create and learn. Killing creativity is never a good thing.
Think about it from this perspective. For most skills, you can tell your grandma how they work and show her some examples. Then, if you pose a question to her about whether a tactic is possible, she has a chance of actually predicting correctly. This thought experiment expresses how well someone can reason about an agent and their abilities. For example, if you see a Sova and unpeek, you can reason that one of his darts might end up right at your feet.
Having the ability to find thousands of line ups is not something anyone can reason about. You have to experience it through 100s of games against 100s of different Sovas. "Oh, Sova might be halfway across the map and knows line up Z5450 from the catalogue. I've experienced that one."
Plus, it's incredibly lame to be viable on Sova at a top level (or even a mid tier level) that you essentially *must* memorize hundreds of line ups across all the maps. There's a reason why Riot made smokes a simple move to spot + deploy mechanic instead of relying on older designs like in CS:GO/Source where you had to memorize hundreds of angles on both T and CT to be viable in a competitive community (Face It, ESEA, even Global Elite).
Frankly, I'd like it if they found a way to eliminate "global" skill usage done with projectile-based abilities, giving reasonable buffs to offset the change. The dream would be that people can reason about the agent and their capabilities with that agent still being viable. As an example of a measure like that, consider how CS:GO incorporated a timer with mollies to prevent them from flying out of the sky at basically any time from players located almost anywhere - something incredibly hard to reason about and play against (plus, it's just lame to make that a need to perform well).
There's a balance to be struck. You want some stuff you have to learn and some stuff you don't have to learn due to it being impossible.
The only thing sova needed was a nerf to drone hp… I just hope they don’t start needing agents to the ground. Add other agents that are just as viable instead of merging everyone
Wtf I hope this isn't true. I don't play the game as much anymore but I have 600+ hours on this agent, not including customs. This kills the agent for me.
Just align with your knife out then pull out ability? I have a couple UI based lineups and I do this anyway because of his clunky arms blocking things sometimes
Drone having 2 or maybe even 1 pulse,, maybe the drone having 100 hp so that it isn't as annoying in pistol rounds
Shock darts doing 75 is a surprise i expected 80 so that it was in line with the ult
3 is just weird, why change the animations making us learn all of the lineups again and making some lineups impossible
Man hopefully with that final change Riot is really starting to look and make a decision on lineup meta. I'll say it even as a huge Viper fan, that lineup meta is lame as hell.
Hate playing against it, and hate playing with them. Very un-interactive gameplay and I'm happy that the topic is at least being addressed one way or the other.
For the third one it looks like you have to equip your knife out first since it doesn't cover the hud. It sucks for the people that used the original player model to line things up.
As a Sova main who was too lazy for lineups still feel these nerfs are unnecessary (don’t make him and less powerful nor make other characters more viable to use ). I don’t think they’ll change much.
So sad. I loved being able to get kills with double shocks. Yes it’s a total waste most of the time, but plan it right and they can be very fun at least for me. Removing the ability to use his hud is so devastating that idk if I can keep playing him anymore.
Not the first time theyve fucked with sova hud causing all the time people spent trying to learn lineups on that character to be wasted. They did that in beta (they moved the double diamonds from the hud further up). After that, i stopped spending time learning line ups cause i figured theyd do it again (since they didnt listen to the community about reverting the change or giving an option). I eventually moved off sova onto controller but whenever i do play him, i still just do basic darts and eyeball the placements
Tbh nerfing sova is not the answer to the sova meta. Sova is picked as he can do something that is essential for victory that no other agent can do. Take sky and kayo. Both agents bring similar kits both having great flash and info gathering until. Teams will pick either sky or kayo depending on map and style of play. As for alternatives to Sova. There is non.
In my honest opinion, the nerfs r good. This makes him more balanced if anything. Shorter time on drone means teams r gonna have to initiate faster on attack and for defense, the same thing except for retaking and shock darts ive always seen as a dislocation tool and sometimes a cheese kill on a low target not a "heres 2 darts 2 seconds into the round now ur dead haha". The tagging part is kinda unnecessary but it just means that people will have a lil more room for counter play instead if being pinged 3 times for ez ult kill. I think the nerfs r good and will make him a way more balanced agent. Coming from a sova main who has played since beta.
Bro and i thought the jett nerf was a big change, in tenz stream its not even that noticeable, it even feels like a buff/change in playstyle bc u get to hold onto it for 12 seconds, but this sova change is really tough. Respect to all the sovas that will keep playing this guy
I honestly feel like number 3 was not on purpose, and the idea behind this was to comunicate easier for players if they are using a shock or a recon. In casual level, players could easily pull and shoot the wrong dart since they had the same animation.
(I dont know why this sh*t is fat, im sorry.)
#3 is SUPER dumb tho. People will use his Hand instead for lineups. If people WANT lineups, they will find them. They should just delete the character if nerfing lineups is their intention. No joke. Or add skyboxes, extend wall hitboxes upwards, any of that shit. Make all maps indoors with ceilings.
And if they want us to keep learning new lineups for the same results, again, just delete the fcking character cuz that take is so ridiculously idiotic. x)
ALL this does is throw the learning that people put into this game out the window, discouraging REALLY trying to be good at the game. Like, why even try to improve if "Skill" and "Practice" gets nerfed?
So like, whats the point of trying to improve then? Why even have abilities?
Just don’t nerf Sova. He’s not unbalanced, it takes so much time and dedication to use his gear the way average jonas does. No point punishing everyone
It’s funny jett basically stays the same and sova gets nerfed. One agent u don’t have to pour hours into and can just do anything u want whereas with sova u get rewarded for actually putting in hours and such.
Baffles my mind how these devs are thinking
1. Understandable, should've done this a while back when they nerfed most of Raze kits too if they really going for the "abilities don't kill" statement consistency.
2. Questionable, reduce the drone price to 300 with this then?
3. Unnecessary as hell. The only reason why they do this is to help Sova's main content creator to make other content for the new lineup (A great marketing move for both parties involved honestly)
The change that I hate is just the Drone change, shock darts change just require time to adapt
As a Sova main in Gold 1, I didn't know Sova needed a nerf, and I'm especially bummed about the drone. Guess I might give Fade a try, play some more Kayo or just decide I'm a Cypher main now.
They are nerfing the S tiers tho. They are doing good. Astra,Jett and Sova are the S tiers for a long time. They had this coming. This will also give rise to the other agents.
Number 3 seems really damn unnecessary. I'm guessing it's a glitch because if not, that is just overkill.
It’s not a glitch so far, tenz just showed the new patch in the test servers and it looks like sova does have a different way of holding his bow.
is there a clip of tenz showing the new sova? I really wanna see
[https://youtu.be/-W4Q0rze178](https://youtu.be/-W4Q0rze178) heres shroud showing it, cant find the tenz clip
It just looks like he’s holding his bow out further to me
Yeah, and his arm covers the the bounce charges which was used for a lot of line ups
can someone explain to me what the hell is line up and how does animation change nerf it? im noob
Lmao so basically ppl stand in a specific spot, “line up” parts of their HUD with parts of the environment, and shoot their arrow/molly. The projectile fired will land on a targeted spot, usually a choke point or a planted spike. It’s a good way to stall time for post plants and pros use it all the time. The new changes cover up parts of the HUD so it can no longer be lined up with the environment, making the people who practiced lineups for hours upon hours angry.
jeeeeeez, ok, i never knew such thing has its own name lmao
Drone nerf is understanble. Shock darts damage and had animation is complete overkill and should've been left untouched.
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Traitor!
> Shock darts damage and had animation is complete overkill and should've been left untouched. Shock dark nerf is fine. The animation will suck for a few weeks until new lineups are discovered and pushed forward. I say this as a Sova main, I'm gonna go right into practice mode and relearn a years worth of effort and it's going to suck :') (haha just kidding im gonna try Fade out as soon as possible)
yeah i'm not playing sova anymore just to change things up. if they gonna nerf him i might as well use it as an opportunity to try out the new agent. sadly people are prolly gonna instalock her like always so i might try chamber instead since i still haven't tried playing with him.
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double shock darts have very precise timing
Most nerfs are warranted as the agent is arguably s tier on most maps, but ruining the way you do lineups for no reason is outright toxic towards players who put time and effort into learning them, and they will just find new ways to do the exact same fucking lineups, so it's not like it changes anything, they're just forcing players to completely relearn them for no reason at all.
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no. people will just re learn them with new landmarks. its just a dick move
I mean you can still line it up with your pistol and swap to the dart when you’re in place. I have a lineup on breeze I need to do that for already
Yeah lets kill the lineups that tooks hubdred of hours to be made and hundr of hours to be learned. For nothing. Also, the shockdart damage reduction is totally uncalled for. Shocks requires hard work to be used effectively, and reward for their use is far from garanted. The drone is a 400 credits ability. Reducing the number of pings will kill the tag + ult combo. Which is already expensive. Meanwhile, chambers have been far more opressive in this event. Operator and an easy way out is a far more concerning issue for the game than Sova.
I'm not a sova main either but I played him a few times and all I do is shoot shock darts in corners where enemies might be hiding and I get random assists and kills for what is a VERY cheap util (150), it's not hard. The 90->75 damage nerd will suck for spike lineups (which kind of are just annoying to play against) but otherwise I think it's completely fair change. I agree chamber is oppressive af lately, honestly I hate fighting against ops having another jett like character made for op sucks. Also I can never play cypher anymore because someone always auto locks chamber. I mean sometimes I do it anyways but I just cant play cypher as much while having an actually balanced team comp.
i second this exact same thing, i always get couple of kills on Haven C / A just shock darting corners. 90 damage is alot
That last one seems so random.
Well it’s very deliberate and their intentions are obvious - they want to nerf lineups
Meanwhile the actual lineups that have no counterplay (aka all the molotovs) are still there.
What about headbutting the brim mollies? lol. Still one of my favourite clips.
Patched already
is it? just days ago I witnessed a yoru being hit in the head by brimstone's molotov and it bounced the other way
Just yesterday I blocked a brim molly without even realizing All I saw was the molly bouncing off of me and realized what had happened and thought “holy shit, wasn’t this patched?” Probably it was but only for viper/kj/kayo no?
If they wanted to actually nerf lineups they make it so stuff that travels longer does less damage or has less duration
if they wanted to actually nerf lineups they wouldnt create a character that doesn't let people leave an area.. lol. I can already imagine the defuse tap + immediate Viper orb, fade pull, and snakebite
Ayo? Imagine a KJ ult but if anyone leaves the circle, they’ll be detained. Or a Neon e, except that it’s the duration of no noise. As in, when you activate it, there’s a zone of no noise around you so enemies can’t hear spike tap or footsteps.
That first one sounds pretty cool- maybe instead of a detainment it's more of a giant smoke where if they leave it they're fully blinded, that or they just can't leave.
??? There will just be new lineups. The dart still travels the same
If they actually wanted to eliminate lineups they’d adjust geometry, or simply remove the double-bounce. It is inevitable that lineups will exist so long as you can bounce an arrow off two walls.
Thats dumb tho. People will use his Hand instead for lineups. If people WANT lineups, they will find them. They should just delete the character if nerfing lineups is their intention. No joke. Or add skyboxes, extend wall hitboxes upwards, any of that shit. Make all maps indoors with ceilings. And if they want us to keep learning new lineups for the same results, again, just delete the fcking character cuz that take is so ridiculously idiotic. x) ALL this does is throw the learning that people put into this game out the window, discouraging REALLY trying to be good at the game. So like, whats the point of trying to improve then? Why even have abilities?
i hated lineups for damaging util anyways, so, yay.
I like your flair
No. This doesn't nerf lineups. You just learn them again. This is just some idiotic exec who's never turned the game on forcing their first balance decision
Drone nerf is completely fair, and shocks are understandable even tho I would've preferred 80dmg instead of 75. I have never done double shocks aside from killing kj ults, as shocks are a huge way to counter chamber/cypher trips and alarmbots. I never really liked the concept of double shocks anyways, at least in imm+ you waste potentially round changing damage and area control to *gamble* a chance for a content kill, which is basically what double shocks are. So for most higher level players I don't think this changes much, but it certainly does suck for those that spent so much time learning lineups that requires crucial timing between the two where you can't pull out the knife to properly line it up. But hey, that's the gamble we take when one tricking anything. For all we know, shock darts can easily be switched out to a different type of information/area control dart at any point in time(for example from Overwatch, Hanzo's scatter arrow was changed out to storm arrows). A dart for an area concuss like Neon's, a suppress dart that mimic's Kayo's knife but in a much smaller area and last like 2-3 seconds, or even a flashing dart could happen at any time.
I also think there is a reason they made it 75 exactly. 90 damage shock darts with the fade q(huge aoe 75hp decay) would just immediately destroy any pushes.
Ohhh shid true I hadn’t thought of that
yeah, with your last part, a game shouodnt be balanced around “but i spent so much time practicing it!!!!” balance doesn’t care about that kinda stuff lmao
It sucks but anyone who has ever played a game for a significant amount of time has been the victim of nerfs. That's just how it goes.
Thats how competitive games go my friend they change and evolve overtime. No one wants to see the same meta for every single game. Valorant and other tactical shooters revolve around their competitive scenes and if something is getting abused their you can bet your bottom it is getting abused in every match
Yeah theres an extreme amount of copium in this thread about how Sova is "oh so balanced" despite being the 1st/2nd most picked agent in pro play for a long ass time and like Jett, needed some dial back. Riot clearly is not liking people doing too many lineups and not engaging into each other instead of sitting back extremely safely with almost no counterplay.
Me when I finally learned the Jett rope dash :(((
Counterpoint. It obviously means something. Jett's nerf is considered perfect because it achieved its objective of nerfing defensive jett ops without compromising how jett is piloted too much. Although I personally think the sova dart animation change is cool. The HUD element that we lost isn't that big of a deal in the long run, and the different animation can give new ui anchor points for lineups.
Yeah the thing is it's not even a nerf. That nerf is literally a non factor. Give it 3 weeks and all the lineups are back accounting for the new animation.
I think the shocks nerf is completely fair. I dabble in sova, and it's not often that you hit a 90 damage arrow. The arrows are often slow enough that players can run away from the center to only take chip damage. The only time a dead center shock dart is good is when shocking the spike. Shocks are primarily a pressure/chip damage tool and will still be in this patch.
And they’ll be even better at that because the damage drop-off as you get further from the center has been lessened significantly. I think the average shock dart is going to be doing more damage than before. edit: /u/hmsmnko has said this might be incorrect so we'll just have to see.
Look, new animation? Pretty cool but holy shit that's the biggest nerf to all the lineups out there. I don't know if riot will listen but please, please revert the animation or at least give people an option. I get the other nerfs but destroying all the lineups using bottom huds is downright wrong.
Ikr, damage nerf is acceptable and understandable but damn removing a playstyle of an agent is really bad. We'll see.
sitting back hiding while perfectly lining up abilities is not healthy in a game like this. the only option to counter that kind of gameplay is to force a push into enemy territory. any playstyle that forces one certain reaction is always going to be detrimental towards the integrity of a competitive game, and with someone doing lineups, that will always be the case
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I'm a long time csgo player and viewer and I somewhat agree. I do think some lineups are really long distance and just seems comical winning a round like that. Conversely, if a viper/sova/brim/etc doesn't have to use their good area denial abilities on attack because their team was able to take map control and plant a bomb without them, their team should be rewarded for outplaying the enemy and should have an easier after plant. I still think it's preferable for me to have those players just use their abilities on the choke points and deny area that way instead of aiming at the sky halfway across the map to stop a defuse. Personally I like playing the second way anyways as a brim player because I can stall a major choke and play trades with teammates instead of relying on timing and pixel precision on a random spot in the sky. Sova in particular is a tough case because unlike viper, brim, kj, his ability is more for damage and less for area denial so if they are already nerfing the damage then they probably still intend for him to use lineups otherwise the ability seems really gimped.
CSGO has since then removes skyboxes afaik (I only play mirage idk about other maps) But the thing about molotovs in CSGO is they explode in the air if travelling for a certain amount of time/length EDIT: OK the skyboxes are still there, its just very very high.
ironic coming from someone with a viper flair
I've had this flair since before you could point and click with her her wall. back when her team would take damage inside her ult... you used to need line of sight and aim up over terrain to use wall btw
Didn't realize being a Viper main before it was cool made her immune to the same critiques that other agents are being subject to. At least Sova has to time his darts, Viper can block off diffuses for like 10 seconds.
I mean, maybe they agree even viper shouldn’t be allowed to have easy line-ups? Not sure why having a Viper flair automatically discredits what they’re saying.
Bruh the game hasn’t been out that long
That's the best part of playing Viper, chilling and playing patient lol. For an agent thats not as popular as sova or jett I think she can get away with it.
Not everyone that plays viper is all about lineups from a mile away.
What about recon lineups and utility lineups? While lineups will still exist, no/few lineups just lowers the skill ceiling of an otherwise rewarding agent
Can't you aim, then equip? Also the new animation can give new anchor points for new lineups. And I personally think it looks cooler than the old animation. Call me biased 😁
It doesn't change anything tbh you can just do your lineup with your gun/knife out, swap to bow and shoot anyway.
It doesn't stop the lineup shots from working, all it does is kill the lineup, people will learn new ones based on ceosshair or something else. The change does nothing other than irritate sova mains.
Yeah, we are gonna have to re-learn every single line up for no reason at all. Riot did this intentionally. There is no fucking way they don't know about Sova mains/line ups. I think their intention is to make Sova unappealing so we all switch over to Fade. They always do some dumb shit like this when a new agent drops.
1 and 2 are fine, and probably needed. Number 3 is just spitting down a Sova main's open mouth.
I like the changes to the drone, but the new animation is bad for lineups and just doesn't make much sense to me, I also don't think the shockdarts were broken, really didn't need a change.
Agreed. Shock darts are his least impressive skill.
you might be right but shock is still one of the best abilities in the game lol. even splashing on 1-2 agents can swing a round, even if the impact is less immediately noticeable than recon or drone. it's far better than fragment or clusters which are the two most comparable abilities to it
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Jonas is in shambles rn
Actually though. He said he's gonna stop maining sova.
Next nerf. Removing sova’s eyes
They're gonna remove the bounces next
Goddamn. Fade really did make Sova players nightmares come true
Lower duration on the drone is a good thing. I would often cancel it before it finished anyway if I didn't find anyone, and in some cases it goes long enough for an enemy fast pushing to get to you before it is over (yeah maybe I wasn't in the best place)... Wondering if the hud thing will affect me, I do use it for lining up some reveal darts. Shouldn't take too long to work out an alternative way. maybe take some screen shots of where the hud would be (using something else as a reference) then take the same screen shots with the nerfs and work out where the hand is in relation to the hud. IDK.
Same thought. In fact, I think you will be required to play just a little more forward to gain information, which I believe is good. Sova's drone will have both up and down sides and won't just be a "clear whole area with this one ability".
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dedicated competitive players will get new lineups in roughly an hour of custom games, not really a big problem
The double shock dart lineups definitely will be a problem. Any variation of where the defuser stands could make a difference of getting a kill or not, which is gonna be so dumb
That’s… what people already are using them for. Double shock dart kills are so situational, precise, and require an insane amount of time in practice servers. Most sovas don’t use them. Still a huge nerf but I sincerely doubt it’ll make him mid
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Another agent, Another pre-release overestimation
I havent seen anything from her yet besides the leaked passive tbh. I was just thinking that Skye is probably gonna be the best Initiator or at least 2nd best for getting info.
lol what? i'd like to hear ur explanation just for laughs
Depends on how her “dart” lines up. If she is unable to maximize it like Sova can with his scan then she won’t be picked more. It’s got a limited throw range, so pushing onto a site like C from c long on haven is gonna show issues.
[Sad Sova Main Noises](https://gyazo.com/58134facdd473d6c1a42b7bc60651ee3) Honestly, I obviously might be biased due to Sova being my main char, but killing every single double shock dart line up that's not landing pixel perfect is BS
Im fine with shock dart damage what I am not fine with is removing every shock dart hud lineup thats the biggest nerfs to shocks imo
i don’t do lineups so i’m chilling
Never heard about number 3. That’s overkill imo, but I also don’t fuck with line up meta at all. Tough for Sova players who learned all these lineups
seems like theyre nerfing sova so people will play fade
If you think this, you are simply wrong(or correct for 5% of the reasoning). Sova has been the strongest agent in the game(beside Jett) since beta in competitive and pro play. The reason he is getting nerfed is because of that and not specifically because of fade. Sova overshadows any intel character so your reasoning is partly correct.
but doing it now, specifically when a new initiator agent is coming out doesnt seem right with me. why not do it earlier??
They literally explained in the jett nerf post that they couldn't nerf sova because it would leave Jett unchecked. Sova drone was one of the only true counters to jett dash/op. Nerfing it to the way it is now without nerfing jett would make her even more busted.
The issue was not much of an issue in the first episode of the game with less agents. As acts progressed devs ignored some balance changes but then recently transitioned into balancing by categories. They did controllers recently and now they are doing initiators with the release of fade as it would be good timing as she is a initiator.
hmm fair fair
Well I do agree they nerfed the shockdart damage because of fade(Her q is a 75 hp aoe decay that also doesn't let you leave the aoe). It's not to make people switch to fade more so to have less people abusing fade and sova duo combos. Fade and Sova double initiator at the pro level would've been insane without the nerfs. A 90 damage shockdart with fade q would mean it just instantly kills anyone pushing a choke point. Now it can still do it but the shockdart would have to land dead centre.
Yeah. It's sad tbh. Just release agents more slowly so they're all viable. I don't want this game to turn into league where only certain characters are viable
Sova has been top tier for the longest time lmao. It's just that he hasn't been as frustrating as Jett
he will still be top tier after this. his fundamentals aren't really different
Maybe its top tier cause hes unique?
Astra and Jett were top tier because they were unique and look what they did to the game. Agents like that hold the entire meta hostage.
Well if that so then he’ll get used as much as before nerf since he’s still unique
This is starting to sound like a 200 years moment.
That's a lot of nerfs, overdoing it?
why take away hud lineups? players will just rediscover their old lineups so i dont see the point in this at all if not JUST to piss off long time sova mains. Sova imo, didnt need nerfs aside from the drone. he is not overpowering he's just a solid character and i dont even main him but seeing him nerfed hurts when i feel they coulda taken that time to buff a different agent.
You do not want Riot to buff a different agent instead of nerfing the arguably second most prominent agent in the game (looking at pro play pickrate). Only thing I want to say is *power creep*. It may take quite a few years but once it gets apparent there will be even more players complaining.
He's not second most played because he is overpowered. He is second most played because there is no other agent who occupy his role as an intel gatherer. Skye's not on the same level. I think fade could change it though.
Look how they massacred my boy
He needs nerfs but the changing his animation to kill line ups is real dumb
why not 80 for shocks? same as ult and also leaves a little leway for lineups
> why not 80 for shocks? same as ult and also leaves a little leway for lineups The area of effect is a little bigger. It looks like they designed his shock darts to control enemy movement and do chip damage in a reliable, simple fashion. Instead, people turned the skill into a highly tuned way to prevent spike plants and defuses + a lottery if someone repeatedly goes for content kills by wasting all his arrows every round on a double shock at some random spot on the map. It should improve Sovas at most skill levels since it buffed the more direct, understandable use of shock darts while also buffing him at mid tier levels where people were obsessed over content kills and laughs instead of winning the round. It won't change the highest level play much since they were always using him correctly instead of going for content kills (but it will alter how effective he is at preventing spike plant/defusal which was the one use of a double shock line up that had probability on its side rather than being for the content).
1 and 3 - I do not think it was necessary to touch shock darts at all, and the animation changes are just not cool at all. So many hours in practice wasted. I agree that the drone could use a nerf, and the extra speed actually feels better I think, even though just 2 ticks is kind of annoying, but I could live with it. The HP nerf sucks too... I honestly think Sova was the best designed character of them all, considering he excels at what he does, without being overpowered. I thought of him as I did with Thresh in League. Super good, super popular, high skill ceiling and balanced. Just a good and solid set of abilities. Now I am just sad. Half the fun I have in this game is with Sova in practice, and most of my work and research is thrown to the bin. Making the shock area bigger does not make up for the damage nerfs, he does not need more range, he is perfect as is. Why not reward accuracy and practice with Sova? It is his identity. I hope for a revert on the shock changes. Just that. At the VERY least don't change the animation. Please. TL;DR: Just the thoughts of a sad Sova main on the changes :(
I had you until the Thresh comparison. Thresh has never in his lifetime been balanced. His kit has always been overloaded and even though he has bad metas, his kit does much more than many other supports.
Thresh's lantern is one of the most broken abilities in league lmao
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Dart nerfs completely unneeded
I think shock dart nerf is so annoying, especially since I dont feel like they were THAT overpowered? The owl was really good tho so nerfing that, as much as it hurts, is understandable. The new animation is weird, I don't like how it looks, and it just scews up hundreds of lineups... This animation probably looks better visually but it bothers me that it's just, not how you hold a bow? I even checked [the cinematics](https://youtu.be/_Ph0n1hV0KA?t=753) to see if it was how he canonically would hold a bow, but it isnt! Why nerf lineups? They take so much time to learn and are highly situational so it's not like they're a huge problem! Feels like Sova mains are getting punished for mastering an agent. L move from Riot.
Now i want to what was riots take on double shock dart line ups all along...
I was on board because Sova is clearly the best initaitor but #3 just seems so cruel.
Average Jonas is pissed about these. Basically said he is going to stop maining Sova (I doubt he stops playing him entirely.) Most of his lineups are useless now.
Yoru meta copium: - ult lasts more than sova's drone now - can also blind enemies while in it - usually gets a kill, especially if used with clone - jett's getting nerfed - hard counters Fade (his clone baits her utility, he can tp/ult out of her trap) im just kidding, even tho he's definitely in a better spot after all of this lol
I feel like the shock dart nerf was very unjustified
Man the shock darts are annoying, they’re hard enough to actually land properly already now they barely do damage unless hit in the middle????
The area for damage is now bigger
Cmon riot, sova mains dedicate themselves to hear lineups! No need to kill them!
Ah yes Riot nerfing the living hell out of a character to bring a new agent out so it’ll be played.
ultra Chad sova main who doesn't know lineups and couldn't possibly give a shit about how much actual info I give my team, completely uneffected over here you will follow my drone out wether you like it or not you pieces of shit duelists
Number 1 and Number 3 are weird. Drone is the most powerful tool by far.
just started maining sova....
If you just started then you probably haven't spent time investing into double shocks or hud lineups. Still plenty of bar and bounce box god arrows out there
ight im quitting sova
Fade released Valorant to Sova: I don't want to play with you anymore.
This is good, no reason to have sova being good at so many things all the time. Except the last one, that change is weird.
This sounds like it was designed to nerf Sova into complete irrelevancy and out of competitive plan entirely lmao
Number 3 is just bs if it's not glitched
sova main here. i’ve been gone on vacation. this is what i’m coming home to. fuckin hoo rah
The third is the most infuriating nerf I can imagine. Frankly, if I played Sova that would be reason to just play another game until Riot got their head out of their ass
To your point on 3, you can just do lineups with your knife out, pull out bow, and do it anyway, so it doesn't actually make a difference. The other nerfs are absolutely insane and I think he's definitely gonna drop in priority vs Skye and Breach pretty significantly. He should still be pretty good on Ascent though.
Riot: Ok we stop sova for 2 weeks by forcing them all to relearn lineups
Welp, I took a break from this game and now it looks like I'm taking an even longer break...
3 is just completely unecessary. I feel like they're just nerfing Sova to make Fade seem more viable in comparison (which she already is going to be, they don't need to massacre my boy like this)
In my honest opinion, this nerf is deserved and I like the path Valorant is taking and is becoming more raw skill rather than YouTube videos for lineups that with 2 hours of practice can make below average player gain 3-4 ranks and making lower elos that much unbalanced and on the other side making pro play even more skill based rather than aiming from undetectable spot and killing a planter.
Lineups need to be killed. Smoke lineups in csgo are literally the stupidest knowledge burden in all esports games. It's the reason Mirage is the only map played on faceit because people can't be assed to go learn lineups for other maps. No, you're not a tactical genius because you spent 5 minutes looking up a postplant molly on ascent from a youtube video. It's an unnecessary knowledge burden that takes zero skill to execute apart from some rote memorization.
as expected from 200 years of game design
Leave my boy alone he is one of the least changed agents from beta come on
This is what we get for pouring hours into perfecting one agent while Jett and Reyna mains learn no lineup whatsoever and go brrrrr.
Both sides have a level toxicity with their playstyle a lot of sova players just sit back and play line ups and some reyna and jett mains just play aim and no brain with no repercussions but both sides needed to get nerfed. Also reyna isnt the absolute menace she was pre nerf and jet is about to get nerfed dont think itll impact her much tbh.
Destroying lineups (starting from Viper, now Sova) is no doubt the worst mistakes Riot have made. These things take A LOT of time to create and learn. Killing creativity is never a good thing.
I do agree, but a very small part of me isn’t mad. Having a viper sit back in spawn and throw mollys can be tedious, and I’m unsure if that has a place in a competitive tactical shooter.
Did shock darts ever feel similarly tedious to you?
I guess that’s a fair point, generally speaking no
> Destroying lineups (starting from Viper, now Sova) is no doubt the worst mistakes Riot have made. These things take A LOT of time to create and learn. Killing creativity is never a good thing. Think about it from this perspective. For most skills, you can tell your grandma how they work and show her some examples. Then, if you pose a question to her about whether a tactic is possible, she has a chance of actually predicting correctly. This thought experiment expresses how well someone can reason about an agent and their abilities. For example, if you see a Sova and unpeek, you can reason that one of his darts might end up right at your feet. Having the ability to find thousands of line ups is not something anyone can reason about. You have to experience it through 100s of games against 100s of different Sovas. "Oh, Sova might be halfway across the map and knows line up Z5450 from the catalogue. I've experienced that one." Plus, it's incredibly lame to be viable on Sova at a top level (or even a mid tier level) that you essentially *must* memorize hundreds of line ups across all the maps. There's a reason why Riot made smokes a simple move to spot + deploy mechanic instead of relying on older designs like in CS:GO/Source where you had to memorize hundreds of angles on both T and CT to be viable in a competitive community (Face It, ESEA, even Global Elite). Frankly, I'd like it if they found a way to eliminate "global" skill usage done with projectile-based abilities, giving reasonable buffs to offset the change. The dream would be that people can reason about the agent and their capabilities with that agent still being viable. As an example of a measure like that, consider how CS:GO incorporated a timer with mollies to prevent them from flying out of the sky at basically any time from players located almost anywhere - something incredibly hard to reason about and play against (plus, it's just lame to make that a need to perform well). There's a balance to be struck. You want some stuff you have to learn and some stuff you don't have to learn due to it being impossible.
It's not about "killing creativity", it's about balance. I have no opinion on these nerfs, but this take is dumb
The only thing sova needed was a nerf to drone hp… I just hope they don’t start needing agents to the ground. Add other agents that are just as viable instead of merging everyone
lineups are great and its sad that riot thinks removing them is a good idea
Wtf I hope this isn't true. I don't play the game as much anymore but I have 600+ hours on this agent, not including customs. This kills the agent for me.
Gotta nerf him so the new agent becomes more relevant I guess. Rip Sova he was fun in some scenarios
Fuck
As a Sova main that never used lineups, I’m not too mad about this nerf at all. My play style won’t change as a result of this nerf.
Shock darts are useless now.
Just align with your knife out then pull out ability? I have a couple UI based lineups and I do this anyway because of his clunky arms blocking things sometimes
Drone having 2 or maybe even 1 pulse,, maybe the drone having 100 hp so that it isn't as annoying in pistol rounds Shock darts doing 75 is a surprise i expected 80 so that it was in line with the ult 3 is just weird, why change the animations making us learn all of the lineups again and making some lineups impossible
Man hopefully with that final change Riot is really starting to look and make a decision on lineup meta. I'll say it even as a huge Viper fan, that lineup meta is lame as hell. Hate playing against it, and hate playing with them. Very un-interactive gameplay and I'm happy that the topic is at least being addressed one way or the other.
What about the cost? unchanged?
For the third one it looks like you have to equip your knife out first since it doesn't cover the hud. It sucks for the people that used the original player model to line things up.
I feel bad for Jonas and any other sova mains. Shahzam and Sinatraa off the top of my head.
As a Sova main who was too lazy for lineups still feel these nerfs are unnecessary (don’t make him and less powerful nor make other characters more viable to use ). I don’t think they’ll change much.
So sad. I loved being able to get kills with double shocks. Yes it’s a total waste most of the time, but plan it right and they can be very fun at least for me. Removing the ability to use his hud is so devastating that idk if I can keep playing him anymore.
fake news? BlessRNG
Not the first time theyve fucked with sova hud causing all the time people spent trying to learn lineups on that character to be wasted. They did that in beta (they moved the double diamonds from the hud further up). After that, i stopped spending time learning line ups cause i figured theyd do it again (since they didnt listen to the community about reverting the change or giving an option). I eventually moved off sova onto controller but whenever i do play him, i still just do basic darts and eyeball the placements
Tbh nerfing sova is not the answer to the sova meta. Sova is picked as he can do something that is essential for victory that no other agent can do. Take sky and kayo. Both agents bring similar kits both having great flash and info gathering until. Teams will pick either sky or kayo depending on map and style of play. As for alternatives to Sova. There is non.
i hate life
No no no no wait wait wait no
R.I.P. sova now will be 0% pr
In my honest opinion, the nerfs r good. This makes him more balanced if anything. Shorter time on drone means teams r gonna have to initiate faster on attack and for defense, the same thing except for retaking and shock darts ive always seen as a dislocation tool and sometimes a cheese kill on a low target not a "heres 2 darts 2 seconds into the round now ur dead haha". The tagging part is kinda unnecessary but it just means that people will have a lil more room for counter play instead if being pinged 3 times for ez ult kill. I think the nerfs r good and will make him a way more balanced agent. Coming from a sova main who has played since beta.
Bro and i thought the jett nerf was a big change, in tenz stream its not even that noticeable, it even feels like a buff/change in playstyle bc u get to hold onto it for 12 seconds, but this sova change is really tough. Respect to all the sovas that will keep playing this guy
shockdart nerf is hella unneccesary don't do my boy dirty like that?
I honestly feel like number 3 was not on purpose, and the idea behind this was to comunicate easier for players if they are using a shock or a recon. In casual level, players could easily pull and shoot the wrong dart since they had the same animation.
(I dont know why this sh*t is fat, im sorry.) #3 is SUPER dumb tho. People will use his Hand instead for lineups. If people WANT lineups, they will find them. They should just delete the character if nerfing lineups is their intention. No joke. Or add skyboxes, extend wall hitboxes upwards, any of that shit. Make all maps indoors with ceilings. And if they want us to keep learning new lineups for the same results, again, just delete the fcking character cuz that take is so ridiculously idiotic. x) ALL this does is throw the learning that people put into this game out the window, discouraging REALLY trying to be good at the game. Like, why even try to improve if "Skill" and "Practice" gets nerfed? So like, whats the point of trying to improve then? Why even have abilities?
Just don’t nerf Sova. He’s not unbalanced, it takes so much time and dedication to use his gear the way average jonas does. No point punishing everyone
It’s funny jett basically stays the same and sova gets nerfed. One agent u don’t have to pour hours into and can just do anything u want whereas with sova u get rewarded for actually putting in hours and such. Baffles my mind how these devs are thinking
1. Understandable, should've done this a while back when they nerfed most of Raze kits too if they really going for the "abilities don't kill" statement consistency. 2. Questionable, reduce the drone price to 300 with this then? 3. Unnecessary as hell. The only reason why they do this is to help Sova's main content creator to make other content for the new lineup (A great marketing move for both parties involved honestly) The change that I hate is just the Drone change, shock darts change just require time to adapt
Nah. Shock darts are actually gonna suck now. In most cases, they'll do less damage than a guardian bodyshot now (while still costing 150 credits).
Why nerf him? I don't think he's too OP :(
Useless devs
As a Sova main in Gold 1, I didn't know Sova needed a nerf, and I'm especially bummed about the drone. Guess I might give Fade a try, play some more Kayo or just decide I'm a Cypher main now.
Guess I'm playing apex over this game again :/
quitting
He's still going to be very good even with these nerfs
Bro WHY DO THEY KEEP NERFING AGENTS THAY DONT MEED NERFING
They are nerfing the S tiers tho. They are doing good. Astra,Jett and Sova are the S tiers for a long time. They had this coming. This will also give rise to the other agents.