Riot Games teased its upcoming 20th playable Agent for Valorant on Tuesday, a Controller from India.
Additionally, Chamber, Fade and Cypher were each identified as the Agents that are likely to receive competitive changes next.
"As the game has evolved with shifting metas, new maps and an increase in general game knowledge," Riot Games senior character producer John Goscicki said in the blog post, "we’re always identifying potential new opportunities for Agents 12–14 months ahead of time. We have seen that Controllers are in a bit of a drought, and it feels like we have to go all the way back to ancient times to our last new Controller release with Astra. Aside from Viper, introducing Controllers that can cover large open areas is a blue ocean of opportunity.
"We’ve let this soak long enough, and Agent 21 is almost ready to go out."
Although the new Controller will be the 20th playable Agent in the game, in the game's narrative they are considered Agent 21 with Agent 8 mysteriously continuing to remain unknown. It's still unclear when Riot will introduce Agent 8.
As seemingly leaked weeks ago, Agent 21's codename is Mage, something that could certainly hint to what direction Riot is looking to go with its new large-space-covering Controller.
The upcoming Agent's teaser image is named "Samosa Chaat," a popular Indian street food dish that can be seen next to some Masala Chai and a mysterious book perhaps hinting to their abilities.
"Jald hi milte hain," Goscicki said, which translates to "see you soon" from Hindi.
Elsewhere in the blog post, Riot also teased some of the potential Agent balancing changes that could be coming soon to the game.
In the case of Chamber continuing to dominate the Sentinel role, Riot acknowledged that there is "still work to done here" and will be further exploring some changes to his kit, such as "creating meaningful counterplay options for his Rendezvous."
For the Fade mains out there, Riot mentioned that they think there are areas where she’s potentially overperforming (e.g. clearing spaces), and will be exploring potential tunings to her utility.
Lastly, it appears Cypher could be soon receiving a buff at long last as Riot is "looking closely" at the Moroccan Sentinel to figure out what updates he might need to help him rise back to meta relevancy.
This article was originally published on dbltap as Upcoming Valorant Controller Agent, Nerfs and Buffs Teased.
