These Agents WILL BE BALANCED! But How?

My Twitter is here: / thinkingmanvalo
My Twitch is here: / thinkingmansvalo
Join the discord: / discord
2nd Channel is here: / @tmvvods
Any business enquiries email me here: [e-mail]
Any drawings are done by EpicPen - it's a free download!
You can find the valorant maps and what not in some videos on valoplant.gg
#Valorant #Tips&Tricks #Analysis

[@maykr03]

Introduce a new effect called Burn for Phoenix. When an enemy touches Phoenix's wall or molly, Burn is applied, causing lingering damage even after they leave the area of effect. The damage is less significant than while inside, but persists for a short duration, reinforcing the fire guy's thematic fantasy.

[@Hello-wo4sx]

exactly what I was thinking. maybe also add some sort of visual effect for it (kinda like the stun visual) that doesn’t drastically interfere with your gameplay but still has some effect. or maybe cause recoil to rise very slightly quicker due to flinching?

[@ohhkida]

pokemon type YES

[@maykr03]

​@@Hello-wo4sx I think would be too much for a signature ability that refreshes and for a dirt cheap wall.

[@maykr03]

@@ohhkida would definitely give him a distinct identity instead of being called worse Kay/O

[@vincenzosama]

Yeah, I wonder why this isn't in the game yet. He can make literal fire with his hands bro lmao

[@whereami.]

Phoenix's ult is gonna go from 6 to 7 points, he can use utility during ult, he's gonna get a clone that explodes into a flash when shot, and he can fake his teleports

[@funkycrawler619]

He already can use utility in his ult what lol

[@curtisclewett5249]

are you talking about yoru

[@priyamtarafder8122]

I would like to have what you are smoking

[@Cheasle2]

@@funkycrawler619 its a joke fam he just listed Yoru's rework changes

[@Simontax]

that sounds so unique

[@whereami.]

I figured Wingman being able to plant or defuse in place of a team member, and all benefits that come with it, such as disrupting attackers' post plant setups, is fine because that's kind of the whole point of WIngman's existence. That kind of sounds like the very reason why Wingman was created, to give a team a useful tool in scenarios involving the spike. Like, Wingman always sticking a defuse forces attackers to react earlier, but always sticking also means you're more predictable and relying on an NPC with 80 HP to defuse. Sounds like a trade-off. It sounds to me like teams should just have protocols for specifically Wingman. I reckon that sounds fair if Gekko's gimmicks with the spike are such a big part of his identity, just like how Sage's wall and res is a big part of her identity and teams eventually started to play around her wall and res. And I get that Wingman's spike shenanigans in particular are generally a lot more directly impactful to a round than for example Sage wall strats, and probably other agents' gimmicks, but still. Wingman does have a downside of not planting in just the right spot you want, which Sliggy complains about ruining postplants, so that's another potential trade-off to weigh. Though nerfing Thrash to 8 points sounds reasonable.

[@effluxi9587]

Honestly Wingman just needs less health while defusing. Lil bro should not be able to live a point blank classic right click or a sova shock.

[@whereami.]

@@effluxi9587 I've been there too, trying to right-click a defusing Wingman with Classic and it doesn't kill. I think that was a deliberate choice from Riot though, certain pieces of utilities need to have enough health so they can actually achieve what they're intended to. Raze Boombot and Fade Prowler are 60 HP since they scan close range well enough and they're more disposable, Sova drone is 100 HP likely because its kinda slow-moving and its usage is more carefully timed, but Skye dog and Wingman are 80 HP. It feels right deleting a Prowler or Boombot with a single Classic right click for 78 damage, but I guess Riot wants Skye dog and Wingman to find value worth tanking up to 80 damage for.

[@vincenzosama]

Honestly, Wingman isn't even the biggest problem with Gekko. He's easy to destroy. To me, it makes more sense to focus on what's actually broken, which is undoubtedly Thrash, and not because the mechanics are broken, but because of the ult points. Even though Gekko plays really well, 7 points doesn't seem fair for such a strong ultimate and the only one that can be used TWICE in a row in a round. 8 points seems much fairer. The second thing will be the CD, adjusting each cooldown for each skill maybe. Also, I just think about Dizzy's reaction time maybe? And it's a pretty insane time, I admit lol

[@funkycrawler619]

I would initially say the same thing, however, after yesterdays video in Conjunction Wingman may get touched. I do think making Thrash 8 points and affecting the CDs for pick-up (I think this could be lower) and re-use (maybe up to 15 seconds) would be fair and affects all his utility, but Wingman maybe taking slightly longer to defuse the spike also seems fair.

[@vincenzosama]

​@@funkycrawler619 Please, leave little bro alone, it's his only job 😭

[@vincenzosama]

​@funkycrawler619 Yeah, they can nerf him too, actually. 2G basically won that final round due to Wingman lol

[@nguyen-vuluu3150]

i think the best nerf to wingman is to reduce his health (while on the spike) to something more reasonable. 80 health is quite a lot. especially when you're on pistol, you have to shoot him 4 times with a classic. it also opens up for counter plays with sova and other lineup agents who have an easier time fighting trying to stop the defuse. 80 is just over a single sova shock dart and that seems unreasonable as hell

[@lirinnaufal]

You basically want to nerf every single kit of an agent who is not even dominating ranked or pro play. Very bad idea. Few nerfs are fine but a nerf to this degree would just destroy the agent

[@jaozindeboas]

The change in sunset is an automatic nerf to cypher lmao

[@ethanwood1737]

Good lmfao. Cypher was the only sentinel that was being played on sunset, so these changes might help another character be viable

[@noahberndes9188]

I think giving phoenix wall vulnerable is the opposite of making it more duelist. Duelist visual denial should do kinda just one thing : get you/your teammates through sides. The enemy retaking or flooding shouldnt be the responsibility of the duelist. I think what's way more of a problem with the phoenix wall in comparison to neon wall and Jett smoke is how shitty clunky and slow it is to deploy. It also doesn't really help you entry that well because you can't shoot it through walls and it's so short that curving it around a corner takes away so much of the overall length that you often can't cover all the area you'd need to cover. If they gave phoenix a straight and curved preset (left/right click), and made the cast/hold similar to a Jett smoke his wall would be way nicer to entry behind, especially if it can also go through walls.

[@eulefranz944]

Wingman Defuse only when gekko is alive. It's total bullshit that this ability continue to defue after his death

[@thunderbolt_blitz]

it's not as bad as release where no matter if your whole team got wiped wingman would still defuse

[@btsmeal__1]

when is tmv oiling up

[@maykr03]

OilyMan'sValorant when??? 😤😤😤

[@Laddest]

they are defo reducing the maximum length of the tripwire. they stated that they fixed the sunset cypher trip, yet just from instinct i can see that a cypher trip will still work very well on the new sunset rework, which is why i think they will reduce the length of it.

[@Potato-aim-z]

I think they just gonna nerf/change thrash.If you got a frag/plant while 2nd Thrash on CD, you still get points for new ult, this leads to super quick thrash recharge throughout the game, they should change it so it like phoenix ult( during his ult his kills won't give him ult points). They buffed dizzy so it is more reliable, it makes no sense if they nerf it again. Wingman is kinda balance imo

[@RA1N_444]

I wasn't aware of the first mechanic, that's so weird considering no other agents can get orbs while being able to cast their ult

[@Potato-aim-z]

@@RA1N_444 yea, once i used thrash and plant spike, kill 4 as the result i got 5 ult points in the next round which is only 2 points short from ult, that is crazy no?

[@TheMasterboi1]

Seems a fair nerf as a gekko fan. Hopefully this

[@Potato-aim-z]

@@TheMasterboi1 yea, anything else would be like an overkill nerf

[@young.charlie]

been here since you were in that blue room bro good to see u come so far ❤

[@bren4020]

What if they changed it so Wingman would die when gecko died, rather than only when he’s the last one alive? That way in a one-on-one the win condition for the opponent would be killing either wingman or gecko, but it would still give gecko an advantage in those situations he’s supposed to thrive in

[@scoot5642]

i think phoenix ult is pretty good rn but a cool change would be that if he doesn’t die, he won’t go back to his spot but at the cost that he won’t go back with full health

[@Magnum69]

I've been saying for a year that blaze wall should be longer, as in physically longer. Neons wall goes so much farther, meanwhile phoenix can barely cover the cross to most sites...

[@Saul30119]

I have already seen the day Cypher get nerf since the day his infinite tripwires got announced

[@sawsent]

I think a cool agent idea (a bit unrelated) would be a guy that has abilities dedicated to to stopping incoming effects For example the signature maybe for a couple seconds or in an area you can't be stunned or vulnerabled or "sat down by deadlock" Maybe instead of completely denying them, it could give some sort of cooldown, like "for 5 seconds you wont get any effects, but after the 5 seconds you get hit with all of them at once" or something

[@ACE-qh5de]

sage ult should be a lil bit like clove , the ally get's to move while being resurrected so that they don't die instantly

[@darioromanini554]

For the sage ult i thought it would be nice if the revived person had some kind of over heal shield after reviving, that goes off quickly Like if the sage matter that you revives from is still on your body and provides a short period of overheal that goes beyond the 150hp cap, or maybe just acts like the iso shield It could also act like the clove ult with a dismiss time It would gives the revived ally more chances to survive

[@mreverything7056]

The big problem with Gekko is that if you don’t kill him, his utility comes back FAST. Almost too fast compared to other initators. And he has wingman and dizzy, meaning if he loses one, he has another he can use to still help out Cypher’s big issue is that the trips and cam can be hidden pretty well and get passive intel with GLOBAL range. No other sentinel has such passive utility for global range. They might just reduce the range of his utility from global to 40m

[@dadrako1581]

Na cypher’s identity is supposed to be global info, the who I know exactly where you are. They just need to decrease his site hold. He shouldn’t be able to hold like a site to the same extent as a deadlock or kj.

[@mreverything7056]

@@dadrako1581 I just fear that that’s most likely what will happen to him. I would rather nerf his tripwire or make his camera make a buzzing noise to anyone being watched, but this is most likely what’ll happen to cypher.

[@yourbelovedautumn]

that's his niche though, cypher would be d tier if he had a range limit on his trips when they're already really easy to walk past

[@funkycrawler619]

I also do agree, touching Sage without touching Deadlock is crazy (I still feel her Wall should be permanent until broken cause it is a signature) but I do think people have found what Deadlock is really good at which is post-plant. Sage doesn't really have that niche anymore so I feel they may try and reinforce what it was before which was "correcting mistakes" in a way so her Rez/Heal and maybe even Wall probably will be buffed in a way.

[@yourbelovedautumn]

thrash 10000x needs a nerf, 7 point ult that you can use twice, that's ridiculous and makes it really easy to snowball on round 3 if you won pistol and win your anti eco because you'll have ult by then

[@ohhkida]

sage wall breaking damage, like grenade shrapnel (if you are close only enemy damage tho) different sound on wingman defuse

[@galacticguac]

I think for thrash they just shouldn't let you get ult orbs when you get still pick up thrash. Sometimes you see pro players thrash, get a kill, get an orb, plant, then pick up thrash. Once they use him again, they're already at 3/7 for the next thrash. Just make it so if you do something to earn an orb while thrash is on the ground or on cooldown you don't get the orb

[@flashfire1259]

I think simply maybe a middle nerf. Reducing Reuse time in the middle of what it previously and currently? But as the comments saying a Thrash nerf to 8 points and maybe a specific reuse time nerf on that ability is the most in line. Because even in my ranked games because of how Gecko works? You see them HARDDD farm his ult. Both Orbs + Plant. Long as you get 1 kill or even two you can get it almost every 2 rounds.

[@darioromanini554]

Maybe the phoenix blaze wall could deal damages over time, like if the person passing through was burning Could also make the heal act the same way but it would be to strong for ranked I guess maybe the molly could do the same, idk

[@loris1776]

Woudnt it also be a reasonable nerf to deny Ult points when geeko is planing/defusing with wingman. You still have the advantage of the full defuse but it comes with a significant tradeoff. On attack its the same thing. Icebox for example, where planting is a pain in the ass most of the time so you need to decide if its worth to give up an Ult point for a save plant. Also less geeko ults without changing the ult cost.

[@LazyOfficiaI]

Remove the 40sec timer for the wall to break. The only way you should get rid of the wall is by destroying it, not waiting for it to break by itself

[@zarazkribblez]

Wingman defuse is integral to the character identity, they cannot do the change you're talking about. They're going to take power out of his ultimate to try to balance his skills.

[@BezzleNA]

I think Wingman only being able to half or defuse the 2nd half of the spike is a good nerf. Planting takes 4 seconds, so he should only defuse 4 seconds. I think his biggest issue is his ult. The fact that he can use it 2 TIMES in 1 round and still pick up orbs in the process is insane. Either make it a 1 and done, or make it so he can't get ult points after using the 1st charge of Thrash.

[@lumi2519]

they should give phoenix 2 smokes, 2 short tps, a better flash(like it goes through walls) and his ult allows him to tp anywhere on the map

[@swabbie2066]

They should make pheonix's wall work like harbors I think high tided the one he pushes out I think something like that but shorter and wider

[@beyond3005]

would it be crazy to say, instead of increasing gekko ult cost, that gekko cannot earn orbs while thrash is recoverable (until fully expired) ? dont know if its too extreme but yea, how often its possible for gekko to have his ult online every 2-3 rounds is crazy and i feel alot of it just stems from the snowballing of a round of using thrash in the first place

[@KneeOfficial]

I think another potential cypher nerf would be to make his ult only ping once, or to just make it 7 points.

[@whereami.]

I think Cypher ult was originally 7 cost, which proved to be too weak, so they buffed the cost to 6 and was still too weak, which led to the major buff of pinging twice. The original problem was one ping being too weak even after adjusting it to 6 ult points. Two pings for 7 points makes more sense for a nerf.

[@yourbelovedautumn]

these nerfs are pointless though, his ult is situational and not at all why he's dominant, just nerf his trips its clearly the problem

[@cadenhenderson4322]

The phoenix proposed changes dont make much sense to me cause the wall and molly applying effects is more Viper's niche. Honestly phoenix's wall is mostly used as another heal, which feels clunky and a bit dumb. Maybe it should insta-heal on contact so you can actually fight with it and counter getting sprayed through the wall at chokepoints

[@YMan-zo5kg]

I definitely think if blaze wall went further and through walls phoenix would be a way better option for filling the duelist role in high level play.

[@cloudberryjam]

You didn't even mention the Harbor buffs :(

[@FinchDaRovo]

giving vern to phx molly and wall will kinda put it in similar category to viper, I think more of a rework is needed

[@f4zbear_vlr]

wingman defuse+harbor is a nightmare to deal with

[@bac0ntoast]

I just had a random idea. What if sovas drone showed all cypher trips in line of sight, but cyphers cam dart instakilled sova drone 🤔🤔🤔

[@Max-Sama]

What if you could avoid being ping by Cypher ult by not moving? Or if it had a range like KJ ult around the body you ult, maybe if it was the first one, you don't show in the map but it stills pings you with the shadow stuff so it becomes useful 😂

[@seanlee5764]

I think just make wingman not rechargeable. In that way players are forced to either use wingman to plant or defuse.

[@TheMasterboi1]

No gekko full defuse is a major nerf. Extend wingan defuse to 8-9 secs

[@river.]

Make the wall translucent for your team and opaque for the enemy

[@TheMasterboi1]

Op as fuck basically wall hacks for your team

[@ParthDeshpande1802]

I think phoenix molly should be used for lineups by removing the range❤

[@tbet10]

Gun fire rate slowed down when they are in slow maybe for sage

[@kunuto8807]

I think it would be quite interessting if sage slows would give teammates speedboosts

[@brayanmedina5526]

Bro they need to nerf the fucking Gekko flash, that shit is ridiculously precise from far and also sometimes hit hits u through walls or while moving. One good Gekko flash can win you a round easily and if you don't have an angle to shoot it ur fucked. At least you can dodge the other flashes.

[@bub7391]

For phoenix I could see them adding 2 walls or 2 mollies.

[@danielkim988]

Knowing riot theyre prob j gon extend phoenix wall length and call it a day 😔

[@slebvlr]

7:30 but if you are in a 1v1 against a smoker, ITS THE SAME THING, arguebly worse (you need to play close and check bomb). I do not think you can argue that his 1v1 possibilitys are too strong. Also the second point is EXACTLY the same, assuming the defending team has some sort of smoke on bomb (even if not, a tap forces action anyways, as they can be sticking, just that they do not NEED to be on (assuming they tap it is not correct in every scenario). I'll be honest, the points you are making are kinda weak in my opinion and I think you are missing the point of what makes Gekko super strong. HIS COOLDOWNS. you can use wingman, dizzy and thrash again after 10s!! I think the first thing they should and will tackle are his reuse-cooldowns and the plant/defuse is tbh not such a big problem.

[@xter5967]

i think having different sound que when wingman defusing is kind of important

[@batman106]

You can hear the little guy running plus he makes a weird sound when defusing 😂

[@underscorex4]

there is a different sound que

[@TheHairyKnee]

Tbh just make it so that wingman plamts don't give your orb

[@merkwey]

Gecko is 100% getting a reuse nerf at the least

[@lexor28852]

Instead of speeding up the res animation, why not just give people a dismiss after the animation, like what clove has. Itd still be possible to spawn kill the player respawning but itd be harder, and would give the sage and their team a little bit more time to try and fight to protect the person being revived

[@Cheasle2]

if you do that it's literally Clove ult but better in every way

[@lexor28852]

@@Cheasle2 no? You can't self res as sage lol. And you still have to get sage to the body to use it. Clove can freely ult as long as they can get away, which you'd have to do after being sage resd still too.

[@codexanax9795]

Give skye her 3rd flash back rito. Skye's the only initiator without rechargeble abilities 🙃

[@TheMasterboi1]

Nerf thrash to 8 points but an extra .6 seconds duration for thrash

[@micteague4]

Is there any chance of Phoenix just getting a rework? That would be what I’m hoping for, not so much just a buff in general, that would be boring asf Like what to they do, make his ult last longer? ie- walk farther?, maybe he can have abilities refreshed when ulting, but again that feels meh I think adding a status effect to a character to buff them is just lazy asf

[@funkycrawler619]

A rework is unlikely because they probs would explictly state it like they did with Yoru since that means completely new aspects of the kit.

[@dazaiosamu7184]

give him a stim when he ults, let his wall curve and let us cancel the ult manually

[@Bnji_]

100% percent nerfing phx ult and buffing the rest of his kit

[@fl0rian0tt89]

how to nerf gekkos wingman diffuse? BUFF IT! make it so wingman can optionally tap or half the spike and not have to stick

[@curtisclewett5249]

no they would still just stick it and same problem

[@FaIIenSkater91]

People will start halfing for wingman to get the second half

[@infinite1483]

They really need to buff Sage's heal there should be no world where the e-kitten agent has a worse heal than Skye

[@RA1N_444]

List of suggestions: Phoenix - Unless buffed into overpowered territory, he won't have a place in pro play. KAY/O leans way too much into his territory, but has a support flash and ZERO/POINT which is a great ability on every map where anchors have limited positions to anchor from. They need to kick KAY/O out of his duelist sub-class entirely to pry open a niche for Phoenix. Sage - Doesn't need all that much in my eyes. She is still the agent with the best plant/defuse facilitator in the game. She is also the agent that cares the least about both ZERO/POINT and Kill Contract. Maybe buff her ult like TMV suggests (shorten the animation) or give the res'ed body an Iso-esque shield to make it more tradeable. Cypher - Also mostly fine. He is the best Neon counter, and I think he should stay this way. The cage cost is kinda dumb, it should be 150 at minimum. Gekko - The most complex one. He has two things that are kinda problematic. First has been adressed in the video; Wingman demands too many ressources as he is unreasonably tanky, has a small hitbox, and is unaffected by status effects. I would suggest removing the half-way point for Wingman defuses, if he dies after 4s, unlucky, go back to zero. The second "issue" is Dizzy. An effective 14s cooldown on an Initiator's recon kinda violates the usual pacing of info cycles. I would change Dizzy in a way that makes him less retrievable after seeing an enemy, his current trajectory allows too many uncontested Globules

[@Mezurashii5]

Cypher's such an anti fun agent. Every ability of his is annoying to play against AND awkward to use.

[@tanhd5707]

one trip for cypher is the nerf we need

[@ntztv7855]

I'll make Sage able to heal through walls with longer range.

[@Jin-jb1fz]

no comments in the first minute bro fell off (love the vids HAHA)

[@counter-terrorists4859]

dumbest idea to nerf gekko, you should try and come up with better changes

[@Mattaiu]

Personally nerf cypher to the ground, so sick of him.

[@Scourge-of-God]

Just remove phoenix, trust me

[@galactica9551]

one minute ago is sexual assault

[@yrezzi3844]

Hi tmv!

[@alphamendontexist]

buff chamber and iso

[@Hello-wo4sx]

no

[@curtisclewett5249]

iso is hella strong

[@Jtowchi]

Jinggg buff

[@dziugazz]

You talk about them not making the wall go through walls, then say give the wall a vulnerable (a teamplay mechanic)...

[@TurtleGatorade.]

If they keep balancing agent like that the game becomes boring really boring as valorant is now like that non of the character feels like a game changer or any agent where you can feel the main character like jet was back then like chamber was back then game was fun yes may be not for pro player but in ranked if ur good then play chamber play jet carry ur team don't complaint ooh they are way too strong if u think they are strong then play it

[@TurtleGatorade.]

I am just saying valorant is really boring right now just because non of the agent feels flashy or dominating like you have to play very conrdinated to dominate as in current state of valorant which is obviously very weird for ranks and casual plays you have to play serious and plan with ur util and all that not very fun in ranked

[@bopon4090]

What do you mean play that agent? only one player can play that agent and if not balanced then what will the remaining 4 players do?? Just support the star player? If you really want a star player then improve your aim and play Reyna. The only limiting factor with reyna is your skill.

[@RA1N_444]

ranked players got blessed with a literal tank with a non-skillcheck snowball mechanic lmao

[@ShadowSmileyXD]

First

[@melenetimizarlepen4383]

1:41 u where alon in the chat to want fenix's wall to go trough ingame wall