Chamber has been in Valorant now for more than a year. Since his introduction, we have had lots of Agent releases in the form of Neon, Fade, Harbor, Gekko, and more. However, none of them have been as impactful as Chamber was to the game’s meta back then. This piece will look at how his introduction to the game changed the way Riot designs Agents forever.
Contents
- How Introducing Chamber in Valorant Changed The Game Forever
- Chamber’s Impact on Competitive Play
- The Nerf
- How Chamber’s Nerf Impact Famous Teams and Their Success
- The Agents Introduced After Chamber in Valorant
- The Problem with ISO and Deadlock
- Why Was (Pre-Nerf) Chamber So Influential in Valorant?
How Introducing Chamber in Valorant Changed The Game Forever
Ever since his release, there was a point in the game’s time when every team had at least one Chamber, not just in Ranked but also in competitive play. Why shouldn’t the teams play him? He had two traps with massive range, essentially providing good information. In addition, he also had two teleporting anchors with much better range than it is now.
You could easily teleport from one site to the other if you knew how to set it properly and you also had an ultimate which was easy to get and way faster and better than the Operator. Not only did it one-shot enemies to any part of the body, but it left a slow field for an increased amount of time which made it difficult to enter onto sites.
It also had a way faster rechambering time than the Operator which allowed players to farm enemies with the ability. Essentially, this kit made him a must-have Agent in the hands of Duelist players or Aimers. That had effects on professional play, let’s see how.
Chamber’s Impact on Competitive Play
Chamber was the shining star of every professional team’s composition. If you want to know about the Chamber’s importance in a team winning tournaments then look no further than OpTic, one of the greatest Valorant teams of all time who were denied franchising. OpTic’s compositions were fundamentally strong and with Chamber being added to the mix, they had Jaccob ‘yay’ Whiteaker take over the role.
Chamber was made for El Diablo (yay’s nickname) as he used to dominate matches with the Agent and with that domination, came consistency and trophies. OpTic was by far the most consistent team NA had ever seen. They won VCT Masters Reykjavik in dominating fashion against LOUD while they placed 3rd and 2nd in VCT Masters Copenhagen and Valorant Champions 2022 respectively.
We are not claiming that yay’s Chamber got them these winnings, but it was a huge part of it. Chamber could hold a site quite easily due to his teleport anchor and he also had two trip wires for two entry points. Sure, other teams used him but no one utilized him quite like OpTic and FPX, the winners of VCT Masters Copenhagen.
Now that we know how impactful Chamber was to the meta of the game and the teams winning tournaments, what happened to him after the nerf? What happened to the players who were known for playing him in tournaments?
The Nerf
When the dreaded Chamber nerf hit the game, he was never looked at in the same way. The Chamber nerf hit Valorant in Patch 5.12 and the meta was never the same again. Riot nerfed Chamber to maintain a balance in the game. Here is what they said, “Chamber’s remained a dominant pick and we need to strike the right balance between preserving his identity and maintaining Valorant’s game health.”
Essentially, they had to nerf him because he was fulfilling multiple roles, of being a Duelist and a Sentinel. However, they did not just nerf him, they “straight murdered Chamber,” said yay in one of his tweets. What followed were nerfs to his teleport anchor, its range and its availability once destroyed.
They also nerfed the Tour De Force, the range of his Trademark, and the firing ability of the Headhunter. Chamber was never the same after this patch, and what happened to the players who used him? Let us find out.
How Chamber’s Nerf Impact Famous Teams and Their Success
By the time the Chamber nerf hit the servers, the Championship teams had already disbanded but the nerf affected the players who made their reputation as Chamber players. Most prominently, we are talking about Koji “Laz” Ushida, Yu “BuZz” Byung-chul, Matthew “Cryocells” Panganiban, and Jaccob “yay” Whiteaker.
Laz was one of Japan’s greatest players and was known for his Chamber plays, he reverted back to playing other Sentinels like Killjoy majorly. He is still a part of ZETA Division, a team that did not see much success in VCT 2023. The same thing happened with BuZz. However, he switched to a flex role, generally alternating between Killjoy and Duelists like Yoru, Raze, and Jett.
The nerf hit hardest for Cryocells and Yay. Cryo was a part of 100 Thieves, a team that was expected to outperform most teams in the American circuit. However, they did not even manage to qualify for Masters and Champions events. That result is not Cryo’s fault but the team was not the same after Cryo’s comfort was taken away. He had to go back to Duelist and occasionally Sage.
Yay on the other hand had the worst year. He signed onto Cloud 9 after OpTic but was removed from the team due to “role issues.” While he played matches for Tier 2 Valorant, he was never the same. The Chamber nerf hit his career and made him miss a year of competitive play. He is now a part of Bleed Esports in the Pacific Region and is going to be playing in VCT 2024.
The Agents Introduced After Chamber in Valorant
Here is the problem, the Agents released after Chamber never garnered enough attention from the crowd to acquire a permanent place in a team composition like Chamber had during the brief duration he was the best Agent in the game. Let’s analyze this.
Neon was occasionally seen in multiple compositions for different maps but is not the go-to Duelist for any map like Jett is. Fade has some nice abilities that can delay enemies but even those abilities received heavy nerfs. Harbor is highly dependent on other Controllers to be successful competitively. Gekko is only seen in a select few compositions in the hands of multi-talented players.
The success we see for all these Agents is only in a select few maps and in compositions where they are complemented by other Agents. Chamber by himself, in the hands of a talented player, could change the outcome of a game quite easily, which none of these Agents can do. That leaves us with the latest additions to the game, Deadlock and ISO. These two are prime examples of why Riot is playing it safe with their new Agent introductions.
The Problem with Deadlock and ISO
Deadlock and ISO are the two newest Agents in the game. In VCT Champions 2023, Deadlock was an option for teams to pick yet she had a 0% pick rate. No team picked her and we can only think of one reason. Chamber was so influential to the game’s meta that Riot did not want to make the same mistake twice.
That might be the reason why they are purposely underpowering the new Agents they are releasing, including Deadlock, a fellow Sentinel. Her utility is easily replaceable and she does not provide anything of value for the team to use. ISO on the other hand has some good things going about him, particularly the Undercut and Contingency abilities but his Ultimate is just a glorified 1V1.
Playing it safe and introducing underpowered Agents can be bad for the game’s health down the line. The Chamber meta lasted for quite a while. Since his nerf, he has been selected a number of times in professional play and suits those comps quite well.
Essentially, what we think is that introducing a slightly overpowered Agent is fine because there is always an option to see how the community responds to them and make changes accordingly. By underpowering Agents from the get-go, we never see what their true potential is in a team composition.
ISO hasn’t been touched in A Tier events thus far, we will have to wait and see till the 2024 season begins.
Why Was (Pre-Nerf) Chamber So Influential in Valorant?
Chamber was one of the most influential Agents before his nerf. Everyone from Unrated to professional players played him. The reason why he was so influential was because his kit was simple and easy to use. It did not require you to learn lineups or any other complicated angles to get value out of. You just needed good tracking and aiming mechanics.
Simplicity in Agents is also why they get popular in the game. Look at Jett, Killjoy and Sage. They are easy to use and do not require you to master the mechanics. In that way, these Agents can appeal to both newbies and old players. Chamber was the same. Currently, ISO and Deadlock do not have these qualities. At the end of the day, Valorant is a shooter. Guns will still be the most effective at killing opponents and Chamber had two of them in his kit. That is why he stood out.
Giving Agents abilities that can help them or their teammates secure an advantage or hold an angle or a choke should be the goal, even if those abilities are not fancy or flashy. The success of an Agent is determined by how useful they are, not how cool their abilities look.
