Valorant Patch 7.12 to introduce Gekko Buffs

With the upcoming Valorant Patch 7.12, Riot will bring another set of balancing updates to the game. The upcoming patch will introduce changes to Skye and Gekko. With the patch, Gekko will receive some much-needed buffs which will help improving his effectiveness.

Valorant Patch 7.12 Agent Changes

Gekko

The Gekko buffs improve the effectiveness of Dizzy. The changes also speed up the creature reclaiming, improving the overall speed of the agent. These changes are as follows:

One of Gekko’s unique strengths is being able to reclaim his creatures. This change aims to make that process faster so you can reclaim them in more situations. In addition, we’re also increasing the reliability of Dizzy (E) to increase Gekko’s confidence when using the ability and to provide more incentive for him to engage with its reclaim.

• Reclaim for Dizzy (E), Wingman (Q), and Thrash (X)
  • Reduce reclaim channel time from 2s >>> 1s
• Dizzy (E)
  • Once Dizzy is ready to shoot and sees a target, they will shoot faster and the projectile will travel faster.
  • Pre-fire targeting delay decreased from 0.5s >>> 0.35s
  • Missile speed increased from 7000 to 10000

The biggest criticism for Gekko was the agent’s poor ‘flash’ i.e. Dizzy which was arguably the weakest signature ability (E) in the game. The Dizzy projectiles were slow and easy to dodge.

This weak signature ability undercut Gekko’s value in the game despite him having an unique and strong utility kit.

The buffs directly addresses the criticism. With multiple speed improvements for Dizzy, it will now be much more effective as compared to earlier.

These Dizzy buffs paired with the faster reclaim timing will likely propel Gekko in the front and center of the current meta.

Skye

The Skye changes slightly nerf the trailblazer’s prowess. The complete changes for Skye’s Trailblazer are as follows:

The changes are centered around pushing Skye to be more deliberate when using Trailblazer (Q):

• By locking the camera on Trailblazer when leaping, Skye has to be more thoughtful when making the choice to get extra distance with the leap vs fully clearing multiple angles without the leap.
• Enemies are now rewarded for successfully destroying Trailblazer mid-leap as it will cancel the concussion explosion.
• Making the concussion universal in terms of how it affects allies and enemies brings it in line with other abilities like Gekko’s Thrash. This requires more coordination and intentionality for Skye and her team to play around the Trailblazer successfully.
• Trailblazer (Q)
  • Camera movement is disabled during the leap.
  • When the Trailblazer is destroyed during the leap, it no longer causes a concuss explosion.
    • Trailblazer plays the destruction voice line when destroyed during the leap.
  • Trailblazer explosion now concusses allies as well as enemies.

These changes definitely limit Trailblazers capabilities but it is still a strong ability. The changes don’t impact Skye as much as they bring consistency across all abilities.

Valorant Patch 7.12 other updates:

The patch also introduces performance updates, bug fixes, a new loading screen and new rewards for Premier.

One of the major bug fixes in the patch is the kill awarded while casting an ability. Previously if a player was casting an ability and got a kill with another, the kill wasn’t awarded to him on the scoreboard.

For eg. Sova getting a shock dart kill while using Drone or Gekko getting a mosh pit kill while using Thrash.

Additionally, Riot will introduce the new TDM map with the patch. The map will be revealed during the VCT Game Changers Championship 2023 Grand Finals and will go live with the upcoming patch.

The Valorant Patch 7.12 goes live on 6th December. Stay tuned on Strafe for the complete Valorant Patch 7.12 notes.

Note: These are Beta patch notes and the actual changes might vary slightly. You can read the complete PBE notes here.

Featured Image credits: Riot Games

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