Valorant's resident snake woman has been unpopular since the game's launch on June 2. With her sight-blocking wall and smoke abilities, she is not the most unique character in Valorant's lineup, and the peculiarities of how she manages her toxin fuel gauge further complicate her play style.

Viper is largely ignored in high-level play. In 102 matches played in a recent tournament organized by the professional team T1, Viper was selected only once. (2]

Valorant patch 1.04 will buff Viper and make several other meaningful adjustments. Below is a breakdown of how Viper will change, courtesy of Riot:

Viper's Toxin Pit Ultimate is supposed to cut through a small chunk of the map where Viper has a clear advantage, but since he must stay in the pit, enemies will be able to s location is easier to pinpoint. By more than doubling the amount of time Viper can spend outside the pit, there is room for more strategic use. It could be used as a very large smoke grenade to cover a push, rather than just for confinement after setting up a spike.

Let's see Viper's ultimate ability in action.

Right now, the attenuation effect seems so insignificant that you barely notice it happening when you step into Viper's pit or smoke grenade. The 50 percent increase in attenuation per second is quite significant. Just spending a few seconds in the pit erodes the entire shield. The delay until health begins to recover is also annoying. In a tense recapture battle with Viper, 2.5 seconds is a long time to stay at a significant health disadvantage, and Riot is aiming heavily for Viper's ult here. If the goal is to ace her Toxin Pit, this could be the one to do it.

One of Viper's biggest struggles is the need to stick to single-shot smoke grenades and wall placement. By allowing them to be used together without an immediate drain on fuel, Riot frees her up to have maximum control over her visibility on the map. Compared to other characters, she will still feel like a defensive plate spinner, but that should be good news for players who prefer that style of play.

Raze

Raze's rocket launcher ult is a surefire way to get free kills; I don't think adding a point of ult will lessen its significance, but even one more round without that dreaded rocket would be a plus.

Brimstone

I felt that some nerf was inevitable, as a well-timed Orbital Strike on Spike could literally win a round of Brimstone without putting yourself in danger. However, as with Raze, one additional point of ult feels like Riot is simply testing the waters.

Cypher

Simple but helpful change to Cypher's QOL. His cage toss range is a bit subtle, so it's nice to be able to fix his terrible placement before the round starts. Next time, could you let me pick it up after winning a round to save a few credits in the next purchase phase?

Classic (default pistol)

There are a lot of numbers, but you should know that the classic is 10% more accurate when stationary/crouching, less accurate when walking, and only slightly less accurate when running. In fact, if you are going to shoot while moving, you should run. Also, you should not shoot while jumping (this is not Call of Duty), and if you use alternate firing, you sadly lose the versatility of a shotgun.

The 1.04 patch notes also include a few small updates, such as improved audio mixing for the flashy Elderflame skin, and the roar of the $99 gun dragon no longer drowns out the sound of enemy footsteps. riot has also added a new feature to weapon streaming upgrade videos instead of storing them locally, cutting nearly 400 MB from the already small installation size.