As the release date of Valorant Episode 4 Act 3 draws near, more details about the massive upcoming update continue to get leaked on the internet.
One of the changes that has got many Valorant players upset is the massive nerf to Sova that’s set to be introduced alongside patch 4.08.
If you’re looking to know more about this upcoming Sova nerf, and how it can potentially redefine Sova’s place in the competitive meta, we have you covered.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Sova nerf in Valorant Episode 4 Act 3.
Valorant Episode 4 Act 3 Nerfs Sova’s Shockdart & Drone
While many players are looking forward to the release of Fade as Valorant’s newest Initiator, Sova fans are quite worried about the Agent’s future in the meta.
Valorant 4.08 will bring massive nerfs to Sova’s Shockwave and Drone that might make Fade the better option as any team’s primary Initiator.
From what has been revealed so far, Sova’s Shockwave damage will be reduced from a maximum of 90 to 75, which means that unless a player manages to land both Shockdarts at the exact location of an enemy, it will no longer be enough to kill them.
It goes without saying that this will heavily reduce Sova’s impact at all stages of the game since the dual Shockdarts will almost never be enough to kill armored opponents unless they’re already damaged.
The duration of flight for Sova’s Drone has also been reduced from 10 seconds to 8 seconds. Additionally, targets that the Drone manages to mark will only tick two times instead of three, which is quite a significant nerf to say the least.
Furthermore, Sova players may also need to change their current lineups for Shock Darts since the Agent will also undergo a viewmodel change when equipping the ability. From patch 4.08, Sova’s left arm will be covering the bottom-left part of the player’s HUD when he equips his Shock Darts, making some existing lineups that rely on lining up the HUD with certain textures impossible to make. Sova mains aren’t very happy about this change, and many players have been vocal about this change being unnecessary.
It’d be interesting to see how the professional players manage to adapt to the nerfed Sova, or whether they’ll shift towards the new Agent Fade. It’s safe to say that the latter will be dominating the pubs for the next few weeks unless the nerfs are reverted by the devs.
