Valorant: Is Viper Viable After Buffs?

Since patch 2.06, Viper has received several buffs that allow the poison-based agent to have a more immediate impact with her abilities. Such improvements include:

• Enemies in contact with Viper’s Poison Cloud, Toxic Screen or her ultimate, Viper’s Pit, are instantly inflicted with 50 decay
• Decay over time decreased
• Decay recovery time decreased
• Viper’s Poison Cloud and Toxic Screen last for 2 seconds after her death
• Her Poison Cloud can be repositioned instantly but now functions similarly to Cypher’s Tripwire or Killjoy’s Alarmbot, granting a temporary charge
• Her DoT Snakebite has a faster equip time

After taking a quick gander at Viper’s new gifts, one can immediately see her viability when it comes to everyday casual play. Viper is now an immediate threat because her passive now allows her to deal 50 damage to every enemy that touches her poison. Because of this change, Viper’s wall can effectively delay a quick push to a site by the duration of her poison tank, which could last up to 15 seconds. Her ability to create one-ways – areas where Viper and her teammates can see the enemy but not vice-versa – is paramount for holding sites and can now be repositioned with ease.

Pro Play

Since her inception, Viper has seen little time in the professional scene. Before the change, Viper’s toolkit was a mixture of those from a Sentinel and a Duelist but does not accomplish either role well. However, with patch 2.06, she has seen a steady increase of usage in the pro scene, especially on Icebox, where she is picked decently often.  

Casual Play

Viper has never been the simplest agent to play – a lot of her kit requires knowledge of one-ways, wall line-ups, and a higher level of positioning. At the time of writing, Viper sits at the lower third of agents played with a sub-par win rate. However, if one chooses to invest their time and energy into the American chemist, they could be heavily rewarded should she come into the meta.