VALORANT Episode Eight, Act Three officially goes live today with the launch of patch 8.08. In this final act of the eighth episode, two of the agents that have been the most impactful in the current meta are receiving significant changes.
Alongside these two major agent updates, patch 8.08 also includes some long-awaited changes to Premier and a number of bug fixes. Here’s the rundown of all the highlights of VALORANT patch 8.08, starting with easily the biggest change to the meta in a long time.
VALORANT Patch 8.08 notes: Buffs, nerfs, and more
Immense Viper nerfs
During the 7.09 patch, a small number of Viper nerfs were accidentally introduced early, but these were just the tip of the iceberg.
- Viper only has one charge of Snake Bite now. The cost of the single Snake Bite charge is 300 credits. The duration of Snake Bite’s effect has increased from 5.5 second to 6.5 seconds.
- Poison Cloud cannot be picked up and replaced during a round, it can only be picked up during the buy phase.
- The maximum uptime for Toxic Screen and Poison Cloud has been reduced to 12 seconds, and the minimum fuel needed to activate each smoke has been increased to 30 percent. To balance these changes, the cooldown on reactivating these abilities after placing them has been reduced to just five seconds.
These are some of the most monumental changes that Viper has ever received in VALORANT. Only one Snake Bite instead of two drastically nerfs her ability to play post-plant, even if the Snakebite duration does get a minor buff; previously she had 11 seconds worth of the Snakebite effect, but now it’s only 6.5.
Taking away the ability to pick up and re-place Poison Cloud is also huge, as it anchors Viper to a specific site and requires her to be more decisive when placing. These changes will completely derail how overwhelming Viper’s utility can be in certain situations.
Cypher Trapwire and Spycam nerfs
The two most valuable abilities in Cypher’s ability kit have been nerfed to give enemy players more counterplay opportunities. The devs state that in his current state, Cypher’s stalling powers have been pushed too far. Here are the 8.08 changes to Cypher:
- The re-arm time for Trapwire has been increased from one to two seconds.
- The slow effect on Trapwire has been reduced from two to 1.25 seconds.
- Enemies can now hear a looping audio cue when they are actively being watched on the Spycam.
With the Trapwire changes, players that are caught in the wires will have a better chance of escaping before a second charge detains them. The Spycam changes will nerf the ability for a well-placed hidden camera to constantly feed enemy position information to a Cypher’s team.
Premier changes
The Premier Score minimum needed to qualify for playoffs has been lowered to 600. Teams can now earn guaranteed promotion into the next division by winning their playoff tournament. Teams
A number of major Premier changes will be introduced at the start of Episode Nine, including the new Invite Division that will serve as the official entryway into VCT Challengers leagues. Teams that win a Contender Division playoff tournament or finish in the top 32 of Contender Division standings this act will be promoted into Invite next act.
