As a sworn controller principal, I used to be stoked when Riot dropped a water bender who spoke my language. I used to be all in, rooting for this man to dominate, however after forcing him on my teammates for 5 months throughout my FPS sport adventures, I needed to wave the white flag. It’s a disgrace to say it, however Harbor has received to be the most important flop in Valorant controller historical past.
Bear in mind Valorant patch 2.06? That replace modified the whole lot for controllers. Viper spent about 4 acts on the sidelines as a result of her toolkit had nothing of substance, however then Riot put the work in, bringing her to the highest of the decide charge chart. The two.06 buff was a turning level for controller mains, and it appears historical past is repeating itself.
5 months after his launch, Harbor is a D-tier agent at max. With no area of interest and specialty, the water-bender is following within the footsteps of Viper. Besides, his talents are a lot trickier to buff. In his present kind, Harbor is ineffective – perhaps even worse than pre-2.06 Viper.
What precisely is fallacious with Harbor?
Every Valorant agent focuses on one thing. Gamers decide Reyna for self-sufficiency, Raze for motion techniques, and Gekko for Wingman. So why would anybody select Harbor over Viper – or another controller for that matter. Anybody can do what Harbor can, and that’s the problem.
The true objective of a controller is to decelerate enemies and assist spur on an assault, two issues that Harbor’s toolkit is simply not reduce out for. Omen, Brimstone, Astra, Viper; everybody else can decelerate enemy motion; why not Harbor? He isn’t geared up with even a single potential that successfully does the job. His Cove will not be fairly a smoke, so whereas gamers initially known as him a hybrid, his decide charge wouldn’t look so dangerous if he have been one.
Harbor’s Cascade stays up for seven seconds and may solely be used as soon as in a single spherical. Certain, he can bend it to will, however the sluggish impact barely advantages anybody within the long-range duels. Comparatively, Viper’s Poisonous Display screen sticks for 15 seconds and might be reused once more after an eight second calm down. It additionally offers decoy harm, which is efficacious in any respect duel ranges.
Harbor was added to the roster with out a smoke, and it didn’t look like a difficulty again then. However a controller wants a smoke; Harbor’s declining reputation proves it. As a hybrid, his toolkit doesn’t contribute a lot to the sport. Even a single Viper-like smoke might be Harbor’s much-needed saving grace.
Riot might simply make Harbor a viable decide by including a stun or slippery slope of water as an alternative of Cascade to his toolkit. The cellular wall helps create new angles, but it surely’s nothing to jot down residence about. Lastly, his Reckoning is essentially the most underwhelming final in Valorant. In a rushed battlefield, no person has time to search for ethereal wisps, and the ensuing concuss is manner too sluggish.
Harbor is a troublesome agent to buff
Harbor is now not a brand new agent, so there’s no solution to defend his low decide charge. In aggressive Valorant, just one.1% of gamers play Harbor. Even Gekko’s decide charge is increased than his, and he’s barely competed a month. The stats present that Harbor is the worst agent within the present Valorant meta, and there’s little Riot can do about it.
When Viper was struggling, all gamers had the identical thought: Simply add some extra poison to her Poisonous Display screen. So Riot considerably buffed the decay in smoke and the hitbox of the wall, and voila! You bought a top-tier controller. Viper was easy, however Harbor’s toolkit is totally different. Even with Riot’s efforts to buff him, Harbor should still find yourself within the D-tier, much like Yoru.
Harbor doesn’t deal harm in any respect. His toolkit slows, and it’s extremely unlikely that boosting the sluggish would persuade gamers to choose him once more. Cascade can also be a easy potential that doesn’t do a lot moreover creating angles. His Cove might get a lift in well being, however that may be too dangerous and break Valorant’s talent cycle. His Reckoning, nevertheless, might use some work by altering how wisps function.
Harbor didn’t fairly hit the mark, however Gekko broke the brand new agent curse in Valorant. It’s value making an attempt out the newest Valorant character (or any agent aside from Harbor for that matter), but when India’s most interesting thief has stolen your coronary heart, then perhaps lock in the most effective Valorant crosshairs to make issues just a little simpler.
