Neglected Valorant agent desperately needs a buff now more than ever

One of Valorant’s most underused agents is in desperate need of a buff, and for one pretty big reason which is actually out of their control.

Over the last few months, Valorant’s meta has gone through a little bit of a shake-up. Not only have Riot Games added new agents to the mix in the form of Tejo and Waylay, but they’ve also tweaked the existing roster as well.

Pretty much all of the agents have seen changes in some way. Cypher, whose pick rate was spiking for the first time in a while, was hit with a set of nerfs back in 9.10, which has seen him return to a solid place in the meta.

On the flip side, you’ve got Clove who has been getting some love. Her ‘Not Dead Yet’ ability had its kill time reduced by two seconds, and that has seen her become the go-to Controller in Valorant.

Skye’s pick rate helped by Bind, but Bind is going

However, Skye has been overlooked for a little while now. The Initiator, who has been around since 2020 and a previous main of mine, hadn’t seen a change since 9.04. She had to wait until 10.03 to get any sort of love for the first time in a while – if we ignore bug fixes.

In that patch, her Seekers were buffed to slow enemy dashes. However, her pick rate remains middling. As per Tracker.GG, the Aussie has a pick rate of 2.4%, which puts her as the 20th most-used agent. She shouldn’t be that low at all. 

As players have pointed out, that will only get worse with the removal of Bind for Competitive. At Masters Bangkok, Skye had a 43% pick rate in games on that map. For the event as a whole, though, her pick rate was around 7%. 

Being a one-map crutch isn’t a healthy spot for any agent, especially when that map is disappearing. 

Tracker.GG

Skye’s win rate is below some of the lesser-picked Agents too.

In terms of what Riot could do to fix that, giving more strength to her flash would help. The Guiding Light ability should be rechargeable or swapped in price with her heal. Sure, the flashes were too powerful a while back, but reducing the time on then while making them rechargeable would bring them in line.

Some players also suggested reducing the cost of her ultimate. That would be “giving her some power compared to a Tejo drone,” one said. 

Riot flagged that Clove has been “overperforming” in Ranked recently and made adjustments in patch 10.04 to ensure she is in a “healthy” spot. Skye’s fall off is the next big thing for them to make a note of. Hopefully, we don’t wait too long. Otherwise she may disappear like Bind.