As a sworn controller important, 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 recreation 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.
Keep in mind Valorant patch 2.06? That replace modified every little thing 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 – possibly even worse than pre-2.06 Viper.
What precisely is mistaken with Harbor?
Every Valorant agent focuses on one thing. Gamers decide Reyna for self-sufficiency, Raze for motion ways, and Gekko for Wingman. So why would anybody select Harbor over Viper – or every other controller for that matter. Anybody can do what Harbor can, and that’s the difficulty.
The true function 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 means that successfully does the job. His Cove shouldn’t 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 might solely be used as soon as in a single spherical. Positive, 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 will be reused once more after an eight second calm down. It additionally offers decoy harm, which is effective in any respect duel ranges.
Harbor was added to the roster with out a smoke, and it didn’t seem to be a problem again then. However a controller wants a smoke; Harbor’s declining recognition proves it. As a hybrid, his toolkit doesn’t contribute a lot to the sport. Even a single Viper-like smoke may very well be Harbor’s much-needed saving grace.
Riot may 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, however it’s nothing to jot down residence about. Lastly, his Reckoning is probably the most underwhelming final in Valorant. In a rushed battlefield, no one has time to search for ethereal wisps, and the ensuing concuss is method too sluggish.
Harbor is a tricky agent to buff
Harbor is not a brand new agent, so there’s no technique to defend his low decide charge. In aggressive Valorant, solely 1.1% 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 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 be a easy means that doesn’t do a lot in addition to creating angles. His Cove may get a lift in well being, however that may be too dangerous and break Valorant’s talent cycle. His Reckoning, nonetheless, may 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 price making an attempt out the most recent Valorant character (or any agent aside from Harbor for that matter), but when India’s most interesting thief has stolen your coronary heart, then possibly lock in top-of-the-line Valorant crosshairs to make issues a bit of simpler.
