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VALORANT: Chamber's nerf isn't as bad as everyone makes it out to be

VALORANT Chamber
Chamber is latest agent to get nerfed. (Image: Riot Games)

Riot has just released patch 4.09 for VALORANT, and the most major change that it implements is the nerf to Chamber's trap, the Trademark.

To recap for those that are not familiar with the ability, Chamber's Trademark trap will detect enemies that are in range of the trap's radius.

Once it detects an enemy, it will wind up to fire a beam at the enemy's position. This beam will create a field that will slow anyone that is in it (yes, including you and your teammates).

The trap is easily destroyed, however, as it has only 1 hp. But once it detects an enemy, the Chamber player is alerted anyway, whether it fires off the slow beam or not. And this is perhaps the strongest point of his Trademark trap.

In patch 4.09, Riot made these changes to this ability:

  • Cost increased 150 > 200

  • Charges reduced 2 > 1

  • Audio range increase

While this seems like a major nerf to his capabilities as a Sentinel (a role that is supposed to hold down sites and watch flanks), one can easily forget that he has a plethora of other extremely powerful abilities at his disposal.

Has he become the "worst" Sentinel?

No. Not by a long shot.

If anything, I would say that any Chamber player saying that needs to lean on the agent's other strengths a little more now to pull your weight as a Sentinel.

Sure, he has one less trap to let him or his teammates know where the enemies are approaching from or to slow them down.

But surely one has to realise that he still has one of the strongest traps in the game, ON TOP OF having a teleport and a mini-Guardian for his abilities, and a super-Operator as an ultimate.

His trap is the only trap that gives off information once it detects an enemy in its extremely large radius, no matter where the Chamber is positioned on the map.

A Killjoy that is out of range of her Alarm Bot or Turret can only dream of this.

Granted, you can now hear his traps from even further ranges, but if it's hidden or placed extremely well, it will detect you even before you can destroy it.

Would it be worth it to block its line of sight with a smoke, or destroy it with a damage dealing utility? That is up to you to decide.

One can argue that Cypher's traps are on par, but with just a slight misplace of his trap, watch Jetts and Razes fly over it with no issue (and god-forbid, getting crawled under).

Cypher also still lacks the ability to be aggressive in certain situations and able to live to tell the tale after.

And again, to reiterate what Riot Games wants to do with all of their characters; every agent has their own strengths and weaknesses. It is up to you as the player to make these agents work.

They are simply pushing Chamber towards the design principle that they had for the agent.

VALORANT Chamber
"He leverages his custom arsenal to hold the line and pick off enemies from afar." (Image: Riot Games)

Now, much like Jett players and her dash post-nerf, the Chamber player has to think smartly on where he should place his trap.

Instead of being able to cover three points (two by his trap, one by Chamber himself), he now has to find a position for the trap to cover these positions if he wants to cover a lot more points.

Chamber himself is an extremely lethal Sentinel if you have very good aim, which was the point of him being introduced to the game in the first place.

His game plan constitutes of personally being in the line of fire during defense, doing as much damage, and getting out when things get hairy.

Also, having a one-shot headshot pistol from any range (which is aptly named Headhunter, and highly effective during save rounds) is still one of the strongest things a player can have.

He was not meant to be a Killjoy replacement, and this change further intensifies this design element.

Although I need to deliberate a little more in game about his trap placement when I use him (I flex between the Sentinels, Yoru and the Initiators), I still don't find him being anywhere near "weak".

I do miss having two traps though, but I will gladly take a nerf to the trap than to have any of his other abilities being run to the ground.

At most, I could take a reduction to the amount of bullets Headhunter has, but anything beyond that will only take away from his identity as a in-your-face Sentinel.

You can read more about patch 4.09 and its changes here.

Dominic loves tech and games. When he is not busy getting headshotted in VALORANT or watercooling anything he sees, he does some pro wrestling.

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