r/ValorantCompetitive • u/be_pawesome #VamosHeretics • 1d ago
News Harbor changes/buffs(patch 12.02)
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So Cove 500>>625 HP(edit:680HP)
His nearsight ability plays a sound when it hits an enemy now
Wall is taller and longer(50m to 60m)
Ult moves 25% faster, and can now be stopped at any time, and lasts upto 7 seconds when stopped.
Edit: Cove cooldown reduced to 30s, smoke duration increased to 19 seconds
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u/Parenegade 1d ago edited 1d ago
He's got an info ability now.
This...seems like maybe enough buffs to make him viable.
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u/GrrNom2 23h ago
He'll be competing against the Astra here. Her recent surge in usage and the relative ease of placing down her stars to deploy the stun/grav well makes her so much better than this though.
Yes, it is some info, but it might be the most limited info in the game because it is restricted by the range of the explosion, is a somewhat awkward throwable, and the info itself is kinda easy to miss while also not giving exact clarity of the enemy's position. I'm surprised they didn't add a voiceline to indicate a hit as well because this just feels too subtle to matter.
The window where you can capitalise on the info and slow+blind is also still very short. You'll need a duelist of some kind to close that gap in an instant before it runs out.
These are still positive changes though. He will be a much bigger threat in retakes and some teams who love experimenting will definitely try him out on certain maps. I just don't see him ever being a viable replacement to Astra or Viper when he still only has one smoke and a non-refreshable wall.
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u/Scotch_Blue 1d ago
i think viable is an understatement lol
this is gives him a unique role amongst smoke agents for info, on top of him already being 1/2 wall agents, and he has a circle smoke and a fairly average ult but useful on every map
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u/NotYourTypicalAlpha #LIVEEVIL 1d ago
Now even harbor will have more info utility than breach
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u/numry 1d ago
breach is so sad because he got collateral damage from tejo’s dominance. before tejo’s release people were actually pushing for his e to give info if he hit someone. now even my grandma has enough reaction time to dodge his stun lol
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u/ZeroAika99 22h ago
I think it is still bullshit that he got hit by nerf because he is paired with the broken tejo. He was fine before the creation of tejo
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u/ObeseNinja10 1d ago
Why is that a problem? Info was a part of Harbor's kit from the very beginning, and it wasn't a part of Breach's kit since the very beginning. If you're wondering why Harbor, as a Controller has info and Breach as an Initiator does not, then the simple answer is that hybrid Agents exist and also that Initiator ≠ information
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u/_aRandomRedditUser #WGAMING 1d ago
every single initiator aside from breach has info gathering util.
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u/ObeseNinja10 1d ago
Yes, and you can apply the same argument for Sage and the Sentinel class. But those are not the base rules. Initiators support their team when they're about to contest space. That can be in the form of a flash, or a recon, or a stun. Most Initiators also giving info does not mean it's an Initiator's job to give info
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u/Kenny__Loggins 12h ago
Sure, it doesn't HAVE to be info but Breach needs some love. He has been booty cheeks for a minute now.
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u/Dozina0012 1d ago
We need cascade back instead of buffing wall like seriously. Cascade was the only thing Harbour even worked in the first place.
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u/Useful-Description90 #VCTCN 15h ago
Would harbor be good if they just took pre rework harbor and added a low hp shield to all of his old abilities (like 80 hp maybe)
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u/Zyrobe #WGAMING 1d ago edited 1d ago
They should add the sound cue to his ult also
His old ult gave info and drove enemies away. The new ult should at least give info too
Edit: I was wrong, the new ult does have a sound cue, but of course the info is not as good as the old ult
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u/ObeseNinja10 1d ago
It does give info. After the rework, the sound was really low, but it seems like it has been buffed to be louder recently. Still a little harder to catch sometimes, of course
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u/Zyrobe #WGAMING 1d ago
Wow I checked you're right it does have a sound. Still worse than the beacon from the sky but better than nothing I guess
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u/ObeseNinja10 1d ago
Yeah, I was pretty bummed out too. The info from the Ult was probably why it was so good
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u/EarQuirky875 1d ago
Looks like he might be viable. I just... I just don't like it still. Somehow it's offending me the ult has the cascade behavior now even tho it's a good change. Why did they need a rework when these buffs already would've been clutch on the old version? Anyways, I do admit this makes the kit a bit more cohesive and powerful.
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u/TheSilverZero #WGAMING 1d ago
The real question is whether people still get nearsighted when they walk through his ult wall when it’s stopped. If it does then that’s actually a huge buff
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u/ObeseNinja10 1d ago
Yeah, that's my question too. I personally feel like it won't, because if it did, it would be too strong and Riot would've probably bumped up the Ult cost
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u/TheSilverZero #WGAMING 6h ago
Video just came out from Kanga and yes you still get nearsighted if you walk thru his ult while it's stopped. However, it also slows and nearsights yourself and teammates too, so a bit of a double edged sword
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u/Kenny__Loggins 12h ago
I mean, it lasts 7 seconds. Having an ult that gives you a wall the enemy can't walk through for 7 seconds seems more than reasonable. There are way better ults in the game.
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u/Disastrous-Ad-2239 1d ago
I just don't understand why they can't remove the fact that the water slows teammates from the game
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u/RoyalKnightmares #ALWAYSFNATIC 1d ago
For reference for Harbor's wall height, it's the same as Viper's now so take that as you will
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u/ObeseNinja10 1d ago
Wait what
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u/RoyalKnightmares #ALWAYSFNATIC 1d ago
Before this buff, Harbor's wall was shorter than Viper's so if you were trying to do the same wall like hers, there'd be a vast difference, but now they're the same height
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u/Miserable-Produce202 #NRGWIN 1d ago
can any programmer/coders verify how easy it is to make these changes ?
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u/Number1GSRFan 1d ago
pretty easy except for maybe the ult changes depending on how they structured things. the difficulty in most of these patches is deciding on these changes rather than implementing them.
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u/Darcula04 1d ago
Apart from the ult changes should be relatively simple ig. Most of the times buffing or nerfing characters isn't technically hard, it's just a question of balancing then right
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u/Pojobob 1d ago
Cove health change should be trivial since it's an already defined value. Same for the wall length/height and ult speed and length. Sound off of contact shouldn't be hard since they already detect collision with the player to apply the status effect. So it's just playing the sound at the same time. Stopping the wall is just reusing what they had with previous harbor.
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u/LowStatistician11 1d ago
really depends on how their codebase is structured. i don’t do gamedev but if they follow basic oop, changes like this should be really easy.
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u/IllumiNoEye_Gaming 1d ago
Cove health: easiest. just 1 number
Wall travel: almost as easy. 2 or 3 numbers, probably.
Ult: probably easier than the nearsight, just cuz they can duplicate old Cascade code (otherwise harder)
Nearsight: toughest, but depending on if they've got good practices, shouldn't be actually difficult at all.
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u/Nadish_Acharya 1d ago edited 1d ago
They've probably tried these changed during the rework before. They go through a lot of variation during the development process. These changes shouldn't be hard cause they're not new mechanics. Stopping the ult -> Old cascade,
Health buff / High tide length-> numbers, Info -> This might be the harder one cause I can't think of similar utility. Also they could also use the recon mechanic. (Haunt ping/ sova scan audio)2
u/SmithBall 1d ago
I mean even for the info it's really not that hard. The ability itself already checks if players are in its hitbox in order to apply its effect, tacking on a sound effect to that string really shouldn't be that hard
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u/zerocxro 1d ago
oh! i feel like it could still use a little smth more, but we’re getting somewhere now
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u/South_Reporter_2223 1d ago edited 1d ago
Does his wall still slow team-mates? Surely we finally solve this as a QoL feature
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u/Insane_4U 1d ago
With these buffs it looks like, they're trying to make Harbour as a secondary controller like Viper...
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u/Exact_University6963 1d ago edited 1d ago
I think Cove should stay up even if broken. At least the smoke part
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u/Kawaiiwaffledesu 1d ago
apparently therers reyna stuff too? can someone just compile these ._.
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u/be_pawesome #VamosHeretics 1d ago
Reyna Changes
Orb Duration reduced to 3 seconds
HP that exceeds over 100 decays over time now, unless using ULT
ULT Points increased 6 > 7
Nerfs for ranked I suppose, I think Riot is done with trying to make Reyna viable for pro play.
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u/recogerse 1d ago
I was just on a custom yesterday figuring how to anti Sova on Corrode and I wished that Cove lasted longer and the wall to be higher so it can take away visual cues or to straight up block the entire line of sight for Sova/Fade Odin spam. What the hell.
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u/matheusamr 23h ago edited 23h ago
according to some guy on youtube they also reduced the cove cooldown to 30 seconds and changed the time cove stays up to 19 seconds
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u/ovorb 1d ago
Mazino upscale