Jake “Boaster” Howlett has suggested that one of Valorant’s most mobile duelists may need a slight nerf following the action at VCT Masters Santiago.
With the Masters Santiago event ongoing, the Fnatic star shared his thoughts after watching the tournament’s evolving meta, pointing specifically to the impact of Neon and her movement-based abilities.
“I’m down to play this meta. I think I’d like Neon’s movement to be nerfed a bit, though,” he said. “There were two instances where someone could’ve gotten a big play this event, but she’s able to just jump out and throw a Q stun, or the other situation was she jumped out then slid back.”
Neon’s toolkit is built around speed and disruption, allowing players to quickly take aggressive fights before repositioning with her abilities. That mobility has made her one of the most explosive duelists in professional play, particularly in faster-paced executes.
Despite raising concerns about her movement, Boaster also made it clear he isn’t opposed to the direction the meta is heading.
“I’ve got some juicy duelists ready to abuse it on my team,” he joked. “I’m also fine with playing faster rounds. People forget sumn FC used to be just running a strat and go go go!”
These posts came just a couple of days after Boaster criticized the gameplay, suggesting it was somewhat one-dimensional.
“This event is just who shoots better on the day will win,” he said. “Especially when the main strategy seems to be do nothing -> Hit the site or Move forward in that area -> hit the site.”
Boaster and his Fnatic teammates aren’t in Santiago for Valorant Masters, having placed 4th at the EMEA Kickoff and just missing out on qualification following a loss to Team Liquid.