Duelists across the entire competitive VALORANT landscape are eagerly monitoring all of the changes headed to the role in Patch 8.11, including some significant changes to Reyna that could solidify her place as the most popular agent in the game.
In Patch 8.11, Riot Games is changing up a majority of Reyna’s various abilities to help “reshape the power of her kit” by reducing her dominance in ranked play while giving more opportunities to flourish in more coordinated settings like professional play.
As a result, the developers will lower the healing on her Devour alongside big changes to the rest of her kit to help her excel in other settings. For example, although her healing has been dropped, she will no longer lose any armor that she gains from Overheal, and the full heal time has increased by a second.
She can also move much quicker after she has used Dismiss following a successful kill, although the duration of the Dismiss itself is slightly shorter. Her ultimate, on the other hand, will last until Reyna has been eliminated or the round has ended, making it a destructive tool that can be active from the start of the round onward.
By taking away the time restrictions on abilities like Overheal’s bonus armor and Empress’ ultimate duration, players aren’t forced to rush forward to take advantage of Reyna’s temporary buffs. With these changes, they can play a lot slower and methodically alongside their teammates while still maintaining those same buffs throughout a round.
The reduced heal on her Devour is a good addition because the rest of her buffs are quite strong and can also help add a much-needed push for Reyna mains who need to learn better team-based skills. They can fall back without fear of losing buffs, they can regroup and strategize, and they have much more viability for those with coordinated teammates.
It might take some time to adjust, but Reyna might even see even bigger spikes in play rate since the lowered heal is completely offset by the permanent armor, indefinite Empress change, and the exciting Dismiss changes to her movement speed. For any players who are confident in their aim, this could give them even greater incentive to instalock Reyna when Patch 8.11 drops later this month.
