Over the course of 2020, Riot has introduced several new Agents to Valorant, while simultaneously reworking and redesigning some of the existing roster. In a recent end-of-year assessment, the studio’s Character Producer stated that they plan to take more risks for their upcoming new Agents, now that the roster of characters feels more balanced as it is.
Valorant’s Plans for New Agents Coming Next Year
“When the game launched we were focused on getting all the extreme outliers into a reasonable place,” explains Character Producer John Goscicki; “Right now things are fairly stable, but there are still some Agents/Classes that need some deeper thought into them.”
In his end-of-year analysis, Goscicki states that Riot is currently planning to address three different Classes; Controllers, Duellists, and Initiators. The first of these is the one which will likely get the most attention in 2021, with new changes coming with Episode 2. According to Goscicki, these changes will be designed to; “address the total power of Controllers,” which includes Agents like Brimstone, Omen, and Viper. The other two classes will receive attention shortly thereafter, with Riot aiming to better differentiate the two classes.
Of course, alongside upcoming changes, Riot will also be introducing completely new Agents in 2021. With the existing roster now suitably tweaked and relatively balanced, Riot is well-placed to “take more risks,” as Goscicki explains. “We are going o take more risks with what each Agent introduces to the game,” he says; “pushing some boundaries, and evolving what is possible in an ability based tac shooter.”
Goscicki doesn’t go into detail about what these evolutions might be, of course. However, he does go on to tease that the first new Agent of 2021 will be a Duellist-class character. Apparently, this mysterious character will lean towards a “lurker” style of play. Fans will have to wait until next year for more concrete information, of course.