New agent Harbor is getting some love in Valorant patch 5.10.
The latest patch adds a small Harbor buff, which should help the Indian controller feel slightly more powerful.
Harbor’s High Tide wall was designed to compete with Viper’s Toxic Screen, blocking off vision across wide swaths of the map with just a single ability. However, players have noted his lack of stalling ability — without any mollies or blinds, he has little to stop opponents from pushing.
Patch 5.10 gives him an extra charge for Cascade, so he has a bit more utility to work with.
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Valorant patch 5.10 introduces a slight Harbor buff
The changes are intended to encourage players to use their abilities more proactively.
“Harbor’s abilities all make a healthy round impact, but we saw some players new to Harbor not using their abilities enough and feeling too constrained,” said Riot Games.
“We hope these changes make it easier for players to hit the ground running with Harbor and for skilled Harbor players to achieve more flexibility when controlling the map.”
Cascade now has two purchasable charges, each costing 150 credits. It allows players to equip a wave of water, and send it rolling forward and through walls. Enemies hit are slowed.
Unlike Fade, who found her place in the meta almost immediately as a strong alternative to Sova, Harbor has not yet found a foothold in team compositions yet. He currently sits at a 1.5 percent pick rate at Platinum 3, according to blitz.gg, a percentage that decreases further at the higher ranks.
But even with the extra Cascade charge, Harbor’s lack of stall still stands out as his biggest weakness. The slow debuff on High Tide and Cascade remains relatively underwhelming, hardly an effective deterrent for opponents thinking about pushing through the walls.
While the additional charge improves his ability to disrupt enemy setups, it remains to be seen whether it will have a meaningful impact on his pick rate.
You can read the full patch 5.10 notes here.
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