Valorant’s Episode 4 and patch 4.0 launched on January 11, and two days in, many players agree that the recent changes to the Ares are too much. In addition, several Valorant players have voiced their concerns about a recent buff given to the machine gun. The buffs make it a must-have weapon option for Valorant players, and many in the ranked games have had enough of being eliminated by an opponent using it.
There were two significant changes given to the Ares at Episode 4. The first was removing the spin-up on the weapon. The second was the weapon’s firing rate, which increased from 10 to 13. The Ares’ speed is now only matched by the Odin, another machine gun, and the Stinger, an SMG, but these two do not compare to the weapon’s strength and versatility in matches.
Valorant fans have taken to Reddit to share their concerns. A fan has pointed out that the Ares’ bullet penetration and low cost of 1,550 credits make it a must-have purchase, with comments pouring in about the weapon’s utility in a match. Another Valorant Reddit fan pointed out that the Ares has a faster time-to-kill than the Vandal and Phantom, weapons that are double the cost of an Ares.
There are also Valorant players taking to Twitter to share their concerns with the Ares, many of them showing off their scoreboards of how many players had been using the weapon.
It’s only the first few days of the highly anticipated Episode 4 in Valorant, giving Riot Games time to address these concerns. The problem the team will need to handle is ramping back the boost to the Ares, without making it a weapon that becomes overlooked by players.
Right now, the Ares will continue to dominate Valorant matches.
