Valorant’s recent patch 8.11 brought several updates to the game. Among these, we are focusing on the alterations made to ISO. But, let’s address an essential question first:
Was a buff to ISO actually necessary?
According to Riot:
Iso is receiving strictly buffs this patch because he’s underperforming across all skill brackets. Leaning into increasing Iso’s signature ability output is intended to make Iso more reliable at challenging contested spaces and winning opening duels by granting his shield immediately after channeling the ability. Iso’s buff will also remain active and orbs will still spawn should he lose his shield and secure a kill during Double Tap’s uptime. Shooting the orbs will refresh the duration of the buff and the shield.
https://playvalorant.com/en-gb/news/game-updates/valorant-patch-notes-811/Based on official notes from their update and feedback from the community on ISO, it’s apparent that ISO wasn’t meeting expectations and badly needed improvement. Yet, with Riot’s modifications to his abilities and the subsequent enhancement, some players now argue that he might be a bit too strong.
Let’s briefly review the key updates to ISO’s kit:
- Double Tap (E)
- Iso now grants himself a shield upon finishing a 1 second animation during which he can’t use his gun.
- This plays a shield forming sound at the end of the channel when the shield is activated.
- Charges 2 >>> 1
- Kill reset added to Double Tap (Iso gets a charge back if he gets 2 kills).
- Iso now receives a Wall Penetration tag instead of a standard Heavy Penetration tag when the shield is broken. This means he’s slowed less upon his shield breaking.
- Additionally, Iso now gets a damage indicator towards the direction of the enemy that broke the shield
- Iso can now recast Double Tap while it’s active to refresh the duration of the shield.
- This is relevant if he gets a refreshed charge of his Double Tap from getting 2 kills.
https://playvalorant.com/en-gb/news/game-updates/valorant-patch-notes-811/The updates notably alter his ability mechanics, particularly ‘Double Tap’. ISO doesn’t need a kill to activate his shield, which is a considerable advantage.
Nevertheless, they did introduce a tradeoff: there’s an activation delay due to an animation, and the shield triggers a sound that reveals ISO’s location. However, being able to eat an operator shot or even a one tap like it’s nothing and the reduced slow effect, combined with knowing where you got shot from, provide a significant tactical edge.
So is ISO Overpowered Now? Post-update, I’ve played several games as ISO and believe the adjustments are just, albeit not quite balanced, yet not excessively strong. Thankfully, skill is still required to utilize his capabilities like Double Tap and his ultimate effectively.
Speaking of his ultimate, his ultimate got slight secret nerf that wasn’t mentioned in the patches. His ultimate ability now doesn’t spawn the shield orb unless you activate the double tap ability first. This wasn’t the case before though.
The community has mixed feelings about the changes. While some think the changes transformed ISO from underwhelming to overpowered, others disagree.
Oh! and about competetive matches, ISO’s pick rate is skyrocketting, maybe players are just curious and want to try the new changes. It could be curiosity driving players to test the new updates; in my last 20 games, someone either insta-locked ISO (including me hahahaha) or our team desperately tried to counter him. It’s definitely a different experience than the pre-buff ISO!
