Riot Games Wants 'Close to 30 Agents' Before Considering Agent Ban System

Riot Games is aiming toward adding more playable agents to Valorant before considering an Agent pick-and-ban system, something players have debated about since the game's release.

The concept has been debated by players throughout the first year of the game's existence to restrict the overuse of certain agents in games, adding a bit more balance to competitive games. However, as stated by Nicholas Wu Smith, a developer for the game, the ban may not be feasible until there are more options for agents to play with.

“At what Agent do you think bans will be viable?" a viewer asked Smith during a Twitch Livestream on April 6. Smith would respond, "Maybe close to 30." Currently, there are 15 selections of agents to choose from in Valorant throughout its first year, so adding almost 15 more may take another year, or even more.

“It also really depends on if we get as much good competition out of banning stuff versus other games,” he added during the stream. “Other games ban, but is it actually better?”

To explain one of the effects of the game adding the Agent-Ban system, Smith brought up pro-player Tyson ‘TenZ’ Ngo.“Is it better to see TenZ on Jett more often, or is it better that we never see that because it always gets banned against that team?”

TenZ has made a name for himself using Jett, pickig the agent around 63% of his pro games. An Agent-ban system would likely lower that rate dramatically for his games, meaning we could see fewer highlights of TenZ using Jett.

Riot Games has heard the community's argument over this feature before. Back in November the Game Director for Valorant, Riot Ziegler, commented “In the future, we may think about it. It really depends on how much it adds to the game versus subtracts to the game."

It's clear that Riot Games is listening to the community's desires, so while the idea may not be in full agreement by Riot Games, there is still a chance it's not completely off the table.